He glanced around the small apartment one more time, then toward the window where the sun was climbing higher in the Martian sky.

"I should probably head back," he said. "It's a long ride to where I'm staying, and I have things I need to take care of."

Riven nodded. Tatehan didn't know if he was just seeing things, but he noticed what seemed like a hint of disappointment flash across her expression. "I figured. Just... be careful out there, okay? The wastelands are no joke."

"I will," Tatehan promised. "And I'll message you once I'm back. Let you know I made it safely."

"I'd appreciate that," Riven said with a small smile.

They walked to the door together, and Riven opened it, stepping out onto the corridor with Tatehan following.

They entered the elevator and began descending. As the floors ticked by, Riven spoke again, her voice curious but careful. "Where exactly do you live, though? In the wastelands, I mean."

Tatehan hesitated. Even that much information felt dangerous to share. If anyone knew the general area where he was staying, they might start asking questions, investigating, and eventually discover the spaceship.

"North," he said vaguely. "Deep into the wastelands. It's not somewhere I can actually describe easily. Very remote."

Riven looked at him for a moment, studying his face, then nodded. "Okayy….I guess."

Soon they reached the ground level and stepped out of the elevator, then began walking back toward where they'd parked the dust rider. The city streets were even more crowded now, the midday activity in full swing. Vendors called out their wares, vehicles hummed past, people negotiated and argued and laughed.

When they reached the parking area, Tatehan's dust rider was right where he'd left it, completely untouched.

On Mars, stealing vehicles in broad daylight from a somewhat protected area was risky, you never knew who might be watching or who might retaliate. Maybe they even had some form of police force or security monitoring these areas.

Tatehan realized he'd probably been overthinking the safety of the motorcycle. It seemed reasonably secure in designated parking zones.

He approached the dust rider but paused before climbing on, suddenly remembering a crucial detail.

The dust rider required cores to function.

He only had two shadow goblin cores left in his inventory.

Two cores meant two hours of operation at most.

The journey back to the spaceship would take longer than that.

Tatehan summoned one of his remaining shadow goblin cores from his inventory, the small crystalline object materializing in his palm with a faint glow. He opened the dust rider's power compartment, and carefully inserted the core. It clicked into place, and immediately the vehicle's systems hummed to life with renewed energy.

But two cores total wouldn't be enough.

He turned to Riven, who was watching him with interest.

"Can you give me the remaining shadow goblin cores you have?" Tatehan asked. "I can't make it to my destination with just two. The journey's longer than that."

Riven's face broke into a knowing smile. "I thought you'd never ask."

She closed her eyes briefly, clearly accessing her own inventory system, and a moment later two more shadow goblin cores materialized in her hand. She held them out to Tatehan.

"Here. These are the last ones from that fight. Should give you enough range to get where you're going."

"Thank you," Tatehan said sincerely, taking the cores summing them to his inventory. Four cores total now. Four hours of operation. That should be sufficient to reach the spaceship, assuming he didn't get lost or have to take any major detours.

He climbed onto the dust rider and looked back at Riven with a slight grin.

"Won't exactly take me all the way there, but hopefully I'll run into some more shadow goblins before these run out. Then I can slay them and take their cores." He paused, then added with mock seriousness, "You know, continue the ancient tradition of monster-slaying for profit."

Riven actually laughed at that, a genuine, warm sound that made her whole face light up.

"The ancient and noble tradition," she agreed, still smiling. "Just be careful I guess."

"I'll be careful," Tatehan promised.

He activated the dust rider fully, and the engine hummed to a steady, powerful rhythm. Riven stepped back to give him space to maneuver.

"Safe travels, Mauler Slayer," she called out with that now-familiar slight grin.

"You too, Riven," Tatehan called back.

He accelerated forward carefully, maneuvering through the parking area and onto the street. As he rode away, he glanced back once and saw Riven still standing there, hands in her pockets, watching him go with an expression he couldn't quite read.

Then he turned his attention forward and focused on navigating through the city streets.

As he rode through Waython Hollow, heading toward the northern edge and the wastelands beyond, Tatehan took in more of the city's details. Things he'd missed on the way in.

There were markets everywhere, not just designated market districts, but small stalls and vendors set up on seemingly every corner. People sold everything: food, water, tools, weapons, clothing, tech components, and yes, cores of various sizes and types. The core trade was apparently a major part of the city's economy.

He passed what looked like a medical clinic, its sign displaying a universal symbol for healing that apparently transcended planetary boundaries. Near it was a weapons shop with an impressive display of firearms, bladed weapons, and what appeared to be energy-based weapons he'd never seen before.

Children played in a small courtyard between buildings, their laughter carrying over the general noise of the city. It was strangely normal, a reminder that despite all the danger and strangeness of Mars, people still lived lives here. They still built communities, raised families and found moments of joy.

Soon, the buildings began to thin out as he approached the city's edge. The paved streets gave way to packed dirt roads, and finally to open wasteland.

The transition was stark and immediate.

One moment, Tatehan was surrounded by the bustling activity of civilization. The next, he was facing a vast expanse of dry, parched land stretching out to the horizon. Red-brown dirt and rocks as far as the eye could see, broken only by occasional rock formations jutting up like the bones of some long-dead titan.

The irony of Mars struck him forcefully in that moment.

A few minutes ago, riding through Waython Hollow, it had felt like one of the best places in the world—vibrant, alive, full of possibility and human resilience.

Now, looking at the wasteland before him, it was just... desolate. Empty and hostile.

The same planet, two completely different realities separated by the width of a city wall.

Crazy stuff!

As Tatehan accelerated into the wasteland, the dust rider's engine roaring as it carried him across the rough terrain, his mind drifted back to Riven's suggestion about hunting together.

The more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea became.

Hunting cores with Riven would be... practical. That was the word. Practical and mutually beneficial.

Her ability to sense incoming attacks combined with his combat abilities and gravity manipulation would make them an extremely effective team. They'd be able to take on more dangerous creatures with significantly better odds of survival. More dangerous creatures meant more valuable cores, which meant more resources.

And those resources could be converted into money, which could be used to buy supplies, equipment, maybe even specialized parts for the spaceship that he couldn't find just lying around in the wasteland.

Beyond the practical benefits, there was something else too. Something he was less comfortable admitting even to himself: the partnership would mean he wouldn't be alone so much. The past two months (majority in the coma like state though) had been intensely isolating. Just him and the AI in the spaceship, venturing out to kill monsters, look for cores and all that.

Having an ally—a friend, perhaps—to work with occasionally would make Mars feel less like a hostile prison and more like a place where he could actually build something resembling a life.

And if they were hunting together, they'd likely explore other regions of Mars. Riven had mentioned tracking the Crystalline Serpent through the northern wastelands, which meant she had experience navigating terrain he'd never seen. There were probably dozens of areas, maybe even other settlements, that he didn't know existed.

The spaceship's database had limited information about current Mars geography. Most of its data was from a long time ago.

Getting to see the planet as it actually existed now, to understand its current geography and political landscape, would be invaluable.

Plus, if they were successful in their hunts and built up a good supply of valuable cores, they could potentially trade for information, maps, maybe even safe passage through territories controlled by various factions.

The more Tatehan thought about it, the more it made sense.

Hunt together with Riven. Build up resources. Gain cores to restore the spaceship. Explore Mars. Engage in acts of repairing the Spaceship. Learn more about this world he'd found himself on.

All while working toward his ultimate goal: getting the spaceship fully repaired and operational.

Hell yeah, he was up for it.

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