Chapter 1405 (1/2)

They had purposefully designed this training ground out of sandstone, but still the stone was smoking and cracked. Alana filled the surrounding area with orange fire, pushing past her previous limits. Her focus slid amongst the tongues of flame, carefully sharpening and enhancing the image. In the aftermath of Randidly Ghosthound’s clash against Earth’s foe, Alana had not been able to keep still. She positively blazed with passion.

The next time this world needs that amount of strength in order to survive, Alana swore to herself. I must rise to the challenge. I’ve lived in Randidly’s shadow for far too long… This planet doesn’t always need him to be its hero.

So Alana threw herself into training. In terms of ‘heat’, the recent events pushed her imagination into overdrive. The heat continued to steadily rise, the orange stone around her barely able to withstand the high temperatures she was releasing.

When she could no longer find areas to improve in her flames, Alana picked up a spear and began to smoothly move through different attack styles. Then she shifted to more defensive spear work. Each movement was one that she had performed thousands of times. That was Alana’s strength. The slow accumulation of repetition. In terms of dedication, she had almost no equal.

It was only a matter of time before that accumulation became true power. And with the current motivation in her chest, her previous pace would soon be obliterated. Her direction was set.

For now, Alana satisfied herself after several hours. Because she felt Wivanya sitting outside of the training room, radiating impatience, she eventually wrapped up her practice and calmed her soul down. Only when she was perfectly at peace did she walk across the semi-melted sandstone and open the door, frowning at Wivanya. “Is something the matter?”

“We just received word that the Order Ducis is hosting a duos combat tournament in order to distribute the Runic Tablet,” Wivanya said quickly. Her sinuous neck undulated as she talked, revealing her excitement. “This is the chance that we, the Frost Dragon Brood, have been waiting for. You and I must participate and win this tournament.”

Alana considered that piece of news. A tournament certainly would make the current undercurrent of political struggles much more manageable. Rather than the Zones beginning to plot against each other, they would throw all their effort into preparing for the tournament.

Mostly, Alana’s response was a strange sense of curiosity toward what happened in Randidly’s fight that would push him in this direction. It was definitely out of character for him to intervene now after setting up the whole chaotic rush for the Runic Tablet. Hopefully, it was proof that he was maturing under the heavy weight of the world’s expectations.

That thought made Alana shiver; she couldn’t imagine the sort of pressure that Randidly had to endure. But the fact that he continued to endure it alone was the reason that the fires in her heart burned so brightly. That determination once more flared to life. Alana was strongly tempted to turn right around and walk back into the training area.

Still, her Willpower was currently depleted after her training session. So Alana calmed herself down and looked at Wivanya. “So, if we participate and seize victory, do you know what you want to name the Earth? We shouldn’t compete unless we have a distinct goal in mind. Preparation is key.”

“Of course I have a name,” Wivanya snorted out two blasts of chilled air. “There is only one appropriate name, considering who the savior of Earth is. We shall rename the planet… Ghostworld.”

Alana blinked.

“It’s a play on words,” Wivanya said smugly. Her tail flicked back and forth. “It’s like Ghosthound, but an entire world. Only in this manner will the glory of the Ghosthound be preserved for all time. Ghostworld… doesn’t it have such a nice ring to it?”

Alana could only shake her head at the single-mindedness of the Frost Dragons.

And then she giggled as she pictured Randidly’s expression if they ended up winning the tournament and choosing that name.

*****

Randidly, Tatiana, Wolfram, and the ogre assistants heatedly discussed Kharon Academy for almost six hours. By the end of the time, Randidly had to admit that he hadn’t worked out all of the details of the administration yet, as most of his focus had been on the design and structure of the Academy. It was clear from Tatiana’s expression what she thought of his prioritization skills, but she had agreed that he didn’t need the details yet.

The changes to the governmental structure and the construction of the agricultural and residential floating islands would take quite a bit of focus of their own. For now, Kharon’s government would throw itself behind these relatively simpler projects until Randidly had some more concrete thoughts on how Kharon Academy would function.

Which meant Randidly was left alone once more. Almost immediately, Randidly produced the Philosopher’s Key and created a connection across the world to the hideout that Ace had been using. He had put this task off for long enough.

Although he was given a stay of execution for the problems passed up to him by Tatiana, that didn’t mean Randidly wasn’t busy. If anything, he felt overwhelmed by the things that he had to accomplish before he left the Earth.

The act of choosing between them was almost as exhausting as the fight against Kaan Swacc had been. Almost.