“You want to what?” Garret asked between mouthfuls of food.

James pulled the plate away. “Stop eating for a moment, beasts.”

Garret swallowed. “Sorry. But really? You want to bet on the games?”

James nodded, leaning forward to speak. Not to keep his voice from traveling, but because Garret had picked one of the loudest restaurants for them to meet. Garret pulled the plate of food he’d ordered back toward him and grabbed another fry.

“I need to buy a core, Garret,” James said. “And I’m ninety thousand credits short.”

Garret choked on his food, coughing for a moment before speaking. “Ninety thousand credits? James, that’s more than I’ve seen in my entire life!”

“I know,” James answered. “I’m not saying I want to entrust you with the money. I just need a way to bet without people knowing it’s me doing the betting.”

Garret grabbed at his glass of water. “You can’t bet more than a few hundred credits at a time on the matches. Not legally at least.”

“Well, I guess its good we know some people on the other side of the law,” James answered.

“You’re not saying we get the Coiled Crane gang involved?” Garret asked incredulously. “They’d sooner just take the money!”

“Not if they stood to gain more than that,” James said. “Look, I’ve got an idea. Stewed over it for a while, actually. I think it’s possible because no one respects me. All we need to do is find someone with connections to multiple cultivators.”

“So you’re coming to the non-cultivators,” Garret said dryly.

“No, that’s not the point,” James said. “The point is that Coiled Crane probably knows about actual cultivator gangs. Gangs that would probably love someone like me. I’m the perfect fall guy.”

“No way,” Garret said. He pushed his chair away to leave.

“Garret,” James said as he grabbed his friend’s arm. “I’m only asking you to bring me back to the Coiled Crane gang. I’ll do the rest, alright?”

Garret tried to pull his arm away, but James held onto it. When the man still looked nervous, James sighed. “Alright, I was going to compensate you for this, you know.”

Garret paused. “How much?”

James shrugged. “I’ve got a lot of money now. Enough that a hundred credits means nothing to me.”

Garret slid back into his chair. “Alright, but I want the credits up front.”

“Not a problem,” James said. He opened his handheld and sent the money over. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“What, now?” Garret asked.

“Gotta do it before you get cold feet,” James explained.

“I wouldn’t—“

James’s stare stopped the man’s protest.

“Okay, but after I finish this,” Garret said.

“Deal,” James answered.

Garret finished off the plate of potatoes, James idly wondering why the man ate them so often. When he finished, James paid the bill since it was less than a credit and had Garret start leading him.

“You were right to come to me,” Garret said as they traveled across the floors. “Coiled Crane moved their base after the whole debacle with you and that assassin or whatever he was. I doubt you could’ve found the new one.”

Eventually, the two made their way into an alley, Garret pushing a large piece of discarded metal aside to reveal a rusted door. An electronic lock held the door shut, only unlocking when Garret passed his handheld over it. It opened to reveal a single room filled to the brim with technology. An old stuffed chair sat in the center, surrounded on all sides by advanced viewscreens.

“I know, this isn’t the gang hideout,” Garret said. “It’s my personal place. I gotta put a call in first.”

James nodded in understanding. “Small place.”

“It’s free, and that’s the important part,” Garret said. “I’m saving my credits to buy a plot of land. I want something that’s actually mine and not rented like the rest of the city.”

Garret sat in his chair, opening up a messenger app and hailing the gang. They agreed to meet in an hour with representatives.

“Will a representative have the info I need?” James asked.

Garret frowned. “Probably not, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Try and get a leader,” James said. “Tell them I don’t mind paying for information.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“They’ll be just as likely to rob you then,” Garret said.

James gave his friend a look.

“Right, cultivator,” Garret said with a nervous laugh. “Sure, I’ll tell them.”

“Let them know they can bring guards if they need to,” James said.

“They would do that anyway,” Garret answered.

After a few minutes Garret stepped away from the computer. “Alright lets get going. The meeting place takes bit to reach.”

“Lead the way,” James said.

Garret brought James to a run down industrial park, one of the few left on the floor by the look of it. Various pieces of manufacturing lay in disrepair, their imposing nature now laid low by time and rust. It was the perfect place for those on the other side of the law to meet, as no one wanted to live near such a dilapidated place.

“Oh, it’s you,” a familiar voice said. James recognized it as Teru, the woman in punk garb from the first time he met with the gang.

“Hello yourself,” James said with a smile. “Had a question about other gangs. Cultivator gangs, to be specific.”

“And why would you want to know about that?” Teru asked suspiciously.

“Pay me some credits and I’ll give you the answer,” James replied. “Or I’ll pay you some credits for the info and be on my way.”

Teru snorted. “What makes you think I’d know about them?”

James rolled his eyes. “Come on, you have to know the places where you should and shouldn’t go. That’s gotta be common knowledge. All I’m asking is for the places where you definitely shouldn’t go.”

“Two hundred credits,” Teru bargained.

“Seventy five,” James countered.

“No way am I risking my neck for seventy-five,” Teru said with a laugh. “If word gets back that we sent you to them the gang is gone.”

“A hundred, then,” James said.

“We make a hundred in a day,” Teru said. “No, one seventy five or nothing.”

It was James’s turn to laugh. “Please, I could go to another gang and ask the same thing for cheaper I’m sure. One hundred and ten.”

“That’s barely more than what you offered before,” Teru said. “I’ll do it for one fifty, no less.”

“One twenty five, then,” James said. “But only because I don’t want to put in the work for finding another gang.”

After a moment, Teru nodded. “Alright.”

James pulled his handheld out and transfered the credits. “So, cultivator gangs.”

“We don’t know much,” Teru said after receiving the credits. “Just bits and pieces. Like you said, places we definitely shouldn’t go.”

“And those are?” James asked.

“Higher floors,” Teru answered. “Check the back alleys or the arcades furthest from the elevators and sects.”

James nodded. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

Teru snorted. “Yeah, sure.”

Both groups left. Garret looked at James. “You aren’t really thinking of doing this, right?”

“Of course I am,” James said. “Don’t worry things will be fine.”

It only took a day for James to create some time to start enacting his plan. Nadia had intensified James’s training in preparation for the games and had started to explain to him the various events. However, when James had asked for some extra time to explore the city, she was more than happy to make some time in his schedule.

Thus, James now found himself far from the sect in front of one of the arcades Tsukiko had talked some time ago. Flashing lights assaulted his senses, pulling at his attention like small children. Each flashing light advertised a different game. More than one described itself as a test of skill. James didn’t believe it for a second.

Instead of walking inside, James loitered around, doing his best to look noticeable. It wasn’t long before a muscled pair of thugs approached. At least, they looked like thugs. Both had that thuglike sneer James so often found on gang members.

“Who’re you then?” the first thug, a woman, asked.

“Someone with an offer,” James said. “Wasn’t sure how to set up a meeting so I figured I’d wait.”

“An offer,” the second thug, a man this time, answered. “What kind of offer?”

“One that makes credits,” James said. “For everyone involved.”

The two thugs looked at each other, then back at James.

“Look, I don’t have all day,” James said, doing his best to sound exasperated. “If your group doesn’t want to deal I’ll just move on to the next one.”

“Hold on a moment,” the first thug said. They leaned to their left, James only now noticing the headphone neatly tucked inside her ear. She whispered something that James couldn’t make out, but he understood the gist of it.

“Alright, come on,” the thug said after a moment. “This better be worth it.”

James was led through the arcade, past strange pegged machines that directed falling balls and contraptions that held a number of musical instruments. At the end of the arcade sat a counter housing various prizes from simple toys for children to fully functional cybernetic implants. There was also a station where one could exchange the arcade currency for credits. Probably at a horrible exchange rate, James figured.

The thug brought him past the arcade counter and into an employee lounge. A man in spiraling black tattoos already sat on one of the chairs, backwards so he could lean on the chair back. Two horns of silicon and circuitry sprouted from his head, no doubt some kind of cybernetic.

“Welcome to the Obsidian Oni gang, friend,” the man said. He said friend like he meant the opposite. “I’m told you have a business proposition for me?”

“And you are?” James asked as he sat.

“Call me Paulie,” the man said as he leaned forward on the chair. James caught a spark arc across his horns.

“James,” the man answered. “And I’ve come because I have an idea that would make both of us money.”

“Bold claims,” Paulie said. “How are you planning this feat?”

“I’m going to be one of the participants in the cultivator games,” James said.

Paulie stopped, looked James up and down, and then laughed. “You?”

James nodded. “Me.”

Paulie rocked back on his chair, bringing the front two legs up before bringing it down. “Let me guess, you’re here to offer yourself as a fall guy. A patsie. You scrape your way through the games and then bow out at the perfect time to bring in all those credits.”

James leaned back in his chair, doing his best to stay confident. “That’s right.”

“You and every second-rate cultivator in the games, friend!” Paulie laughed. He rocked back and forth on his chair, the thump of the legs accentuating his words. “Do you know how many times I’ve had someone like you in front of me asking to work together?”

“I’m sure you think you’ve had a lot like me in front of you,” James said.

“Spoken like the rest!” Paulie laughed.

James laughed too. “Alright, I can see how that sounds like false bravado. Here, how about you put me in a ring with someone. If I’m up to snuff, we can talk about the rest of this. If not, feel free to send me on my way. I’ll even send some credits your way for wasting your time.”

Paulie stopped rocking in his chair. He looked James up and down again. “You’d break like a twig against one of my guys.”

“Only one way to find out,” James answered.

“Ha! That there is,” Paulie answered. “Alright, because you’re so brazen I’ll humor you.” He turned to the thug. “Get Morley ready in the ring. He’s got a challenger.”

The thug left the room. James turned to Paulie. “So, any rules you want to set before we do this?”

“Since you’re so certain you can perform in the games, we’ll go by their rules. Of course, I’ll only be testing you in martial ability. That’s where all the money is made,” Paulie said.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” James said as he stood.