Once he had Derek and Tim’s agreement to the Engraving project, things began to accelerate. Randidly basically lectured Delilah into staying on a semi-permanent basis with the Moss’s in order to keep her someplace predictable. Then he worked out a schedule with Tim for his assistance.

At Tim’s current knowledge of Engraving, it would take quite a while until Tim would be of any substantive assistance with creating the Engraving for the floating islands. But since it was Friday night, Randidly whisked Tim off to his Alpha Cosmos and dropped him off with Lucretia for a crash course in the basics of Engraving.

In the meantime, Randidly also traveled through his Alpha Cosmos to pay a visit to Wendy.

Their meeting was a tension-filled tea session in Wendy’s office while both made small talk and sipped at their steaming beverages. The longer this went on, the more Wendy began to sweat and pull at her collar, rambling on about how important her current research was even though she never spoke with enough specificity for Randidly to have any idea what her research entailed.

Not that Randidly minded; his bait was already out there. He just needed to wait for Wendy to bite down on the hook.

Especially after the discussion at the Moss’s regarding the teaching situation in Kharon, Randidly’s would not let this opportunity to enlist Wendy’s brilliance pass. After Tim had run out of things he could remember about the tasks they had been given, Delilah had been quite happy to chime in and list off dozens of dumb things about the current educational system in Kharon.

Most of the information Randidly had heard before, in a more palatable form, from an overview he had been given on the education program. Yet it was more alarming to hear how the children received it.

It would take some time to figure out how accurate Delilah’s statements were, but Randidly had already sent a message to Tatiana to give him the comprehensive version of Kharon’s teaching doctrine. Still, it had firmed his resolve to rebuild the system from scratch. And the mechanisms of Kharon Academy would be central to that effort.

Even if it was just a complex building, that complex building built above a labyrinth would become a symbol. As Randidly had experienced with the thriving image of independence and creativity in Kharon, a symbol was a very powerful thing for motivating people.

Finally, Wendy could stand it no longer and set down a ginger snap cookie. “I… uh… had some spare time before bed… I’ve glanced through those schematics that you passed to me. A little, immature… but the idea is… ah… mildly interesting…”

Wendy was practically squirming in her chair. While grinning from ear to ear mentally, Randidly shook his head sorrowfully and waved his hand. “Yes, well, I thought so too. And we had just approved a significant budget to have it built… so many rare materials were gathered in order to expedite the construction… yet we simply couldn’t find an architect with enough confidence to take the project and nurture it to completion. Such a tragedy.”

Wendy coughed into a napkin. “Yes, well. There are significant flaws with many of your ideas… heh, and human engineers… well, you know…”

“Yes of course. They were simply overwhelmed by the complexity of the project.” Randidly said in mock-sorrow. Then he continued to shake his head. “What I don’t understand is why they wouldn’t be tempted to try it anyway! Considering the growth of the moss spirits around Kharon, they have an almost limitless energy source at their fingertips. The sort of innovations they could make are practically infinite.”

Wendy licked her lips. “Well obviously the energy source isn’t limitless. But considering the growth of the engine in Kharon….unnghhh… certainly, the amount of ambient energy grants whoever is at the helm of such a project vast flexibility… the experiments one could run… but… someone like that would probably need specific Classes in order to take advantage of that opportunity.”

Randidly chewed on his lip while thinking of how to ratchet up the tension on Wendy. “...you know, that makes sense-”

“Give me two Class lighthouses that fit my specifications and I’ll take over the project,” Wendy snapped. Then her hands jumped to cover her mouth as though she was shocked by the suddenness of what she said.

Randidly blinked. Then he began to laugh. “...that was your goal the entire time, huh? So I guess you already knew I was trying to tempt you into helping.”

“Of course. Do you ever come to visit me if you don’t need something?” Wendy said sourly. She picked up the discarded ginger snap and nibbled at the edge of it. Then she put it back down. “But… I’ll admit the project is interesting.”

After thinking about Wendy’s request for a bit, Randidly nodded slowly. He was now just a normal individual within the Alpha Cosmos, but his ‘normal’ abilities still put him head and shoulders above the most powerful individuals in the Alpha Cosmos. In addition, his recent experimentations with physical manifestations of his images seemed to have created a vast underground network of caves that were currently unexplored. Within them, a casual scan had found a few unactivated Class Lighthouses.

“I can show you two lighthouses, but you will be in charge of getting the right Classes from them. Select the first user carefully-” Abruptly, something occurred to Randidly. A grin spread across his face. “Actually, I have another thought…”

After Randidly discussed his idea with Wendy, she agreed to pass word on to the other populations within the Alpha Cosmos. With that confirmation, Randidly returned to Earth and met with Tatiana and Wolfram to discuss the concrete details of the first two floating islands as well as some political issues inherent in the project. Reading the relevant maps sent over by Vye, they identified some valuable and unique areas that they should target in the borderlands before any of the Zones expanded outward and annexed them.

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The meeting stretched on much longer than they had anticipated, taking them well past the setting of the sun. Eventually, Randidly had to cease the impromptu strategy meeting in order to return to his Soulskill and pick up Tim from Lucretia’s care. When he dropped Tim back off at his family’s apartment, the kid was mumbling unintelligibly to himself and casually drawing Engravings on a piece of wood. Luckily, Derek wasn’t yet home from his Order Ducis shift and Randidly could flee without trying to explain the reaction.

Through the night, Randidly spent some time repairing his Nether Nebula. As with drops of liquid Aether, that grey Nether bubble he had conjured was the accumulation of all of the weight that Randidly had gathered for several months. Luckily, once expended, that weight would gradually reaccumulate. So with his tending, the Nether Nebula soon regained enough of its former potency that Randidly needed to restrain it, lest it affected the surrounding space.

With the sunrise, Randidly sent out several messages to various political entities on Earth, revealing a few concrete details regarding the duos tournament. Then he went to the Moss’s apartment to bring Tim back within his Alpha Cosmos and continue his crash course in Engraving. But Randidly was taken by surprise when Delilah wanted to come as well.

When asking nicely didn’t work, she threatened him with both violence and telling her parents. When threatening didn’t work, she begged and clung stubbornly to his leg. Finally, in the interest of conserving time, Randidly relented and brought her along too. Delilah was a bit unpredictable in her actions, but at the very least, she was extremely talented. Perhaps Lucretia teaching some structure would do her some good.

Then Randidly had to go to the legs of Kharon and update the Engraving there, using his understanding of gravity due to the improved Stillborn Phoenix in order to decrease the physical weight of Kharon on the ground below it. Apparently, there had been complaints from the Zones that Kharon’s passage damaged the ground.

The damage left in the city’s wake was relatively small, so far as Randidly could tell, but since Kharon was currently making a beeline for the Orchard in Zone 1, he wanted to completely silence Kharon’s critics before they could even open their mouths. And when Randidly complained about how exhausting keeping up with the running of a city was, Tatiana laughed in his face.

It took a while for her mirth to subside enough for her to speak. “How do you think I feel? Randidly, you can literally solve all these problems with a little time and focus. Most of the rest of us just need to make do with what we have. That’s why you are such a valuable strategic asset for Kharon. That’s the mundanity of being the most powerful man in the world. You are too efficient at solving problems for your own good.”

She patted his back fondly and left, chuckling the entire time.

*****

Kadir cracked his knuckles when the contents of the message was announced to the room. Everyone’s face was grim. “Your majesty, this Ghosthound shows us all disrespect. First, he said that we are being plotted against by Zone 1, now he expects us to do nothing in the face of this conspiracy until the tournament? We-”

“Silence, you fool,” King Phirun didn’t bother to glare at his subordinate. The only thing that was necessary was his image. Despite the fact that the man was a two-meter tower of tattooed muscle, he quickly was shaking and took a step back in the face of King Phirun’s focus.

King Phirun allowed his image to fade. His heavy-lidded eyes shifted from his most powerful warrior and scanned the surrounding group of elite troops he had gathered in preparation of the duo tournament. Idly King Phirun drew lines across his bulging stomach with his right hand. “Can anyone tell me why I am not angry at the Ghosthound’s words?”

The question was a trap and King Phirun’s followers knew it. They all lowered their eyes deferentially; none would dare speak for their sovereign. To do so would be treason. King Phirun eventually smiled and asked a different question. “Or perhaps, why is the Ghosthound’s action not disrespectful to me?”

Again, no one answered. But this time, King Phirun was not going to let them off. His image grew increasingly heavy in the surrounding air as the silence stretched onward. King Phirun’s image was conjured from a memory, from the horrible tsunami that had leveled his village to the ground when he was a boy. To this day, he still awoke sweating from the nightmare of that day when he fell asleep in a place where he could hear the sea. It was why Ifrenne was the City in the Clouds.

That fear and panic in King Phirun’s heart became a cudgel. That sense of overwhelming helplessness in the face of nature’s power became his strength, which he then unleashed in the surrounding area. The weaker amongst his guards began to squirm underneath the pressure. Still, no one could come up with an answer.

King Phirun began to frown. Strength was not enough in this world. A true warrior also needed the instinct to discern when one should strike and when one should flee. If no one present had that instinct… his people had no hope of winning the tournament unless he participated. Which would be a great loss of face for him.

King Phirun intensified the pressure. Everyone was trembling now, and the nearest guards were gritting their teeth so tightly the muscles of their jaw were bulging. Then a voice cut through the silence. “Because the Ghosthound is strong!”

When King Phirun smiled, his image vanished. He turned to look at the speaker. The man was standing at the back of the assembled warriors, leaning against his spear and breathing heavily. Perhaps the weakest of his guards, Tosam, had spoken. And it seemed like he hadn’t spoken willingly. But he had spoken anyway because he could no longer withstand the weight of King Phirun’s image.

It seems this Tosam is intelligent, King Phirun noted as he studied the kneeling man. If he had not spoken, he would simply have collapsed. That would show weakness. To show weakness as a member of the greatest group of warriors, he would have been killed…

“Yes, because he is strong,” King Phirun said aloud. “If he were an equal, this would be disrespectful and I would kill his subordinates for such a slight to my honor. But… in this world, Randidly Ghosthound is the sole man unequivocally stronger than me. For the strong to speak to the weak… that is already a sign of great respect. So I will simply accept the content of the message and act accordingly.

“That is the way of the strong. So it is now… so it will be, someday, when I become the strongest individual in the world.”

Then King Phirun patted his belly. “Alright, leave me. Ah, except Kadir and Tosam. I have a mission for you two.”