Late in the evening, half a block away from Quinn's shop, Nova and Anny were waiting for a certain someone. The moonlight barely penetrated the narrow space between buildings, casting everything in deep shadow.

Nova checked the position of the moon for the third time. His small frame leaned against the weathered wall, seemingly relaxed but alert to every shifting shadow.

"You're sure he'll show up?" Anny whispered. Her eyes scanned the darkened street visible from their position, now only sparsely populated by drunkards and shadowy figures.

"Not sure, but I believe he will." Nova's gaze shifted toward the distant lower district. The usual sounds of drunken brawls and desperate haggling were notably absent tonight. "The fact that the city still seems peaceful should be indication enough."

A sudden voice sounded from further down the alleyway, signaling the arrival of the crime boss. "I'm glad you have so much faith in me."

The shadows seemed to peel away as Nihil emerged from the darkness, walking alone through the streets he used to own. His movements were cautious, favoring his right side slightly.

'I healed him almost perfectly, but I guess some damage was unavoidable… Still, given some more time, it should be fine.'

Nihil's eyes landed on Anny, and his mouth pulled into a frown. "Damn, there's another one of you?"

Anny curtsied lightly, acting surprisingly formal in the grimy alleyway. "Nice to meet you, crime boss. You can call me Anny." Her voice remained light, but her eyes never left his hands, tracking for any sudden movements.

"Yeah, sure." Nihil's dismissal was immediate. The tension in his body spoke volumes about his discomfort at being so exposed.

"How are things?" Nova asked, ready to get the meeting over with. He was ready for bed.

"Oh, pretty damn bad, all thanks to you." Nihil spat on the cobblestones. A bitter laugh escaped him as he gestured vaguely toward the lower district. "Rumor of my downfall spread already before you healed me, so there's been no shortage of fires to put out."

Nova's eyes narrowed. "...And by fires, you mean..."

"Well, all the kinds of crime you imagine would happen in a lawless land." Nihil's hand unconsciously moved to his side where Nova's attack had shattered bone just days earlier. "Even a bit of cannibalism."

Nova groaned lightly, taken aback by the darker sides of humanity. He knew what people were capable of doing, even outside of desperate times, but it still bothered him. "...But you've managed to keep it under control?"

"I've lost well over half my people thanks to you." Nihil's gaze hardened. The moonlight caught the network of scars across his face, making them look like silver threads woven into his skin. "But yeah, the killers are all dead. Word has spread that I'm not gone yet, so things have calmed. But I… need some help."

"Money?" Nova guessed.

"Yeah. Or rather, food." Nihil looked away, clearly finding it hard to ask. "Whatever we can provide now isn't enough. Won't be long before the promise of death is unable to stop the killings anymore."

Nova looked at Anny. She was the one responsible for their gold, as well as the general trade and economy of their group.

She nodded, understanding Nova's wordless question. "We can offer a bit. But what of the souls you've managed to get so far? Shouldn't they be enough to buy food?"

Nihil shook his head. "We give what we can back to the survivors. Only a few souls without suitable inheritors have been sold, but they're not nearly enough to keep things afloat."

'That's surprisingly noble of them. If it's true…'

Nova studied the crime lord's face, searching for signs of deception. The dim light made it difficult to read his expressions, but the desperation in his voice seemed genuine.

"How are you even distributing this food?"

"You haven't seen the marks on shops and restaurants?" Nihil gestured toward the wall beside them. The faint outline of a symbol was barely visible in the moonlight. It was an intricate pattern of overlapping letters. "This one right here is one of mine."

Nova traced the symbol with his eyes. "Yeah, I've seen them before."

"We offer them protection and some gold in return for offering food to a certain number of people bearing my mark every day. But as you can imagine..." Nihil's voice trailed off.

"You can't buy enough spots, and the protection no longer sounds as important?" Anny finished for him. A rat scurried across the alley behind them, disappearing into a crack in the wall.

"Exactly." Nihil's shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly. For a moment, the hardened crime lord looked like any other man carrying a burden too heavy to bear alone.

The distant sound of a tavern fight broke the silence—shouts and breaking glass carried on the night breeze. Nihil's head turned slightly toward the noise, but he made no move to investigate. It wasn't an uncommon sound in the area.

"...It's a surprisingly clever system you've implemented." Nova's voice was thoughtful. "Not to mention kind. But a good deed does not redeem a bad one."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Nihil waved his hand dismissively. Bitterness crept into his voice as he leaned against the wall. "Just kill me whenever you feel like it."

"...As long as you're only doing good, it would be foolish to do so." Nova's face remained impassive, but his words carried a weight of their own. "So the ball is in your court."

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Confusion flashed across Nihil's scarred features. "Court? Ball?"

"Yeah, uh, it means it's up to you." Nova realized too late that the idiom wouldn't translate well. The slip reminded him of how much this world differed from his first.

"Huh, never heard that before." Nihil pushed himself away from the wall with a grunt. The movement was stiff, as he was still healing from his injuries. "Well, now you know how it's going. Call me through that communication formation when you've got some gold to spare."

"Will do." Nova nodded once, a gesture of acknowledgment rather than respect. "I'll be in touch."

Nihil left as quickly as he appeared, melting back into the shadows with practiced ease. The darkness seemed to welcome him, swallowing his form until only the faint sound of footsteps remained, growing fainter with each passing second.

'...That used to be my gimmick. But I guess he can have it. Suits him better anyways.'

Anny turned to Nova with a raised eyebrow. She spoke in their old language again, ensuring no one could listen in. "Ball in your court? What life is that from?"

Nova relaxed slightly now that they were alone. "The first one. It's based on a ball game, where the ones who have the ball are supposed to act."

"Huh..." Anny looked thoughtful. She had rarely lived in worlds with normal humans, so who knew what she was imagining. "Is it fun?"

"I never liked it much, to be honest." Nova started walking toward Quinn's shop, his footsteps nearly silent on the cobblestones. A faint smile played across his lips at the memory. "I was more about baseball."

Anny fell into step beside him. "Did all your games revolve around balls?"

"...Pretty much, yeah." The absurdity of discussing ancient Earth sports while walking through the darkened streets of Collport wasn't lost on him.

"Interesting..." Anny's voice carried a hint of amusement as they left the alley behind, two children walking confidently through the dangerous night—a sight that would have raised eyebrows if anyone had been watching.

The next day, Nova was ready. His fingers itched to craft something with the new forge, equipped with all kinds of new formations that should help the process.

'I might even surpass my skill in the third life. Or at least my results might.'

He had a clear plan: Forge equipment that would make them stronger in the dungeon. And the thing that would be most important was undoubtedly the ring of storage.

'I don't know what kind of environment we can expect to face down there, which is why the ability to bring a bunch of stuff will be extra important. Then comes weapons and armor.'

He had searched the city for a material that might be compatible with the enchantment he planned to put on the ring, but the best one seemed to be the one he already owned—the Solium bars.

'I can make better ones later. The Dungeon City probably has a lot of material we can look into.'

Nova activated his forge with a touch of essence, watching as the runes illuminated in sequence. The formations he'd built flared to life, ready to serve their master's will.

[Fragment of Nova Gorton equipped.]

The familiar rush of the blacksmith's soul fragment filled him with focus and precision. The world around him faded into inconsequence as his awareness narrowed to the materials before him.

He placed a bar of Solium into the forge, watching as it began to glow with silvery-blue light.

"Perfect," Nova murmured, lifting the Hammer of the Mountain's Heart. The tool felt eager in his grip, almost humming with anticipation. He hadn't had a chance to properly test its capabilities yet.

Rather than pulling the Solium from the forge traditionally, Nova channeled essence through the formation he'd built specifically for precision work. The glowing metal rose from the heat, suspended in the air before him. This method wasn't strictly necessary for a ring, but it would allow him to create the initial form of the metal with far greater precision.

'I wonder if I can forge two things at once, or if that interferes with the forging system… Best not to take any chances.'

The metal slowly shaped into a small ring under his guidance, perfect for his tiny fingers. Then it landed on the anvil, ready for his strikes.

The hammer connected with the Solium, and to his satisfaction, the metal yielded perfectly. Goddon's Flux Enchantment resonated with his touch, allowing him to shape the metal with a finesse that would have been impossible otherwise. It was soft, much softer than steel, so he had to be careful.

He worked methodically, striking and shaping as the metal cooled and reheated itself through his formations. Each tap of the hammer directed the flow of both metal and essence simultaneously.

Nova set the hammer aside. For the next phase, his fingers would be his tools.

'Now for the enchantment… I hope I have enough Mental Control to make these precise runes on such a small object.'

Unlike the straightforward strength enchantment he'd placed on the hammer, a storage ring required something more complex. The enchantment needed to create a pocket dimension—a space where physical laws bent to accommodate objects many times larger than the ring itself.

Nova traced runes directly onto the cooling Solium with a tiny needlepoint of essence hovering in front of his fingertips. Each symbol was carved into the surface as his essence interacted with the metal. These weren't the standard runes taught by the church's magical academics—these were ones he had created on his own, in his previous life as an archmage.

The runes formed concentric circles around the ring's band, spiraling inward toward the face. Each circuit represented a different aspect of the storage enchantment—one for dimensional folding, another for preservation, and a third for accessibility.

As the pocket dimension formed, Nova felt a slight tug in his essence. The space wasn't large by the standards of his previous life, closer to the space of a small chest, but it would serve their needs admirably.

He lifted the completed ring, inspecting it in the forge's light. Its silvery surface caught and reflected the glow. The runes were now nearly invisible except for a slight shimmer when viewed at the right angle.

[Created: Solium Storage Ring (Epic) {Grade 5}]

[A masterwork ring capable of storing items in a pocket dimension. The Solium material enhances the stability of the dimensional pocket, allowing for safer storage of essence-infused items. Forged by Nova.]

[Enchantment: Dimensional Pocket Enchantment {Grade 5}]

[An advanced enchantment that creates a stable pocket dimension within the ring. This enchantment allows for conscious control over the organization of stored items.]

Nova smiled, slipping the ring onto his finger. With a thought, he tested the storage function, sending his hammer into the pocket dimension. It disappeared from his hand, and he could sense it waiting within the ring's space, ready to be recalled whenever needed.

'Not bad for a first attempt,' he thought, already planning the weapons and armor he would craft next. 'This should give us an edge in the dungeon.'

He unequipped the fragment, feeling the hyper-focus fade. The forge continued to burn steadily, ready for whatever challenge he would present next.

'I wonder what Anny will think of this,' he thought as he admired the ring one last time. 'She'll probably have suggestions for the next one.'

He turned to look in her direction, and the sight froze his blood.

"ANNELIE!"

Anny was no longer there. Instead, she was replaced by a giant sack of mismatched limbs and furred patches of skin. It was massive, taking up nearly the entire width of the room, and pulsing slowly. Limbs protruded at impossible angles, some ending in claws, others in hooves or taloned fingers. Patches of fur in various colors stretched across bulging surfaces that shifted and reformed with each labored pulse.

'What the fuck happened? Is that Anny? Did her beasts run amok?'

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