A Light Within Darkness.

Once the dull-faced woman came over to retrieve us, I had managed to calm down Elesmere so her psychic energies didn't leak out and trip any alarms the casino might have for nascent psykers that may be trying to hedge their bets as the house needed every edge to rip people off.

"Let's get the material we need and leave... The filth of this place is reminding me of why I spent so much of my life on the warrior path." Elesmere almost snarled if it weren't for her Eldar control over her emotions keeping her face and tone blank.

Yup got to keep her away from anything resembling a pleasure cult or anything too far on the degeneracy scale even with her no longer needing to fear Slaanesh with the runic array I engraved onto her soul.

Once the woman leading

led us to a highly ornately armored door, she knocked on the door with a weird pattern before the familiar voice of the man who sold me the star essence came through the door.

The secretary then opened the door for us before bowing and stepping away from the door with her eyes turned firmly to the floor not meeting either of our eyes or the man who was within the room with an extreme form of deference.

"Jake. Jake. Jake. Not even a couple months and you worked your way up from just another Underhive sucker to an actual citizen of this Hive. Impressive especially your taste for women marks you as a man of good taste." He said almost seemingly proud of me but I didn't miss the covetous looks he was throwing towards Elesmere,

Elesmere cleared her throat, and the man rolled his eyes as he chuckled. "Yes Yes. In any case, I imagine you are here for those rocks from the center of a moon, correct?" At our nods, he curiously remarked. "Such odd items... It's almost as though you were using them for some type of heretical ritual. As an... Upstanding citizen of our Emperor's Imperium I can't be known to be consorting with witches or otherwise."

I leaned forward as I spoke quietly. "Quit with the bullshit, you have the beginnings of a literal sex cult in your VIP area... I wonder whether the Inquisition who is all stirred up from a bunch of Xeno's being found in this Cistern City will want to make an example out of you... So, give me my fucking rocks so I can pay you and we can both go on our separate ways."

The man looked about ready to scream at us with the way his face blushed a dark puce in anger before he took a deep breath and smiled uglily. "The five thousand credit deal for the rocks has changed to thirty."

My eye couldn't help but twitch in frustration before I likewise smiled and nodded. "Very where bring the rocks and if they are what I want I have ten thousand on me for a down payment and with our identity as 'toll collectors' for the Coin Guild we will get the rest in a couple days."

The man seeing the proof of our jobs paled, as we were what amounted to be armed enforcers to the Guild that had the Casino's whole operation in a vice with how they could literally deny the guards that kept the place in such great business from going there or worse prop up a business rival.

"I see..." He muttered as he realized he kicked a steel plate in his arrogance.

Finally, a couple minutes later of awkward silence a scantily clad woman pushed in a tray with a small pile of silver rocks that I could feel projecting a cold Qi to my senses.

"Here is your payment," I said throwing down exactly thirty single-piece credits making a small pile of them on the man's desk.

"What is the meaning of this boy!?" He snarled literally offended by the paltry number of credits that was worth even less than one of his socks.

"The fact that you don't know the significance of that number of credits is very telling... Our business has been concluded and I hope that you will be a better person in the next life." The man's eyes widened, and I heard a drawer loudly open beside him as he franticly reached for what was probably a Las pistol or something, but I flicked one of the small moon core stones in front of me like a paper football and a wet crunching noise rang out as the rock shattered the man's skull and he slumped face first into his desk.

I knew all too well with the way he was coveting Elesmere and with the way he reacted to hearing our position in the Coin Guild that he was going to attempt to have us silenced rather than allow our enmity to possibly grow further where I could use my influence in the Coin Guild to have him replaced or more likely killed if I didn't just actually run to the Inquisition and they decided to skin or burn him alive to set an example.

"Elesmere take the largest couple rocks you only need a couple," I said coolly and then I handed her the ones with the thickest Lunar Qi as we almost nonchalantly walked out of the office with only the secretary waiting outside for us.

"He said that wants his girls sent up to him to celebrate along with you to participate," I said making the dull-faced secretary pale in fright and scamper away.

Elesmere obviously knowing I was just trying to buy some time for us to get out of the casino before alarms could be rang kept quiet and thus, we managed to get out of the casino and to the checkpoint back into the Lowerhive without any issues.

Finally, once we arrived back at our warehouse she spoke once we entered. "Was it really necessary to kill him? Not that I argue that such a degenerate human shouldn't be tortured by the Great Enemy for his perversions but killing a high-level member of that casino could block you from getting hard to source resources without people asking too many questions."

I nodded as her words were honestly correct but for now, I had the core of my first sun which would last me a long while until I was ready to create another one and Elesmere had her rocks needed to make her first internal moon.

Once we needed more of those particular resources, I would have the cultivation to literally go and survive in the blanket of stars as at the Earth Realm which is three realms ahead will allow me seal up my body with Qi and be able to operate in the vacuum of space even travel would be slow as hell to say the least until I hit the realm after that.

"We no longer needed his resources and with how we already offended him it was best to simply strangle any karma we had in the cradle rather than allow him to plot some revenge," I said tiredly as we went into Elesmere's little room, and she had a done a good deal more decorating with even making a thicky padded floor so she could sit and meditate upon it whereas I was a smart person and simply meditated on my very comfortable bed.

"So what do I need to do now Jake?" She asked as she sat down on her prayer mat with her moon core rocks assembled around her.

Mentally categorizing the information, she would need and thankfully with now being in the Nascent Realm, I was able to wordlessly transmit the Solitary Yin Moon via placing a glowing finger to her head making her eyes close and grimace as even her Eldar mind was briefly overwhelmed with the deluge of how to create a moon made out of the coldest of energies that could even freeze entropy at the later stages.

"I will help guide the energies within you. But keep in mind the collision of my Yang and your new uncontrolled Yin energies will lead to pure Creation-grade energies... In other words, you will want to procreate and for cultivators like us, things like a species difference will mean nothing... I can literally impregnate a tree or a rock if I wanted to. And so could you get pregnant by absorbing their energies in certain ways." I told her making her face twitch

I couldn't help chuckle at the normally unflappable space elf looking so disturbed at the thought of either of us doing the deed with some random rock. "Alright so just pay attention or you can literally freeze your organs solid and even your space magic psychic nonsense can't save you if your heart is solid ice."

"Is it too late for me to change my mind and just be a pillow princess concubine you can sleep with?" She said drily and I snorted in reply.

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