image [https://cdn.midjourney.com/760d91a0-9322-409b-852c-ccba929074cb/0_0.png]

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It was an early Wednesday morning, ten minutes to seven when a woman stormed through the Dartmouth campus. Every single one of her steps carried an anger worthy of starting earthquakes, albeit the earth remained aloof to the bumf, bumf, bumf noise of her shoes on the alley.

She was wearing high heels but was not accustomed to them. Her legs were half-arched, trying to maintain her balance as she raised, then stomped down each foot. A five-minute-born calf would have been more gracious.

Vivid scarlet lipstick adorned her lips, and many curls her hair, colored red. She wore a dress that an Appalachian shotgun wedding would considered fashionable—the seems barely keeping together on her stocky body—and a fake leather purse. Behind her trailed three kids: a twelve-year-old chewing gum, with a round face and a bored expression, another boy half the first's age, the kind one looks upon and forgets its traits the next second, hand in hand with a toddler, a girl. The latter had a sweet candid expression, looking around with amazed eyes.

Stopping in front of an elegant mansion, the woman rested her hands on her hips and bellowed: "Kostel! Come out! I know you're in there."

Seconds later, the door opened and the guard erupted out, eyes widened, trying to tuck his shirt into his pants. "I-Ileana? W-what are you doing h-here?"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? This is what you mean by go work in the US and send money home?"

"Keep your voice down," Kostel blurted. "This is a Culti—"

"Hey, you whore!" the woman yelled, looking upward. "I know you're watching, I saw the curtain move. I dare you to come out and look into my eyes. Face the woman whose husband you stole!"

Half a minute later, Melinda appeared near Kostel, trying to keep her composure, keeping her night robe shut with a hand. Meanwhile, the toddler had begun whimpering, and her older brother took her behind a bush, to help her with a number one. He did the same afterward but on the corner of the house. Meeting Alchemy's horrified eyes, he winked and spat his chewing gum on the porch, zipping his pants.

"Come inside, let's talk this out like civilized people," Alchemy said, her voice choking.

"I won't step into a whore's house," the other woman hissed.

"Watch your tongue," Melinda hissed back, now angered.

"You want a piece of me, bitch?" the visitor yelled, looking around. Lacking better weapons, she grabbed her daughter and raised her, a living shield, ready to use her purse as a club. The toddler giggled, amused by the swinging. Melinda yelped and ran back into the house. "You want to leave me for this?" Kostel's wife sneered. "She's only skin and bones. You have a middle age crisis or?"

"I'm only thirty-five," Kostel, who until then stood paralyzed, dared to speak. "Honey… err… Ileana… let's keep our cool… I was thinking… about starting a harem… I earn enough money to take care of—"

"HAREM?" the woman screamed.

A window opened and a suitcase flew out of it. It opened once it hit the ground, revealing a mishmash of clothes and personal items. A bottle of cheap perfume broke, letting out a whiff of chemical ambergris. There were some words said by Melinda, but only a few reached the stealthed witness behind the hedge. Something about dreams that don't last and keeping in touch as friends.

That kid is like a mini Kostel, Peter thought, looking at the twelve-year-old, who was now lighting a cigarette.

Kostel had managed to pick up his things and close the suitcase back. His wife looked at him like a frog at a fly, then turned and walked away. The guard followed, his head lowered between the shoulders, sadder than a death row prisoner walking to the gallows. The procession disappeared, going in the staff quarters' direction.

the System said.

"Plenty of them, but for now, I will spare you," Peter said.

"Have you read the rules of the next match? The same, pure physical combat. No thanks… I'm in a vegan phase, I'm not in the mood to bite on Kostel's balls."

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An hour later, Impulse's dark net social media account received a private message. His next match was postponed to Friday, Kostel forfeiting. Just when Peter rejoiced at the thought of a free day, Regina called him to her apartment. Ariana and Naomi were there too.

"Melinda called me, asking to form a group of volunteers," Naomi said.

"Volunteers for what?" Peter asked.

"Distributing the vaccine to a mutant quarantine center. She received a second batch today."

Regina fondled his hand. "We volunteered… but I'd be glad if you could come… We'd spend some time together while doing important work."

"It's on another floor," Ariana said. "She said realm, but..."

"When do we leave?" Peter asked.

"Now," Regina said. "She's waiting for us."

"I need to change," Peter said. Going into the walking wardrobe, he left there his spatial storage, and in it, everything even remotely suspicious.

"You worried? Didn't you say you can't be detected if you don't chat? Keep your mouth shut for a change."

They left the apartment five minutes later. Arriving at Melinda's place, they knocked three times before she opened. It was the first time Peter saw her without makeup. Her face had traces of dried tears and wore a black training suit.

"Someone will come to pick us up," she said.

"Where are the vaccines?" Naomi asked.

Melinda raised a hand in the air, showing her a ring. "Spatial storage… why is he late?" she frowned, fiddling with her phone.

"I never saw Melinda so… casual," Ariana whispered.

"She broke up with Kostel," Peter sussured back.

"I can hear you," Alchemy hissed. "I did it to myself… The prince was only a frog in the end…"

"I'm sorry," Ariana said.

Melinda looked the girl in the eyes and was about to say something when a small thunder clapped and a Cultivator appeared. "My… cousin… Master Li Chu," she made the introductions.

Everyone else made a serious effort not to gasp or stare. His long hair was tied in a bun and died black, but the man was unmistakenly Grandmaster Li.

"Salutation… cousin Melinda," Li said, his acting awful. "How have you been?"

"Fine, fa… formidably fine," Melinda stuttered, her performance as worse. "How about you?"

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"I was able to free my schedule and register myself for the Arena tournament," Li said. "It will be an interesting season," the man rubbed his hands.

You bet?

Shut up! You said you don't want to be noticed, remember?

"Please, young cultivators, come near me," Li said. The light circle appeared on the ground, only this time fainter, and they were transported to another location. "I trust you to find your way from here, cousin."

"Of course, cousin," Melinda said. Li nodded and disappeared. They were in a one-mile-in-diameter plaza, under a white dome. A transport hub, there were giant round gates all around. Near one of those floated a small blimp, and Alchemy walked in that direction with firm steps, boarding it first.

When all the passengers were embarked, the blimp moved forward. A blue light shone in it, and then they appeared high in the air, in another place. The height offered a nightmarish panorama. A city, its size the equal of any megalopolis on Earth, lay in ruins, covered in thick layers of jungle. Above it floated a flying island, the size of Manhattan, and on it, intact structures. It was their destination.

"What happened to this place?" Peter asked.

Melinda sighed, lowering her eyes, and shifting her weight from one foot to another. It was a silent: 'We happened.'

To the left of the town, there was an enormous crater, slowly descending a thousand feet or more. On its bottom was a lake, and on its shores, monsters. Considering the distance, the smallest was the size of an elephant, and it was a baby. The larger specimens were the size of dinosaurs but looked nothing like the lizards. They… didn't resemble anything Peter had ever seen. Cats with horns and spikes on their back.

The blimp landed on a platform and they followed Melinda to a nearby facility. Everyone had to enter a locker room and dress in a hazmat suit. Outside, they were met by a team of about six men and women, dressed the same. Their gray hair and demeanor were a tell they were scientists. As well as the tags on the suits, each having a Dr. inscribed in front of a name.

the System said.

No Cultivators?

I take it dwarves are good at math.

"Follow me," an Asian woman said, taking the lead.

They went through a room that bathed them in a weird bluish light, then reached a hangar, big enough to hold a plane, but with rows of secured compartments, rectangles of about fifteen feet by ten, metal on three sides, glass on one. Inside, only a mattress and bowls for food and water, and monsters. They looked like a hybrid between dogs and primates but with no fur. Their skin was leathery, had claws on their feet but five human-like fingers on their hands.

"A Cultivator, or a trained assistant, will have to deal at times with sad cases of qi-corruption," Melinda said, approaching a cage. The vaccine box appeared in her hand despite the hazmat suit being in the way. "You are here to get used to it."

< High-quality storage,> the System said, a bit envious.

Taking smaller pouches with pills, Melinda offered them to her students. "We are here to test if the vaccine that worked on corrupted humans could work on another species. The names of the ones quarantined here are written on each cage. It helps if you say it… they kept a bare minimum of sentience… Watch what I do, then take a row each and do the same."

She approached the cage, clicking her tongue while pronouncing a syllable that to Peter's ears sounded like Kts or Tsk. The monster inside was sleeping, but as soon it heard the sound, left the mattress and approached the glass, putting a hand on it, like a form of salute. Alchemy mirrored the gesture with her hand, then opened a compartment and let the pill fall.

Closing the door back, she pushed a button. It allowed the box to be opened from the inside, that much was clear. The monster grabbed the pill and ate it. A moment later, it started to trash its legs and arms, convulsing on the floor.

"Have you put mercury and arsenic in your pills again?" one of the scientists sighed, staring daggers at Melinda.

"No!" she protested. "It didn't have this effect on humans!"

the System said.

Seconds later, the spasms ceased, and the monster raised in a bipedal stance, looking at the group with tearful eyes. "Thank you!" it screamed, banging its hands on the glass.

"Ah!" Melinda yelped, taking a step back.

"Thank you," the creature repeated. "I… remember… who… I was…"

"Unbelievable," the same scientist mumbled. "Melinda's mumbo jumbo worked. We need to run some tests."

"No, you don't," Melinda hissed. "Do I have to remind you who runs this place? The ones who are cured will be released into their natural environment, close to the place where they were captured. That's an order!"

"Thank you," the creature fell on its knees, hands in a praying gesture.

"But, think of what we could discover if—" the scientist tried to continue the idea, only to retch. It was the first time Peter saw Melinda using her aura. It was a powerful one.

"Go on," Alchemy said to her students. "We have enough pills."

Nodding to each other, Peter and the three girls started to distribute vaccines. An hour later, three hundred and fifty people were cured, thirty had spat out the pill, disliking the taste, four had died, and six showed no difference.

"I'll put it in their food," a scientist promised, making a list of the refuseniks. "It's amazing, Journeyman master Melinda… Your vaccine is a success!"

The young woman's back straightened, her eyes beaming happiness.

the System sighed.

Hacked some computers?

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Peter and Regina managed to get some time off only in the evening, Melinda found other chores for them, on campus, and at the end, treated them to an ice cream.

"You wanted to tell us something," Regina said when they finally were alone in her apartment.

A century ago, a Cultivator tried to ascend. He was young for a tenth rank, but what he lacked in wisdom and age, he had in guts and courage.>

"Guts and courage are the same thing," Regina said.

"Who's that?" Peter asked.

"How do you know?" Regina asked.

"I bet you got lucky by happenstance," Peter said.

"You… what? Weren't they supposed to—"

Let's go back. Li did what Cultivators do, hit buttons randomly, and despite that, managed to restart the Tower. Because of his rejection, he was a little unhinged and concluded he received a mission: to use the Tower to make his sect the strongest of all. He believes if he succeeds, he'll ascend for good.

With the Tower in tow, he got clout and became the Martial's faction leader. They began by putting their worlds in it. Floors seven to nine. Then came Floor Six, gathering planetoids into a functional cluster. Floor five, the Arena was a Dungeon at that time. The fog was there.

All that took a lot of time, because that's how Cultivators move, and they aren't great at figuring out tech stuff. Twenty years ago, the sect made its first conquest. An unlucky planet they pulled into the fourth floor. It had never been exposed to Mana before, and its specifics were ill-suited for an Awakening, more so to a Mana saturated with a dead System's code.

Every lifeform on the planet mutated for the worst. The poor creatures you saw are the original sentient race of the planet. Their mind regressed, and they now live in tribes, reduced to the stone age.>

"Awful..." Regina frowned.

Earth-Two was taken because of its manpower. Earth One followed. Both are stable realms, with only the occasional occurrence of crazed mutations.>

Peter yawned, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. "Fascinating story, but how does it help us?"

"Huh?" Peter jerked. He had dozed off. The story had been too long and boring.