It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I got up and followed the girl who swiped the purse. She soon turned off into a nearby alley, and I sped up, thinking I was going to lose her. I turned into the ally at a fast walking pace to run into a knife. I am sure if I didn't have my resistant fur, I would be bleeding. I am sure she expected me to be bleeding.

“What do you think you are doing?” she hissed.

“Following you… shit, that sounded creepy. I want to learn.” I spoke fast, not really thinking.

“What do you want to learn, little merchant boy?” The knife was still against my stomach fur. She could cut me.

“I ah, I saw you take the ah purse, and I want to learn how.”

She laughed, “Greedy, are you? Why should I? What is in it for me? You will just rat me out when things get tough.”

“I didn’t rat you out this time, and I can help.”

“How can you help?” she said sceptically.

“That purse was iron rank leather?” She nodded. “Can I see it?”

She looked at me for a minute, then emptied the purse into her pocket and gave it to me.

“See these straps? The cut is not clean. Is your knife Iron Rank?” She shook her head. I put out my hand for it, “Pass it here.”

She pulled a second knife out and gave that to me, the other not leaving my stomach. I ran my finger over it and sharpened it. I no longer had to run my finger down a blade; I only had to touch it, but I was trying to put on a show. I then used her ordinary knife to cut clean through the iron-rank leather.

“See? Sharpening skill to cut iron-rank material from an ordinary knife.”

“How long will it last?”

“Depends on what you cut. This thin leather four to five times before it loses its edge. Thicker armour one to two times.”

She grinned, “Not sure about teaching you to pickpocket, but I have friends who want to have their blades sharpened.”

I shrugged, “I am at the market most evenings. My prices are listed. Maybe you could play delivery girl and show me the trade.”

“We will see Merchant Boy. It is a good skill.” With that, she ran off down the alley. I turned back to the stall. She would be back. At least I have increased my business for now.

The next day, I saw the wagons off into the Astral Space. I didn’t even see the Astral gate, as it was behind reinforced gates and walls. I was tempted to try and stow away, but that would cost me my job and probably leave me stranded in the astral space with bronze-rank monsters. They would be gone for about a week.

That night thief girl came up with six knives to sharpen. “You should be charging more,” she said. “Being able to cut up a rank is valuable.”

“It doesn't work for Iron Rank knives. The skill is only up to iron rank.”

“Idiot. I thought you were a merchant. Make two prices, one for iron-rank knives and one for ordinary ones that will then cut iron-rank material. It is way cheaper to sharpen ordinary knives than to buy iron-rank knives. Less chance of them being tracked as well.”

Gods, I did feel like an idiot. I need to change my prices and my marketing. Shit, Eve is taking advantage of me as well, making me sharpen knives and saws up a rank. God, I am dumb. I need to push for a pay rise.

“Ah, thanks. I will. What is your name? I keep thinking of you as thief girl, which would not be good in the wrong ears.”

“Call me Kitten. It is what others call me.”

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“OK. I guess you can call me Sharp then.”

Kitten smiled, “Sure, Theo, I will call you Sharp if you want me to.”

“Ah…”

Kitten burst out laughing, “You seriously didn’t think we would check you out before we worked with you, did you?” She burst into laughter again. “God, you are like a newborn.”

My face must have been burning with embarrassment, but we Leonid had fur to cover it up. The feeling was still the same. Once she had settled down, I said, “I might have to do some of these tomorrow because I will run out of Mana.”

“Is that just an excuse to get me back tomorrow,” she said suspiciously.

“No, no,” I panicked a little, “I will run out of mana.”

She laughed again, “God, you are easy.”

She stayed with me for a bit as other customers came. I learned the secrets to pickpocketing. It was not just speed, but the real trick was to distract the mark. It might be that you time it when they are distracted by something else, or you cause a distraction. The other rule was never, never, try it on someone of a higher rank than you. Their senses will get you every time.

She had me try some speed movements with my hands.

“Not bad, kid, not bad.”

I was not happy to be called a kid, but I let it slide. After all, her name is Kitten.

“My one essence bonded to the Speed Attribute, so it is at Iron Rank,” I said.

“Nice, mine too. That means you are even slower than I thought, though, see.” She did the exercise, and I didn’t see it because she was so fast.

“Oh,” I said.

“Practice, Theo. If you try it now, you will be in the lockup right quick. What you have to beat is Iron-rank perception. Faster.”

It was getting late, and Kitten said, “I am off. See you tomorrow, kid,” and she winked at me.

What did that mean? Did it mean she liked me? I don’t know.

Practice is what I would do. Fast hands are what I need for all sorts of things, especially if …. No, when I get to fight monsters.

The next day, I cornered Eve, “Hey, boss, I was talking to Bob over in construction and asked him how much he would pay to have his normal rank chisel to be sharpened to work with Iron rank wood, and what he said surprised me.” I saw a slight frown on Eve’s face, “I am thinking I could go into business for myself at that rate. What do you think?”

She said, “There is much more to being in business than collecting coins, Theo.”

Thank you, Kitten. I ended up with a nice pay rise. It's not four times my previous rate, but it's a definite improvement. Things are definitely looking up.

I made sure to meditate before bed every night, as Fat Evelyn taught me. The Key to levelling your skills is to use them and push them to greater effect, train yourself, and meditate on both the skill and your attributes. I felt like my Sharpen Skill was growing, but I didn’t have any handy writing to tell me what level they were, not even a whisper in my ear. My Sharpen Skill was growing faster than my Resistant Hair Skill. It was getting easier to use, and I could do more before running out of Mana, so it was becoming more efficient.

I decided to make a note to keep track of my skills and what level I thought they were. I added a bit of a summary of what they did.

Sharpen [Speed attribute]

* Razor Sharp. Level 2ish

* Iron rank: Sharpens any cutting or piercing object to a razor edge. Bonus penetration and cutting through material up to Iron Rank. Cost: variable mana.

* Resistant Fur {Hair Stone} Level 1

* Iron Rank: Fur becomes resistant to cutting and piercing.

The week went fast, and I went to meet the returning harvesters. I set up my stall near the gates and sharpened tools and weapons while I waited. They should have been out around lunchtime, but there was no sign of them when I moved my stall back to the market for my regular customers. If they were this late, they probably made camp for the night.

At work the next day, I could tell a lot of people were worried. The day wore on, and no wagons turned up at the gate. I knew management had people waiting near the astral gate for word. As the day drew to a close, there was talk about hiring another Adventuring team to investigate.

Evening came and went, and in the morning, Eve said they had gone to hire a scout to investigate. By midmorning, word spread that they were back. We all gathered at the gate to the yard and waited.

Of the five wagons that went in, only three returned. Two teams of bronze-level adventurers went in eleven in total. I counted eight returning. We sent in fifteen workers, and at a quick head count, there were only nine returning. I couldn’t see Fred anywhere.

The wagons were loaded with timber of various types and some ore and skins. Mostly timber, though.

The foreman stood on a wagon, “Everybody helps get these wagons unloaded. Then the Astral team have three days off. After that, we will have a memorial service for the fallen. Let's move it, people!”

We all got to work. This was a disaster for those who lost family. The company will probably not lose coin even after paying the families the death compensation. There was primarily silver-ranked material on the wagons.