Claire was laying in her bed, telekinetically juggling summoned pens in the air using [Scholar's Cantrip]. Her mind was wandering between games, stories, and the end of her working relationship with Draxon Inc.

  She felt frustrated. She felt entitled to another contract with Draxon, even though she knew that was unreasonable, which made her even more frustrated.

  The upside was that the 22 000 Indigo she's earned would come a long way. If she spent it just on paying half of the rent and utilities for her family, it would last her five months and change.

  But she probably wouldn't do that. She was now a dealmaker - or Dealer, if she continued to use the moniker - and so she needed something to deal in.

  The [Mark Of the Beast] was the most immediate option. An all around boost was something that anyone would find useful, though if she wanted to gain soul parts from the deal, she would have to work with people who gain enough SP to part with some of it.

  In other words, warriors. The people who killed off the monsters spewing from Breaches and then delved inside to plunder the other dimension for magical materials.

  Because awakened gained soul power by doing things that fulfilled their class - that fed their personal legend - and by honing their abilities, warriors grew in power much quicker than non-combat classes. One either overcame the odds and came back with a proportional gain, or they died. Or became crippled and retired, which some considered even worse, because you couldn't get a new class just by asking. One had to evolve for their class to change, but that required growth in the first place, so fighters who couldn't fight were essentially stuck.

  From what her mother told her, the most risky period for a warrior was shortly after awakening, as they hadn't yet got accustomed to their new abilities, their firepower was lacking, and there was a certain minimal level of danger that even the weakest monster presented. These people could certainly use a boost, and since otherwise progressing would be much harder, they could surely spare a portion of the power they would earn thanks to the boost.

  When Claire ran the idea by Vivian, she agreed the strategy was sound.

  "You could probably just set up a stand next to the Briarwood dungeon. Actually, Decker runs a buff stall there, I'll just call him and you can run your business with him."

  "Dungeon" was a nickname for a stable Breach that had been contained and was routinely exploited by warriors to gain experience, SP, and loot. Needless to say, dungeons were a huge boon to the local economy, and if a private company owned one, they could get supremely rich just by charging the warriors for entry. Fortunately, the Atlantean Republic's laws stated that all dungeons were state-run. Nonetheless, each one inevitably sprouted a market catering to the warriors that waited for their turn to delve. Weapons, mercenaries, supplies for longer delves, and even the casting of buff spells.

  Stall space was quite expensive, more so the closer to the dungeon entrance one got, so if this Decker let her run her offers from his spot, she would have a much easier time making a profit.

  Vivian called Decker and arranged for Claire to rent a part of the stall space he owned at a "friends and family" discount. When Claire arrived at the spot two days later, he also helped her decorate the small stall that stood right next to his. The spot was within the sight of the dungeon entrance, which was quite good. Lots of people passed by them despite the early hour - the dungeon never really closed.

  She leaned into the "deal with the devil" theme hard, using her [Glamour] to deepen the purple shade of her skin and putting horns above the stall name tag, which read "Dealer's Choice". The text underneath her table promised "buffs with diverse payment options!"

  "I was thinking 100 indigo or 10% of their SP earnings per day." Claire described her pricing to Decker.

  The raccoon-eared fat man that sat next to her stroked his chin in thought. "I'd say that's reasonable. Maybe you could give a discount if the whole party takes all four slots. Say, down to 60 per person per day. Parties love group discounts, shared expenses can hit them hard. The SP payment option could also go down to 5% for groups. The four slots restriction you have is quite painful, though."

  "Yeah, I plan having it so people can book the use of the Mark in advance. Targeting parties would be especially good for this."

  At this, she quickly added "discounts for parties!" to the text.

  They talked about the business of buff selling in general, until a pair of warriors approached their double stall. One was a tall, pale blond man in his twenties wearing armor that looked like a mixture of medieval plate and modern kevlar, with a spear hanging on his back. The other was a woman of the same age, palor and hair color. She was wearing lighter armor, somewhat resembling biker clothing, and a large backpack likely filled with the pair's supplies. She had a gun holstered on her hip.

  Their gear lacked even basic enchantments and yet looked completely undamaged, so it was likely their first ever delve.

  "So, what's the buff?" The man asked as he walked in front of Claire.

  "It's a comprehensive boost to the strength of body, mind, and soul. About plus forty percent of baseline. It lasts as long as I want, but I'm selling it in twenty-four-hour increments."

  "Huh. And what are these 'diverse payment options'?"

  "Well, you can either pay a 100 indigo a day, or forfeit ten percent of the Soul Power gains you get while you have the buff."

  "So you're gonna follow us to make sure we aren't scamming you? We can't exactly afford to babysit a non-combatant."

  "Don't worry, the contract takes care of everything."

  "Contract?"

  "Yes, to make sure neither one of us goes back on the agreement, I use magically-binding contracts. You won't scam me out of the SP, and I won't disable the buff at random."

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  "I see."

  The man stepped back and began whispering with his party member.

  Eventually, the woman spoke out loud. "Can we get a discount for the both of us?"

  "Well, usually I'd only offer it for groups of four, but since you're the first customers of the day, I'll give it to you for... let's day 130 total."

  "What if we pay with SP?"

  "Six percent."

  The pair looked at one another. "Deal."

  Claire snapped her fingers, and two copies of the discussed contract appeared on the table, along with two expensive-looking pens. She'd trained for hours yesterday to be able to summon pre-written paper, as she knew firsthand that the trick made for quite the impression.

  "Please sign using your true name."

  Contract officiated. ×2

  "Thank you for your patronage, and good luck with your dive."

  The duo made their way to the dungeon after that.

  "I hope you won't take all of my business." Decker joked.

  It turned out to be wholly unwarranted, though. There were only so many first timers, and those who did pass by them were reluctant to slow their gains even for an otherwise free buff. One guy even recoiled as soon as he saw her up close, cussing her out as a "whore of Babylon", whatever that meant. I don't want business from those kinds of people, anyway.

  Decker, on the other hand, secured dozens of clients during the seven hours she sat there. About half of them were regulars, on friendly terms with the tanuki-man, asking for "the usual", which turned out to be a minor luck blessing.

  "What even is 'luck'?" She asked him between clients.

  "See, some events are the result of people making choices. If a person shoots their gun at you, you're going to get shot. But some events are outside of the direct control of any conscious being, and that's where luck comes in. Luck is a sort of karmic charge, a shroud around your soul that facilitates your connection to the world around you. If someone is lucky, their karma will subconsciously pull at those uncontrolled variables and bend them into results the person would deem beneficial. So the wind might suddenly throw a bit of sand into the eyes of the person shooting you, and they'd miss. Though those changes consume your karma, and so eventually you will literally run out of luck."

  "Does it work like Buddhists say, where if you do good deeds you gain karma?"

  "Unless you have a specific ability, like my blessing, karma fluctuates wildly, from minute to minute. Funnily enough, this randomness can't be affected by luck. But some people do have perks that make them gain karma if they help others. I've also heard of a woman who could steal others' karma, taking their luck for herself."

  Claire begun thinking hard. [Deal with the Devil] lets me exchange intangible concepts, and even listed luck as an example. I could sell my own luck...

  "Can people have negative karma?" She asked Decker.

  "Oh yes. I know what you're thinking, and I would not reccomend it. Karmic debt technically works the same way as good luck, but to have a bad situation turn worse... Luck, bad or good, is inherently uncontrollable. You don't choose when it triggers. I used to have an ability that borrowed my future luck. The paranoia of not knowing when the disaster will strike took years off of my life. Probably literally; I was smoking a lot back then to deal with the stress."

  She nodded. "But I could buy other people's luck, though, and then sell it to others."

  "Sure, but as I said, karma shifts fast without outside influence. If you don't have any ability that would stabilise it, it will just dissipate, or trigger a lucky event and run out that way."

  I really need to get an ability that lets me turn soul stuff physical.

  Claire ended up having another client that day, a brass automaton looking like they just escaped from a steampunk novel. She was curious whether they were human at some point and their class had changed their body into living clockwork, or if they were "born" this way, but she knew better than to pry.

  The automaton had quite a cheerful demeanor, and paid for the Mark with a credit card.

  Contract officiated.

  But then, another notification appeared.

  New advancements available.

  "Huh. I just got new advancements unlocked?"

  "Probably from using the Mark. Good for you."

  Show me the new advancements.

  Advancements unlocked since last perusal:

  [Rationing] Cost: 4 Mana Channels

  Augument for [Mark of the Beast]

  Allows to pour a varying amount of power into the Mark, up to its base value. Buff efficiency ratio stays constant.

  [Restructuring] Cost: 15 Mana Core, 5 Mana Channels

  Augument for [Mark of the Beast]

  Doubles the buff efficiency ratio.

  Rationing was great for the future, when one-sixth of her mana capacity was a good bit larger amount than now. She could maintain the same strength of the buff she sold while giving it out to more people at once. Perfect for her current business model.

  Restructuring was downright unfair. Sure, it cost a lot, but doubling the buff strength? Right now, the one-sixth of her capacity translated to about one-seventh of an newly-awakened person's capabilities. When she first tested it on her mother, it was one-eighth. Mana capacity and regeneration grew as one strengthened their mana core, so it seemed that buying abilities with a certain soul component would integrate that component into her soul.

  Which, in turn, meant that not only would [Restructuring] double the efficiency of mana capacity to buff, but it would also increase said capacity by integrating into her mana core.

  It was also interesting in that it was the first option she had gotten that had a mixed resource cost. She had the working theory that abilities costing channels involved manipulation and shaping of mana, while mana core abilities were about creating and generating things. In this way, it made sense that something like increasing the efficiency of a buff would be both adjusting how the mana flowed and generating additional effect from... something. Magic inherently spat in the face of conservation of energy and most other laws of nature. That was kind of the point.

  She then checked her overall status.

  Class: [Demonic Dealmaker]

  Soul Development:

  Soul Power: 10

  Soul Shell: 1

  Ether: 2

  Mana channels: 0

  Mana Core: 1

  Perks: [Silver Tongue], [Demon's Hide], [Diplomatic Immunity], [Beginner Diabolist]

  Skills: [Deal With the Devil], [Glamour], [Mark of the Beast], [Scholar's Cantrip], [Freishütz]

  I can't afford it even if I dip into my SP reserve.

  She was already missing the big windfall from the Draxon job. And how is it that I've grown so much in just a few days, and yet I feel so... lacking? Is this an effect of the demon-ness? Or have I always been so... insatiable?

  The day ended with Claire a 100 Indigo richer, and with a spark of greed in her heart.