Hugo briefly considered staying in bed all day and crying. He was mad at Oscar for betraying him, and furious at the academy for expelling him just because he didn’t rat out his roommate.

There wasn’t time to mope though. He had a debt to the school and he needed to work out a way to pay it. If he defaulted on the monthly payments, they could put him into debt bondage. The city would tell him were to live, where to work, and control his every movement until the debt was paid off.

Paying off his debt to the school would end up being years and years of debt bondage. He couldn’t stand the idea of giving up his freedom like that. No one wanted that. His father had died doing a risky job instead of allowing himself to go into debt bondage.

Things looked bleak.

That didn’t mean he was going to give up. This was an enormous setback, but he had to try and fix things.

He made himself breakfast after his mother left for work. He still felt hopeless and despondent, but not quite as depressed now that he started moving. He realized that he still had twenty-two days before his first payment was due, that was enough time to change things.

Not that he actually expected to successfully pay off his debt, but he knew that he would feel better about everything if he at least tried his best first. He had about eighty silver saved up, most of that from selling his party access to his crossbow. Now he just needed fourteen gold and twenty silver more.

His first thought was going out harvesting. It was a risky idea for more than one reason. First off, it was a profession with a high death rate. No one rescued you when you got in over your head. Secondly, even if he joined an amazing team and left right away, it seemed unlikely he could earn even half as much as he needed to. Marius got lucky killing a monster that dropped a grancryst, but that was a once in a lifetime thing, not something he could count on happening.

If the sentinels would still accept him up on the wall, that would be a great way to make more money. He just had to figure out how to pay for two months of school payments before then. Thirty gold was his new goal, half now, half later.

He organized his school supplies and sellable possessions and packed them up. Then he started walking all over town, trying to sell them all. Some things were easy to sell, like writing supplies and paper. Not that he got much for them.

The book on mana manipulation was only worth a silver. Apparently it was common and always in stock. He did end up selling the bestiary for much more though. That was in high demand by harvesters and the copy he had was a newer edition. It netted him two gold.

He tried to sell his crossbow, but no one would buy it. It really surprised him, Hugo knew that his crossbow was a quality weapon, he had used it to kill monsters himself. But it turned out that most weapons sold in town were made by a select few formation mages and they had exclusive contracts with the big weapon shops.

General stores didn’t have the same compunctions and happily bought up all of his bottles. They only paid thirty coppers each, but he had to admit that was a fair price. Out here there was a lot more market competition.

That gave him an idea, maybe he could get a job in a factory, producing household goods. Since he was still low leveled, they wouldn’t pay him much. But maybe it would be enough that by the end of the month... no. There was no way he could make fifteen bottles a day and make that much money.

It wasn’t like he knew of any bottle company in town anyway. There was a glassworks by the docks so he started walking that way. Then he remembered Mia’s vacuum bottles. He hadn’t had the time to make one yet, but the way she described it, it didn’t seem too hard. Maybe there was a market for bottles that would keep things hot or cold for a long time. It had to be worth more than a regular bottle.

He turned back home. Now he wished that he had kept some of his school supplies. He needed to write this down to get the math right. He just accepted that his mother would be mad at him and borrowed her paper. He wrote up the equations for a thick bottle, and then removed the parts that governed the middle of the bottle’s walls. He would have to create it all at once so that air wouldn’t get inside, but with Fabricate at level nine, he should be able to do that.

The first time he tried to create the bottle it seemed like a success, until he tried to put some water in it and it leaked. He hadn’t gotten the seals right.

The second and third time failed too. They had crumpled in the formation process. The fourth time he kept the math in the forefront of his mind, but also kept his will firm, focusing on controlling the aluminum and magnesium alloy. He practically talked to the metal so it wouldn’t move during the creation process.

This time it worked. He had a functional vacuum bottle. He grabbed it and danced around the kitchen. His mother didn’t have a cold box, so he couldn’t put anything cold in there, so instead he brewed a pot of tea and poured it into his bottle. He smiled as he picked it up, the bottle didn’t even seem warm.

A few hours later he found himself talking to the manager in charge of Klaashouse, the largest glassworks factory in the city. He had been surprised that he had gotten the meeting so quickly. He had expected to take a few days to work his way up the chain.

There were some advantages to being soulmarked. As soon as he created a trinket for the receptionist, he was led in right away. The manager seemed impressed when he poured out steaming tea from his vacuum bottle. They discussed how big his mana pool was and what he expected to make. Unfortunately that is where his luck ran out.

“Your invention is a good one. It really is. But it simply isn’t going to make you the money you want. Let me explain why,” she said. She got up and walked to her office window that looked over the factory floor, “Can you guess how many soulmarked I have working for me down there?”

Hugo looked down and saw about thirty people working the kilns and blowing glass. “I don’t know, maybe ten?”

“It’s two. One barrier and one ritualist. I haven’t hired more because I can’t afford more. The economics just don’t justify it. Sand is cheap, labor is cheap, and so my glasses and bottles are cheap. If I brought you onboard to make your special bottles, it would raise my operating costs to unreasonable levels. I just don’t think we could sell them for a high enough margin to make it worth it.

“I think you are going to find the same answer no matter where you go in housewares. This industry's margin comes from quantity, not quality. Of course, if you wanted to go into high end products, like mana carts or weapons, then you could charge platinums for your work,” she said.

Hugo’s heart sank. Maybe she was right. No one was going to pay a gold per day in this industry, even if he had completed his education. He really needed to change industries, like she said. The problem was, what kind of industry could he try and get into?

Weapons were probably a bad idea. His elements didn’t make strong weapons or armor. He still thought he made a good crossbow, but no one believed him. And he couldn’t work for the government because he wasn’t licensed. So that meant shimmer trains and shimmer casters were off limits.

He slowly walked home thinking of what his next attempt would be. He wasn’t quite so despondent today as he was yesterday. He had sold a few things and earned some money, which brightened his mood a bit. He only had to come up with twelve gold now.

Walking by the docks, he wondered if there was anything he could do there. He often saw a ship or two in the dry dock. Maybe there was a specialty implement he could create for them.

His musings were interrupted by a voice.

“Rebane! My cousin. So good to see you,” the fox gang member said.

Hugo swore internally then said, “It is nice to see a familiar face, particularly since you are so far from your normal home.” The fox gang didn’t operate on the docks, it was strange that he was here, particularly with his fox mask on.

“I have traveled far and wide to find you, little man. If it wasn’t for you, I would be sitting on my stoop at home,” he said, “The boss wants to talk to you. Come on, let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“I just said, didn’t I? The boss wants to talk to you, come on, it’s been hours since he sent me out. He said you would like the job offer.”

Hugo thought about whether or not he wanted to refuse. He could beat up this guy, easy. Even without his extra stats in strength and dexterity, the combat training he had gone through would help him take this guy down. That would make them enemies though. The fox gang had their share of soulmarked, so he needed to stay on their good side.

It would be easier to just listen to their job offer and politely decline.

“Of course, we shouldn’t keep the boss waiting,” Hugo said, “Who is the boss anyway?”

“The only name you are going to get is the boss. Let’s go already,” he said gruffly.

They walked from the docks straight north. As they walked, Hugo tried to remember everything he knew about them. He didn’t really know what exactly the fox gang did. They were always this amorphous entity that he tried to avoid growing up. But now that he had a summons from one of the gang leaders, he wished he knew more about their inner workings.

He knew the broad strokes of course. They shook down businesses for protection money. They ran drugs like ravim and blue silk. The worst hedge mages ended up with the gang. He was pretty sure that they were involved in the train heist at the beginning of the year. Basically all he knew was that they operated like most gangs, and they were greedier than they were smart. Not a good combination.

They ended up at a verivorst restaurant and headed downstairs. Apparently the criminal organization had their headquarters underneath a blood sausage eatery. He promised himself to never eat here. Who knews what they mixed in.

They passed several people wearing fox masks, but it was easy to tell when they had arrived at the boss. He was wearing the same white mask, but his had a vibrant red border. He was holding court in a large room, various people waiting their turn to talk to him.

When it was his turn, Hugo was pushed forward.

“Uh, hello? I understand you wanted to talk to me?” Hugo hesitantly said.

“Yes, of course. I heard that our neighborhood had a new soulmarked. And one with a formation domain too. A very welcome addition to our community,” the boss said.

A wave of dizziness passed through Hugo before he realized what was going on. He wasn’t having vertigo, the shadows in the room were moving. The boss must have the shadow domain and was showing off. It was working, Hugo was properly intimidated.

“Yes sir. I have the formation domain,” Hugo said.

“Ho ho. So polite. No need for honorifics here. My kits all call me by name. ‘The Boss’,” he said and laughed at his joke.

Kits. A baby fox was called a kit, and ‘the boss’ called his underlings kits. He was trying to be cute. It wasn’t working.

“I called you here to listen to a job offer. The nobles of this city do not live up to their name. They are greedy money grabbing sharks. We are too, if I am being honest. But they have failed their responsibility to the city. We must redistribute the wealth a bit, otherwise no one will look out for the poor. You are being given the chance to make a difference.”

The stress of the moment was making his head hurt. But the boss had a point about the gang caring for the poor. Hugo had seen the gang’s soup kitchens and knew how they built houses in the narrows. He was being offered a chance to be a criminal so he could help those efforts. He was strangely tempted at the offer. He had always considered himself an honest and stalwart citizen, but he had lost his respect for nobility. After seeing how the children of nobles treated those that they thought were beneath them, he no longer felt bad when they got robbed.

“I want you to join our little family. As a soulmarked, I would give you preference, and I think you could earn a mask within a year,” the boss said.

“Your offer is very tempting, sir, but as much as I respect the fox gang, I am a small man with meager ambitions. I cannot accept your kind offer. I would be happy to pay a toll for the pleasure of visiting though,” Hugo said. His face started turning red. He had no idea why he was trying to be so polite and officious. The stress was getting to him.

The boss laughed and said, “What? You got a better job offer, Mr. Drop out?”

The man had a point. No one else was willing to hire him, despite his magic. If he just wanted to make money, he could count on . Everything they did was illegal of course, but he was finding himself not caring about that as much as he used to. The last time he tried to be an upstanding citizen and stop a thief, the shimmer corps had shot him. And the dean of the academy had just kicked him out for being the roommate of a drug dealer. Maybe he was done playing by the rules.

"Come on, Hugo. You can make money and improve your community at the same time. Please accept my very generous offer," the boss said.

He waffled a bit before he eventually said, “What would I have to do?”

The boss smiled widely. He stood up and started giving him a tour. The restaurant above was just a cover for their extensive criminal network. The downstairs was much larger than the building above. There was a ravim distillery, a loan shark division, a room for the hedgies to practice, an armory for their protection racket, and a lockpicking training room. The rats in the corners of each room gave credence to the idea that the gang controlled them. The boss left Hugo in the lockpicking room for a bit, telling him that his new role in the organization would involve redistributing wealth.

...

Hugo’s headache eased as soon as he smelled the fresh air outside. He walked back to his mother’s place, unsure if he had made the right choice. On the one hand, he had a way of paying off his school loans and making money now. He was a bit surprised at himself though. If someone had asked him this morning if he would choose debt bondage or working for the fox gang, he would have chosen the bondage.

He had a sudden thought. The boss had been playing with shadows, showing off his domain. That meant that he probably had high charisma. The boss hadn’t really been that convincing, he had just been leaning on his stat. The realization sent cold shivers down his spine. He had been manipulated from the moment he saw the fox boss.

They must have known that the effect would wear off. That was probably why they had told him so much during that first meeting. He was complicit now. If he tried to leave, to escape the gang, they would have to kill him so he didn’t talk.

The realization that he had been duped would do him no good. It didn’t change his situation. His only choice was about what to do now. Maybe he could be an informer? Surely the corpsmen would appreciate the help in wiping out the fox gang.

Then again, he had heard of a few informants through the years. He didn’t know of any that were still alive. The city’s underground was impossible to hide from.

He shook his head. He had to be honest with himself. He had walked into that meeting with the fox boss on his own, before any charisma had a chance to work on him. He wanted to make money and this was a way to do it. He also wanted to be honest and good, but he wanted to be alive even more.