Chapter 1928 (Patreon)

ToC: https://www.patreon.com/posts/23899958

Randidly didn’t hesitate at all. He went to his Status screen and selected Endurance. Within his chest, the Stillborn Phoenix stirred, lightning and liquid light hissing along the event horizon.

Congratulations! Your Stat Endurance has evolved into Egg’s Illusory Plume (L)! Impossible barriers form at your skin, a strange and mystical rind. Your body has become extremely resistant to non-physical attacks. Due to the impossibility of the plume existing, physical attacks are less effective. User has increased ability to quickly recover in the rare event that Endurance was breached.

The shift built-in Randidly’s ribcage, drawing deeply from the Stillborn Phoenix as the Stat changed but without any of the painful drama of Willpower’s shift. To Randidly’s surprise, the shift happened in the air around his skin. Randidly felt the limits of his body expanding, just slightly, an illusory layer stitching itself into place across his skin. Raising his arms, there were small moments when light refracted strangely around him, like a sheen of oil across the surface of water.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the distinct shape of feathers.

Then the effect gradually dispersed, leaving him alone with his breathing. Randidly closed his eyes and focused on recovering some of his mental and emotional energy. Afterward, he needed to spend a while to let his Penance find balance; at this point, he offered up five of the sixty seconds of each minute in an effort to help his Nether grow.

Finally, his eyes opened. He looked down at the list of Paths available to him.

Mantle of the Patron 0/500, Aether Convergence II ???,  Puppet Master 0/100, Pain Immunity I 0/250, Cleaver of the World Tree ???, Weakness of the World Tree 0/500, Guilty Conscience I 0/100,  Ashes of Illym, the Above-Average Child 0/5000, The Sigh as the Sky Closes 0/15,000, Joy, the Blooming Sun 0/15,000, Creature's Toil II 0/????, Violent Heat I 0/???, Violence Incarnate, the Storm’s Descent 0/?????, Deathwish X 0/5, Weakness of the Grim Chimera 0/500, Weakness of the Stillborn Phoenix 0/500, The Shadow Beyond the Threshold 0/???, The Creature’s Apotheosis 0/25000, The Passion sans Shape I 0/???, Architecture of Yggdrasil I 0/????, Piece of the Ideal 0/????,  Emotional Evolution I 0/500, Breath of the Imaginary Firebird 0/1000, The Throne of Nether Homage I 0/500, Stat Evolution VII 0/100000, Spark of the Origin Beast 0/?????, The Eyelids of the Grey Creature Flutter 0/10,000, Determined VI 0/600, The Ashes of Helen, the Ghosthound’s Bloody Knight 0/9000, Excavator of the Two Failed Dreams 0/12,000, The Ash that Reigns Above the Open and Closed Sky 0/?????, The Living Soul of the Alpha Cosmos 0/??????, Herald of the Eternal March 0/10,000, The Crown of Four Authorities 0/100000, Peerlessness Through Woven Truth 0/?????

He couldn’t help but wince. At this point, the list of Paths had grown to a ridiculous degree; even with his previous Tithes, he hadn’t been able to put a serious dent in the list. But as with previous rewards, Randidly could quickly trim down the list to only the ones by which he felt intrigued.

The Sigh as the Sky Closes 0/15,000, Joy, the Blooming Sun 0/15,000, Chimera’s Struggle II 0/????, Violence Incarnate, the Storm’s Descent 0/?????, The Shadow Beyond the Threshold 0/???, The Creature’s Apotheosis 0/25000, The Passion sans Shape I 0/???, Architecture of Yggdrasil I 0/????, Piece of the Ideal 0/????,  Emotional Evolution I 0/500, Stat Evolution VII 0/100000, Spark of the Origin Beast 0/?????, The Eyelids of the Grey Creature Flutter 0/10,000, The Ashes of Helen, the Ghosthound’s Bloody Knight 0/9000, Excavator of the Two Failed Dreams 0/12,000, The Ash that Reigns Above the Open and Closed Sky 0/?????, The Living Soul of the Alpha Cosmos 0/??????, Herald of the Eternal March 0/10,000, The Crown of Four Authorities 0/100000, Peerlessness Through Woven Truth 0/?????

Randidly scratched his chin. He had cut out more than half of the available Paths, but there were still too many options to consider them individually with any detail. His mind spun between them, feeling the possibilities that stretched in every direction. He clenched his jaw and cut out more- no longer was it enough to be interesting. Now Randidly was looking for the Paths that would help him improve the training areas that he had been focused on.

The Passion sans Shape I 0/???, Piece of the Ideal 0/????,  Emotional Evolution I 0/500, The Eyelids of the Grey Creature Flutter 0/10,000, The Living Soul of the Alpha Cosmos 0/??????, The Crown of Four Authorities 0/100000, Peerlessness Through Woven Truth 0/?????

Essentially, Randidly focused on two areas. There were other Paths that deeply intrigued him, but shaping up his emotional capability and starting to settle the small dissonance in his Grey Creature image were more important. Randidly had started to feel the satisfying attunement he got from Yggdrasil’s image and emotional affect. He was ready to bring that to his other images. And with the Unborn continuing to delay Stillborn Phoenix, he didn’t mind starting with the Grey Creature.

Of course, when all three’s shape had finally aligned with emotion, he would be able to work about working them in triplicate. And that was the key for him to rival Nexus images with his own, in the short term.

And in the longer term… Randidly pushed that thought aside before he allowed it to fully form.

Plus, he currently had a huge amount of PP. Fully two hundred and eighteen thousand. Rushing his way through Passion sans Shape and Emotional Evolution probably wouldn’t even make a dent in it. Those Paths would probably help accomplish both of his stated goals.

So he did so, starting with the Passion Path. The first path cost only two hundred and fifty and gave him 1 Grim Intuition and 1 Reaction for each 25 PP spent. The subsequent Paths each doubled in PP cost, all the way up to Passion sans Shape V.

Congratulations! You have completed the Passion sans Shape I Path! Half of your soul is rigid with its proper arrangement, but the other half involves something more vital and fluid. To find that passion, you have wandered from the beaten Path and challenged the wide sky and unforgiving ground. But then again, the environment doesn’t matter. In these bland and vague areas, bank the fires of your soul and feel the amorphous portion of yourself grow into something profound.

Congratulations! Mana +100, Intelligence +10!

Congratulations! You have completed the Passion sans Shape II Path! Your feet carry you forward, far from the established touchstones. You cannot find yourself without first becoming lost in the distance. The vague landscape rushes beneath you, dirt flowing together like streams becoming a river. The ground billowed around his steps.

Without shape, you only find force. Without guidance, all the heat rising through your body must originate from within. Without a distinct destination, the depth of your force rises from your capacity for an internal decision. So long as you refuse to falter, you will advance. And nothing matters more than crossing that distance with your own feet.

Congratulations! Unnatural Capacity (Ru) +200! You can feel a change stirring within your chest. Your furnace that produces emotions is steadily being refined by the process.

Congratulations! You have completed the Passion sans Shape III! The wild wilderness has become increasingly strange. The wide feels stretched and crack their joints. The hills yawn, preparing each night to lay themselves down to sleep. Sky and ground flirt and breed right in front of you, paving the distance with indeterminate communion. Your body begins to ripple with this strange expanse, but that just unlocks your inner furnace. Continue, to transform your fire into a valuable weapon.

Congratulations! Reaction +200! The change in your emotion is nearing an inflection point.

Congratulations! You have completed the Passion sans Shape IV Path! The entire horizon roils with your passage. Your own heat has driven you forward, but now the beating heart of the world is producing enough heat and vibrancy that the world is deteriorating around you. Distinctions melt. The strangeness is no longer just a detail, not it comes at you as a threat. With heat rising from below, it is nearly impossible to keep track of your own heat, yet you know that without it, you would not continue forward. And your feet continue to move, carrying you ever onward.

Congratulations! Grey Monarch’s Authority (T) and Egg’s Illusory Plume (L) +200!

Congratulations! You have completed the Passion sans Shape V Path! You have walked through hell, where heat and emotion paint the landscape fluid. Despite the strain on your psyche, you barely faltered. You have truly honed your mental faculties to a dangerous degree. Rue all those who stand in your way as you ascend through the Nexus. Continue, because the Path goes ever onward.

Congratulations! Fidelity of Ascendant Moirae (P) and Exquisite Piety (M) +200! You have gained the Skill Soulful Vigor (L)!

Soulful Vigor (L): Your emotions swirl with a small amount of indescribable beauty. Power courses along with your whims, animating your person. When utilizing emotion, user has a slightly easier time controlling the emotions. User also can display a more powerful display in the same amount of time. Effect increases with Skill Level.

Randidly felt like the recipient of a successful (mental) tongue surgery. Suddenly, his internal awareness could taste the flavors of his emotions just by brushing past them. It was as though everything as widened; he could slide into the space between his emotions. They crackled like rupturing ground, massive monoliths of light flashes and lightning bolts. But with the ability to see their shape, he could more easily hone them to resonate with his images.

He had only spent 7750 PP by pushing through those Paths. Compared to the mass of PP he possessed, it was a pittance. Cracking his neck, Randidly started into the Emotional Evolution I Path.

Congratulations! You have completed the Emotional Evolution I Path! The Path on which you walk has led you high above the clouds. The air grows thin and sounds become stale and weak. Yet as you rise, the beating of your heart becomes increasingly clear. Its cadence informs your every step.

Congratulations! +50 Grim Intuition!

Congratulations! You have completed the Emotional Evolution II Path! The steps you take are across an ethereal bridge, connecting land and sky despite all the reasons that such a Path should not exist. The material beneath your feet is cool and insubstantial, vanishing as soon as you pass by. Sound has completely receded, leaving you with only the small whispers of your heart.

Congratulations! You feel a growing connection to your emotions. Warning, there might be some small amount of unpredictability in your emotional affect! Exquisite Piety (M) +75!

Congratulations! You have completed the Emotional Evolution III Path! You trek through space, walking beneath the clouds. Yet your gaze barely wavers. Even as the hidden desires of your heart are given leave by the silence to swell and fill the environment, you are not swayed from your task. Such is your dedication that your emotions are pressured even further to grow and change, attempting to capture your attention.

Congratulations! Warning! Significant emotional turbulence will result from taking this Path. Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae (P) +50, Exquisite Piety (M) +100!

Congratulations! You have completed the Emotional Evolution IV Path! The ringing silence around you hums with the force of emotions moving within your skin. More than a person, you have become a shelter that houses a hundred disparate desires, each desperate to be heard. Each bleeding to enact its will upon the world.

Congratulations! Be very careful: your emotions might take on a mind of their own. Exercise extreme caution. Uncommon Metabolism (Un) +100!

Before he moved on to finish the last Path in the sequence, Randidly turned his attention inward on his emotions. The corner of his lip curled upward to see them arrayed within him. Grey Monarch's Authority spread out shadowy twig fingers, beckoning. Like meek little lambs, his emotions bowed their heads and hurried to do his bidding.

Chuckling, Randidly finished the final Emotional Evolution Path.