A Light Within Darkness.

That brief stint in the now-named Demon Slaughtering Kiln allowed my Cultivation to reach the second level of the Nascent Realm without issue and I realized that for all the good this enhanced Cultivation would do for my strength, I still needed to get out of my hole and put my growing strength into practice lest I lose track of my Cultivation's progress.

So, after talking with Elesmere I decided that getting a sort of mercenary job down here in the Lowerhive would be the best option for us that would give us a pass that would allow us to easily enter the Underhive so we could still use the Spider Domains mutated creatures and resources in the name of hunting down problematic individuals.

Hence the desire to directly join the Coinage Guild as the Guild that literally controlled the planet's credit-based currency had the dubious honor of also being the ones running a bounty hunting service.

Plus being connected with the Coin Guild will allow me to connect with actual merchants with space-faring ships or in other words I could actually hitch a ride on one of their ships to get off this rock.

After a bit of back and forth with Elesmere about my plans and thoughts she allowed me to use a minor illusion spell that was tied to a small medallion she now wore under clothes that hid her ears as she wanted to help me gather resources for her next cultivation material as I didn't want to just keep transporting water with how the 'poor' people down there reacted to it.

Hence an hour later we were finally seated inside an office of some mid-level arrogant bureaucrat who had gotten too comfortable lording over these Lowerhive people who were terrified of being banished into the Underhive where they would likely be eaten by other humans or the mutated creatures.

"Hmm, you and your... wife want to join the illustrious Bornean, Guild of Coinage as one of our 'toll collectors.' Why should we accept you when you don't have any form a reputation here in our humble side of the Lowerhive." The fat bureaucrat simpered, and I had to hold in my revulsion at his form. He was to put bluntly morbidly obese and if I didn't know better I would think he was a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus with how many cybernetics he had attached to him with a literal hose implanted in his stomach pumping in some form of slurry into his stomach area.

But no, he was just so fucking fat that all of his cybernetic were implanted so the lard ass didn't need to turn his swiveling chair to grab papers and other stuff around his office as the small cranes did his work for him basically.

'The flesh is pure. Do not fall into the entrapment of the machine. It will seek to render you into a lard ass that will crush your elf waifu if you attempt to sleep with her.' I thought a new mantra that calmed my disgust at the form in front of me.

"Me and my companion have lived in the Underhive and more importantly prospered before we were given a pass for contributions to the Hive Cites security. We are fully capable of acquiring the 'tolls' that we hunt." I said unleashing a bit of cultivation in a form of killing intent that weighed on the man in front of us who shivered with his metal cybernetics clanking with the motion.

"Yes yes. yes. I see! In that case here are your badges" The man then clapped his hands, and a floating Servitor Skull flew out of a small alcove close to the ceiling with a couple hand sized plaques with a small screen on the badge. "These serve as a form of proof of position and more importantly they can take pictures of your work so you can remotely turn in jobs through a Vox connection so no one knows who turned in which job so people can't get revenge on you." The man explained happily with his fat jiggling as the man realized that we were likely dangerous people who could collect the Guilds 'tolls' without too many issues with our prior experience in the Underhive.

"And should the Guild sell the information on who completes said jobs?" Elesmere asked breaking her silence.

The man shrugged as one of his cybernetics pointed to the Servitor who was floating away. "Kinda hard to bribe a flying skull but if someone is capable of remotely hacking into our records then you have bigger issues as cybernetic crimes basically never happen down here in the Lowerhive as no one is rich enough to have the electricity to power a powerful enough computer to do so."

Basically, he said that if anything we would have stepped on the toes of some gang from the Middlehive if they could break into a Guilds security but honestly, I wasn't too afraid of some two-bit gangsters that at best have a couple Las pistols or Las Carbine as any heavier weaponry they couldn't move them from their holdings to attack me as I am traveling around the Lowerhive and the Underhive.

"Good doing business with you then," I said throwing fifty credits onto the bureaucrat's table making the man chuckle and literally a small crane thingy came out of an unfolding flap of skin on the front of his throat picked up the credit and made a wet slurping nose as the small crane was hidden back in his throat.

As we walked out of the office of the bureaucrat, I couldn't help but shiver in revulsion and as I took Elesmere's hand I pulled her out of the office as I couldn't help but notice other people's cybernetics and wonder if they two had weird shit just hiding under their skin.

"You know I used to think the Adeptus Mechanicus was so cool when I was younger with all their cool machines... The shoulder-mounted weapons and power tools also played a part, but now I am very much a believer that the flesh is pure and should remain untainted."

Honestly, at this point, I would rather see the gaping hole someone had at losing an eye than the cold glowing red eyes that all these people who had a cybernetic eye added for better information retention.

Elesmere nodded as she walked beside me before she responded with some Eldar wisdom. "Flesh that is immortalized and may still be trained should be unsullied by metal that will rust and may not be improved purely by hard work and skill. Lady Yvraine said that when she briefly was on my Craft world when a great number of sword-teaching ancestors all died fighting off a Greater Khorne demon who challenged all of our sword wielders and slaughtered them in honorable singular combat with that damned chaos god somehow enforcing some form of a domain that prevented us from attacking the demon in mass or with projectiles or even our Psyker abilities."

"What happened to that demon?" I asked as such a thing honestly was a bit out of character for Khorne to interfere with a demon's battles except to grant them more strength but then again, his domain did include honorable combat, so it wasn't a surprise with how much he hated magic that he evened the playing field.

"Lady Yvraine feeling the psychic outcry of the death from our Craftworld's sword wielders, some even she trained herself a great many years ago had her tear her way through the Warp with great fury crossing more than half the galaxy in but moments before she arrived and with a single swing of her Crone Sword, she smote the Bloodthirster and then used her psychic abilities to bind the diced up remains of the Bloodthirster within the sun our Craftworld was orbiting so it would be tortured until the sun died or went supernova. Unable to reform within the Warp."

I couldn't help but be reminded that despite the vast majority of entities waging endless war here in this galaxy being little more dangerous than a super soldier with an enhanced body there were still planet busters out here in the Materium or 'realspace'.

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