"Hold on, what do you mean, you're in? You're just going to help him?" Macy stared at the usually silent member of the group, Jasmin, who was unable to contain her grin anymore.

  "Fuck yeah, I am. All this garbage classism between the top branch and us has been pissing me off for a while now. This sounds like a pretty damn good way to pay them back a bit, no?"

  The others in the group looked at each other for a moment, before just letting out a long sigh, "Well... I figured that Jasmin would join," Kim pointed out, scratching his neck as he started to think a bit more.

  Of course, Ryan was pretty confused. Out of everyone, he hadn't expected Jasmin to be the first to agree. This was quite literally the first time he had heard her voice as well. But he wasn't going to say 'no' to someone joining him, especially since it seemed like it was making the others consider it a bit more.

  "You know what? Just talk about it amongst yourselves for a bit. I've got to feed the forge real quick," Ryan pointed out. Pushing strongly to try and get them to his side might just bite him in the ass, so letting loose a little didn't seem like the worst choice.

  "Wait, you learned blacksmithing?" Mark asked, raising his brow, "Is that how you 'make' the spirits?"

  "Huh? Oh, nah, I put them together like model figurines. But there was a Spirit Keeper in the past that worked as a blacksmith who did it like that," Ryan pointed out, though it was clear that the others didn't quite understand, "I mean I'm literally going to feed the forge."

  With a smile, Ryan walked over into the small building and brought out a couple bars of steel, holding it toward the old forge. Slowly, like a dog that was waking up from a nap, the elemental's draconic shape formed itself. The five guests were quite taken aback as they saw this unfold, but Ryan just continued on and started feeding her with a smile.

  And, though they were shooting glances over at Ryan as he started scrubbing the soot away from the elemental's bricks with a wire brush, it seemed like the five were starting to talk to each other a bit. Taking this opportunity, Ryan figured he should finally consult with the spirits a bit.

  'What do you guys think?' he thought to himself, letting his thoughts echo out to all of the spirits. The four of them interrupted what they were doing, looking into the empty space that was basically the 'roof' of their respective domains. To Ryan, it felt like they were staring right at his face. Jester was the first to actually 'respond', nodding his head and throwing forward a 'thumbs-up' sign. Meanwhile, Gregor vehemently shook his head, clearly trying to deny the idea that Ryan had been presenting to the four of them. Gaia and Maximus seemed to have more complicated thoughts about the whole situation, hesitating to say anything at all.

  Of course, Ryan had discussed it with them before; he hadn't just blindsided him. And though they all seemed to agree that the way things were going weren't how they should be, they each had different perspective on the matter.

  Gregor was the sort that liked to follow rules and patterns. After some direct discussions with him, Ryan figured out that Gregor would prefer to change the way things were going from inside of the system. Basically, he should try to grow in influence and convince the people in power to change the way they were doing things. Jester was basically the exact opposite. He basically just wanted to do whatever sounded the most 'fun' and 'exciting', and causing some chaos would probably raise Ryan's heart rate a little, so he was all for toppling the system as a whole.

  As for Gaia and Maximus, while they both did want to help things, and didn't even feel too bad about the final plan that Ryan presented, they each felt hesitant. Gaia was scared, because she was worried that this might be the wrong choice. After all, this was a system that was established over the course of a thousand years. What if the elders were right, and this was the way that things should be done?

  Meanwhile, Maximus was feeling more worried about how he was betraying the trust that was placed onto him by the family. Despite not remembering his history with him, he accompanied Ryan's father Hayden for a long time. He must have had some rapport with individuals in the family, so simply breaking away from that past path, even if he didn't remember ever stepping onto it, felt deeply troublesome.

  In the end, this all just brought Ryan to a point where he had to sit in the middle between causing chaos and following the order of things. He wasn't going to just reveal the truth on some livestream, but he wouldn't just head toward the future laid out for him by the family either. Actually, those five guys who were discussing whether to join Ryan also helped him figure out a proper plan.

  'I know you guys are worried, but we can't just do nothing,' Ryan said, trying to reassure everyone, 'And no, Jester, I'm not going to totally fuck things over either. We need to be smart about this. And right now, the smartest thing is to force Runar into protecting me.'

  Confused, the spirits looked at Ryan, waiting for a further explanation. With a grin, Ryan threw a piece of steel into the air, watching as the forge elemental snapped at it and caught it mid-air, 'Right now, he's basically trying to do whatever he can to get on my good side again, so I could ask him whatever I want, and he would do it. But, of course there's a limit. I can't just go completely wild, or else he'll drop it, but if I act like I'm playing along, and then slowly but surely push past what he would usually allow... well, we're going to get somewhere pretty fast.'

  Now, all four of the spirits hesitated. With what Ryan was suggesting now, none of them were really getting what they wanted. This was a deeply manipulative tactic that was too orderly for Jester, and too chaotic for Gregor. Ryan was sure that this method was the best way they could get anywhere with this. He had to force his way into a position of power in the family by abusing his relationship with Runar and his status as the Spirit Keeper. And then, once he was in that position, he would change things from the inside. But not in a 'let's change the rules' kind of way. Rather, in a 'let's break all the rules' kind of way.

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  After a while, the group of five came up to Ryan. He turned around toward them, waiting for their response. Considering Jasmin's smile and the slightly nervous expression from the others, Ryan already knew what he was about to be told, though, and they didn't even need to say anything.

  "Happy to be working with you guys from now on."

  Ryan stepped into the flat, quickly making his way into the living room. His mother was sitting at the table, as if she had been waiting there the whole time. But the fact she was even here had him taken aback.

  "Oh? I thought you were already on your way back..." Ryan pointed out, "We already said goodbye this morning and everything. We dropped you off at the train station..."

  Mary nodded her head, standing up from her seat, "I know... I took a taxi back here. I... think we need to talk. We haven't really done that yet."

  "... I mean, we kind of have, right? What else is there to talk about?" Ryan responded, putting his helmet down onto the table. His mother stared at the helmet, nervously.

  "Well... you told me a lot of things, and I was filled in on some matters that I missed, but honey... We haven't really spoken about what's going on here. About the danger you're putting yourself in."

  "Is this about the bike? I know you're not super happy about it, you never loved that I drove one, but it's literally safer than it's ever been for me. The amount of Awakened that get into traffic accidents is abysmally-"

  Mary interrupted him, placing her hand onto his arm, "That's not what I'm talking about, you know that."

  Not sure what else to say, Ryan pulled out a chair. He held out his hand, asking the spirits to step out of their domains, "You guys, please do your own thing for a while and let us talk alone."

  Of course, Ryan didn't mind if the spirits overheard. They've seen... way too much at this point anyway. But this was a conversation that he was sure his mother would prefer to have just one on one, without anyone listening in. As the spirits left the room, Mary visibly relaxed a bit, pulling up a chair to sit down right in front of Ryan.

  "Why are you doing all this? Why are you putting yourself in danger?"

  "Well... it's my job, it's what I have to do. Without me, the spirits would be left on their own. I need to make sure that they-"

  "No, that's not true," Mary immediately shook her head, "Runar told me that there are tons of people that could be looking for the spirits instead of you. You could just... sit back, relax, and have them bring the cores to you."

  That was the truth. It was what Runar had offered to Ryan initially as well, where he could just passively do his job as a 'Spirit Keeper' and nothing else. Rather, not just Runar, but all the elders would probably prefer if Ryan just acted as an 'invisible' member of the family, doing nothing but serving the spirits. But that wasn't what he wanted. Not to mention, "... Maximus, Gregor, and Jester all have combat-focused abilities. If I don't put myself a little bit into danger, they're going to be stuck at their current levels. That wouldn't be fair to them either."

  "Oh, don't act like they're the reason why you're doing what you're doing, Ryan. I raised you, you've always been a fighter yourself. You've always loved dungeons and the idea of being the valiant protector. You even had your own 'wannabe hero' phase," Mary said bluntly, completely silencing Ryan. He opened his mouth, trying to say something against this, but... he couldn't.

  It was the truth, Ryan wasn't just doing this for the spirits, though it had been a pretty great excuse. He himself wasn't quite capable of fighting all that well as of yet, and that was because he didn't have a direct combat class. Sure, there were times where Ryan played with the idea of having some more unique classes, ones that weren't just about beating up villains or monsters, but when he thought about things realistically, considering who he was as a person... a combat class just seemed like the only possibility for him. That was, if he even did awaken, which was basically as unlikely as being struck by lightning on a sunny day.

  "Then... you know that I can't just sit back and do basically nothing. I can actually do things, change things. I can help people, seriously, really help them, mom..."

  "I know, but... why do you have to get shot to help people?" trying to hold back her tears, Mary placed her hand onto her eyes, "I can't just watch you get hurt while cleaning up after the mess that your father left behind. I've already failed to protect you basically your whole life, and I-"

  "Wait, what?" Ryan interrupted his mother, "What are you talking about? You've always protected me."

  Mary glanced at Ryan's arm, staring at the old scars that just didn't seem to want to fade no matter how much time passed, "I haven't... And I know it's late, but I can't just give up on trying."

  With a scoff, an involuntary one that was grown from sheer disbelief, Ryan shook his head, "No, mom, seriously, you have. After dad died, you did literally everything you could to make sure I didn't miss out on anything, all on your own. Yeah, sure, Nolan was... a bump, but I wasn't the only one that he hurt. I know that he put you through just as much stuff as he did me, or probably more. And you only married him so that I could live the best life that I could, and nobody could have known that he would turn out to be such a piece of shit."

  Mary shook her head, "And still, I failed to protect you from him. What kind of mother am I, letting something like that happen?"

  "And you did literally everything you could to make up for it, if not too much. Like, I was running with a really bad crowd for a few years, and without you, I never would have gotten out of there. Without you, I would probably be in jail or dead or would have turned out to be the worst kind of scum imaginable."

  "... No, stop, Ryan..." Mary let out a long sigh, "I don't want to turn this into you comforting me, that's the literal opposite of what I want. My mistakes are my mistakes, and I will never forgive myself for what you've been put through. Which is why, again... please, just... stop putting yourself into all of this danger."

  Slowly, Ryan reached out to his mother's hand, squeezing it. He smiled softly, "I can't. I have to do these things. Mom, I was invited by Goria. I'm apparently breaking fate by just existing. I'm involved in this, whether I want to be or not, and..." he squeezed his mother's hand a bit tighter, to make sure she was looking into his face, "And I want to be involved in it. This is everything I've ever wanted, and I didn't know about any of this. This is an opportunity to really, actually help people. To feel like I actually matter in this world, and that I'm not just a broken little boy anymore."

  Now, Mary started to fully cry, unable to hold back the dam anymore. Ryan quickly reached out to the napkins on the table, and his mother quickly wiped away her tears, "Just... please, be careful. I can't bear to watch you get even more scars."

  "... I promise. I'll be careful. I'm actually planning on trying to awaken my resistance stat soon. And you know... It's the safest stat there is, right?" Ryan pointed out. At least in regard to its effect, that was. The way you raised it up actually did require some danger and damage, but that was beside the point.

  Mary reached out her hand, placing it onto her son's cheek. She looked at him for a few moments, smiling lightly as the tears settled on her face, "Despite everything I just said... No matter how scared I am, no matter how painful it is to see you get hurt... Ryan, I am so unimaginably proud of the man you have grown up to be."

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