For a few moments, Maximus seemed to be in contemplation as Ryan started to eat, when he reacted in a way that just seemed off to Ryan. He stopped what he was doing, jumping up to his feet, staring into empty space. Though, Ryan could tell that he wasn’t looking into “empty space,” but outside of the domain, as if looking at something beyond Ryan’s body. And Maximus seemed tense.

  “Mr. Aglecard, I’m very sorry to disturb you. Could I have a moment of your time?” As Ryan turned his head, he saw an elven man standing right in front of him wearing a dark suit. There was a small, light-blue sparrow pin attached on the left side of his chest.

  Ryan swallowed the food in his mouth, looking back at the man with a frown. He was covered in a cloud of disgustingly potent cologne, and Ryan was worried that the man’s greased-back hair was about to catch fire from the kitchen’s open flames.

  “Uhm … Do I know you?”

  “Not yet, but it would be a pleasure to change that,” the man said, pulling a white business card from his jacket’s inner pocket, practically forcing it into Ryan’s hand. “Simon Grand, of Bluesky Industries. We heard that you just registered your class with the Awakened Center. Congratulations on that, first and foremost.”

  Ryan stared at the man confused. It hadn’t even been thirty minutes since he left from there. “How did you—”

  “It’s all public record, Mr. Aglecard. As you must know, every Awakened and the name of their class is placed into the database for every Riverian citizen to view.”

  “Right, fair enough. Though that doesn’t explain how you fucking know where I went to get lunch,” Ryan replied. The vibes he got from this guy weren’t particularly comfortable.

  For a while, Simon Grand just stared at Ryan with a soft business smile plastered on his lips, before turning over toward the chef. “Coffee, please. Black.”

  “Don’t got coffee,” the chef replied, unamused. “Ya can have tea if ya want. Green.”

  “Then I will take that, thank you very much,” Simon replied, and slowly turned back toward Ryan. “Mr. Aglecard, are you aware of what we do at Bluesky Industries?”

  “Vaguely, I guess?” That was a lie. Anyone even a fraction as interested in Awakened knew about Bluesky Industries. They dealt with anything related to the system, producing a ton of technology that interfaced with it. A lot of the scanners that Ryan had just used at the Awakened Center were made by them, as were most workout machines for the Awakened. They also made plenty of weapons, tools, and any other items that different Awakened might need. And, over the past few years, after a certain breakthrough, they started dealing in a whole other matter as well.

  “Well, to give you a brief explanation, we have dedicated ourselves to making the lives of all Awakened easier and better. And we are especially concerned when it comes to people like you, who have attained unique classes.”

  Ryan continued eating, listening to Simon yap on. If he just played along, this guy would hopefully leave soon enough. Though, he was pretty worried about Maximus’s intense stare that was aimed right at Simon.

  The man continued, “People with unique classes face many, many challenges that are often simply not worth the trouble. As you must know, the rarity of a class has no influence over that class’s inherent power, so many unique class holders fall behind their contemporaries. Without the lengthy analyses and growth strategies that have been created for more common classes, in our day and age, having a wholly unique class comes with truly nothing but downsides.”

  Ryan glanced away from his food. He knew it. It was going that way.

  “So?” he asked, and Simon’s smile grew a bit broader than it had been before, as though he was happy with the flow of this one-sided conversation.

  “Wouldn’t it be much nicer to have a class that you can grow properly in with the assistance of your peers? Not one that was decided for you by the world, but one that you decided on.” Simon pulled the business card that he had placed next to Ryan back toward himself, taking out a pen. He wrote a number on it.

  Three hundred thousand Riverian Gild.

  “This is how much we’re willing to pay for your unique class. And in addition, we’re willing to let you choose any class from our existing catalogue.”

  Looking at the number on the business card, Ryan had to swallow in contemplation for just a second. That much money would be enough to buy his mom a house. Maybe not a mansion or anything like that, but it would be enough for her to live peacefully without having to deal with that shitty landlord anymore. Ryan’s heart beat heavily in his chest at the mention of that much money. However …

  “I’m not selling my class, sorry,” he replied, though it did hurt him a bit. His class was clearly somehow related to his father, and until he knew more about that, he refused to even let others besides the people he trusted most know too much about it all. Not to mention, his class was the one that gave Maximus a body. If he sold the class, would he be selling Maximus as well? Or would Maximus be forced to once more return to that spirit core form for an indefinite amount of time? Frankly, Ryan didn’t know which one would be worse. Either way, no matter how good of a deal that much money would be, he didn’t want to sell.

  “Now, now, don’t be like that, Mr. Aglecard. I know that your family is quite wealthy, but three million Gild is not a number to scoff at,” Simon pointed out with a slight smile, and Ryan looked back at him, confused. His eyes gazed back at the business card, and his heart dropped. It almost felt like he had a heart attack. Ryan had missed a zero.

  For a moment, Ryan buried his face in his hands. That was a truly life-changing amount of money. His mother would never have to work for the rest of her life, and Ryan would be set up just amazingly for the future as well. That number made refusing just harder. Not to mention, “What do you mean, ‘your family is quite wealthy’?”

  Taken aback, Simon looked at Ryan with a puzzled expression. “You are a son of the Aglecard family, correct? Of the Aglecard Foundation?”

  Is that why he offered that much? Ryan wondered. It made sense, though. Within New Riverside, that charity foundation seemed to be a pretty big deal, so after seeing his last name, this guy must have thought that Ryan was part of them. “Aglecard” was an otherwise pretty rare last name, after all. Though, since Ryan wasn’t planning on selling either way, no matter how big the number got, he figured he might as well try to play around a bit.

  “Well, who knows? But what makes you think I’d sell for three million?” Ryan asked, smiling lightly. This being the first smile that Simon saw from him, he seemed to become a bit more confident.

  “I see. Considering your status, three million might sound like a bit of a joke to you. Let me tell you what, I’ll talk to my supervisors and see if I can get you a bit of a better deal. Though, remember that this offer only exists before you reach level 10. After that, class exchanges become impossible, even for us.” Simon stood up from his seat, never even having touched the green tea that the chef had placed in front of him. But even so, he took out a wallet and procured a hundred-Gild bill, then quickly handed it to the chef. “This is for Mr. Aglecard’s food as well.”

  The chef took the money without another word, just slowly nodding at Ryan. Simon turned toward the young man and smiled. “We will reach out to you with a new offer soon, Mr. Aglecard. Until then, please take the time to contemplate what your class is truly worth to you.”

  And without further ado, Simon Grand turned around and left the restaurant, leaving Ryan stunned. He took another look at the business card still laying on the counter, breathing out a heavy sigh.

  “An Aglecard, huh? Didn’t expect ta have such a high-class customer today,” the chef pointed out, grabbing the untouched cup of tea to just drink it himself, since Simon didn’t. But Ryan, once he made sure that Simon wouldn’t be in earshot, just let out a laugh.

  “Man, do I really look that posh to you? Fuck no, I just have the same name. But if letting that guy misunderstand that for a little while gets me my lunch paid for, why not play along a bit?” Ryan grinned lightly as he looked back at his food, finally continuing to eat. The chef let out a loud laugh, and the hands that had never stopped moving around ever since Ryan came in here were practically stunned.

  “That’s hilarious. So even those sparrow bastards can be wrong, huh?” he asked rhetorically, before looking at Ryan with a big smirk. “Though, I don’t wanna be you when they find out ya don’t have a unique class.”

  “Hm? Oh, no, that part’s true,” Ryan replied. “As he said, it’s all public record anyway, so I’d be surprised if they were wrong about that.”

  The chef raised his brows curiously. “That so, huh? Well, congrats, anyway. Looks like you’re gonna be coming into some big cash soon.”

  “Nah, I’m not selling. The class is too important to me for that.” Ryan picked up the bowl in front of him and quickly drank the rest of the broth left in it. As he placed it back down and wiped his mouth, he saw the surprise on the chef’s face.

  “Didn’t expect a kid your age ta have that kinda foresight. I’m impressed,” the chef smiled, holding one of his hands forward to Ryan. “Chantora Basir, Chef. The awakened kind.”

  Ryan looked back surprised, shaking Chantora’s hand. “Holy shit, no wonder this food was as good as it was. Sure earned yourself that, what, six hundred percent tip?”

  “Sure like to think so.”

  “Well, either way, I’m Ryan Aglecard. No affiliation, obviously. And I’m a ‘Spirit Keeper.’ Also the awakened kind.”

  “Spirit Keeper, huh? What’s that let you do?” Chantora asked curiously, and Ryan looked around for a moment. This restaurant wasn’t actually all that busy. It was quite out of the way and in some side road, but considering how big that video on Loop was, he expected a bit more. Though, right now it was quite useful. Looking inward, it seemed that Maximus was quite happy about coming out now. With how he had reacted to Simon’s presence, Ryan didn’t hesitate to trust Maximus’s gut feelings for this.

  Ryan slowly held his hand toward the counter as Maximus stepped out of him. The red wisps quickly formed his body, and the small knight looked up at Chantora, whose four eyes curiously stared at him.

  Chapter Seven

  Shopping Spree

  Silvia sat on the couch, sketching something on her tablet, as a towering figure suddenly stood over her from behind. Leaning forward, he placed his fur-covered hands onto her shoulders and glanced at the screen.

  “Well, well, well, who is that supposed to be for? Doesn’t look quite so practical in day-to-day life,” the man said with a booming voice, and Silvia slightly turned her head and looked up at the minotaur standing behind her as she took out her earbuds.

  “Dad? Didn’t even hear you come in. I thought you were already on your way to that conference.” Silvia smiled broadly, as her father, Dimos, walked around the couch and sat down on the dark brown armchair a few steps away. His round belly pressed up against the white button-up shirt, and his hooves pressed into the carpet.

  “I’m carpooling with Jamal, but he had something important to take care of. I will go to pick him up in …” he explained, looking down at the watch on his wrist, “… about thirty minutes.”

  “Ah, okay, okay. So, anyway, you know about Ryan, right?” Silvia asked, and Dimos quickly nodded his head.

  “Of course I do—you, him, and that Modak boy spend a lot of time together, right? You talk about them a lot.”

  “Right, they’re both awesome! Anyway, turns out, Ryan awakened, like, yesterday.”

  Dimos’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh, is that so? Well, that sounds quite wonderful. Do you know what his plans are from now on?”

  “Well”—Silvia thought about it for a moment—“he’s got a magic class, but he’s not really the ‘classic’ magic type? That would actually be more like Modak’s deal … but because of his class, I guess he can’t get into Awakened sports like Yanna. He said he wants to give Dungeoneering a try, so maybe that’s where he’ll go?”

  Dimos raised his brow. “Dungeoneering? And his parents are fine with that?”

  “His family situation’s a bit complicated, I think, but his mom sounds very supportive. Anyway, that’s like, his deal to figure out, but I thought I’d help in another way.”

  “I see, now.” Leaning slightly forward to the table, Dimos grabbed a small candy and popped it into his mouth. “So you’re designing him something for his dungeon adventures?”

  “That’s the plan! I’m very happy with how it’s looking right now. We’re meeting up to buy some stuff for his first dungeon trip anyway, so I figured we can drop by the fabric store, the one in Driftwood that I really like, and then tonight I can get started!”

  “Okay, well, don’t overwork yourself. You already got home quite late last night, didn’t you?”

  “I guess so.” Silvia leaned back on the couch. She was pretty tired still, but nothing she couldn’t deal with. Luckily elves only needed four to five hours of sleep anyway, so she should be able to catch up pretty easily. “But I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

  “If you say so, I know you can handle yourself,” Dimos said with a smile on his face, as the door leading downstairs to the basement and garage opened up. Through it stepped a tall minotaurean woman carrying three large bags.

  “Oh?” Athina let out, looking at Dimos. “Honey, you’re still here? I thought you should already be on your way.”

  “I will head out soon to pick up Jamal and then we will be on our way,” Dimos explained, pushing himself off his armchair. He walked over to his wife and gave her a quick kiss.

  “Is his husband acting up again?”

  “I didn’t want to pry, but it’s possible. We have been going to a lot of conferences recently, so I couldn’t blame him,” Dimos pointed out, helping Athina unpack the groceries.

  “That may be true, but you don’t see me get that upset every time. You and Jamal are psychiatrists. Doctors. It’s part of the deal.” Athina let out a long sigh, looking at some of the groceries now on the counter. “Oh, but do you want me to make you something for the trip? Since you have the time now.”

  “I do feel a little peckish. It would be lovely if you would, my dear.”

  “Oh, you little suck-up.” With a scoff, Athina gave Dimos a small love tap with the back of her hand as she turned toward the living room again. “Sweet pea, do you want to eat something as well?”

  Silvia thought about it for a moment but just shook her head in response, glancing at the empty bowl on the table in front of her. “No thanks, I just had some cereal earlier.”

  “In the middle of the day again? I thought I told you to eat a bit better,” Athina sighed, looking at her daughter with a raised brow. “That reminds me, didn’t you also promise to go running with me last night?”

  “Well, sure, but there was a bit of an emergency.”

  “What kind of emergency? Is everything alright?” Athina asked with a concerned expression, looking over at Dimos.

  He shook his head and explained, “Her friend Ryan awakened yesterday.”

  “Oh? Well congratulations to him, then. He’s a pretty … rowdy kid, right? Did he get a physical class, then?” Athina asked, as Silvia got up from the couch.

  “Nah, a magical class. A summoning class, at that,” she replied, walking up to the kitchen island.

  Athina raised her brow. “Ryan was the one that caused that whole mess during your orientation week, right? Or was that Modak?”

  “Nope, that was Ryan. He doesn’t know why he got a magical class either, but he doesn’t seem super upset with it. We’re going out to buy some stuff that he needs later. Actually …” Silvia explained, glancing at her phone, “I should get ready to head out in a bit.”

  “Hold on, what kind of mess did he cause?” Dimos asked, confused, but Silvia just waved the question away.

  “Just some accident, that’s all.”

  “An accident that ended up with a broken nose, multiple fractured ribs, and a massive scandal, if I remember correctly?” Athina scoffed, looking at her daughter with a hand on her hip.

  Dimos looked around, confused, as Silvia shrugged. “Yeah, Ryan accidentally beat up a creep that was trying to harass some of the freshman girls.”

  “Pretty sure I remember there being a bit more to it than that, but fair enough,” Athina replied, looking over at Dimos whose expression was already showing his confusion and worry about what kind of person his daughters were friends with. “I’ll explain it to you later, it’s a long story. But he’s a good kid, don’t worry.”

  “If you say so …” Dimos muttered quietly as Silvia walked up to him, giving him a hug.

  “I’ll go get ready now, have a safe trip.”

  “Thank you very much. You have fun with your … ‘rowdy’ friend,” Dimos replied, as Silvia let go and made her way upstairs.

  The metal locker closed with a creak as Modak threw his backpack over his shoulder. With his headphones on his head, he walked out of the break room, to the front of the store. And as he walked to the entrance, he spotted two people standing there, already waiting for him.

  “Yo, how are you doing, man?” Ryan asked as he gave Modak a hug, quickly followed by Silvia who did the same.

  “Tired. Ready to drop into a coma. Only slept for like one or two hours last night,” Modak pointed out, suppressing a yawn.

  “Hah, still more than the two of us,” Silvia scoffed with her arms crossed, and Modak just stared back.

  “Elves should sleep for four hours, humans for seven, and orcs for nine. And I’m barely getting a good five on the regular.” Modak pointed at the dark circles under his eyes as he looked at Ryan. “So, what did you want to get here? Lunch? Does Maximus have a special diet or something?”

  Ryan shook his head. “It doesn’t look like he eats at all. Spirits are sustained by magic, right? But no, basically, I’m looking to buy him some weapons.”