The green light from Donald’s hands soaked into Evelyn’s back. For the first few seconds, she just sat there, breathing slowly. But then, she frowned and shifted her shoulders.
"The magic is too weak," Evelyn said. "My armor is blocking it."
"It’s only an E-Rank skill," Donald explained, feeling a little bad. "I can’t push it any harder."
"No, it’s not the skill. It’s the layers," she said.
Before Donald could blink, Evelyn unbuckled the straps of her ruined leather armor. She pulled the heavy jacket off and tossed it on the floor. Underneath, she wore a thick gray shirt. She grabbed the bottom of the shirt and pulled it over her head too.
Donald choked on his own spit. He quickly looked up at the dirty ceiling.
Evelyn was now wearing only a tight, black sports bra. Her back was strong and covered in thin, white battle scars. Donald was twenty-two, but he had spent his whole life avoiding people and trying not to get beaten up. He had exactly zero experience with beautiful, half-naked women sitting on his bed.
"Kid, what are you doing?" Evelyn asked, looking over her bare shoulder. "Put your hands back. I’m dying here."
"I... um. Right. Sorry," Donald stammered. His face felt like it was on fire.
He slowly lowered his glowing green hands and placed them directly on her bare skin. The moment his warm hands touched her back, the green magic flared brightly. Without the thick clothes in the way, the [Soothing Hands] skill poured straight into her fractured mana core.
The sudden, complete disappearance of pain was too much for Evelyn. For five months, she had felt like there was broken glass in her chest. Now, it was just warm, comforting relief.
Evelyn’s head dropped back. Her eyes rolled up, and she let out a loud, long, and incredibly embarrassing moan.
"Ahhhhh... sweet gods, yes," she breathed heavily, leaning back slightly against his hands. "Right there. Kid, do not stop. Press a little harder."
Donald’s eyes went wide. His entire head turned the color of a tomato. The sounds she was making did not sound like healing. They sounded like something completely different.
"E-Evelyn, please," Donald whispered loudly, looking around the empty room as if someone were watching. "You’re being really loud."
"I don’t care," she groaned, stretching her arms above her head, making her back arch. "Oh, that is amazing. I haven’t felt this good in a year. Harder, Donald."
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Someone pounded heavily on the thin wall of the apartment.
"Hey! Keep it down in there!" a gruff, angry voice yelled from the next room. "Some of us have to work in the morning! Stop making a racket!"
Donald wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole. He was sweating completely through his shirt.
Evelyn finally realized how loud she was being. She froze. A faint pink blush spread across her pale cheeks. She covered her mouth and started to laugh. It wasn’t her usual bitter, cynical laugh. It was a real, bright, happy laugh.
"Sorry," she whispered to Donald, though she was still smiling broadly. "I lost control. The pain was just... gone. You have some skillful hands, kid."
Donald let out a long breath, trying to calm his racing heart. He kept the green magic flowing for another minute until his mana started to feel low. He pulled his hands back.
[Skill Usage Complete. Target’s stress levels reduced by 90%.]
Evelyn put her gray shirt back on, looking much more relaxed. The dark circles under her eyes were already starting to fade. She sat cross-legged on the bed and looked at Donald seriously.
"Thank you, Donald. Truly," she said. "But we need to talk about the next step. I’m not in agony anymore, but my core is still completely shattered."
Donald sat on the floor, his mind immediately pulling up his hidden System menu. The floating golden text had already listed his next objective: [Required Investment (Next Step): 500 Mana Crystals] to initiate her core repair. He quickly dismissed the screen so he could look normal.
"Hunting sewer bugs won’t be enough," Donald said carefully, pretending to just be thinking out loud. "They only drop cheap, low-purity cores. If we want to actually fix your fracture, we need pure, raw crystals. A lot of them."
Evelyn nodded, looking slightly impressed by his knowledge. "Exactly. Around Five or six hundred of them, to be precise. It is the minimum amount of pure energy needed to jumpstart a high-tier core’s natural healing. But you can’t buy that kind of volume with E-Rank scrap. To get raw Mana Crystals, we need to find a mana vent. And those are usually guarded by mid-level monsters. D-Rank or higher."
Donald swallowed hard. A D-Rank monster was a huge step up from sewer rats. They had tough armor and magic skills of their own.
"There is an old, broken mana pipe deep in the Sector 4 Scrap Tunnels," Evelyn explained. She leaned forward and drew a little map on the dusty floor with her finger. "A smuggling gang used to use it, but a monster chased them out a few months ago. It’s a Junk Golem. A D-Rank construct."
"A Golem?" Donald asked. "Like a rock monster?"
"Worse. It’s made of sharp metal, rusty cars, and old weapons," she said. "It’s slow, but its defense is incredibly high. Your steel wrench will just bounce right off it. But... the Golem feeds on the raw mana from the broken pipe. If we crack it open, its heart will have enough concentrated crystals to pay for my core repair completely."
Donald looked at his heavy steel wrench resting against the wall. It had worked great on bugs and rats, but hitting a giant pile of thick metal with it wouldn’t do anything. He needed a better weapon. He needed more power.
He glanced at the invisible System screen floating in the corner of his eye. He still had his 3 free stat points from leveling up. And he had a strong feeling that his unique Investor class had more secrets to show him if he took a big risk.
"Okay," Donald said, his voice steady as he looked her in the eyes. "Let’s go after the Golem."