“Shame,” I sigh and shrug, keeping my cloak on. For a few moments, the steady drip of the water from Kuro onto the stony floor is the only sound in the small room.
Anna huffs again as she finally turns away, her glare subsiding. “Ask for something else.”
“Have you managed to steal from anyone-”
“No,” she answers, throwing her hands up in frustration. “No! And it’s not happening. No noble would be stupid enough to come down here, carrying a token, and let themselves be robbed by some shitty thief!”
Times like this I miss Norman. He could’ve stolen a token for me. Maybe. Probably… Surely!
Instead, I just nod at her. “Alright. Then what?”
She gives me a long sigh, leaning against the wall, glancing towards the bundle of blankets in the corner of the room. “Look,” she says slowly. “I’ll… repay you. Somehow. Please, you just gotta…”
“Yes, yes,” I wave her off. “I’ll keep healing him. Whether you pay me back or not.” I say quietly, kneeling next to the feeble body of her brother. He’s been sick, for a good long while now, and it has run him ragged. As per the usual, I inspect him.
[Feryran lv. 0]
Still no level. Even as he battles the illness. So, a soft sigh leaves my lips. I hover my hands over him, and soon, two skills activate in tandem. Quickly, the red of the fever that holds him dissipates, and the mana inside him settles.
There’s no virus I can properly heal. It’s not that kind of sickness, after all. It’s his vessel - it’s cracked. He tried to cast too early and injured it. So, all I can do is knit his body back together, undoing the damage he suffered, and [Suppress] the leaking mana from his core. I apply solid needles of my own mana like acupuncture, making them as thin as possible - the mana leaking from them keeping my suppression active and holding his own mana at bay.
“Alright,” I say with a small sigh, leaning back a bit. “Stable again,” I tell Anna. Instantly, she gives a sigh of relief.
“I owe you, once again,” she says, though the words lose their usual heat.
Waving her off, I shake my head. “You’re fine. Don’t risk your life for me.”
“Won’t,” she assures me quietly, looking to the side. Her silver hair scrapes against the stones of the building, and I nod once more. “Thanks, Yuki.”
I nod again, then open the door to the outside. “See you soon, Anna. You know where to find me.”
As I walk out into the rain, I think it’s funny. My most profitable skill, easily, is healing. I could sell that to the nobles and get a token to climb a monolith instantly. Hecc, I could even get tokens for the others… but I can’t do it. Because this is Respitia’s city, and she would instantly find me if she knew.
So, I have to hide it. Instead, I sell enchantments that are pitiful compared to what I can make, and slowly work on my projects. My vessel grows stronger, and with it, I gain more mana. The stats are multipliers of our “base” value, as I’ve found out, because vesselsmithing improves the base quality of my vessel.
Which is excellent, in that my mana keeps growing steadily as I improve that ethereal organ… and bad, because more mana means more pressure inside me. Which forces my other stats to grow to keep up, but also puts me under strain. Even now, I maintain multiple suppression loops alongside my [Observation]. And, of course, another part of mine tinkers with the remnants of skills in my archive.
It’s funny what an intricate web of debts comes with a city like this. There are people who have lived here for far longer than I. Anna, for one, keeps many grudges, holding them inside her heart like a to-do list. Raven has a list of other gangs they’re on good and bad terms with.
Slowly, with my hand in my pocket, I walk through the city. Kuro keeps the rain off me, and I work hard to keep my mana inside, taking in the loud sounds of rain and wind. It’s biting cold, and it eats into my limbs, but I don’t mind that. Instead, it feels almost relieving. The cold suits me.
Step by step, I trudge across wet cobblestone, the mana-infused rain partially freezing over into sleet. When things get too bad, I keep myself in place with solidified mana. It’s the same as always - I walk slowly, but inevitably, to my destination.
The slums flow around me steadily, and I only need to avoid three enterprising pickpockets on the way, swerving around the kids when I spot them with [Observation], or making them stumble with [Suppression]. Some of them are just newly awakened, using their skills as clumsily as I did back on the first floor. It’s juuuust in between being cute and being a bit pathetic.
My legs carry me through the narrow cobblestone roads, even as the wind pulls at my cloak. Kuro bravely shields me from the elements, keeping me largely dry, save for the water that splashes into my face. My face which I still keep hidden, alongside having taken a new name on this floor.
Yuki, as I so gracefully named the Tower when it spoke through me, is now diligently serving me as a name to give out to strangers. Ion is too well known… and Snow is something my friends call me, so. Yuki.
As Yuki, I stand in front of another door, this one in better shape than the previous ones. A building that’s actually being used and maintained. One of the very few legitimate businesses in the fifth ring, and the place I plan to spend my coins tonight: the Runewrights’.
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