Like all the others, Alana was drawn almost magnetically forward onto the tiles once Randidly disappeared. The draw of experiencing the sensation of having the image ripple outward from herself and affect the surrounding room was extremely tempting. She had even been a little leery of doing it, in case her image was markedly more powerful than others in the room, but reality was a harsh mistress to her daydream.

Not only was her image not the most powerful in the room, but because so many people went down to try it at the same time, the sheer weight of other images seemed to pressure her image’s ability to spread out over the surrounding area. Very quickly, first fifty and then a hundred people were out on the floor chatting and laughing. After chuckling at the flighty thought she had of being some sort of ‘chosen one’, Alana looked around and studied the effects of the floor.

Of course, her image was definitely one of the larger sources of light that stabilized beneath her. But it was obviously smaller than the Nemesai’s and the two women who had faced off against the Nemesai earlier by a fair margin. But other than that, she, Hank, and the man in the wheelchair were basically in a league of their own.

Beneath them in size were people like Phirun, Warlord, Mrs. Hamilton, and other Donnyton powerhouses that were currently in attendance. Wivanya also fit into this tier of images. Alana hadn’t seen Dozer and Annie yet, but she suspected they would be coming soon and would slot in around there.

Yet what was the most fascinating were all the smaller images. Although they were noticeably weaker, seeming to be only a fistful of light, when enough got together they connected with each other and seemed to reach some sort of alignment.

Balance was achieved through the stabilizing efforts of the small images between the larger ones. It was actually somewhat pleasant then to stand and chat on the tiles, feeling like you were standing over a field of bonfires and candles. It also gave one an unprecedented sense of image awareness. As Alana sipped her champagne with disinterest, most of her focus was on her image reaching gently out through the surrounding ripples and sampling the surrounding images.

Most of what she discovered where the types of images present on Earth, but still she quickly noted a few techniques that others had used to strengthen their image that Alana could put into practice. Even if just for that guidance, this trip was definitely worth it. Especially since her own image was becoming a bit...

“Would you… ah… like a drink?” One of the servers nervously asked one of Wivanya’s children that had been given the distinct honor to attend the Ghosthound’s birthday with them. The dragon in question, Uulomon, raised his head and looked over at Wivanya. Wivanya nodded slowly.

Uulomon used his long neck to raise his head further. Then, with surprising delicateness, he gripped a single glass with the tips of his jaws and lifted it off the plate. When he had created some distance from the server, he flipped the flute up into his mouth and crunched downward noisily. After several seconds filled with the tinkling sounds of breaking glass, Uulomon very obviously swallowed everything.

“Thank you,” He said politely, the perfect gentledragon.

“Ah, no problem,” The server said with a polite smile before wandering away.

Hank nudged Uulomon with his elbow. “Tasty?”

“Human snacks are interesting. I did think it was pretty the way it looked like ice,” Uulomon allowed. Hank cackled to himself while the other dragons regarded the whole scene curiously. They raised their heads and looked around, interesting in trying their own ‘human snack’. But the sudden interest just made many people edge away from the group as the dragon’s licking their lips gazed around.

The dragons had shrunk their bodies to be about the size of lions with sinuous, serpentine necks, but it was still quite intimidating to see so many in one place gazing about as though on the hunt for a gazelle.

Meanwhile, Wivanya looked at Alana. “That was the man you have taught us about? Randidly Ghosthound?”

Alana had known this was coming. “Yes, that was him.”

At once, all the dragons seemed to hum to themselves, as though they were considering something. Or it might even be their version of a prayer. It did, however, give Alana the chance to see the way that images could merge with each other. The soft lights of the dragon’s images beneath their feet wove themselves together in complicated patterns as their intentions united.

To Alana’s surprise, it was Uulomon who spoke first. “Let us go look at the trials left by our prophet.”

Hank gave Alana an amused look, but Alana ignored it. Truth be told, she was also having some difficulty with the terminology that the… converted dragons used to describe Randidly Ghosthound. After all, Alana knew him as a man first and foremost. So it was strange to think of him as anything but that.

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A prescient and pioneering man, whose example they should follow in order to help the Earth survive, for sure. But as Alana’s Paths and Skills developed increasingly obvious religious undertones…

To the point that my hesitation is already slowing the development of my image, Alana thought with a sigh. But she wasn’t quite sure how she should go about addressing that issue. The obvious solution was just to embrace the image, but that made her hesitate. For the moment, she nodded and joined the dragons in walking across the tiled floor to arrive at the central island that Randidly had prepared.

Time to look at their prophet’s trials.

It wasn’t much of a surprise to find President Theodora Greyman and her allies already there, furiously trying to defeat the first test left by Randidly Ghosthound after he so blatantly ignored her arguments. Of course, they attempted to appear casual in there posture, but after almost fifteen minutes of constant effort, it was clear that the test was not as easy as they had hoped. Theodora’s fingers were tightly clasped and her expression was studiously blank.

Of course, the upside was that she didn’t even blink at the arrival of the dragons to her area. Although Alana attributed this more to the heavily emotional suppression she subjected herself to rather than any sort of legitimate manners toward the non-humans. “Ah, Alana Donal and Hank Howard. As well as your associates. How do you do?”

“Doin’ mighty fine, President Greyman, mighty fine,” Hank said in his typical drawl. But his eyes sparkled as he looked over toward the pedestal and the fist of ice sitting smugly there. Richter and Mark Rowel were both concentrating intensely, not even acknowledging their group’s approach. “Ya see, we were a mite curious about this ‘test’ Randidly arranged, so we figured we’d come and see how things were going. Figure it out yet?”

“There’s nothing to figure out,” Mark Rowel hissed as he leaned back from the almost offensively cold crystal. Alana could even feel how the air cooled in the area around the platform. “It’s not really a puzzle or a test, just a damn feat of strength- ah, hum. You… you must be the legendary Wivanya. Truly a pleasure.”

Mark Rowel twisted abruptly as he realized that it wasn’t just Hank and Alana that walked over, but dragons as well. And Alana gave the man quite a bit of credit for having the presence of mind to offer polite conversation to Wivanya. But Alana supposed there were quite a few individuals at the party that were… unusual. Dragons were at least an archetype people were familiar with.

Wivanya nodded sagely. “Yes, I am the Frost Dragon Broodmother. These are some of my offspring. Please forgive them if they are not quite yet ready for normal human interaction. Perhaps I have spoiled them somewhat due to affection.”

To that, Mark Rowel released a surprised chuckle. “I understand completely; I have a daughter, and as far as I can tell, she is a little hellion around anyone but me. Some of the complaints her principal tells me...”

While the two continued to discuss parenting, Alana turned to Richter. “Difficult?”

“Very.” He gave her a short bow and then gestured to the stand. “I believe we can brute force the test if we work together… but you should examine it first so you understand the difficulty. It is… complex.”

Nodding, Alana extended her hand toward the ice, careful not to touch. Compared to when she was touching the tiles, extending her image outward was much more difficult during regular actions. But still, she could easily manage it with her current image. But then Alana entered the area directly around the target bit of ice and her image floundered and collapsed. After blinking in shock, Alana tried again.

...so this is Nether, Alana reflected as she struggled against the suppression that kept her image from affecting the ice. It was a very different sensation from fighting against another’s image. Combating an image directly was like trying to run a mile while wearing weights: mostly reliant on your own inner strength. But this… this was like trying to run a mile while someone was actively trying to stop you by digging ditches in your way. Rather than struggling, what it did was sabotage you directly.

Growling to herself, Alana focused her will to a burning speartip. The blasting power of the sun washed outward. The task of defeating the suppression wasn’t exactly more difficult than it normally would be… it was simply different. Or at least, that was what Alana thought at first. But once she started directly countering the energy that suppressed her image, that very same energy seemed to go ballistic. Now it began to struggle against her. Alana had to rapidly escalate the amount of mental energy she was expending in order to keep up with its image assault.

Alana likely would have stayed locked in that struggle for a long time had it not been for Wivanya who moved her head over and blew a gust of cooling air across the back of her neck. With a twitch, Alana came back to herself and found that she was starting to sweat.

“Difficult?” Hank asked with a serious expression. Alana nodded. Both frowned at the pedestal in front of them.

“As I said, we might need to just brute force it. If one person handles the strange suppression, another can attack the ice directly,” Richter said with a sharp smile. “A difficult test for a single person, but with two powerful image users…”

Alana snorted. “...I hope it is that easy. But… I have to ask this. Have you ever… interacted with Randidly Ghosthound in the past?”

Richter tilted his head to the side. Because he was in his wheelchair, he looked up at Alana. His eyes were incredibly intense. And Alana didn’t forget the flash of hatred she had felt from him. “...I assume what you are implying is that I am underestimating him? The truth is I have not ever spoken to him. Earlier was the first time I have seen him in person as well. Although I have read extensive reports on what he has accomplished during his adventures. I don’t hesitate to say that he, as an individual, is likely responsible for over 50% of the success our world has had in its interaction with the System.”

Almost like he’s some sort of savior, Alana thought with only a little bit of bitterness. But out loud, she spoke with a smile. “I agree with your assessment. But I’ve also seen first hand the work that he puts into every task he takes on. So believe me when I say… we might need more than two people to beat this.”