I clenched my teeth and stepped out of the cave and back into the light, darting my eyes about to remain alert and keep from getting my head lopped off by another flying machine. A handful whizzed by a few feet above my head, but the drivers seemed more aware of my presence than that first one had been.

I walked past the first two Euridice statues that stood at five or six times my height, but other than my uneasiness that stemmed from my negative emotions toward the goddess, I felt no threat or dark presence threatening to crush me. Though changed and obviously not a city with evident Lord Solomon worshippers, it could prove safe anyway.

The more Lady Euridice statues I passed without getting struck down, the straighter I stood. I felt completely invisible with so many people clumping around me, which eased my anxiety a great deal.

I’d expected everyone to study me, a newcomer, and ask where I’d come from. People may arrive in this city more often than not. Even wearing my silver armor while everyone else was clad in black (which was strange–why did they all need to match?), I still blended in just fine. Many shoulders and knees did bump into me, but no one even stopped to apologize. I found myself bouncing around the crowds like a ball with nowhere to go.

I wiggled through the hot and sometimes smelly bodies and aimed for the sides of the wide paved road. But then, I was no longer invisible, at least not to the merchants. Eager hands shoved unusual objects in my face, yelling out their self-proclaimed amazing deals.

“Only 20 credits!” one scrawny woman with sunken cheeks and fraying gray hair screeched at me as she waved a slender piece of metal that glowed yellow on either end. It just looked like a glorified stick. “This Chroma Spark is better than any you’ll ever find! It will whiten your teeth in just two seconds.”

Whiten my teeth? Why would I want that? And what are credits? Is that their form of currency? I pushed her hands away and continued toward the large marble building at the end of the road. I didn’t know where else to go, but it seemed like my best option.

My stomach growled at the various savory and sweet smells that wound their way into my nose. I found my mouth watering at the sight of juicy meats and foreign fruits displayed at many of the booths. I didn’t know what food tasted like on this planet, but it all smelled delicious.

I made my way to a long table with a purple awning hanging over the seller, which cast shadows over his face and made the elongated scar across his eye look deeper, further sallowing his sickly features.

“You hungry, boy? I can see it in your eyes,” the man grumbled deep in his chest as he picked at the dirt underneath his fingernails with a knife. Not something I’d want to see someone doing around food, but I was too hungry to care.

I opened my mouth to respond but found my words stuck in my throat. The overstimulating atmosphere of babbled chatter and the buzzing of flying machines zipping overhead made it difficult to think straight. So, I just nodded.

“I have some freshly seared tuna and sea bass. Caught them myself on the surface. I also have some sliced pineapple and a bundle of peeled mangoes.”

I didn’t recognize the names of a single food item he’d listed. Given how little I knew while in the spaceship's dining facility, I should have expected this to happen. Still, my confusion must have shown on my face because the merchant chuckled. He leaned over the table with dirty hands planted extremely close to the lines of pink and white meat–the tuna and sea bass, maybe?

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“You new to this planet, kid? Never seen fish before? Or pineapple?”

I eyed the strange foods he gestured to and found I didn’t care if I didn’t know what they were or what they’d taste like. I was so hungry.

I swallowed. “Uh, you talk as if new people from other planets show up here every day.”

“Not every day, but often.” The merchant leaned back in his wooden chair and scratched at the stubble dotting his tan face. “I take it that you are new here and don’t have any credits to pay for anything. You’re wasting my time, boy.”

He shooed me away, but I raised my hands in front of myself and shook my head. “But I have some things worthy of trade, maybe….”

My right hand landed on the small leather pouch tucked underneath the armor at my hip. My fingers twitched over the area as I debated pulling out the two cores I had.

Every living thing had a core–a marble-like object that used the essence stored in our Souls to cultivate. The stronger the person the core belonged to, the stronger the core.

One of the cores in my pouch had belonged to the Tier 4 Nagari that had killed Drayek, the only father figure I’d ever had. The thumb-sized marble core had more essence within it than I could imagine, and I’d been saving it for when I might need it most. But… It was also hard to get rid of it so soon when it had belonged to the monster that had ended Drayek.

The other core buried in my pouch, slightly smaller than the one from the Tier 4 Nagari, had belonged to Priest Kane, a Tier 3 Priest of the goddess Euridice. Through the use of my Tier 2 Skill, I had replicated his Water Manipulation Spell and killed him with his own makeshift water sword. I’d gotten lucky. Extremely lucky. And I could remember vividly the squelch of his flesh and blood as I dug the core from his abdomen.

Decidedly, I fumbled with the pouch strings and pulled it out into the open. I procured Priest Kane’s core and held it up to the shimmering blue lights shining above. I didn’t have to remain cautious about touching the core with bare skin because I had the gauntlets that matched my armor wrapped over my hands. But, something that worked along with my ability to draw in essence, touching a core with my bare skin would drain it of its essence stores. Most people had to swallow a core, but that was another advantage of mine. And I didn’t want to drain the essence of a core I was trying to sell. It would make it worthless.

“I have this for trade. It’s a Tier 3 core.”

“Tier 3!” The merchant spat over his shoulder in apparent disgust. “That’s worth next to nothing, child. Now move on. You're in the way of my real customers.”

I threw my free hand onto the table, clutching the core in my other tightly. Any trepidation I’d felt earlier dissipated like an errant breeze. “You can give me something for that, can’t you? What about some of those credits you were talking about?”

The merchant scowled, deepening a thin scar cut over his bottom lip. “I couldn’t give you much for that, kid. Honestly. Maybe two or three credits?”

I had no idea how much these “credits” were worth, but the numbers “two” and “three” didn’t excite me.

“But have you even registered yourself into the city yet?” the merchant said. “You can’t carry any money without entering into the academy’s systems. But once you do, they’ll insert a neural implant into your head, and you can store your credits there.”

I felt the blood leave my face. “A neural implant? In my head?”

The man’s grin grew from ear to ear. “Oh, it’s not too bad. Just a minor surgery where they cut into your skull and deposit a piece of metal into your brain.” He propped his hands behind his head and leaned back into his chair. “There’s never too much blood, and most survive the procedure.”

The hint of a laugh in the merchant’s voice clued me into the fact that he was messing with me, most likely aggrandizing how bad the procedure actually was. But I still did not like the sound of a “neural implant” or anything foreign going into my head. Especially if they had to cut me open and dig into my brain. But then again, I already had an AI in my head. I could at least do more research and decide whether this "registering" would benefit me more than deter me.

“Fine,” I said. “Where do I go to do that?”

The merchant pointed a knobby finger toward the looming building with dozens of pillars and eerie dark windows–the place I’d been heading to anyway.

I turned my body toward the marble building and rolled my shoulders back.

“Thanks,” I said half-heartedly to the merchant, continuing my trek down the road.