Rory spent the next two and a half days hunting in the snake room. He didn’t partner with Gusss because he had run out of snake knockout potion and, according to Elphina, it took two weeks to concoct the stuff. Something about distillation and concentration. Sure. Whatever.

That said, he did want to push himself a bit. So, instead of just staying around the edges of the fabricated jungle, he decided to move in just a little. He tried a cycle of going around the edges and slowly making his way in like a large slow spiral.

It quickly became apparent that as he moved inward, the levels of the snakes got higher. Thus, he started killing level 2 and 3 snakes as he had begun going deeper than before. Besides his first rainbow snake encounter, those were the strongest he’d managed to slay. Altogether, the jump in levels of his targets gave him enough myst to get him to level 8.

Based upon that limited experience, he believed that the closer the spiral got to the middle, the stronger the snakes would grow. Sure, it wasn’t always true, as exemplified by Lucifer (what in its right mind would want to mess with him?), but he felt it was a fair rule to run by so far.

It also hadn’t missed his notice how lucky he was to basically have his own personal hunting grounds. He had plans to see if there was an equivalent in the mammal area in the next weeks. But he wanted to wait until he reached tier one, or level 15. Snakes, for all their toxic danger, were very limited both in attack and defense. Mammals had a lot more options, and thus he was planning to play that area a bit conservative.

That said, Rory used the time in the snake jungle as an opportunity to practice some of the things he'd been learning about camping and tracking. The camping part wasn’t bad. He figured out how to use some of the new equipment he had purchased the evening prior after leaving Steph. The tent he bought based on advice from his research was a nifty device that managed temperature, offered a softer floor than the hard ground of the jungle, purified the air, and kept most things of low level from entering.

As for cooking, well, that was a bigger challenge. He had managed to burn his first few meals. It was a shame to waste the snake meat, but they were the lowest of the low level – barely even 1% myst each.

As for some of the other lessons, it turned out that tracking snakes in a jungle was pretty much impossible, at least for him. He still tried, of course, but it was an abject failure.

In the end, he succeeded at doing what he had really wanted, which was to gather two more souls that would hopefully add to his agility. The capture rate was really low, but he wasn’t complaining. Having reached level 8, Rory had seven unused SVs. He could max out Withdraw Soul and get three upgrades to his body, but Rory hesitated. First, because he didn’t know if the level of the summons mattered. It didn’t say either way in the description. And second, even if it didn’t, he was already going through a lot of change that was preventing him from sleeping through the night. All and all, it seemed like an unnecessary risk for now.

And his body was definitely continuing to change, mostly when he was sleeping for whatever reason. That morning he had been pretty sure his strength had risen again, although it was hard to be absolutely positive without checking. He had decided that he would only look at his Soul Summary after he got measured, allowing him to compare what he saw to what Steph told him. He felt it was important and would offer insight in how his body changed compared against what the Cosmica measurements indicated and what his busted wielder tree showed. Additionally, it would make for good insight into preparing for the changes and discomfort he would go through when he eventually did invest in Withdraw Soul.

***

The following evening Rory was on his way to see Elphina after having just sold all his snake meat again. He had a decent amount saved up now, over £13,000. Not even close to enough, but it was an excellent start in his mind. Definitely a passable baseline to build the future.

He went to the front door of the shop to say hello to Penny and get a face full of scents all at the same time. It was fine. He actually planned on possibly buying something this time. Maybe. It made him a little nervous, but his research on GalNet said it might be a good idea for a budding relationship.

What he found when he got there was not what he had expected. Two identical floating white vehicles with blacked-out translumin windows were parked illegally in front of the shop. As Rory approached, he noticed the expensive-looking vehicles were spotlessly clean, glistening in the streetlights with only one thing marring their perfection. It was a small projection on the bottom left of the back windows of both vehicles. Surprisingly, Rory found he recognized what it was. It was the same serpentine “M” he had seen on chief’s house back in the slums.

It was interesting, but that did not even really register at the moment. Confused and concerned about Elphina, Penny, and their shop, Rory rounded the cars only to find someone standing behind the pair of transports and just outside the front door, as if guarding the entrance. The guy was only about five feet tall, had very short black hair, slanted black eyes, a flat nose, and a superior expression. Now even more concerned, Rory approached and tried to step around to get in. The man held his hand up, a hand Rory noticed that was gloved so he couldn’t tell if the man was a wielder.

“Shop is closed today,” the short man said in a curt voice.

Rory mentally shook his head. This happened in the slums occasionally too. One time Rory had gone to sell something to the metal shop on the outskirts as they gave better prices on recyclable M-steel than Mick, but they had been “closed.” And by that, Rory meant two of Mycroft’s guys had been standing outside the entrance letting everyone know to come back tomorrow. Of course, all the hollering inside told people that Chief had not been pleased about something, most likely his cut.

Given what Elphina had told him about competition trying to take over the place, it seemed rather obvious what was going on. Normally Rory wouldn’t want to risk drawing attention by getting involved in the city any more than he did in the slums. But this was also his store now and, well, he found he liked the old lady.

With that in mind, Rory decided he’d he needed to get in there, but at the same time he hoped to keep this whole situation from going bad. He looked innocently at the man. “I have an appointment to see Penny and Elphina. I’ll just go in and do my business. Thank you.”

Then Rory stepped to the right to pass. The man stepped the same way, hand still out. “No. The shop is closed.”

“Are you putting me on? I know it’s open.” Then he pointed at a window. “Look, I can see people moving inside.” They both could see through the window into the smokey room making it obvious he was right.

“Renovations,” was the man’s answer.

Rory sighed. Really? That was what he was going with? “Look. I have an appointment and I’m going in.” At that point, Rory took a step forward and to the left.

The man’s other hand, also gloved, reached out and grabbed Rory’s arm as he was attempting to pass. “Stop!”

Feeling an instinctive ache from being touched, Rory yanked his arm free with almost no resistance. “Don’t touch me!” Rory’s hissed.

Then he shoved past the man and reached the door. A hand grabbed his arm again with more force in the grip. This time his hand was right where an especially large piece of knotwork was and thus where an especially large and painful scar had been. Rory growled and yanked his arm again freeing it. This time it was hard enough that it caused the guy to stumble into the wall.

Furious, Rory felt his inscriptions tingling as he launched himself at the man who was just turning around. Rory saw the man’s eyes widen as he opened his mouth and tried to raise his arms. But he was too late to act as a Rory’s fist cracked into his jaw. The man’s head spun quickly to the left and then his whole body followed, resulting in him hitting the wall once again, this time face-first. Moaning, he leaned against the bricks as he slowly slid down.

Rory looked at his fist in surprise as he took a step back to avoid being landed on as the guy flopped onto the ground in a heap.

“Huh… That didn’t hurt at all,” he said. Then he looked at the prone man who’s groaning was fading into silence and winced. “Sorry, chap. I didn’t realize it would be that easy. Haven’t hit anyone in a while.” He looked at fist again and then followed it up his arm. The muscles were noticeably larger.

Strength definitely went up.

Thinking about what to do next, he shrugged. Can’t just leave him here.

He grabbed the guy by the arms and dragged him over to the door. Pressing projection for “Open,” the door slid aside letting loose a waft of herbal smells. Rory stepped inside, dragging the front-door guy in behind him by his wrists.

He heard no sounds inside other than the scraping of him dragging of an unconscious body over the flexcrete floor. The man’s shiny shoes finally pass the door and it slides closed. Rory drops the man, his head thunking on the ground.

“Phew!” Rory says, wiping his hands on each other as he turned around. What he saw were four men of similar appearance and stature standing around the room looking intimidating. One at the counter who was dressed in blue instead of black like the others. And all of the men and Penny were staring at him with wide eyes. Then the one at the counter’s eyes narrowed, followed shortly by the others. Rory ignored it.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Oh. Hello,” Rory said to the room. “I have an appointment with Penny and this guy,” he gestured at the man at his feet, “said I couldn’t come in. I tried to be polite, but then he grabbed me and I don’t really like being touched.” Then without waiting for a response, Rory looked at the young woman and said pleasantly, “Hi, Penny. Thanks for making time for me. I wanted to talk to you about a small gift for someone. Where’s your grandmother by the way?”

Just as she opened her mouth, the closest guy to Rory yelled, “Ming!” and ran at Rory. Apparently not caring about the store or its inventory, his shoulder ran into and through a number of bottles that were acting as an endcap. Rory was only able to read, Need more stamina? Elphina’s famous long-lasting— before he caused the shelves and the many bottles on them to crash onto the ground.

Crap. Why didn't I learn how to fight? Can’t use my constructs either. I really don’t want to kill anyone in the open like this.

Instead of calling his chakram, Rory raised his fists and bent his knees like he’d seen so many times from the enforcers in the slums. The man was not deterred as he charged for Rory, lowering shoulder and lunging at his torso. Rory felt the collision just as he lowered his elbow with all of his strength. Both fell the ground, the man on top just as a crack sounded from where the elbow hit and he screamed a high pitch scream of agony. Rory pushed tough over who rolled onto his face, his arms limp and his body still except for a whimpering sound barely making it out of his mouth. Rory struggled to his knees and looked down at the man.

Oh shit, I broke his back!

Then the guy at the counter – who was clearly the boss – interrupted his thoughts, yelling, “Mo!” Then he jabbed his finger at Rory and screamed, “Kill that fucker!”

“Shit…” Rory swore to himself as one guy charged with his fists raised, and another took out a knife and followed after. Then Rory heard Penny scream as he saw the boss reached over the counter to grab her.

Fuckers! Well, at least they’re not using constructs.

“Run, Penny!” he yelled. “Get in the back and lock the door.” Then Rory ran right towards the first guy and swung his fist at the same time the guy swung his at him. Rory felt the contact with the right side of his face at the same time as his own left fist hit the man in the ribs. More cracking sounds followed as Rory swung again before the man could do anything but gasp in pain. Rory punched him in the ribs on the right as the guy scrunched to the left from the first strike. Then Rory stuck him in the jaw from the left and then the side of his head on the right. The guy dropped like a stone and Rory stood up straight, and rubbed the side of his head that the tough managed to hit.

He mumbled to himself, “That wasn’t so ba—” before the guy with the knife appeared from behind a row of vitamin supplements for pregnant women. He swept his knife at Rory, a whooshing sound the only warning he had. Rory jerked his arms up in a reactionary defense and he felt the knife’s blade slice into his forearm. Rory hissed as he lunged backward only to trip over the leg of the guy he elbowed in the back. Rory fell onto him just as the knife guy lunged forward.

Rory rolled to the side and grabbed the body of the downed guy as he did so. The knife entered the poor guy’s side at the same time as Rory swung upwards. Despite the lack of leverage, his fist struck the man under the chin in an uppercut that caused his head to snap backward. Rory scrambled to get up, but as he did so, he saw the man’s eyes roll back into his head and fell backwards, his upper body crashing into a display for hair dye in various shades of pink.

Finally to his feet, Rory looked around. First thing he did was lean over and feel the neck the guy that was stabbed, but felt no pulse. He sighed, growled at the growing pooling blood on the floor, swore in Gaelic, and turned back to the counter, his fists clenched.

The boss guy was banging on the door that Penny had run through and was yelling about letting him in and she’d pay and all the normal threats Rory had come to expect from an enforcer. Angry at the the guy and the entire situation, he ran through the store and then directly at the boss. Because of his yelling, he did not hear Rory until he was only a few steps away. After he looked over his shoulder, his eyes widened and whipped around while reaching into his jacket. Rory lunged forward and grabbed the boss by the throat with his right hand and grabbed the arm in his jacket with his left, forcing it out next to his head. With the force enough to shake the wall, Rory slammed the guy into the door and squeezed both hands. The laze pistol the guy had been grabbing clattered to the floor after Rory squeezed his wrist hard enough to cause more cracking sounds, which were not loud enough to be heard over the gagging and scrambling of the guy’s choking and scratching of his hand against Rory’s immovable forearm.

Rory kicked the laze pistol away and glared at the man, putting his face just inches away. “Shut the fuck up!” he screamed in his face. Then he loosened his grip just enough to allow the man to breathe.

What a fucked up situation. Then Rory thought silently for a bit, just looking at the guy in front of him and then around at Elphina’s shop. I’m going to have to play this carefully.

He sighed. “What a bloody mess.” Then he stared into the boss’s eyes and said quietly, “I’m going to let go and we’re going to have a chat. No more violence. If you do anything aggressive, I’ll have to kill you, but I would rather we stop this here. We good?” The guy stared at Rory, his face scrunched, but he nodded. Rory nodded back once. “Good.”

Then he let the guy go and stepped back once. “Alright,” Rory said. “Step away from the door.” The guy did and Rory knocked twice on the door at a normal pitch and called, “It’s okay, Penny. You can come out now.”

A few seconds later, the door slide to the side an inch and Rory saw an eye appear about four feet from the ground.

She really is a tiny thing.

Rory waved and smiled at her. “C’mon out. The chap and I are just going to have a little chat.” Rory then placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and none-to-gently guided him towards his pile-o-men.

“Sorry about the middle guy. He didn’t make it.” Rory said as he gestured at the one in the blood pool. The boss’s fists clenched, but he did not make any other moves. “So, listen. This wall just a bit of a kerfuffle. Can we agree that your people went a little overboard? Cause that would be okay and then we can have a chat about the future.” Rory stared at the guy until he eventually nodded.

At that point, Rory decided he would take the tension down yet another notch. He had had an idea that he had seen work a few times between slum enforcers. One time, Rory had witnessed Mycroft and his equivalent at a neighboring slum almost to come to blows when someone new had come and calmed them all down. Rory still had no idea who the guy had been, but he tried taking that man’s posture and using his words.

Both the guy and Rory heard the door click and they both looked over to at Penny, who had finally showed herself. Rory cleared his throat, put his hands behind his back, and spoke in a genial tone. “We both want things here. Let’s agree that, despite what’s happened, today isn’t the day to… discuss it. Maybe sometime in the future, we can work it out in a more friendly way and neither of our bosses will be upset with us.”

The blue-suited guy’s face, which had still had anger and frustration, changed immediately to one of confusion and then concern. “Who’s your boss?” he asked cautiously.

“Let’s say he likes to stay behind the scenes.” Rory lied through his teeth. “He owns this place as of a few days ago and it would be a shame if something…” then Rory looked around at the mess and bodies, “…worse happens to it. I think I can talk him down from taking precipitous actions, but if things went bad again, he would look at that… unkindly.” Rory intentionally put a little bite and changed his face to be a little firmer when he spoke that last word.

The man looked shocked for a few moments but collected himself quickly, fixed his suit, and said, “Agreed.”

Rory nodded, his smile returning. “I’ll be managing his relationship with this… shop.” Rory’s tone had changed to one of derision when he was describing their store. Hopefully, Penny wouldn’t be offended. But he finished his fake threat with, “I’ll likely be around a few times per week for at least a few minutes. You know, to check things are running smoothly. And profitably. How about I help you bring these fellows to your cars out front and we call it a day?” Then he held his hand out for the other to shake.

***

When the door closed behind Rory for the final time, he leaned against it and let out a huge breath and closed his eyes. He opened them just in time to see Penny running towards him.

Oh crap… how mad is she?

He knew he’d be okay, she was tiny and unarmed, but he was definitely not interested in being hit again. Instead of a blow, however, Penny’s thin arms wrapped around him under his and her head was on his chest. Her head only went to below his sternum, but she was squeezing so hard he thought he heard his ribs creak. He was so surprised he didn’t react for a moment, but then he patted her back and let out another breath.

“Hey, Penny. You okay?” he asked gently.

She nodded into his chest, but wouldn’t let go.

“Uhh. Penny? Can you let go please?” He really did not like to be touched.

She coughed and back up a step, fixed her robes, and wiped at her face.

“When do you think Elphina will be back?” he asked, intentionally not brining attention to any of that.

“A few hours,” she answered, still blushing slightly. “She had to go to a warehouse in another part of the city to get ingredients. Those… gits” she spat angrily, “did something to stop us from getting shipments.”

Rory sighed and nodded. “I bought a little time, but that’s all. That whole episode is going to lead to a bloody big mess. Frankly, something like this, gang bosses and such, really is beyond me.”

“I know,” Penny said sadly. “I appreciate today at least.” Then she looked him over and gasped. “You’re bleeding!”

Rory blinked and looked down. “Oh.” He said as he looked at his arm dripping blood. At that point, the sting of the wound seemed to come out of nowhere. “I forgot about that with everything else going on.”

Penny turned and ran away. Rory watched with a half-grin as the pipsqueak ran behind the counter, grabbed an M-steel stool, ran back, barely able to carry it, slammed it down in front of him, and ordered, “Sit!”

He chucked as he did what she said. She left once again and came back with two bottles and what looked like clean white bandages. “Sleeve up!” she snapped at him. He smiled widely and complied. What proceeded was an exercise in her ordering him to do things that involved his arm injury and him doing whatever she said, laughing to himself the whole time.

She’s like a miniature Elphina.

With that thought, he said, “Why don’t you send your grandmother a comm while I clean up a bit? Let her know what happened and that today is probably the best opportunity she’ll have to be out and get what she needs. The more she can pick up today the better. They won’t be back until they figure out I’m a fraud, which should take a few days. I hope at least. But after that…” and Rory shrugged.

Penny’s eyes widened and she nodded vigorously. Running behind the counter, she commed her grandmother by vid and told her about what happened. Rory heard Elphina have a minor freak out, but Penny calmed her down. At that point he turned away and started picking up the place.

A few minutes later, Penny finished and turned back to Rory, who was running a nifty cleaning machine over the blood making it disappear.

This thing is bloody amazing! How much does one cost?

“Thank you, Rory. That was really nice of you.” He shrugged. He’d cleaned up a lot worse in his life. “By the way,” Penny continued, “did you come by to check up on us or was there something you actually wanted?” she asked.

Rory jumped a little at that. He had forgotten. “Right! Yes. Thank you.” Clearing his throat, he said, “I actually need your advice. I wanted to buy something nice for a friend but I want it to be small and not too… much, I guess?” he finished lamely.

Penny tilted her head slightly, looked at him slyly, put her hands together and under her chin, and said with a teasing tone, “Is this friend a giiiirl?”

Why does she have to roll out the word like that? This is embarrassed enough as it is!

Blushing, Rory nodded. Penny jumped up, giggling and clapping. “I know just the thing. Let’s go to the perfumes.”