“The backmarkets are probably the only place you can find absolutely anything you’re looking for,” Garret said as he munched on a fry.

“That’s what every advertisement says ever,” James replied.

“Their claims aren’t true, though,” Garret said between bites. “The backmarkets hold everything as long as you can pay. Cybernetics, talismans, cores, worse, all of it is on the backmarkets.”

“But how do I find it?” James asked. “Or at least buy from it.”

“You got your handheld?” Garret asked.

James brought it out.

Garret pointed with a fry. “There’s an app on there, let’s you see everything for sale.”

“Which app?” James asked.

Garret shrugged. “No way to know.”

“How helpful,” James answered dryly.

“You gotta know a guy,” Garret answered. “Least that’s what everyone says.”

“And let me guess, no way to know who knows a guy?” James asked.

Garret swallowed. “There’s hints. Symbols on jackets and such, but they change all the time. No way to know.”

Garret grabbed another fry, James pulled the basket away.

“Hey!” the man complained.

“Garret, I swear to all the beasts below that if you had me meet you in person about the backmarkets just so you could get free food…”

James left the threat hanging.

“Okay, okay,” Garret said. He slid the basket back over to him. “The gangs know. All of them know.”

“And they’ll just tell us,” James answered.

“I bet they would if you have something to offer,” Garret said.

James rolled his eyes. “Like what? I’m barred from the market floor in the sect, remember?”

Garret shrugged. “You have those talismans.”

“Here Mr. Gang members, have some unknown talismans. I don’t know what they do but I’m sure they’ll sell for a lot of money,” James said.

“You joke,” Garret said between bites. “But that would work.”

“How do you know this anyway?” James asked.

“Used to have the app,” Garret said.

“Used to?” James asked.

“It deletes itself over a number of days if you aren’t selling,” Garret answered. “Keeps the cops from finding it.”

James started to see how this market operated. It was an unsanctioned scrap meet like the ones back at the tower. Except instead of sharing through word of mouth it was through this application.

“I feel like I’m back to square one,” James said. “I know about the market but have no way to get it.”

“Why do you need it, anyway?” Garret asked.

“Insurance, I guess?” James answered. “I know at some point I’m going to need a core, but I can’t get that if the market floor won’t sell.”

Garret whistled. “Cores are expensive.”

“It won’t be for a while,” James said. “I still have a lot of training to do.”

“Yeah but like, its a core,” Garret answered. As if that explained everything.

James looked at his friend. “Garret.”

Garret looked back, confused for a moment. “Oh! Right, outside the city. Keep forgetting. It’s crazy you don’t have cultivators there.”

“Maybe we do,” James shrugged. “I never saw them, though.”

Maybe they were hiding like the demonic cultivator, or maybe the empire had a few in reserve to protect their agriscientists.

“Cores are like, everything, though,” Garret answered. “Sure, you have those cool martial arts and can move faster than anyone ever, but it’s a core. They let you do almost anything! And when you have more than one, well, it’s just wow.”

James admitted that Nadia’s water conjuration was impressive, but he wasn’t sure how strong his master actually was. He had an idea but nothing concrete. His master’s grandmother, though.

James shuddered. He knew the she had more than one core, and knew how to use it. He still hadn’t figured out exactly how she moved so quickly.

“Anyway, I’ll need a core at some point, and I have no clue how long this dispute is going to take. I’m not going to put all my spare scrap in one place, you know?”

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“Right, I get you,” Garret answered. “But it’s not like you can use the backmarkets until you need your core, right?”

James sighed. That was the issue. “You’re right.”

He leaned back in his chair. “So, how are sales?”

“Good,” Garret said. “Everyone loves the XP chips. The gang keeps asking for more.”

“Just Skateball?” James asked.

Garret nodded. “It’s all I have. I could make more if I had the right equipment and maybe the right person to record.”

James had a thought. “What about me?”

Garret laughed. “No way. Too dangerous. Anyone catches wind of cultivator XP chips and we’re dead. None of the sects would allow it. ‘Breeds demonic cultivators.’”

The two gave a morose laugh at that. “What if we used the backmarkets?” James asked after a second.

Garret gave him a searching look. “…You’re serious.”

“Not completely,” James said. “But it would be a great way to make money.”

“I’m not arguing with you there,” Garret said. “But everyone—and I mean everyone—would crack down hard if they found XP chips of cultivators.”

James shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s not as if these chips can actually train someone, right?”

“No…” Garret said. “But it could reveal secrets of the sect.”

James leaned forward, the idea growing to unstoppable levels. Tsukiko wasn’t here to rein things in. “What if it was sparring? Fighting in a ring? No cybernetics, talismans, cores. Just fist against fist.”

Garret saw the look in James’s eye. What was worse is that he felt it in his. Despite their differences, both men liked to dream big.

“That might work,” he said. “We can scrub everything else out in editing. Leave only you and your opponent. Heck, we could sell tickets to the live events.”

“I’d need a name, and a mask of some kind,” James said.

“I can scrub your face from mirrors,” Garret said.

“No for the live audience,” James said. “So no one can pin me.”

“Right, right,” Garret said. “We’d have to move around a lot then.”

“Maybe advertise through a strange app,” James said.

Garret nodded, the idea fully planted in his head. Credits would pour in. The two continued to discuss. James messaged Tsukiko.

She shot the idea down then and there.

“You idiot,” she said angrily through the handheld. “You want to give the sects more ammunition to use against you?”

“But—“ James tried to argue.

“No buts!”

James winced and pulled the device from his ear. The two men were in the alleys now, Tsukiko’s berating voice had called attention.

“You heard Garret. If any cultivator finds out about this, you’ll die,” She hissed.

“I practically have a target on my back anyway,” James countered. “And this will make money. Enough for me to maybe help master.”

“Help in other ways then, you idiot,” Tsukiko said. “Ask to hunt beasts with her. Or learn to craft talismans or something.”

James made a face. She was making sense. He hated that. “Look, I know it’s dangerous.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” she said.

“But hunting beasts is just as dangerous,” James finished.

“No, it isn’t,” Tsukiko rebutted. “Because one is going to be done with your teacher by your side.”

James stomped a foot. “…stop making sense.”

“No,” Tsukiko answered. “You’ll get yourself killed.”

“We could be safe?” Garret said meekly.

“It doesn’t matter how safe you are!” Tsukiko yelled. “One mistake and everyone is your enemy, you get that? I’ve been reading about cultivators, and they do not let things like this slide. Everyone involved would be purged, along with their families and friends.”

That got James and Garret to sober up.

“Everyone?” James asked.

“If cultivators think their secrets are being leaked, they retaliate with extreme prejudice,” Tsukiko said. “Things are less bloody now, but the archives hold thousands of history books about this.”

“You’ve been reading in the archives?” James asked.

“I have to do something while you’re out gallivanting,” Tsukiko said.

“I don’t know what that means,” James answered. “But you’ve been reading the archives?”

“Yes, Kevin has been teaching me,” Tsukiko said. “Stop trying to change the subject.”

“I’m not,” James said. “You just never told me.”

“You are,” Tsukiko answered. “And I would have soon. It’s a recent thing.”

“I’m not,” James answered. “Do you like it?”

“Yes, you are,” Tsukiko said. “And it’s a good job. Better than managing idiots who run over crowds for deliveries. Promise me you won’t do the stupid thing?”

James relented. His voice of reason had won again. “Okay, I promise.”

“Good. Now, let’s talk about making you money. Did you know the archives have locations of all sorts of materials?”

“Like what?” James asked.

He could practically see Tsukiko’s smile. “I think you’re going to like this.”

—

James was back at Blue Mountain Sect with his handheld between him and Nadia. Tsukiko was on the line, with Kevin in the background.

“You’re sure about this?” Nadia asked.

“Positive,” Tsukiko answered.

“Six-hundred percent! One for each arm!” Kevin shouted in the distance.

“The books record migrations every forty years or so,” Tsukiko said. “It was around forty years ago when the last ones came.”

“Electrum Oxen, truly?” Nadia asked.

“If the books are correct,” Tsukiko said.

“The last time Electrum Oxen sold they went for hundreds of thousands of credits,” Kevin said in the background. “Their bones are excellent at conducting electricity, not to mention their powerfully insulated skin and purifying blood.”

“No market can refuse to buy this,” James said to his master. “And if they don’t your family would certainly buy it, right?”

“You are correct,” she said. “However, Electrum Oxen are dangerous. They call lighting as they run, the electricity lancing between them. Metal element practitioners would have a difficult time if they can’t call lighting.”

“Plus, you can’t poison them. Wood elements have a hard time if they can’t poison.” Kevin said in the background. “Can’t use fire elements on a good pelt, either. Don’t want to burn it.”

“They’re more tricky than dangerous, I think,” Tsukiko said. “You can’t use wood, metal, or fire elements unless they’re less common. Earth would work, but that might mean breaking bones and wasting some of the value.”

“And since metal overcomes water, the only element user who could efficiently hunt these beasts is at a disadvantage,” Nadia finished. “Truly difficult.”

“But worth it, right?” James asked.

Nadia looked at him. “Disciple, why do you see the need to act so quickly? In time the embargo would pressure the elders.”

“But that takes time, master,” James said. “Time I don’t think we have.”

Nadia raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t explain it,” James said. “Not really. Just small things. You don’t have allies in high positions. How quickly these attacks against us happen. It feels like we’re getting squeezed into tighter and tighter spaces. They act and then we react.”

He looked at his master. “That might be it, really. We only react to things. I think we need to take action, master. The Electrum Oxen are a way to do that.”

Nadia thought about it. “I would sort these issues out in time, disciple. However, you are correct in that I have only reacted. It is likely that by the time I sorted out our access to the market floor, something else would appear. You are right that we must act, but I am unsure if the oxen is the correct course.”

“What options are there?” James asked.

“A multitude,” Nadia said. “Though none I should burden a disciple with.”

“We have a plan for the oxen,” Tsukiko said during a lull.

She explained it, Kevin chimed in with his boisterous attitude. Nadia listened, then smiled.

“Well, now that is certainly a plan.”

She looked at James.

“Don’t look at me, master,” James said. “My girlfriend is the one with all the brains. I’m just good at hitting stuff.”

Nadia laughed. “Perhaps that is what both of us are best at, disciple. Very well, let us try this strategy. There is no harm done if it goes wrong and if it succeeds we hold a new position of strength.”