Of course Barbara's clothing had to be addressed as well, which was why Thea had brought the new power suit. It was a staple of official authority even before the system, and it would continue to be one after it. Flashy hunter costumes were all good, but the pen was still mightier than the sword. For a while it would be at least. Change always came slowly to humans. At least in some aspects.

Thea waited outside the office for her aunt. When Barbara arrived, they went to join the rest of their contingent. John Colt, being an even bigger contributor to the organisation's tutorial points than she, had been invited to what they were calling the first world congress.

"Barbara," a metallic voice stopped them at the door.

Thea often tried her best to avoid him, but sometimes that was not always feasible at times. Like today. For some reason he'd gone through the trouble of sending John Colt in alone and waiting for them in the underground hallway. Thea didn't trust him one bit.

"I heard of your troubles," he said with a bow of his head.

Thea was struggling to contain her own sorrow and guilt. She didn't think it was good for her aunt to be reminded of her pain, especially this close to an important occasion. She was about to give the robot man a piece of her mind when he retrieved something from a pant pocket.

"If you will, why don't you take a bit of this special remedy I've recently concocted?" he asked.

Thea was suddenly on high alert. Potions. These miraculous liquids that had come with the system. Magical cures that sometimes worked to immediately rectify any abnormalities within the body. But there were lots of kinds of potions.

There were poisons. There were potions that spread diseases. There were even potions with greater and more specific effects in higher grades, according to her research. Thea was interested in the subject of alchemy, especially since she had received a profession slot from the system for being the chosen of Earth. For some reason, the prophet had never spoken of her second slot, and he hardly made predictions after the integration. Apparently the Essence somewhat nullified his powers.

Thea looked at the man's potion dubiously. He was obsessed with creating synthetic bodies, wasn't he? What if he tried to make her and her aunt half robot people? It was a valid worry in her mind.

"We have a few…guests we are going to be taking to the Congress with us. It wouldn't do for them to notice any weaknesses within our leaders, now would it?"

Thea frowned, now unable to hide her distrust. This damn thing calling them the leaders, buttering them up this way, a way he only did when he wanted something. Obviously she wasn't drinking the stupid potion.

"What does it do?" she asked, her arms rising unbidden to her chest.

She stood there with her arms crossed, showing off the impressively toned muscles she'd built over years, now being accentuated by the system and her growing stats. It was maybe an effect of her new title, though she wasn't sure, but her growth since the integration had been phenomenal compared to everyone else on Earth.

Only John Colt was keeping up. She couldn't wait for the ladder to be bought so that she could keep an eye on everyone near or close to the top of it. Distractions aside, she had been glaring at a silver skinned weirdo she held no trust for.

The robot man only grinned, the gears in his jaws moving as he rumbled out an answer, an answer Thea suspected was too tempting for a suffering Barbara Kingsley.

"Emotional suppression," the prophet said. "Surely you know such potions exist, don't you, little miss alchemy scholar."

Thea reeled under those last few words, barely managing to keep her composure. There was no way the prophet and his pet knew she had two core skill slots yet. And the system was not known to publicise what boons it gave to specific chosen, so she was only slightly worried of the ladder's exposing her secret. The system did its best to protect the position of the Chosen as a matter of course.

She regained her mental balance and went to inquire more, but Barbara must have been in worse shape than she'd thought. Her aunt reached for and threw back the potion in the time it took for Thea to blink.

She looked at her aunt in shock and not a little trepidation.

There was no transmutation she could sense after almost a minute, though her aunt swayed a little in the beginning, then spent ten seconds smiling widely, creepily. Then she started laughing like a drunk.

At the minute mark she was okay. More than okay, her cheeks had a slight blush, her eyes shone, her make up no longer doing all the heavy lifting. If possible, she looked even a little younger than her forty eight, but they had always figured the Essence would make people young again.

The prophet held a potion bottle in Thea's direction, his smile still present on his sickeningly rubbery skin. She shook her head in rejection. She wasn't going to use the damn potions, at least not today, and not only because she suspected there were some side effects.

She wasn't going to be doing anything today. Today was for people like her aunt, the talkers, the ones who could lead with their smooth words.

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It was a good thing if this potion worked, and it would be better if it had no long lasting effect, but again, neither Thea nor her family completely trusted the prophet. She wasn't going to be doing anything except stand behind the representatives looking all menacing in her ceremonial battle robes, ceremonial because they were all beauty and no practicality.

She would never wear this particularly flashy sleeveless top, made of material that reminded her of spandex in its tightness, yet thicker and stronger than that relic of the past. And it was impressive looking, the red shirt with many violent and flashy patterns, the black vambraces that covered her fore arms to halfway her biceps, the black pants that shone like they had some kind of leather. It was like a superhero costume from the movies. It was too flashy and unwieldy to be practical.

And not to forget her blasters - gun like weapons that only shot energy emissions - strapped much more visibly than usual all across her body. At least she could use those in a pinch. And her bow and arrows on her back. Yes, her job was to look impressive and slightly menacing. So for today, she could afford to grieve Rafael without suppressing her emotions.

Now she was thinking of this subject, she remembered the prophet and her grandmother always exchanging some kind of knowing look whenever Rafael was mentioned before. They had always known.

Sighing, Thea shook her head to clear it. This was a conversation she was going to have to take up with her grandmother someday, when the early stages of the integration were finished; when they had a bit of breathing room; when the planet was not in all this turmoil.

To some people, the third world war had started suddenly, and nuclear weapons were flying up and down, especially in Europe and Asia with America only stirring the pot occasionally. Then not even two weeks into the war, the system had arrived. It was a testament to whatever benevolent gods had sent the prophet and his ilk spread all around the Earth, that the two weeks of nuclear war had claimed more lives than the monsters who'd descended on them, or who'd grown from the local wild life. And domestic life too.

There was a moment of absolute confusion when they first entered the prophet's office. Thea could hardly believe her eyes. There were two beings that didn't belong there, all purple orange-patterned skins and deep red eyes. The female had a playful smile exposing short sharp fangs. The male was Stony faced and older and sat with his very large arms crossed. They both had goat-like horns on their heads, though theirs grew larger. The male's horns were longer and curved to end at sharp points near the back of his head.

The male made a show of sniffing the two women when they entered. Both of them were frozen in shock and more than a little fear, so it was no issue. Then he turned away, uninterested. Thea could feel it in his aura. A peak F grade being. Perhaps he was even in the E grade, but the system was apparently restricting these things that came out of the towers and dungeons.

"Hello," the demoness said, her smile still plastered on her face. "You must be the famous Althea Bennett. My name is Nazerick. This is my father."

The male didn't immediately get the cue, so the girl kicked his leg. He turned to her with a growl, but she only smiled at him. He turned to the women again and tried for a smile. He had longer fangs than his daughter, dangerous looking fangs. The smile was not a friendly one by any means.

"My name is Asteroth," he said in a deep voice that nonetheless did not sound pleased to be here.

Thea considered the two aliens. They hadn't attacked yet, so she could afford a few moments to gather information. The man was strong. Probably at the peak of the F grade or more. Yet the girl seemed to be in charge somehow. And he was her father too. It was very curious, but knowing the power dynamics wouldn't be enough to save hers and her aunt's life.

"Oh, calm down little fire sprite," the smiling demoness said. "We are all friends here."

"Oh," the prophet spoke with the clinking of gears. "This one didn't take the emotional relaxant. Don't worry, miss Bennett. These beings are on our side."

"But they are—"

"Oh, by the Essence!" Barbara interrupted her. "We are going to be late. Bring the node, Fedrahn."

What was that phrase her aunt had uttered, by the Essence? And was she calling the prophet by what Thea assumed was his real name? They had been working together in this confined place, so maybe it was only natural, but Thea doubted it. Also, her aunt was brushing off the appearance of these uninvited guests like it was nothing. That was not something Thea could just look past.

"I see you're very wary of us," the female demon said from right beside Thea's ear.

Thea jerked sideways and started to reach for one of her blusters, but a firm hand stopped her. A firm and small hand, soft and feminine but with a stronger grip than hers.

"We are not like the demons in the other towers," the girl, Nazerick said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Then she leaned in and whispered to Thea, "don't worry. We were sent by the same organisation, but that does not mean we are friendly with those robotic losers." Then more loudly, "I did not catch your companion's name?"

"Barbara Kingsley," Barbara said as she fiddled with some kind of large lattice shaped crystal on a pedestal that Thea was just now noticing. She looked like she was typing things in the air. Probably interfacing her status window with whatever this node was they were using to get to the venue of the congress.

The system was a personal thing. Everyone's status was private and was not supposed to be accessible to anyone or anything else under normal circumstances. Which was why things like this node had been invented. In order to interface with the system, to use it for things like communication, transportation, sometimes even translation if the skill was missing, there were hundreds of these peripheral implements built for this very purpose. This particular construction, according to the information she had, was very expensive because it allowed for transportation as well as communication. With restrictions of course.

It could only transport a small number of people at a time. It was not a tool of war. It was also restricted to only one location which should have a receiving node. They had decided to buy only one receiving node and set it up in a neutral location, and then every faction rich enough to attend had bought their own node and connected it to the central receiving node. Any faction that couldn't afford one wasn't strong enough to participate in the congress anyway.

In order to invite others to your own node, they wouldn't be able to come physically unless they bought a new pair of nodes (one a normal node and one a receiving node) and set a new location. For the auction event after the system came back to claim its tutorial system, they would invite everyone who had a node for a virtual conference.

Some nodes worked like old model cellphones in the communication department, only allowing people to talk or very rarely text each other. The model the people of Earth had bought allowed for something similar to video conferencing, which was what they would do for the auction. At the moment though, they had to go to the new Switzerland and manipulate the rest of the world into agreeing to being watched all the time.

Teleportation was a strange feeling, Thea concluded as the six of them were transported to a neutral location agreed upon by the strongest factions of the new and young Earth.

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