So that he wouldn't lose it, Il Ji put the second egg inside his ear. Duvtu had the same exact skills as Duvwun, so it stood to reason that Duvtu had copies of [Iron Body] and [Copper Body] as well.
That being said, he still had no desire to let the egg shake.
Setting the capture setting to fragile on his MK-9, Il-Ji began scooping up all of the butterfly eggs. Because of "Mother of all Butterflies," they came in all sizes, shapes, and species.
It appeared that the primary reason that the rest of the shopkeepers had left was the presence of even more butterflies outside the hill. Every now and then, Il Ji would see a flock of them take to the skies.
Because of this, he had a general idea where everyone else was. First, though, he needed to finish the tasks at hand.
Once he was done collecting all of the eggs, he sat down cross-legged and began to cultivate. Ordinarily, he relied on the feedback from his beasts. That being said, if the small world space could raise a [Primordial] beast, it could certainly raise him to [Iron] as well.
Time passed. After ten minutes, he was already ready to break through.
"IRON LEVEL, HERE I COME!!"
Il Ji sent his awareness deep inside his soul space. As he felt the particles of the world around him flow towards him, he sent them directly to his first Beast Tamer Star.
As the mighty wave of qi crashed against the Star, Il Ji felt as if his veins were about to explode.
But just as suddenly, a small 'pop' ocurred within the star. Inside the soul space, he saw the light change to a white-ish gray.
He had finally reached [Iron].
Next, he summoned Jackpot and told him to rank up as well.
While Jackpot was reaching [Iron], Il Ji pulled a certain egg out of his ear. A few moments later, he had his third beast, and his first was at the [Iron] level.
He checked his soul space to confirm. 'Yep, everything's right, except- wait, what?'
The three soul stars that corresponded to his three beasts each displayed a contract mark. But it wasn't the contract mark he had chosen.
No, the mark was much more complex. Pulling Jackpot's star over, he compared it with the stars respective to Duvwun and Duvtu.
After a while, he steeled himself. It was an interesting sight, but he needed to move on. It was time to gather the shopkeepers.
He speeded down the hill until he found the first group. Minus himself and Mr. Addlesby, there were 19 shopowners. This particular group had seven.
After explaining the time dilation effect, he ran off. Because everyone knew his character, they listened and made their way back to the portal.
He quickly found two more groups. But in the end, he was missing Adele, Ijiit, and the Morose Twins that owned the two competing clothing shops.
Straining his eyes, he looked for the sign of unsettled butterflies. He saw two flocks take off, but they seemed more natural than forced. Unperturbed, he began to look for Adele. After being on the hill, he had a good idea of her and Ijiit's location.
After running for twenty minutes, he finally found the spot he had seen earlier: a pond ringed by trees.
"Hey! Lovebirds!" He shouted. "We need to get out of here! I'm sorry to intrude, but it's very important."
Two heads popped out of a nearby cave. "What is it?" Ijiit mumbled as the light hit his eyes.
"Something is causing this small world to go unstable- there's a time dilation effect. Like I said, we need to make it back to the portal as fast as we can."
The two looked at each other. "Give us 30 seconds!" Adele shouted back at Il Ji before disappearing back into the subterranean aether.
The two reappeared shortly thereafter.
"Let's run." Il Ji took off. The two ran closely behind him. While he was now at the [Iron] Level, their cultivation was higher than his.
Several minutes later, the normally stolid Ijiit moved up to his side. "Mind if I carry you?" He asked.
Il Ji sighed. "To the portal, not through it."
Needing no further advice, Ijiit swelt him up. Thirty seconds after he and Adele took off, they were already at the portal's gate.
"Strange. Where did all the eggs go?" Adele muttered.
"Don't worry about it." Il Ji intoned. "I think everyone else is already out. Grab each other's hands and let's run through."
The three burst through the portal like a roaring T-Rex uppercutting a Pla-Do can, full of vim and vigor.
But the moment they did, Adele tripped, and they all fell stumbling to the floor.