"You listening?" Cassia snapped her fingers in front of my face.
"Yeah. Core brokers. Ring Two. Got it."
"Okay so pop quiz." She held up one finger. "What's the first thing you should do when you get to Veilgate?"
"Get a license?"
"Yes! See you were listening." Second finger. "Second thing?"
"Get gear."
"Correct. Third thing?"
"Stop getting interviewed by streamers who are clearly enjoying this too much?"
She laughed. "Chat he's funny. I like this one. Okay interview's over. You passed."
"There was a passing grade?"
"Yeah. The grade was don't be boring." She turned and started walking. "Come on. I'll take you to the Registry Office. That's where you get your license. It's in Ring One so we've got a bit of a walk."
I followed her because the alternative was standing here alone under two moons with no idea which direction to go.
The street we were on was wide. Paved with something that looked like stone but reflected light weird, like there was something metallic worked into it. Buildings rose on either side, most of them three or four stories, architecture that felt vaguely European but not any specific country I could name. People moved past us in both directions. Lots of people. The crowd had energy, the kind you get in cities where everyone's going somewhere and they're all late.
Most of them wore armor.
Not all of it was as elaborate as Cassia's. Some people had basic leather. Some had full plate that looked like it cost more than my entire year of delivery route income. Weapons too. Swords. Bows. Staffs. A woman walked past with a spear taller than she was and nobody looked twice.
"First time seeing the city?" Cassia glanced back at me. "You've got that wide-eyed tourist thing happening."
"Just taking it in."
"Yeah it's a lot. Veilgate's basically what happens when you give a million people with superpowers their own city and tell them to figure it out." She gestured broadly at our surroundings. "Two point three million permanent residents. Another few hundred thousand in transit at any given time. Every language you can think of. Every culture. It's the most cosmopolitan place in human history and also the most likely place you'll see someone get stabbed over a Core deal gone wrong."
"Sounds great."
"It is! I love it here." She spun around, walking backwards now, ponytail swinging. "Way better than Earth. Earth is boring. No monsters. No Tower. No chance to get rich and famous by hitting things with magic."
She bumped into someone. Apologized without looking. Spun back around forward.
The Eye device on her collar was still recording. I could see the faint blue glow.
"Chat's asking what your Ichor Type is," she said. "That's the specific flavor of your affinity. Like I'm Silkweave, which is under Forge affinity. Makes threads. Very versatile. Great for content."
"Haven't checked yet," I said. Which was true if you ignored the part where I'd absolutely checked and seen Devour written in clean white text.
"You should look when you get a chance. It'll tell you what your abilities actually do." She hopped over some kind of grate in the street. "Oh and don't use your skills in the city without good reason. Veilguard gets pissy about property damage."
"Veilguard?"
"Police but they're all Awakened so they can actually do something if someone decides to start a fight." She pointed ahead. "Ring One's that direction. We're in Ring Three right now. That's residential. Ring Two is markets and gear. Ring One is where all the important stuff happens. Guilds. Government. The Grand Exchange."
I filed that away. The city had rings. Made sense for organization.
"What's Ring Four?"
"More residential but cheaper. Ring Five is the Ashfields. That's the slum. Where people go when they can't afford anywhere else or can't climb anymore." Her voice shifted slightly on that last part. Less performance. More real. "The guy I mentioned who does gear on credit? He's there."
"You spend time in the Ashfields?"
"I do Floor One runs. Everyone does Floor One runs when they're starting out. The Ashfields is close to the entry point so yeah, I'm there a lot." She shrugged. "It's not that bad. People just like to act like it is because it makes them feel better about living in Ring Three."
We turned a corner and the street opened up into something bigger. A plaza maybe. The buildings here were taller. Cleaner. The people dressed better. More plate armor. More expensive-looking weapons.
"Ring Two," Cassia announced. "See that district over there? That's the Armorer's Quarter. You'll be spending a lot of time there once you have Ash. And that building with the blue banners? That's a Core broker. They buy Cores, sell Cores, basically the whole economy runs through them."
I looked where she was pointing.
The broker building was nice. Three stories. Large windows. The kind of place that wanted you to know it had money.
"How much does a Core sell for?" I asked.
"Depends on the rank. Beast One Core? Anywhere from forty to a hundred twenty ash depending on quality and market rates. Beast Two is a couple hundred. It scales up from there." She counted on her fingers. "You kill ten Beast One creatures on a Floor One run, you're looking at maybe Five hundred Ash if you're lucky. That's decent money for a day's work."
Five hundred Ash. I converted that in my head. Four bucks per Ash based on what she'd said earlier. Two thousand dollars.
For one day of hunting.
I'd spent a two months doing delivery routes to save three thousand.
"Chat's asking if you want to team up for a run," Cassia said. "They think you're entertaining. I think you're entertaining. We could do a thing. Split the Cores. I'll keep you alive, you provide comedy, everyone wins."
"I don't have gear," I pointed out.
"Yeah but I told you, I know a guy. We get you geared up on credit, do a run, pay him back with your share. You'll still walk away with enough Ash to get properly equipped after." She was already planning this. I could see it in her face. "It'll be great content. New Awakened's first Floor One run. Chat would eat that up."
I looked at her.
Pink hair. Purple eyes. That smile that was fifty percent genuine and fifty percent calculating exactly how many views this conversation was getting.
She was using me for content. I knew that. She knew I knew that. And she was offering me a way into the Tower anyway because helping me also helped her channel.
I could work with that.
"When?" I asked.
"Tomorrow. I've got a run scheduled at oh-eight-hundred." She pointed vaguely in a direction that meant nothing to me. "Bring your license. That's the first stop today though. Registry Office. You can't do anything without one."
We walked another ten minutes. The buildings got even nicer. Ring One, apparently. This was where the money lived.
The Registry Office was impossible to miss. Large building. White stone. Official-looking. People streamed in and out of the main entrance in a constant flow.
"Okay so." Cassia stopped at the base of the steps. "You go in there, they'll process your license. Takes like five minutes. They scan your status, print the card, boom, you're official." She held up her own license. Small card. Credit card size. "Don't lose it. Getting a replacement is a pain."
"Got it."
"Cool. I'm gonna head out. Got editing to do for today's footage." She grinned. "See you tomorrow, Nox. Don't die before then. It would really mess up my content schedule."
She walked off. The Eye device on her collar still glowing blue.
I watched her go, then turned toward the Registry Office.
The steps were crowded. Other new Awakened probably. Some of them looked excited. Some looked nervous. One guy looked like he was about to throw up.
I climbed the steps.
The inside was exactly what you'd expect from a government building. Clean. Organized. Bureaucratic. Lines of people waiting at different stations. Signs everywhere directing you where to go.
"New registration?" A woman behind a desk gestured me over.
"Yeah."
"Hand here." She pointed at a flat scanner built into the desk.
I put my palm on it.
The scanner lit up blue. Then yellow. Then it turned red and made a sound I did not like at all.
The woman's face did something complicated.
"Sir," she said slowly. "Your Akashic Record is flagged."