Santino reholstered his revolver


    Tension was cut by Santino''s raspy laughter


    I must admit that he so offhandedly assumed all three of them are better than me grated on my pride something fierce. But ten bucks in my pocket and the prospect of two jobs in the line, something I rarely had trumped pride.


    The mood in the room shifted instantly, Aether Clockwire is not something sophisticated, or hard to learn to use, just a few ever use it since it''s basically self destruct mechanism. All of Aether in the user''s blood ignite at once making a nice explosion. It is usually the last act of defiance and the one using it is at the end of the rope already, so it could be compared to a stick of dynamite. However, a few times when users activated it at the peak of their reserves, ohhhhh that was another beast completely. It depends on the user of course. Not counting Ronald I was the weakest of the bunch definitely, but the last time I used Arts was a few weeks back when I enchanted a portion of my ammo and that regenerated a while back. When I go *boom* I expect the city sign might remain intact. Too bad there will be no more city.


    Anna might escape,


    Surprisingly Santino smiled


    Santino glanced toward the window.


    I sat in my room alone again, like the last half hour did not happen. But the hefty leather pouch on the table across me begged the difference. I dragged the chair forward without standing up until I was able to reach and pick it up. Few people appreciate the real weight of gold, because few people ever had the privilege of holding enough of it in their hand. Let me tell you how heavy it is, in this unassuming pouch of deerskin was 100 coins of 1 dollar in gold. If I were to use it as the sap and slam someone over the head with it with some conviction, I reckon there would be little of his head left. And conviction or not, strength was not one of the qualities I''d brag about. That''s what many thieves and robbers forget.