Darius was the first to respond. "The owner of the building?"

"Yes. I think you three might qualify for a special deal if you choose to live here." Esther's smile returned suddenly. "But let's get on with the tour first!"

They went up one level to the first sub-floor, where they encountered storage rental spaces. "It's almost entirely booked already even though the living areas are only half occupied at the moment," Esther said. "We have a number of wealthy tenants. The Aes Reconquest pays quite well, you see, and Xian are more resistant to miasma than others. The Stalwart Xian should know about that. It looked like you survived a serious dose in the news clips I saw. Was there any lasting damage?"

"I was fine once they washed me off," Hector said.

"Anyway, half the tenants keep their room lease while they're on deployment, but the rest are frugal enough to use the storage area to hold their stuff. We're willing to rent storage to former tenants, which most buildings won't do."

They went up to the second floor and walked through a number of shops that sold basic necessity items. Then they went to the third floor to check out the lounge area. It was open to everyone living in the building as a communal space and there was a nook in one corner where they put on amateur lectures on various cultivation topics. Apparently people were big on exchanging knowledge.

They then went to investigate the cheapest housing option in Tian Tower, which was the same arrangement they currently had. They termed it a cubby room and essentially it was bunk beds in a space the size of a walk-in closet with a decently large communal space and shared bathrooms. The mattresses looked a little nicer, but otherwise it wasn't much different from their existing setup.

After that they toured the small rooms. Those were about the same size as the cubby rooms, only they were private. Esther had them test the soundproofing of the walls by getting them to shout a conversation back and forth with the doors closed. Hector could already tell from the looks exchanged between Riley and Darius that they were sold on moving.

They saw a large room after that and it was big enough to have a bed, a closet, a desk, and a chair. Basically a small college dorm room. Residents were even permitted to bring in small refrigerators, microwaves, and hot plates if they had a large room.

"There are no suites available at the moment, but I could give you a tour of mine if you are curious." Esther paused a moment. "No interest? Then let's go say hello to Matthias."

Darius frowned and leaned closer to Hector. "Is it normal to speak to building owners here?"

"No," Hector answered.

"Should we be concerned?" There was a tension to the features of Darius. One Hector understood. The two of them had faced certain death on Tian together and barely escaped.

"Union Central should be safe," Hector said.

Esther eyed the two of them. "Do the two of you actually think the owner of this shiny new skyscraper is going to start a fight in it?"

"No, of course not," Hector assured her. "The two of us recently participated in a tournament on Tian that was held under false pretenses. Please forgive any paranoia."

"They are still holding those tournaments?" Esther shook her head. "What happens at them? We assumed every competitor other than the winner died because no one ever returned."

It was news to Hector that their tournament wasn't the first held. "It's held by the Lord Platinum. Every participant is processed into a platinum plasma elixir."

Esther tilted her head. "Except the two of you?"

"We escaped in my transit sphere."

"Hector! You didn't tell me lords were going to kill you!" Riley swayed on her feet as if she was about to pass out. "You almost didn't come back."

Esther was the first to act. A force cable gently supported Riley before her panic attack could send her to the ground. "Hey, Riley. It's fine. Your friends are safe. Look at them. They're safe."

"Why would Xian do that to their own kind? Kill them? I thought we liked each other."

"There are some bad people on Tian," Esther explained. "They're not here, though. This building is a friendly space."

Riley held her head as if in great pain. "Hector might not have come back for me."

Hector froze as Esther comforted Riley, wishing he was better at the emotional things. He never knew what to say when someone was in pain. He dealt in the realm of logic and goals and problem-solving. Strong feelings were foreign things to him that he observed from a safe distance like a tourist on safari. Darius seemed in a similar state as him. Neither of them were suited for this.

Esther held Riley. "The past is gone, babe. We're in the present and your boys are both here. Whatever might have been doesn't matter. What did happen is they survived. We'll make sure they don't do anything stupid again, alright? We just need to convince them to move into this nice building where life will be so good for all of you that they don't want to ever leave."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

She winked at Hector and Darius as she steered their attention back to the reason they were taking a tour. "Now are you feeling up to meeting Matthias? It's fine if you aren't, Darius. He really only needs to meet Hector."

Darius frowned. "I go where Hector goes."

Esther rolled her eyes. "Easy there. Matthias and Hector are going to get along just fine. I suspect they have a mutual friend."

"Who would that be?" Hector couldn't think of any likely connection. He'd encountered Lords and Sages and War Barges, but it didn't seem likely any of them were friends with businessmen in Promise City. Coalition Army leadership didn't think much of the people from unempowered worlds.

Esther winced. "I don't remember the name. It's a weird one. He's the insight guy. Energy from chaos. Right?"

Hector rocked back on his heels. "Volithur? You're talking about Volithur?"

"Yes! That's the weird name. You dreamed him the same as Matthias, didn't you?"

The world seemed to spin around him. Someone else had received the same dreams as him? That felt so incredibly, unbelievably invasive. Volithur belonged to him. They were brothers from different worlds. How could it be that he shared those experiences with some random stranger?

"The owner of this building dreamed Volithur's life?"

Esther raised a brow. "Did you think the dreams were exclusive? I heard of seven different people who shared my dreams of Odrade. Somehow five of those seven decided to follow in her footsteps. Lunatics. They were all hunted down like beasts. Anyway, do you want to visit Matthias? You can probably swing a really good deal on your rent. All I can offer you are the standard rates."

Hector glanced between his friends. "You both want to live here?"

Riley only nodded, but Darius put in his specifications like he was ordering lunch. "Either a small or large room. All three on the same floor."

"I'll see what I can do." He gave Darius a significant look. "I feel comfortable going myself if you want to see to Riley."

Darius nodded roughly. "I don't need to be there." His tone made it clear that he didn't want to be around another person sharing his father's memories. Hector read between the lines that revealing the identity of Darius to this stranger would be a cruel betrayal.

Esther tapped away at thin air for a few moments. "All three of you have access to the third floor lounge. Go rest while I escort Hector to the penthouse. If things go well, I suspect the three of you will have rooms in the building before too long."

They watched Darius and Riley get on one elevator, then stepped onto another going up. Esther gave him a side eye. "What the hell were you doing at a tournament?"

"Trying to win resources?"

"As I understand things, you don't actually need resources."

Hector laughed. "Sure. Yeah. And technically I don't need to pay to stay in a place with a bed. I could sleep for free in one of the homeless parks."

Esther laughed. "You have a very different approach than Matthias."

"Is that bad?"

The doors to the elevator opened. "It certainly makes you a lot more interesting." She wrapped her arm in his and pulled him out to face another door. Her fist knocked loudly several times and then they waited.

The door jerked open to reveal a mild-mannered man in a bathrobe. He squinted at the two of them before stepping aside in an implied invitation to enter. Hector followed behind Esther, noting that Matthias had a level eight soul with body enhancement above level seven. The man was pursuing the cold forged method and already had his skeleton to the peak of level eight.

Matthias closed the door and turned to look at a small table. "Should I brew tea?"

"Hector? Are you a tea guy?"

He looked between Esther and Matthias. "Sure. I'll have tea."

Matthias filled a tea kettle from a pitcher of water and then started it boiling. Then he went through a familiar ritual of placing individual leaves into three cups and laying out available adjuncts onto a tray. The kettle completed its boil and Matthias poured. Then he carried the tray to the center of the room and set it on the floor before sinking into a cross-legged position. He gestured for them to join him.

Hector accepted the cup of tea and studied the available options. There was sugar, milk, lime wedges, and honey. After a moment, he dribbled a small amount of honey into his cup and took a sip. Matthias fixed up his own beverage with milk and sugar. Esther drank hers straight.

Once everyone had taken a sip, Matthias placed his cup down. "Business or personal?"

"Both," Esther responded.

Matthias nodded in uncritical acceptance. "Is this a special friend of yours?"

"On the contrary, he's a special friend of yours," she shot back.

The lips of Matthias curled into an amused smile. "He is my special friend? How curious."

Esther nodded to Hector. "Cultivate for him."

Obediently, Hector drew in chaos. Matthias suddenly sat straighter. "Ah. I see now." The man returned the gesture by cultivating himself. Hector stared as power swelled in Matthias without interrupting the energy currents of the room.

"That's a lot more than I can do," he said.

"We're not rate limited in the same way as other cultivators," Matthias said. "They need to pull cosmic energy from the world and its concentration is roughly fixed. Their auras may grow to encompass a larger volume over time, but it is only a rounding error in the final calculation. Traditional cultivators need elixirs or cosmic chambers to progress at reasonable rates at higher levels.

"Not so those of us who hold Volithur's insight into chaos. When our level increases, the rate we can cultivate cosmic energy effectively doubles – after we grow into our new potential, at least. I'm three levels above you, so I pull in eight times the energy." Matthias took another sip of his tea. "Now I am always curious to ask a specific question when I meet one of us. If given the ability to change one decision of Volithur, what would it be?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.