Prologue 26 (Part 1) Setting Up A Schedule, Bracing Up and Goading Illjako’s CEO.

 The new recruits had so much to talk about and discuss as the night trailed on. And after the nobles had left, the party members fanned out back to occupy where they once were before the music climbed in volume and everyone eventually danced more than they spoke.

 Kazu Nini's opponent this time was 2 levels ahead of her but what troubled her was that her roommates might not be able to keep up with her. She had made her own fight 2 points so maybe it would help cover up any mistakes they might make and since the only needed 3 points to win, then the Pixie might not even need to lift a single finger.

 "Hey, do you dance?" One of the new people approached her. He had the ears of an elf and a purple suit that trailed to his calves. His gelled hair brought out his eyes and the look in them reminded her that she needed to bond with these people.

 A picture of Jinja Kaliope flashed through her mind but she chided her sense of pity. "Yeah, but no grinding." Had she fallen for him? And if that was wrong or right, did that scare her?

 He laughed in response and for the next hours, they all had fun. At the end of it all, Kazu Nini and her friends walk towards their dorm with smiles, leaving last. A shadow then dropped from the sky as they were about to take further steps from the Gym and they all tensed. But when the tombstone became Loveth 2,4,5,1,7,9. they then relaxed.

 "You handled things well." Kazu Nini tipped her head as she tapped their shoulders for them to go on without her. Zlai Dfon pouted because she too wanted to get close to a staff but she eventually left. "You need to be careful of the nobles."

 "Not your problem, plus, they started it."

 "I know, but their connections run deep."

 "Thanks for your concern, how was your nap?"

 She did not know if her advice had sunk in, so she could only smile. "I did not have to wake up, so everything is alright. But the stakes were positions, so I will have to be there to witness it accordingly."

 Kazu Nini laughed and reached her room when they were done talking. And when she got there, she saw them with questioning eyes. "What I say in that conversation stays there." She did not like the pressure to keep rising in status just because she did not have a secure backing but hopefully that would not be forever. It was one thing to cultivate to get stronger, but having to rush the New Universe might not be the best thing for it.

 "I was impressed," Jagonu Nnahor's voice made her look at her. "You sensed the false spirit imitation."

 "What I read once," she reached into the refrigerator for a quick drink. "Is that Shapeshifters go through steps; you have the physical appearance, Ko-jin signature, body system, memories, fingerprints and even psyche or personality. He might not have gone far into his training is all."

 "But you must have trained your spirit?"

 "Oh, yeah."

 "How high?"

 "0.1"

 The Spirit paused, "it might be the shock of consciously training it for the first time or you might have high soul energy."

 "Probably both."

 The next day, she had already set her training regimen. If she had classes in the morning, she would do Spirit training before going to practice her move combination in the Training Stalls after. If she had the classes in the afternoon then Spirit training in the morning and Stalls in the night and if the classes where in the night then she trained both facets of her person first. And for the first week after, the classes were more of introductions and writing down the schemes of work and other more abstract or surface things pertaining to whichever subject. The time went by and the scheduled matches had their members between excited and anticipating, Kazu Nini had also gotten the shipments of clothing.

 So, her members all indicated their membership with the hand bands or anklets or clothing or waist bands or head bands. And they were all custom made, all writing New Universe in different ways. The staff, however, had a picture of them huddled together and Kazu Nini behind them but above them all in an Orb of Glass.

 She still had not received any other word from Mako Nini but she was not too bothered as she knew that her guardian was probably busy.

 That week, they had decided to go meet the alchemist, so that they could add up their results from the Exams and see how they could boost their cultivation. Kazu Nini did not know the power difference of someone 2 levels higher than her *and* who was also a noble.

 The 4 of them trailed around the science block until they found who they were looking for but a class was in session.So, after walking through the corridors that had a high ceiling and glass floors like the walls for several minutes, they stood behind the door. The class eventually all trailed out and Kazu Nini spotted the boy on the unicorn although he passed without glancing at her.

 "You like him?" The Goblin waggled her eyebrows.

 "No, he might be an asset." She walked into the class and was met with tables that were planted into the floor. These tables did not have legs whatsoever and looked like cuboids of slab that were decorated with color. In their surfaces were different scientific apparatus and many other paraphernalia. One constant on all the tables were that they all had sinks.

 "Good afternoon."

 The man raised his head up. And he first stared at them at eye level then, he kicked up the leg support that made him six feet until he became 5'1'' and finally reached the ground, almost got them shocked openly. "What do you want, ain't got all afternoon." His beard could be a mane and his bald head reflected the lights from up top.

 "We got rewards from exams and we were wondering if we could get them combined for maximum effect."

 When he was scowling at the ground as if dreading work, Kazu Nini added to what Zlai Dfon just said. "Prime Student status had them giving me a lot of gifts, as well as the highest position as freshmen students for them. I would like to know how best to take them effectively."

 He scowled as he regarded the Prime Student and her fellows. "You know success rates and the cadre of the Pill make the prices fluctuate, right?" Her mentioning who she was, and who the others were, seemed to have motivated him successfully.

 "Yes, we do."

 "Fine then, pick a leather bag and label what you want with paper and stick it to the bag with tape, then put the pills in the leather bag and come back a week later."

 "Can we watch the process?"

 He shot the Fairy a look, "think I have time to do it now?"

 "Apologies," Kazu Nini stepped back and bowed at the waist. "We will leave right now."

 "Off you go, bye."

 When they left the building, the gobbling could hide it no more. "What a nice guy."

 "He might be for the nobles or he might be having a bad day."

 "Or maybe that is just his personality."

 Kazu Nini went back to burying herself in training and study, the weeks going by.

***

 "Here again, we stand at the sight of another Demolition that has had a funny development." The Pixie who was in a LevitatingChair was having the camera man fom an angle that was directly opposite her as they hovered in a recent ruin. "The culprit who has been targeting a noble's businesses seemed to have become hailed as a hero because the similarities to all these industrial sites is that they have been people once locked up and who are also usually claiming to want to free his/her brethren. Let us s-"

 Mako Nini switched off the screen as a call interrupted what she was watching.

 "What is this? I demand an answer."

 "You thought I was joking the last time we met?" the Older Pixie laughed as she sipped wine. "Your address and all this could be over."

 "Do you know what you are doing?"

 "The last time I checked I was moving according to plan."

 "I ask you again, do you seem to know what you are doing?"

 "What do you mean? Just give me the answer, I have things to focus on."

 "Can you handle the fire you are building?"

 "Tell me where you are man, it is that simple."

 Silence, then, "fine then. I will send you the coordinates. But I need time first."

 She laughed, "are you scared of me?"

 "Do not be stupid, I am a busy man."

 "Ouch, how cold."

 "I will send them; do not you worry."

 "How long should I wait before I take down another branch of your businesses."

 "A month."

 "This guy… you really do not cherish your staff, eh?"

 "I am not explaining myself to you."

 "Fine, I will only wreck one more of yours." She smiled cheerily and waved. "I will make sure to have fun."

 She ended the call and began searching up more of the companies as her newest friends began laughing.

 "I think you enjoy this." The werewolf was on his back.

 "You would not believe it, but some things are just necessary to get progress."

 The Dark Elf walked into the basement bringing food with an expectant expression. "What happened this time?"

***

 Kazu Nini was getting ready for tomorrow's match.

 And she had wanted to first ingest the pill before her as she had felt waves of power pouring off it, just by standing close. But she needed to push herself in this cultivation level first so that her body acclimatized to this strength and would not have a shaky foundation. It had only been about a month that she had become Divine Early Level 7. So, she simply had an early wait and prepared herself for conflict on the morrow. Idly, she remembered Jinja Kaliope and realized that she had been neglecting him. Sighing, she focused on tomorrow's fight and thought about when she had met up with the alchemist.

 "So, what does that make this, then?"

 "If we named every combination of medicinal herbs, we would fill the libraries of all the worlds together." The dwarf had raised it out of the container it had come from. A gas came out before it did and filled the air until it almost became misty but the air vents in the room received it and passed it though their tunnels in the ceiling.

 Kazu Nini had not known how else to approach this but to repeat it again. "So, what does that make it then?"

 "Formerly a Tier 1 and although this is low Tier 2, it is still quite powerful for you in the Divine Early Stages. In fact, it will be beneficial even after you cross over to the next Trilogy."

 "What makes them different, exactly?"

 "I like your curious mind." He turned and his eyes turned soft for the first time in 3 weeks that she had known him. "Tier 1 are pills with singular effects; close up wounds, held with digestion, help with cultivation. Tier 2 however, have a compound effect. And are usually made through combinations."

 "Is there another tier?"

 "If you can concoct pills, come back to me and I will let you know."

 "This is not even my subject of study."

 "Then you would have to be brilliant to succeed in this." He jumped off his stool, "now, shoo, I have work."