The room hummed with the chatter of the alien diners, each species enjoying their meal, conversation, and maybe even an occasional glance at me. I took the drink and eyed it. It reeked of alcohol. My vision sharpened, and I could feel what felt like a dial in the back of my eyes. I “turned” it, and everything lurched forward as it felt like I was closer to the cup. But I didn’t move. So, this is what it means by enhance.

  So I pushed it further. Everything seemed larger the more I enhanced. Everything enhanced eight times, then it felt like I reached my limit. The drink had thousands of small particles floating around in it.

  I placed the cup down. “What’s in this?” My vision returned to normal when I looked back at Igzad.

  The reptilian humanoid leaned even more forward. “Your eyes… What did they just do? It’s like they moved, yet didn’t.” He sat back down. “That’s the ‘good stuff.’ Alcohol made from one of the mushrooms they grow here. It’s pretty strong compared to ale and mead. The taste is pretty bad, but you’re not drinking it for the flavor.”

  I took a sip of the “good stuff” and promptly spat it out on the ground. Gagging, I put the cup down and pushed it away. “Disgusting. How can you drink that?”

  Igzad laughed. “That’s everyone’s first reaction. But give it a week, two tops, and you’ll be begging to drown yourself in that. If the bav’varst don’t get you first.”

  “Bavarst?” I took another bite of the bland slime.

  He shook his head. “Bav’varst. There’s two v’s. If you haven’t seen them, consider yourself lucky. Think small fur balls of spine, teeth, and claws. They’re everywhere, and they’ll eat everything.”

  “That sounds terrifying,” I said absentmindedly as I popped yet more food in my mouth. “But what level are they? How strong?”

  Igzad leaned back and snorted. “Most of what people can guess is that they’re roughly twenty or so. Just know that the bigger they are, the higher level. They start roughly knee high and go up from there.” He shook his head. “The problem isn’t when you see one or two; it’s never just one or two. They hunt in packs of about a dozen. They’re pretty quick. If you’re alone, you’ll be overwhelmed before you know it.”

  “So, I need a ranged weapon.” I looked down and saw that I had eaten half of the ten kilograms of slime. Yeah, that’s still a bit surreal. Ten or so pounds, and I’m still eating like I’ve not eaten anything. The nanites buzzed inside me, breaking down the food.

  “You really are going to eat that entire thing.” The scaled man chuckled and slightly shook his head. “But yeah, a ranged weapon will do wonders. I’m not one to judge, but that weapon strapped to your arm like that is odd, even from all of what I’ve seen.”

  Wait until you see what I’ll be able to do with it in the future. Or not, since I’m going to try to stick around for very long. “But, dungeons, are there any? And since you brought it up, where can I get a gun?”

  Igzad was taking another drink, only to stop and nearly choke on it. He sprayed the table and slammed his hand on the table. He then started coughing while sputtering. “You... You want a gun? Lady, I don’t know much about you, and you seem to avoid telling me about you, but you are either stupid rich or just plain stupid.”

  He composed himself after wiping his face. “First off, yes, there are dungeons, but they’re breeding grounds for bav’varsts. So everyone pretty much avoids them unless they have a death wish or a large group. And if you want a gun, then you best head to the top.”

  I pointed up. ““The top? As in the top of this tower city?”

  “Yeah.” Igzad stood up and took one last drink. His steps seemed a bit less coordinated than before. “Oh, it’s finally kicking in.” He swayed slightly. “Well, have fun killing yourself. You were interesting, but I’m done wasting my time. I thought I’d finally found someone to rebuild my group, but it’s pretty obvious you’re not looking for a group.”

  Was he looking for an ally? My shoulders slumped as he headed for the door, in a less than straight path.

  He nearly ran into one of the slime waiters and gave them a pat on the head. He’s drunk and he left the spirits. I looked in the bottle to see that he had drunk two thirds of it. Yeah, still doesn’t smell any better.

  I waved towards the slime waiter gliding towards me. “Can you get me some water, or something that’s not alcoholic?”

  Wordlessly, the purple slime extended a tendril towards the bar and pulled out a glass decanter full of clear water. It dropped it next to me and didn’t say or do anything else.

  “How much?” I asked. The slime didn’t answer. It just formed a tendril into a zero. Free? Okay.

  I magnified my vision on the water, looking for impurities, and found that it was perfect. What was he so worried about? Maybe he was just looking for an excuse to get drunk. I drank the water and let the cool, refreshing feeling slide down my throat. It wasn’t long before only a quarter of the bottle was left. I chuckled. I guess I was thirstier than I thought.

  I finished my meal in peace, thankfully. I looked down at the empty spot where the twenty-two pounds of slime were. My diet is expensive. The yellow slime seemed to avoid coming near me again. And when I stood up to leave, it moved farther away from me. But I left the little diner with three full energy bars.

  I looked up and sighed. Now I need to figure out how to reach the top. And Orange, I know you don’t have a map of the place.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  You could ask for directions.

  I could, but I think I got lucky with Igzad. If I’m going to do things on my own, I have to do everything on my own.

  The feel throughout the town was different then the shaylip town. When people walked through the city’s halls, they traveled in mixed groups of species of four or five. More than one group looked at me, but when I noticed they did, I flicked my hood up and made myself smaller to avoid them. Surprisingly, they left me alone.

  It took a while, as the tower felt more like a labyrinth than a town. I lost count of how many times I got turned around or found that I was going in circles. Orange kept quiet and kept their condescending advice to themselves. But as I kept going up, things started heating up, and I felt a breeze flowing through. I switched back and forth to my thermal vision regularly. I wasn’t accustomed to walking around in the colorful spectrum of infrared, but I could use it to see the hottest air when I came to intersections and followed that.

  It worked as I steadily climbed upwards until things started getting far hotter than the desert. I stopped seeing anyone a while ago. There were fewer intersections the higher I climbed, and eventually I could hear a dull roar echoing around me. Eventually, the heat left me sweating and soaking my clothes, and I found myself standing in what felt like a medieval armory full of armor of different shapes and sizes made for various species, most of which were definitely not humanoid. There was a rhythmic clanging mixed in with the roaring that had only gotten louder since I entered the room. I could smell something burning, which led me to believe that behind the one open door was the forge that this person worked in.

  I cupped my hands over my mouth and asked, “Hello?” Everything grew quieter. “Hello?” I repeated.

  The temperature lowered drastically, but it was still stiflingly hot. Into the room walked a squat humanoid with grayish skin and no hair anywhere. His body glistened with sweat as he wore thick leather pants and a leather apron. His arms looked to be as thick as my head, and his legs were thicker than that. His heavy boots resounded as he stepped up to the counter. He reached below the counter, and the door behind him slammed shut.

  The air temperature dropped ten degrees instantly. “Hello. Tell me, beautiful, what can I do for you?” He beamed a bright, toothy smile. His teeth were perfectly straight and white. I don’t know why I’m so surprised by that.

  “Uh…”—I shook my head—“right, I need a gun. I was told to come here.”

  The short man held up a finger. “Ah, but before business, I believe it is more polite to exchange introductions, no?” He placed his hand on his chest and gave a slight bow. “Adbeck Hellstone, at your service. Allow me to fulfill all your wildest dreams of weaponry and armor. Even among dark dwarves, I’m something of a master.”

  This guy likes to toot his own horn, doesn’t he? I put on a stiff smile. “Rina, nice to meet you.”

  “No, the pleasure is all mine.” He walked around the counter to a cabinet. “You have an interesting choice in protection. Would you not prefer to finish it? Arm protection is important, but isn’t your chest just as important, and sometimes more?” He turned and raised his eyebrows as he gave me yet another smile.

  “Just a gun for now.” I reigned in my annoyance. Just how pushy can one salesman be? “Can you keep it small, something I can use with one hand?”

  Adbeck frowned slightly, then shrugged. “As you wish. But you can’t blame me for trying to develop a repeat customer.”

  We can finish the protection for your torso. Don’t bother with purchasing any armor from the dwarf. Your augments will progress with you and not require frequent maintenance or replacement.

  I know that. You know that. He doesn’t and nor does he need to.

  Understood.

  The dwarf poked his finger into a hole above the handle. He twisted his hand like his finger was the key. After he opened it up, I saw the entire inside lined with drawers. He pulled one out and carried it over to me.

  He propped open the top and waved his hand. “Go on, beautiful; pick one that catches your fancy.”

  I grabbed one. It was sleek metal, similar to the gun the creature hunting me used to kill me for the first time. Is this thing any good? Will it be strong enough to kill that thing when I see it again?

  Insufficient information.

  The dwarf closed the lid. “Good choice. That matter propeller is a good, reliable one.”

  I held the weapon up. There was a small button on the side, and I pushed it. A small cartridge fell out of the bottom, and I caught it. It was full of small metal pellets. “Do you mind if I test it?”

  Adbeck looked at me, confused. “Why not? Just don’t break anything unless you’re gonna pay for it.”

  I held the gun to my palm, and before the dwarf could react, I fired. There was a resounding clang as the metal pellet slammed into my metal skin. I flinched from the impact, and my entire arm tingled, but not from the nanites. It also only took an almost imperceptible blip from my mana.

  Adbeck snatched the gun away from me. “What’s wrong with you? Are you crazy?”

  “I’m fine. See?” I held up my palm. “It takes quite a bit to hurt me, at least on my arms. Besides, I went insane a long time ago.”

  The dwarf pushed the other guns away from us and grabbed my hand. He mumbled something as he fondled my hand. He ran his thick fingers over the seams while poking and prodding. I pulled my hand back as I took a step back.

  “My apologies,” the dark dwarf said despondently. “What is that armor made of? Who made it?”

  I rubbed my hand. “It’s not actually armor.” Adbeck arched an eyebrow. “It just covers my arms though. Don’t worry about it.”

  Adbeck rubbed his chin. “Impressive. Now I’m interested in how durable it is.” He picked up the box of guns. “But it seems that these pea shooters aren’t going to be up to the task. Let me get you a little something with a bit more kick.”

  He returned the guns and pulled out another box. The guns he showed me were larger, yet they seemed like they were still handguns.

  “Well, girl, want to give these a shot?” He handed me the first one. “Don’t worry, they’re all loaded.”

  I systematically tried each weapon. After a dozen weapons and a dozen shots, my mana was a third spent, but steadily recovering. It seemed that none of the weapons were up to the task as my hand had never once been penetrated. I will admit, these guns did pack more of a punch, but they’re still not enough.

  “I need something bigger.” I placed the last gun that shot a literal jet of flames. It did the closest thing I would consider damage. It didn’t melt the metal, but it did burn everything inside. But that’s probably just because it works better against me. Note to self: fire still hurts.

  The dwarf scratched his chin. “Your arms, girl, they’re something special. That metal, it’s flexible and durable—a rare combination. How much toughness do you have?”

  “One thirty.” I held up an arm. “But, these are equivalent to two hundred and sixty.”

  Adbeck whistled. “Oh, my. I’d ask where you find such a material not made in my own forge, but I’d doubt you’d answer.”

  “Correct.”

  He returned the case of guns. “But I’ve got something for you—something I never thought I’d find the right person to handle it. You’ve caught my attention, beautiful. Let’s see if you can handle it.” I watched the dwarf walk back to the counter, open the door, and then into his forge. The door closed behind him.

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