Three days after his dungeon runs, Hector discovered fresh bruises on Riley. He avoided speaking of them until they were safely away from the public.

"Who did that?"

Riley shrunk away from him. "Spicy room."

"I thought you weren't going to do those anymore."

"I… I didn't mean to."

"You didn't mean to? That's not something you can do on accident, Riley. Did someone pressure you?"

"No. He just… he asked. It didn't seem like a big deal."

Hector's jaw clenched. "Was it an Arahant?"

"Yes."

"Well. I guess we're going to practice the mind strengthening technique today. Xian can resist mental influence, Riley. We don't let people mess with our minds." He walked her through the technique of emptying her mind of thought and circulating cosmic energy through it.

"Now, it can be hard to empty your mind when you start –"

"I can do it! I'm really good at not thinking about things."

She wasn't wrong. Riley turned out to be good at mental enhancement. The System reported her mind statistic went from zero point one to zero point two in a single hour. It zeroed out her energy reserves, so they wouldn't be able to do it every day, but at least he had a clear path forward to improve her quality of life.

A few weeks later, Hector purchased more of the honey pills from the Tian store. He bought another of the psychedelic ones and then picked up a better-selling one that was supposed to be great for heart health. The components of the heart health pill, other than honey, were cinnamon, ginger, and mace. It was essentially the Xian equivalent of pumpkin spice.

The body pack kits were out of stock, but Master Sirius was pushing concentrated cherry juice. Hector didn't point out that it didn't sound like it was particularly useful for body enhancement. He bought one because he figured Riley could get some value from it. Speaking of his student….

"Do you have anything good for a beginner cultivator?"

Master Sirius put a hand to his chest. "A beginner? Do you have a child, Hector?"

"I have a student, Master Sirius. I'm passing on the knowledge just like someone passed it on to me. It might not be comprehensive, but we have to make do with what we have." Hector did his best to continue misleading Sirius about the source of his experience.

"Yes, of course. How far along is your student?"

"Level two. Very little body enhancement. No mental strengthening. I was thinking maybe she could use the honey pill to help with that."

Master Sirius smirked. "You want your student to go crazy?"

"I obviously do not."

"Then don't give a low level person from an unempowered world mushrooms from Tian." Master Sirius pulled a small pouch from one of the many cabinets. "Bacopa leaf. To use, make either a tea or tincture. This should be enough for five doses."

"Forgive my ignorance, Master Sirius, but what is a tincture?"

"It uses alcohol to dissolve the compounds. If you're not familiar, just use hot water. Since you are investing your credits in this student, I assume you don't mind investing your energy as well. Before you boil the water, use your domain to impart a degree of cosmic energy. That is traditionally called 'moon water'. It will boost the effectiveness of the tea considerably."

Hector pretended to be fascinated by the idea of enhancing water with cosmic energy. He ended up paying five hundred credits for the pouch of Bacopa leaf. Sirius warned him that Bacopa would not be terribly effective for someone at Hector's level. It was only suitable for stronger Xian when used to create elaborate compounds or elixirs that could better bring out its power.

When he arrived at the brothel with a canteen of water, a Jinn heating device, and the Bacopa leaves, the bartender did not immediately come to take his order. After a bit, an elderly woman arrived to stand beside his bar stool and placed her elbows on the bar top. "Mister Hector. Allow me to begin by assuring you that we appreciate your business very much. The delivery of gifts is allowed – even encouraged – for items like jewelry or clothing.

"We do not permit food to be brought in, and especially not for food to be cooked in our rooms. Our staff have not wished to make a scene, but as of now the gifting of food ends. I understand Xian have traditions around their cultivation resources. If you desire to engage a girl in some form of courtship, you may pay for an outing instead."

Hector turned to look at the displayed services. "I did not realize you offered outings."

"We hardly advertise all our services, Mister Hector. Should you wish to take Riley out for the evening, the cost is a thousand credits to the house. None of that goes to the girl, it is simply the fee for removing someone from the pool of girls for one night. You should negotiate a fee directly with Riley. It appears she is here. I'll allow the two of you to come to an agreement." The woman walked away without another word. As was the case about half the time, Riley was wearing a little black dress that somehow made what it concealed more interested than when she wore next to nothing. Hector had seen the women of Promise City dressed more provocatively, so he judged her fit for a public appearance.

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"We need to do an outing," Hector began when Riley made it to his side. "We're supposed to negotiate a fee together. How much do you want?"

Riley's smile grew so big it looked like it must be painful. "I never get to leave."

"How many credits?"

"Whatever you want."

"The old woman just told me you don't get a cut of the outing fee. You need to negotiate, Riley."

"It doesn't really matter. My balance is negative from the debt. Any money you give me disappears. Then they make me pay for everything, so I get more debt." She shrugged. "I just want to eat somewhere out there. Do you know lots of restaurants?"

"We'll say a hundred credits, then. How do I sign up for an outing?"

"I think I do that." Riley went to a wall panel and tapped at it for a good five minutes, obviously not proficient in its operation. Finally something popped up before his eyes, charging him a thousand credits for an outing. The terms indicated that he needed to have his entertainer back before sunrise of the following day or the price doubled. If he didn't return her within twenty-four hours, he would assume her entire debt and the penalty for early termination of her contract.

Hector agreed to the terms and saw his credit balance decline. Then he performed a direct transfer of a hundred credits to Riley. She casually waved away a notification from her line of sight and reached out to take his hand in the silly way she always did. Instead, Hector offered his elbow. "It's fancier if we do it this way."

She instantly switched tactics and wrapped her arm through his. "Is this the Xian style?"

"It's a thing from my home world."

"Did it fall to a monster invasion? Is that why you came here to fight in the dungeons?"

Hector guided Riley down the street, steering her towards a nearby park. "My world did have a monster invasion. But I traveled to another world and brought back help. The Lord General, War Barge Kevin, and the Sage of Conflagration took care of the invasion in a couple of hours."

"You saved your whole world? That's amazing, Hector! Then you came here for the dungeons? Didn't they let you join the Coalition Army?"

"They never asked me to join. They did give me a ride though. I rode War Barge Kevin through about ten different worlds. He was going back to Terra after Union Central, so I got off here with some friends. We thought it would be fun to delve for a while."

The park was next to them, so Hector pulled Riley into it and set up the heater unit. The canteen sat on it nicely, so he pushed a few leaves inside and let it begin to heat while he shoved a force cable inside and released cosmic energy to create moon water. "This is supposed to be good for mental strengthening. I want to get your mind statistic up higher."

Riley seized one of his hands with both of hers. "You won't just make me eat more gross things today, right? Hector, I want to have fun on my outing. Please?"

He looked down at her doe eyes. "Fine. I rented you for the whole night. But first you have to work. You have to drink this tea, train the mental strengthening technique, and practice your aura cultivation. After that…." He thought of things to do around the city. "After that, we'll ride an air taxi to the mall. We can eat in the food court, play games, ride a giant slide, watch a movie." He'd just unintentionally recreated his trip to the mall with Rodrick.

"And buy me a dress?"

"You want me to buy you a dress?"

"The other girls get beautiful dresses from their regulars. They think it's strange that you bring me potions instead. It can be a cheap dress. Just… something to show the girls."

"Let's make a deal then. I will buy some items for you. How much I buy depends on how much you impress me with your cultivation work. If I'm really impressed, I will get you a dress with matching shoes and purse and some kind of jewelry."

"Yes! What do you want me to drink?"

The contents of the canteen were boiling, so he turned the Jinn heater off. "It needs to steep for a few minutes. Why don't you start doing some mental strengthening?"

Between the strengthening technique and the Bacopa tea, Riley made it all the way to point seven in her mind statistic. It was great progress, though not so great as it appeared. A tenth of a point in the ones meant half as much as a tenth of a point in the twos, after all. Hector made her practice aura cultivation for a full hour after that before they moved on.

He rented a storage locker nearby to keep his things safe, then they went to the rooftop to catch an air taxi. Riley enjoyed the sights of the city from above. At the mall, he discovered that Riley did not care for the arcade games. She found them confusing and loud and frustrating. A look over the list of movies playing at the theater got a quick refusal from her as well. Riley preferred movies where no one died or even got hurt, which weren't in vogue currently. Seeing the slide from below caused her to categorically refuse to go anywhere near it. Riley proved to be quite a timid creature.

She did enjoy walking around the mall and seeing the sights, even if all the things he thought fun were complete non-starters for her. Hector took her to a clothing shop and left her in the hands of the employees while he took some time for his own cultivation.

Riley finally emerged in a sun dress with shoes, hat, purse, sunglasses, and belt. The spending spree was his fault for not setting any formal guidelines. She tried to convince him that he'd promised jewelry as well, but Hector told her that since she'd dressed up they needed to find a fancy restaurant.

They ate at a sit down restaurant within the mall that served food in the style of Amarat. Hector explained the menu items in some detail, only realizing on the waiter's third stop that he had been giving a lecture. They each got a different sampler platter. When the food arrived, Hector told Riley a sanitized version of his dreams. The fifth household in his tale was a place of wonder where Volithur got to train with soldiers, marry a member of the family, and receive generous gifts of resources. Tian was a place of opportunity where he grew his family but unfortunately got caught up in a war and died. With all the ugliness and pettiness removed, it sounded like a fine tale.

"You're sad, Hector!"

He wiped his cheek. "It's hard letting go after experiencing someone's life."

"I wish I could have the dreams. Even if I didn't learn about my powers, I could live a different life. I guess that can never happen though. They said on the news that the Engine broke."

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