Wake up.

"Um... Ugh, what happened..." Eira groans, slowly rolling over in her fluffy grey bed, her hand rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Oh? About time you woke up," Kael mumbles, closing his book with a soft thud. He stands up from the chair beside her bed and walks over, his presence as commanding as ever. "Get up, you've been asleep for..." he glances down at his watch, "...19 hours."

Eira stares blankly at the ceiling, her voice a blend of regret and grogginess, "Ugh... I messed up..." She attempts to sit up, only to slouch back down under the weight of her hangover.

"I've already picked them up, fed them, and sent them to the shop. Right now, they're eating dinner with Lysandra," Kael informs her, his tone flat but not unkind. He exhales softly, his thoughts drifting. 'Des has improved significantly, her corruption rate is currently frozen; for now, I don't have to worry about the devil overtaking her body,' he contemplates as he tosses Eira one of her hoodies.

"Come on, let's look at some stuff," he suggests, heading towards the door.

"Ugh... I need to clean up the mess I made," she groans, forcing herself to stand, her movements sluggish and uncoordinated.

"I already cleaned the place," Kael responds nonchalantly, looking out the door to a spotless workstation with no dust in sight.

"Shit, are you some kind of professional cleaner?" Eira mumbles, standing next to him, scratching her head in amazement. 'He cleaned up the stupid stain I couldn't get rid of. Kael Kael Kael... Just what the hell are you? This place is huge, how did you clean all of this?' she wonders internally, walking barefoot on the cold steel floor.

"So, what do you need?" she yawns, turning to him, trying to shift her focus from her physical discomfort to the tasks at hand.

"First, let's see the shield project," Kael grins, leaning casually on the table. 'What's the best way to make more money? To sell a product that will block bullets.' 

"The shield project, huh?" Eira covers her mouth as she yawns again, walking towards a wall. She taps on it, and after going through her extensive security protocols with constant tapping, the wall begins to shake and slowly moves, revealing a hidden hallway.

"Is this door ten inches thick?" Kael asks, following her into the newly exposed corridor.

"Yup, I have some crazy diagrams and notes here I don't want people getting their hands on. Plus, I also store all our valuable resources here," she mumbles, stretching as her body is scanned by the security system.

"Wow, this place is crazy..." Kael thinks, his eyes wide as he surveys the sprawling underground facility. Holographic screens float in mid-air around every corner, each room brimming with diverse equipment and materials. "How did you build this so fast?" he mumbles, his curiosity piqued by the sheer scale of the operation.

"Are you kidding me? You gave me thousands of free zombies. All I did was buy a shitload of machinery to process all the ores. I did have to buy a lot of mana-infused steel, but it's worth it. Installing the security was the tricky part, but with all the free time I had after the auction, it was easy," Eira explains, a self-satisfied grin spreading across her face.

"Anyways, stop touching things," she chides, swatting Kael's hand away from a particularly sensitive screen. "Tsk, you have as much authority as I do, but don't touch things, some stuff is still in early development." She drags him into another room, similar to the others with walls of steel and scattered with dozens of trinkets and scraps, as well as metallic shields lying around.

"Um... Is this all you have?" Kael asks, scratching his head, slightly underwhelmed by the clutter.

"Wait the fuck up, damn," Eira mumbles, rolling her eyes. She taps a screen, and the table in the center splits in half, opening up to reveal a display that rises from within. Inside lies a shield, dark purple with a silvery edge, entirely metallic. "Just like you asked, this is 243.84 centimeters tall and 121.92 centimeters wide with adjustable mechanics. It's 4 inches thick and filled with inverted runes," she details, tapping on another screen to open the display fully.

Compared to her petite stature, the shield is enormous, but she lifts it effortlessly as if it were featherlight. "I didn't adjust the weight since you told me this isn't meant for humans. It does, however, have an interesting mechanic," she says casually, walking to an open space before letting go of the shield. It lands with a thud that vibrates the entire area.

"If you infuse mana as well as your affinity, you get an interesting result. Wanna try?" she asks with a challenging smirk.

"How heavy is that thing? Eira is strong, so I'm not surprised she picked it up... I don't want to hold it though," Kael exhales before stepping forward. "So I just infuse my mana and affinity?" He asks, touching the cold metallic shield.

"Ugh... just do it already," Eira rolls her eyes, clearly impatient.

"Fuck, fine," Kael sighs as he adds his mana and affinity. At the edges, the shield takes on a dark red tint, the same color as his fire. Suddenly, whoosh! Out of the shield shoot his dark red flames, shaping it into a fiery shield significantly larger than the original.

"This is crazy...." Kael mumbles, awestruck by the transformation.

"Are you saying this—" he begins, but Eira cuts him off.

"That's right, I found some interesting runes when I went shopping and I made this. No matter how weak your affinity is, the shield does all the work to make a sturdy shield out of the affinity in question," she explains, walking to the other side and punching the fire shield. It vibrates under her fist but remains solid and intact.

"Perfect, they're going to love this," Kael smirks, clearly pleased with the fiery shield's demonstration.

"Good, designing this was the hard part, so you better make good money," Eira exhales, meticulously stowing away the shield. "So what else are you here for? I know you didn't wait for me just for this shield," she probes, hands planted firmly on her hips, her gaze piercing.

"Hmhmhmhmhmhm," Kael laughs, walking into a different room filled with various high-tech gadgets and weaponry. "Hey, do you think you can make a cape?" he asks nonchalantly, leaning against a wall near an assault rifle.

"A cape? Are the suits not enough? Fuck, dude," Eira rubs her temples, her frustration evident. "How about this, I don't care what type of clothes you make me, but I'm going to make it difficult for you," Kael grins, walking over to a table laden with intriguing objects.

"Oh? And how are you planning to do that?" Eira scoffs, rolling her eyes, her skepticism clear.

"Simple," Kael says just as a heavy thud echoes through the room when he places something significant on the table.

"W-w-w-what..." Eira's mouth falls open, and she rubs her eyes in disbelief. "I-I-Is this..." Her hands tremble as she reaches out to touch it, then stops herself, practically scrambling for gloves before handling the object. "This t-t-this is an adult dragon heart," she manages to say, unable to hide the big smile spreading across her face as she closely inspects it.

"So? What do you think? Can you do it?" Kael smirks, observing her reaction. 'Her reaction is fair; a dragon heart is worth way more than the dragon's eye sniper,' he muses, watching the sparkle in her eyes.

"Why would you want clothes!?" she shakes him back and forth, the excitement bubbling over. "I can make a sick-ass weapon!" she continues, her enthusiasm undimmed.

"Ugh... when you make a weapon, the mana within the dragon heart isn't dispersed equally, so I thought. What's the best way to make use of this? We could use it as a generator, but then I figured, what if we can turn this heart into clothes? Since the density of a dragon heart can change with certain potions, it can be turned into fabric, and adding runes to it would be so damn easy," Kael explains, managing to get the words out despite feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"Um... that could work but your logic is a bit off... Hmhmhmhmhm, oh goddess, I can definitely think of something," Eira lets go of him and instantly runs into a different room, placing the heart in her safe, which boasts the most security.

"So what are you planning on doing?" she asks, calming herself down after securing the precious material.

"Actually, there's nothing big for now, so for the next couple of months I plan on training nonstop," Kael says, popping his neck, readying himself for the intense regimen ahead.

"That's right, I'm going to make sure all your bones are crying, hehehehe," Ilka materializes on Kael's head, her mischievous tone indicating the rigorous training that awaits.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

-3 months later.

BOOM! The wall cracks, zones of small rocks break off, and blood spills on the ground, the entire area splattered with it. Kael's knuckles are completely bloodied. "Ugh... I don't feel the pain anymore," he exhales, stretching his arms. "Heh, I did this when I was one, don't start complaining," Ilka smirks, laying on his hair.

"Look at her. Why can't you be more like her? She does it, just cause she can," Ilka says, floating in the air. 'Yeah... I don't know why she's copying my training,' Kael thinks, scratching his head as Isadora stops punching the wall. She shakes her hands, her expressionless face as always, splattering the blood on the ground.

"Hey, why are you copying my training?" Kael asks, taking off the bracelets which fall to the ground, making a thud and forming a small crater.

Isadora blinks and walks up to him, tilting her head. "How..." she begins, helping him up.

"How what?" Kael asks, tossing her a coconut. After a long sip, she says, "When I first saw you, you were so weak, so weak a kid could beat you," she states in her usual toneless voice and walks over to a bench.

"You are no longer weak... it makes no sense, it happened too fast," she continues, as toneless as ever.

"Hey hey hey, it's 'cause I'm his master, do you think he'd be able to do this without me?!" Ilka floats in front of Isadora, yelling at her, but as always, she can't be seen or heard.

"Oh, so you think copying me will improve your training speed?" Kael smirks, lying on the ground. She nods, continuing to sip her coconut water.

"Hmm... I train my body for martial arts, not for swordsmanship. You're already the best, copying me will slow you down," Kael exhales, a mix of annoyance and amusement in his voice. 'Isadora doesn't need to copy me, she's going to become a monster just like most of class A, the only one who won't will be Liam. Poor guy, I would feel bad for him if he wasn't a crazy fucker. He's been awfully quiet this semester so he's planning something, he'll most likely try to set up Aira. It might happen a bit earlier than the original story, I'll need to prepare just in case.' 

She simply nods in disagreement, unswayed by his reasoning. Rolling his eyes, Ilka vanishes as Kaida walks in and starts punching the wall. "Okay, I get it, but what the fuck are you copying me?" Kael turns to Kaida who simply smiles awkwardly. 'She's been coming here whenever I'm done training. She tries to copy everything I do but she messes up constantly.' 

"Um... Soooo... I'm practicing martial arts and I thought, um, maybe I could learn something from you... you know, you're the only martial artist in our class... I thought maybe you wouldn't mind," she says, smiling and scratching the back of her head.