Il JI was walking around the ninth subfloor with his sister. He had wanted to show her the two striking gryphons, but the cacophany of screeching had convinced him to take her to the floors below.
"Even with the unlocking of my mind, and taking it all in together and knowing at once- all of I have ever known of this world we live in, I can say it with ease- such sights still amaze and satisfy me, Il Ji."
She nodded and stopped for a minute. "You don't mind if I act like a little girl from time to time still, do you?"
He hugged her close. "Never in a million years, sister."
They were viewing the Myriad Poisons Minature Frog enclosure. Since the last time he had been on this floor, the eggs had hatched- small golden, iridescent tadpoles frollicked in the midst of the jungle plants amongst the small pools of water.
"I'm glad to hear it, little sis."
"Which one is your favorite?"
"Honestly? If I had to pick an enclosure, it'd be this one. I love the way the small frogs brighten against the red wood and green plants. The lotus flowers and dark water helps it, too."
"If we are talking about the beasts, though, from an aesthetic side it would still be these here- but from the side of me that's strong, it's be those rats we saw for a short minute, and if it's my competitive side it would be the Necroslime…."
Il Ji laughed. His sister was on point. His thoughts were quite the same, actually…
"Il Ji! Get your pasty a- ….rrogance over here!"
Orio's voice came from down the hall. A mere split second later, he appeared in front of Il Ji. "Brat, just what did you do while I was gone?"
"I used the Saurians to help my sister advance and transfer a few of my skills to her. Then, I broke through and let my beast do the same."
"Let me guess. Was it your [Primordial] rank butterfly?"
"Yeah…"
"Come with me."
Orio grabbed Il Ji's arm and practically teleported to the end of the room. Merely two seconds later, though, he returned.
"Laila, I'll be borrowing your brother for a minute. Feel free to hang out, or you can use the teleporter to return to the rest of your group."
"Okay."
Il Ji found himself on the stairs outside the Beast Association building. Looking out, he saw several beasts and tamers alike lying on the ground.
"What happened here?" He wondered aloud.
"You! You did, brat. When an Archaic-bloodline beast ranks up into [Legendary], it summons a challenge from Heaven and Earth, a feat of lightning that causes great storms."
"The association likes to keep the treasury on the top level. It's easily protected, and it's much easier to identify a flying opponent than one on the ground."
"Now, look behind you."
Il Ji turned around.
What once could be called a skyscraper whose intrinsic aesthetic denoted the word, "Strength," a mere pile of rubble stood against a half-standing wall.
"This. This is what it does when you're not paying attention. As for the idiots lying on the ground behind us, they tried to steal what was left of the association's treasury."
"…We had it all in hand. Considering that no one has ever ranked up a [Primordial] rank beast before, it stands to reason that you didn't yet know. Count yourself lucky, kid."
"Yeeeeaaaaaah." Il Ji surveyed the immensive wreck around him.
Orio snickered. "Now check this out." A gigantic rock elemental came out of his summoning space. "Say hello to my little friend, Ivor."
The multi-story giant raised an arm and waved his rocky fingers.
"H-hello?" Il Ji replied.
The giant lowered its hand and lumbered off. Placing his right hand on the rubble, Ivor roared.
With an upwards raise of his other hand, the ground rumbled as it began to rebuild the monolithic building. As each floor was perfectly rebuilt, Il Ji marvelled.
"Thanks to the spatial arrays, everything can be quickly moved back into place. However, the treasury will have to wait until we rebuild our safeguards."
The building stood tall once again.
"Can I make a suggestion?" Il Ji asked.
Orio turned around.
Il Ji pulled out his holo and made a few taps. "Here, like this."
Orio looked at the picture. "Sure, why not. …Hey, Ivor! Change it up!"
The elemental giant turned its head and smiled. Placing his hands deeper into the rock, Ivor made more changes to the giant structure.
Instead of a flat top and perfectly square edges, the building rose into a great spire. Tall, 1-foot deep horizontal columns rose along the sides of each face; printed in their contours were the shapes of many beasts.
Four pillars rose up at the corners to hold a small roof that laced around the outside of the fourth floor. Eastern dragons rose up from the base of each pillar to meet their tops.
A graceful phoenix rested imperiously at each corner of the slanted roof.
Around the area shaded by the roof lay a large moat. Four stone bridges crossed it, one for each side of the spiralling architecture.
Outside the moat, a large, empty flower bed encircled the building. A stone path already traced amongst emptiness. Soon, it would hold great gardens for people to walk through.
Until then, though, the only thing other than the path was this: each corner was filled with a stone tiger roaring defiance outwards.
To cap it off, small turtles balanced on the sixteen columns holding up the walls of the moats' four bridges.
Once everything was built, Ivor began to go nuts. In essence, the entire building went from 480P to 8K. The Dragons looked more haughty, the Tigers' fur more electric, the Phoenix' celestial beauty evermore.
The pillars themselves gained scales. Each pictured beast on the building's four walls was given a life-like depiction.
As for the front of the building, it was separate. The garden bed stopped at the tigers, here; for indeed, there was a great pavilion.
Smaller, slightly discolored stone tiles were placed specifically to create a small maze. Starting from the front, you could follow the paths until you arrived at the Assocciation.
Additionally, instead of just a bridge crossing over the moat, there were stairs leading under. On the sides of this underground area, small tables and chairs were presented for lunch breaks.
Similarly, they were placed around the building itself, and within the surrounding gardens.
On the front face of the buiding, it was similarly depicted as the rest. However, the sides of the first four floors were empty, with an overhang above them to stop the rain.
It was at this time that Ivor began carving into the rock face. As he did, the new sign slowly took form above the entrance.
CHRONO FEDERATION
BEAST ASSOCIATION
CHAO CITY BRANCH
Il Ji smiled. "This truly is picturesque, isn't it?"
"It will take us a few days, but with our resources the moat and surrounding area shouldn't take us too long." Orio supplied.
"A-hem." Il Ji coughed politely. "I recently came into the purview of several un-named, un-before seen, Mythical Class creatures. What say you that alongside the new remodel, we add a couple floors?"
"Brat, what else are you hiding?"
"…Alongside Razoria, I added two new beasts. One is Obsidian, a Pentagonal Labyrinthine Elemental, and the other is Locus, the Nine Transformations Lotus Seat that Myria presented to me as a greeting gift."
"…Which reminds me, I need to go inside and register Locus…"
"....." Slackjawed, Orio wasn't even remotely near the mood to tell his disciple the truth. With the building only newly rebuilt, it would be at least a day before he could register.