The heck was a Gene Advancement? Rose had the word 'puzzlement' written across her face.

"I knew you'd be confused." Elsa grinned and leaned into the couch with a sigh. "It's really rare for someone in the slums to get it, probably only Samuel and the Slum Lords have it, but. . .in the cities, with enough money, not so much. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it."

"Just get to the point," Rose rolled her eyes, feeling as if the girl was purposefully making things suspenseful.

Elsa rolled her eyes back in return and waved her hand. "Fine fine."

"It's umm, well, I can't explain it well, but it's basically unlocking your potential. You can strengthen yourself, increase your endurance or speed, hell, you could probably make it possible for you to swim better."

"Swim better?" Rose raised an eyebrow, "That just sounds silly."

"It's the real deal," Elsa shrugged, "You can do a lot with it, but just think of it as increasing your attributes, it can't make you magical, but it can increase your 'stats.'"

She placed air-quotes on the word 'stats.'

"Of course, you can only do it 3 times in your life, and it's more dangerous each time. The first stage has a ninety percent chance of survival, the second has a fifty percent chance at survival, and the last stage has a ten percent chance at survival. There are ways to increase the odds, but it's usually like that, yup."

She nodded matter-of-factly.

'An incrementing gamble. . .' Rose thought as a question popped into her head.

"But what does that have to do with him looking young?"

"Oh that!" Elsa exclaimed. "That's why it's so fucking expensive! It shaves off 30 years of aging, each time you get it, like a fountain of youth. God knows why he got it so early, god knows how the hell he could afford 2 of them!"

Rose tilted her head. That's why it was so expensive? Because it reduced aging?

"Of course you don't get it," The girl in front of her tched, "You're a—."

"A Homunculus?"

Elsa provided a wry smile. "I didn't mean it in a bad way."

Rose almost wanted to laugh. Instead, she chuckled.

"I know, I know

Elsa cough, shrugged, and pointed to the table between them, "Let's just finish eating."

"Mhmm mhmm," The homunculus nodded.

The plate in front of Rose had spaghetti, meatballs, and a sauce she was unfamiliar with. On the right was a cup of juice. Of course, they were already half-eaten.

"You can do a lot. . ." Rose muttered.

"I can only cook simple things. . ." Elsa replied, "So you like it?"

"It's good."

When she actually ate, Rose wasn't picky.

"Thanks."

Her friend seemed happier at that answer, however.

The afternoon passed and the night came. When the girl went to sleep, and she physically could not, Rose pondered on the fact that she was learning a lot from her stay here, both about this world and the individual known as Elsa.

Yet, deep within the night, her pad blinked up as a call came her way with the word 'Mare' on screen. When she accepted it, what came to view was a shaking camera and a girl on the run. The person looked behind her, then back forward.

Noticing the waving brown hair and the sunburn eyes that squinted in uncertainty, Rose thought the info-breaker was definitely on the run from something.

"Save me and I'll pay you! Ten thousand—no, 20k!"

The individual cut straight to the chase and a map popped up besides the face to reveal her location. There was the sound of pulses, the vrooms, and Rose saw sparks of blue fly overhead as Mare jumped to the side, the view changing to her head resting on a wooden wall.

The girl released a breath. "—you're the only person that answered this late at night, come on, come on, deal?"

Rose smiled at the word 'only person.' Her core hummed and her mind spun to the thought of how she could use this information.

"That looks dangerous. You have a group chasing after you, don't you?"

"They want to get into Alos, and they don't want to pay for the information, and now they're trying to rob me." Mare gritted her teeth, peered besides the wooden wall, then looked back. "I hate those types of people the most."

"How to enter Alos. . ." Rose muttered, "That sounds interesting."

The info-broker gnashed her teeth.

"I'll add it to the price of saving me, how does that sound?"

'She's desperate,' Rose thought. It didn't sound like a simple case of just information. She was now curious.

She was about to answer back when the words 'Found her!' crossed over the feed. The girl tried to run but a fist found her face too, 'Let go of me!', —then, the sound of punching, and two humans were down on the floor, wrestling as the video shook.

Rose stood up and made for her dune-buggy as quickly as she could. The girl wasn't close, but the streets were deserted, so the motor made way with speed.