The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound

Randidly kept his breathing calm, trying to acknowledge all of the changes that had happened with Sulfur’s evolution but finding that his brain just traveled halfway down a dozen tangents and then collapsed back to the middle. He licked his lips, eyes on the notification in front of him. His fingers flexed, clenched into a fist, and then relaxed. He needed to take this one issue at a time.

First all the unique bonuses from joining their bodies, including doubling his regenerations after being hit, reducing all damage or foreign influences, and boosting the power of Nether.

Then there were the hints from the System notification about how Sulfur had evolved into a higher-order lifeform beyond a Soulseed, likely due to aspects of the Shallah’s energy it had understood.

His two Domains had combined into one, earning another Ghosthound’s Deviation Rarity. The existence of the Alpha Cosmos within his body had begun powerful depth for the more offensive Mounful Sea, Helen’s Pernicious Riptide. It would not also provide a huge boost to Randidly’s other Skills that let him manipulate currents of force, of which he had quite a few.

Finally, the cherry on top, Muse’s Reverie, the mysterious Attribute he had created when he had remade his body, reached four out of five. With a single more point, the true purpose of the Attribute would finally be revealed.

Randidly clapped his two hands together. The sound resounded through the swirling dome, blasting away mist and dirt. A space opened up, with the ground still that strange, reinforced material that could withstand his steps. His heartbeat quickened as his mind began to imagine all the ways he could utilize these new capabilities.

But before anything else, he paused and looked at his Status Screen. It had been a while since he had simply admired all he had accumulated.

Randidly Ghosthound

Class: Lord of the Baleful Wood (x5)

Health(/R per hour): 30415/32415 (22509)

Mana(/R per hour): 23352/25352 (7716)

Stam(/R per min): 20790/21796 (5017)

Muse’s Reverie: 3/5 (???)

Uncommon Metabolism (Un): 1957

Egg’s Illusory Plume (L): 1522

Primordial Nether Juju (M): 2807

Dreadful Alacrity (A): 3042

Grim Intuition (L): 2866

Predictive Synapses (A): 2742

Chimeric Indifference (R): 2396

Grey Monarch’s Authority (T): 4294

Cognition of the Aberrant Alchemist (T): 2070

Unnatural Capacity (Ru): 2767

Discretion of the Apostate Moirae (P): 5717

Exquisite Piety (M): 3392

Nether Sphere

Fang of the Primeval Betrayal (T)

Weight: 1101 (+61) (+70) (+52) (+49) (+80) (+63)

Connections: 5,310,909,443

Scope: 50,000

Influence: 6,702,966

Synechdochence: 127%

First Authority: Seize

Second ???

Third: Intangible Burial

Fourth Authority: Animation Nova

PP: 1610

Skills (Soul Skill): Figure of the Alpha Cosmos Lvl 484,950 (Next 600,000)

Unique Abilities from Foreign Entity Sulfur (Rarity Rating Impossible): Combat Furnace (U), Nascent Nether Organ (U), Resistant to Force (U)

Moirae of Minute Repercussions (GD): Severing Tide of Amenonuhoko (P) Lvl 986, From the Chaotic Sea, Abrupt Reverberation (T) Lvl 835, Gospel within the Seething Torrent (P) Lvl 940, Motif of Unimagined Tolls (GD) Lvl 1010, (Fusion Domain) Helen’s Sea, Cradle of Unlikely Lives Lvl 999

LoBW Class Skills: Footsteps of a Legend (L) Lvl 848, Spriggit’s Tinkering (R) Lvl 657, Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) Lvl 963, Fruit of the Planting of Enmity (L) Lvl 49, Cycle of the Gloomy Wood (R) Lvl 45, Lancers of the Baleful Crusade (L) Lvl 1001 Armory of the Nether Damned (L) Lvl 801

Combat: Heavy Blow Lvl 434, Block Lvl 527, Calculated Blow Lvl 549, Roundhouse Kick Lvl 197, Inexorable Slash (Ru) Lvl 626, The March of Ruin and Valor (L) Lvl 651, Smothering Inevitability (L) Lvl 601,

Kismet of the Evolving Creature (P): Chimeric Impunity (M) Lvl 942, The Wandering Deity Demands (T) Lvl 850, Grit of the Ascendant Bane (T) Lvl 832, Maelstrom Entity Approaches (T) Lvl 770, The Ashen Doors to Pandemonium Unlock (M) Lvl 701, Chimera’s Suffocating Rebuke (T) Lvl 951, The Wrathful Calamity Rends (T) Lvl 901, The Grey Creature Glimpses Providence (P) Lvl 980

The Stillborn Phoenix: A Star that Prayed it would be Reborn (P): The Hypothetical Gaze that Consumes the Universe (T) Lvl 911, Wicked Waltz of Tartarus (T) Lvl 920, Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart (T) Lvl 828, Diffracted Corruption from an Avaricious Impossibility (P)(U) Lvl 879, Stigma of the Stillborn Phoenix (L) Lvl 750, Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold (T) Lvl 942, The Twin Lingering Shadows of Misfortune (T) Lvl 1106

Crafting: Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) Lvl 930, Touch of the Ghosthound (U), Scrawl of the Ghosthound (L) Lvl 475, Ghosthound’s Green Thumb (L) Lvl 752, Heritage of the Origin Beast (T) Lvl 751

Yggdrasil, the Universe that was First a Tree (P): The World Tree Sips from Every Realm (T) Lvl 940, Aureate Arteries of Yggdrasil (T) Lvl 899, Yggdrasil’s Plasm Animus (P) Lvl 817, Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil (T) Lvl 916, Dawn Opens the Sky and Reality Stirs (T) Lvl 875, Darkness Withers the Horizon and the Waiting Carrion Grins (T) Lvl 931, Spirit Realm of Marshaled Endeavors (M) Lvl 966, The First Tree Suffers Only Fealty (P) Lvl 907

Auxiliary: Yggdrasil Soul Seed (R), Inspiration (R), Burning Footsteps Lvl 223, Cooking Lvl 101, Soul Bond Lvl 703, Nether Modification (U), Ghosthound’s Acute Nether Nose (M) Lvl 1043, Yearnings of the Nether Heir (P) Lvl 988 Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) Level 983, Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) Lvl 915, Infinite Incendiary Filaments of the Dove Moirae (P)(U) Lvl 1102, Casting Blades from Insatiable Grievances (M) Lvl 900, Ghosthound’s Proficiency (U)

“And I can still improve a little more, can’t I?” Randidly whispered to himself.

*****

Neveah sat at the table, her tea long forgotten in front of her. Opposite the three women, Devick sat with her eyes closed, grappling with the formation of her image. There were some risks with using the method Lucretia employed, such as the psyche of the recipient being steamrolled, but from the concentrated frown on Devick’s face she managed well enough.

As her inner development continued, she poked her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. Even Neveah felt somewhat taken aback by how cute this incarnation of Devick appeared to be.

Same vicious spine though, Devick reminded herself. The image she had witnessed in Lucretia’s painting was one who sauntered through an endless field of corpses. Her weapon had been designed for beheading and her teeth for guzzling lifeblood out of broken flesh. Yet Neveah did her best not to hold that against her.

Randidly Ghosthound’s hands were not clean, after all.

“Did you wish for her to be bound to her future by rusted chains?” Neveah turned to Lucretia and asked. She had intended the question to be mild, but it came out of her mouth barbed and hungry for blood.

Tatiana very primly set down her cup of tea. Lucretia, who had been staring at Devick, lifted her gaze and turned to Neveah. “I did not make the choice for her. I just asked her to listen.”

“You pushed,” Neveah countered. “When you could have allowed her to discover the character of her Needle Toothed Hare without any further input. That would have consumed her for a time, allowing all the other associations hanging around her due to Randidly’s foreknowledge to distort and fade. And yet-”

“She would have been weak,” Lucretia hissed out the words. Her eyes glowed as she met Neveah’s gaze and did not flinch. “Considering the size of her hopes and dreams, that sort of weakness would have crushed her to dust. This was the best way to build up her capability in a short amount of time.”

“By guiding her path toward her worse impulses?”

“By teaching her stubbornness the rough-edged sort of imperatives that are necessary to foil even existence.” Lucretia pressed her lips together. “I can see why you are frustrated, you worry that I refuse to prevent a tragedy, even though I see it developing right in front of me. You believe I am making the same mistake I did with Alta, allowing her bitterness to take root in her heart. Yet Devick is not Alta.”

Neveah’s eyes blazed. So many emotions warred in her chest, she couldn’t get them out of her mouth. Yes, because Randidly will not be able to descend as a god and stop Devick’s madness from devouring she touches.

Finally, Tatiana spoke. “I think Neveah would have been more comfortable if we had discussed how to handle Devick before she arrived. We had time.”

Lucretia’s firm expression faltered slightly. In the end, she nodded her head in a small admission of guilt. “I kept silent, knowing you would assume that my silence meant I would defer to your decision, Neveah. But I also knew that if we discussed what to do, you would not acknowledge my point of view. You would have given Devick access to only a neutered version of her potential. I genuinely believe her growth could bring Randidly happiness in the form of a peer, whether or not they can become emotionally involved. I did my best to repay the debt I owe to him.”

Neveah released a tight breath. “Blindsiding me does not seem like putting Randidly interests first.”

“Ha! Neveah, you might be connected to him, but that only means you share Randidly’s blind spots.” Lucretia pivoted and looked again at Devick, who struggled underneath the thrall of Lucretia’s Skill. “You are the other side of the coin, a single entity with him. Yet you are the more cautious, more considered variant; all the fears Randidly has about Devick, those will be magnified in you.”

Neveah stiffened. “...I won’t apologize for proceeding cautiously, considering the circumstances. But I did not ask you to neuter her potential, simply why you guided her with noise to fixate on her chains. Especially considering Alta’s fate-”

“You do not understand Alta nor Devick if you think the two are the same.” Lucretia shook her head. “As much as I hate to admit it, you do Devick a disservice here. Alta was a woman who saw the way the world had been made and cursed the god who made it, aiming to destroy everything she saw out of spite. Devick would not even care about the presence of a god; she would notice something she didn’t appreciate about existence and pick up tools to remake everything. That sort of unorthodox thinking and resolve…”

“Ah,” Tatiana blinked. She turned to Neveah. “Well, not that she should be excused for blindsiding us, but that’s not what this is about, not really. What Lucretia is saying is that the chains don’t matter.”

“Exactly,” Lucretia smiled. “The fear is tied to the presence of chains, but they are just a shape. An effective one for Devick, but only that. It was her obsessive madness that made her so powerful. I have no doubt, had we followed your recommendation, Devick would have developed a different version of chains, over the next ten years. Because, like everyone else, she would have realized that no matter how pure her vision was, it is useless until she can bind the universe to her whims.”

“Ten years,” Neveah felt numb and slightly sick to her stomach. Yet when she pushed down her annoyance, she could see it. “Wasted time. Probably, Randidly will have left the memory.”

“And she-” Lucretia began, but Tatiana held up a hand to stop her from speaking.

As both Neveah and Lucretia looked on in confusion, Tatiana plucked a pebble off the ground and flicked it. It smacked between Devick’s eyebrows. The crimson-haired young woman’s hand flew upward to block her forehead from further attacks and pouted. Neveah sucked in a breath; she had been so distracted by the argument she hadn’t even noticed the process had ended.

“Oy, did you think we wouldn’t notice you waking up?” Tatiana grumbled, affecting a heavy countenance. She folded her arms across her chest. “So, did you follow the light? What Class were you offered?”

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