It took another week before Dyani finally managed to create a workable heat affinity skill.

* Thermostat (Unique)

* Type: Passive, Defense

* Affinity: Heat

* Range: Self

* Cost: Variable Mana

* Effect: Consumes mana as needed to keep the user within a safe temperature range.

Dyani wasn’t sure how her interface named skills, but she liked the sound of this one.

The skill was adapted from bits and pieces of the two heat affinity skill shards she’d purchased ages ago. Feverish provided the ability to increase heat and target her body, while Lukewarm Chill Flesh provided the ability to move heat outside her body and monitor her body’s temperature. Making the skill work passively was trickier, but she eventually realized it was as easy as modifying the skill’s initial mana gate to open without any outside pressure.

She even added a touchpoint that allowed the user to toggle the skill on and off at will, but for now, she was keeping it on. With the skill active, she could now shower in the freezing water that poured down from that river in the Green District. She didn’t, since the Inspector Office had showers of its own, but she could’ve.

She made a few copies of the skill for practice, but decided not to sell them for now. So far, she’d only sold copies of Mana Jump, all to Hoss. It wasn’t like she needed more money, and her and Pikawon had decided to limit the number of previously unknown skills appearing in the city.

Instead of notes, Hoss had recommended she acquire a proper bank account. Dyani had been worried about being turned away, but it turned out that having an interface lent anyone a certain level of credibility. Her account also came with a small marble-shaped crystal, which was absorbed into her existing interface. It added a sub-function to her Connections function, which allowed her to view her account information and interact with payment interfaces common to higher scale businesses.

Hoss used his interface to transfer her payments directly to her account, which she could either spend anywhere with a payment interface. She used her growing bank account to purchase a few skills for her to study.

* Mana Bolt (Common)

* Type: Attack, Ranged

* Affinity: Pure

* Range: Medium

* Cost: Low Mana

* Effect: Shoots a projectile of compressed mana.

* Punch (Common)

* Type: Attack, Melee

* Affinity: Force

* Range: Self

* Cost: Low Stamina

* Effect: Increases the power of an ordinary punch.

* Haste (Common)

* Type: Mobility

* Affinity: Force

* Range: Self

* Cost: Moderate Stamina

* Effect: Increases the user’s physical speed.

* Parry (Common)

* Type: Defense, Melee

* Affinity: Force

* Range: Self

* Cost: Low Stamina

* Effect: Deflects a limited amount of physical force from intercepted attacks.

She bought Mana Bolt because it was one of the cheapest, simplest, and most common skills in the world, but was notorious for having significantly more variants than other skills. That kind of versatility would hopefully give her a solid base to build a few skills of her own.

She wanted the others so she could finally master stamina-based skills. She’d been forced to convert Jump to a mana-based skill, partially from general inexperience, but largely because skills used stamina in a fundamentally different way than mana. Stamina skills had outputs that meshed directly with the user’s body, which she hadn’t been prepared to mess with at the time.

Now that she was feeling more comfortable with her talent, she was willing to give it a try.

She had considered buying the low end healing skill, Lesser Rejuvenating Touch, but a single glance at the internal structure convinced her that she was nowhere near ready to tackle that level of complexity.

Lesser Rejuvenating Touch integrated with the body significantly more intimately than any of the stamina based skills she’d purchased, with the added difficulty that it targeted others. The skill’s set of complex feelers, crowded with interconnected components, had to dynamically integrate with someone else’s body.

That wasn’t even mentioning that it could be deadly if created improperly. Dyani was tempted to buy it and keep it for later, but even the relatively cheap healing skill was expensive enough to put a dent in her finances. She could afford it, but that would mean selling more of her skill cores, which she was hesitant to do, as it could attract unwanted attention. It just wasn’t worth it.

Pikawon also taught her how to find nearby interfaces though Connections, giving her a whole new world. While she rarely found anyone or anything with it near her home, when she visited the higher class districts, she was met with a tapestry of lights from businesses projecting glowing signs and advertisements.

People with unhidden interfaces had small icons floating over their heads, like the circle that rested in the corner of her vision. Some were green, indicating they were open to any and all connection requests, but most, including Dyani’s, were gray. She didn’t need random people on the street messaging her.

***

“Morning Inspectors,” Henock called to the group, many of which still had the bleary eyes of a too early morning, “Take your seats, we’ve got more to go over than normal.”

Dyani perked up, while Pikawon’s eyes gained a suspicious glint.

“Firstly, I’m sure you’ve all noticed the increased numbers of monsters on your routes. Word from on high says it's likely a precursor to the mana node attached to the Mountain Oak advancing to level 3. I shouldn’t have to tell you what this means, but command says I have to anyway.”

“If the node levels up, there’ll be a surge of experience across the whole city. Not enough to get you all the way up a level, but enough that you won’t want to miss it. Next, the ambient mana will rise over a few weeks to weak level 3, so those of you that are below level 4 will be able to cultivate it to advance.”

The inspectors murmured among themself. A city advancement was a big deal, for even more reasons than Henock had mentioned. Higher level mana would increase everyone’s natural mana regeneration. Resources from the Mountain Oak would increase in quality and quantity, stimulating the local economy and delighting local craftspeople.

“Simmer down. Even if that is the most likely outcome, no one’s sure yet, and no matter what, we’ve got more monsters to find and put down. If any of you have someone with a good head on their shoulders and more than a bit of fighting talent, send them my way. We’re going to need them.”

It was then that Henock decided to slip in another announcement, a mere afterthought.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Oh, and command says to be on the lookout for signs of human habitation downstairs. Seems someone might be hiding out down there.”

They were released from the briefing soon after. Dyani and Pikawon didn’t need to exchange a single word to agree to stay silent until they reached their base.

When they did, Pikawon checked all his defensive runes and the illusion projecting Silvan Curtain for weakness or damage. Finding nothing, he turned to her.

“They know.”

“It could be a guess.” Even Dyani didn’t believe that. “What do we do?”

“I’m not sure.” Pikawon paced, hands opening and closing like a heartbeat. He stopped, thoughts racing over his face before his expression settled into a determined scowl. “I need to leave the city.”

Dyani opened her mouth to argue, but nothing came out. The thought of losing another friend pricked the old wound her father’s death had cut into her heart, but she couldn’t think of a viable alternative.

“I’ll go with you.”

***

He should say no. He should say no. He should say no.

“Alright.” Pikawon cursed himself for his selfishness, but found it difficult to regret his decision. He’d always projected a prickly exterior to the world, even more so after the turmoil with the city lord. Being groomed to be breeding stock would do that to anyone.

Whether it was the near death nature of their meeting, or Dyani’s straightforward honesty, she’d managed to slip past his defenses. The thought of fleeing the city to the monster infested wilds was scary enough. The thought of doing it alone was twice as bad.

“We should bring my mom.”

That surprised him. He actually quite liked Nymin Farlight. She was less impulsive than her daughter, and less trusting overall, but he felt a sense of comradery over their situations with their talents. Dyani still didn’t know about his after hours hunts with her mother, which would likely have to change if they went through with this.

“Why would she come? Wasn’t she born here? Has she ever left before?”

Dyani shrugged.

“I don’t think she ever had a reason to. There’s no harm in asking.”

“What if she tries to stop you?”

That seemed like the most likely result. Nymin might be fighting monsters like her daughter, but he suspected that was just to reduce the number Dyani would encounter down here. If it didn’t directly keep her daughter safe, he doubted she would be at all interested.

Not only would including Nymin mean revealing his own situation, they would be traveling through the untamed lands between walled cities. The area immediately around Root Perch wasn’t too dangerous, but that was only due to the constant attention of slayers. Beyond the regular patrols, untethered mana nodes remained undissipated, growing in strength and releasing constant streams of monsters.

Normally, anyone foolish enough to travel between cities went with a guarded caravan, but even those went missing from time to time.

“If she doesn’t understand why we have to go, I’ll just have to introduce her to you,” Dyani said with a smile, “You can convince her with your positive attitude.”

Pikawon winced, rubbing the back of his neck.

“About that.”

***

“Where are you going, mom?”

Nymin jumped and turned to her daughter.

“I see you’ve been working on your veils.”

It was true. After her mother had displayed how useful it was to be able to conceal your presence and exact level, Dyani had found a book on the subject, tried to read it, and eventually just asked Pikawon for help. Once he read the book, the pair managed to acquire a decent level of skill.

She still couldn’t make herself feel like a level 1, but she could manage to reduce her mana signature to almost nothing. It had actually given her an idea for a stealth skill, though she didn’t currently have the rune and modifiers to create it.

“Yeah, I’ve been working on it with my friend, Pikawon.”

“Is that his name? The one from work?”

Dyani hummed noncommittally.

“He’s a really good friend. He trusts me with all kinds of secrets.”

“Like what, acorn?” Nymin was floating backward into the wall without realizing it.

“Oh, nothing important.” Dyani stared her mother down, refusing to break eye contact.

Nymin broke.

“Not as good a friend to me. He said he wouldn’t tell you.”

“You’ve been fighting monsters! For weeks! You chewed me out for doing that. You’re even fighting them with the same person I am. No wonder he’s been advancing so fast. I thought-” Dyani caught herself before she could mention Pikawon’s talent. She might be irritated at him for keeping this secret, but not that much.

“I thought I was just slacking.”

“I’m an adult, acorn. It’s a little different.”

“I’m an adult…technically.” While sixteen was the year you legally became an adult, she didn’t exactly feel like one.

“Which is why I didn’t stop you when I found out you were fighting monsters. I honestly should have, especially given how little that job pays and how much we need money right now, but I didn’t, because it was what you wanted.”

That caught Dyani up short. She’d known money was tight, but hadn’t thought about it much since she’d started selling skills to Hoss. She clutched her hands together and opened up her bank account information in her interface.

“How tight?”

“It’s not something you need to worry about, forget I brought it up.”

“Mom. I have money. I can help.” Dyani found her mother’s name in her contact’s list, an easy feat, since the only other names were Hoss and Pikawon.

“I know you do, acorn. But Pikawon told me how much inspector’s make. It’ll take more than that to-to…” Nymin stared off into space at the notification of a money transfer.

Since Dyani didn’t know exactly what they owed, she’d just sent over enough to buy their house. Nymin let out a short, strangled laugh.

“By the goddess’s left tit-”

“Mom?!” Dyani shouted, hands going to her burning ears.

***

It took some serious work to convince her mother to wait for an explanation until they met up with Pikawon, and that was only possible thanks to her complete shock over Dyani’s newfound wealth.

Once they met up at the underground base and Nymin and Pikawon exchanged awkward greetings, Dyani laid out their situation, starting with the most difficult topic, the city lord’s interest in Pikawon.

To both her and Pikawon’s surprise, her mother took the news in stride.

“He wouldn’t be the first to try to breed a talent army. How do you think new races are born?”

That turned into a hour long discussion on how non-human sapient races were the result of the same phenomenon the city lord was trying to exploit with Pikawon, including Jotunn, like her father’s old healer, Kemo Frostblade, the Sidhe who specialized in illusion magic, and other races Dyani knew nothing about, like Vila and Centimanes.

Explaining Dyani’s own talent felt like an afterthought. After all, she couldn’t create a brand new species, but Nymin showed a far greater reaction than either of them expected.

“Show me.”

Dyani did, creating a Mana Jump core in less time that it took to ask.

Nymin touched the core with wonder.

“This could change the world. Do you know how many people don’t have a single skill, because they can’t afford it?”

“No. It’s sad there aren’t enough to go around.”

Pikawon snorted.

“Nobles and slayers switch out their skills all the time. If they didn’t, I’m sure they’d be more than enough.”

Nymin shook her head.

“Even if every noble used ten times as many skills as they should, there are thousands of ordinary people for every noble. Being less wasteful would help, but not enough.”

“There’s only one of me, and I can only make them so fast.” Dyani felt inadequate against an imagined sea of empty hands and spirits. Maybe she could provide skills for a few of them, but even if she did nothing but create skills all day, it would only be a drop in the bucket.

They hit a roadblock when Pikawon turned their conversation to leaving the city.

“Absolutely not. Do you know how many people go missing outside of cities every year? You’re both too weak.”

“My friends are outside the city right now.”

“With escorts! Professional slayers with years of experience. And even they aren’t traveling much past the nearby towns. You want to go to a whole new city.”

“My family moved here from Bristlecone,” Pikawon pointed out.

“Alone?” Nymin asked, already knowing the answer. When he reluctantly shook his head, she jabbed a ghostly finger at him.

“Exactly. The only people who travel between cities unguarded are either too strong or too crazy to worry. And you aren’t in the ‘too strong’ category.”

“How strong do we need to be?” Dyani asked.

“Level 10 wouldn’t be a bad choice.”

“Mom.” Dyani gave her mother a long-suffering look.

“Fine! I don’t have an exact number to give you. But stronger than you are, stronger than me. Either way, you won’t be leaving without a caravan for years.” Dyani opened her mouth to continue the argument, but a message from Pikawon stopped her. He was right.

Arguing with her wasn’t achieving anything. It would be better to give her mother some time to cool off before they approached the topic again.