Zarek wasn’t watching her anymore.
In the center of his vision, a panel opened and pushed the dim hallway to the edges.
[Achievement Detected.]
[Target: Elsa]
[Achievement: Successful Combat Engagement]
[Investment Contribution Confirmed.]
[Investment: Basic Combat Training + Weapon (Steel Pry Bar)]
[Calculating Investment Return...]
His eyes narrowed. The meal had paid him back three times over. This time he had put in half an hour of training and a piece of scrap iron from a maintenance closet, and what he’d gotten for it was a woman who could kill something.
The panel finished.
[Investment Return Calculation: Complete.]
[Target Growth: Significant]
[Reward quality adjusted by Favorability: 10/100]
[Investment Return Received.]
[Reward 1: Permanent Physical Enhancement, Minor Strength Increase]
[Reward 2: Standard Steel Sword]
[Rewards transferred to System Space.]
A laugh escaped him.
A permanent boost and a proper sword. Not bad for half an hour and a pipe he’d found in a closet. He flexed his fingers and tried to feel the difference. Minor, the system said, but permanent was the word that mattered. One boost didn’t mean much. Ten? A hundred?
Then his eyes went back to one line.
[Reward quality adjusted by Favorability: 10/100]
The grin slowly faded.
Favorability. He’d barely looked at it when the number turned up. She was frightened of him and resented him and had every reason to do both, and it had seemed like a side detail next to whether she’d live long enough to be useful. But the system had just told him it took that number into account when it paid him.
Her feelings weren’t only something to track. They changed what he got.
He looked over at her. She was still against the wall, one hand pressed to her arm, the other on the bloody pry bar. When she caught him looking, her shoulders stiffened.
No affection in her face, and no trust. She was afraid of him and angry at him, and probably wondering what nightmare he’d drag her into next.
He didn’t need her in love with him. That would be absurd, and he wasn’t going to waste time pretending.
What he needed was to keep pushing her, and if a little kindness made the returns bigger, then he’d be kind.
He wasn’t attached to being hated. He was attached to results.
"Elsa."
She looked suspicious at once. "What?"
"How’s your arm?"
She blinked, caught off guard. "It hurts."
"Yeah, I imagine getting scratched by a monster does that." He glanced at the torn sleeve. "We’ll find medical supplies. I don’t want you bleeding everywhere."
She stared at him for several seconds, clearly trying to work out what he was up to. "Why are you suddenly being nice?"
That almost made him laugh.
"Does there have to be a reason for everything I do?"
"With you? Yes."
He did laugh then, honestly amused. At least she was learning to say what she thought, even if she still looked ready to bolt whenever he moved too fast.
He pushed off the wall and flicked his wrist. A soft chime sounded in his head, and the new sword appeared in his hand.
The steel caught the emergency light, clean and straight, nothing like the battered bar she was holding. He turned it over and tested the balance.
It would make the creatures outside a lot easier, especially with his body a little stronger now.
"Come on," he said, resting the blade on his shoulder and nodding toward the dark corridor to the loading bay. "Get up. We’ve got water to find."
She struggled to her feet, winced when she tested her arm, and followed him.
Zarek walked ahead with a grin he didn’t try very hard to suppress. Ninety to go.