It was midnight as the Dralh Sea glowed bluish-green, making the surroundings as bright as day. The water was cold, with small sheets of ice sailing its surface. Below a depth of forty metres were Pranic Beasts, moving about to hunt each other in large schools.
From time to time, a massive Pranic Beast would approach the surface and swat away the sheets of ice in its way to inhale copious sums of air before retreating deep into the waters.
Two figures flashed amongst the waves, running across the surface as if it were flat land. Chase, flee, duck, evade; performing acrobatics while trying to touch each other but failing was Inala and Gannala.
"You're improving quickly, Dad," Gannala said and lunged forward, intending to grab Inala who evaded by leaping ten metres away.
"It's hard," Inala said, stumbling as one of his feet sunk into the water. He quickly reduced its density to ensure it wouldn't sink in and instead stood on the surface by making use of the water's surface tension.
Inala raised his body density for a moment to kick the water surface and right upon generating the momentum, reduced his density to the limit, hence able to leap away. Of course, being light as a feather had its consequences.
His body had a large surface area, which meant he would face tremendous air resistance if his body was as dense as a leaf. Therefore, right after his feet left the water surface, he would have to raise his density to the limit.
Only then would his jumping momentum not be negated by air resistance.
Following that, right at the moment of landing, he would have to reduce his density. But this was even more complex than jumping. For if his density was minimal, then the faint waves on the sea would send him flying.
Therefore, at the point of contact, he would have to actuate his density and centre of gravity in a way that accentuated the sea's waves, able to surf their surface, constantly varying his density accordingly.
A mistake and he would either sink or be washed away.
In the aquatic environment, it was a necessity to be able to move on water as quickly as possible. Before he targets Wittral, Inala had to master this movement. Hence, he was taking Gannala's help.
At the age of five, Gannala had accepted a quarter of her inheritance. Hence, she had a plethora of experience in moving on water. This was something attempted by all Empyrean Tusks when they were in human forms.
As the previous Gannala received an inheritance from 188 Empyrean Tusks, there was a plethora of experience to draw from for the current Gannala.
Simply training wouldn't suffice. Hence, Inala and Gannala were playing tag. This way, Inala would have to multitask while running on the water, which is exactly what he planned to do later.
"Hehe!" Gannala suddenly grinned as her body slumped into the water, proceeding to a depth of a hundred metres as she increased her body's density sharply. Following that, she became featherweight, causing the water's buoyant force to shoot her towards the surface.
Using the momentum, Gannala blazed towards the surface, and right at the moment she was about to break through the surface tension and enter the air, she abruptly increased her body density, trapping her within the surface tension.
The water's surface formed a mound as Gannala diverted the force laterally, sending her flying right under the water surface like a bullet and made a beeline toward Inala. "Got you, Dad!"
With a spin, she exited the water, forming a small vortex as she grabbed Inala by the leg and spun him around, "You can't beat me with my power."
"Haha! Again!" Inala said as he landed on the water, using all his focus to not sink as he slid on the water and used the momentum to spin once and get up smoothly. He took a step forward and sunk into the water, performing the same trick as Gannala.
"It's not easy, Dad." Gannala grinned as Inala failed to break the surface tension, stuck right under the surface as he began spinning in place, caught within the vortex he had created.
"Fuoh!" Inala gasped for air as he surfaced, shaking his head to sprinkle the water in his hair. He got up and began to train.
Standing on the beach and watching him, with his actions highlighted in her vision like a slow-motion film was Asaeya. She rested her chin on her hand, tilting her head faintly to the side, her face subtly blushing as she took a gander at his side view.
Her breathing accelerated mildly, 'He's become more handsome!'
"Alright, we'll take a break," Inala said after two hours of playing tag, having expended his Prana. As he approached the shore, Gannala leaped onto his back, giggling as she caused him to drown.
"You let down your guard, Dada!" Gannala laughed as she evaded him and ran to the shore.
"…" Inala swam to the shore, out of Prana. He walked out of the water and shivered at the cold, for without Prana, he wasn't able to use Mystic Bone Art to transmit the heat in his stomach to the rest of his body.
"Here, let me dry you." Asaeya approached him with a towel and began to dry him, for a moment staring at his toned biceps in a daze.
"I can do it myself…" Inala said and extended his hand towards the towel, only to see Asaeya pull it away fiercely.
"Do this instead," She said and gave him a Prana Bomb, "Drink it and replenish your Prana."
Gannala observed Asaeya's blatantly obvious actions and rolled her eyes. She exhaled warm air and dried herself in a matter of seconds. She digested a few Prana Bombs in her stomach to begin replenishing her Prana.
She then approached Ralral and asked, "What are the Free Humans up to?"
"Oblivious, and working," Ralral spoke, in the same tone and style as before. Well, she wasn't the original Ralral but a puppet version of her.
Her corpse was transformed into a puppet, supplied internally with Lifeforce from a bunch of miniature Life Bombs. This way, her body didn't rot and was maintained in the same state as when she was alive.
Currently seated in her lungs were a bunch of miniature Empyrean Zinger Scouts, taking charge of controlling her body. They were all fed with Ralral's data, and hence able to act as her.
It wasn't impossible to immediately behave as her, since they needed some time to comprehend the vast volume of data. Therefore, they were practicing.
Inala had a few Prana Bombs and Life Bombs with her Prana and Lifeforce respectively. They would be used for the time when the Ralral puppet would have to appear like the original before her Cooter Clansmen.
As Inala didn't have the Prana of the other Cooter Clansmen, he couldn't make her puppets. But Ralral puppet was merely one part of his preparation.
"I'll go and manage the Free Humans." Saying so, Ralral puppet walked away. In the meantime, a large group of Empyrean Zinger Scouts were busy repairing the tower, using Ralral's data to restore everything to its original state.
Led by the Empyrean Zinger King, a team of Empyrean Zingers were constructing two puppets. One was humanoid while the other was large, spanning a length of two hundred metres.
Even though it was a puppet, not even moving at present, barely a tenth in its construction, just its image alone caused the three Gold Grade Pranic Beasts observing Inala to flee farther away. Just the image alone was power. After all, it was the Boar King.
It was nothing much. Inala simply wanted to put the blame on the Boar King for kidnapping Wittral.