170 Paradigm Shif

"Very good..." Elizabeth mumbled as she felt her body empowered with Fire and Ice. It could be safely assumed that the next time she tried increasing her physical parameters with internal refinement, the rate of her progress would be nothing like it was in the past. But, she wouldn't know for sure as there was still plenty of things to do before settling back into cultivating her body.

Ice coated the surface of her palm as she gathered Ice Magic and attempted to coalesce a mass of Cold Fire. But, even with her Good Tier Affinity, Elizabeth didn't see a sign of success before ten minutes had passed. A Spirit Grade technique couldn't be rushed, but if there was something Elizabeth had gained from her experience as a cultivator it was patience for the process of cultivation. Sure, it may be true that only a month had passed since Elizabeth began cultivation, but in that month, she had experienced well over half a year's worth of cultivation experience thanks to the Affinity Stones. If her time were catalogued, less than a percent of her time was actually put in fighting or even practicing her secondary occupations. Technically... she had spent more time unconscious from her misadventure in the Sky Seizing Castle.

From a strain to a wisp to a weak flame, Elizabeth's Cold Fire cultivation progressed until a knock on her door prompted her to stop. Taking a look at her internal clock Elizabeth sighed, mumbling, "It's already been an hour? Mhmm..." She stood up and walked over to the door to answer her guests.

"Jane, Sun, come in..." Elizabeth, now slightly nervous, gestured for the two figures outside her room to enter. In her Soul Land, Belle's joy in seeing Sun — or rather, the soul of her lover within Sun — didn't infect Elizabeth as Belle was restraining herself.

Not yet taking a seat as they saw that Elizabeth was planning on smithing with her Spirit Forge, Jane was the one who asked, "So… do we leave when the others get here, or..." She was glistening with excitement at the prospect of entering a fantasy world ever since she got a taste of what life would be like there when she hunted Monster Beasts in the forests of Sharktop Island.

"For now, lets just prepare for the trip. I need to make ammunition and some meals for us before leaving as well as some armor sets and weapons. I underestimated the Shadow Realm the first time I travelled there and… lets just say, it's for the best that we prepare for the worst." Though she was nothing like the fledgling Mortal Stage practitioner that almost died in the Shadow Realm and could probably reign supreme in the Forest of Beginnings without using much of strength, Elizabeth hadn't forgotten the lessons her first trip to the Shadow Realm taught her.

With a bit of the light in her eyes dimming from the seriousness with which Elizabeth spoke, Jane asked, "Mhmm… so, it's back to regular cultivation for us for now?"

"More or less. Though, you could try learning a Secondary Occupation or take a break. After all, we just came back from the Wushi Tournament." Speaking pragmatically though not as a conscious effort, Elizabeth came off a bit disingenuous as she held her Champion Titles for Forging, Beast Taming, Enchanting, and Cooking, as well as her obvious expertise in Medicine, and told them to "learn a Secondary Occupation."

Still, having grown used to her introverted and distant personality, neither Jane nor Sun took Elizabeth's words negatively. Jane said, "Maybe I'll do that! Learn the art of formations, I mean… You already have your bases covered for everything aside from that and alchemy, so..." She didn't say it, but both Elizabeth and Sun knew what she meant. They were a team now and if she filled the position of Formation's Master, the strength of their group would no doubt increase manyfold.

"Mhmm… I'll see if I can arrange for you to pick a style of Formations to begin your practice from the Martial Society with my status as Demon in the new super faction." She may have said that out loud, but inwardly she thought, 'Dad can always vouch for me if my status isn't enough or whatever. Or better yet, he can teach her his own style as he's supposed to be quite advanced in the art of formations.' When they had talked at the Keter Estate, Elizabeth learned that while her mother practiced Alchemy, her father was a practitioner of Array Formations.

She turned to Sun and said, "I can do the same for you if you just say the word..." Gradually, the awkwardness she felt from talking to Sun was whittling away. The same could not be said for him as he was still very much in love with her — as indicated by his Affection Rating. But after knowing that the feeling she experienced earlier were not her own and that the gods weren't directly changing her personality on their own whims, Elizabeth found a strange and difficult to describe sensation at the core of her psyche.

"T-thanks… Like Jane, I'd like to help out our group by learning Alchemy. With everything you've done for me, I think this may be a way I can start to return the favor." Apart from the hesitation he had at the start, Sun didn't have a hiccup while declaring his resolve.

"Good! Now, before you two leave… Here, take these~" Not sparing a moment to hand over half her supply of Fire and Ice-type Beast Cores of all Tiers and Levels, Elizabeth seemed to be acting selflessly again. In earnest, she just didn't want the cores to go to waste as she most certainly wouldn't be able to use them all before leaving, nor would they help much after she began hunting Saint Stage Wild Beasts or even Transcendent Foundation Stage Spirit Beasts.

Thus, with another of her "gracious" favors being carved into their hearts, Elizabeth prepared to send her friends out of her room to continue with the cultivation of Cold Fire. Before they left however, Jane added a quick, "And Elizabeth..." She sounded somber as she turned around to meet Elizabeth's eyes, continuing, "I for one don't care who you were in the past or what kind of changes may have happened to your body. To me, you'll always be someone to welcome with open arms..."

To her side, a flustered Sun couldn't even keep a straight face as the red shade that covered his head and the "special" look in his eyes told Elizabeth everything she would have wanted to know. "I… I know..." Elizabeth wasn't good with words, but the gesture meant a lot to her whether she liked to admit it or not.

After seeing the two out of her room, Elizabeth felt a slight tug from her soul. 'Lisa… Shit!' Sensing that Lisa's influence over her emotions was activated, Elizabeth felt another headache come her way. Lisa, her Ancient Godslayer Fiend Bloodline Incarnation, would only respond to stimulus. As a mass of negativity that fed on her Affinity for Death and all her negative emotions, for Lisa to move even slightly from this exchange between Elizabeth and her two friends, it meant there was an emotion to be exploited there. Though "exploit" may not be the most accurate term as Elizabeth only showed that she cared for her friends.

Elizabeth resolved to sort these emotions out at a later time as if they were a nuisance. With the doors to her room closing, she went straight back to work. Before she sat back down to continue improving her control over Cold Fire, Elizabeth, curious of what information and procedures the Martial Society had planned for the regular world, turned on her TV to see what the news was like.

She listened in for about an hour and a half before the rather stable news channel broke rhythm with a female reporter saying, "...In other news, President John Johnson plans to step down from office. His leave of office will take place… Oh? OH?! Breaking news, this just in… Reporting live from Washington D.C. The president has organized for an emergency press conference!"

Not really watching the TV as she had most of her concentration placed on evaluating what could be done to improve her Cold Fire, Elizabeth heard break music for a solid three and a half minutes before the television feed cut to the President looking quite flustered on camera. He had a most grave expression on his face as he said, "Is this thing on? Check, check… Oh, its on? Ok..."

"My fellow Americans… After a joint meeting with the E.U, all the other superpowers, and over a hundred other nations worldwide... by my power as the Head of the Executive Branch as well as near unanimous decision from both Congress and the House of Representatives… We'll be integrating with all the countries in the Southern and Central American regions. Leading the resulting group of nations that made up this new American Federation… We'll work with the European Federation and Asian Federations that have also formed as a result of the meeting to tackle a very real global extinction event..."

"All over the globe, far more than enough evidence of spacetime rifts and dimensional cracks have detected the possibility of invading life… Now, for a message from one of the leading experts that will play a monumental role in our defense against these potentially cataclysmic threats to our planet, the CEO of Quantum Inc. and leading expert of both astronomical and quantum science, Mr. Kurt Corona-Kay..."

With the image on the screen turning to show Kurt's actual face, the young entrepreneur said, "Thank you Mr. President… Now, from the data Quantum Inc. has compiled and confirmed with a number of institutions in all seven continents, it has been practically confirmed that within ten days, the spacetime rifts we've detected around earth will consolidate and stabilize to the point where theoretical warping should be possible."

"Now, before the public begins to panic in response to this grave news, it is imperative for them to know that we as a species are far from a true existential threat. As the news has been covering for the past couple weeks, the same Celestial Phenomenon that caused ninety-five percent of all life to spontaneously become unconscious has been linked as the most probable cause of the manic spacetime around the planet. However, for all its seemingly negative effects, there is a grand and hopeful silver lining."

"According to my company's Quantum Genetics Administrative Department, most if not all humans affected by the Celestial Phenomenon, or in layman's terms, most if not all those who fell unconscious from the Celestial Phenomenon are thought to have evolved to manifest what was previously thought to be superhuman abilities... For more information, continue listening to your country's leader."

While on Elizabeth's TV, the news program shifted back to the president who explained more about the sudden startling news, back at the Keter Estate, Kurt was preparing to repeat his message in Chinese. He was fluent over twelve languages as the surrogate world leader. Now that the plan to transition civilization into a cultivator's society had changed with Elizabeth warning of the impending Cataclysm, there's no one better to communicate with the public.