Killa giggled. “That’s cute of you to think that, but no.” She patted my head. “Besides, she’s more like a little sister to me.”

A sister? Huh.

I scooped up the little ladybug fairy guy in my hand. “Are you drunk?”

“Apptitlutely.” He cleared his throat. “Absolutely.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose with my other hand. “That means we’ll have to wait until you sober up before we ask you to enchant things, isn’t it?”

Killa smirked. “That’d be wise. The last time I saw someone try to use magic while intoxicated, they animated their own tongue out of their mouth.”

I grimaced as I covered my mouth. “Ew.”

Even while trying to sit up, Chad swayed side-to-side. “Don’t worry, ladies. I’ll be fit as a fiddle in an hour.”

I turned to Killa. “So you’re all right with taking him with us while we get those potions?” I held the fairy up to my face. “Will that be alright with you?”

Chad waved his hand. “Yeah, yeah. Just don’t put me in a pocket or anything.” He eyed Killa. “If she’s not your girlfriend, is she at least open to anything? She’s really hot. Her body has all the giggling in all of the places.”

Killa snorted. “Not going to happen. Not anytime soon. More like never.” She waved her hand as she walked by. “You can hold onto that disgusting little creep.”

I looked at him. He winked at me. I don’t think I want to. A shudder ran down my spine as he curled up in my hand like a cat falling asleep.

I held him out to Yiff. “You can hold him.”

The red panda’s eyes bulged. “Nah uh. He’s all yours. You wanted him, you’ve got him.” He took a step back. “I’m here to keep you from leaving the area, not be your servant.”

So we went shopping for potions. We got plenty of potions of regeneration and mana while getting two meal potions for Shadara. Killa also bought the remaining stock of meal potions and told me to drink them.

After I drank them, I was at almost six thousand percent energy after everything I had eaten. If that’s not enough, nothing is.

Killa even found a couple of small bags of holdings attached to belts for the potions. One for me and one for Shadara. They were significantly less effective than Killa’s bag of holding she used for her clothes and our general storage. Their maximum storage capacity equated to forty potions each. We split the potions between the bags, and Killa paid for everything.

She handed her shard to pay for everything. “I’ve got more than enough shards. You still have to pay for your upgrades. This is for the group, so consider it my contribution and making up for my absence.”

Chad showed signs of sobering up as we were finishing up. We asked him if we needed any special materials for Killa’s magic items. Surprisingly, we found most of them. Drake’s teeth just seemed to be out of everyone’s inventory.

Part of me doesn’t want to collect it from the source.

Drakes are a subset of dragons. They’re weaker and smaller, but far more populous. The two species of monsters share many traits, including a heavy resistance to magic and the ability to negate magic resistance at the same time.

We strongly suggest against seeking them out. At your current strength challenging a drake would likely end with your death.

Thanks. Just what I wanted to hear.

We had to find some special magic calk for Chad to make a doorway to his shop and we found ourselves inside. Yiff, of course, had to follow us in.

Killa had three magic stones made. The first one was a purple dodecahedron, a minor mana battery of her own. Chad made us swear to keep the fact that he knew how to make them a secret. It couldn’t hold as much as a true mana battery like the one I had, but if it was damaged, it wouldn’t explode either. I, of course, kept the fact I had a full mana battery in my chest a well-guarded secret.

The second stone was more unique. It was a teal prism, and whatever surface it was touching could be covered in an impermeable layer of light. It would deflect necrotic, dark, and curse magic based on how much mana she funneled into it.

Her third stone wasn’t as flashy. No pun intended. The small black sphere would absorb any fire and lightning spells and convert them into raw mana before dispersing it into her body, which she could then funnel into her minor mana battery.

My eyes bulged at the price tag Chad gave us. She needed nine hundred thousand shards at the end of it all, materials included. Afterwards, she asked him to make her clothes repair themselves nearly instantly as well as be magic-resistant. I sat down and let my head swim at how much money she was spending all at once.

Where did she get it all?

Yiff was in a worse state than me. He passed out, and I had to set him down in a chair that Chad had to summon from somewhere.

As we left the store, Killa’s three new stones, suspended in her gelatinous body, chuckled. “Wow, that was expensive. Anything else, and I’d have to ask you for money.”

I shook my head. “I’ve never had that much. The closest I got was when I killed that werewolf lady who was going to kill the sphinx. Even then, that was only seven hundred thousand.”

Killa turned her head. “I killed a lot. It wasn’t pretty, but yeah. Most of them were monsters at the end, but at the beginning, they were innocent people.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I grabbed her hand. “Killa, it’s okay. I keep being reminded that dwelling on the past is unproductive if all you’re going to do is lament it. Focusing on the present will help heal those wounds.”

Killa smiled. “Easier said than done.”

I chuckled. “You aren’t kidding.”

The slime woman pulled me close and kissed my forehead. “Thanks. Does Shadara say that? It doesn’t seem like something she would say.”

I shook my head. “No. It’s something I keep telling myself, actually.”

“Either way, it’s good advice.” She wrapped her arm around my shoulders as she led me back to our temporary residence. “You decided on anything yet?”

I nodded. “Leg bones, and all my muscles and tendons.”

“Leg bones?”

I kicked my feet a little more as we walked. “Yeah, my human bones can’t take the impact of the sudden stops well. So I need to reinforce them.”

Killa hummed, but didn’t say anything more.

My human bones. I can’t believe that I called them that. Being human isn’t going to help me reach the top. But I guess after seeing my face turned into a robot, or android, as Orange keeps referring to it, the loss of my humanity is all but secured at this point. The question is, is that important?

I don’t know how much Killa realized I was lost in my own thoughts, but she at least let me stay in them in peace. Does being human really make me better? Killa isn’t human. Shadara isn’t human. In fact, I haven’t met a single living human since arriving. Elara was a human, but she had died and become a ghost for the Soul Nexus. Each person I’ve met hasn’t felt any less than a person. Even Tasha, in her twisted way, was still a person.

I clenched my fists as we entered the building. What good is my humanity if all it does is hold me back? Let’s face it, there’s no going back to Earth for me. Once, if, I reach the top and can barter for my life, what then? What existence awaits me? I started this journey for my life, and now I don’t know what my life is anymore. Is there a place for me after the Soul Nexus?

I barely registered the longing look on Killa’s face as I opened the door to a room to see Shadara sleeping. Quietly, I closed the door and went to a room as far away from her as possible.

I don’t have to be willing to change my body in every possible way, but I don’t have to be so attached that I’m unwilling to change it at all. After all, this is who I am now. So if that means I’m not human and instead something else entirely, so be it. But I will always be Rina Lone, no matter what.

Finally.

Now I want the muscle upgrades we talked about in the simulation earlier today. Throw in synthetic bones for my legs too. And make sure the muscles are speed-focused.

Synthetic muscle (legs) level 2 available:

Cost: 60,140 shards.

Synthetic tendons (legs) level 2 available:

Cost: 52,200 shards.

Synthetic tendons (arms) level 2 available:

Cost: 43,920 shards.

Synthetic muscle (arms) level 2 available:

Cost: 59,580 shards.

Synthetic muscles (chest) level 1 available:

Speed specialization chosen.

Cost: 44,887 shards.

Synthetic bone (legs) level 1 available:

Cost: 20,430 shards.

Total cost: 234,177 shards.

Purchase?

Throw in the epidermal plating levels one and two for my legs too.

Epidermal plating (legs) level 1 upgrade available:

Cost: 22,500 shards per leg.

Epidermal plating (legs) level 2 upgrade available:

Cost: 40,500 shards per leg.

Total cost: 297,177 shards.

Purchase?

Yes, and give them to me all at once. I want to get this over as soon as possible.

We do not advise that. The pain would put too much strain on you. It would be better to perform each upgrade one at a time.

Give them to me. All…at…once!

Understood.

I sat in a chair as the upgrades initiated. Bracing myself for the inevitable onslaught of pain, I clenched my jaw tightly, determined not to make a sound that might upset Shadara.

The first upgrade, the synthetic muscles for my arms and legs, sent searing waves of pain rippling through my limbs. It felt as though my muscles were being torn apart and rebuilt from scratch, each fiber stretched and reshaped with excruciating pain. I opened my mouth to scream from the pain, but I slammed it shut, gritting my teeth, beads of sweat forming on my forehead.

While that was going on, next came the synthetic tendons. Amplifying the torment to new heights. The tendons in my arms and legs screamed as it felt like they were being pulled further and further apart. My muscles spasmed involuntarily, my breath coming in ragged gasps as I struggled to endure. Then I felt each of my tendons snap, one by one until each one was replaced with an inferno burning inside me.

Then came the synthetic muscles for my chest. It became impossible to breathe as all the muscles supporting my subdermal plates liquified. I couldn’t scream even if I wanted to, as all of my organs were crushed. My vision blurred with tears. But I could feel the muscles reforming and filling out my chest again.

The synthetic bones for my legs were almost an afterthought with all the pain that I was in at that moment. The sensation of my bones being ground into dust by my muscles and then replaced with artificial constructs was lost in the cacophony of agony. My legs were being crushed in a vise, the intense pressure was there, but I was beyond feeling the pain as sweat and tears blocked all vision.

As my breathing returned, it came in short, sharp gasps at first. Then it moved on to wheezing and whimpers as I did everything I could to not make a sound. Killa ran over and wiped my face, removing the sweat and tears.

Her smiling face was replaced by a look of horror as the skin from my legs dripped from my pants legs. The epidermal plating upgrades were beginning. My vision swam as I could feel my consciousness slowly letting go. What I thought was an inferno was nothing compared to the searing armageddon that engulfed my legs. To keep from screaming, I shoved my hand in my mouth and bit down on the metal. My body convulsed from the sheer intensity of the pain. I could smell the clothes covering my legs burning.

When the upgrades were finally complete, I looked at Killa, who didn’t hide her terror. “It’s over.” My words barely registered in my ears with how weak they came out.

I could feel every inch of my body cool significantly. It was over, and I could finally let go. The darkness that was swirling at the corners of my vision finally eclipsed everything as I fell unconscious.

Orange greeted me in the void of my mind. She stood there with her arms crossed and a deep frown. “We warned you.”