Darius didn't speak of it until they were on the train into the dungeon. Hector let the issue fester, not sure how to tell his… whatever Darius was to him… that he was being an asshole. He'd taken Riley around to do some food deliveries around noon. While a friend couldn't escort the deliverer inside an apartment without being severely fined for trespassing, Hector could walk with her between buildings, answer questions, and provide general emotional support.

Deliveries were a little outside of her comfort zone and Riley needed a mental break after doing six of them. Working at that rate would not pay the bills for her to eat, let alone cover housing expenses, but Hector didn't push it. A lot had just changed in her life. She was in foreign territory and needed time to adjust.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"No." He left it at that, thinking it best to let Darius lead the conversation.

"Will I wake up to intimate sounds?"

"I assure you there will be no intimacy."

"If you're not involved with her, then who is she? Some charity case?"

He opened his mouth to object but couldn't speak. She had started off as a charity case. Literally. He'd approached their interactions as the cultivation of the virtue of charity. That wasn't where they were any longer. She was a friend and somewhat of a surrogate daughter.

"Needing help doesn't make her a charity case."

"Hector, you obviously lived a soft life before becoming a dreamer. I won't fault you for that since it's the reason you took me away from Tian with you. If you feel some moral imperative to do good in the world, that's your business. Just don't bring any more strays around me. I have no obligation to help anyone."

That struck Hector as far more reasonable than what he'd been expecting from Darius. "That's fair. I don't expect you to help take care of Riley. But Darius? It wouldn't hurt you to be nice to her. She's had a hard life."

Darius frowned. "She has had a hard life?"

"Yes, Darius. You don't have a monopoly on that. Unlike you, she's vulnerable to the whims of everyone around her on this world. Someone three levels above her can be intimidating when they make her feel like she's not welcome."

"Is this how you want me to repay my debt? Being nice to the girl?"

Hector shook his head. "You owe me no debt, Darius. I'm just asking you to have a little sympathy for someone else. You've been hostile to everyone since we arrived on Union Central."

"I am hostile? Hector, do you see how people look at us? The only place we're not looked down upon as muck on a shoe is in the dungeon where the other delvers need us."

"Exactly, Darius. Now imagine you are three levels weaker."

Darius blanched. "We weren't talking about your charity case. You are mad because I won't back down from Brenda about that stupid bagel."

"Yes, I am. Apologizing is such a simple thing to do."

"Not after the way she accused me."

"Unless I missed out on the nuances of the conversation, she walked in on you eating her food. That's hardly an unfounded accusation."

"Then she shouldn't leave her food laying about."

"Whatever, I don't care about… Brenda? Riley needs kindness in her life."

"Why should I be the one to give it? I never received any."

"To save someone else that pain. It's basic empathy, Darius. I know you feel it."

Darius sniffed. "Why should I feel bad that she was foolish enough to become a rogue Xian on a world that doesn't welcome them? It's a self-inflicted wound."

"It wasn't her choice. The System of Union Central turns people into Jinn or Arahant or Alfar when they turn eighteen based on their natural aptitudes. Someone fed Riley elixirs when she was a child so that she would become a Xian instead. She had no choice in the matter."

"What!? The System turns people into other species? That's terrifying. Are we at risk?"

That was what Darius latched onto? "Baseline humans can be changed, not us."

"Good. I need to be strong when I face the Lord General."

Hector choked on his own spit. "Are you insane? Just two days ago you were desperate to escape the machinations of the lords. How can you still want to face him?"

"Because he needs to pay."

"You can't win."

"Spite ain't about winning."

"You would die in a pointless gesture?"

"I have had everything taken from me except my life and my cultivation. Those I will gladly spend to give back a portion of my pain."

Hector squinted at the man. "You're level five, almost guaranteed to make level six soon. Your future doesn't have to be tainted by your past."

Darius thumped his fist low on his abdomen. "I am a mutilated freak! You may have endless possibilities before you, but I do not." He jumped out of the train as the doors opened at their stop. They were shortly inside the dungeon, traversing the ravine run. They did two more after that, exchanging a small amount of their energy reserves for a lot credits.

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Neither of them spoke again of anything contentious. Hector felt that lines had been drawn in the sand and he didn't intend to treat them lightly. He knew Darius wouldn't take well to any form of obvious persuasion. The man might not care for his father, but the emotional resemblance was undeniable. Both were completely unable to escape the call of vengeance.

Riley was already in bed when they got back, so silence reigned as Hector tried to sleep. He couldn't help but think of Jasmine. The way she'd moved in the final battle he witnessed, avoiding chaos bolts from her opponent and returning her own. She'd taken out Micah, utterly throwing the outcome of the tournament into question.

He doubted they let her fight again. Not after she so thoroughly destroyed the property of a lord. With just arms and legs left intact, was there even enough for an elixir? They'd probably taken her into custody immediately after his escape. At the current time, her corpse was definitely being processed by the specialists of the Lord Platinum.

Even amid the guilt and grief, Hector couldn't help but marvel at her final performance. Hector could not have beaten her. He'd have lost against her, Darius, Micah, and anyone else who had a chaos bolt. He wasn't built to win those types of battles. Unlike the Lord General, Hector didn't have an army of Xian to fight on his behalf.

Forming his externality into a transit sphere was a permanent alteration. He couldn't change course to have a chaos bolt now. Finding allies to save Earth worked out beautifully, but it cost him dearly in combat potential. It was worth the trade-off, of course. Being able to move between worlds at will was a great ability to have, too. He hadn't sacrificed his attacking power for nothing.

He'd just have to get strong enough to overcome his lack in combat. Which meant he needed to resume training his aura and domain. And that meant he needed to save up some energy instead of running the dungeon constantly.

Dawn found him with plans formed. When he climbed out of bed, Riley followed him.

"What are we doing today, Hector?"

"Breakfast." He studied her as they walked. "What do your statistics look like now?"

Survey Results

Type: Xian

Level: 2

Body: 0.9

Mind: 2

Aura: 0.5

Domain: 0.1

Energy Reserves: 04%

Based on Riley's answer, he visualized her status results. They weren't anywhere near where they should be. They would have to get her body and aura to a respectable level and then break through to level three. Which meant they needed some resources. Hector did not look forward to visiting his least favorite shopkeeper.

"What did you think of delivering food?"

She made a sour face. "I can do it if I have to."

"Well, you don't have to do that specific job. We can try to find you something else."

"That would be nice." Her mood, so high after he'd returned and liberated her, had dropped closer to her normal baseline. Hector remembered how she had leaped on him like a flying squirrel the previous day. He wanted to recapture some of that enthusiasm.

"Do you want to pick up some resources?"

"You're going to make me eat gross stuff again?"

Hector laughed. "You have no idea, Riley. At the tournament they made us eat baby birds out of their eggs."

"What's an egg?"

He laughed even harder. "Are you joking or serious?"

She was serious. Eggs were an exotic food in Promise City. Riley's formal education, such as it was, hadn't covered any agricultural subjects. "So it's a rock on the outside with a little bird on the inside? I wouldn't eat that, Hector."

"I didn't have a choice."

Post breakfast, they caught a taxi to the shop. When he pushed the door open, the stuffy Master Sirius looked up from a physical sheet of paper with an annoyed expression. That changed rapidly to one of astonishment.

"Surprised to see me, Sirius?"

"What are you doing here?"

Hector bared his teeth in a facsimile of a smile. "Shopping for resources."

"Right." The man's eyes darted to Riley, lost interest immediately, and returned to Hector. "How did the tournament go?" He actually licked his lips afterwards.

Interesting. The man was level six and his body was close to the peak. In theory that made him about twice as powerful as Hector. In actuality… Hector didn't think this shopkeeper was much of a fighter. And Master Sirius seemed off balance from Hector's unexpected appearance.

"I want to see honey pills, tinctures, and fat."

Master Sirius clearly recognized the more domineering attitude Hector had adopted upon his return and wasn't sure how to handle it. Finally, he took refuge in his professional role and began to pull out items. "Five thousand for each honey pill. The propolis tincture costs thirty thousand credits at normal rates. There is no fat in stock, but I have an amphora of cooking oil for ten thousand."

The amphora, a clay jar vessel with two handles, was over a foot tall and half as wide. When Hector tested its heft, he found it to be full. "Six honey pills and one amphora."

The prompt appeared and Hector transferred forty thousand credits to Master Sirius.

"I'm curious, Hector. What happened at the tournament?"

Hector handed the pill packages to Riley and picked up the amphora. "It might be better for you if you stayed ignorant, Sirius."

Outside, Riley frowned mightily. "Hector?"

"Yes?"

"That guy was really strong."

"He's a level above me."

"You were talking to him really mean. Isn't that dangerous?"

"He's a shopkeeper, Riley. I'm not worried about him." Though maybe that wasn't wise. Sirius might not be willing to face murder charges on Union Central, but if he passed word Lord Andrew may show up in person to collect Hector. The local government probably wouldn't bat an eye if a Xian lord decided to murder someone. "I won't need to visit him again for a long time anyway."

They picked up sandwiches before heading back to the hostel. Hector had Riley store away her new resources in her locker, then they sat down at one of the kitchen tables to cultivate. Hector drew power from chaos and puffed cosmic energy into the atmosphere around his student for her to draw in with her aura. She needed to increase her energy reserves before she used one of the six pills and cultivating by itself was good training for her aura.

When the elevator door opened to admit Darius with a box of pastries, the eunuch jerked as if he'd been slapped. "What are you doing?" He lurched forward, studying the scene. "You're… you're feeding her cosmic energy?"

"It's not terribly efficient," Hector said. "The energy doesn't stay put very long."

Darius looked like he was ready to explode, but after a few moments he instead asked a question. "Can I cultivate with you?"

Jackpot.

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