Hector’s eyes narrowed as Jodie shot forward. The girl’s figure faded into the darkness, not even a faint outline being visible. That was not ideal. A deep screech came from the front, followed by several thuds. Jodie cursed in the darkness, and several heavy thuds followed.

  I can’t see anything like this.

  Hector raised a hand, his gaze focusing on a spot a short distance in front of him. Fire bubbled from the spot, seeping up through the ground like soup and forming a pool of churning flames. The tendrils of red surrounding the pool flickered, licking at the air as they moved.

  “That’s better,” Hector muttered, his eyes moving to the fight that took place ahead of him.

  The light from the pool washed over Jodie and her assailant—bathing their forms in a warm orange glow, and showed Hector what she was dealing with. It was a big one. This hairless rat was more heavily armoured than the ones they’d fought previously.

  Thick plate layered on its back like scales clicked as the thing moved, and its front teeth bulged out of its mouth, taking up so much space that the rat couldn’t close it. The two front limbs of the rat rippled with muscle as it slammed its arms down onto the ground with heavy thuds.

  I wonder how I’d do against that thing. Taking a single hit would probably break a bone if my [Hearty Body] Talent didn’t activate.

  Hector’s eyes flickered to the pool of fire he’d summoned. That would surely be enough to take it down, provided he didn’t hit the scales on the thing’s back. His gaze shifted back up to the fight.

  Jodie dodged around the beast, swerving under its swings and back-stepping when necessary. The scuffing of her sandals filled the tunnel, and Hector’s lips quirked into a smile as the sound of rising flames bloomed through the passageway. A pool of fire—smaller than Hector’s—spread to life behind Jodie.

  The girl continued to step around the rat, her feet slapping stone and crunching dirt. The beast, seemingly growing tired of her antics, let out a roar and charged straight at her. Jodie’s lips split into a smile, and she leapt to the side.

  Her [Ember Pool] roared to life an instant later. From the licking flames, a screaming fireball slammed into the rat’s side, erupting in heat. Thick tongues of fire lashed the rat’s flesh, causing it to stagger back.

  Like I thought, the thing’s sides aren’t too heavily armoured. Just it’s back, but that makes me wonder why. Perhaps because it’s on all fours most of the time, nothing is going to really sneak up underneath it.

  The beast squirmed against the dirt as the flames ate away at its flesh. The smell of burnt steak slipped into Hector’s nose, but a pungent attack of burning faeces assaulted it a moment later. Hector rejected the idea of eating the rat unless it was cleaned first.

  Two more squeaks sounded from behind Jodie, who paused as she went to finish off the beast. Hector, not wanting to waste too much time, commanded a fireball to tear free from his pool of fire. It streaked through the air in a sharp line, erupting on a hairless rat that pierced through the darkness. The flames reduced the thing to a charred husk in an instant.

  The second rat, trailing a few steps behind it, skittered across the dirt, clacking off the stone as it briefly came to a stop. Spinning around, the rat took off in the direction it came. He could launch another fireball after it. Though that would be a waste.

  Hector’s eyes flickered to Jodie. The girl gave him an appreciative nod before stepping forward and cracking her heel into the larger rat’s head. Blood seeped from its broken skull, and Jodie let out a sigh. She raised her head, squinting. “Probably best not to keep this active in bright places,” she said.

  Her eyes then morphed. The black pupils shrank, and her irises took on their usual blue. Hector raised a brow. What would the Talent do to her once it reached the level of Uncommon?

  He nodded at her and stepped forward. “Yeah, best not. We should get back now. I need to talk to the others.” Jodie went to speak, but Hector raised a hand, cutting her off. “Before you say it. I know you don’t want to kill anyone, and I’m not asking you to. All I ask is that you help in any way you can.”

  Jodie pursed her lips at that. A thoughtful look passed over her face as she combed back a strand of hair. “I know the pain you are going through—we all do,” she said, her eyes flickering to the turn behind Hector. He nodded. She brought a hand to her brow and rubbed it, letting out a sigh. “I know I can’t change your mind, but you should consider if Mr Jacaranda would even want you to do this.”

  “I have no choice,” he muttered. Jodie shook her head as her eyes fell. Hector sighed and raised his hand to the side, focusing on the pool of fire that still lingered. He willed its power back to him. It shrank in a moment, draining away like someone had pulled a plug, sputtering out. “Let’s head back.”

  The two of them made their way back to their temporary base in silence. Their sandals echoed off the stone, and the sound of their breath filled the space. Hector considered saying something, but thought better of it. His father had been the one who had died, not hers.

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  After a few slapping steps on stone, the two entered back into a rather well-lit chamber. Several torches ringed the room, their light flickering off the high ceiling overhead. It wasn’t much, but it gave Hector at least a little security. The Collar Gang wouldn’t find them here.

  Lincoln and the others sat around, discussing something, but they shifted as they saw him and Jodie coming back. His friend then got to his feet and padded over. “How did it go?” he asked, directing his gaze towards Jodie.

  The girl shrugged. “It was good, I guess. I don’t regret investing in Hector at all, especially if we can get more of these Talents.” Hector caught her side glance. She didn’t plan to keep anything he could do from the group—though it’s not like he’d asked her to.

  “That’s good to hear,” Lincoln said. Hector smiled as the boy’s gaze shifted to him. “I trust I’ll be getting mine next.”

  “Soon. There are a few things I have to do first, and I need some rest,” he said, shaking his head. Lincoln’s brow dropped as a frown pulled across his lips. Hector raised his hand and rested it on his shoulder. He could only do three transfers a day, so sadly, Lincoln was out of luck. He didn’t even have a Talent he wanted to give the boy. “Can you wait until tomorrow?”

  Lincoln’s gaze flickered up, and he nodded. “I suppose so, doesn’t really change anything if I say yes or no.” Hector dropped his hand, and Lincoln raised a brow. “So, what are we going to do today? I can’t stay in this hole with you for too long. Even my mom will get worried.”

  “That’s true,” Hector said, stepping past, his sandals crunching against the dirt of the cavern as he moved towards the other three. Lincoln and Jodie followed behind him as he moved. Hector’s eyes moved over to Mirae, and he gave her a tight smile. “You guys will be going up soon. We’ll be going too. We need to buy supplies and should probably find Emela and Nyx.”

  I should have more than enough silver to set something up down here. We are going to need food and a way to cook it. Though portable mana arrays aren’t cheap. But if Delworth is right about the hairless rats and their hives, there is a chance some of them could be Mana Beasts.

  Hector and the three of them sat back down on the cold stone and dirt. Mirae, Delworth and Marcus did the same, shuffling over to join them in the circle. He then filled them in on his plans for what supplies they were going to need, as well as moving on to their primary focus—the Collar Gang.

  “As much as they are an annoying feature of the slum, I don’t exactly know where their warehouse is,” Hector said, glancing between the group members. “Those would be the best targets, but the question is, how do we find them?”

  “We could just ask,” Delworth said.

  They all ignored that. Hector let out a sigh, and his gaze shifted to Lincoln. “Do you have any ideas? I mean, you found the farmhand hideout.”

  “That was an accident. I was just following them for… well, you know.” A tinge of red crawled up Lincoln’s neck, and he fell quiet.

  “No, we don’t,” Jodie said, shooting him a look. “You feel like sharing?”

  Lincoln didn’t even spare her a glance. His gaze instead turned to Hector. “Anyway, that gives me an idea. Do you know about the Scoda gang that’s popped up recently? You should have. They’ve been making a lot of big moves in the slums as of late.”

  Hector nodded. That rang a bell—he’d run into them some time ago in the dump. The group had practically taken over the place. A slum rat couldn’t even search for anything without the gang’s say-so. If you found something, the gang would take it.

  “Alright, well, here’s the thing,” Lincoln said. “With them making so much noise in the slums, especially the Sirius Quarter, they are bound to ruffle some feathers.” Hector nodded. The Collar Gang weren’t known for letting the smaller gangs take too much out of their pie. Lincoln continued.

  “So my idea is—and I’m not one hundred percent on this—we could track down a Scoda gang member and watch for when they get into a scrap with the Collar Gang, then we just wait for it to be over and follow the Collar Gang’s man back.”

  “Back to where, exactly?” Jodie said. “I mean, there is no guarantee that they will head straight to the warehouse. For all we know, it could just be a safe house.”

  “Yeah, but it’s a start,” Lincoln countered. He rolled his shoulder, squinting slightly as torchlight flickered across his face. “The way I see it, even if it’s a safe house. If we break inside and knock a few heads together, we could find the directions to the warehouse or get them off someone. They can’t all be super loyal.”

  Hector nodded. Lincoln’s idea wasn’t too bad. He shifted on the ground, gazing at the torch flickering a few paces behind Lincoln. He could re-summon gentle sanctuary, but they would be leaving soon, and when they came back, they could use the mana stones Lincoln had taken from the Farmhand hideout.

  “There is one problem, though,” Hector said, his gaze shifting from the torch and back to his friend. “We don’t know any Scoda gang members. And I don’t feel like searching the slums, hoping to glimpse something that might point them out to us.”

  Jodie and Marcus nodded at this, while Mirae and Delworth just listened with blank looks resting on their faces. While it wasn’t hard to spot a gang member, figuring out what gang they belonged to was slightly trickier. Everyone in the slums wore similar rags. They couldn’t afford anything else, and the ones who didn’t wouldn’t live in the inner parts of the slums.

  They would be on the outskirts. The Middlec guards patrolled that area more, so gangs would be less likely to get into a fight there. So there was less chance of Lincoln’s idea working there.

  I suppose if we go to the dump, we would find someone there. But if they don’t leave, the chances of them running into the Collar gang won’t be high. And we’d have to watch them night and day, 24/7.

  “Ah, but that’s where you are wrong,” Lincoln said with a smile. “We know someone who’s part of the Scoda gang. Have you forgotten about our good friend Adrien?”

  Hector frowned. “But…” The realisation slammed into him as images of the festival played in his mind. Before the void beast had arrived, Adrien and a group of boys claiming to be from the Scoda gang had almost jumped Lincoln. “You’re right. I had forgotten about him.”

  It feels so long ago that I used to get into such pointless fights with that guy.

  “So, we just have to find Adrien?” Jodie asked, combing a strand of ginger hair behind her ear. Her blue eyes shifted towards Hector. “I guess we just wait around the dump until he turns up.”

  “Nah,” Lincoln answered, answering for Hector. “We can do better than that. Hector and I are practically neighbours with the guy.”