There was nothing left to be taken care of so they all returned to the academy to make final preparations. Alex didn"t have much information about the dimension he was supposed to go conquer, he had no idea what was the current state of the war there between his army and between the locals of the dimension, and because of that he was unable to determine what sort of supplies to take along.But he had a few plane keys and the blueprints for making one, while it was not as permanent as a planetarium, it was the only available option for him as the planetarium on the Morgana only had one location on it, and that was earth. He would be able to register a new location once he gets to the dimension, but even then, the Morgana wasn"t strong enough yet to make trips across dimensions, he had to at least improve on its flaws and wait for its consciousness to awaken that way a high degree of accuracy could be achieved when travel between dimensions was required.
As for the tower, it has become an important resource for the Wudang clan, so his uncle was coming to take over all of its operations. Miranda wanted to stay back, even if she was now bound to Alex and had to follow him, she was not like Yun Fao and Louis who were under extreme oaths to put their lives on the line for him should the situation call for it.
But beyond that, none of the students of the beggar"s sect would be coming along, Hideki, Cross, Sarah and Rahim would be staying behind as the beggar"s sect had decided to stay out and not partic.i.p.ate in this year"s ark wars, and they had given the order to all of their students to abstain from any sort of partic.i.p.ation. For Yun Fao who had hit it off with Sarah during the burial, this was the most unlikely of situations, but never the less this was how it"s supposed to be.
They would remain in the tower and continue their studies, meanwhile Alex, Anya, Xiao Mei, Louis, Yun Fao, Sabine, Sabina and Sabrina would be going. But it wasn"t just them, Victoria and Louis"s elder brother Leroy. Apparently the emperor had given the order that any of his children that has the b rightest performance during this ark war, would become the crowned royal and next in line for the throne.
But he also required that they start from a lesser position than most, so for those of them willing to go after the throne, they were all given major dimensions to conquer or asked to help certain individuals to conquer dimensions of their own. Which was what was happening with Victoria now, the emperor even decreed that they were only allowed to bring a single aid, and nothing else. She basically had to rely on the foresight, fort.i.tude and resources of her ally to win this, and in this case, it was her betrothed Alex.
But all preparations were made except for one thing, and on the eve of their departure, Alex finally decided to re-forge (West Wind) and (East Cloud), and this time he was going to make sure they were stronger and the best of anything he"s ever had the pleasure of forging. And to do that he had prepared himself and his materials for days on end and properly too.
Sky Steel, Luminalium for Aesthetic purposes, two petals from the five vein element treasure, Stellar mythril, and Spirit crystal (the same one he had found in the infernal prison dimension) and finally special array/warding ink that his father had left, along with the Stellar mythril, and finally Deep Wind Emerald.
Both sky steel and stellar mythril were neutral materials, depending on the forging method, the end product would be either qi or mana attributed. But going with his own method, Alex knew both would end up dual attributed. As it stood, he wasn"t going to combine both materials, while east wind and west cloud were a pair, Alex wanted uniqueness and originality between both swords.
Stellar Mythril will serve as the base for west wind, while the sky steel will serve as the base for east cloud. He would combine Luminalium with the ink to make the best wards, and give the swords a colorful edge or groove. The spirit crystal makes it possible and a lot easier for spirit energy to run through both blades, and it would rapidly help them evolve. Besides for them to become dual attributed, and that also came from the combination with the deep wind emerald, which was a qi attributed material, and the spirit crystal was a mana material capable of refining spirit energy in trace amounts.
These final two would help solidify the combination, so while Sky steel and Stellar Mythril would be the base for both swords, everything else would be the same to establish a sense of connectivity between both swords. And as for the designs of the swords, Alex had something different in mind than the norm.
Both would be single edge blades that are rectangular rather than ending in a point like traditional long swords. Their blunt edges would be capable of combining together to then create a single double edge long sword with the combined powers and abilities of both swords, and this would serve a more destructive style of combat as Alex would cleave his way through a battlefield like a berserker as opposed to his normal methodical and swift style of combat.
After forging the swords, Alex would have loved to forge himself some armor, but he would wait until he got to the dimension and see exactly what he has to deal with. Beyond that he also had to find a way to begin proper alteration, modification and improvements on the vehicles he had taken from the Aenz automobile industries, with a bit more focus on the Morgana.
"Alex? If you"re not to busy can we talk?" Anya asked as she walked into the office. There were papers and rough sketches of designs allover Alex"s table, along with some of the materials he had to use for the forging.
"Anya? I"m not busy…well I was about to go forge, but I can make the time. Are you oaky?" Alex asked as he got up and went to her side. As he drew closer he realized one starling factor, and that was the fact that he was now as tall as she was, honestly he didn"t notice until this very moment.
"Do you think when were done with this Ark War we can go back home? Its been a long time since we"ve been there, and I really miss my mom…and everyone else." There was a solemn look on her face as she asked, which honestly wasn"t something she needed to do, but she wanted him to go with her.
"Of course Anya, it"s been almost if not more two years since we left home, you probably miss everyone there. But why are you asking, you know I won"t stop you if you want to go back home." Alex said completely missing the point, but Anya was not the kind of girl to hide her feelings, whether they be positive or negative, she was always true to herself and the people she cared about.,
"I know, you wouldn"t dare, not unless you want to die. But the thing is…I want you to go with me, our engagement was done in such an annoying and disgraceful manner its left me feeling really guilty. I know you and I are not people who really give a s.h.i.t about traditions, but I always imagined I would get married the way those young girls in the capital do.
You"ll come home, ask for my hand, pay the dowry and then have the traditional marriage with lots of dancing and masquerades, and then the white wedding with me in a wedding dress with rings and all of those things combined, I know it sounds stupid, but…." Alex was shocked to say the least, this was a side of Anya he never knew existed, no matter how and how long he had known her.
"If that"s what you want, then let"s do it that way. I have to marry Victoria in three years or less when I"m 18, but we never said that I was going to wait until that time for me to marry you. The longest duration of an Ark war is eight months, as soon as its done, let"s go back home and do all the things you want, there"ll be a big party and your mom, your brothers and your little sister and your crazy a.s.s father would be there to celebrate with us. Anything you want." Alex said to her as he pulled her close into an embrace.
"You Promise?" she asked as she placed her head on his shoulder.
"Who do you think you"re talking to, I"m Childe Spirit wind, the spirit king of this universe, there"s nothing I can"t do, and there"s no mountain, valley, river, ocean or world I wouldn"t move for you to be happy."
"I hold you to your Promise MR. I CAN DO ANYTHING, I love you Alex." She whispered to him, and he hugged her tighter with a more p.r.o.nounced smile on his face.
"I Love you too Anya, always and forever, till the skies fall and the sea boils over in flames and ash rains from the sky and everything becomes nothing, I love till the world ends!"