The group rested until the Unsafe Hours came, and then slept through them. When Theo woke up, the General had finished creating the four pods, not bothering to make separate ones for the humans. Prometheus slowly shook his owner, who was sleeping like someone who had never slept on a bed. Remembering the conditions his owner went through, another spike of anger exploded in his mind. Prometheus, in his cat form, slowly moved to wake up the children, as spending unnecessary time in the wild wasn't a smart idea, especially when the four humans couldn't defend themselves. Five minutes of unsuccessful attempts made the shapeshifter give up, who moved back to wake up the bald man.

After two minutes of shaking Mr. Fluffernutter in his bed, the man opened his eyes wordlessly and sat up, tidying his bed first thing in the morning. He glanced at Theo and nodded, moving to wake up his children. At his stern voice, the three kids sat up immediately, tidying up their beds just like their father. Prometheus, after having checked that his owners were doing well, moved to where the General was still working on the pods.

"Good morning, General. How did you sleep?"

The tree monster moved a single eye stalk to look at Theo, not moving away from the work, "About as good as can be expected, Private. Before we depart, I wanted to talk to you about your actions in Golden Lake."

Prometheus nodded, expecting congratulations on his incredible abilities. The General continued, "First of all, you did well at the underground base. I saw how you fought, and it was acceptable. Naturally, I'll teach you the basics of fighting against higher-tier opponents, but for now, there's no need. Second, I highly dislike the action you took against the Color Rangers," Prometheus moved to protest, which the General stopped by raising a hand at him, "Don't get me wrong, Private, I love that you took out so many humans, and for that I'll give you a reward when we get back. What I'm talking about is how you didn't consult either me or the Major, before throwing yourself at them. I admit, I shouldn't have approved when you said you 'wanted to try something', but I didn't expect your plan to be that drastic. If I wasn't there with the Major, his [Lava barrier] would have been destroyed by the Tribulation. You brought unnecessary risk to me, the Major, the Doctor, and his children."

Prometheus lowered his head, thinking about the General's words. Have I made a mistake? I mean, I didn't know the lighting strike was gonna be so powerful! Last time it wasn't anywhere near as strong! The shapeshifter then said, "I believe the risk was well worth the reward, General. Other than getting rid of the obstacle, I obtained many rewards from the System!"

"I highly doubt the rewards were worth the..." Theo showed his Status page to the General, who froze in his tracks. The eye stalks seemed to watch something in front of them, going back and forth as if reading the same lines multiple times. A low chuckle escaped the monster's mouth, unsettling Theo. "I've changed my mind. The rewards were indeed worth the risk. Do you even know what you've come across?"

Prometheus nodded, standing on his two cat legs, replying, "Of course, sir. Other than the two traits, which I don't know the use of, I got an amazing skill!"

The General once again chuckled, stopping his work on the pods, briefly, "That skill is the least useful of them. Multiple monsters from the Production Units have it, but it can rank up to something very useful. What you should be focused on is your new trait, Leading actor. That's a trait that only hundreds have, as far as I know. In the whole world."

"So? Why is it so good?" Asked Theo earnestly.

"I told you that the System prefers bright and flashy events, correct? It also rewards those willing to risk it all for the act itself. What you did back there attracted the attention of many Gods, and now they have put you on their 'favorites list'. That means that you'll be much more likely to be rewarded, but it also means that your expectations were just raised. If you don't satisfy them, they'll be much more likely to punish you. So it's a double-edged sword, honestly, but with your personality, I am sure you'll do much more than attract their attention," Finished the General while linking various roots on the pod together.

"Okay, I'll make sure to give them the best show that they've ever seen!"Exclaimed the cat while posing to no one in particular.

"I am done here. Go call the others, Private. We can go home."

Prometheus informed the others, which quickly moved to the pods, getting ready to board the. Except for the Major, who stopped before Theo, creating a mental connection with him, "Kid, can I ask you something? Did you intentionally massacre all those people?" Asked the snake while frowning slightly.

"My intent was getting rid of those colored weirdoes, but I didn't think the Tribulation would be that strong. Even then, I don't regret my actions."

"I see," Was all the Major said before sighing deeply and slithering into one of the pods.

What was that? I never saw the Major so deflated, except after the Examiner's death.

The group of monsters and humans prepared to launch, everyone comfortably sitting in their pods. Except for Mr. Fluffernutter, as he was forced to share a pod with his children. Theo's pod was identical to the one he had used at the start of the mission, which unfortunately included the annoying wooden doll. It seemed to recognize the shapeshifter, as it immediately jumped on his head while punching his head as much as possible.

This little shit..!

The black cat swiped his paw at the annoyance, which swiftly evaded his strike. Just as Prometheus balanced himself to ready another strike, the pods started shaking heavily, ready for launch. He settled down, bracing for launch. The pod accelerated at an insane rate, making Prometheus stuck to the wall like glue, barely able to move a muscle. Like last time, the pod reached the peak of its trajectory and then started gliding toward its destination, which they arrived at without any issues. noticing his pod finally open, Prometheus walked out, seeing how they had landed on the stone platform. The other monsters and the humans had already exited the vessel, with Mr. Fluffernutter moving to cover his kids from the hungry-looking monsters around them. The Major moved to discuss with the Examiners, who were organizing a simple training down below.

Prometheus walked closer to the children to comfort them from the shocking trip, which they appreciated. Arthur, Theo's owner, had regained some of his strength from yesterday, regaining some of his intensity in his eyes. While Prometheus was having fun with the children, the General approached him, creating a mental connection with him and Mr. Fluffernutter, "Doctor, thank you for the patience. I will bring you to a safer location as soon as possible. The Emperor ordered me to bring you to him directly, as hiding you outside his reach didn't turn out to be the best plan. Prometheus, you'll accompany me on the trip there, afterward, we'll go to my fortress, where we can organize our next actions. Everyone good with that?" Asked the General while looking at the others.

"Sir, could I ask for a favor? A very small, tiny one." Requested Theo with an extremely quiet voice.

"What is it?"

"Could we bring my friends along? They are cool enough to warrant your attention, I'm sure!" Replied the shapeshifter. The General shook his head, crossing his arms, and continued, "Even if they were, I can't afford to divide my attention among multiple apprentices. The best I can do is assign some of my subordinates to them, but nothing more." Offered the tree monster. The shapeshifter frowned internally, thinking to himself, I don't want to part away from my friends, who else will I play games with? Definitely not with the General.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Will I be separated from them?"

"Not really, all my subordinates work in the same fortress, so you'll likely see them almost every day. But, if they prove useless to us, we'll just throw them out. Understood?" Explained the General. That made Prometheus nod happily, completely sure that his friends wouldn't disappoint the General. Then, he showed the powerful monster his friends he wanted to accompany, and they included Zilch, Buzzelina, the wasp queen, and finally Splash and Lunch, the water spider and feathered lobster respectively. He decided to add the Bamboo samurai to the list for good measure because Theo thought she was cool.

Preparations done, Prometheus went to his companions to inform them of the news, "Guys, we are going to be trained by strong monsters! We'll become invincible!" Exclaimed the shapeshifter as enthusiastically as always. Zilch was the first to reply, stuttering slightly, "A-Are you sure this is a good idea, Theo? I-I mean, maybe they won't be nice to us or whatever." Buzzelina and the two 'nutritional' monsters nodded neutrally, not being overly excited, while Sayuri nodded calmly, asking, "Are you able to perform that 'improvement' you promised me?"

Oh, right, almost forgot.

"Of course! Follow me."

Prometheus and Sayuri walked to the edge of the clearing, where he began absorbing enough biomass for the upcoming procedure. Theo then asked Sayuri what kinds of improvements she wanted, to which she replied, "I want to be faster, and I want some protection on my joints. The rest doesn't matter." Prometheus slowly shifted into his Sponge form, designed to create many carrier cells with the modified genetic code. After he told Sayuri that he needed to put her to sleep for the procedure, she refused, saying she would endure the pain. Okay then. Don't scream at me later, though.

As always, Prometheus took the genetic information from Sayuri, marveling at the exotic information. What the fuck... I've never seen anything like this. Do these cells have traits from both plants and animals? Rigid cell wall, glycogen storages, and flexible membranes? That doesn't make any sense. How do these things not collapse or stop functioning?

The shapeshifter had to spend around ten minutes studying the novel DNA information from the bamboo monster. After further research, Prometheus arrived at a single conclusion: It's probably Influence, I don't know. None of this makes any sense! Thankfully, even though Prometheus couldn't understand why Sayuri's cells worked at all, he could somewhat understand how to improve them. Even exotic organisms have the usual inefficiencies found in all living organisms. Beginning with improving ATP transportation and movement, Prometheus managed to improve the samurai's muscle fibers, which highly intrigued him, seeing how they were made of plant cells but still acted as muscles.

After that, Prometheus moved his focus to the joints, seeing how fragile and thin they looked. Speeding up his simulations, Theo arrived at the conclusion that a leathery-like material growing over the joints would strengthen them considerably, especially against blunted weapons, as they could help distribute blunt damage much better.

Checking if he had forgotten anything, Theo generated the carrier cells inside his body with the improved genetic material, surprised by the help his Genetic Manipulation skill granted him. Some things are really difficult to get used to. Sending the carrier cells, they started inputting the new genetic material into Sayuri's cells, which would eventually utilize that new information to produce new, stronger, cells.

The process itself took no more than twenty minutes, a bit more than what it took for Buzzelina. Surprisingly, the plant warrior lay down silently, not moving a single millimeter during the entire procedure. She did keep her katana near her at all times, though. After Theo shifted into his Antis form, he said, "It's done. Normally, you would see the results in around two weeks, but for someone else, I did it to, the results showed up much sooner. So just keep an eye open for them, and tell me if anything feels wrong or off."

Medium-rank Genetic manipulation leveled up to lvl 2!

Sayuri nodded solemnly, replying, "If your words are honest, I will be in your debt. Just freeing from the reptile's grasp wouldn't be enough to repay for this. I've been taught that kindness should be repaid in kindness, so how could I repay you?"

Prometheus flinched slightly from the words, thinking to himself, I just did a quick genetic improvement procedure on her, and information on the new exotic cells was more than worth it. "Don't worry about it. For now, we have to go."

The two monsters moved to the General, who was sitting on the wooden throne, looking directly at the sky. Theo didn't see any pods for them to use, which confused him. A quick question at the General revealed the reason, as a portal could be afforded for them. After a couple of hours of Theo juggling rocks to make the kids laugh, a large portal, much taller than what Examiner Brown could make, opened up. The General pushed the four humans forward, inviting the group of six monsters to step up and cross to the other side. Ripples were the only thing that could be seen on the portal, hiding whatever could be awaiting them on the other side.

Before Prometheus stepped through, he wanted to share some words with the monsters who had helped him until now. Moving first to the Major, Theo began, "Thank you for all the help, old man. Hopefully, I'll see you again!"

The snake moved closer, replying, "Make the army proud, kid. But please don't fall into the snake hole of power. Look at the General," said the snake while checking that the tree monster was far away enough, "Willing to take out as many humans as possible for his madness. You're a good kid, Theo, but don't let obsession of power consume you. I've seen too many youngsters lose themselves that way." Major Fuoco finished by moving his tail and petting Theo's head with its tip. Wow...I...I never thought he would be that...whatever...Doesn't matter now.

Examiner Rocktooth snarled at him, with the slightest hint of a smile appearing on the monster's lips, "What's with that shitty form, insect? Make yourself useful and turn into that majestic form you used to take!" said the Examiner, referring to Theo's Baryonyx form. Prometheus nodded, moving to Examiner Durge, the one he had spoken the least to.

"Good luck on your mission, Private. Follow your duty to your death." Exclaimed the armored snapping turtle, holding an air of seriousness difficult to achieve for a turtle. Prometheus replied in kind, moving to the last examiner, Dripsworth the jellyfish. The examiner didn't even want to look at him, as the jellyfish was crossing his arms and looking away. Theo still gave his thanks to the elegant jellyfish, returning back to the General. His other companions had already walked through, making the tree monster wait for the shapeshifter with hands behind his back. "Finished with your sentimental goodbyes?" Asked the General, clearly annoyed.

"Of course, sir. Let's move."

No more reason to wait. let's go. A simple step later, and Prometheus felt the same sensation of disorientation s last time, stumbling to the other side. What awaited him was...utterly mindnumbing. What is this? Isn't this just a bedroom? A bed stood on the side of the wall, with a large, simple, wooden door placed in the opposite wall. Bushes and leaves covered the floor in its entirety, creating a very wild atmosphere in the room. Espanto moved past him, reaching for the door, which was tall enough to allow the General to pass through.

Prometheus followed quickly after, studying the hallways. They were made of wood, uneven, almost like someone had tried to grow trees in a very tight space around a rectangular prism shape. The shapeshifter stumbled one too many times, clicking his mandibles at the annoying floor. Before he could ask the General where they were going, the hallway opened up, revealing that they had arrived... Inside a volcano? No, that can't be it. Such a large cavity in the ground would immediately collapse onto itself. But even then, that opening up there is very suspicious. The opening Theo was looking at resided at the top of the open area, resembling the head of a volcano.

The 'base' of the volcano was incredibly wide, distancing itself more than a hundred meters from Theo's current position, which intrigued the shapeshifter. The texture of the rock comprising the volcano's walls was made of innumerable leaves and branches, covering the empty mountain-like paint, coupled with glowing red lines of magma, Theo presumed. How the leaves didn't catch fire was something he had no idea about.

The building Theo had just walked out of seemed to reside on a floating island suspended in darkness, where the floor couldn't be seen. The only thing emanating from the darkness was a scary amount of Influence, which made Prometheus shift his gaze away. Tired of not knowing his current circumstances, the shapeshifter decided to ask, "Excuse me, sir General, where are we going?"

"We need to take care of some chores, and I'll teach you in the meantime. One of the baby forest wyverns is unwell."

Before the General could offer additional explanations, a massive root came out of the ground, lifting both the General and the shapeshifter, who briefly lost his balance. The tree monster, on the other hand, stood perfectly straight. The massive root elevated very quickly, almost reaching the opening on the 'ceiling' stopping a dozen meters before it, instead moving to get into a hidden opening on the side. How Prometheus hadn't seen it, seeing how big it was, baffled him. Simple tunnels made up the cavern, which ended in a slightly larger area. Two massive forms were resting, glancing at the shapeshifter warily. They were two wyverns, similar to the one he had seen last time with the mysterious guard. These creatures were green-scaled with green flames emanating from their nostrils. The two large monsters growled at Prometheus, calming down when they saw the General.

"How is everyone doing? Is the little one doing better?" Asked the tree monster to the two creatures, including Prometheus in the mental connection spell. The larger wyvern lifted its wing, revealing a much smaller creature inside. A baby wyvern, Theo realized. It trembled, a mix of mucus and blood escaping its mouth.

The General walked closer, lowering a finger over the baby's mouth. A single golden drop poured from the finger, dropping into the wyvern's mouth. Prometheus checked to see if that would change anything, but it didn't. The General sighed.

"It seems the disease has already developed a resistance to my elixirs. I'm sorry, you too, but I think this one won't-"

"General, let me look at it." Interrupted Prometheus, pain springing from his mind at the sight of the creature's pain. The two wyverns growled at him when he tried getting closer, but the General raised his hand, reassuring them. Collecting a drop of fallen blood, Prometheus analyzed it, noticing how it contained a large number of a certain strain of bacteria. The familiarity with the disease that had infected that woman he had tried curing was subtle but present. Granted, it was different in many aspects, but it seemed to use the wyvern's own Influence to grow and multiply, weakening the small creature in turn.

"Do you think you could help him, Private?" Asked the General with a low voice, not having any expectation or hope behind it.

"I'll do my best. And my best is usually enough."