The day was drawing to a close, and the Nexus Hub had finally begun to empty.
Only a few late stragglers remained on the ground floor, drifting between shelves that had been picked nearly clean over the course of the day. A pair of adventurers stood shoulder to shoulder before a near-empty rack of treated field bandages, arguing in low voices over whether they needed the snow-white dressings or could make do with the rough hemp they already had. Near the alchemical section, a man in dusty clothes built for long days of hauling and construction held a small bottle of stamina potion up to the light, frowned, then glanced toward the price tag for the third time, as if still doubting what he saw.
Alpha watched them all from a [Wasp] perched atop one of the higher shelves.
The little drone sat motionless between two display placards, its red optic tracking the thinning crowd with lazy amusement.
Now that Orion’s influence no longer strangled shipments into Halirosa, bringing in materials and moving inventory had become far less irritating. Between the Deep, the Guild routes, his own transport systems, and the number of suppliers suddenly willing to speak with Hugo, Alpha had more than enough product to keep the shelves full from open to close.
He had learned, however, that doing so wasn’t always wise.
In a modern retail environment, customers expected a frictionless experience. Empty spaces suggested poor management, supply problems, or some hidden flaw in the product itself. If a customer wanted an item, the item should be there.
Cultivators, as it turned out, had very different instincts.
To people accustomed to craftsmen producing only so much in a day, low supply wasn’t necessarily a flaw. If only three blades remained on a rack that had held twenty that morning, then those blades must be desirable. If people were fighting to get their hands on the last few, then they had to be worth owning.
And if a customer passed by twice and found fewer each time, the pressure to decide only grew stronger.
Conversely, if a shelf always seemed full no matter how often people passed it, the opposite must hold true.
If no one was buying, perhaps there was a reason. Maybe the price was too high. Maybe the quality was lower than advertised. Or maybe everyone else knew something they didn’t.
Why take the chance?
Alpha found the entire thing wonderfully exploitable.
For that same reason, Alpha had begun rotating which items appeared on the shelves from day to day. Certain utility tools vanished for an afternoon, then returned the next morning in smaller quantities. A particular line of low-toxicity potions appeared beside the counter one day, shifted to a side rack the next, then disappeared entirely for two days before returning with a small sign noting limited availability.
He was certain that the more observant customers would eventually catch on.
That was fine.
For now, however, FOMO remained his best friend.
“Thank you! Come again!” Hugo called from behind the front counter.
The latest customer, a narrow-faced man in a well-mended cloak, stood at the counter stuffing his purchases into a storage ring with quick, nervous motions. Every few seconds, his gaze darted toward the corners of the shop, then toward the remaining customers. He had the look of someone who believed he’d found an amazing deal and now suspected every person within twenty feet of plotting to take it from him.
He clutched the hand bearing his storage ring to his chest, gave Hugo another stiff nod, then hurried for the door at a pace just short of fleeing.
As he slipped out into the evening street, someone else pushed their way in.
Alpha smirked to himself as Hugo straightened behind the counter.
“Ah! Ms. Sharp,” Hugo said, his smile warming at once. “Is it that time already?”
Alpha’s [Wasp] lifted from the shelf and drifted across the shop, landing lightly on Hugo’s shoulder just as Kailin Sharp approached the counter.
The eccentric alchemist looked as though she had come directly from the lab, which, knowing her, meant she likely had. Her hair had been pinned back in uneven loops, one sleeve bore a faint blue stain near the cuff, and a pale smudge marked her cheek. Alpha’s sensors assured him it was only mildly toxic.
For a cultivator of her level, at least.
Despite all that, her eyes were bright, and she moved with a barely contained bounce in each step.
“Yup!” Kailin said, nodding enthusiastically. “And I think you’re going to enjoy this batch, too.”
She produced a jade ring and placed it on the counter with a proud flourish.
“Potstirrer and I have been working on a new formula using Mr. Alpha’s suggestions with the LC-MS method,” she said, the words already starting to tumble over one another. “And we’ve managed to raise potion purity by nearly fifteen percent!”
Hugo glanced at the ring, then back at her. “That sounds impressive.”
“It is!” Kailin said immediately, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“The biggest issue was that we were treating the impurities like a uniform contamination, but they’re not uniform at all. Some are bonded to the solvent base, some are suspended in the aspect layer, and some only show up because the powder remnants still carry incomplete echoes from the original pill structure.”
Hugo’s brows lifted, and the corner of his smile twitched.
Kailin didn’t notice.
“Once we started running each sample through the mass spectrometry equipment, we could identify the recurring impurity signatures more consistently. Not perfectly, mind you, because aspect contamination doesn’t map cleanly to the same models, and some readings are just absurd. But after Mr. Alpha adjusted the calibration curve, we could at least separate the mundane chemical impurities from the alchemical residue.”
She leaned forward, eyes shining, her words coming even faster now.
“At first, I thought the secondary bitter-earth expression was coming from the rootstock, but it was actually introduced during the heat transition. Potstirrer noticed the same thing in the second batch, so we reran the separation and found these tiny reactive traces in the copperleaf extract. Tiny! I never would’ve caught it with a standard array read, but once we knew it was there, we could compensate by shifting the filtration phase before the final cooling cycle.”
Hugo gave a slow, thoughtful nod, and Alpha was almost certain he saw the man’s eyes glaze over.
Kailin paused only long enough to draw breath.
“And that’s not even the best part. If the next batch holds stable, I think we can push the results eighteen percent past baseline without raising material costs.” Her grin widened. “Maybe even twenty!”
Kailin beamed.
Hugo continued nodding for several seconds after she finished speaking.
He only realized he was when color crept up the alchemist’s neck, and her cheeks flushed red.
Her mouth remained open for half a heartbeat before slowly closing.
“Oh,” she said, quieter. “S-sorry…”
Her eyes dropped to the floor, and the flush in her cheeks deepened beneath the pale residue still streaked across one side of her face.
Hugo sighed.
Alpha laughed.
“I’m glad to see your new assistant is pulling her weight,” the AI said, changing the subject.
Kailin’s head snapped up so fast that one of the loose pins in her hair slipped free and clattered against the counter.
“Oh, she’s amazing,” Kailin said, nodding hard enough to set the freed loop of hair bobbing. “I only have to show her a formula once, and she has it memorized.”
Her embarrassment vanished beneath a fresh surge of professional enthusiasm.
“She still needs work on flame control,” Kailin continued, ticking points off on her fingers. “And she needs to stop measuring by instinct. And she gets impatient when a reaction takes longer than she thinks it should, which is a terrible habit, but fixable. But she picks up new things faster than apprentices who’ve spent years in a proper hall.”
Her smile widened.
“For someone with so little training, she’s an astounding natural talent. Especially for a—”
She stopped.
A flicker of color returned to her cheeks. Her mouth remained half-open for a heartbeat before she cleared her throat and straightened with forced dignity.
“For someone with so little formal training,” she corrected. “Truly astounding.”
Hugo’s smile twitched.
Kailin scratched at her cheek, her gaze sliding off to one side.
“Though…” she added, quieter now, “she is kind of… chatty.”
“Not is a bad way!” she was quick to add.
Kailin shook her head, half exasperated and half impressed.
“Honestly, where do you find these people?”
Alpha laughed again, softer this time.
When Alpha had made the call among his people for anyone interested in learning alchemy, the young goblin from the kitchens had been one of the first to volunteer. She’d also been the only one to pass his immediate screening, despite her age and complete lack of formal education.
The girl had shown a curious, analytical mind, the sort that didn’t merely memorize instructions but wanted to know why each step mattered. She asked questions, spotted patterns, remembered details, and had no trouble admitting when she didn’t understand something.
All useful traits in a student, let alone an alchemist.
Wasting her in a kitchen would’ve been inefficient.
She was also, by all accounts, a notorious gossip.
Which of the two had earned Potstirrer that name, she stubbornly refused to clarify.
Others had shown promise as well, of course, but most needed more time. More basic instruction. More discipline. Careful exposure to concepts Kailin seemed to consider obvious, and they considered sorcery.
The goblin girl, however, had taken to the work with alarming speed.
Kailin let out a long breath and leaned one hip against the counter. “She’s even helping me balance my books. Thank the Maker, too, because I’d be drowning in all the new orders the atelier’s getting lately.”
Hugo leaned back slightly and folded his arms, his expression turning smug.
“Oh?” he asked. “So we’re not stealing all your business? Sounds like I’ll have to work the boys twice as hard.”
He tipped his thumb over his shoulder toward the droids beginning their end-of-day cleaning routine. One of them paused just long enough to tilt its head in their direction while lifting a crate from beneath a display table, then continued without acknowledgment.
Kailin huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Of course you’re not stealing all my business. You honestly think I don’t keep the good stuff for myself?” Kailin tapped one finger against the counter, her confidence returning with each word.
“Besides, with Mr. Alpha advertising where all his pills and potions come from, I’ve been swamped by people looking for stronger or more specialized work.”
Hugo gave a hearty laugh.
Alpha smirked.
None of the Nexus Hub’s alchemical stock was low quality, but it was intentionally basic. High-volume, high-demand goods. The sort of potions and pills every adventurer might need sooner or later: stamina support, minor recovery, detoxification, field stabilizers, and clean, predictable staples that could be produced at scale.
Kailin’s atelier served a different market.
As outlined in their contract, any customer who came to the Nexus Hub looking for something more specific was recommended to Kailin directly. Stronger pills. Specialized restoratives. Unusual potion requests. Custom work for special little boys and girls with more money than sense.
Alpha didn’t mind sending them her way.
The Hub remained the obvious destination for dependable field supplies, Kailin’s reputation rose with every successful referral, and Alpha gained more data through the products she created and the customers she attracted.
He didn’t fear Kailin stealing his business. If anything, every satisfied customer tied her more tightly to the system he was building. She still lingered near the edge, one foot planted firmly in her own independence, but he could feel that resistance wearing down a little more each day.
Every successful refinement, every improved formula, every problem solved with tools she’d once barely believed possible, pulled her farther into his orbit.
Alpha doubted it would be long before she stood fully in his corner.
“Speaking of business,” Alpha said, tapping one delicate leg against Hugo’s shoulder.
Hugo’s amusement settled into something more focused. He reached into his pocket, withdrew a jade ring of his own, and slid it across the counter.
“Here’s today’s payment,” Hugo said, sliding the jade ring across the counter. “You’ll find the usual inside, along with that new batch of ingredients you requested.”
Kailin’s eyes lit up.
Hugo’s hand remained on the ring for a beat longer as Alpha spoke.
“Careful with those. We’re still experimenting with the ant nitro, and we’re not completely sure how much of a punch it packs.”
The warning did nothing to slow her down.
Kailin made a sound halfway between a gasp and a squeal, snatched the ring from his hand, and hugged it to her chest. She hopped twice in place before catching herself.
Then she froze.
Her eyes went wide. Clutching the ring tighter, she glanced around the shop, taking in the last few customers lingering between the displays. She eyed them like a nervous squirrel watching for a bird about to swoop down on its stash.
Alpha didn’t blame her.
The Nexus Hub wasn’t packed anymore, but it wasn’t empty either. A few late customers still browsed near the shelves, and at least two had turned at Kailin’s outburst. Neither looked especially interested, but that wasn’t the point. Openly showing off payments, rare ingredients, or valuable contracts would have been enough to invite trouble only a few weeks ago.
Halirosa had always been a city where opportunity and predation often wore the same face.
Fortunately, Jonah’s nightly patrols had done excellent work discouraging the sort of street-level opportunists who preferred easy targets. Seren’s ongoing purge within the Guard had helped as well, ensuring the men and women walking the beat actually cared.
Or at least cared enough to make open harassment dangerous again.
Meaning no one had been stupid enough to openly target Kailin yet.
Well.
No one after the first.
Word had spread quickly after that incident. Nexus Hub’s supplier was strictly off-limits, though Alpha had thoroughly enjoyed how many versions of the story had taken root.
Seren, not so much.
Then again, Seren hadn’t found enough evidence to prove Alpha had been involved either, which meant Alpha remained technically innocent of any hypothetical crime.
Alpha’s favorite kind of innocence!
He smirked to himself at the memory.
When Kailin seemed satisfied that no immediate ambush was forthcoming, she tucked the jade ring away with exaggerated care, then cleared her throat.
An awkward silence settled between them before gradually easing into the idle chatter that had become common over the last several days. Hugo asked about the new batch. Kailin stumbled over her words, then tried again with more dignity. A nearby droid continued its cleaning route with perfect indifference, while the last customers slowly drifted toward the front counter.
Then the front door chimed.
“Welcome to the Nexus Hub,” Hugo called automatically, turning toward the entrance with the practiced smile of a man who had said the words a hundred times that day. “You’re free to browse, but be aware we’re clos—”
He stopped.
The words froze on his tongue, and the smile vanished from his face so completely that Alpha’s attention snapped to him as the change rippled through the room.
Hugo had gone still behind the counter. One hand gripped the edge, knuckles whitening as his jaw tightened.
Before Alpha could ask what the problem was, he realized Hugo wasn’t the only one staring.
Kailin had gone pale.
The color drained from her face so quickly that the faint stain on her cheek stood out in sharp contrast. Her eyes widened, fixed on the new arrival, and the hand she’d raised toward her sleeve began to tremble. She took half a step back before she seemed to realize she’d moved at all.
A smooth male voice carried across the shop.
“Why, Ms. Sharp,” the man said, warm enough to sound almost pleased. “So this is where you’ve been disappearing to.”
Alpha turned his optics toward the speaker.
The man approaching the counter was tall, handsome, and dressed in elegant robes embroidered with careful patterns that caught the light when he moved. His dark hair had been arranged with practiced care, and his expression held the relaxed confidence of someone accustomed to rooms making space for him.
Two cultivators flanked him, both dressed in expensive armor polished to a quiet sheen.
The man himself walked with his arms open, wearing a charming, polished smile.
The sort of smile that would’ve made Alpha’s skin crawl, had he possessed any.
Kailin’s mouth moved silently, though no words escaped.
Her expression shifted through a dozen emotions before any of them could settle. She backed up another step, bumping lightly against the counter behind her.
And still, compared to Hugo, her reaction seemed almost mild.
The big man stood behind the counter as if rooted in place, his eyes fixed on the newcomer’s face. Every trace of warmth had vanished from him. What remained was thunder held in flesh, malice so open and unrestrained that Alpha was almost certain the counter itself was the only thing keeping Hugo from lunging.
Even then, Alpha wasn’t entirely sure how long that would last.