Before he decided on his first stop, Edge pulled up his profile one more time.

  He already knew how much currency he had to work with, but ogling those mind-blowing numbers made his body tingle with the anticipatory rush of acquiring some serious hardware and major upgrades.

  System Currency

  Credits: 554,150

  Mortium: 119

  He stared at the screen for a good five minutes, rubbing his chin while figuring out where he wanted to go. What would be the most fun to buy? No sooner did that thought cross his mind than the answer came to him. While he was looking forward to visiting every store on his list, only one made him so excited that he wanted to dance.

  Edge had come out of the Savage Garden with more Mortium than some shadowkillers made in their entire career, and it was time to cash them in.

  Going forward, he wanted to keep some Mortium in reserve for Extracting Rare and Epic skills, but he was ready to spend the lion’s share of his stash today. Lilly was taking the day off to recover from her prolonged ordeal, but that wasn’t a problem.

  In Lillian’s absence, her sister was running the exchange after promoting one of her employees to manage Ann’s General Goods. Originally, the existence of the subterranean storefront had been a closely guarded secret. When the town’s economy had been centered around Prison World, it made sense to let competing hunters make their purchases in private and maintain every advantage they could.

  But now that everyone was here for the long haul and Puppet Town was cut off from the rest of civilization, Dialla had changed the rules to maximize the settlement’s growth. The details of each transaction were kept under wraps—protected by Ann’s Privacy Bubble—but instead of being open for a few hours each evening by appointment only, the exchange was open all day.

  That being said, Lilly and Doc were the only ones with the expertise required to install or upgrade implants, and she knew the merchandise better than anyone. Edge planned to consult with Lilly before buying anything, but he wanted to check out his options first. While these thoughts crossed his mind, he turned down the alley behind Ann’s General Goods, then waved to the hunter who was guarding the entrance to the building below.

  The hatch to the secret stairwell was wide open, which he supposed meant it was just a regular staircase now. When he crossed the landing and entered the exchange, he didn’t see anyone inside. “Hello?”

  He was about to check out the back room when Lilly appeared out of nowhere, materializing six inches in front of his face while wearing the fox mask she used in the field. He was caught completely off-guard, and the move scared the shit out of him. He reflexively Leapt back, hitting his head on the ceiling in his haste.

  Ann’s musical laughter rang out, followed by Lillian’s giggles. Ann appeared from behind the counter and walked over to say hello. Lilly took off her mask and gave Edge a hug, then Ann threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for keeping her safe, and for everything else.”

  “You’re welcome, Ann.” He found himself grinning. “Although I’m pretty sure she’s the one who saved me.”

  He spent the better part of an hour catching up with Ann and bantering with Lilly—happy to see the siblings reunited—then everyone got down to business. Since she was already here, Lillian took the lead while Ann waited on some customers who had wandered into the store.

  “All right, let’s get to it. It’s finally time to pick up some of the gear you’ve been drooling over since the moment you darkened my doorway. Before I offer any suggestions, was there anything in particular you had your eye on?” She gestured toward the rows of high-grade equipment lining the walls and filling the racks between them.

  Edge had been dreaming of this moment for months, and he ran his gaze across a wide assortment of weapons, armor, and magitech devices. Having so many options was overwhelming, and he needed to figure out what he should buy with Mortium and what would be better to have crafted at the Forge. Many items could only be bought at one or the other, but there was some overlap.

  While part of him wanted to grab the most badass weapon he could find, he needed to prioritize items that would enhance his skillset or provide advantages he couldn’t obtain any other way.

  “How many lifecoins are you packing anyway?” Edge leaned over and whispered the number in her ear—minus the stash he was saving for stealing skills. Lilly’s jaw dropped in astonishment, and when she had him tell Ann, the blond shopkeeper looked equally shocked.

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  “No wonder you came out of that hellhole with so many cycles,” Lilly said. “You’ve slaughtered more than enough monsters to call yourself a shadowkiller. I’ll let the association know, and they’ll make it official, but you’ve earned the title and more.”

  The conversation reminded Edge that while he’d told Lilly his secrets, he hadn’t shared them with Ann, although the perceptive woman had figured out something strange was going on with his core the moment they first met.

  “On that topic, there are some things I should tell you. I suppose most of this isn’t a secret anymore, although I’m only sharing the details with people I trust with my life.”

  After she activated Privacy Bubble, he went ahead and told Ann about Skill-Eater, minus the parts he’d never told another living soul. The woman had gone out of her way to help him several times before, and he didn’t want to put Lilly in a position where she had to either lie to her sister or break her promise to him.

  “No wonder you were so paranoid when you first walked into my store.” The sunny shopkeeper shook her head when he reached the end of his story. “With a bounty that high, you didn’t know who you could trust and who would stab you in the back for that mountain of Credits.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “Since you’re feeling unusually forthcoming today, you’re the one who killed Warren the manslayer, aren’t you?”

  Edge sighed, then told the sisters the story of how the bounty hunter had ambushed him on the plains. He left out Sakura’s involvement, since that wasn’t his secret to share. “I knew it. It didn’t make sense given the disparity between your stages, but I had a feeling that was how the bastard met his end.”

  “Good riddance and thank you.” Lilly added, wearing an expression that chilled him to the bone. “He killed one of our friends a few years back. Jeli had to sell himself into indentured servitude to pay back the debt from buying his puppet. The fucked-up thing was Jeli didn’t even have a bounty—he happened to step between Warren and his target, and that shitsucker pulled the trigger anyway.

  “Anyhow, let’s leave the past behind us and talk about that amazing core buzzing behind your ribs instead. I can help you pick out some nice gear, but what I really want to do is cut you open.” Edge took a step back and reflexively Hardened his entire body at once. He knew Lilly wouldn’t actually hurt him, but the gleam in her eyes was disturbingly feral.

  “One of the best uses for Mortium for someone like you—who can obtain more relatively easily—is to upgrade your implants. The System sells modification kits that can improve their output without increasing the strain on your body, letting you get more out of each implant point. I can’t do anything about core runes or runic gear though. You’ll have to find an engraver to enhance them, and there are only a couple of them on the planet, assuming they’re still alive.”

  “Okay.” Edge nodded vigorously. “That’s definitely something I’m interested in. Could you tell me a bit more about how it works? People’s implants were always censored on the feed.”

  Lilly explained that every implant could be upgraded twice. The first level could be purchased with Mortium alone, and the second required rare resources that were only found in the Frontier. “I suppose they might be obtainable in one of the bordering biomes, now that the plains are on the other side of the planet. I’ll give you a list of materials to keep an eye out for before you leave.”

  It turned out that the options for most implants came in a wide range of qualities and costs. For Edge, it only made sense to pick something from the top tier, which generally went for about 20 Mortium each. He could also have his implants removed, although that would cost Mortium too, which made his choice even more complicated.

  Lilly pulled up a catalogue so he could decide if he wanted to upgrade his Heart-Guard and Auxiliary Skill Slot or replace them with something else. His auxiliary slot was unusual in that it cost 30 lifecoins to upgrade, and there was only one choice for each tier—both of which increased its capacity by one skill apiece.

  He spent half an hour considering his options and eventually decided to upgrade the devices he already had. He only had two implant points that weren’t filled with runes, and both of his implants were solid picks in the one-point category.

  The Auxiliary Skill Slot was a perfect fit, considering the nature of his core. Even though he could slot more skills than anyone his stage, Edge had been picking each power’s upgrade with the overarching goal of developing a synergistic skillset. Even more critically, given the way Skill Bond worked, Absorbing his existing powers would waste all the time and energy he’d put into strengthening their connections.

  Having two extra slots for expendable skills would dramatically enhance his versatility, letting him swap out less critical powers on the fly to deal with specific problems—like how he’d used Penetrate Mist, Sense Fruit, and Gauge Depth.

  On the Heart-Guard side of the equation, while his defense was rock solid and Regeneration was amazing, suffering catastrophic damage to his heart, lungs, or brain could kill him instantly or impair him long enough to get eaten before he had time to heal. Having my other organs shredded doesn’t sound like a good time either.

  Having an emergency defense that could prevent catastrophic injuries would be invaluable no matter how powerful he became. While he talked the matter through, Lilly directed his attention to a top-tier upgrade for his Heart-Guard. It would expand the device’s aether well and extend the protective field it generated to his other vital organs, changing it into an Organ-Guard instead.

  The only downside was that the implant’s aether charge would switch from silver grade to gold, increasing the cost of refilling it by several times over. But since those Credits would only be spent when Edge’s life was in danger and the upgrade increased the amount of damage the guard could absorb, he was more than willing to pay.

  When his Guide appeared and he confirmed the purchase, Lillian’s eyes lit up in a way that made the hair on Edge’s neck stand on end. The shadowkiller was staring at his chest while licking her lips, grinning like she was already poking around at his squishy bits.

  Apparently, these procedures would be considerably more invasive than the surgery to install his Heart-Guard, and the idea of tweaking an implant that was touching Skill-Eater had Lilly so excited he thought she might purr.

  Edge shuddered and then smiled—excitement overruling fear as he got ready to take another big step forward on his path to power.