While Lilly went into the back to get everything ready, Ann kept Edge company as he browsed the magitech equipment filling the Mortium exchange.

  It was a bit surreal that this arsenal of high-end gear had been sitting here gathering dust during the war with the Claws. However, every item in the exchange was regulated by the System. The skill gems wouldn’t work until they had been purchased, and the weapons and armor couldn’t be carried past the threshold.

  Trying to steal them would rouse the planetary AI’s ire regardless, but Edge still enjoyed the fantasy of shoving everything inside his vault and then making a break for it.

  When he finished looking around, he decided to take care of another matter since Ann was here. He pulled out all the gear he was planning on selling—most of which he’d stolen from the Crimson Claws. He needed Ander to appraise his parts and resources before deciding what he wanted to do with them, but he was ready to unload the rest of his storage and free up some room in his vault.

  Ann shook her head in disbelief as she watched Edge retrieve item after item. “You should give the weapons you don’t need to the peacekeepers in exchange for Contribution Points. You can use them for things you can’t buy with Credits, and Earl is in desperate need of more equipment to outfit his new recruits.”

  He nodded and put them away while she Appraised the heaping mound of supplies, tools, and basic equipment. Then Ann looked him in the eye, and they started haggling. They eventually agreed on a price Edge was happy with and shook hands. It was a better deal than he’d expected, although he had the sense she had taken it easy on him as her way of thanking him for bringing everyone home.

  They pulled up their Guides and initiated a Credit exchange, finalizing the transaction. “Thanks, Ann. It’s always a pleasure doing business with you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I wouldn’t be standing here if you hadn’t helped me out when I was new in town, and I won’t forget it.”

  She walked over and gave him a hug. “The feeling is mutual. You were worth investing in, and everything I’ve done has already been repaid a dozen times over. I doubt any of us would be alive if you hadn’t thrown a wrench into Yussuf’s schemes time and time again.”

  By the time Lilly was ready for him, Edge had a good idea of what he wanted to buy. I’ll talk it over with her when the operation is complete. “It’s time to get cutting. Did you want to watch?”

  Unlike her sister, Ann wasn’t fascinated by the biology of Ord’s magic. In fact, the prospect of Edge being sliced open made the color vanish from her cheeks. Although he knew the woman could handle herself in a fight, it seemed surgical procedures made her squeamish.

  After one last look at the rapturous expression on Lilly’s face, Ann shuddered and wished him luck. She started carrying everything upstairs while Lilly led him into the back room where the shadowkiller installed and maintained implants.

  Lillian explained the procedure while she sterilized her instruments. To modify his implants, she needed to expose the devices, then bond the upgrades to them with a specialized tool. When he asked where the kits came from, she accessed her shopkeeper’s menu and entered the order, which made a prompt waver into existence in front of his eyes.

  After Edge confirmed the purchase, he felt the System’s magic coalesce within the room. In a flash of golden light, both upgrade modules materialized into being on top of a sterile silver tray.

  She had him take off his shirt, then seat himself in a sturdy steel chair covered in straps. “So.” Lilly ran her eyes across his body in a way that made his heart race for more than one reason, brushing her fingertips across his chest while staring down like she could see straight through him. “Do you want to do this awake or asleep?”

  “Awake.” Edge didn’t like the idea of being sedated to the point of unconsciousness, even around someone he trusted completely. He was also interested in the procedure and the science of magic in general, though he couldn’t hold a candle to Lilly’s fascination. He knew from the feed that implant surgery was delicate work, requiring intensive training and a lot of Perception and Control.

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” She smiled while washing her hands in the sink, then pulled on a pair of surgical gloves.

  “If you’re awake, I can ask you questions about how it feels. I’m curious if there is some variation in the process based on the rarity of a core, and yours is the rarest I’ve ever seen. Just to be clear, this is going to be a lot more painful than when I installed your Heart-Guard, so I’m going to use some restraints this time. You’re strong enough to break them if you want to, but I can’t have you spasming during the middle of the modification, or it’s going to cause problems.”

  “All right. You scare me a little, but I trust you with my life.” That earned him a warmer smile. Lilly might have even blushed a little, although it was hard to be sure while staring up at the magelights embedded in the ceiling. She secured him to the chair with some of the thinnest straps, which held his limbs down to keep him from flinching.

  “I’ll start with the kit that will upgrade your Heart-Guard to an Organ-Guard, then move onto your Auxiliary Skill Slot. Since you have Regeneration and we don’t need to worry about scarring, I’ll access the implants the same way as last time, then begin the modification process. That will shave down the operation time to about ten minutes per upgrade. Remember to keep Regeneration off until I tell you it’s okay, or we’re both going to have a bad day.”

  “Got it. Have fun, but you know, not too much fun.” She laughed at his joke, arranged her tools, then sat on a stool where she could reach the silver tray. She picked up a device that reminded Edge of a bubble-tea straw with a bladed end, sterilized his skin with an alcohol swab, then aligned the tool with his Heart-Guard.

  Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

  “All right. I’m starting on…” Last time, Lilly had gone before reaching three, which had caught Edge by surprise, so he couldn’t tense up. This time, she didn’t even pretend to count—she just slipped the razored tube into his chest.

  It hurt, but not that badly compared to the countless injuries he’d suffered since becoming a hunter. She pressed a button that ejected the severed cylinder of tissue, then another that made the tube shrink until it was only a fraction of an inch long—a modification that reminded him of the shaft of his naginata.

  Now that the implant was exposed and she had room to work, Lillian used another tool to manipulate the modification kit. When she asked if he wanted to see the device, he nodded, and she held it in front of his eyes.

  It looked like a copper cube with intricate patterns embossed on the surface. He wouldn’t have been able to make them out before, but with his current Perception, Edge saw the kit was covered in countless runes—the foundational element of magitech that allowed them to channel aether to produce a vast array of magical effects.

  Interesting. The design reminds me of my core rune, but the arrangement is completely different.

  While he pondered what little he knew about the physics and biology of magic, Lillian applied a fixative to the kit and placed it inside the tube. When she touched it to his Heart-Guard, his chest began tingling like she’d inserted a live wire. It was intense, but nothing compared to the sensation when she switched tools and began welding the upgrade onto a facet of his implant.

  The searing heat and rush of electricity were painful, but not nearly as bad as engraving his Spatial Storage Rune or evolving his core. She looked impressed by Edge’s stoicism before returning to the surgery with an immensely satisfied expression on her face.

  Her obsession with my core is a little overwhelming sometimes, but she really does love this stuff and isn’t just a sadist… I think. He winced as the heat ramped up for another few seconds, then began to cool.

  “All done with the first one. You can heal yourself now. The upgraded reservoir on the guard came with a full tank of gold-class aether, so you’re good to go. It will offer superior protection against catastrophic organ damage until its charge runs out.”

  Lilly handed him a glass of water and gave him a minute to recover before performing the second procedure. This implant kit looked like a platinum dodecahedron. It was quite a bit bigger than the other upgrade, although the runes on its surface weren’t nearly as dense. When Edge said he was ready, she used the blade-tube to access the surface of his core, then warned him to brace himself.

  This time around, it felt like acid was dissolving his nerves. His eyes watered, and he bit back the urge to scream, grinding his teeth until the pain subsided. Instead of welding the kit into place, it felt like his Auxiliary Skill Slot softened, then merged with the upgrade—kind of like what happened when he Absorbed a duplicate skill. While everything settled, she told him the implant was twice as big as before, and he might feel a small lump until he got used to it.

  Once Regeneration was done stitching him up—a process Lilly watched like a cat staring at a caged bird—she wiped the blood with a rag, then undid the straps holding him to the chair. Edge got dressed while she asked him some questions about what he’d experienced.

  He caught her gaze lingering when he reached up to pull on his shirt, checking out his body instead of fantasizing about his core. Before he fully processed the event, his Guide appeared to make his upgrades official.

  Congratulations. You have upgraded the following implants:

  Your Heart-Guard is now Tier 2 and has increased in rarity.

  Due to its expanded functionality, it will now be called an Organ-Guard.

  Organ-Guard (Uncommon). Tier 2.

  Size: Small (1 implant point). Aether type: Gold. Charge: Full.

  This implant generates a potent barrier to protect your vital organs when it detects incoming damage.

  Your Auxiliary Skill Slot is now Tier 2 and has increased in rarity.

  Auxiliary Skill Slot (Rare). Tier 2.

  Size: Small (1 implant point). Aether type: N/A.

  This Auxiliary Skill Slot can be used to socket two extra skills beyond the limit of your core. The skills placed in this slot cannot gain experience, cycle up, or be merged or altered in any way, although they can be Absorbed and replaced with new skills at will.

  This is a passive, structural implant. As such, it does not require an aether charge to function.

  Edge grinned from ear to ear as he read through his updates, then walked into the exchange with Lillian at his side—ready to make the rest of his purchases.

  After thinking the matter through, he decided to save at least thirty Mortium going forward so that he could pick up two Epic skills and five Rares whenever the opportunity presented itself. While he was eager to acquire some awesome new gear, he refused to put himself in a situation where he would be forced to miss out on an amazing skill because he couldn’t pay Extraction’s price.

  That left him with 39 lifecoins in his budget. He decided to start with some smaller purchases. Edge bought four more Disruption grenades for one Mortium apiece. He added a pair of magitech alarm traps that cost two for the set, which would be far more effective than the simple devices he had used to protect his shelter in the Savage Garden.

  Next on the list was a working preservation unit for eight lifecoins. He still had the model with a defective seal, but he wanted an undamaged one too. It would keep any mana food he found in a stasis-like state—fresh until he needed it to refill his reservoir. I can use the old one to store perishable food and parts instead.

  That reminded him that he should try to pick up a mana berry or at least a mana seed before leaving the settlement again. I bet those Contribution Points Dialla promised me can be redeemed for some. I should find out what else they can buy after I donate that gear to the deputies and the resources I don’t need to the crafters.

  Last and most certainly not least, Edge decided to splurge and buy a gatling boltcaster for 22 Mortium—one of the weapons he’d been fantasizing about since the first time he laid eyes on it.

  A single shot wasn’t particularly powerful, but the weapon could fire an incredible number of rounds within a matter of seconds. The aether clips were pricey but easy to exchange, so he spent the last three lifecoins in his budget on a dozen of them.

  There were two reasons he’d decided to purchase the oversized device. He was still working on refining his attack with Repel Water and didn’t know how steep the learning curve on Yussuf’s skill would be. Until he mastered both powers, he wanted something simple and reliable that could dish out damage from medium range and lay down covering fire even when he was low on mana.

  The second reason was an even bigger factor if he was being honest with himself. The gatling gun was absolutely badass. Looking down the barrel while staring into a mirror was downright intimidating, and he couldn’t wait to pull it out the next time shit hit the fan.

  The magitech weapon was huge and heavy. It would have been a pain in the ass to carry, but thanks to his Spatial Storage Rune, that wasn’t a problem at all.

  Edge spent a few minutes admiring his reflection before putting the boltcaster away, bidding the sisters farewell, and leaving the exchange.