Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 41-42 (Patreon)

Time for more locations to appear and more old characters to resurface! Though Street Cultivation is intentionally more loosely paced, this third book is still meant to bring a number of major elements full circle.

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Chapter 41: Indecent Proposals

The first fifteen minutes with Damian were a whirlwind, riding along with him in an expensive limousine into the city. Thankfully, the women he used as accessories didn't try to engage with Rick in any way. Damian was perfectly on point as a vapid and self-absorbed Birthrighter. Given his salary with the GLA, he could likely do so even more effectively.

Eventually, however, they ended up in a restaurant. Rick felt a flicker of worry about the price, though he suspected that Damian would cover it. The restaurant looked far too prestigious for them, but Damian showed his GLA identification and they were escorted to a private room.

"Okay, girls, we need to do a bit of business now." Damian kissed one of the women on the cheek and gestured to a booth just outside the room. "Get whatever you want, on me."

They laughed and moved away, leaving Rick watching them in irritation. He didn't like Damian treating them that way when they just wanted to compete in their bikini contest, yet he couldn't deny that part of him wanted to look for different reasons. Though he'd been consumed by training for a long time, he was still human.

Still smiling lazily, Damian reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a small black device. It emitted some sort of aura field that surrounded the table, the sounds from the restaurant immediately falling away to nothing. Damian's smile dropped away as well, and he removed his mirrored sunglasses to reveal hard eyes.

"There, now we have our privacy. I also have a good reason to be here for business and personal alibis, so if you're going to suggest something stupid, it won't blow back on me." Damian regarded him seriously. "So, are you going to suggest something stupid?"

"Uh, I hope not. I was just going to suggest wrecking the world economy."

Damian rolled his eyes. "I regret ever telling you anything."

"How has that gone, by the way?" Rick asked. "You seem to have done a good job convincing everyone in the GLA that you're no one to be concerned about."

"What I want is for them to believe I buy into the whole system. I'm not advancing as fast as I'd hoped, but I'm making progress. It's all about seeing how the system works together."

"I'm sure that it is."

"Cut the bullshit." Damian abruptly sat forward, eyes moving directly to Katenka's tattoo, even though it was covered by Rick's sleeve. "What demon are you bringing into this? I didn't think you the type for a partial fusion, so you have to admit this is suspicious. If you've been forced into the meeting, you need to tell me now, so I can sever the b-"

"Calm down." Rick glanced to the side and found Katenka manifested there, regarding Damian coolly. More coolly than normal. "I chose to get this and Katenka is... my partner, I guess. I couldn't have developed this bond proposal without her."

All at once Damian's tension faded and he instead fixed Rick with a smirk. "Partner, is it? Not a very good choice, considering that you can't really touch each other."

Though Damian's concern had been valid, Rick wasn't really in the mood for any more games. "Do you want to hear about it or not, Damian? I couldn't give you all the details because I assumed the message might be read, but this is important. Maybe not to you, but it matters to me."

"If we're going to have this conversation, we all need to be able to talk to each other. Take this." Damian removed a small box from his suit jacket and pushed it across the table. Inside lay a single black flake that instantly struck Rick as reminiscent of the ground in the demon realm. "Eat that and you'll be able to manifest her visually. I hope this is worth the expense."

Rick carefully picked up the flake, feeling lucrim throbbing against his fingertips. He saw Katenka give him a nod, so he stuck it into his mouth and swallowed.

Searing power shot through him, but he couldn't grasp any of it. His instincts were to try to fold it into himself or to improve the Triune Golden Spheres, but the lucrim slipped from his fingers. Instead they flooded down his throat and into his right arm, soon concentrating on the tattoo so that he could feel every line. It was so cold that he felt his arm should freeze off, yet there was no pain.

Something shimmered over Katenka. She looked no different to him, but Damian's gaze shifted to look at her the way no one else ever had. His eyebrows rose. "A Siberian rusalka? That's not exactly what I expected."

"Rick has told me about you," Katenka said calmly. "I heard you intend to replace the world economy with a hellscape ruled by warlords."

Damian raised an eyebrow. "Just what have you been telling her?" Before Rick could answer, Katenka continued sharply.

"He was more positive, but I have my own opinion of your plans to break capitalism."

"I'm not about to debate economics with you. Either of you. If you want my help, you need to tell me exactly what kind of bond you have in mind."

Though they hadn't planned a formal pitch, they'd discussed the bond idea enough between themselves that it came easily. Rick started with his experience with the Golden Lucore, Katenka took over to explain the appeal of small bonds to demons, and they traded off talking about the new structure.

Putting it all together and explaining it aloud to another person, Rick was actually a bit surprised. It sounded impressive to him, and beyond that, it sounded like something far too complex for him to have ever figured out. Even if Katenka had done much of the contract and bond structure work, he would have had a hard time imagining being part of something like this.

Damian listened the entire time without the slightest flicker of emotion crossing his face. When they finished he remained silent, but Rick played the same game and waited. Eventually Damian sat back in his seat and sighed.

"Your idea is sound. You'd need some input from a lucrim engineer and more testing, but I think it would work."

"Really?" Rick knew he sounded over-eager, but he was honestly just glad to hear it. "Do you think the political side would work out? Would the GLA disapprove?"

"They wouldn't, and that's the problem. This doesn't really move the needle." Damian slowly shook his head, playing with the glass of wine he had yet to drink. "Even if your bond idea was wildly successful, it will only help a few people. Poor people, yes. But it will only keep propping up the system by making their lives a little more bearable, when what they need to do is overthrow it."

"I am sure," Katenka said precisely, "that all those waiting on your grand change are happy to apply the same logic."

"I didn't say that I rejected it completely. I absolutely can't help you myself, of course, as even this idea is too revolutionary for the persona I need to portray. But I can give you the contact information for several people in sub-organizations of the GLA. Check your spam folder over the next few days and you'll find some people who can help the bond get finished and approved."

Suddenly Rick's mind was racing with the possibilities. If the idea wouldn't work, Damian would definitely have shot him down, so this was actual validation instead of wishful thinking. They'd still need to work out the details, but then they could go to Bftgage and Ythsil with the new bonds. It might start with just a few, but people like him would have less terrible ways to improve their lives.

The silence stretched as it became clear that their business was done. Eventually Rick raised an eyebrow at Damian. "Did you really come across the world just to grope a few models and have a brief conversation with us?"

"Well, you know how much our deep, life-long friendship means to me." Damian smirked at him and finally took a drink. "No, I've been wanting an excuse to investigate South America anyway. It's a curious situation... Brazil is the modern world power that attracts all the attention, but the remnants of the Incan Empire have many old secrets. So I'll be quite busy and we probably won't be able to meet again."

"I guess we should do as much chumming around as possible now, then."

"Hah. This needs to last a little longer to seem like a business meeting, plus you don't want your demon visible to everyone, but I'm not much for small talk. Anything else?"

Rick glanced over to Katenka, but she shook her head almost imperceptibly. What they really needed was Damian's contact info, which wouldn't come until later, so he decided to take a different approach. "What do you actually do at the Global Lucrim Authority? I assume they don't let a junior employee broker agreements between nations, so is it lucrim anomalies all the time?"

"There's much less of that than you'd expect. There are lucrim fall simulations and a great deal of math, but the GLA gets qualified PhDs to handle that sort of thing." Damian waved a hand idly. "Part of the job is interacting with national and corporate leaders, and I'm taking that role. But there's more blue sky research than you'd expect. Not just looking into harvesting lucrim, but studying lucrim itself."

"Huh. I would have thought it was pretty well understood by now."

"You might think so, but some aspects of it remain mysterious. For example, there was a group of three immortals that used their endless wealth to build a rocket and take themselves out to Jupiter. They figured they could cut the GLA out of the equation that way and absorb even more lucrim than on Earth."

"And... it didn't work? I assume not, or we'd have heard about it."

"It was strange." Damian looked uncharacteristically troubled for a time. "One lucrim should be one lucrim, no matter where you go. But though those immortals were extremely experienced, one of them died during his training and the other two... they were stronger, but their Lucores were disrupted. They came back to Earth and didn't leave again."

Rick considered that for a moment, not sure what to make of it. "Maybe you don't know the reasons, but how does it work? The further away you get from Earth, the worse it gets?"

"We're not sure, because it's difficult to measure. There was actually an attempt to send several GLA employees out beyond the solar system several generations ago. They simply never came back. Honestly, I think that's for the best, because if the lucrim out there is really so exotic, I don't want to know what it would do to a person."

They discussed some more of Damian's work for a while longer, which gradually turned into Damian taking the opportunity to complain about how much he hated his coworkers. Eventually Katenka began to fade, still clearly visible to his eyes but somehow less solid. Once she was nearly entirely gone, the meeting was clearly over.

"I need to stay here, but I'll get you a car back to your hotel." Damian paused, then gave him a real smile for once. "And I was too hard on you earlier. This bond thing... it won't change the world, but it will help a few people. You've done good, Rick."

He wasn't sure how to respond to that. Then Damian slipped his mirrored sunglasses back on, called for the bikini models, and the real Damian was gone.

They were silent as they left the restaurant, and in the limousine they only discussed the next steps regarding their demonic bond idea. Yet he could tell that something else was on Katenka's mind. When they were finally back in their building and alone, she spoke quietly.

"That man... he has more demonic connections than he lets on. Not bonds, but... I can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure."

"When he was in Branton, he was up to something in the demon realm." Rick could only shrug. "I don't know what it was and I think it would probably be healthier not to get involved."

"Possibly so. But for now, I think it was good that you called him. His contacts could be the breakthrough we need."

After the tense meeting with Damian, a day of training felt both dull and relaxing. After sparring with H one more time, Rick was sent over to the medical wing for one more checkup. They took a few blood and skin samples, and while he waited he looked over his portfolio.

[Name: Rick Hunter

Ether Tier: 10th

Ether Score: 545

Lucrim Generation: 95,050

Enhanced Generation: 243,450

Current Lucrim: 8,700]

[Rick Hunter's Lucrima Portfolio

Foundation: 3800 (Lv VI)

Dark Blood Kettle: 19,400 (Lv IV)

Triune Golden Spheres: 148,400

- Defensive Sphere: 52,250

- Absorption Sphere: 46,300

- Sensory Sphere: 49,850

Offensive Lucore: 14,900 (Lv IX)

Defensive Lucore: 40,400 (Lv XII)

Bunyan's Step: 16,550 (Lv IX)

Demonic Fusion (Katenka): 33,000 (Stage I)

Graham's Stake: 43,350 (Lv IV)

Economic Bond (Bftgage & Ythsil): 2200 (Stage II)

Total Lucrim: 173,100

Enhanced Total: 321,500]

The improvements in raw numerical strength were nothing shocking, but he was glad to see that his defensive core had finally increased its Level classification. After being stuck at IX for so long, he had exploded up to XII. His Lucore might not contain more raw power, but his new skin must offer a significant boost in efficiency. Hopefully that was one more advantage Birthrighters had over him eliminated.

Abril walked into the room with her tablet and a polite smile. "You have a completely clean bill of health, Rick. There's no need for any more checkups: your new skin has completely settled and your new blood is stable. You can train as normal and enjoy the benefits."

"Thanks for all your work." Rick smiled back at her. "So is that it for us?"

"You are no longer my patient in any way, shape, or form." Abril's smile broadened to something real. "Which means that it would no longer be unethical to ask you this: do you want to hook up sometime?"

"Uh..." Rick stared at her in shock, trying to figure out if she could possibly have said what he thought she just did. She was smiling in amusement, but he didn't think she was mocking him.

"I don't mean anything long term, but I need something to take me away from work and I think you do too. Really, I'm serious. I've worked on a lot of fighters with nice bodies, but they're idiots. I like that you can laugh at yourself."

"That's, uh, flattering, I just really didn't expect it..." Yet Rick found that he was now thinking of nothing else. It was true that he didn't know Abril very well, but she wasn't asking him to marry her. Based on the glimpses of her he'd seen when she wasn't being polite, he thought that she'd be fun. And though her clothes were baggy, there was no question that underneath...

"Absolutely not!" H stormed into the room as if he had somehow sensed Rick about to get lucky, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out. "My trainees are off limits, Abril. Under no circumstances will I allow this."

Sighing, Abril threw up her hands and turned away. As Rick was pulled from the room, he realized that his chance was definitely gone. He swatted H's hand off his arm and glowered at him. "Really?"

"Yes, really." H regarded him with a flat gaze. "I've seen how you interact with the people in your life. You'd just fall into the relationship, then invest too much into it. I'd turn around and then you'd be running off or starting a blood feud or something worse."

"Oh, come on."

"No. If you insist upon having sexual desires, prostitutes can be hired. They're less likely to carry diseases, if properly curated, and more efficient in terms of time wasted."

Time efficiency and careful curation: potent aphrodisiacs indeed. Giving up on the idea, Rick rubbed his eyes and looked away from his mentor. "Fine, message received. Just go away and let me train."

"That's all I wanted to hear."

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Chapter 42: Nokan Defensive Ring

Rick had never been to the Nokan Empire in his life and found the experience somewhat strange. Like Siberia, it was an ancient power that still retained a sense of superiority to the rest of the world. But where Siberia wanted to make it clear that outsiders weren't welcome, the Nokan Empire wanted everyone to know how fortunate they were to be allowed inside.

While waiting for their paperwork to be processed, they had to sit in a room and watch a video extolling the virtues of Nokan culture. It went on about being the seat of human civilization and the oldest continuous government in the world, though Rick thought that one was arguable. Getting bored and starting to look things up online, he saw that China and several other nations also made the same claim.

There was no questioning that the Nokan Empire was powerful, however. It had control of many resources in central Africa and a solid grip on Middle Eastern oil. If having its lucrim controlled by an imperial family seemed a bit outdated, it also meant they had an excess to continue refining their lucrim techniques. Even though H said he could use more recovery time, he would be participating in the Showdown because he couldn't miss exposure to local varieties of aura.

Once they got to the hotel, however, things weren't so different. The aesthetic was definitely more rustic than the typical austere hotel, with carved wooden walls and hallways filled with trees and statues. But fundamentally it still catered to the same people, so there was an ice machine hidden behind one of the trees and a training chamber equal to those anywhere else.

"We want to keep our heads down here," H said as soon as they were set up in their rooms. "Not because of the location, but because of the chance of sabotage. After this, we go to a special facility in the US, where cheating will be difficult. This is their last chance to target you."

Since he couldn't really argue, Rick settled into his usual training routine. He no longer felt even the slightest residual pain from the operations and they were back to training at full intensity. With his physical reconditioning complete, H returned to focusing on the Triune Golden Spheres. Despite H's frequent complaints that the Midas Foundation would have been better, Rick felt as though everything was working together well.

When it came time for him to participate, he felt ready. The Nokan stadium was an ancient building of red marble, huge for its time but smaller than modern stadiums. That meant that it had a smaller and more selective crowd, with only raised balconies for the future contestants to watch instead of closed off areas.

H and Rick were alone on their balcony, watching the previous events complete before the defensive events began. This set involved one of the highly dense black sphere, but the contestants were keeping it in midair with kicks alone. The idea of one of those spheres smashing into leg bones at high speed made even Rick wince, which H immediately noticed.

"That's what you could achieve with a properly optimized body." H took his cigarette from his mouth and jabbed the burning end toward the athletes. "Attaining such defenses with raw power would require tens of millions of lucrim, but they can manage it with specialized bodies and portfolios."

Rick wanted to ask what they gave up to attain that state, but kept silent. Though he'd performed well, he could tell that H was still keeping him on probation, looking for an opportunity. He needed to stay in the Showdown, so that meant cooperating.

Once the game was complete, multiple Nokan workers headed into the field to begin reorganizing it. They were strikingly efficient, yet it would still take a few minutes, so Rick's attention wandered. The crowds were mostly ordinary people, but he could feel substantial powers on most of the reserved balconies. In fact, by the standards of many, his seating area was rather under-powered.

He saw Raggest sitting alone in one of them, shuffling around idly. At least Alger wasn't present. While Rick watched, Raggest checked his phone, then grinned and went to pull something out of a cooler at his feet. It looked like a thermos, presumably with a mixture that was also on a tight schedule.

On the opposite side of the arena, Rick noticed a group entirely in tight black combat suits and tensed slightly. Either this group just used the same model, or they represented the American Basilisk. He hadn't heard anything about the notorious gangster in a long time, so he'd hoped that the criminal wasn't involved with the Showdown at all. The hint of him just made Rick even more nervous and his eyes began to shift over the crowd.

Abruptly he spotted someone he hadn't seen in years: Teragen. The warrior sat with his arms folded, his biceps larger than the torsos some of the people around him. Worse than that were his eyes, which still burned like molten fire. Even in elite company such as this, Teragen stood out, his lucrima soul incredibly powerful even when partially veiled.

But that didn't make Rick nearly as nervous as the little old woman seated beside him.

Granny Whitney was carrying a tray of cookies and passing them out to everyone seated with her, a cheerful smile on her face. It was terrifying. He didn't want to know what she was doing there, but if it really was the American Basilisk and Raggest represented Alger, then the three of them must be betting against one another again. Likely with the lives of all the young warriors she had with her.

This time, at least, Rick had nothing to do with it. He tried to reassure himself of that, yet he found his calm slipping. Maybe it was just old instincts, but her presence unnerved him. Even as the defensive events began, he found himself shifting in his seat.

"Stop that," H snapped. "This is your last opportunity to make anything of yourself before the immortals' fight. You need to be focused."

Though Rick nodded, he found himself looking away from the events, trying to figure out what was going on even though he didn't have enough evidence. Teragen didn't seem to care about anything around him, so presumably Granny Whitney had hired him again. Once more, Rick wondered just what she could possibly have over such a powerful warrior.

Just when his anxiety was peaking, Rick heard his phone beep. He should have turned it off, and H immediately glared. But with his discipline cracking, Rick decided to see about the notification.

It seemed that Melissa had sent him another variation on the image they had been throwing back and forth. This time, a cartoon hamster was painting a picture that contained all of the past images. Despite himself, Rick started smiling.

His awful potato hamster seemed to have really captured her interest. The joke was more redundant than usual, but she seemed to find it funny, or maybe she needed the dumb joke to keep her mind off other things. Rick wanted to reply, but there was no way he could draw anything while in the stands. After thinking about it for a while, he created a box around her picture like it was a political cartoon, labeled the whole thing "Capitalism", and then sent it back.

Strangely, as he turned off his phone, Rick felt calm. This fight didn't really matter compared to helping his sister. Whatever Granny Whitney was up to, he needed to stand apart and focus on what mattered.

When it was finally time for the Unlimited Defensive Ring, Rick walked out onto the field without any trepidation. He didn't look up to see if anyone was watching, he just activated the Triune Golden Spheres and waited. For the time being, his world would be the rings surrounding him and nothing more.

The first two fighters to attack him were surprisingly young Nokans. They were powerful for their age, but clearly just intended to soften him up. Rick didn't even move, first as one of them punched and kicked, then as the second rained down aura bursts against him. With his new skin channeling aura so effectively, he wasn't even scratched.

After completely ignoring the attackers, the arena was hushed for a time. That brought him all the way up to 17 seconds, but then a fighter approached with a heavy sword over one shoulder. This one wouldn't be so easy.

Rick had to dodge the first swing, as he could feel six digits of lucrim behind it. Fortunately, his opponent was slow by the standards of the Showdown and failed to connect. Not wanting to spend the entire time dodging, Rick blocked the very last blow with his forearm.

He winced as the blade bit into his arm, nearly slicing through his defensive cores. Avoiding the attacks had been the right decision. But blocking the last one definitely made for a more impressive round, as he stood almost untouched while his opponent was pushed away by the next wave of aura.

His fourth challenger was a middle-aged woman who walked into the outer ring calmly. She wasted almost all of her six seconds walking toward him, dark aura growing in her hands. Assuming that she would put everything into one strike, Rick braced himself and readied his defensive cores, hoping that he could survive the attack.

Yet there was no pain and no assault. Darkness simply descended around him.

For a split second Rick panicked, unable to understand what was hiding his vision. Yet he could feel someone else approaching through his sensory core and he understood: they'd disabled his vision to weaken him for future challengers. However it worked, he couldn't break the technique, so all he could do was endure despite his blindness.

A spear flew toward him from behind, completely silent. It should have impaled him through the back, but in his sensory sphere, he could feel its path easily. Rick turned and caught it out of the air.

He heard a gasp from the crowds all around him. Even his opponent hesitated for a moment, though they were too professional to waste more than that. But as they lifted another spear, Rick hurled the one he had caught back at them. Via his sensory sphere he felt them stumble back in surprise, unprepared for a blind opponent to strike back so effectively.

Rick thought that there was some sort of lucrim clinging to his eyes, but couldn't find a way to break it down. The Dark Blood Kettle was surging within him as it usually did when it tried to adapt to something, yet by now he had a sense that it wouldn't react in time. He had no choice but to continue fighting blind.

And yet that was fine. Rick trusted in his instincts and his sensory core and held his ground no matter what they threw at him. One challenger launched a series of truly dangerous aura spikes, so he used his absorption sphere to consume them. Several attempted to strike him physically, but when they were close he almost didn't need his sensory core, he could feel their movements as he deflected the blows. A few attempted poisons or internal disruption, which only slowed him down slightly. Some idiot attacked him with a fierce blizzard of aura that Katenka entirely nullified.

Of course, he was up against some of the best fighters in the world, so he couldn't last forever. One of his opponents was able to nullify her presence in his sensory sphere, coming out of nowhere with palm strikes he couldn't sense until they struck his body, leaving him severely battered. Another launched a spear of aura so fast that it entered his range and hit him before he had time to react. Bit by bit, they wore him down.

The shadows around his eyes were fading, but it almost didn't matter. Rick didn't care about the time or the event, he was simply a creature of pure defense. When he began to see the world fuzzily, he closed his eyes and continued focusing on the next challenger.

Abruptly a monstrous beam of aura encompassed him, instantly incinerating everything not supported by his defensive cores. Rick braced his arms against it and struggled as long as he could, but he was exhausted. Eventually it threw him back and he hit the stone arena hard.

When his vision stopped spinning, however, it was completely clear, the darkness washed away by that final attack. Rick slowly sat up and looked to the scoreboard, shocked when he saw that it declared "3:09". He'd endured a full three minutes in the Unlimited Defensive Ring, in the heart of the Nokan Empire. Even H couldn't be dissatisfied with that.

Though Rick tried to leave, he found himself stopped by a man in a traditional Nokan robe. "The woman who blinded you was my dear niece." The man's voice boomed over the arena solemnly, but Rick saw a twinkle in his eyes. "It has been years since I saw anyone endure her technique and survive so masterfully. I grant you the First Nokan Seal, young warrior."

Rick bowed to be polite, though he had no idea who was awarding him. The man grabbed his wrist and raised his fist to the rest of the arena, which roared out approval. For just a moment, Rick felt a bit of satisfaction, especially at the grudging respect on H's face, but then his gaze turned elsewhere.

Granny Whitney watched with a smile, knitting needles flashing in her hands. Behind her, Teragen might as well have been a statue.

Medics helped Rick recover as they took him back to his seat, but he was honestly still in decent shape. Not in any condition to fight, but his defensive cores would recover stronger for the experience, as usual. As he started to get near his box, however, Rick decided that he needed to take advantage of this opportunity.

He didn't want to get involved with Granny Whitney in any way, but he did want to talk to Teragen. After all, the other man had voluntarily helped him increase his strength for the multi-tier tournament. Though he didn't seem impressed, nothing seemed to impress Teragen. Rick didn't plan to repeat his stunt of punching the stronger warrior again, but just talking with him could produce better results than more time spent on mundane training.

So instead of returning to watch, Rick avoided his own seat and made his way around the arena. The paths weren't as straightforward as in a modern stadium, but they followed logic of a sort. What he needed to do was figure out exactly which path Teragen would take when he left the arena.

As he got into position, Rick realized that he'd jumped the gun. There would be at least another hour of events, and he didn't intend to wait that long... or maybe he could. Rick stretched his legs for a while, checked his phone, and went through recovery exercises.

"Excuse me, sir?" The voice startled him and he realized that there were several security guards in Nokan robes regarding him. "Why are you loitering here?"

"Uh, I wanted to greet my friend when he came out." Rick saw that they were closing on him and realized that he must look like a serious risk to security. He could easily have been an assassin or a crazed fan, and he doubted they would buy his explanation. "I can wait somewhere else."

"I do not think so, sir. We must ask you to come with us and answer some questions."

Rick tried to take a step back, but there were already guards behind him. Most of them had six figure generation rates, and even if he could fight them, going up against the legitimate authorities would be stupid. Yet he didn't like the hard look in their eyes or the idea of being interrogated...

"Wait." The deep voice cut through all the rest of them and Rick saw Teragen emerge from the arena, eyes burning. "I'll take this."