Faust took slow, measured bites of his delicious dinner, appearing oblivious to the strange look on Li Mei's face.

'That's a hell of a gift,' Li Mei thought with more than a little bitterness, wrinkling her nose in distaste. Out loud, she asked: "Are you implying that person isn't you?"

"It's not me." The man put down his fork, turning a dark and unfathomable stare her way. Something in his face hinted at an echo of sadness, a deep sorrow that settled in the very marrow of his bones.

Between her own experiences in her previous life, with the addition of 44's memories and experience Li Mei's ability to detect things like sincerity and falsehood was at a nigh supernatural level. Deep down in the very pit of her belly, she felt Faust was telling the truth. Pressing her lips together in a firm line, Li Mei nodded and turned back to her meal. "I see. So it wasn't you."

Some of the resentment she felt on 44's behalf faded away. Faust didn't make her a slave, he didn't order Vigen and the other servants to abuse the small child. Ever since they met he'd been offering her benefits, and even made a condition that she couldn't tell people she was a slave. Unless he himself told them, no one would know her status.

He was still a fiend with ridiculous expectations regarding study habits, bore a sadistic streak, was annoyingly fickle and never explained personal matters to her satisfaction. But he at least wasn't the reason 44 died such a miserable death after such a miserable life.

While the man felt relieved she accepted his explanation without arguing or asking more uncomfortable questions, Faust also felt perhaps the child sitting in front of him was inexperienced and naïve. She believed him far too easily! After her life of hardship he expected to deal with more cynicism.

Li Mei seemed to view him favorably instead, leaving Faust with a knot of conflicted feelings in his heart. Glad to be trusted, yet concerned at the same time. If his intentions toward the girl were sinister instead of sincere... She wouldn't have her defenses up against him at all!

No, that wouldn't do. Li Mei couldn't just go around believing the words of every person she barely knew no matter how kind they seemed initially. Being clever was no substitute for genuine experience and judgement regarding interpersonal relationships! The child needed more life experiences to make up for the decade of early development she lost.

He'd have to fix that, but it could wait until after her birthday. Faust nodded, making plans in the back of his mind as he turned his attention and gaze back to his dinner plate.

Thanks to a beautiful misunderstanding, Li Mei's future path of suffering was set in stone.

When she was halfway through her dinner, Faust finished eating and went to prepare her special dessert. Instead of a cake, he made something that resembled a fruit tart and cheesecake combined into one. Smooth cheesecake was the bottom, while the cream and fruit formed a tart on top.

It was, perhaps, the most delicious thing she'd ever eaten in either of her lives.

While her attention was on eating the dessert and keeping it from Bao's envious clutches, Li Mei missed seeing the indulgent smile that flickered across Faust's face for just a moment. "Thank you for surviving another year. Happy birthday, Li Mei."

The gentle expression was gone by the time she turned to give him a cheeky grin, a bit of cream and fruit at the corners of her mouth the only remaining evidence of the dessert's brief existence. "You're welcome!"

Once the meal was finished, Faust left the clean up to Li Mei and disappeared without another word. Li Mei was already used to it, and just took care of the dishes before taking a nice bath and tucking herself into bed.

Core Grade and Core Quality were two different things. Li Mei's Core had a Grade of A+ - the scale started down at D-, and above A+ were Grades ranging in the S, SS, and SSS categories which could only be achieved with the use of special treasures and training. In short, she got the highest Core Grade possible with her current resources.

Higher quality Cores didn't require as much maintenance as lesser Cores. They had a tendency to form better Gifts, were less likely to explode even if they were empty of mana for a while, and were just generally superior for the use of magic as a whole. Grade was an overall rating of the Core's structure and magic potential.

Core Quality, on the other hand, referred to how well the Core refined mana within its own Grade bracket rating. It was possible to have a high Quality but low Grade or vice versa. Grade and Quality had complimentary effects but did not hold sway over each other.

Higher Core Quality meant higher Mana Quality. The better the mana, the easier it was to use and the more powerful her spells would be. It was a matter of efficiency - casting a spell with low Quality mana was more than three times as costly and difficult when compared to using high Quality mana!

Li Mei sifted through information in her Interface as she laid in bed, a faint cyan glow emanating from her mauve eyes. Her age went up in the profile - it displayed 13 instead of 12, and focusing on the age line would bring up a tooltip explaining that her birthday was the 9th day of the 9th month. According to both Faust and the Interface she was officially a year older.

Bao snored in the bed next to hers, clawed feet twitching as he chased something in his dreams. Li Mei grinned at the sleeping fera. He was mad she didn't share the dessert and slept with his back facing her.

When was the last time she celebrated her birthday? She'd been a kid, for sure. Before the Chang Yezi incident. 'Yes, I stopped celebrating after that, didn't I?' Li Mei sighed, staring at the Interface windows with a complicated gaze. 'I didn't go to anyone else's birthday parties either. Or any parties, really. No gatherings or mixers. I just kept to myself, lived my own life.

'Since I didn't have the ability to always protect myself from potential monsters, it was better to not give any the opportunity to get close. I'd already learned how weak I really was. But this time... If anyone wants to mess with me, hmph! They can't blame me for being ruthless. And I have barriers for protection, and Bao! This time around, I'll definitely go to parties and have fun.'

Li Mei snuggled into her blankets and drifted off to sleep with a satisfied smile on her lips.

Faust crouched on Li Mei's favorite rock with a lit cigarette dangling from his lips, a plain crystal tablet resting on his lap. Various images and graphs were displayed on holographic screens, along with reports and messages. The man scowled, his handsome scholarly face darkening into something unrecognizable.

He stood, marching into Li Mei's bedroom without any shame or ceremony and yanking the blankets off her sleeping form. "Wake up, kid."

Li Mei screeched like a tiny banshee, leaping from her bed to Bao's where she could steal his warmth at a speed even Faust was impressed by. Bao grumbled but didn't rouse himself from bed once he caught sight of Faust standing at the bedroom door.

"You are not to leave this forest until I return to fetch you." Faust's expression was cold and indifferent, a stark contrast to the almost genial expressions he displayed during the birthday dinner. "It must be me personally and not someone claiming to be my subordinate. I will not send any subordinates to you under any circumstance, anyone who claims otherwise is an enemy. The code is Frost Plum, if that's not the first thing I say when coming to fetch you it's an enemy. If you see anyone in the forest, it's an enemy. Do you understand?"

The black band around Li Mei's neck turned warm from the force of accepting so many orders at once. She nodded slowly, still half-asleep. "What happened?"

"The estate will come under attack by another Oriole sector within the next few hours. This forest isn't a secure location, but it's safer than anywhere else I can bring you at the moment. This cave has the best defensive and cloaking arrays I can create protecting it, as long as you don't lead an enemy back to your nest you can at least sleep safely at night." Faust tossed a pair of jade chips onto Li Mei's evacuated bed. "The black chip has training methods and fighting techniques stored as data, the white chip has some books and information you'll find useful. Use mana to access them, you should be clever enough to figure things out. Study hard and stay hidden, one of the research facilities is hidden in this forest so there'll definitely be enemies crawling about."

He left before the girl had time to fully wake and process the barrage of sudden information. Faust sped through the forest, shedding his facade of indifference and allowing an expression of concern and anger to color his handsome face.

As the equivalent of a deep-cover agent, Faust had a special team of subordinates providing crucial intel and support.

They took care of the difficult busywork, authenticating his cover in the background and feeding him useful information while forwarding his special reports. News of an attack hitting his support team's top secret location arrived moments after the competing sector's assault was detected.

It was too much of a coincidence. Faust grit his teeth and ran faster, pushing his body to the limit to arrive even one second sooner. Whether in duels, skirmishes, or war, one extra second could be the difference between life and death!

Adalrich Agilo's estate, which doubled as his sector's headquarters, was situated in a valley surrounded on all sides by mountain peaks forming a circular range. It looked as though a giant reached down and scooped up some earth and threw it elsewhere, leaving a crater with amazing natural defenses. On top of the tallest peak, Faust's four subordinates defended their covert bunker against numerous assailants.

Sofie, a petite girl who acted as the personal assistant 'Zoe' in order to covertly ferry information out of the estate, swung a long chain with a spiked metallic sphere attached to the end. The chain snaked expertly around the neck of an enormous Six-Winged Crane, the metal sphere smashing into its head and gouging one of its eyes. She shook back a heavy mane of curly blonde hair and turned her mismatched eyes to the next victim.

Shrieking in pain, the injured crane staggered and fell, flailing its many wings to try and deal damage before a swift figure wreathed in shadow slipped through its attacks and severed its throat. The shadow, Hilda, flicked blood from her light azure blade and scowled at the sky - her figure was completely masked, silhouette shifting continuously from second to second in height and build.

Countless flying beasts blocked the stars with flapping wings and writhing bodies, angry screeching filling the air as they beat against a shimmering dome that crackled with energy. Small fry like the Six-Winged Crane were sneaking through gaps appearing periodically in the barrier, and it wouldn't be long before the defensive array shattered under the force of constant indiscriminate attacks.

"Trying to disguise it as a minor beast tide?" Hilda's voice was hoarse and low like the threatening rumble of a wild beast, a snarling pitch that often made people's skin crawl when they weren't used to hearing it.

"That's troublesome," a bland voice crackled over the communicators each person wore in their ear. Secure in the bunker, Hans was surrounded by dozens of floating holographic screens, fingers a blur as they typed rapidly on a long holographic keyboard. Light from the screens glinted off large heavy eyeglasses, the only remarkable feature of an otherwise mundane young man.

With dark circles under brown eyes, a short mass of greasy brown hair, narrow slumped shoulders and pale freckled skin, Hans carried the demeanor of an exhausted university student rather than an intelligence agent working under a secret organization. "There won't be any commanders to interrogate. I hate when the enemy's clever... Defensive barrier's at 12%. Status on the artillery?"

An enormous muscular man with striking scarlet skin and fluffy orange hair twirled several delicate tools between meaty fingers. Beneath Kurt's surprisingly exquisite touch, panels of smooth metal and crystal circuitry combined to form a large turret. Several such turrets stood in place at the edges of the domed barrier, waiting for the defenses to fall before they showcased their might.

"60% of the main turrets are fully operational! Secondary turrets are online and waiting for enemies to get in range. If we can't hold the line until Boss gets here, I'll eat my own foot!" Kurt grinned, a wide mouth with rows of sharp teeth insinuating he might not be joking about the remark.

"Scans are showing some beasts above Rank 3 in the psuedo-tide."

"I take it back. I don't want to eat my foot."

"Just your words, apparently." Hilda smirked, cutting down a stealthy Black-Crested Hummingbird before it could attack Sofie from behind. "How many above Rank 3, Hans?"

"Four, though we can't dismiss the possibility of tigers dressed as pigs in the bunch. Keeping this many beasts on task without an on-site commander means there's a contracted Beast King hiding somewhere close calling the shots. Defensive barrier's down to 8%, folks."

All four of Faust's subordinates were in Rank 3. Crossing Ranks to defeat a stronger beast was difficult but not impossible provided the beast wasn't sapient. Creatures capable of reasoning were infinitely more difficult to fight than beasts relying on pure instinct, if the strong beasts hiding in the pseudo-tide were sapient they'd be in trouble.

More and more beasts tore through the cracking barrier, forcing their way in with beaks and claws. Kurt's face dripped sweat as he pushed his hands to the limit, assembling turret after turret while his two allies protected his back.

"Someone's well aware of our strength. This fake beast tide is way overkill to deal with a few Rank 1 researchers like we were all supposed to be." Sofie scowled, her cute face twisting into an expression of disgust. She swung her weapon with more force than necessary, slamming the spiked metal ball into an unsuspecting Green Mist Bat that burst into a cloud of gore on impact.

Hilda gave a thumbs up, flashing a grin. "Brutal."

"Someone did their homework on us and I don't like it!" Sofie smashed another enemy that broke through the defensive barrier, uncaring of the blood and viscera clinging to her previously adorable outfit. "We've been outdone by enemy spies, it's embarrassing!"

"Or one of us betrayed everyone else and sold out our secrets. Did you finally snap, Hans?"

"Hilda. Do you believe I'll kill you for that?"

"I believe you'll try, little man. As for success, well... Eat your vegetables, and maybe someday you'll grow big and strong."

"Go to hell!"

Hilda cackled, her azure sword piercing deep into the skull of of another Six-Winged Crane. She retrieved her weapon with a flourish, a splatter of blood following the path of the blade and splashing onto the ground in an arc. Her every movement combined brutality with elegance, savagery with artistry. In contrast was Sofie's flurry of tiny rage swinging a spiked metal ball on a chain with seeming abandon, yet somehow never hitting her allies or their turrets.

"Defensive barrier's at 4%, cutting it awful close. Kurt?"

Kurt slammed a panel on the turret shut, wiping sweat off his wide brow. "Up and running, we're good to go!"

An invisible weight seemed to lift off everyone's shoulders. Hilda visibly sighed in relief, and even Hans in the bunker clenched his fists in victory.

"Alright, pull back to the bunker! Hilda can stay outside."

"Bite me!" Hilda snarled, sheathing her sword so she could grab Sofie around the waist, sprinting toward the bunker's door despite the smaller girl's angry protests and threats. Kurt was a step ahead, holding the door open for the smaller ladies before following them inside and locking the heavy metal door.

The bunker was disguised as a research station by illusory arrays which had long collapsed under the assault of the psuedo-tide. Without illusions it became an imposing round fortress of smooth grey metal with shock turrets sending out blue sparks on the roof. A third of the space inside was a living area with bunk beds, a stocked kitchen, lavatory and bathroom. Another third was occupied by machinery and devices of all kinds, some of which only Kurt knew the purpose of. The rest of the space was basically a war room with Hans and his holographic screens at the center, surrounded by a semi-circular table covered in crystal tablets and paper maps.

Hans flicked his wrists and a few large screens appeared around the war room, showing the situation outside. Hilda dropped Sofie into one chair, then sat just out of the smaller girl's arm reach. The shadows obscuring Hilda's form melted away over the course of several breaths, revealing a tall, thin girl with a face mostly obscured by her curtain of long black hair. She had large furry ears at the sides of her head, a mouthful of long sharp teeth, neon green eyes, and a long thin fluffy tail whipping back and forth in the air behind her.

Kurt groaned as he sank onto a stool, shaking his large hands. "I haven't assembled anything so fast in years! My hands are numb..."

"You're out of practice, big guy." Sofie's tone was petulant, her chin propped in her hand. "If you'd have been any slower, we'd have died! Just you wait until Boss finds out."

Color drained from Kurt's scarlet face, leaving him a greyish-pink husk of a man. "Oh no. Oh no, I'm doomed."

"He's been in a good mood lately, you might not die." Sofie shrugged, then glanced at the closest screen.

The defensive barrier shattered, sparkles of light dissolving into the dark night. Beasts screeched with excitement and surged forward, only to meet the line of large turrets waiting to pierce their bodies with a barrage of bullets. The first few waves crumpled, leaving a pile of bodies high enough to form a macabre wall at the turret perimeter.

Those who passed the large turrets found themselves welcomed by smaller turrets popping out of the ground to shoot bombs in their faces that exploded into clouds of bloody shrapnel, tearing through the wings of the target's nearest allies.

Should any beasts survive the two waves of turrets, they'd find themselves fried by the shock turrets on top of the bunker.

Hans sighed in relief, clutching a mug of hot coffee in his trembling hands. "We made it in time."