Liam was also pretty curious, but he didn’t understand any of what was in front of him. Ryan remembered that Liam even treated the TV as something completely new and foreign; he had been practically raised in a completely medieval environment for some reason. It still infuriated Ryan, but now it was better to just focus on how to help Liam adjust to things and introduce him to new concepts. And these sorts of machines were also something new to Liam, so Ryan did his best to explain how all of it worked.

  Liam leaned on the table and watched as Ryan pushed all the right parts into place and screwed the tiny screws into their sockets. He let the oil drip into the right spots, clicked the joints into place, and then attached the wooden plating onto the outside. And before long, Gregor’s new arms were both finished, even before the skill’s first activation was over. It still had a minute on its timer.

  Ryan took the small arms and held them out to Gregor. He would know what to do with them, though Ryan also had a bit of an idea. In the parts where these arms should attach to a socket, they had a round plate with some sort of magic engravings on them. He should ask Runar about it later, but for now, he just had to make sure that he had the right idea.

  Gregor took his new arms and held them over his shoulder, and Ryan could feel a spark of mana from the automaton as he linked with the arms. These arms started floating behind him, with only a small gap between Gregor’s back and those magic engravings.

  The arms seemed to be settling into place, and Gregor made use of them quite skillfully right away. He flipped open one of the wooden plates on his drill arm and took out a drill bit that he then attached to the tip of the actual drill part. He turned it on and seemed quite happy.

  His other new arm was the same; those extremely thin fingers were able to move with a dexterity even greater than Gregor’s fingers usually did, and it was an extreme pleasure to watch. Though as that was happening, Ryan could feel a tingle on his arm. Tiar was reacting to the arms, and a thought popped into Ryan’s head. Or, rather, an idea.

  “ … Do you think you could build those as well?” Ryan asked, and Tiar replied with a large smile emoticon.

  “Wait, you can get floating arms like that?” Liam’s eyes were practically sparkling, and Ryan shrugged.

  “We’ll see; maybe. It’s worth a try at least, right?”

  Just then, Ryan’s Spirit Construction skill ran out, and a message popped up in front of him.

  [The -Spirit Construction- Skill has leveled up]

  Ryan didn’t even have to hesitate before he pulled up the skill window. It should have finally reached level 10, and that often came with slightly bigger effect upgrades.

  [Spirit Construction]

  [Level - 10] [Proficiency - 2%]

  [Allows the user to construct the Spirits’ physical bodies]

  [Effect - Spirit Construction for 29 Minutes; 10% Boost to Dexterity]

  [Cost - 14.5 MP] [Cooldown - 1 Hour 15 Minutes]

  Though the additional cooldown was a little annoying, the ten percent boost to his dexterity definitely made it worth it. That meant that Ryan’s dexterity was going to be in a true superhuman range whenever the skill was active.

  “Fuck, yeah.” Ryan grinned, realizing what he just said only a moment later. He glanced over at Liam. “Don’t say stuff like that.”

  “What? No fair!” Liam clicked his tongue, and Ryan let out a laugh.

  “Right, right, don’t worry. Anyway, I’ll go upstairs and help Gaia out until I can use the skill again, and then we’ll build some more stuff. Sound good?”

  “Alright!” With an excited nod, Liam jumped back up onto the couch, and Ryan put his tools back into his box. Liam started watching something on the television, while Ryan made his way to the rooftop garden, with a broad smile on his face.

  Liam was acting more and more like an actual kid his age, and it was really just wonderful for Ryan to see. He climbed the metal stairs and saw Gaia, already busily working away. Ryan rolled up his sleeves and walked up to the greenhouse, where Gaia was preparing the new seeds. The sapling was still sitting on the counter next to her.

  Gaia noticed Ryan coming over and seemed happy for the help, and Ryan started walking around the garden to assist the Golem in planting the new seeds and sapling.

  Chapter Thirty

  Change of Plans

  Ryan sat in a chair in the corner of the rooftop garden. There wasn’t anything for him to do right now, so he was just watching Gaia work. The Golem was always extremely excited whenever she was up there. But there was something that Ryan was also quite excited about up there: the copper wildflowers were close to blossoming. Apparently, it would just take another week or two for their petals to unfold. It should be right after Spirit Week. Annoyingly, Runar said that he was only able to analyze exactly what magical effects the wildflowers would have once they blossomed and that power properly manifested. Gaia’s Garden Golem’s Eye skill also only gave information related to what a plant needed to grow, what season they grew in the best, what nutrients they were currently lacking, and how far along their growth period they were.

  Basically, the information related to the growth and nurturing of the plants, not what you could do with them afterward. That information might emerge in the future, though, but for now, this was the extent of the skill, so they had no real way to figure out what the deal with these actually was.

  Ryan leaned back in his chair and let the light of the sunset hit his skin. Days were way too short these days. Classes were going to start back up pretty soon as well. The semester itself started in less than two weeks, but there was still a bit of a break period when there were no classes for a couple of weeks. Then Ryan would have to deal with stuff that really didn’t even interest him again. Plus, he’d have completely new classes, and he didn’t share any with either Modak or Silvia, so it might all be pretty boring.

  “Then again … I could just try and switch my track over,” Ryan whispered to himself. That was always an option. Right now, he was studying to get a business degree, though that was frankly just because it was the easiest track to get into, since there were no real admission requirements. But now that he was an Awakened, especially an Awakened with a unique class as far as the school was concerned, Ryan could probably somehow get into any track that he wanted.

  … I could try and get into the Spirit Studies track … The first semester was only general education stuff anyway, so the credits probably transfer, Ryan thought, pulling out his phone. The sun made it kind of hard to read the screen, though.

  Ryan navigated to his New Riverside University’s homepage, navigating to the info about the Spirit Studies track before downloading the course handbook. Most of the classes actually sounded pretty interesting.

  History classes, both general history as well as history in how it related to spirits specifically in later semesters; classes about magic, mystical anatomy, spiritualistic concepts, cultural studies, and then a whole bunch of electives that all seemed to have pretty interesting names at the very least.

  However, it was the kind of class that would usually lead more into academics rather than into practical work, which Ryan really wasn’t interested in at all. But with his class being related to spirits, learning more about them was a good idea. Plus, he basically had a safe job lined up for after college now, so he didn’t even need to worry about whether or not his degree would be useful. But as he thought about this, a realization came to Ryan. If he wanted to change his track, then he had to talk to his mother about it.

  She would most definitely support him no matter what choice he made, but the idea was still a bit nerve-racking. But even so, running this by his mother before making a decision felt like the right thing.

  Ryan dialed his mother’s number and waited for the call to connect.

  “Hey, Mom,” he said, leaning back in his seat.

  “Hi, honey! How are you?” his mother replied with what was basically an audible smile.

  “I’m well! I just reached level 10 earlier today.”

  Mary was silent for a few moments, clearly processing what she had just heard. “Really? Already? You’re not overworking yourself, are you?”

  Ryan opened his mouth, ready to calm his mother down and tell her that he wasn’t overworking himself. But that wasn’t really true. Right now was one of the few moments he’d had to just chill for a bit. “… A little bit. But … you know I have a unique class, right? And some guys from Bluesky were interested in buying it.”

  “Wait, you’re not planning on selling your class, are you?”

  “No! No, not at all. It’s the opposite, actually.” Ryan said. “Basically, the way that the class-trading thing works is that a class has to be below level 10 to be traded. They were being incredibly, disgustingly pushy, so I’ve been trying to reach level 10 so I can get them off my back.”

  “Pushy? What do you mean, pushy? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

  Ryan could hear his mother’s concerned voice. He has been getting hurt quite a lot, though it wasn’t because of Bluesky. “I’m fine, Mom, don’t worry.”

  “… Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” he said, trying to reassure her. “But listen; this isn’t the only reason I’m calling, but … I know you suggested I get a business degree, but now that I’ve awakened, I—”

  “Do you want to drop out? Do you have any work you could be doing?” Mary immediately assumed.

  Ryan sighed lightly, trying to find the right words. He didn’t think he should just tell his mom all about the secret society involved with the Aglecard family. He wanted to, of course, but that would mean he also had to explain things about his dad. Ryan still didn’t understand his father’s motivations at all, and especially the Spirit Seal Recovery skill completely messed with what he had assumed until literally earlier today. He just didn’t want to drop that kind of knowledge onto his mother without knowing what the actual truth was.

  “I’m not planning on dropping out, but I do have some work lined up that I’ll probably start getting into soon already, in a part-time capacity while classes are going on, obviously. It’s a bit complicated, but I’ll explain it to you soon. But … I wanted to see if I can change my major.”

  “Oh? Can you just do that?”

  “I mean, I can probably just enroll in another track. I might not be able to transfer all the credits, but some of them, I’m sure,” Ryan explained. “Plus, my university supports Awakened a ton, so it should be possible?”

  “Really? So, what major are you thinking, then?”

  “Spirit Studies.”

  “Is that … something you can find work in after?”

  “Well, no, not directly, but again, I’ve got a job lined up, plus I’ve got a unique class, so I’m not going to struggle getting a job in the future,” Ryan pointed out, trying to calm his mother down. “But my class is related to spirits, so I just want to learn more about them. I’m literally a Spirit Keeper … Spirit Studies are obviously more useful to me than a business degree, right?”

  “In that case, if you’d rather get a degree in that, as long as your job is fine with that, I think you should do whatever you want,” Mary pointed out, and Ryan let out a relieved sigh. He had known that his mother would react like this, at the end of the day, but you never knew.

  “Oh!” Mary let out. “I just remembered, but our company building is going through renovations soon, so we’ve been given some bonus time off throughout Spirit Week.”

  “Oh?” Ryan started, already knowing what was about to come next.

  “I was thinking it would be great to come visit you! I heard the Spirit Week celebrations in New Riverside are absolutely beautiful. And it would be great to meet your new friends!”

  Ryan closed his eyes momentarily. He somehow didn’t have a great feeling about this, but consciously, there wasn’t any reason against his mom coming for a visit. Nothing was actively wrong right now, but this gut feeling that something could happen at any moment still made Ryan nervous as hell.

  “Sure, uhm … I’ll talk to Runar about if we can have you lodge up here.”

  “Oh, nonsense, I can get a hotel! I know you don’t have a ton of space there,” Mary pointed out, but Ryan immediately shot that down.

  “Mom, seriously, it’s fine. You can sleep in my room, and I’ll sleep on the couch; it’s fine. If you really want to get a hotel, I guess we can figure that out, but it’s fine to stay here. I doubt Runar will say anything about it either.”

  “Are you insane? You want your mom to come here? Right now?” Runar asked, staring at Ryan, who just stood there, completely confused.

  “What? Yeah, why not? Is there a problem with that?”

  “Well, not a problem, I guess, but you’ve got so many eyes on you right now. It would be crazy to drag Mary into that.”

  Ryan let out a long, deep sigh, sitting on the chair in front of his desk. “I know that things could happen, and yeah, I don’t have the best feeling about this stuff either. But what do you want me to do, never see my mom again? Like, is it ever gonna be safe for me?”

  Looking at his nephew, tapping his foot on the ground, Runar sighed. “It’s not about never seeing her again. But what, do you want to tell her about the family as well?”

  Ryan shook his head. “No, not particularly. Not yet, at least. At some point, when I’ve got a better feeling of what the hell all of this even is, I guess. Because I don’t want her to get involved in dangerous stuff, either.”

  “And you’re sure you think it’s a good idea?”

  “Hah, yeah, no, not at all. But it’s been half a year since I’ve seen her, and frankly, I miss my mom a bit. And she obviously misses me too, so what am I supposed to do?”

  Runar groaned lightly. “Fine. I guess I’ll have to come up with an excuse as to why I suddenly adopted a kid. Where’s she staying?”

  “Here. As in my room.”

  “Ryan, you know I can get her the best hotel room in the city, right?”

  “Well, yeah, but that defeats the purpose of her being here,” Ryan pointed out. “Plus, how are you going to explain to her how you can afford something like that? She still thinks you’re just the owner of a small café. She wouldn’t let you pay for anything.”

  “Urgh, I guess so. But if she’s sleeping here, where are you going to sleep?”

  “The couch; where else?”

  “You’re going to sleep on the couch? Isn’t that going to be uncomfortable for a week to sleep on such a small thing? You can’t even move around.”

  Ryan narrowed his eyes as he looked at his uncle. “Are you … You know that’s a pull-out couch, right?”

  “… Huh?”

  “Yeah, it’s a pull-out couch. I— You— What? How do you not know your own furniture?”

  “… I’m not gonna lie to you, but I was never up here a lot before you moved in,” Runar pointed out. “I mean, I was here to take care of any guests that I had staying over temporarily, obviously, but otherwise, I’d be in the café or in the basement. I don’t think I’ve ever sat on that couch, to be honest.”

  “You should. It’s pretty comfortable,” Ryan responded, and Runar scoffed.

  “Right, I guess so. But anyway, I guess that means you’re going to be showing your mom around during Spirit Week?”

  “Uh … yeah, I guess. I’m already looking up some cool stuff that’s going on that might be fun to look at,” Ryan explained, and Runar grinned lightly.

  “In that case, I’ve got a few recommendations. On Thursday, so Kars’ day, the Magic Tower is doing a big thing here in Oldtown, and that’s always pretty fun because they’re showing off a ton of new stuff. Oh, and on Wednesday, Goria’s day, Lakeview always does massive celebrations. I’d actually suggest going down into the lake tunnels, but they’re usually pretty full. On Mondays and Tuesdays, Eastbanks is pretty fun, but there’s basically no place in the city that’s not sort of doing something for those days. But you know, Eastbanks is closer to nature, and that’s where most local farms are, so they just do a bit more for Regir and Mila’s days.”

  Ryan immediately noted what his uncle was telling him so that he wouldn’t forget it. “Alright, what about Friday through Sunday?”

  “Hm … Friday … I’d just say bring an umbrella, or wear a hood, just in case. You know, don’t want any birds bombing you. But there, I’d say any place in the city is fine? Though I guess areas with Avian species are usually a bit more excited those days. Oh, parks are great on Mugir’s days for the kites,” Runar suggested, thinking about what else to do on the weekends. “Saturday in the Channel is pretty cool, to be honest. They kind of do a lot, surprisingly. Maybe because of the massive buildings, they can really just shut out all the light for Porsa’s day. And on Sunday … every district sort of does their own small end-of-week festival, and I’m usually here in the area.”

  “Okay, that’s great. What about everyone downstairs? Are you doing anything for them?” Ryan asked, and Runar’s light smile immediately dropped.

  “I … We kind of try to do something every year, but … it never really feels the same as up here.”

  “Really? I mean, can’t you, like … I don’t know, organize something for them? They should be able to celebrate the Great Spirits’ blessings as well. I mean, I’m not really spiritual in that sense; I know, ironic, but I’m sure there should be some people downstairs that care about it. Right?”

  “Well, of course, but what are we supposed to do? In more rural areas, it’s different, but in New Riverside? One of the most densely populated cities in Riveria? That’s not really … viable.”

  “But … they’re already cooped up down there. Plus, some of them are directly related to the Great Spirits.”

  “… Huh?”

  “Like, the dryads are connected to Regir, for example. The sprites are connected to Porsa. Like, you know, they deserve to—”

  “Ryan, what are you talking about? Just because dryads are types of plants doesn’t mean they’re related to the great nature spirit, and the sprites aren’t related to the spirit of shadows either.”