Maximus continued to stare up at Ryan intensely.

  “… And the skill uses so little mana it barely counts, right?”

  The knight slowly shook his head, as if disappointed by Ryan’s logic.

  “Oh come on, you know you want me to build this too, so just be quiet.” Ryan immediately reached out for the wooden box on his table, then quickly opened it up to pull out those special clippers. Without even glancing at Maximus again, Ryan activated his Spirit Construction skill as the patterns on the clippers lit up. He didn’t even hesitate and started to get to work, quickly removing the individual pieces from the frames and putting them into one of his small kit-sorting boxes. Similarly to how he had done it when Silvia and Modak were here, he was going to cut out all the pieces as quickly as he could, sort and align them during the cooldown, and then start putting them together during the next activation period.

  But as he moved his fingers around, even though he was using his left hand, he managed to do it all insanely fast, at least what he was used to. He’d been building these models since he was a kid, so it was easy for him to tell the sudden difference.

  “Dexterity sure is useful, huh?” Ryan grinned lightly. Frankly, even if it just helped him with his hobby, it still was exhilarating to see himself grow and change. Literally just this morning, he wouldn’t have been able to do any of this.

  And due to how fast he ended up being at taking the pieces out of the frames, he was able to start some trial and error by pressing some of the pieces together. He actually got surprisingly far when his skill’s effect ended. After the cooldown, he was able to continue putting everything together, and it didn’t take long until the full limb was done.

  “Alright, I’ve got two more minutes on my skill’s effect … Maximus, come here,” Ryan said excitedly, and Maximus carefully stepped toward him. At this point, since he knew that Ryan was going to do whatever he wanted anyway, Maximus didn’t hold back either. Clearly, he wanted to give the new arm a try as well.

  Ryan carefully grabbed Maximus’s shoulder, and the limb popped out with ease. Maximus stood there, now missing an arm. It was a bit creepy, but Ryan had no right to complain, anyway. He quickly took the new arm and pressed it against the knight’s shoulder, and it attached itself immediately.

  Maximus stretched out his fingers and twisted his arm around a bit. While it was the same length as before, it just had a ton of bulk to it. In general, while it still had the same overall style, the different plates were more angular.

  “So … what does that do now?” Ryan wondered curiously, and prompted by Maximus, the knight’s status window appeared.

  [Maximus]

  [Knight | Level - 3]

  [AP - 28 (+0.5)]

  [Stats]

  -[Aura - 0.76 (+0.1)]

  -[Strength - 0.99 (+0.03)]

  -[Stamina - 0.85 (+0.01)]

  -[Resistance - 0.98 (-0.02)]

  -[Physicality - 0.96]

  [Skills]

  -[Knight’s Attack | Level - 4]

  -[Knight’s Guard | Level - 2]

  -[Knight’s Martial Knowledge | Level - 3]

  “Oh! Wow, that’s … huh,” Ryan muttered quietly. “It’s … better than before. I mean, you’ve got less resistance, but you’ve got more aura, strength, and stamina in exchange. Not massively different yet, but … if you use the full Crusader model, it would be worth a lot, right? I guess it might make up for the fact you can’t train, but …”

  After a bit of thought, Ryan leaned backward in his chair. He didn’t know why, but his gut was telling him something.

  “Could it be that one of my skills will let me strengthen you otherwise? Like, I could upgrade your stats or something,” Ryan suggested, just saying it into the room. Maximus didn’t seem to react to it all that much, but Ryan felt something a little off about the way that he was staring up at him.

  But before he was able to think about it anymore, Ryan’s phone rang.

  “You sure you’re allowed to drink? Aren’t you on painkillers?” Modak asked nervously, his eyes darting around the table.

  “I’m not on painkillers … Just didn’t take them today,” Ryan replied with a grin, holding up his beer into the middle of the table. “Come on, man, my wallet’s five thousand Gild overweight—help me out here!”

  “Cheers to that,” Silvia replied, clinking her glass against Ryan’s before the two looked at the orc sitting next to them. A bit hesitant, Modak held up his glass, clinking it against his friends’, before the three of them each took a large swig.

  “Oh gods, that’s so good.” Ryan smiled broadly, staring at the foam in his glass.

  Silvia let out a loud scoff. “You sound like you haven’t had a drink in years. We were here literally two weeks ago.”

  “Yes, two horrible, horrible weeks.”

  “So … how’re you doing? I know you’ve been keeping us updated, but you literally didn’t leave your place since you got back from the dungeon,” Modak pointed out, concerned.

  “That’s totally not true! I’ve been on the balcony.”

  “Which counts as your place,” Silvia added. “And you were only out there to plan out that planter you ordered, right?”

  “Well sure, but still. Fresh air.” With a smile, Ryan started tapping his finger on the table. “I’ve just been looking into a lot of stuff. Mostly, general mana theory for toddlers. Also been trying to look into any possible dungeons I could.”

  Modak and Silvia looked at each other for a moment. “You’re not seriously planning on going to another one, right?”

  “I mean, at some point, but not right away, no.”

  “Dude, are you insane?” the orc let out, puzzled by his friend’s words. Ryan had nearly just died not even a week ago, and he was already talking about going to another dungeon? But Ryan didn’t seem to be joking about it either.

  “Dungeons are the only clue I’ve got right now, alright? I’ve got to keep looking for ‘that,’ so I’ve got no choice,” Ryan explained. Obviously, he was scared of going back to dungeons right away too, but he just didn’t know what else he should do. What if the rest of Gaia’s fragments were stuck in other places, and someone else came along and closed the dungeon? He couldn’t just walk up to that person and ask for the thing that dropped from the dungeon heart; only an insane person would do that.

  Silvia started resting her chin on her palm. “So Maximus doesn’t have any other ideas either? He knew that something was up with that dungeon, so wouldn’t he know other things?”

  “He doesn’t know either, no. He said he basically just knew that something was in there, but he didn’t know it was ‘that.’ So he doesn’t know where the rest is. But he figures he’ll know when we get to it.”

  “He said that? Seriously? I thought he’s mute or something, but he told you that?”

  “No, obviously he didn’t speak. It’s just through ‘yes or no’ questions,” Ryan pointed out, sighing deeply as he leaned back in his chair. “But seriously, can we not talk about this stuff? At least not in the middle of a fuckin’ pub. We’re here to celebrate and have a good time, alright? Speaking of, how was the club on Saturday?”

  Silvia slightly flinched at the mention as a broad grin formed on Modak’s face. “Oh it was fun, alright. For some of us more than for others.”

  Picking up on the vibe that his friends were giving off, Ryan immediately stared at Silvia. “Did you … ?”

  “… Yes.”

  “With that changeling girl?”

  “Yes.”

  “Looks like we’ve got more to celebrate than I thought,” Ryan laughed as he took another swig of his beer, but Silvia was ready to protest.

  She glared at her friends, mostly Modak. “It wasn’t anything special, just a kiss … we got along well, but I don’t know if there’s anything there … we were both pretty drunk.”

  “Oh come on, how could she not like you? You’re amazing.” Though he was sad that he wasn’t able to be there to witness this in person, Ryan wanted to be supportive without showing his FOMO too much.

  “… Well, but she’s … she’s just so cool, you know? She’s saving up money right now with her friends to found an art collective, and they’re doing this exhibit, and they’re renting the old train station for it! Isn’t that sick? And she’s got those super cool patterns and tattoos on her arm that she designed herself and they’re literally moving and dancing around, and just …” Burying her face in her hands, Silvia let out a loud groan, but Ryan couldn’t help himself but laugh.

  “Silvia, don’t you have like a yearly exhibit literally in the middle of the Easel?” Ryan asked, and Modak nodded his head immediately.

  “Yeah, my school took a trip to one of them before because they heard someone our age made everything there. Like, come on, now.”

  “But that’s … different,” Silvia protested quietly, only slightly looking up from behind her hands. “My dad used to have a bunch of clients from the Channel, so that was the only reason I got in there.”

  “I’m not sure that’s …” Ryan wasn’t sure what to say. Frankly, he had no idea about how that sort of art culture really worked. The only “gallery” in his hometown was the small section in the corner of the public library, and those paintings were made by kindergarten and elementary school kids. He hadn’t even been to a museum before Silvia started dragging him and Modak to them after they all met.

  But Modak seemed to have an idea, at least. “Well, we can ask Fae herself what she thinks.”

  “What—”

  Modak raised his hand up and waved toward the door. Silvia immediately snapped her whole body around, and after seeing the changeling in question stepping into the pub with her friends, she turned back around and tried to hide herself in her own shadow. “Oh no, oh no …”

  However, to Silvia’s dismay, it seemed that Modak was able to get Fae’s attention. She excused herself from her friends and quickly stepped over. Ryan and Modak quickly stood up and greeted her with a hug. Silvia, though reluctant and nervous, also stood up to say hello.

  “How’re you doing?” Modak asked. “I didn’t know you guys come here too.”

  Fae smiled broadly with a quick nod. “Yeah, we usually go to this other pub a bit farther out, but Kit was told about the Sunken Ship so we decided to come here tonight,” she explained, as Ryan pulled up another chair from an empty table and added it to their own, and they all sat back down.

  “Good choice, this is our go-to. My uncle told me about it; we live like five minutes down the road,” Ryan explained, unable to stop himself from glancing down at Fae’s arms to see what Silvia was talking about. On her quite literally paper-white skin, splotches of bright colors were moving around. It looked like when you dropped paint into water—just vibrant clouds that seemed to respond to touch, lingering around her bracelet and rings, all originating somewhere under her clothes and just flooding out toward her hands.

  “Oh? You live nearby? It’s such a nice neighborhood, all the old buildings here,” Fae replied surprised, and Ryan nodded his head, almost with pride.

  “Yeah, I live above Café Runic, I’m not sure if you know it. My uncle owns it, and I just moved in with him when I started uni.”

  “I think I’ve walked by there a couple times. I’ll come drop in next time!”

  “Please do! He doesn’t look like much, but my uncle makes amazing coffee. Don’t tell him I said that.”

  As Fae and Ryan were talking, Silvia and Modak were having their own silent conversation. While Modak was trying to urge the elven girl in front of him to talk to Fae, Silvia was clearly nervous and doing whatever she could to avoid it. But in the end, she wasn’t able to beat Modak and his deep, deep stare.

  “Do you, uhm … want anything to drink?” Silvia asked, awkwardly holding her glass in Fae’s direction. The changeling looked at her with a broad, excited smile, but slowly shook her head.

  “I think the others are ordering some for me already. And I’m not really a big fan of dark beer,” she explained, and Modak let out a loud scoff.

  “Shouldn’t have said that one in front of Ryan.”

  “No, no, it’s all good. I’m in a good mood, plus I owe her for not showing up to the club on Saturday, so I’ll let it pass just this once,” Ryan sighed loudly, not hiding his playful disappointment in Fae.

  Now that it was finally brought up, as though she had been waiting for it, Fae quickly turned to Ryan. “Right, so … why didn’t you come on Saturday? Are clubs not your vibe?”

  “Oh, it’s not that. I mean, I guess I do prefer a pub, but we do go out to clubs sometimes. But no I just wasn’t able to come, I hurt my shoulder pretty badly.”

  Fae glanced at Ryan’s right shoulder that he had just pointed at. “Awe, I’m sorry … are you feeling better now? What happened?”

  “I’m a bit better yeah. And well … it’s a bit complicated, but …”

  “He was pummeled by a dungeon monster,” Silvia explained, seeing that Ryan was tripping over his words. Plus, she wanted to somehow integrate herself into the conversation anyway.

  “Wait, what?” Fae asked, confused. She looked back and forth between Ryan and Silvia, unsure what to say.

  Ryan sighed deeply, starting to explain, “I awakened recently, so on Friday, I went to a dungeon, and it didn’t end amazingly.”

  “I mean, it ended alright, all things considered,” Modak pointed out. “He was level 1 when he went in, destroyed a dungeon heart—which led to the full closure—leveled up two whole times, and only came out with a burn on his hand and a cut on his shoulder.”

  “… When you say it that way, I guess it did end pretty good.”

  Silvia threw a deep glare at Ryan after hearing the tone of his voice. “Seriously, don’t you dare. Just let your shoulder heal.”

  Fae laughed slightly. “Isn’t it fine? Don’t physical Awakened heal pretty quickly anyway?”

  Immediately, Silvia and Modak let out quiet laughs, and the orc looked at their friend with a grin. “Yep, physical Awakened definitely do.”

  Confused at what they were laughing about, Fae glanced around the table, looking at Ryan for context. He just let out a long, deep sigh. “I’m a magic type.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The Library

  Deep into the night, the group stepped out of the pub into the open air. Ryan took a deep breath, stepping to the side to make room for the others stumbling around behind him.

  “You guys gonna be fine?” Ryan asked, looking at Modak and Silvia. The orc scoffed and nodded his head immediately.

  “What do you take me for? Tonight was nothin’ to me!”

  Ryan laughed slightly. “Sure, sure. Text me tomorrow morning and tell me how you feel then.”

  “Whatever,” Modak grumbled, quickly stepping forward to give Ryan a big hug. “Love you, man, I’m glad you’re alright.”

  “Sh-Shoulder, shoulder! I’m not that fine yet!” Ryan flinched with a nervous laugh as Modak pulled back. “But thanks, dude. Love you too. And be careful on your way home, alright?”

  “Of cooourse! Nobody’s gonna mess with me!” With a smug expression, Modak crossed his arms, clearly flexing his arms.

  Meanwhile, Silvia was practically the opposite; rubbing her eyes, yawning, and clearly ready to drop into bed once she got home. Frankly, Ryan was a lot more worried about her than Modak. If she didn’t have such a straightforward way home, he would be concerned she’d get lost at this rate. But something good did come out of this. As tired as she was, she was leaning onto Fae without realizing. When, or if, she remembered this tomorrow, Ryan would have to turn his phone on mute, or else her texts would cause an earthquake in his room.

  “Come on, guys, you’ve gotta hurry to catch your train,” Ryan pointed out, glancing at the time on his phone, and Silvia tiredly nodded her head. She hugged Fae and Ryan, even giving the changeling a kiss on the cheek, and then she and Modak started walking down the road toward the nearby subway station.

  Ryan turned toward Fae, who stood there still a bit taken aback. Her face, usually a blank white, was covered in a wave of colors; tones of blue and pink and red and orange, swirling around her cheek where Silvia had kissed her.

  With a grin and a chuckle, Ryan apologized, “Sorry about that, they just get like that when they’ve had too much to drink.”

  “I-It’s fine,” Fae stuttered out, before she just stood there silently for a bit.

  “Uhm … you gonna be good on your way home?” Ryan asked, trying to break the silence, and Fae quickly nodded.

  “Yes! Of course, some of us live in the dorm fifteen minutes away, so we’ll just be walking back together,” she replied quickly.

  “Well alright, get home safe, then.” Ryan smiled as he stepped closer to give Fae a goodbye hug, but she held up her hand to block him.

  “A-Actually … there’s something I wanted to talk to you about first … if that’s fine?” she explained, and Ryan raised his brow confused.

  “Uhm … sure? What’s up?” His heart beating anxiously as he thought about what Fae wanted to discuss, Ryan watched the colors all over Fae’s body nervously spark up. She pulled Ryan a few steps away, out of earshot of her friends, and took a few deep breaths. At this point, if he hadn’t seen how head over heels she was for Silvia all night, Ryan would have thought Fae was about to ask him out. But that made him even more worried; he had no idea what this was about.

  However, Fae slowly built up to it. “I just … wanted to thank you.”

  “Huh?” Ryan looked back at her, confused. “For what? Did I do anything for you?”

  “I … uhm … During that party at the end of orientation week, I was one of the girls that … you know …” Fae anxiously turned her head away, and Ryan finally realized. He only vaguely remembered the girls from that night. It was dark, and Fae probably switched up her appearance a lot anyway, as changelings tended to do. And really, those girls weren’t his focus anyway.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize,” he replied, “but there’s nothing to thank me for. I saw a very pushy guy hovering over some girls in an alley. I said something, and then … you know the rest.”