[Whoa. I didn't expect Caretaker to fill out a dress that well,] Corpse Doll commented to her fellow kaijin as she watched Zhen Liu transform not just themselves but their clothes as well. [Although, I now can't help but notice something from it.]

[Really? What?] Porcelain Doll asked her twin.

[I think our caretaker subconsciously took on that particular form, because it's built somewhat similar to the rest of us.]

[That...hmmm.]

It had been noticed by his friends and family that a majority of his kaijin were not only female but also built in a way that could best be described as... monstrously seductive.

It had become a bit of a running joke that Zhen Liu was doing this on purpose because he was actually suppressing his own desires so hard that it leaked into his Kaijin instead.

Evidently, the fact that his transformed persona, Mei Yue, followed that same trend kind of made everyone do a quick double think on that possibility.

Not that the Kaijin cared, they were just focusing on their assignments.

Mostly.

[Okay, I am now officially jealous about not being able to tag along on the Maestro's catfishing mission,] Hurricroak commented. [The look alone makes me think this will end hilariously.]

[Because our lord doesn't look good as a girl?] Nepherage asked, fully ready to defend the honor of her lady.

[Nah, because there's a non-zero chance that the Maestro is going to have to flirt in order to properly catfish the Lucifer knock-off.]

[...ah.]

...Enough talk, back to the actual scene...

Soon after the girls were done playing dress up and make up with "Mei Yue", the group returned to show off their "new friend" to the others.

"Hey guys, we're back."

"Already? I thought something like changing someone's appearance would-WHOA!"

*WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Needless to say, the reactions to Zhen Liu's new form were absolutely priceless.

"Okay, when you said you could change into a woman, I was expecting, like...a more feminine version of yourself," Zhen Tai noted with shock as he looked over Zhen Liu's new form. "You look like an entirely different person."

"In more ways than one," Harriet commented, absolutely fascinated by this transformation on a medical level. "Any and all traces of your physical traits as Zhen Liu have completely disappeared and replaced with entirely new ones. This isn't simply transformation, this is something else entirely."

"You feel different too," Olstenna noted as he used his aether to sweep over Zhen Liu. "It feels like you're radiating aether more so than [Chaos]. How the fuck did you pull that off?"

"Perks of having broken through," Mri Yue(Zhen Liu). "Apparently I can now construct artificial aether channels and their formulas for quite a bit longer than before."

"How much longer is a bit?" Lythero asked, still in disbelief that the thin guy that radiated [Chaos] he had been travelling with for several months now was now chubby, blonde, and a woman that radiated Aquarii aether. "I've only seen this level of change with aether medicines that cause permanent changes. Like, the kind that requires an equally powerful medicine to reverse. Or a curse."

"Twenty-four hours if I'm not doing anything extraneous, three hours if I'm fighting."

"Huh...weird."

To make a very questionable statement logical, there were a little over a dozen known ways in the world of Valresta that one could use to change their sex and gender, but only about a third of them came with no side effects.

The number of ways one could change their aether formula was even fewer.

"Alright, enough gawking at my new girlfriend, I mean, lady-in-waiting," Jinju Ren declared with no small amount of satisfaction from making such a bold statement, "we need to rehearse our backstory in case it becomes relevant."

"Really? I thought since this invitation was for Jinju Ren, Zhen Liu's role in all of this was to be a passive servant," Taurna asked.

"You'd think that," Alicia, Bellona, Alice, Harriet, and Jinju Ren answered simultaneously.

The sheer synchronicity of that answer threw everyone else in the room for a loop.

"Okay, I admit I do not hang around noble social circles that often, aside from maybe that one party where I met Jinju Ren," Zhen Liu commented. "And maybe from what I've read in trashy novels. Is there something I'm missing about ladies-in-waiting?"

"...oh we are definitely going to need to give you crash course on this stuff, because lady etiquette is very different from gentleman's etiquette," Jinju Ren proclaimed. "And before you ask, the stuff that Logos and Pathos will download into your brain will only partially cover the nuances."

"Great…"

While Jinju Ren and "Mei Yue" went over their plan on how they were going to deal with Alain and how they were going to get their hands on the [Rainbow Forge Manual], everyone else went to go and handle the other stuff.

Which, thankfully, was less socially draining but were going to be tiresome in other ways.

...

"Alright, enough fun at my fiancee's expense. Axer, what do you need help with first? Also, stop staring at the doorway, they're not coming back until later."

Evidently, Mei Yue was Axer's type, physically at least.

"Huh? What? Ah, of course. Well...you guys fixed up the main forge and tools so we don't have to worry about that. How'd you do it by the way? I've never seen anyone use aether like that before."

"It's, uh...a little trick I learned," Alicia quickly lied. "Now, what did you need help with?"

"Well, some of the materials I need to use for my commissions are a little special. They need to be processed in certain ways before they're usable," Axer answered.

"Are you going to teach us how to do so, or is there a manual?"

"There's a manual."

"Excellent. Miss Lyona and Miss Taurna, you'll be joining us in this endeavor. You too, Lythero and Rianna."

"Okay...why?"

"You two are free now, but that come with its own set of problems. And last I checked, despite receiving the special course on fast education, you still need some skills to call your own," Alicia explained. "As for you, Lythero, I figured that seeing us make weapons might get us closer to fixing yours. And Rianna, while you've done an excellent job using discarded insect shells to make your stuff, we might as well learn how to bring out their full potential."

"That kind of makes sense," Lythero agreed. "Alright, let's see how this goes."

"Hmmm. Fine. I suppose sharpening my arrows to something finer would be better."

...

"Bellona, how would you like to go and exercise your innate skill on some people who are definitely hiding some big secrets in their heads?" Alice asked.

"Well, why not? It was either that or I sneak into whatever restaurant that Xiao Liu and Jinju Ren are heading to in order to hear what they're thinking and scheming."

"Well, aren't you a little Voyeuristic."

"I prefer to think of it as being...cautious."

Once Alice had secured Bellona's assistance, she directed her focus towards her other friend, Harriett.

"How about you, Harriett? Want to join in me in pretending to be a mercenary? Every group of hired blades needs someone who has the ability to heal others."

"I...will actually take you up on that," Harriet answered. "I am curious as to what kind of situation you have fallen into, and I am curious if we can meet some people willing to help us with the future issues in exchange for medicine."

"Sounds...like a good idea."

"Indeed."

...

Now, this same scrambling should've applied to the Kaijin as well, but Zhen Liu had made sure to assign them their assignments before having to pretend to be a woman.

Instead of keeping the groups how they were last time, Zhen Liu had scrambled the teams again.

The Ragnarockers: Nepherage, Frosttusk, and Hurricroak, were assigned to guard the workshop and protect anyone there from whatever bullshit would be coming their way. Zhen Liu wasn't entirely sure why, but he had a feeling in his gut that Axer's creditors were not interested in money as much as what was in this place.

The Mysticlassic Kaijin: Razorstella, Screamira, and Springerdermain, were assigned to explore the underground and make sure that nothing uncouth befell Alice and her group.

While they were all warriors of some grand skill, Zhen Liu couldn't help but be worried either way.

As for the last group of Kaijin, the Doll Twins and Blazejudicator, they were going to be joining Zhen Liu as he was pretending to be a woman named Mei Yue.

Zhen Liu had figured that the Twins would have a better chance of developing [Cores] while surroundes by people chock-full of desire, while Blazejudicator just functioned better overall as long as he was inside of Zhen Liu.

Either way, once the groups were properly divided, all that was left to do was to put these plans into action and hoped nothing terrible happened.

Then again, if this afternoon was an indicator for anything...