Lady Lord turns away, face back to almost smiling as he marches away, parasol high and proud. He smirks, his face looking natural, and looks at the handle of his parasol. When I crane to see what he's looking at he shows me the handle. With markings. Did... Did he take notes on his parasol handle with his thumbnail? No way...

-*So... What's the goal of this hunt?*- All of these hunts have a scorecard with an ultimate goal, right?

"They released a few Silver Harts into the Callous Mountains," Lady Lord says with a little swagger, face slowly twisting into a cocky grin. "Lord Heavenly Golden Fist told me that the real prize is a Heavenly Rabbit. Sun aligned, so look for a one-horned rabbit with golden fur."

Those fuckers are fast. All of them are fast, but the golden-furred rabbits are quick as shit. And it has a single horn? It's gonna be a tough fight. Good thing I don't plan on fighting. Lady Lord posts up on a rock away from the camps, not joining any of the groups. I could ask why he's by himself if he's sponsored while I groom.

I continue grooming as several people look at us smugly. I can already spot several cheaters. There aren't many people that reek of poison, and very few people are passing mini-clay jars, pill bottles that look like palm-sized wine jars with wax cloth seals, but there are tons of assholes with nets. And those nets look tasty.

Golden or pearl colored ropes, the glint of metal from hooks or barbs, orbs instead of rocks for anchoring. Blatantly using artifacts. Those I don't feel bad about wanting to eat. Those I will hunt down and eat. Who could complain when they're not allowed?

-*Wait, he gave you a whole list of creatures that can be turned in,*- I pause in my grooming, narrowing my eyes at him. I feel like I'm narrowing my eyes, but I don't have eyelids, so I have no idea what it looks like to them, my own views being corrupted by my personal perceptions.

"Other clans, groups, and sponsors have released their own beasts. There's wolves, lions, dragons, tigers, cats, and more," Lady Lord casually flicks his fingers against his shoes, the sound of the impact a lot louder than the casual gesture warranted. He strong?

-*But this place is barren,*- I frown as I scan the surprisingly colorful landscape. There's mostly just rock, but they're colorful. -*There's probably caves, and tunnels, and cliffs, but where would all these things hide?*-

"That's the trick," Lady Lord sways with a light smirk. "The clans offer things they have skill hunting. Things that hide, burrow, and fight. Beasts that need a special tool or trick to defeat."

He sits up, face smoothing, going back into statue mode, body tense. I watch as the muscles along his jaw twitch, wondering if he's grinding his teeth or stealth eating.

"Even if they don't catch a single hart a clan can catch a bunch of their offerings and still win the competition." One last flex and he starts beaming and smiling lightly, eyes slightly closed. "But if we win? 100 square, a trophy plaque, a badge, and we've got the corpses of spirit beasts."

And he doesn't want the bodies? I blink as I realize that maybe he's not a tricky boy who was trying to make the perfect artifact, that maybe he's a fighter that was told he had to make a tool and invested as little effort as he could while waiting for something else to happen. Like an expensive hunt where he can go out and get materials. Is he trading farming mats for --? No. He was going to have me dispose of them. Is this a "dog ate my homework" situation, or does he really give zero fucks? Not doing the homework, going out to get supplies, then coming back without supplies. Wow. The stones.

I finish grooming, he hasn't moved much, and there are more people gathering in the area. Some people have large fancy pavilions, some have small personal tents, and I swear I hear someone hammering and building an actual building. But everyone's moving in groups.

-*Are we waiting for more people?*- If we're supposed to be setting up base, shouldn't we try to clear the area?

"Just us," he says, casually flicking dust off his sleeve.

He idly dusts himself off a lot. I'm not sure if it's for show or if he's pretending to make an effort to keep clean. I see some dust and dirt, but he's not putting any effort into dusting off.

-*So... Why are we waiting?*- Seriously. Other people are gathering, why don't we go?

"The event starts in two days," he says with such a lack of interest I really think he might just sit here like this for two frickin' days.

-*No.*- I dump his dumbass in my bank and he sits on the ground looking around with his stupid blank face as I go to the kitchen to get my food going. -*Two days? Sitting there for two days? What was your plan?*-

I repeat the stupid time to myself over and over as I get more stews and fish cakes going. Oh, getting fruits, nuts, berries, greens --. Imma make a salad. I put fish cakes in, -- I might not have enough for my underground network but there's still some in the river, -- and get fruits and veggies on the drying shelves around the perimeter. Lady Lord starts moving around and I glare at him to see him fanning himself and loosening his upper robes. Is he nervous or --.

"There's so many heat elements going, how are you not cooked?" He grouses, climbing to his feet, and backing away. "Where am I? What is this? What host tricks people to their house and doesn't introduce themselves?"

I freeze as I watch him. No way he doesn't know. They know I'm a bank bug, Emo Lady told them stories. My brain hurts as I process that they might know I'm a bank bug, but they don't know about my void or what it looks like.

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

-*I am Kisandera, formerly of Seven Moons, and this is my void space. My bank. I'm not going to sit out there starving for two days while we wait,*- I start calm and end up pissed off all over again. -*Why did you come so early? You don't need the spot or the space.*-

"This is your inner palace?" he says thoughtfully and the idea that this is my core is terrifying.

I've been inviting people in here! They took stuff out! There's a difference between a bank space and an inner palace, right? Right? I review my memories, stolen and gifted, and in every instance an inner bank is a space made with someone's soul energy or a relic, a way to hide something at the core of what they are while not making it intrinsic to their very being. But none of the hunans are bank bugs. My space is made with Will and Qi, not the condensed essence of all life, just some of the stuff needed to live.

-*I am a bank bug. There's a difference between my void space and a cultivator's inner palace. You are physically here,*- I tell him, pissed that he scared the shit outta me. I'm tempted to damage his clothes so he notices when he's out, as proof, but I don't want to get squished.

"So this is a spatial palace," he mumbles, looking around. And I'm reminded of Woodcock.

-*Take my things and I will take things from you,*- I warn him. I need to eat Golden Rivers to make up for what Woodcock stole.

I trade out the fish cakes, liking them still moist,, and get another round on. The stew's not ready yet and I prepped a lot of them without actually putting them on, so I've got foods to cook. Oh! Salad. I make a basket of greens, mill some berries and nuts, drop that juicy paste on the greens with some fish cake, and then consume my tastey creation. It's very simple, yet somehow delicious. Or I'm just hungry.

"I went there early to gather information on the different groups," Lady Lord sits on the stairs, reminding me that I didn't get any furniture. Fack, that means I still don't have a bed. "I'm an excellent listener."

I make another salad and munch on it, getting another set of lightly cooked cakes, and putting in another round of cakes on. I take the stew off, bank it, and Will new pots before getting them ready. And I'm tired already. At least the salad's tasty. Banking stuff, easy. Making new stuff out of resources with low will? Not so much so.

-*So you want me to leave you out there so you can gather intel?*- I guess I'm over being angry at the two days.

"You eat artifacts, right?" Lady Lord slowly turns to me, feeling more and more like Woodcock, but I'm in on this heist. "Well, there shouldn't be any artifacts in the area, so any you find are free game."

We just met and he already has my number. Aw, man. Do I really still talk out loud? How can he --? He was making a jab about me talking out loud when he said he's an excellent listener, wasn't he? I sigh and go mill more veg for more cakes. Some of the berries aren't drying, they're turning syrupy, and somehow not dripping down the holes, and I don't know if me keeping them in place and that's another thing contributing to my inability to do things, or if I've got too much going in my void, period.

"You could keep making food, or we could feed you something that might sit better in your stomach," he leans back on the porch, looking smug AF.

-*Fine!*- I'm so hungry. I shift us back out and he scoops me up, still smirking before his face smooths to near blank.

"Let's introduce ourselves," he says quietly, and it feels like we're going to slaughter people. Not just their dreams, but their families.

He carries me, cradling me in one arm and occasionally patting my back or giving me scritches, wandering around and smiling kindly at everyone regardless of if they spit at him or give lewd insults.

[Piercing Shot Successful]

[Successful Uses 63/100]

[Qi -30]

[Karma -5]

[Current Condensed Qi: 1,831,774/23,765,715]

[Current Qi: 235,582/957,945,100]

[Current Karma: 95,062,862/107,275,977]

[Max Will: 9,579,451]

[Mortal Wallet: 10E,21K,228P,154R,179Da,155De,105k]

[Spirit Wallet: 0Dr,0Ph,0Th,1199Di,126Co,10506St]

When we pass by a tent Lady Lord pops my belly, a quick, sharp pat through my fluff, and I want to stab him as he keeps moving on as if nothing happened. I'd already seen the net, hit it with a string to create a link, then banked it for draining. Did not need the belly slap. The two men bartering over it each accuse the other of stealing it, Lady Lord not pausing, although he does look back in interest before continuing his slow amble.

Less than twenty minutes later and I'm twitching with the amount of restraint it takes to not just turn around and start eating Crimson Star. I can't even remember the name I used to call him. I know he is a cultivator, I'm hungry, and he's potentially food. With what little information I have on hunan cultivators and the things Persephone was attempting to discover, I don't understand why eating helps raise my Will. I understand I get Qi from food, that eating certain things gives me Karma, and, thanks to the Smorgas-Board and Bank tutorial, I know that what I get rewarded is linked to the requests put in by people who have access to the workings of the empire. But why does food refresh my Will?

"Go," Lady Lord whispers, his mouth nearly embedded in my back silk as he tosses me lightly, releasing his hold.

I shift immediately, not bothering to take him with me, pull out the nets and physically start consuming them even as I drain them of their imbued essences and Qi. I'd only gotten two, and there are so many more, but I'm so tired. Too much. I have too much stuff going. I race through my void, tearing down and eating trees, regardless of what they produce. I uproot bushes, flowers, grasses, racing past some things, just trying to thin out the hills. They look nice loosely covered with thriving plants, but the energy to sustain them is more than I can give.

Once the forest and underbrush is clear I head to the farm, leaving only one of each plant instead of multiples. Production is high, I have tons of stuff banked, they grow so quickly, and I'm accidentally killing myself. I need to eat. This just cut back on the future costs, I'm not operating at a deficit, but I'm probably close to passing out soon. I dump all my fish cakes, all my veg cakes, grab the pot of stew I dove into, and pounds of shiver thorn at my feet, piling it up and around me as I try to eat myself awake.

If I'm understanding this correctly, and I'm probably not, I get more from eating processed foods than it cost for me to make the food. I don't know whether that's the gods rewarding me for taking the time and effort, or something to counter the hunger, but it's going to have to sustain me if it's true. A rough cost of 5 Will for each plant, 10 Will to auto harvest, the size of my bank taking Will and Qi to sustain, my dumbass constantly absorbing ambient essence and never remembering to cycle it into Qi, and I get maybe 100 Qi, max, for consuming the food and the ambient essence infused with it. I need to cycle. I need to eat. I need to Get Gud, and I need to figure out how to do it as a broken bug with borked hacks instead of a regular cultivator. I need to sleep, but that route requires time and a good hiding spot.

I'm so hungry.

I wake up to a mouthful of shiver thorn when there's still fish cakes and a sealed jar of stew near me. I tip over the jar, taking the pots off of the stove as it pours out, then go back to my makeshift garbage pile. I don't get as much of a thrill from eating the nets as I have from real artifacts, the kids' failed attempts not even warranting consideration, so I'm not sure if the nets count as artifacts at all. Would be really shitty if we robbed someone of their legal tools trying to sabotage the competition thinking they were artifacts when they weren't. Yeah, no, we're definitely the assholes, and the wait was not worth it.