"I don't have a great way to find out what a reasonable interest rate is - especially if it's not the done thing - but that doesn't seem out of the question, if they're more valuable to me now than they will be later? What will Focused Strike... focus? Like, is that going to be psychic aspected mana hammering the monster, or...?"

"Well, my competition is the Black Mint. I won't leave a mark in your soul for the repayment, Puchuu can tell you that much is legit, that it's just an ordinary magic coin. I'm thinking fourfold within a few years. Yes, and also any girl can do these generic magic blasts, it'd focus that too."

Nod. "I was also looking into the thing where you can pick up Tarot and stuff like that and have it actually work?"

"Yes, and? I don't do that myself. Titanium Steel uses runes."

"Cool, I'll talk to her about that. I was just wondering if it's a worthwhile investment or just sounds cooler than it is."

"It sounds like you have higher priorities."

"Oh?"

"Getting a nice stable starting build will be worth it. And you can always learn these things the long way."

"Yeah, okay, if I don't need to officially take Sorcery to have tarot work for me I'll pass on it."

"Right. Regeneration, with your gold coin? Think you're going to angle to work with Maven and Steel?"

"It seems like the sensible thing to do, they have good specialties with a gap I can patch and vice-versa, though I'll want to talk to them. I can probably get into U Dub a bit early."

"That would line up nicely. Okay, so here's your stat line-

She spins a paper.

STR: 4

AGI: 4

VIT: 5*

MAG: 6

LCK: 4

"Two silver, one bronze coin left. I think I can lend you up to three to boost stats, with an expectation for ten bronze coins or equivalent favors paid out over time, if you want to up your stats. Strength is... Physical strength. Can come in handy but not really critical unless you're going to be punching things. Agility, I think you would enjoy, it's both speed and coordination. Vitality is toughness and everyone can use more in my opinion. Even if you have a healing power, it'll keep you conscious enough to heal or run. Luck is unreliable. My character has four, six, nine, nine, four. In your position I'd up magic to eight, maybe nine if you want more oomph, and also agility and vitality, but you might have different ideas. The rule of thumb is- Four is an average adult, six is a pro athlete, seven is an Olympian, eight is superhuman and it goes up from there."

"And this is an absolute scale so the fact that I, uh, also took the Disablingly Clumsy flaw won't affect my agility results?"

"I've never had a GM that made backstory traits count for your stat line."

"Oh good. I agree with you about Vitality - what's the asterisk for -"

"You retain up to 5 even out of costume."

"Is that also true of agility?"

"Up to four, it just didn't get an asterisk because 4/4/4/2/2 is the baseline for all girls, yeah."

"Cool. Is there a cap on any of these?"

"Not really. I've seen someone get up to 22."

"Whoa, in what?"

"Magic. Gravity specialized. This isn't Maven, though." She shakes her head and shows a slightly manic grin. "Katarzyna can throw an apartment block."

"Dang."

"And do lots of other cool things too. But that gives you an idea of scale. I'm a generalist, and don't really regret it, since it's helped me not die but the once. So far."

"How old is your character?"