Grandma Levia couldn’t talk about what the bonds did until I unlocked my bloodline, and then she couldn’t tell me because I went against the progenitor, Dollar thought. No matter what, it has to be something beneficial. That’s a given.

“What are you doing?” Mitsy asked.

The blonde-haired girl leapt through the open door, sliding across the floorboards and smoothly dodging the clothes on the ground, transitioning into a hop that landed her squarely onto the side of the bed. Mitsy’s eyes glimmered with curiosity, and she whistled when she saw the gemstones and violet crystal that would be used to create our artifacts.

“My bond,” I said. “I can create one, just like Levia and Lotan.”

“Oh man, is Bill going to become huge like Lotan was?” Mitsy’s eyes grew distant, and Dollar knew she was imagining a fifty-foot tall grec wading around the lake.

“I hope not. Anyway, I think Lotan was already a giant tentacle monster,” Dollar said. “I’m stuck because my grandma had to leave before I could ask her what the bond does. I’m guessing it shares a portion of the abilities each person has? Or their stats? I don’t know. What about you?”

“What about me?” Mitsy blinked.

“You’re strong,” Dollar tilted his head. “Is a bond with a human possible?”

“Oh! That’s a great idea!” Mitsy flexed her arms, her supple skin instantly transforming into rippling muscles that pressed against her white cotton sleeves. “Maybe you’ll gain some of this.”

“Uh,” Dollar stared at her arms.

He’d had muscles in his former life, but that was when he was an adult. The image of his tiny body becoming a juggernaut of dense muscles filled Dollar’s mind and he blanched.

I really don’t want that.

Mitsy pouted at his unenthusiastic response. “Hey, hey! Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. Besides, you’re like me, you have the type of body that only shows muscle when it's flexed.”

“Fine, fine,” Dollar rolled his eyes.

He reached out to her and focused, which was of course the perfect opportunity for Mitsy to be mischievous. She pulled at her lips with her fingers, making funny faces to distract him.

Dollar ignored her and paid attention to the blue boxes filling his vision.

[You may establish a bloodline bond with a willing being of your choice.]

[Number of bonds available: 1.]

[Potential bond detected!]

[Would you like to establish a bond with Mitsy(human)?]

[Error: Race.]

[Error: Race: Human]

[Error: Race: Human]

[Error: Mitsy(human) does not have permission to initiate a bond. Contact core body? Y/N.]”

[Error: Core body cannot be contacted. Permission terminated.]

[Mitsy(human) bond choice terminated.]

“Contact core body?” Dollar tilted his head, wondering if he’d read the words right. “What does that mean?”

“DON’T DO IT.”

Mitsy bumped into Dollar before he could reply, sending him careening onto the floor and scattering the fabric and core materials around him. Her eyes were wide with panic, and Dollar yelped as she grabbed him and her nails bit into his skin, drawing blood and nearly piercing bone.

In an instant she had overpowered him, and he hadn’t had time to do a thing. Except that wasn’t true.

He had instinctively activated [A Will Eternal].

“Get off.” Dollar’s voice was cold.

Mitsy’s hands shot back as though his skin was made of lava, but her movement had begun before he’d spoken. Panic still lit her eyes, but she instantly gazed downward in shame, her posture subdued.

“Did you accept the contact request?” She asked.

“I can’t,” Dollar replied. “The System said it was impossible.”

Dollar stood up and brushed himself off, wincing as a drop of blood welled up from his left arm and the right side of his waist, both the places where Mitsy had grabbed him. He withdrew a bandage from his storage ring, green healing balm soon joining it. When Mitsy moved to help him, he stopped her with a raised arm.

“I’ll do it myself,” he said.

“Oh gods,” Mitsy bit her lip. “I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t care,” Dollar said, closing the last bandage around his left arm. “What was that?”

“Oink!”

Bill stepped up beside Dollar, his head ping ponging to Dollar then Mitsy in confusion. Mitsy had acted too quickly for the grec to react, but now Dollar could see the movement and haste symbols active on Bill’s body, a sign of caution. The protection symbol was also active.

“That was a freak out,” Mitsy admitted. “A bad one. I didn’t expect it to pop up here. I should have been more careful.”

“I’ll say,” Dollar pursed his lips. “Secrets are secrets, but if they start to interfere in my life then they can’t be kept. Will this one come back to bite me?”

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“No, it won’t,” Mitsy said, her voice certain.

“It had better not,” Dollar warned her.

He paused as old instincts welled up in his heart. On Earth, conflict always devolved into mistrust, and from there he knew that isolation would soon follow. That was the safest way to protect his emotions, and himself, from the people of the business world. It was a strategy made possible because he only viewed others as stepping stones, and they viewed him the same way, so mistrust had fostered even when times were good.

Bah. Mitsy isn’t like that. Even at my maddest I know that. Dollar clamped his instincts down and crushed them. The old Dollar Tiberius would have allowed those feelings to fester, convinced they were making him stronger.

That wasn’t him anymore. Which also left him very confused.

This is my first time punishing a friend. Completely new territory. Dollar frowned.

He had often been punished for making a mistake, and punished others for doing so, but he didn’t know how to punish someone who he wanted to keep being friends with.

How am I meant to react if I’m not trying to isolate myself? Dollar wondered. No. I’ll do what I always do and buy myself time to figure out a solution.

“I’ll trust you on this, but that trust isn’t infinite,” Dollar said. “Just know that I’m mad.”

A look of relief swept over Mitsy’s features.

“Thanks. And, I know, I’m sorry. That won’t happen again,” Mitsy replied, her face downcast and her voice sincere.

“You can’t keep everything to yourself just because I’m not prying. There’s clearly something going on and we’ve just seen that I might accidentally stumble headfirst into it. What do I need to watch out for?” Dollar asked.

“Any System prompt relating to a core body. And sprites.” Mitsy whispered the word, a tinge of fear crawling into her voice. “Dollar, if you see a sprite, promise me you’ll run. No talking. No fighting. No negotiating. Just flee as fast as your legs can take you.”

Sprites? Dollar stroked his chin pensively.

Once, back in Zendria, he remembered spotting a non-human creature and asking if it was a sprite. Mitsy and Grisham had reacted like he’d sounded a war alarm.

“Core bodies and nymphs,” Dollar crossed his arms. “Fine. I’ll be on the lookout.”

Mitsy’s head fell drearily, and Dollar realized she was nodding. Her somber mood caused silence to fall, and even Bill avoided oinking. The only sound in the room was the uni-pig’s hooves rhythmically clopping as his body blurred with the speed of the haste symbol.

“Hey, snap out of it,” Dollar smacked Mitsy’s arm. It felt like he’d hit a boulder. “You’ve got more money to earn me, so I’m not going to kick you out.”

Two bright emerald eyes blinked at him in surprise.

A peal of laughter broke out from Mitsy’s lips, melodic and sweet. Dollar stepped back in surprise at the sudden shift and saw her wiping away a joyful tear at the edge of her eyes.

“Wow, you’re really bad at motivational speeches.”

“That’s how my dad used to do it,” Dollar said. “Which means that’s all I’ve got.”

Well, my father back on Earth wasn’t so gentle. But I’m not him. Dollar thought. So I modified his speech a tiny bit. Specifically the ‘not going to kick you out’ part. Nobody wants to hear ‘I’m not going to kill you’ for motivation.

“I’ll teach you sometime, my old man specializes in motivational speeches,” Mitsy said. “He was really good at them back when he had hair.”

“Does his hair have superpowers or something?” Dollar shook his head in disbelief.

“No, he just got stronger without the extra weight holding him down,” she poked her tongue out at him.

Mitsy fell back, bouncing on the bed and flopping onto her back, hiding her face from him. Her arms sprawled out as she held a crystal in her hands. It was the Violet Bloom that Dollar had bought in the city of Tiber. The folds of the ten-sided crystal reflected her eyes, and Dollar could see lines of worry within her reflected cheeks.

They had agreed to move on, but that didn’t happen so easily. Time would quickly make amends to their trust, but it would take a while for his left arm to stop stinging.

“What’s this for?” She asked.

Dollar accepted the subject change with ease. “You.”

The bed shifted as Mitsy raised her head, her eyes landing on him and filled with curiosity. He gestured and she threw the crystal into his open palm, and when she didn’t interrupt him, Dollar continued.

“Some of those artifact abilities you mentioned are doable with [Symbol Variation], but incredibly difficult for normal core materials to contain.” Dollar kept his explanation as simple as possible. “The Violet Bloom is used for higher-end artifacts. It cost me a lot. More than anything else I’ve bought here and then some.”

Dollar held the crystal fervently. The artifact crafted using the Violet Bloom would likely be his finest creation. And also net him a few levels.

He was growing closer to level 75, and his first [class] evolution.

“Haste. Movement. Gravity. All three are crucial to your fighting style. Mine too. Protection is just a given, and so is sustenance. Which means I need something that can hold all of them together and not explode when you activate it. That’s where these clothes come in,” Dollar held up the first article of clothing.

It was a bone-white buttonless tunic, almost mistakable for a blouse or short dress. Despite its calm external appearance, it was a costly item, and held a lot of power within it.

“Ghourmin leather was used to make this tunic. I don’t know what it is, but it’s tough, and it can take a sword strike with ease. Earl was very keen on telling me its entire history so that he could raise the price.”

“They’re tough buggers,” Mitsy said, her usual smile returning to her face. “You remembered my lessons!”

“I remembered someone constantly interrupting my symbol studying with random information about adventurer gear while we were walking to Zendria,” Dollar grumbled. “Finally, I bought these pants for you. I don’t know what an absinth hound is, but I’m taking the chance that we won’t run into one in the future. Otherwise you’ll have a very angry monster chasing you. They were the second most expensive thing I bought, second only to the Violet Bloom, so treat them carefully.”

A pair of scaley black and red pants glimmered dangerously as he raised them into the air. They had hints of fire within them, but Dollar wasn’t sure if that was a trick of the light or genuine magic. Either way, he knew that the pants could hold their own against the toughest of his symbols.

Mitsy brought a finger to her lips, nibbling it as she scrutinized the pants. “I might cut these into shorts and use the excess material as sleeves.”

“I hate you,” Dollar shot back.

His words were met with a giggle as Mitsy took the pants in hand and mimed cutting them apart.

“It could work,” Dollar admitted. “You’d have to make the adjustments yourself, hopefully within the next few hours, but I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t fit you all the same. Don’t blame me if you cut it wrong and the shorts end up itchy.”

“Don’t worry, I’m a master tailor,” Mitsy said proudly.

Dollar shot her a doubtful look. “Really?”

“Fine, no. I’m just an advanced tailor.” Mitsy blanched as his stare intensified. “Fine, okay, okay! I’m just really into clothes and learned how to sew my own stuff when I needed to. Now you know everything!”

“I don’t think that piece of information needed to be hidden.”

Dollar took the pants back, folding them and placing them onto the floor. He rubbed his hands together and a flicker of greed crossed his heart. Mitsy’s outburst and the bond flew out of his mind as he focused on his current goal.

The time for chit chat was over. He had artifacts to create. His eyes lingered on the materials before him, each one whispering of levels and power.

Dollar grinned.

Like my grandmother used to say. It’s time to eat caviar and get to work. And I’m all out of caviar.