Back in the car, I get shotgun this time.  James doesn’t seem to mind the backseat, now that it’s cleaned up.  Once the doors are closed, Jessica stops containing her curiosity:

“So what did you mean by ‘next level’ earlier?”

“Ah, that… well, when I overcome ‘challenges’ - win a fight, solve a problem, that kind of thing - I gain experience based on how hard the challenge was, and when I get enough, I gain a level - which makes me tougher, gives me new abilities, and makes many of my existing abilities stronger.”

James chimes in, “So how much experience are we talking about?”

“Oh, that’s easy.  I’m currently level one, so to get to level two, I need one thousand experience.”

Jessica says, “That’s just a number.  What does it translate to in practical terms?”

I pause, “Killing ten rats in one on one combat, twenty with one person helping, thirty with two.  Or defeating about five basic street thugs all by myself, ten with one person helping, or fifteen with two.”

James raises an eyebrow, “So two rats is worth about the same as a person?  So if I were to take you out hunting ducks or something….”

“Then if you bag enough of them, I’ll level up.  I just need to be participating somehow, even if that’s just carrying your ammo or something.  I’m not sure what the harvest limit is, though.”

Jessica interjects, “It’s not duck season anyway.  But I’m in ‘unincorporated county’, have a good spot for a firing range, and live feed rats for large snakes are available at the pet store. If it’s useful enough, I can fund your level up.  What kind of gains are you talking about at level two?”

I pause.  I get a LOT at level two with my build plan, because I’m a sneaky evil optimizer with a very high cheese tolerance when I don’t have to worry about breaking a gaming table.  “Ah… most of my power is currently bound up in cheating the reaper for myself.  Level two gives me access to a lot more magic, and lets me cheat the reaper for other people within certain limits… once I get some supplies to make magical items and some time to build it out.  Potentially also lets me give other people some magic, but…”

Jessica sighs, “Of course it’s not free.  What’s the catch?”

“I can make some magic items for the cost of supplies and a bit of time, but to give people magic that can’t just be taken away from them?  They need to worship me.”

James interjects, “Ah… so by worship you mean…”

“For the really good stuff that I can give out freely?  I mean spending an hour of prayer to me every day as though they were a nun or a monk and I was The Big Boss.  I can give out lesser boons to folks that worship me more lightly - think the Sunday Service crowd - but there’s more limits to how many of those.  Not exactly something I’m going to ask of real people either way, but a requirement of the ability that lets me do it.” Of course, I am going to worship myself and give myself the high priest office so I can use the power. Because I like gouda when it means I can survive and live free.

“No.” - both Jessica and James, simultaneously.

“As I said, not exactly something I’m going to ask of real people.  But with materials, I can probably make magic items that’ll help you out.”

“What kind of materials?” from the man in the back.

“Materials that have leftover power from creation stored in them that’s easy to extract.  Gold, silver, copper, saffron, silk, linen, livestock, salt,  gemstones…”

“Wait, salt?” Jessica seems confused.

“Yeah.  Takes a lot of it, though.  Still probably the cheapest option, especially if you buy from a mine directly.  They'll sell it by the ton."

“Huh.  And what kind of items?” from the lady beside me.

“Oh… almost anything you want probably has something that does it, but anything that affects someone else is dicey, as magical items are relatively easy to resist.  What would be good for a detective… glasses that make it easier for you to see details, a ring that makes you invisible for stakeouts, maybe a hat that lets you change your form.…”

"Got anything to let me know when someone's lying?" from the male detective again.

"Yeah, a gem you would put on your forehead. So it would look weird without something else too, and it only catches direct lies. It would take like four months to make, and would need about seven tons of salt." Third Eye Expose, from the Expanded Psionic Handbook. 112 days, 56 if I take a penalty to the skill check, and just 5.6 tons of salt - don’t need to sweat xp costs, because those were dropped for Pathfinder. But I'll have my own projects too, so some markup. And I don’t quite feel ready to let them know exactly how my power works, so I am not naming books or specific items. And if I can get two of my projects done first, I have a way to cut the time down a lot.

"So it wouldn't help with someone being evasive, but would be a massive boon for questioning. Hmm. That… I’ll have to think about it. How much would seven tons of salt even cost?" from Jessica.

"Oh. I ended up researching that for a case a while back. Food grade salt is like $60 a ton, although freight charges push it higher on practice. Still, less than $700 bucks to always know when someone's lying to me outright? I'm there," inserts James.

"And there's a lot of things to make: As long as you have somewhere to put it until I can get to it, I can always use more. Some things require specific ingredients where salt won't do - as an example, there's some tools for making magic items I will want to make first, and those will require clay, certain spices, and a kiln (a rental kiln is fine) - but for the most part, yeah, salt."

"It's really weird to think about,  though," from behind me, "salt as the basis of making magic?

Jessica snorts, "What, did you expect the dark skinned magic lady with four active milk factories would give normal requirements for magic? At least it's relatively cheap."

James thinks a moment, "... how much are you taking on markup?"

Busted, that's what I get for trying to trick professionals. Still,  it's not that bad if I fess up… "Around 25%, which is the friends and family discount already. I will have some of my own projects I'll want to do as well. Is it really an issue?"

"Nah, we're getting things that are literally impossible.  It's fine as long as you're not lying about it," says James, and looks at Jessica, "Looks like I owe you lunch on the next stakeout."

Wait, what? "... what, you bet I'd be working entirely for free or something?"

Jessica laughs out loud at that, "No. He bet you'd be charging like ten times your actual expenses because you have a monopoly. I won on double or less. You're letting us off really easy."

I guess I fail at basic economics. Oh well. I really just need to get a job of my own. With no ID without these folks, though… they pretty much have a monopoly of their own, don't they? I need ID to live in society, they want magic to protect it. I'm the one over a barrel… at least these folks seem nice. And… oh. I just realized I let slip that I'm using a game like mechanic earlier. Stupid…not enough to track it down of itself, though. And it's my old DM's house rules, so not exactly something they can just look up online entirely. Still, I should be more careful.

I sit in silence for a time, musing on recent events. My body is super sensitive, and I'm apparently very careless during afterglow. I will need to work on that.  At least spilling to cops I'm going to support isn't that big of a deal.

We stop and drop James off at an apartment complex. I make a note of the address as he gets out. I can't help but wonder, though… "OK, I'll bite. Why is it you have a two story house on a big lot, and your partner has an apartment?"

She seems hesitant for some reason, but answers, "I inherited it. I own it free and clear, so I basically just pay insurance, taxes, and utilities. Plus upkeep. Yeah, I could sell it, but it's cheaper and easier to stay than to move."

She's skimping on the upkeep. But I suppose that gives me something to do while waiting for a new ID. Which reminds me, "So how long is it expected to take for me to get the ID?  I’ll need it for job hunting.”

“Couple of days.  The paperwork will get a rubber stamp from the chief, go to the Department of Licensing with your photo and some address info, they’ll print it up, and the license will come back to me via department mail. No worries."

"Cool, thanks. So where am I staying?" Not sleeping, though. I don't sleep….

"Ah, yes. I'm sure it's been a long day,and you just want to hit the hay. I'll show you…"

She leads me inside, up the stairs, and points out one of four bedrooms, "There, use that one. It's got an attached bathroom, you'll have it all to yourself.  Feel free to raid the fridge as needed."

"Thanks, I'll see about unloading my new clothes."

It takes me several trips. I got an entire wardrobe, and a strength of seven is pathetically weak. I really hope I can level up soon. Level one sucks.