“What is it?”, I asked, anxious to finally begin my treasure hunt.

Kiki raised a suspicious eyebrow at me, “What are you in such a hurry to go do? You have to pee or something?”

With a burning sensation in my cheeks, I shook my head, “No. There’s treasure nearby.”

She looked in the direction I was heading and asked, “How close is it?”

Squinting at the map, I guessed, “Not very far. We haven’t gotten a single treasure chest since we started.”

Heaving an exasperated sigh at me, she asked, “Do you think that you are going to get 1000 gold worth of loot through dungeon diving in the beginner’s dungeon?”

“I have to start somewhere”, I barked at my sister.

She held up her hands defensively, “Take it easy, brother. I’m just asking questions. Don’t you think we should worry about getting out of here alive first? We might be in a high-level dungeon now.”

I pointed at the wall that separated us from the original dungeon, “I can delete that wall. How about we grab some treasure and re-join the group in style?”

Kiki stared at the wall while she pieced together my plan in her mind, “Melvin, we can’t do that. We’re over twenty floors beneath the city. We’re lucky the last explosion didn’t cause a cave-in. If you delete that wall, we could be buried under the rubble.”

Fear started to creep into my mind when it dawned on me that I might not be able to edit my way back into the dungeon. Looking to Kiki, I asked, “Do you have a plan?”

She nodded and explained, “Yes. Why do you think I stopped you? We are going to use this time to clean up your traits and make you more powerful?”

I wasn’t sure who she was talking about because I was anything but powerful but I obediently pulled up my traits and skills anyhow.

Skills

Traits

World Editor

Bloodline: M

Manipulation

Bloodline: Shaw

Controlling Voice

Bloodline: Ramsey

Buff (Edited)

Enhanced Regeneration

Summon (Edited)

Enhanced Mana Regeneration

Command Attention

Nocturnal Regeneration

Absorption

Affinity: Blood

Affinity: Fire (Edited)

Affinity: Wind (Edited)

Affinity: Summoning (Edited)

Fireproof (Edited)

Heatproof (Edited)

Control

True Sight

God Eye (Edited)

Matechat[Kalliphae Hellquist] (Edited)

Vampiric Immortality

Kiki raised an eyebrow at me, “Did you steal the bloodline from the headmaster?”

Scanning my list for potential skills to prune, I shrugged absentmindedly, “I guess I did. I’m not sure what it does yet.”

She sat down on a large piece of rubble, patting the rock next to her for me to join her, “Bloodlines are the more sought-after traits. They embody everything that a family stands for. Low-ranking mages with bloodlines are often sought after by more influential named mages just to get the bloodline in the family. This is how many arranged marriages occur.”

Some of what she was teaching me were things that I already knew. My mysterious M bloodline was the key to something but neither of us knew what it meant. I had a feeling that perhaps Lavender might know but she wasn’t telling.

The girl pointed at my affinities and instructed, “You will want to start by removing all of those.”

“Are you sure I can delete them?”, I asked, hesitant to lose the boon, “Doesn’t it make my magic more potent?”

Kiki nodded emphatically and said, “Sure, they would make you more powerful but only if you specialized in just one thing. The way your traits look, I get the impression that you want to give yourself an affinity to everything. By focusing on too many things, you weaken all of them. In the end, you are better off having none of them. If you want to have a single focus, how about you try adding it when you need it and deleting it afterward?”

Deleting all of the affinities, I nodded, “That sounds like a good idea. What next?”

The negotiator scanned my traits, pointing at the red one, “Do you want to be a vampire? That trait is a curse. I don’t know what it does, but it looks like it makes you immortal. There is probably a cost for such a potent trait.”

I had a feeling that I knew what the price was. Eternal thirst. I targeted the skill and used DELETE, heaving a sigh of relief when the skill vanished, informing Kiki, “I didn’t think I’d be able to do that. The price of immortality is the eternal thirst for human blood. I could tell that much from my encounter with Carmilla.”

Kiki clapped and pointed at some more traits, “Do you need fireproof? Are you worried that your mate is going to burn you?”

Mild annoyance told me that Kalli was eavesdropping on our conversation. I would not burn you and why did she call me your mate?

Because she can see my real traits.

Kalliphae became nervous as she answered. Doesn’t that mean she knows all of your secrets?

Yes, but I know hers too. A lot of what makes me unique is in the bloodline that we share.

Through Kalli’s eyes, I could see her sitting against the same wall that I was with her back to mine. If you trust her then so do I.

A flick to my nose that also caused Kalli to flinch informed both of us that the older girl was annoyed at being ignored. She huffed and scolded me, “Stop spacing out like that. I need you to focus on what we’re doing.”

Rubbing my nose, I whined, “Kalli didn’t like being called my mate. I was just talking to her.”

Planting her hands on her hips like my mom always did when she was mad, she continued, “If you get rid of those two fire resistance buffs then the only other issue that I see is that you have a few traits that are doubled up. You only need one regen trait and one vision trait. Also, what does control do?”

I had to pick apart what she was telling me. Deciding to look over my regeneration skills first, I asked, “Isn’t it better to have two regens?”

Once again, Kiki shook her head, “Having two makes them both weaker. I can tell you from experience that the one we were born with is more powerful than any of its kind. While I have a feeling that your nocturnal trait is also strong, it would result in weaker regen during the day. Do you want that?”

Sighing heavily, I deleted the other skill. Kiki cackled at me, “I’m not telling you what to do. If you want weaker traits, go ahead and keep them.”

I shook my head and told her, “No. I’m grateful for the help. What next?”

With a look of approval, she pointed at my menu, “Next is vision spells. If you think that God Eye is better than True Sight, then get rid of True Sight.”

Thinking back to my old vision skill before God Eye, I remembered not being able to see so well in the dark. While I hesitated to get rid of a skill that I was born with, I decided to keep the better of the two skills.

We both looked over my newly shortened skill tree with Kiki nodding in approval, “We still don’t know what some of those traits do but it’s a lot cleaner than it used to be.”

Skills

Traits

World Editor

Bloodline: M

Manipulation

Bloodline: Shaw

Controlling Voice

Bloodline: Ramsey

Buff (Edited)

Enhanced Regeneration

Summon (Edited)

Enhanced Mana Regeneration

Command Attention

Absorption

Control

God Eye (Edited)

Matechat[Kalliphae Hellquist] (Edited)

I grumbled and stood up, dusting myself off again, “I feel naked without my traits. By the way, you didn’t say anything about my skills.”

She laughed and stretched as she also stood, “I was actually kind of surprised that you only added two skills. I probably would have gone a bit crazier on that side if I could edit.”

Her suggestion made me pause and think about potential skills that I could add. Kiki’s light laughter made me look at her. In a weak voice that I wasn’t used to from the girl, she asked, “I don’t suppose you would consider deleting that skill you stole from me, would you?”

We locked eyes for a moment. Her nervousness gave me the feeling that she was up to something. Not being able to read the girl, I replied with a grin, “No fair. You stole my skill too. I get to keep this one.”

She sighed and turned away from me, “I suppose that’s fair.”

Was there something about her Command Attention skill that was dangerous? I tried a different approach, “I wonder why I don’t absorb skills from everyone I come into contact with.”

Kiki laughed, momentarily forgetting that she was upset with me, “That’s complicated. I’m sure you figured out that you have to have mana to mana contact for our skill to activate. The other component is that your target has to have a high-value skill or trait worth absorbing. Trust me, I tried it on half of the boys in school and quite a few girls. You were brave to use it on the headmaster. If he finds out what you did, don’t expect to be let off with just expulsion.”

The reminder of what I accidentally did to the headmaster made my blood chill. However, the information about my absorption skill was very useful. It explained why I hadn’t absorbed any skills from the other people I had close contact with.

Kiki pulled me out of my thoughts once again, “So, how about that treasure?”

I smiled at the thought of treasure and nodded vigorously, beginning to walk in the direction of the golden X once again. The new area we found ourselves in wasn’t man-made. A narrow cave just tall enough for the two of us to walk in a single file line led directly to where I saw the X on the map.

As we trudged along, I asked my sister, “Tell me about your magic. I heard you have contracts with a lot of the other kids in school. You said something about a stupid tax. What happened?”

She stopped and tugged on my arm. When I turned around I could see a look of hurt in her eyes that I had never seen before. Her expression evolved into a scowl as she began, “Boys are jerks. Well, dragons are the biggest jerks, but boys are also jerks. It all started when I was much younger than I am now. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t the only one that the boys wanted to tease. However, when they found out about my abilities, they always wanted to make deals with me.”

I sucked in a breath of air, interested in my sister’s story, “What kind of deals?”

Kiki gagged for emphasis, “Sick deals. Let me give you an example. This one boy asked me what he would have to do to allow him to grope me.”

Gasping at what she revealed, I asked, “You told him no, right?”

The girl laughed and shook her head, “Oh no. If I turned down a good deal like that, I wouldn’t be a very good negotiator.”

Kiki tutted at the expression of shock on my face, “It’s not like that. I didn’t let him do anything inappropriate. I told him that I would give him a quick feel. Of course, I never told him what he could feel or what he would have to do in return. Then I asked him to help stand up. Of course, he offered me his hand. The moment our skin touched, he was bound by magic. He never said what he wanted to grope, so my hand activated the contract. Because he didn’t specify what he was willing to pay, I can make him do pretty much anything.”

My mouth hung open at the ingenuity of my sister, bending perverts to her will. I asked, “What did you end up making him do?”

The girl shrugged at me and cackled, “I don’t recall. Most of the time, I don’t make them do anything. I just leave the contract in place and let them know that I will call on them when I need something. Of course, if they annoy me I might just make them clean the toilets with their tongue. If I command it, they cannot refuse or they pay the penalty.”

Thinking back to Kalliphae’s contract, I asked, “What is the penalty for breaking a magical contract?”

Kiki gently laid her hand on my shoulder when she answered, “I suppose it depends on the contract. Weak contracts such as the ones I imposed on perverted boys will probably result in some form of gut-wrenching pain. It depends on the equality of the bargain, to be honest. These are also verbal agreements. A binding written contract like the one Kalliphae has will likely have more severe penalties for breaking it. She promised offspring to a noble house. The penalty could be death.”

Kalli’s soft voice broke my heart. Don’t worry about it, Mel. I will go back and face my contract. I’m not afraid. Not anymore.

I will not let that happen. We will make the money.

A tear fell down both of our cheeks at the same moment. I know.

Kiki also noticed and wiped the tear from my face with a smudged finger, “You know, baby brother, I suspect that Kalli’s contract isn’t legal. If we can somehow get our hands on it, I bet I can get her out of it.”

I grasped her hand hopefully, “Is there a way we can get a copy of the contract?”

The negotiator sighed and shook her head, “No. Not unless we go to her world and get our hands on it.”

I sighed dejectedly. It always boiled down to the same thing. We didn’t have the contract. Deciding to distract myself with treasure, I pulled up the map and continued forward again, “It should be just over…oh great.”

Kiki pushed past me and sighed heavily, “Well, there’s your treasure. You can have it. I don’t want it. Didn’t I tell you? Dragons are jerks.”