A locust the size of a van flew at them as they jogged free of the ravine. Darius hit it with a chaos bolt, blasting its head apart. Hector grimaced while he guided their group to the exit. His mood improved only slightly when the System increased his funds by twenty thousand credits.
He’d never realized how offensively weak he was as a Xian until seeing Darius in action. Every monster died in a single blast. Launching chaos bolts didn’t even cost enough cosmic energy for Darius to be concerned about budgeting. Hector’s only role in the run had been to guide their path. It was a bit humbling.
“That was easy enough. Should we do it again?”
“Sure.”
“Are you upset that I took all the kills?”
Hector scowled. “I’m frustrated that I didn’t contribute much.”
“Now you know how I felt about escaping the Lord Platinum.”
“That subject will not make feel any better.”
Darius patted his shoulder. “You couldn’t save her, Hector. We barely made it out even with the distraction. Sotis the best outco isn’t very good.”
“Let’s run it again. We might as well make so money.”
They did the ravine again.
“Is forty thousand credits a lot?”
Hector laughed. “That really depends. It’s a lot to earn in a single day for sure. If you want to buy resources from Tian, it’s not. A case of nine wine bottles costs eighty thousand credits.”
“I’ve had enough alcohol for this entire year and my body enhancent is complete until I advance to level six.” Darius scratched his chin. “Do you think they will give a special dungeon na too?”
“The governnt hands out those kinds of titles to delvers after monster surges. I’m sure we can arrange for you to do sothing impressive during the next one.”
They returned to the hostel for the night. The next morning, Darius got in an argunt with one of the other residents of the thirty-first floor after eating the woman’s bagel from the fridge. It had been clearly marked as soone else’s property. Darius denied that claim even after the wrapper was retrieved from the garbage as evidence.
Hector tried to defuse the situation by taking Darius out for breakfast but the other Xian wasn’t willing to leave the kitchen area because he thought it would be backing down. Hector removed himself from the hostile atmosphere instead and hopped in a taxi to go visit Riley.
The two of them had never t up in the morning before, but Hector worried he would find her in financial trouble. Who knew what type of money mismanagent she had gotten up to without guidance. After the dungeon runs the previous day, his balance was up to sixty-seven thousand credits. That should be enough to bail her out of any problems.
He sat at the bar and ordered a drink that he refused to touch out of very real concern for his liver health. Whatever damage had been done to it during tournant training should heal in ti, but he didn’t want even mundane alcohol passing his lips. Hector had to wait longer than usual and he began to worry that sothing bad had happened to Riley. There were more likely explanations, he assured himself. Like maybe she had a client currently and couldn’t rush out. Or maybe she was sleeping at the mont.
Since his senses were extended, he felt her approach before she ca bounding into view with springy steps. Instead of the usual lingerie or negligee, Riley wore raggedy sweatpants. The other girls frowned at her as she rushed past them with a wide smile on her face.
She jumped at him and Hector caught her in a large hug and spun round in a circle. “You’ve been doing body enhancent, Riley! That’s amazing!”
“Zero point nine! You’re stronger too, Hector! Wow, I didn’t know bodies could have that much energy packed into them.”
Hector put Riley back down and they smiled at each other for a mont. “I didn’t know if you were going to co back,” she admitted.
The bartender cleared his throat. “Aren’t you dressed for back of establishnt duties?”
She groaned. “I clocked out on lunch break.”
“You’re out front. You know the house rules.”
“Then we’ll go to lunch instead. Co on, Hector.”
The bartender opened his mouth to say sothing and Hector narrowed his eyes. The man raised his hands in surrender and backed away. Sotis the reputation of Xian as murderous savages was less of a burden than others, he reflected as they exited through the front door. “You’ve gotten more assertive,” Hector said.
“Rember that Arahant who made do a spicy room?”
“I rember you didn’t want to share his na.”
“We did another spicy room.” She raised her fist. “I broke his nose.”
Hector began to laugh. “I’ll bet he doesn’t try to buy another room with you.”
“He can’t. I’m suspended for another month.” Riley sighed dramatically. “It’s not my fault. He always asks to try fighting back.”
“How are your funds looking?”
“Fifty three thousand credits. Before getting suspended I was doing real good about not letting the number go down, Hector.”
“That’s good, Riley. I’m proud of you.”
“Then I ssed it up by punching him.”
Hector smiled. “I’m even more proud of you for that. It’s about ti you stood up for yourself. I guess three months of body enhancent makes it a lot easier.”
She held her hand up and studied it. “I didn’t know I could be stronger than a level four Arahant, Hector. I’m only level two.”
“An Arahant body is no better than the best version of a normal human body.” Hector shrugged. “Anyway, how are things going with the other girls?”
“Most of them don’t talk to anymore because I have a bad attitude.”
He glanced back towards the door to the establishnt. “Do you still want to stay?”
Riley’s shoulders slumped. “No. But I can’t leave. Cooks don’t make a lot of money, Hector. I looked it up. I don’t even know if they would let cook food without experience. I read my contract after I got in trouble. If I buy it out, a ‘non compete clause’ ans I can’t work in the industry for the ‘natural life’ of the contract.”
“What if I told you I already rented a bed under your na at my hostel?”
She grimaced as she thought it over. “I don’t know if I can get a job, Hector.”
“There’s always doing deliveries.”
“What?”
“I’ll find you a job, Riley. If you don’t earn enough credits, I’ll help you out.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah!” Riley clapped her hands. “I’m short forty-seven thousand credits for my buy out.”
Hector transferred fifty thousand to her. “What now?”
Riley tapped away at thin air for a few minutes before answering. “I have one hour to collect my personal belongings from the house. Oh! I can hire soone to assist as a mover.”
A transfer offer of a single credit appeared along with a note specifying what he agreed to do in return. He accepted and Riley led him around to the back of the building to a staff entrance. They rode up an elevator and squeezed through a tight hall to enter the quad room that had forrly belonged to Riley.
“I can’t believe I bought out my contract. Girls don’t usually do that, Hector.”
As Riley pulled clothing items from the room’s single closet, an older woman appeared. “What are you doing, Riley?”
“Getting my stuff. The System said I could.”
“And this Xian?”
“The Stalwart Xian bought out my contract. I paid him to be my porter.”
Hector eyed the stern woman. “We will have to carry your stuff out of here, unfortunately. I don’t have the energy for a transit sphere right now.”
“He can make transit spheres,” Riley confided with her nose in the air.
“Don’t take anything that doesn’t belong to you,” the woman warned.
“As if,” Riley said. Hector recognized those words as the catch phrase of the Jinn woman from the chick-flick the two of them watched during their last outing before Hector left for the tournant. Was Riley going through the equivalent of a Nickelodeon teen drama phase in her twenties? Or was this just her trying to one-up soone who used to be an authority figure in her life?
Hector made a show of shaking his head at the contents of the closet. “None of that is even worth stealing. I’ll buy you things much better than this once you reach level three.”
Riley spun to him. “Promise?”
That was his fault. He was used to more wily co-conspirators who knew how to play off of other people. His gasmanship had just cost him a promise that Riley would treat as real. “Of course I’ll reward you. A level three Xian is equal to a level five of any other kind.”
The Jinn woman scowled from then on until they exited the building. Hector carried three changes of clothes while she had two pairs of shoes and so hygiene items shoved into a purse. “You said I’m going to deliver things? Do I have to learn how to drive a car?”
“It’s delivering food mostly. You just carry it a few blocks and knock on their door. Only rich people do it, so you catch a lot of attitude.” The pay also wasn’t great, but Hector didn’t worry about that aspect of the job. Making money was his superpower, so it hardly mattered if he had to offer so paycheck support.
After a taxi ride, they rode an elevator up to the thirty-first floor. “We have a third roommate. His na is Darius.”
“Is he nice?”
“Uh… he’s a Xian.”
“Oh! That’s exciting.”
Things had gone smooth from one side of the equation. Hopefully Darius reacted in similar fashion. Actually, maybe Hector should delay their eting to give the eunuch so ti to get used to the idea. “Tell you what, Riley. I’ll give you a quick tour of our floor before we –”
The elevator doors opened on a scene of Darius stubbornly standing beside the kitchen counter while the woman whose bagel he’d eaten earlier tried to prepare a al around him. Hector facepald. This was not the best introduction.
Oblivious to the tension, his companion bounded forward. “Hi! I’m Riley!”
Darius turned to blink down at the face grinning up at him.
“You’re the sa level as Hector. That’s amazing! I’m still learning how to be a Xian, but I almost have my body statistic to one.”
“Hector? Is this the woman who didn’t know about the bed?”
He winced. “The bed is already paid for. Riley, this is my friend Darius.”
Catching on to the cool reception, Riley’s grin faded to just a shadow of its forr glory. “Hi Darius. Sorry if I was talking too much, I just get excited to et other Xian.”
The woman who’d had her bagel stolen snapped at him. “Are you really going to mistreat the poor little thing?” Darius grimaced. “Good to et you, Riley. Don’t mind . I’m a bit annoyed with Hector at the mont.”
“Let’s do that tour, Riley,” Hector said.
There wasn’t much to show her. Kitchen, sanitation rooms, and their bunk chamber. Darius drifted behind them silently until they were beside the beds. “You are on top. I am particular about people not resting on my bed,” he said.
Riley forced a faint smile. “I will be a good roommate.”
Hector stared at Darius until the dour man relented. “Yes. I’m sure you will. I have to grab lunch. Hector, are we running the dungeon again this afternoon?”
“Sure. We’ll talk when you’re back from lunch.” Hector’s tension drained when Darius left. Riley’s exuberance had vanished entirely, sending her retreating into herself.
He found himself torn between defending Darius’s reaction and comforting Riley. “Don’t worry about what just happened. Darius can be… temperantal. It doesn’t help that this is only one day after the tournant.”
Riley nodded. “Did you win the tournant?”
“No. We both lost, actually.” Hector didn’t elaborate any more than that. “So it’s the lunchti rush coming up. Do you want to make so deliveries?”
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