Luke remembered the first time the song had blown up in a bar. It had been stupid and loud and kind of funny. They had owned it.

  This?

  This was different.

  Now he was sitting in the meeting hall, watching the most powerful people in District 1 pound on the conference table and belt out THUD THUD like drunk recruits.

  He didn’t know where to look.

  So he stared at the table and let his face burn.

  By the second chorus, everyone else in the room was pounding their desks in rhythm. Because that was part of the song.

  “Oh, I always knew that one as the THUD THUD Song,” Lorena said.

  “No,” Kanuka shot back. “It’s called The Three of Ten. About three men who held their ground while they slaughtered the monsters.”

  Lorena burst out laughing.

  Luke dragged a hand down his face. “We are never going to live that down, are we?”

  “Not as long as there’s beer and drunks,” Kanuka said, already slamming his palm against the table.

  THUD THUD

  “So you were part of the Three of Ten. The ones who fought through the teleportation sickness,” Ren said, grinning.

  “Yeah, we were,” said Luke.

  Ren cleared his throat. “Right. What that also means,” he continued, more serious now, “is you were part of the first expedition.”

  “Yeah,” Luke said.

  “Gotcha,” Ren replied. “I just wanted to confirm. Because now we can make some points.”

  “What point?” Luke asked.

  “The point is, you probably see a lot more action than most Black Mask members,” Ren said.

  “Not the most,” Luke replied.

  “Top ten percent?”

  Luke shrugged. “Yeah. Probably.”

  “And you like being in the field?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you like using your blade?”

  “Yep.”

  “You’ve killed a lot of mobs?”

  “Yep.”

  Ren nodded once. “These are all very interesting facts.”

  Lorena tilted her head. “I think I know where you’re going Ren. You’re also one of the ones who lives in the Living Core, right, Luke?”

  “Yeah,” Luke said.

  Kanuka nodded. “Luke’s put in enough contribution points to earn that room.”

  Luke lifted a hand slightly. “I can give it up if someone needs it, though. It just lets me get out quicker to the district gates.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Ren laughed. “No. You’re here to help us, not to lose privileges you earned.”

  Luke nodded. “Still happy to help.”

  “You’ve been really great,” Ren said.

  “Thanks,” Luke replied.

  Ren looked around the table. “Here’s the point that I think we’re all circling. Luke, being originally Cracked—forgive my bluntness—”

  “No problem,” Luke said. “That’s what we were.”

  “You attuned to Towerbound faster than most. When the merge happened, you adjusted faster too. So maybe you’re not Cracked anymore.”

  He held up a finger.

  “Maybe you’re mana-sensitive.”

  Lorena’s eyebrows lifted. “Ooh. That sounds fancy.”

  Luke felt the word settle in his head.

  Mana-sensitive.

  It sounded noble. Clean. Special in a destined one kinda way.

  Another thought rose up just as quickly. He remembered his history.

  “I’m still proud of being Cracked,” he said quietly. “We went through a lot.”

  WickerBasque glanced over at Luke. “Luke, you and the rest of the Cracked are some of the most elite among the Black Masks. I think this is a big part of why. So yeah—you should be proud of it.”

  “Hmmm,” Ren continued, “if the mana-sensitive are simply more sensitive to mana, then we would’ve seen more spell casting incidents. But we haven’t. Luke’s the only one.”

  Reed leaned forward. “It’s probably not just mana affinity, Ren. It’s proximity. Being close to mana when a monster dies.”

  A short silence followed.

  “Ooh,” Leslie said.

  “That’s smart,” Lorena added.

  Kanuka nodded slowly.

  Ren glanced at Reed. A flicker of irritation crossed his face. ‘Agh! He just stole my dramatic reveal!’ Ren thought, grinding his teeth for half a second.

  He forced his expression back into something neutral.

  He absolutely was not going to pout.

  After clearing his throat. “Obviously. Yes. That’s true. But the next thing you have to consider is Luke’s ring. Hold it up, Luke.”

  Luke raised his hand.

  The ring band remained—troll bone setting intact.

  The mana fragment was gone.

  Only an empty socket stared back at them.

  Leslie frowned. “Did it fall out? Did you lose it?”

  Luke shook his head. “No. It just… got smaller and smaller. Then it fell out. I still have the original fragment. I just took it out and put it in a little baggie. I was going to get you to reset it.”

  “That’s not possible, that it fell out, I sized them perfectly,” Leslie said automatically.

  Then she stopped.

  She eased back into her chair.

  “Wait. Wait. Wait.”

  Her eyes sharpened.

  “I think I know why.”

  She leaned forward again.

  “Your body must be absorbing it. Or it’s being burned off somehow.”

  A beat of silence settled over the table.

  “Oh.”

  Kanuka’s eyebrows lifted.

  Lorena snapped her fingers. “That’s it.”

  Reed nodded. “That explains the shrinkage.”

  Ren gave a slow nod. “Smart thought Leslie.”

  Luke stared at the empty socket in the troll-bone setting.

  “So… I’ve been eating my jewelry?”

  Kanuka nodded once. “We can confirm it, wait a second. Wicker, can you send me the logs? I need how often Luke’s gone out by CatDozer and how often he’s used the teleport point.”

  There was a short pause.

  “Sure,” WickerBasque.

  Kanuka scanned the report, eyes moving fast.

  “I think I’ve got it.”

  “What?” WickerBasque asked.

  He looked around the table like he’d just hit the jackpot. “You see this? He uses the teleport point far more than his squadmates from that expedition.”

  Leslie leaned forward. “So the teleport point also eats mana?”

  “That’s the conclusion I’m reaching,” Kanuka said.

  Ren nodded slowly. “And if someone doesn’t have mana fragments on them, the teleport pulls it straight from their body.”

  Luke’s eyes widened. “Oh. Yeah. That would explain why newbies get really sick sometimes.”

  Ren nodded once, collecting the threads.

  “Alright. Here’s what we’ve got.”

  He started counting on his fingers.

  “Spending extended time in the Deadlands increases baseline mana exposure. Living inside the Living Core amplifies that effect.”

  Another finger.

  “Proximity to a monster at the moment of death appears to transfer mana directly into the body.”

  Another.

  “Mana fragments degrade when used, and in Luke’s case, may even be absorbed into the body during activation.”

  And finally—

  “The teleport point consumes mana. If you don’t carry fragments, it likely pulls from your internal reserves.”

  He lowered his hand.

  “That’s the working model. Deadlands exposure builds it. Living Core stabilizes it. Kill proximity spikes it. Teleport drains it.”

  Everyone around the table nodded, some already opening their mouths to comment—

  The meeting room doors swung open.

  Silk strode in.

  “I’ve done it, bitches!”

  Every head turned.

  Silk looked slightly unhinged, and very gory. There were dark smears of blood across his sleeves, a heavy splash across one shoulder, and a streak of drying red along his jaw where he must have wiped his face with the back of his hand. The front of his coat looked like something had burst too close to him—spattered, uneven, tacky in places.

  It wasn’t his blood. He didn’t look injured.

  He stood there breathing hard, eyes bright, hair half stuck to his forehead.

  Silk looked like a man who had just finished something violent and successful—and hadn’t bothered to clean up first.