Prologue 3 (Part 1) Cultivation Zest, Ego Trampled and Bullies.

She woke up early to meet a smiling aunt downstairs in her garb that allowed free movement; a blend between a Kimono and a Taiichi student outfit pink at the edges, collar and the cuffs, also having swirling designs of half a flower scattered over the body.

"I saw the fire in your eyes, I knew you would start making moves."

Kazu Nini had paused in her descent down the stairs, hoping the lady would not stop her, "and?"

"I will help as much as I can."

"Okay, but you can only interfere with intensity or when I specifically call."

She smiled, "fine with me."

Stretching exercises of all her joints – such as rolling or bending - preceded plyometrics like burpees and frog jumps for her speed or reaction times, light body building was next, and then, now that she was at Divine Level 2 she had to carry 40 pieces of stacked 2 Times Reinforced glass out of the deep water and merge them before adding them to her eye spectacles.

She began the conversion process of changing the Ko-jin from a liquid state of matter to a solid one for about an hour, and now that they had spent 2 hours working out, she turned to Mako Nini who had been silent most of the while.

"I see your dedication, and you might not even need my help, save martial arts.

***

That Monday, Mako Nini had personally taken her in a transport vehicle and walked her to class before leaving. Kazu Nini was used to being ignored, so when she got stares of curiosity because of her aunt's prescence, she felt painfully awkward. Dropping her off at class, her aunt spoke with the school principal, giving him an impromptu visit before she left.

A month later, colder winds but still the season of fall, she had hit the 3rd stage as she had condensed all the Ko-jin in her body repeatedly till it was now mostly solid. When the Pixie had wanted to hit the 3rd stage, Kazu Nini had to make the gelatinous or liquid form of her Ko-jin form 'tunnels' that latched firmer unto the face of the organs, allowing them to push a bit into each organ so that they formed small 'mounds' within that had antennae atop these 'mounds' which resembled nerve endings that were inside the organs.

Now, her next mission was to connect more tendrils to the surface of her muscles all over her body, like the nervous system.

Mako Nini also had her add 45 pieces of slab to her glasses, the way she had done when she wanted to first awaken her potential and had been doing before that. Albeit this time, it was Triple reinforced Glass which was infinitesimally close to steel. She had taken extra care to study her clay and glass more thoroughly and could split her mind into more pieces as her mental energy grew with her; the side effect of not only being Pixie but braking though into cultivation with that method.

However, even though her niece was getting stronger day by day, she still always followed her to school to make sure she was safe. Kazu Nini thought the older lady was worried for nothing and even though she sometimes complained about it, she was happy to have her loved one beside her, much more than before.

Mako Nini was being cautious about the incident with the purse.

Two months pass, at the end of December with the snow almost heavy, and she was now at the 4th stage of cultivation, with 50 slabs of Triple Reinforced Glass into her spectacles and her getting better at the offshoot of a martial art known as Wing Chun. Kazu Nini's Ko-jin was now observing clearly visible light blue gaseous substance that 'sought' to spread as much of itself over the surface area of her muscles.

With growing control over glass, she was finally mentally strong enough to place shards of glass into clay she was molding so that it looked like she could mold the clay with her mind, but she was not there yet; when she had encountered her first tribulation, keeping the dolls on her had multiplied their strength and tenacity, so she was beyond happy when she found out that she could do this.

At this point, she knew she was laughed at in school, being one of the kids whose parents still accompanied them to school but her relationship with teachers were totally opposite to that as they commended her serious approach that she took education with.

Which meant that she now had a higher chance for a scholarship.

***

Now in the year 10,458, six months since she began cultivation and on the month of March – the 10th day - snow that was not absorbed into the tanks beneath the roads for later use by the communities lay in clumps and her aunt had gifted her a lunch pack.

That morning, her aunt had made food her as usual and then told her to close her eyes.

"Why, what is happening?"

She heard the ruffling of a present and she was kept at suspense until she heard the word, "open."

Kazu Nini saw a cuboidal structure before her and opened it, eager to see what lay beneath the wraps and it was a…lunchbox.

She raised her head, hoping it was a joke and there was more but reading her aunt's face it seemed it was real and she feigned happiness.

"What?"

"Nothing, this is awesome."

She almost snorted but understood the girl's feelings. "This is for your effort in cultivation, it is only appropriate that I motivate you."

She shrugged, "It is not that big a deal."

Mako Nini raised a brow. "You hit the first stage the same week you awakened, after meticulously connecting everything that seemed like an organ in your body to the tendrils leading to your core; second week you hit the 1st level; fourth week; you went unto the second and made the tendrils form tunnels into your organs, precise to the degree where it had protruded endings like those of nerves. Still not forgetting to manually shape your Ko-jin in the process and stage 3 connecting the tendrils to your skin, as many as you could, at the end of the month." Now she stepped forward, as her voice went on, tinged with pride. "December - the third month since you began cultivation – your tendrils, now in the form of liquid merge fully with the muscle and now, six months after you started cultivation, are stage 5. I am impressed to say the least."

Kazu Nini had noticed the slight altering of the shape of her Ko-jin core but she had never taken it seriously and it did not seem to be. She was just wondering why it was such a big deal now but maybe the lunch box was more special than she thought. So, she raised it to her eye level and smiled to Mako Nini's celebration she was now Divine Early 5.

"I won't be following you today."

Her stomach dropped but she swallowed and covered up the disappointment in her face. Mako Nini must have known the impact of it which was why she had given her the lunchbox. A gift for appeasing the young girl.

She walked into the bus today, feeling very confused – she had added the 55 pieces to her spectacles so why would her aunt suddenly decide to stop following her. She thought it should be impressive. She missed Kivon and Devon trying to get her attention, and funny enough when she sat down, closing her eyes to cultivate out of both habit and an attempt to forget that Mako Nini was not carrying her to school today, she made the twins feel like she was shunning them out of arrogance and they snorted at her, planning revenge.

School that day was like every other; school assemblies, classes and breaks. For the last class though, while she was sculpting the model of the Puma she had seen months before with the aid of her impressive mental energy that made remembering things painfully easy, she was thrown several balls of crumpled paper until she turned around to face Kivon and Devon who would not *just* stop. The Sprite twins seemed to be having fun as they laughed until she looked at them before returning back to her work. The instant the teacher left the class to pick up a book which he forgot at the staff canteen, they approached her, standing behind her.

"What's up?"

They laughed as one of them tapped her head and did not seem like he was going to stop after the first time.

"How are you, Kazu? And where does your confidence come from?"

She did not have time for this and adding that Mako Nini had decided today not to come did not help her mood.

"Still ignoring us, eh?"

This time, her head was pushed into the sculpture and she turned around to regard them, her body shaking like a leaf in a storm. "You still have not told me what you want."

The kids in the class were staring at what was happening, some of them had already turned on their Telewatches to record what was happening.

Devon laughed as Kivon splashed paint over the Puma and now the shaking stopped. Kazu Nini was perfectly still until, she quickly held the dolls in her pocket. Why was she holding back? Maybe this was a drawback to mental energy and raising her mind before even she broke through into cultivation. Thinking too much had to be hand in hand with acting. Now, she knew that, if they attacked her again, she would retaliate.

"We will see you later, Nini."

"Bye, sucker."

The teacher arrived exactly a minute later and with that timing, Kazu Nini did not believe it was mere coincidence, she knew that they were cultivators too and they must have sensed the teacher's approach. Their ego could only be boosted that much if they felt that they had power. Maybe they were above her in terms of cultivation, maybe that made them feel superior to her.

She smiled, trying to hold back her anger and turned back to the sculpture. It now had terrible paint on it and the paint mixed with the parts that were not dry. Taking a breath in, she started again.

Kazu Nini left the class when the bells rung and she was going to her locker to drop her books when she noticed that the crowd were all angling and pushing her towards a certain direction. Her senses told her this was definitely the case but it had never happened to her before, so she could not understand.

Plus, she really needed that scholarship.

When she was shoved into a washroom, so suddenly done so by Devon that she could not even react, who trailed ahead of Kivon and a group of students who wanted to make sure they captured this on their Telewatches.

"Hello world, let me introduce Kazu Nini, the bold Pixie who in fact believes that she is above the law." The kids on their Telewatches all chorused, "Our Law is the only Law."

Standing before the toilet stalls, she kept a calm gaze, clutching her dolls tight. Lights flashed about her, reminding her that she was on several cameras at the moment.

"You think you are tough?"

She endured a swift kick to her ankles that she allowed until she fell to the ground.

"Who do you think you are?"

She endured a slap to her cheek she silently took and several prodding and slaps after that.

"Let me show you the truth."

Now, feet were on her and rubbing their filth over most spaces they could find. When she realized that she looked too confident and they would not stop anytime soon, she began crying.

Finally satisfied, Devon and Kivon said "Stop." And everyone complied, "let's move from the filth." They all left in their laughter and sneers, and she waited even after they left, before standing up. Seeing the footprints on her body, she walked around the education block to the playground, passing by people who spoke in whispers, and dabbled in the sand; adding to her new fan base.

She did not need Mako Nini caring about this, especially after the whole lunchbox thing.

She went through her bag to notice the lunch box was gone and she grabbed her hair in anger before comforting herself, why did she even care? The lady just used it as a gift of appeasement.