Gaia tapped Jester's core, making it quiver in response. It was like it was reverberating the space around it, giving off small pulses of magic. Once those pulses hit Gaia, she seemed to react in kind, giving off small pulses of magic that were moving out from her core. Were they... talking to each other? Ryan did notice that the spirits seemed to understand each other a lot better than Ryan could understand them, but he thought that it was just because of the memories of each other they had lost. He thought that maybe those memories left behind some kind of trace, like they knew each other, but they couldn't remember each other, so they could understand what the other wanted better. But was it because they were communicating through magic this whole time?

  Could Ryan learn how to do that? It seemed like it was similar to how Geodes communicated, just instead of using pulses of light, they used pulses of magic.

  Of course, in his 'conversation' with Jester in the past, Ryan had reacted to those pulses as well, but Jester would only give off a single pulse whenever Ryan was right about what he was saying, like Jester was confirming it. That was why it took him a pretty long time to figure out what exactly he wanted.

  The two spirits continued speaking to each other for a while, and though Ryan didn't know what exactly they were saying, he had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Jester started 'saying' something, but he would be quickly interrupted by Gaia, who had a barrage of magic pulses ready for him. And though Jester tried to get a word in, Gaia's magic was overshadowing his. And even when Jester did manage to say something, Gaia just came back even stronger and faster.

  Gaia was scolding Jester, that's what was going on. And Ryan couldn't help but feel like that was pretty in line with what he knew about Gaia. She did give off a pretty motherly air all the time. But even so, Ryan didn't want Gaia to just keep scolding her fellow spirit like that.

  "What's going on? What are you saying to him?" he asked, looking up at Gaia. The golem turned toward him and quickly tried to find a way to explain things, but clearly didn't know why. In the end, she pointed at Jester and then at her own domain.

  "Ah... Are you upset that Jester still hasn't accepted me as his keeper?" Ryan asked, and the spirit immediately nodded her stone head.

  Ryan had to admit, he was a bit annoyed that nothing seemed to be enough for Jester. He was supposed to react to the excitement of those around him, or at least that's what Jester had confirmed when Ryan confronted him before. But no matter what happened until now, it wasn't good enough for him. And of course, Ryan didn't want to force Jester to join him, but it was getting a bit confusing. After all, what else could be done to potentially satisfy the spirit? He seemed to have reacted quite a bit when Ryan met with Goria, but if neither one of the most famous events during all of New Riverside's spirit week, nor meeting a Great Spirit could satisfy him, then what else could Ryan do?

  "Listen, I get it, but if Jester doesn't want to complete the quest, we can't force him to. I mean, his condition was for me to excite him, and if I haven't managed to do that yet, then that's that," Ryan pointed out, "I mean, of course I would love to have Jester join us all, but what can I do? If he doesn't want to see things with his own two eyes, then that's on him."

  Gaia looked down at Ryan, tilting her head to the side. Realizing that she wasn't sure what he meant, Ryan quickly explained, "Well, things are a lot more exciting if you're doing them yourself rather than just watching. I imagine that the way you guys see the world around me from in here is like how I can see things during a spirit link. You know everything that's going on, but it's just the raw... information, I guess. The knowledge of what's going on, and how others are feeling. That's different from actually going out and experiencing it on your own. Since it seems like all of you guys lost your memories, I figured that Jester might have forgotten what it feels like to actually walk around with a real body."

  Jester's core began to vibrate shakily, like he was uncertain what he was supposed to 'say'. Gaia responded to him with pulses of magic on her own a few times, and Jester's core soon stabilized. A message appeared in front of Ryan, but it was the first time that one had appeared in here. Instead of being the size of a computer monitor, this message was massive, like the wall of a building that simply sprung up behind Jester's core.

  [The Harlequin Spirit Jester has been convinced by your words]

  [You have completed the Quest -Jester's Excitement- through hidden requirements]

  [You have become the keeper of the Harlequin Spirit Jester]

  [The Temporary Domain has become a true Domain]

  [The -Spirit Domain- skill has levelled up]

  Ryan stared at the writing on the 'system wall', and then let his eyes wander over to Jester. The spirit's core moved back a few steps as the walls of a new domain were being constructed. The floor was covered in thick rugs and carpets, and drapes of fabric covered the ceiling and acted as walls, like this was the inside of a tent. A number of trinkets were scattered around the space, and a large pile of pillows and blankets seemed to act as a bed, together with a hookah that was sitting right beside it.

  "Well... alright, then," Ryan let out, wiping his hand to the side to make the system messages disappear. He closed his eyes for a few moments and took a long breath, "I'm... I'm not going to say anything about this. I'm... trying to... not get upset as easily, so... excuse me for a moment. Gaia, uhm... thank you so much for your help. The Spirit Link skill's effect should be running out soon, so make sure you're back in your domain by then, alright?" Gaia nodded her head, seeming both concerned for Ryan and excited that Jester had finally joined them.

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  Meanwhile, Ryan opened up his eyes in the car again, rubbing the bridge of his nose. By then, it didn't take long until they arrived at home, and Ryan stepped out of the car, thanking Yamada for driving him home. She nodded with a smile, and quickly drove off again, probably heading out to meet with Runar again.

  Ryan walked around the building to the front door leading up to the flat, and quickly walked up the stairs. He unlocked the door, and could hear footsteps immediately, as his mother seemed to have jumped up the moment she heard the door open.

  "I'm home," Ryan said as he walked inside, and his mother quickly came up and gave him a hug.

  "Welcome home, are you okay?"

  "Yes, I'm fine. Are you?"

  Mary quickly nodded, "Just a little shaken up... how was everything down there? What was it like to meet Goria?"

  Ryan smiled awkwardly, "I can tell you a bit about it later, but for now I just want to take a bit of a break. I just came back from a pretty insane hike, so..."

  "Of course, of course! Do you want me to make you something to eat?"

  Though Ryan was about to decline, he quickly realized that he was actually still pretty hungry. Really, Tiar got more gluttonous every day.

  "That would be great... Is Liam in his room?"

  Mary turned toward the door to the young boy's room, slowly nodding.

  "Alright, I'll talk to him in a bit," he said, though his first step was his own bedroom. Ryan quickly changed out of the clothes that he was wearing. They were completely drenched, though not from water, but because of his own sweat. After jumping under the shower and scrubbing himself down for a bit, he changed into some more comfortable clothes and stepped out. He had already let Gaia out so that she could check on the plants upstairs in the garden, but neither Maximus nor Gregor seemed to be in the mood to come out right now. Rather, it was like they were anxiously preparing.

  Maximus was training using the recently upgraded dummy, while Gregor was eagerly working on some kind of new machine. Ryan would build Jester's body in a bit, but right now he was still too annoyed at how easily the spirit ended up changing his mind.

  For now, he knocked on Liam's door. A few moments later, the boy pulled it open and looked up at Ryan, surprised, "You're back! I was told it would take you until dawn at the very least!"

  Ryan smiled, ruffling up the boy's hair, "I managed to hurry a little. But more importantly, how are-"

  "I'm fine. Really, I'm... I'm okay," Liam interrupted him, but Ryan could tell that it wasn't exactly the truth. Liam's eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and he had built himself a mountain of blankets and pillows on his bed.

  Ryan squatted down in front of him, "Do you remember Silvia and Yanna's father?" he asked, and Liam nodded a bit surprised.

  "Yeah... I don't think he liked me very much," he pointed out, and Ryan smiled awkwardly. Liam probably wasn't wrong about that, since Dimos had some issues with vampires in the past.

  "Of course he does, how could he not? Your a pretty cool kid, you know? It's just not every day you meet a king, so he was probably just nervous," Ryan explained, though Liam clearly wasn't particularly convinced, "Listen, Mister Redhorn is a therapist. He helped Silvia a ton when she was a kid before him and his wife adopted her. Do you think you'd want to talk to him sometime? I can ask him if he has any openings."

  Liam frowned, confused, "Isn't a therapist someone that pokes around in your head, trying to steal your secrets?"

  Trying not to make his smile drop as he wondered what sort of idiot told Liam that, Ryan shook his head, "No, no, that's not it at all. A therapist helps you learn how to deal with your emotions, and how to get through the hard parts of your life. I had one for years, before I moved to this town, and I'm planning on getting one again sometime," Ryan explained, "Plus, Mister Redhorn is a great person. I mean, you like Silvia and Yanna, right?"

  The vampire boy slowly nodded his head.

  "See? If someone could raise two amazing daughters like that, they must be okay, right? If you say you really, really don't want to, then that's okay, but I ask you to at least give it a shot. Just once, and then we can talk about it again," Ryan suggested, and Liam slowly nodded his head.

  "Okay. If you say so..." the boy replied, looking down at the ground, "Can I go back to bed?"

  "Of course. If you need anything, I'll be here, okay?"

  Liam nodded, and slowly closed the door. Ryan would need to talk to Runar about this, but he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer there anyway. Especially since Dimos was already a bit more involved with all of these things than Ryan thought, his uncle should be easy to convince. But the issue was Dimos himself. Though Ryan was sure that he was a good therapist and he could look past his personal feelings, it was still a fact that Dimos had some biases toward vampires.

  He took a few deep breaths. Now, there were just a few small things he had to check out before he crashed onto the couch to sleep for the night. Ryan stepped out onto the balcony with his backpack, joining Gaia upstairs, and sat down on the bench set up at the rooftop's edge. And then, Ryan quickly pulled out the two remaining items that he was given by Goria. He was still wearing the earrings right now.

  The bead didn't seem to be doing anything right now. Though Ryan had no idea if that was because there was no core of a spirit related to water around here, or because he had to somehow activate this first. Ryan didn't know a ton about magic items, but he knew that some of them needed 'attuning'. Luckily, that wasn't necessary for his earrings, but something like this felt like it might need it.

  Carefully, as Ryan's fingers laid on the golf-ball sized orb, he tried to make some of his mana flow inside of it, just in case. The moment he did, it lit up for just a moment, and something inside of it seemed to be moving. It was like some kind of mist, moving around like waves in there. And somehow, Ryan could instinctively tell that there was no water spirit around him beside Violette's two cores that were already with him. It was like the bead was giving him a constant status report, so he would know if something changed. Ryan didn't know the range, but maybe Runar could somehow boost it and they could search a larger area.

  But for now, Ryan put the orb away, and then took a closer look at the drinking horn. He slowly removed the cap. Inside of it was a flat surface of clear water, though it wasn't flowing out even when Ryan tipped the horn over. Goria said this could turn into whatever 'tool' he wanted, right?

  Just like with the bead, Ryan let his mana flow into the horn, and as he did, it was like he could feel the entirety of the water in the horn, all at once.

  With just a thought, he had it move out of the horn, and a stream of water slowly flowed out. It wasn't any stronger than the water coming from a faucet, though. Taking a deep breath while concentrating, Ryan thought about a shovel. Though, that was only the case because he could see one leaning against the railing on the other side of the balcony. Immediately, the water turned into the shape of a shovel, freezing into that shape.

  It gave off a constant chill, but it didn't seem to be melting at all, keeping its shape as long as Ryan wanted it to. But as Ryan held it, he could feel Tiar curiously wriggling on his arm. With a raised brow, Ryan moved the horn from his right hand to his left, and Tiar's patterns practically reached out to it. Just a moment later, a message appeared before Ryan's eyes.

  [The -Horn of Shapeless Water- can be used as a conduit for the -Spirit Armament- Skill]

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