The Book of Path’s message made Zilan wonder.

“What kind of formation can do….wait....what if!?”

As he thought about the formation placed around the theatre, Zilan couldn’t help but feel that he was approaching things wrong.

The [Gift of Love] was basically a Divine ability, it would be impossible for any earthly device or interference to force it to be awakened or mastered.

What did that mean then?

“I’ve already met the requirements, my body and my mind are ready, which can only mean this ‘formation’ is substituting for something that is essential for me to access the third level.

Something that I am not yet aware of, and is far more powerful than the formation, if it allows me to use more than a fraction of the third levels power.”

“Young Master Zilan?” asked Mwizi, interrupting Zilan’s thought process.

“Ah! Yes….we were…” Before Zilan could finish that sentence, memories of him conversing with Mwizi suddenly came back to him.

Less than hour earlier,

Zilan had just entered the room when he noticed the large Head Elder waiting for him at the head of the room.

“Young Master, please come in. I understand that you’re not in the best of shape so I prepared some medicinal tea, a personal concoction that I stumbled upon in my youth and have spent years developing.”

His deep voice reverberated throughout the room, and despite his kind words, his tone made him appear overbearing and even slightly threatening.

Zilan though, honestly could not care less. He was just here to see just how a top clan in the Bronze sector handled its matters.

“You practice Alchemy?” asked Zilan half-heartedly as he moved away from the group of Elders and walked towards Mwizi.

The Elders seemed to have a problem with this however, before any of them could voice out their grievances, Mwizi waved his cloth covered hand, stopping them.

“No,no....I only dabble in the healing arts, nothing so advanced as to be considered Alchemy.” Laughed Mwizi. “If Young Master would be so kind as to honor me with some pointers on how to improve the concoction then I would be most pleased.”

Zilan slightly raised his eyebrows as he examined the covered face of Mwizi.

“Was I misinformed? Isn’t young Master an aspiring Alchemist? Is that not why you are here? If I’m wrong then….”

“Enough!” Zilan’s cool demeanor evaporated upon hearing that even Mwizi knew of his goal to get to the Alchemy association.

“Have I in some way offended you young Master Zilan?”

“I don’t understand why?.....” whispered Zilan as he looked at Mwizi from head to toe.

“Why what?” asked Mwizi.

“Why…you are talking to me as if we are equals. Your words may imply different but your tone….says something else entirely.” The scales on Zilan’s neck dimly glowed, sending a shockwave of alarm throughout the room.

The instincts of all the Beasts present despite being stronger than Zilan could not deny the fear they felt from a being of superior bloodline warning them.

It was something they couldn’t fight because their fear and cause of alarm stemmed from something they couldn’t control, their dna.

Surprisingly though, Mwizi appeared to be fairing quite well. In fact he seemed rather calm.

“Apologies for my wrongdoings, this old one will remember the words from young Master today.” said Mwizi as he took two steps back from Zilan, a show of respect.

The rest of the Elders followed suit, satisfying Zilan to a degree however, it was time for this farce to end.

“It’s good that you will remember, now enlighten me on why I’ve been summoned here?”

Mwizi pointed towards Kifo before saying,

“Our own young Master, was tasked with the honor of being your guide and caretaker however after only a few days into your stay with us, it appears he not only failed to guide you properly but he even aided you to a degree.”

“And?”

“And that is why we will not adhere to the clan rules this time, instead because of our own indiscretion both parties will have to compensate the clan. Clan leader has already dealt with Kifo’s matter which leaves only young Master to settle his debt.” Said Mwizi, all the while making large gestures with his hands.

“I see, and if you don’t mind me asking what exactly did I do?”

“Hmm…other things we can ignore and forgive given young Master Zilan’s status however, the complete destruction of part of our people’s sacred land is something that we cannot overlook! This matter affects the development of our clan’s talent, thousands of outstanding talents have flourished only because of the sacred land and now that a part of it is destroyed, the number of future standouts in the clan will reduce.”

“To my knowledge, isn’t the sacred land open to only the Elders?” This question was based on the information Zilan had gotten from Kifo’s mind.

“Excuse me, but that statement is wrong! The sacred land is also open to the outstanding youths of the clan.” clarified Mwizi, and it was clear he was starting to get annoyed.

“Ah! I don’t understand, how thousands of outstanding talents could have flourished because of the sacred land. Truly Laughable! What is it that makes them outstanding if there are thousands of them? Do they drink water and suddenly become outstanding? Please share your secret with me!” laughed Zilan.

However before any of the Elders could react, he posed a question to Mwizi that silenced the room and effectively tamed their rage, replacing it with cluelessness.

“You are either lying to me or exaggerating the situation, but why would a reputable Elder such as yourself do something like that?”

Zilan was about to pose a follow up question when his mind suddenly went blank and he felt a force come inside him.

Currently,

“You were in the middle of accusing me of something.” Replied Mwizi clearly holding his voice back.

“I see…well it looks like I owe you an apology.”

Needless to say, this change in Zilan’s tone made not only Mwizi and the Elders drop their mouths in shock but Kifo too was stunned by this.

“Excuse me….?”

“I’ll save you the time by stating that I’m willing to compensate you exceptionally well for any misgivings you want to think up however, I have an additional condition.”

“What do you mean exactly?”

“You don’t need to know, all further negotiations will be done between I and the fellow watching this show from afar. If you or anyone else objects to this arrangement then I’ll have no choice but to be rude.”