As Layith led me into the city, it wasn’t any cooler inside the walls than outside. This hoodie is way too hot. I’m going to need to find some new clothes. But that means I need money.

  As I contemplated my lack of finances, I noticed all the buildings were nearly uniform squares. Also, all the buildings were made of a single tan stone and not individual bricks, like I expected. There were plenty of windows, but they were all tinted, so nobody could see inside. There were many awnings and umbrellas near doorways and tables. So there is some shade, just not any covering the center roads where we’re walking.

  I wiped my face as I followed Layith through the streets full of others who looked similar to him, but were not nearly as colorfully dressed. But I also noticed something even stranger. Where are the women? How can there be this many men?

  “Hey, Layith.” I poked him in the back.

  “Yes?” He didn’t bother to stop or turn around, and kept walking. “Let me guess, you’re wondering where the women are?”

  “Ah, yeah. How did you know?”

  He chuckled. “Most other species ask that when they first see a city of shaylips.” He waved his hands. “You’re looking at both men and women. We’re what’s called hermaphrodites. Our species doesn’t have these strange habits of dividing into genders either. But we typically use male pronouns for simplicity and the sake of other species that care about that sort of thing.”

  “Okay. That’s a bit more than I thought I needed to know.” I shrugged. “But thanks for spelling that out.”

  He gave me a thumbs-up. “No problem.”

  I could feel the tingling in my fingertips and scalp as the itching spread. At the same time I was sweating everywhere, even in places I didn’t usually sweat. It’s just so hot. Is that what’s making me itchy? “Where are you leading me? How much further?”

  He pointed to one of the larger buildings. “Over there.”

  Ahead was a large, wide, open square. In the center was a monumental fountain, standing as a centerpiece in the bustling square. At the far end was a large clock tower that had ten numbers on it, not the usual twelve I’m used to.

  The area ahead was full of shaylips, as Layith called them, but there were also several others who looked like they didn’t belong. But as I looked around, there wasn’t a single human anywhere. But everyone was talking and busy with something. Some people were manning shopping stalls and food carts with all kinds of odd objects and food.

  I finally looked where Layith pointed and saw a sign that read, “Culson’s Cushions.”

  Layith picked up the pace. “He’ll give you a place to stay while I go and find Bark.” He turned back to me. “You’re not looking too good. Are you going to make it? Is it getting worse?”

  I wiped the river of sweat pouring down my face. “How do you stand this heat? I’ve done nothing but sweat buckets while we walked.”

  Layith only gave me the slightest look of confusion before one of sympathy. “You’ll get used to it once you get stronger. A few points placed into resilience should fix that up.”

  What is he talking about?

  He is talking about your stats.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin. I spun around to look for the source of the voice. There were people, but no one was close enough. Then I thought about what I heard more. It was as if the voice echoed in my head.

  Correct. Only the host may communicate with us. You should find a safe place to run the tutorial as soon as possible. We will answer all your questions, as is our directive.

  I froze in the middle of the street.

  Layith headed back to me. “Rina? Do you need something? What are you doing?”

  Do I tell him I’m hearing voices? Yeah, probably not. He’s a stranger and if he told me he was hearing voices, I’d think he was crazy. Sure, he’s trying to help me, but this might scare him off more.

  In the corner of my vision, the number jumped up to eight thousand two hundred and fifty. Why did that number just jump up by five thousand?

  I turned to him. “Do you have a system?” I could ask him indirectly.

  He chuckled. “Of course. We all do. You can’t get into or live in the Soul Nexus without one.”

  “Did you hear someone talking just now?” I asked hesitantly.

  He waved his hand to the small crowds of people occupying the streets. “There are dozens of people talking all around you. You’re going to need to be specific.”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  I shouldn’t have tried. I shook my head, and with it more sweat flicked off me. “Nevermind. It’s nothing. Let’s just go inside and get out of this sun.”

  By the expression on Layith’s face, I could tell he didn’t believe me, but motioned towards the building he pointed out earlier. Outside of Culson’s Cushions, a stall stood. Little bottles of black liquid lined up with bottles of brightly colored liquids of every color of the rainbow were on display. Nobody seemed interested in them, but my curiosity pulled me towards them.

  “Hey sir, what’s in these bottles?” I picked up one of the black bottles after wiping the sweat from my palms. It looked just like the bottles Mr. Black broke over me.

  As I swirled the stiff liquid, another man who looked similar to Layith but had solid blue eyes and a bit pudgier body and wore dark brown silks almost squealed. “No!” He snatched the bottle from my hand and slapped my wrist. “No sampling the merchandise.”

  I cradled my hand. “But what is it?”

  The shaylip performed an over-exaggerated bow. “I, Hectile, am a provider of many alchemical goods, even the rare liquid metal.” He stood up and eyed me. “You don’t look like you can manipulate the metal. Why are you interested in it?”

  Liquid metal? Are those more nanites?

  Correct. However, those nanites are de-energized and have gone into hibernation.

  More questions for later. I pointed to the other bottles. “What’s in those?”

  Hectile placed the black bottle back where it belonged and pointed to the red bottle. “That is a simple regeneration potion.” He pointed to the orange potion. “This is a powerful acid.” Then he moved to the yellow and continued with each color in rapid succession, from green to blue, indigo, and violet. “We have an energy potion here, a meal-in-a-bottle potion, a mana potion, a sleep potion, and finally a cleansing potion.”

  Too bad I don’t have any money. And I have more pressing concerns right now. “Well, I’ve gotta go. So, I’ll see you around, maybe.” I turned and returned to follow Layith, who was kind enough to wait for me at the door.

  “Stupid tourists,” Hostile grumbled. “She didn’t even try to haggle. Probably didn’t even have any money to buy anything.”

  I followed Layith inside. The stone walls were barren of any kind of decoration, yet a wide variety of different species sat around the tables. Still no other humans, though. Everything was clearly lit by the balls of light hanging from the ceiling.

  “Oi, Layith.” I turned to see that the man behind the counter was not a shaylip. He looked like an elf from a fantasy story, with extremely pale skin and long ears. He was also very overweight and bald. He wore a simple shirt with a heavily stained apron. “Your tastes have changed. I would never have guessed you wanted your turn with a human. At least you picked a pretty one.”

  I snapped my head to Layith. I flinched away from him. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. He did not just do that.

  Layith walked forward a few steps. “Wow, subtle as always Culson.” He waved from me to the elf. “But no. Rina, meet Culson. Culson, meet Rina.” The heavy-set elf didn’t make any reaction to the introduction. “Rina is new in town. She needs a place to stay for a little while. I’m sure you have an open room, right?”

  Culson nodded. “Oi, I do.” He waved for me to come closer. His eyes were locked on me. “You gonna pay, miss? A thousand shards a day and a thousand shards a night. Since the sun is still shining, a thousand will give you until nightfall.”

  “I’m not sure I can afford that.” I tapped my fingertips together. “You see, I’ve only just arrived in the Soul Nexus. I haven’t had a chance to make any money yet.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “If you can’t pay, then you can get out. This isn’t a charity. Or, we can come to another agreement. If you have something to barter with…” A wicked grin stretched on his face.

  A shudder rippled down my back as I felt more and more disturbed by his staring. The longer he looked at me the dirtier it felt.

  Layith groaned. He placed his hand on the table. When he lifted it, there was a small pale yellow crystal. “This should cover for her until tomorrow, or until Bark comes and picks her up.”

  Culson scooped the crystal up and held it to his chest before I lost sight of it. Without looking away from me, he nodded. “Oi, that’ll do. She can stay through the night.” He nodded to the stairs. “Second floor, last room on the right.”

  Layith grabbed my arm and led me up the stairs. The urgency in which he led me up the stairs was almost too much for me. What is going on? He led me to a plain door at the end of the hall. It had a silver number eight on the door.

  He pushed me into the room and slammed the door behind him. “I’ve done my good deed for the day, now I’ll be returning to my post.”

  I scratched my scalp as I looked around. The room was completely empty but for a single bed, a chair, and a table. It wasn’t much, but it was better than a field or a desert. But I turned to him. “What was all that about? Why did you practically shove me in here?”

  Layith scowled. “Everyone downstairs knows you’re new. Some of them will try to take advantage of you. I’m sorry. I really can’t help you more than this. I’ve done what I can for you, but I’ve got to return to my post. Rollow can’t be alone for too long. He has some terrible separation anxiety and will get into trouble.“

  I glanced at the door. I know he was just trying to help, but that didn’t make it feel any less awkward. “If people are going to take advantage of me, why am I even staying here?”

  Layith placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll tell Bark you’re here, okay? He’ll be able to help you more. You can’t be running around town or he will never find you.“

  I nodded. “Okay. Thank you for helping me.”

  “You’re welcome. I know how hard it can be when you’re new.” He gave me a soft smile. “Take care of yourself. Hopefully, we can see each other under happier circumstances.” His eyes wandered up and down my entire body. “Do you have any weapons to defend yourself? Just in case.”

  I bit my lip. “No. I don’t have anything. I was just told to come here and climb the Soul Nexus. And then I ended up here.”

  Layith let out a heavy sigh. “Last thing.” He pulled out a dagger similar to the one Mr. Black gave me to kill the rats with. “This will be enough good deeds to last me half a fortnight.” He handed the handle to me. The dagger was in a leather sheath. “Take this. You do know how to use it, right?”

  I cautiously took the blade with a nod. “The pointy part does the cutting and stabbing.”

  Layith snorted. “Good enough.”

  After those two words, he headed out.

  It seems like this would be as good a time as any to see this tutorial on whatever this system thing is.

  Tutorial protocol called. Does the host wish to run it?

  I have no idea what this’ll do but—yes.

  https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0BVWLYCT3