While mad scientists plotted on the ocean and revolutionaries rode on a UFO above a mountain range somewhere, it wasn’t the end of Phantasian scheming activities. 

Somewhere in Starland, Tai Tianshang of the Iron Army was waiting for a meeting.

Despite being a woman, she leaned more on being handsome over beautiful. The silver armor she wore protected her from head to toe in curve plating of the greatest workmanship. She shone beneath the sky as she surveyed the army of warriors assembling beneath her. Tai turned her gaze over the castle town and sighed.

Her campaign to conquer Starland was on shaky ground. At first, things went as planned. She could exploit some general discontent and whip it into a rebellion. She knew Phantasia was at its breaking point from the nepotism and incompetency of the gods. The Tri-Coalition of Tengen was the weakest link to exploit.

It was the golden opportunity to lead the world into a new golden age. As the eldest of Nuwa’s disciples and the strongest of the 33 Stars, Tai should have the path of glory ahead of her.

But reality was a cruel master.

The plan to exploit the general discontent got off without a hitch. Her promise of justice and rewards of strength and power caused many to flock into her rank. The discipline she enforced and the experience of her heritage whipped them into a massive army of high Rank soldiers. She swept through the land, earning the allegiance of the forces in Starland, suppressing and destroying those who dared resist. She proudly boasted that success followed those with power.

Tai dreamt of a meritocratic world where result begets reward, not the one where elders and traditions made the rules, and she built her new factions. With her power, the dream of an equal utopia where the talented are recognized was within reach.

Then it backfired in an epic explosion.

Yes, the annoyance was gone, and Tai pretty much kicked Starland’s ass. Her recruitment drive had exploded, but her rampant attack transformed her faction into an International pariah. Tai believed it wouldn't be a problem, but turned out once farmers everywhere joined her army, no one would be tending the farms. Her rampant massacre drove away the other independent trader.

Normally, Tai would just up her reward for food and resources, and share them with everyone else. But every ideology had its dark-side, and the one Tai found out the hard way.

Humans were selfish creatures.

Her own troops spot a rise in merit prices for resources, but they won’t be farming for it. Instead, they started kidnapping people and enslaving them in farms and mines, worsening Tai’s already besmirched reputation as a tyrant. Then she faced a bigger problem. Equality sounded nice, but it defied the first law of economics — there is infinite want and scarce resources. She couldn’t afford to feed everyone. The limiting quota simply caused the stronger to take the food and resources from the weaker.

It didn’t take her far to realize the system she hated was perpetuating itself. Those who rose with their talent are suppressing others potential seed, because it was easier. The only difference was Tai is in charge and everyone in the world viewed her as a monster.

The more this progressed, the more apparent that the only way to solve her dilemma was to be the conqueror of this world. But her recent transgression already got the Divine Fist in a knot, outright world conquest would bring them down on her. 

Tai Tianshang, the Heavenly Daughter of Steel, was facing the ultimate bane of every historical conqueror. A cult of personality built on power, adrenalin, and momentum couldn’t create a sustainable nation. One man dictatorship sounded good on paper, but no one was omnipotent. Like every despot, Tai believed herself fit to lead, ignoring the fact those who were the best leaders often avoided the position out of the headache it gave them.

The Heavenly Daughter of Steel’s grand conquest ended with her ruling the area she wrecked and couldn’t effectively rebuild, governing the army that was getting too big and rowdy to control. She groaned. Several advisers had come to her before, but the internal competition was so severe, that most of the advisory and architects ended up dead. Qualified scholars avoided coming to her at all costs when they found one of her former-general had enslaved a bunch of bureaucrats to help do the paperwork. She couldn’t even punish that criminal with raising discontent amongst the troop. Starland's propaganda machine went to town on her with that one.

Now, Tai was down to making dodgy deals to keep herself ahead.

Beside her, a tanned girl with mouse brown hair worriedly glanced toward Tai.

“Tai,” the girl said. “Are you sure this will be fine?”

“No, Nadia,” Tai said to her best friend. “It won’t. He is already outside the door.”

The door swung open and in walked the embodiment of disaster.

It was a man wearing the mask of the laughing clown and checkered ringmaster costume. On his head was a similarly styled top-hat. The man's hair was pure black. He walked into the room in a jolly stride, noiseless like a mime. The man took off his hat with a twirled and bowed toward the two.

“Greetings!'' The clown’s voice was cheery and loud. “Heavenly Daughter of Earth Nadia Tianshang.” He waved at Nadia. “And Heavenly Daughter Tai Tianshang,” he twirled to Shyme. “It is pleasurable to do business with you.”

“Shut up,” Tai glared at the clown. “I wouldn’t even discuss this with you if not for my dire position.” Tai’s office was spartan with two chairs, a large table, several shelves to keep their files and not much else. Still, there was intimidation in its desolate atmosphere. Tai took the seat behind the table while removing her eyes from the clown.

“What is the Wolf Hoard offer, Envoy,” Tai grimly started the conversation.

“Goes right to the business, eh,” the clown never left off its jolly tone. “The offer is simple! A reversal of fortune. Your campaign starts falling apart when Chandra helps the Frisnian repel your invasion.”

Tai glared harder.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, honey,” the clown ignored Tai’s obvious dislike of that nickname. “You know it is true. That failed invasion lost you the momentum. This time, the Wolf Hoard will give you the perfect opportunity to strike at the Frisnian’s capital of Zhong.”

Nadia’s body tensed, and Tai scowled.

“Zhong is too well defended,” Nadia said. “There are several masters—”

“They won’t be a problem!” the clown said. “I mean the Dark Elves will be helping with that.” The clown giggled. “They are desperate to recapture the Zhong’s World Tree since forever.”

Nadia was shocked, “You roped the Dark Elves into this.”

“That is right!” The clown danced. “This will be a major operation. A pincer attack on Frisnia. We are going to hit both the conference in Danghai and occupy Zhong.” The clown stretched its hand to Tai. “Lady Tai, we want you to help the attack on Dang—”

“No,” Tai refused.

The clown stopped dancing.

“I won’t be helping you enrage the Divine Fist while they were in Frisnia,” Tai affirmed in a steely tone. “I would stand down, if I were you. It isn’t a good idea to test the gods’ tolerance.”

The clown slagged sadly, “Very well, then we will be leaving,” the clown bowed to Tai and Nadia. “Farewell, fair ladies! Good luck with your conquest!”

The clown skipped and hopped out of the room.

Nadia turned to Tai, “I don’t trust him. He must know we are in no state to press the Divine Fist, so why is he asking the impossible?”

“Yes,” Tai growled. “I sense we are being drawn into a plot.”

…

As Tai thought about the plot being roped around her neck, her fellow 33 Stars were in a different type of danger.

Alpine, her black hair tied into a bun, whipped the ground and marshaled two girls into a fight of their life.

“Here is the rule,” Alpine scanned the faces facing her. “I’ll whip your body, magic, and spirit into shape. There will be no quarter given. I want your maximum effort!”

“Alpine,” Serenade Asmodella trembled in her boots. She went with more protective clothing for the tough training for this scenario. “What about Sonovia?”

“Yeah,” Shyme Enma. “She failed just as badly.”

“Oh,” Alpine smiled frostily and cracked a whip. “Rubric is handling her training.” Alpine glared at both of them. “It appears you are misunderstanding something. This isn’t just training you two. This is a reminder for what exactly you two are forgetting — status and loyalty.” Alpine summoned a snowstorm. “I need to show you what happens when you even think about faltering.”

Alpine unleashed the blast of cold-energy and entered her true form.

“Shyme!” Serenade yelped. “Throw down your firewall, or we will both be screwed.”

“Yes!” Shyme yelled with tears of fear in her eyes and deployed her Skill to unleash both winds and fire.

Alpine reemerged from the snow as the wintry phoenix, easily crashing the Shyme’s defense, and flung them back with an abusive snowstorm.

…

In a camp many miles away, inside a pocket dimension of a camping van, Yuri fell into his knee.

“I can’t move anymore,” Yuri breathed, falling into a heap on the track.

“I understand,” said Rem, who was jogging alongside him. “It must be hard for you to keep up with the routine.” He stretched out his hand to Yuri. “Come on, I will help you get to the finish line.”

And Rem did, carrying Yuri through the rest of the circuit. Completing the task, both of them plopped on the stretcher. Rem cracked open a bottle and handed it to Yuri.

“What is this?” Yuri took the bottle.

“Would you believe me if I called it a super-soldier serum?” Rem answered.

Yuri couldn’t decide whether that was a joke.

“Are you joking?” Yuri took a sip and felt the long-lost taste of home. “Is this Pepsi?”

“No, to both questions,” Rem also took a sip from a similar bottle. “These bottles,” he showed his bottle to Yuri, “are the brain-child of our Director. Cy is among the best Alchemists in Phantasia, and she cooked this up to answer our biggest problem.” Rem nostalgically said. “How do we surpass the bloody monster mismanaging the world in the shortest time possible?”

“Wait,” Yuri said. He was getting sharper these days. “You mean this,” he held his bottle, “is how you get strong enough to mangle Orwell in only six months.”

“That bottle is a cola-flavored Alchemical supplement,” Rem explained. “Mana is more than just the living-conductor channeling the will of the Multiverse. Exposure to energy within it also developed our cells to a mystical degree when funneled through a Mystic Core or an Origin.” He gestured at the gym. “This room was operating under high Mana density, meant to accelerate your body intake of Mana during exercise and rest 24/7 to speed up the evolution process.” Rem pointed at the drink. “This drink provided the nutrient, calories and serum to stimulate in that transition, while minimizing any side effects. Our research suggests this procedure will rapidly improve your physical ability in a month and peter out after that.” Rem relaxed on the bench. “Then it becomes a good vitamin supplement.”

“So how strong do I get after a month?” Yuri said.

“B-Rank,” Rem replied. “And we test it with several volunteers, so the result is consistent.”

Yuri gaped, “I’m just an E-Rank.”

“Not for long,” Rem said, and finished the bottle. “The serum also contained a recovery potion. Come on, we are going to practice Mana next.”

As the two went on their basic training, L and T were stunned by their recent discovery.

‘B-Rank in a month?’ T refused to believe it. ‘Even the Ancient couldn’t do that. Did he have any idea about the impact of this discovery.’

‘You know the Ancient,’ L looked at her. ‘How did they do it?’

‘Meditate in a sacred blood-pool or harsh environment and let the body absorb the nutrients,’ T said. ‘It is a classic.’ She gaped in the room. ‘It never dawns on us to replicate that effect in the training-room and mix it into daily life.’ T stared at the bottle like it was mocking her. ‘Never mind adding something like an enhancement serum.’

‘Bloody cheaters,’ L was depressed. ‘It took me around two-years to reach B-Rank.’

T growled. Due to circumstance, she experienced a climb to B-Rank twice. The first took her a year, and the second three months. She was considered a genius in both circumstances.

In their original plan, Yuri would achieve this feat in around two or three years. They finally recalled how Dream was more interested in the heart more than power. It was then they got the reason.

The Dawn trivialized every traditional method Phantasian built in its history. For them, strength was pointlessly easy to obtain. They were more worried about who used the power than how to achieve it.