In the wake of a shameless dad joke, the three of them sat at the kitchen table to eat. Kyran’s father dished out some chicken salad and asked a few icebreakers to get the conversation started.

“So, how’d it go kiddo? You get any rest last night? I know the party afterwards can get pretty wild. And last pretty late.”

“Yeah, slept like a log. Or I guess passed out. Morning was a little rough, but breakfast certainly helped,” Kyran said.

“I can imagine,” his dad responded. “How about Neil? I assume he’s doing just fine?”

“Oh yeah, the dude is a wall. He didn’t even seem affected by it, and we were like 6 rounds in. I’d already lost my bearings at that point though, so…”

Raynee chimed in. “I don’t know where that kid gets his size and constitution from. Both of his parents are smaller than you are,” she pointed at Kyran.

“Hey, why single me out? I’m an average-sized male for my age.”

“You’re the shortest one in this room,” she retorted.

He narrowed his eyes. “Fair point.”

“And Neil has like 40 pounds on you. He singlehandedly raises the average size for a male your age.”

“Yeah, I get it, he’s a big guy.”

“He completely dwarfs you when you stand next to him. It’s like a comical difference.”

Kyran didn’t respond, instead giving Raynee an annoyed look. They ate a couple bites in silence – Raynee’s being much more smug. Their father broke the silence by shifting the topic.

“So, did you guys get any cool souvenirs or trinkets while you were in the capital?”

“Not really,” Kyran replied, “we didn’t shop around much.” He thought about it for a second and tapped his chin, “well… except for snacks.”

His dad raised an eyebrow. “I hope you didn’t spend all your money on food. How much do you even have left?”

Kyran scratched the back of his head and answered, “Like 140. We ate a lot…”

His dad sighed. “Yeah, I guess I should’ve expected that. It’s you two after all.” He stopped and tipped his head slightly, a quizzical look on his face. “Speaking of the money, where is it? And all your stuff for that matter? I don’t recall you bringing it in. Is Neil holding onto it all?”

Kyran straightened his posture and focused a little less on the food and a little more on the conversation. They were finally getting into the real meat of the discussion. He still felt a little nervous about it, but he was here now, and he knew they’d both understand. He also knew that with his system, he didn’t need to chip away at their defenses. Just revealing it would shatter their expectations, and that alone could be enough to convince them that he was ready to brave the wild.

He smirked and reached out above the chair to his right. He opened his hand, palm down, and thought about his bag appearing. Ten mana from his pool was consumed, and with a whirl of energy, the bag appeared on the chair from thin air. The entire process took about one second.

Raynee raised an eyebrow, and his dad tilted his head with a thoughtful look. “Huh. My son’s a porter now, who would’ve guessed?”

Amused, Kyran let a puff of air out through his nose and smiled. “Not quite. I’d suggest you mentally prepare yourselves for this one. It’s a bit… different.” This got a questioning look from the both of them, a hint of concern creeping into his dad’s expression. Different didn’t always mean good, after all.

Kyran glanced over at Raynee and whispered, “grand reveal,” smirking yet again. She rolled her eyes.

Okay. Serious time.

He steeled himself and took a deep breath.

”Share Status.”

With that quick incantation, his status popped into view for the two of them to see. Kyran followed their eyes to see their reaction. The two of them quickly glanced down to the system, their brows furrowing for a split second as they read the name, then eyes widening instantly afterwards. They sat there, stunned for a few seconds. Raynee blinked and shook her head to snap out of it, glancing down to read the skills and abilities. His dad didn’t bother, still hung up on the system himself.

“What on Nela? My own son has a Unique system”, he said to nobody in particular. “Kyran, how… what does…” He was at a loss for words.

“Yeah, that’s about how I reacted,” Kyran offered.

Raynee finished reading through the abilities and frowned. From just seeing the abilities, the system seemed like an advanced version of {Explorer}. It had both an inventory and [Party] after all. That didn’t seem right, though. This was a Unique system, so it shouldn’t just be an improved version of a Common one, even with an extra ability or two. She couldn’t determine what the point of the system was or what it was designed to do.

Rather than think herself in circles and get nowhere, she decided to ask Kyran. “I think I’m missing something here. What does the system’s description say?”

The description would help.

“The First Half,” Kyran said plainly.

It didn’t help.

Kyran received two blank stares.

“That’s it?” his dad asked.

“That’s it.”

“Well that isn’t helpful at all,” Raynee said, a little frustrated.

“Tell me about it. My own system that I don’t even know the purpose of.”

“Sada has to get her enjoyment from somewhere, I suppose,” Raynee joked. “Any other bonuses?”

“Yeah, I get some extra attribute points on level up. Doesn’t specify how many or for what attributes, though. There’s also an entry that’s just question marks. I don’t know what it is or how to see it. And there aren’t any hints to figure it out. The whole thing is very vague.”

“I suppose that’s just how it was designed. You’ll have to feel it out and learn on your own,” said Raynee, for once being the voice of reason. After some thought she added, “The abilities are at least decent in a practical sense. [Medium Inventory] and [Party] are both sought after for a reason. I’ve never seen [Identify] though, what does it do?”

Kyran glanced over at Raynee and silently invoked the ability.

Name — Raynee Hall System — The Magic Blacksmith (UC) Class — Adept Enchantment Smith LV 26 Attributes Strength: 158 Speed: 108 Dexterity: 163 Toughness: 89 Vitality: 99 Intelligence: 164 Stats Health: 990 Mana: 820 Class Abilities Blacksmith's Concentration Temperature Sensitivity Enchant Material Refine Material Item Maintenance Special Abilities Material Inspection Imbue Mana

He began to recite her own status back to her. “Raynee Hall. {Magic Blacksmith}, Uncommon. Adept Enchantment Smith, level 26. 158 strength, 163 dex, 99 vitality, one hundred and-“

“You can see my status?” she exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her seat. “That should be impossible unless you’re a Priest of Sada or Celia.”

“What?” his dad chimed in. “Are you sure you didn’t share it with him?”

Kyran answered for her. “Nope. Identify allows me to gather ‘limited information’,” he said using air quotes, “from status windows. It’s basically your entire collapsed status.”

“Wow, okay. That’s a pretty bonkers ability.”

“Well, it is a Unique system,” their dad offered. “It has to have some aspects to it that are ridiculous. Other than that, though, the rest of it seems pretty tame. There’s definitely something important hidden behind those question marks you mentioned. You just have to figure out how to reveal it.” He shrugged.

“Well, whatever’s hidden there,” said Raynee, steering the direction of the conversation, “I doubt it has anything to do with blacksmithing.” This time it was her turn to smirk. “How will you ever take over the family business now?” she said sarcastically.

So this is how we broach the topic, huh. With Raynee being facetious. Can’t say I’m surprised.

Kyran sighed. “I guess we can stop beating around the bush.” He turned to his father and made eye contact. “Dad, Neil and I are… going to become adventurers. I know it’s a bit sudden, and not what you were hoping to hear, but that’s what we’ve decided on. We’ll enroll in an apprenticeship next week, and after that’s over we’ll find some extra members to register as a party. We’ll probably head east to Calio to start with. I’m sure we’ll pass through on the way so I can introduce you to whoever we find.”

His dad was going to retort and tell Kyran he was being rash and had all week to think it over, but something in Kyran’s eyes told him all he needed to know. This wasn’t a decision he made lightly, and was in fact one he had been leading up to for a little over two years.

“I… I knew this was coming, deep down. I still don’t want to believe it. After losing your brother, it’s a lot harder for me to let you go, you know?”

“I know, and I get that, but… this is something I have to do,” Kyran responded. “He’s still out there somewhere, I know it. I don’t know how to find him. Hell, I don’t even know where to start looking for answers, but now that I have the ability, I feel like I’m obligated to at least try. That, and it’s what Neil and I want to do anyways. Explore the world, see new places, meet new people. I can’t stay cooped up at home forever.”

His dad gave him a sympathetic look. “I know I can’t stop you; your mind’s made up. And besides, it’s not like I can make you stay and take over the shop with Raynee without a proper system to keep up,” he said, pointing back at her with his thumb.

Raynee just sat with a frown, staring at her bowl of salad in thought.

Kyran gave a light smile in response. “Thanks Dad, I’ll try to visit when I can. And I’ll write you often.”

“That’s all I ask.”

It was after lunch. Kyran finished cleaning the last bowl and left it on the rack to dry. Now that he’d had his conversation with Raynee and his dad, he didn’t have too much to do for a while. In the short term, he planned to unpack his bag and meet back up with Neil.

He headed down the hallway and stopped after he opened the door to his room. Raynee was standing at the tail edge of his bed, leaning against the bedframe with her arms crossed.

Kyran stared for a moment and blinked.

“Yes, dear sister, of course you can come in,” he started

“Funny.” She didn’t laugh.

A sigh left his mouth. “What’s up?” he asked. He knew there were only two reasons Raynee would be in his room without asking. The first was that she was taking back something he had “borrowed” from her without asking, and since he wasn’t 11 and didn’t do that anymore, that likely wasn’t it. So it had to be the second reason, which was that she wanted to talk. Alone.

“He’s gone, Kyran. Dead. You know that as well as I do. Four fifths of that team came back, but Brady didn’t.”

Well, that was blunt.

“There was never a body, Ray. And his team said he was still alive when they lost him. Everyone just assumed the worst, and nothing was ever verified.”

“They were in the White Wasteland Kyr. Most people would freeze to death within the first hour alone.”

“He had a temperature control system!”

“There are more dangerous things out there than the cold,” she took a deep breath. They’d had conversations like this dozens of times before, with no headway ever being made. She’d resigned herself to the fact that she’d lost their older brother a long time ago. Kyran just couldn’t give it up, though. He’d always been skeptical, and sure, she had been too at first. But after a point it was too hard on her to think that way. She’d felt like she was lying to herself just to cope, and it wasn’t healthy. She could see that lie holding Kyran down, and desperately wanted to free him of that grief and burden.

“Look, I don’t care about your decision to be an adventurer. You should follow whatever path you want to take. I just don’t like you chasing this illusion of hope that you’re still clinging to. This is something that’s been consuming you for so long, and I’m afraid it will break you when you don’t make any progress. I know you miss him. I do too. I know it hurts every day, and that not a day goes by without you reminiscing about when he and mom were around. I know you play back that morning he left in your head, begging yourself to stop him from meeting with his party. ‘Brady, stay here, let them go themselves. Show me that sword move you learned the other day. Tell me more adventuring stories.’ But it doesn’t stop him. He leaves again, and you lose him again. Over and over. What could you have done differently? What would have changed? In the end none of it matters because he’s gone and… and-“

She choked up. She’d been trying to hold back tears, but at some point the dam broke. She was quickly reduced to a babbling mess. Kyran rushed forward to grab his sister in a hug. She leaned into his shoulder and bawled for a few minutes, Kyran trying to soothe her to his best ability.

After a while, Raynee calmed down enough to form coherent sentences. As they took a seat on the edge of his bed, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, shuddered, and leaned into his shoulder again. For some reason, his presence felt safe and secure, like Brady used to. It was as if she could hide away from all her troubles and her brother would protect her from them. She hadn’t felt that way for a long time.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Then after a pause added, “you know, I’m the older one here, I should be comforting you.”

He gave a short chuckle. “You’ve done plenty of that the past few years. It’s about time I returned the favor.”

Raynee lifted her head off his shoulder and smiled. “I suppose that’s true.”

After another pause, Kyran spoke again.

“I know you think it’s vain of me to expect to find him, but all I really want is closure. The guilt is still eating us both up, and I think just knowing the full story will help. I need to find answers to all the questions I’ve been asking myself all this time.”

She nodded. He was right. She’d thought she had found closure and moved on, but that obviously wasn’t true. She needed answers just as much as he did, and the only way they were going to get any was if he went adventuring. The White Wastes were in the northernmost parts of Torell, after all. It would take three weeks to get there without stopping for leisure. Not exactly a day trip.

She understood his decision now, even if she still didn’t like it. She turned to speak again and frowned. Kyran had just popped something in his mouth and began chewing.

“Was that… pork belly?”

Kyran smiled as he chewed. “Want one? Still warm.”