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"You fought like none of us could. You lasted longer than you should have."

"What’s your point?" I repeated, starting to lose my patience. The cat lady seemed determined to dodge the main question as long as she could, and the suspense was eating away at me.

"You were using your mana to do it. I saw it. I — I want that. I want that kind of strength, speed, and endurance."

I tilted my head at her. "Wait, you’re telling me this is about my body strengthening mana technique?"

"That’s an extraordinarily common name for a technique like that, but yes. If it’s what let you fight beyond your body’s normal limits, that’s the technique I want to trade for."

Shock surged through me, followed quickly by anger.

"You made me think someone was trying to assassinate me, over a foundational technique?" I didn’t exactly get in her face, but judging by her startled look, my hostility was clear.

She didn’t back down, though. If anything, my words seemed to light a fire in her. "Foundational technique? That’s what you call a treasure all of us would kill for? You’re treating it rather lightly. Where are we supposed to learn? How did you even manage to get it?!"

I opened my mouth to snark back, then closed it.

Reluctant as I was to admit it, she did have a point. I had no way of knowing what her life was like before the legion. But if it was anything like Hayden’s, then she had plenty of reasons to be angry.

Hell, Hayden was actually talented when it came to mana, and his trainers had done almost nothing to help him. No useful mana techniques. No regular skills. They just provided basic manipulation exercises, then promptly left him to his own devices. At most, they checked occasionally to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally kill himself.

I found this lack of education more than a little suspicious. Unless I was missing way more of Hayden’s memories than I realized, all he got out of the training camp was a half-baked competence with the sword.

And a honed body, of course. Also ingrained obedience towards demons, a ton of details on how to serve them, and several lifelong traumas. But who counted those, right?

Now, maybe Hayden was an exception. A kid they decided not to teach seriously, for some reason. An idiot who went on and somehow claimed the top recruit spot for his training facility anyway, guaranteeing his acceptance into the legion…

Or, as was far more likely, the trainers were just shitty and did a horrible job with everyone.

"They didn’t teach you anything useful in the training camp either, did they?" I asked quietly.

"No, they didn’t. So, I assume you somehow got the technique in this world?" Her voice was sharp and accusing, almost bitter.

I supposed she had cause to feel that way. Looking back on everything that had happened, I was rather lucky. Oh, I bled and struggled for every ’lucky’ opportunity I got, but things worked out for me more often than they didn’t.

In fact, how did I even get the technique? I absorbed it after the mess of my first battle. As I was back then, my chances of actually killing a person with that technique were low. It was probably bundled in with the many souls I stole by killing my fellow recruits, but I still wondered who its original owner was.

That was when I realized the limitations of normal rank soul memories. I knew the previous owner of the body strengthening technique thought of the skill as something basic. All his comrades were trained in it. But that was the extent of my knowledge. If the skill had come from a greater soul, the memories would be more extensive. I would know the exact school or order of the technique, and…

"Well?" the cat lady snarled, jerking me from my thoughts. Then she winced, refusing to look me in the eye. "I — I apologize. I did not mean to snap at you. I just… I really need this trade."

I looked at her more closely. She was young, as young as my new body. Sixteen or seventeen at most. Her long black hair was tied up behind her. Not very practical, considering how easily someone could grab it and throw her off-balance for a killing blow.

Her body was toned and powerful, but that was to be expected of all legion troops, demon or mortal. More interesting was how gangly her limbs were. They almost looked too big for her body, not that her appearance suffered for it.

What redeemed that odd feature was the feline nature of her arms and legs. Fur, as black as her hair, snuck up to her elbows and knees. Her feet and hands were paw-like, but had all the same functionality as their human counterparts would.

Her tail and cat ears rounded out the feline touch, though I did also notice flashes of fangs when she spoke. She was definitely self-conscious about them, if the way she tried to open her mouth as little as possible was any indication.

"Yes," I answered at long last. "You’re right, I got the technique here. After our first battle, actually." She relaxed just a fraction. I continued, "Okay. I’m willing to trade the technique. The word ’trade’ implies you have something of equal value to offer though."

Maybe it was a little hasty to agree, but part of me wanted to help her. This was wholly illogical. Both sides of me, Hayden and whatever my name once was, agreed it was kind of foolish. Nonetheless, I gave into the urge with minimal pushback.

"Really? You would?" Her face lit up momentarily. Then she managed to reign in her enthusiasm, speaking in a calm, formal tone. "Yes, I have something to trade. My world was conquered when I was very young. I didn’t grow up free, and I spent most of my life in the training camp, but my parents taught me one of my people’s prized techniques before they died. I can pass it on to you."

I hummed, eying her speculatively. It wasn’t uncommon for people to join training camps from the outside world. Hayden always liked it whenever someone new arrived. Not because he wanted friends but because the outsiders brought stories with them. Even if Hayden was every bit the perfect brainwashed soldier the demons wanted him to be, there was a spark deep down that refused to die, a curiosity that drove him to learn more about the many worlds out there. So each new story was carefully filed away, to be ruminated over and cherished.

Hayden always hated it when the new kids inevitably got that dull look in their eyes and stopped talking…

"I’m not agreeing yet," I said quickly, before I could get lost in my thoughts again. "Let’s see it first. What does your technique do?"

The woman took a deep breath and straightened up fully. "Observe, then."

One second she was in front of me, and the next she blurred. The edges of her body turned wispy, then she burst into motion. She wasn’t moving all that quickly. In fact, I couldn’t detect any speed boost from the technique at all. Yet, as she moved, she left copies of herself in her wake, throwing me off. These copies even moved a couple steps independently before falling apart into a cloud of mist.

"The Hunter’s Clouded Steps is a mana technique my people were infamous for," she stated proudly. "We dominated our world by using it in tandem with our other two famed techniques. Even demons sought to learn these techniques when they conquered us."

I didn’t let her enthusiasm carry me away, especially since her world was conquered, in the end. "What does it do, exactly?"

She almost pouted, but shot me a glare instead. "At the basic level of proficiency, it blurs the lines of your body and allows you to shift your enemy’s perception of your location. Trained properly, it lets you appear to be a foot to the left or right of where you actually are. That’s just the start."

I rolled my eyes at her grandstanding, but let a smile slip anyway. "And what about the higher levels of skills?"

She needed no further encouragement to gush.

"When you’re proficient at the technique, you can conjure up to five illusory duplicates. I’m warning you, though, they’re rather mana-hungry. That’s my current skill level. Supposedly, at higher levels, you can learn how to conjure a whole host of duplicates, and even switch places with them at will."

Okay, I had to admit I was impressed. A mana technique like that was definitely worth a lot, especially since it could be useful from day one of your training all the way to the peak of power.

Of course, as basic as ’body strengthening’ sounded, it also fell under this category.

I nodded. "Fine. I accept your offer, happily. Still, let me warn you now: the body strengthening technique is not easy to learn, nor is it safe to practice when you’re just starting out. If you mess up, you can easily end up with torn muscles, broken bones, or worse."

I wasn’t lying to her. Frankly, the Absorption Station was cheating. It let me inherit all the training, instincts, and hard-earned muscle memory required to use a technique without hurting myself.

The body strengthening technique took a massive toll. When I used it, moving at speeds no human could match and tearing around with all the power of a bull in a china shop, I was simultaneously strengthening my organs to withstand that supernatural energy. I could do this instinctually because the person I stole the skill from could do it.

But when beginners started out with this technique, they needed to follow precise orders of strengthening, along with incredibly complex mana weaving patterns. If they weren’t careful, they could over-strengthen a muscle group and then crack a bone when they tried to use it. And honestly, that was the most benign accident they could have.

The Absorption Station gave me the technique pre-packaged with everything I needed to use it safely. My new friend would have to earn those skills herself.

"I’m not worried about working hard to learn," was her snappy response. I also noticed her tail do a weird flick, and her ears twitched in a pattern that had to mean something.

Somehow, I knew her body language was not meant to flatter me.

"Fair enough. Before we start this exchange, my name is Hayden. Feels weird to keep talking to you without knowing your name."

I held my hand out for a shake. After staring at me for a second, she hesitantly took it.

"Mia. My name is Mia." Her pretty gray eyes twinkled, and she offered me a tiny smile.

I fought the urge to wince away from her.

Frankly, there was a reason I knew almost nothing about the other recruits, and why I contented myself with nicknames that gave a nod to their species at best.

I did not want to get close to any of them.

I didn’t even want to see them as people.

If I did, then it would be so much more difficult if I had to kill them or watch them die. Things were much better as they were. We were just somewhat familiar faces to each other, no fondness or camaraderie muddying the waters when it was time to act.

Mia was watching me, eyes alight with hopeful expectation.

It’s just a trade, I told myself firmly. Good business. Practical.

I took a deep breath and forced down all my lingering reluctance.

"Are you fine with starting now? I don’t know how long it’ll take for us to pick up each other’s techniques, but there’s no point in wasting time," I asked.

"That’s okay. I’ve wanted something like your body strengthening for a while now," Mia answered eagerly, plopping herself down on the floor. "How do I start?"

I wanted to tease her about assuming she would get to learn first, but I just rolled my eyes and sat down across from her. "Okay, so, first you need to learn the order in which you’re going to be strengthening your body. Then I’ll pass on the mana weaving patterns you’ll be using."

It was… fun, talking to someone and exchanging ideas about how best to approach mana techniques. I couldn’t relax fully, not while hanging out with another recruit, but I did enjoy myself.

The thing is, I knew from the start I would enjoy it.

That’s what I was afraid of.

Even as we talked, a part of me wondered what I would do if I ever had to kill her. Would I be able to act as ruthlessly as I had in the past?

Or would I hesitate, and pay for it?