[Personal Quest complete - Return what was lost: You have completed a quest formed by your will to reach your goal, enough to gain the recognition of the Lords of Light.]

[Exp 3000 Gain!] [Exp 2265 > 4000]

[Title - Oath Keeper: Gained. As long as you can keep this title, you gain increased experience from Quests: 25% increase to Exp gain. Notice. Breaking a promise, oath, or Quest will result in this title being stripped from you.]

[Level Up!]

[Congratulations, you have levelled up!]

[Level 6 > 7]

[Exp 1265 / 6000]

[Attributes.]

[Strength: 13 > 15]

Body: 13 > 15

Mind: 13 > 15

Dexterity: 13 > 15

Perception: 13 > 15

[Charisma: 13 > 15]

[Hp 80 > 100]

As the light around Lan started to fade, anything not nailed down in the kitchen slowly stopped shaking.

‘You… you levelled up.’ Lan’s mother said as she shielded her eyes from the light. ‘Is this your…’

‘Seventh.’ Lan smiled, knowing what was coming next even before his mother furrowed her brow.

‘Se-seven?’ Maya asked as she wiped her eyes. Trying not to spoil the moment, she had been quietly weeping in the corner, but the news of his level seemed to have made her forget that. ‘I thought you were just level one a week ago.’

‘He was,’ Lan’s mother confirmed as she started to frown.

‘Right, I think it’s best if you sit down for this.’ Lan said, just as the poorly treated front door slammed open again.

‘Enri, I told you not to run ahead!’ Lan’s father shouted as he charged down the hall. ‘What was that light? Did someone just…’

Before he could finish, Lan’s father turned into the kitchen and froze as he locked eyes with Lan.

The two just looked at each other for a moment as a range of emotions played on his father’s face.

Lan wanted to say something. He knew he should. It didn’t matter what, anything to break the silence. But before he could think, his father looked like he would first, and Lan braced himself.

Would he tell him to leave, or would he think that he had been lying to them from the start?

Just when it looked like his father would spare him from the waiting. His father looked at his neck and frowned.

Reaching for his neck, Lan found that although he had hidden his Guild tag under his shirt, a part of the chain was still visible.

‘You idiot…’ Lan’s father sighed, each word filled with more disappointment than Lan knew was possible, then he just walked out of the kitchen before Lan heard a door close.

At this, Lan reeled as if punched in the gut. Whatever he had been expecting or what he thought he was ready to hear, it wasn’t that, and for him to just walk out like he had… Lan would rather his father had hit him as this just left him feeling hollow before he was filled with anger.

And it was with that that Lan started after his father before his mother grabbed his hand.

‘Lan…’

‘I have to do this.’ Lan said and waited for his mother to let go of him.

The moment she did, Lan shot out of the room and down the hall to his father’s shop.

Before he could think, Lan burst into his father’s workshop, finding him standing in the middle of the room. Without having time to open a window or light any lamps, the only light came from the hall behind Lan.

‘Say something!’ Lan shouted as he felt his heart twist. ‘I know I messed up.’ Lan mourned. ‘I know you are angry, and you have every right to not want to see me again; just don’t act like I don’t exist. I’m sorry for what I said when we fought, so… just say something.’ Lan said, his voice barely a whisper now, ‘Even if it’s just that you hate me, just say anything.’ Lan dropped his head. So badly did he want things to go back to the way they were… and if he couldn’t have that, then just not this…

Just when Lan started to think that nothing would change, large tree-like arms wrapped around him. Despite being almost as tall as his father, he might as well have still been a boy as Lan sank into his father’s chest, his father’s arms crossing to shield him.

‘I-’ his father breathed, ‘will never hate you, Lan…You were just a boy; I don’t even remember what you said. I could never be angry or hate you for that. I’m angry because it was my job to protect you. I’m angry that I let you go even though I knew something felt wrong, and that day, I came looking for you. I’m angry that I didn’t tear down every building until I found you. I am angry at so many things that when I look at you, I have to stop myself from shouting or finding and wringing the life out of that bastard’s neck. Worst still is that I hate myself for making you think it was your fault because I didn’t know how to fix it.’ Lan’s father said, holding him as if he could vanish if he didn’t.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

‘I thought…’ Lan said, his words catching in his throat, ‘I…’ Lan grabbed onto the back of his father’s shirt as the mountain of guilt he had been carrying crumbled away.

‘I’m so sorry.’ His father said as Lan felt his eyes start to sting. ‘I should have said it sooner, but it is so good to have you back.’

‘Dad…’ Lan managed as he hugged his father back.

After a moment longer, Lan and his father broke off the hug and looked at each other, ‘But wait, if you aren’t mad at me, why did you call me an idiot?’ Lan laughed weakly.

‘That's because you are.’ his father shot back, grabbing his shoulders as his face took on a serious edge. I know the chain of a guild tag when I see one. Why would you do something so dangerous and stupid? If I had known it would come to this, I wouldn’t have let you leave the house again,’ his father said, shaking Lan by the shoulders to emphasise the point.

Lan looked away, ‘At first, I wanted to join because it seemed like the only way I could make enough coin to buy back Mother’s hairpin. But after the guild job…’

‘The what!’ Lan’s father squeezed his shoulders. ‘Don’t tell me you went on that guild job with the Wild Hunt?’

Lan was about to ask how he knew about it but found himself answering instead.

‘Yeah…’

Lan’s father blinked at him, ‘and?’

‘I… didn’t die?’

His father fought to stop his eyes from rolling. ‘I mean, did you freeze up?’

‘Well, when I first saw the Razerwolves, I was surprised but was fine after a moment. I was even able to help a little. More than that… I can’t really explain it, but everything made sense in that moment.’ Lan said, feeling a need to make a case for himself. A moment later, he regretted it as his father dropped his head.

‘Damn it…’

As he looked at his father, Lan almost felt disappointed in the reaction before something hit him.

‘Wait a minute, why do you know anything about the adventurer’s class item? You don’t even make class items, let alone adventurer’s.’

In the form of an answer, Lan’s father sighed and walked over to a shelf where he got down a small sealed box.

After another sigh, his father retrieved a chain of interlocking dark steel, at the end of which was a small rectangular plate about a finger long and two fingers wide… unlike Lan’s, his father’s was not only made of gold but looked like it had been burnt along with having a large crack down the middle.

‘I know because I was just as much of an idiot.’ His father said as he handed the tag to Lan.

‘How…’ Lan started. His father had been an Adventurer.

Even though it made sense knowing what his level was and the fact that they had never talked about their past, it didn’t make it any easier to believe.

‘We did it to avoid this.’ Lan’s father pointed to his tag. ‘As you can guess, I once heard the Hunters Call, just like you, but that’s not all. I was a lot like you when I was a boy, always finding myself doing something stupid and dangerous.

‘When I was younger, someone stole my family Class item, and for some reason, this led to a part of myself that I had been trying to ignore taking over my thoughts. Soon after being betrothed to your mother, I joined a guild, and after a few years, I was able to get our family class item back, and we left a year before you were born.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me.’ Lan breathed, feeling like he needed to sit down.

‘We didn’t tell you because it’s believed that the children of those with the Hunter’s Mark are likely to have it, too. Our hope was that if we gave you a normal enough life, you would never hear The Hunter's Song.’

Although Lan could understand the reasoning, until recent events, Lan had never seriously considered becoming an adventurer. Then, all of a sudden, it was all he could think about, but that wasn’t all. As he looked back on his life, Lan could only see now that he had always been looking for something in everything he did. Maybe it was only when he saw the other adventurers that he found his answer.

‘Do you still hear the Call?’ Lan asked after a moment, getting a smile from his father.

‘I did for a while after. There were days that I found myself standing outside of one of the guilds in the city without knowing how I got there. But all that ended the day that I first held you in my arms. And found my true purpose.’

Lan felt his heart swell at his father's words, even as they stung him a little. The same thing that had helped his father leave the life of an adventurer he had helped take away.

Seeing this, his father grabbed him by the arms and smiled. ‘Clearly, you seemed to have gained some levels, but how, by the Light, did you end up on a Guild Job?’

‘Well,’ Lan started as he rubbed his neck before beginning the story of how he had joined just as a guild job had been called and how he had been able to sneak by for a little while by just keeping his head down. Skipping the part about almost dying in one attack and picking up when he protected Olivia. He looked up and saw his father pinch his eyes as he shook his head.

‘Your mother is going to kill me.’

‘What, why?’

‘Well, you didn’t get the Mark from your mother.’ His father sighed.

‘About that,’ Lan said, remembering that other thing he had gotten from his father. ‘Do you know anything about the… Other World God?’

With a grunt, Lan’s father nodded, ‘Well, Silus inherited it, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t.’

‘You do know about it! What about the Voice?’ Lan asked, feeling relieved that he had someone to talk to about it.

‘The Voice? What does this have to do with the Voice?’ His father frowned.

‘Right, what I mean is, have you tried asking the Voice about the Other World God.’ Lan asked and watched his father shift around.

‘I tried, but it’s the only question that it won't even acknowledge in any way.’

‘And did it ever make any odd sounds when you asked it?’ Lan asked, shaping the question to make it less worrying.

‘Any odd sounds?’ his father repeated in a way that told Lan that he hadn’t. ‘I think I would remember that.’ His father frowned again. ‘Even still, an ability that can not only appraise items and draw diagrams for improving on them does seem like something from another world.’

That took Lan by surprise. That didn’t sound anything like the Ability he had, even if it had multiple functions like his own.

‘I take it that yours is different then?’ Lan’s father asked, smiling as he nodded.

‘I can see both mana and health with it and maybe more, but I am unsure. How did you know?’

‘Although Silas has the appraisal part, he can also see all who have used an item. So, it looks like we were right about the Ability working differently depending on the wielder.’ Lan’s father said, scratching his chin, clearly feeling the same way as Lan.

‘But I wonder why both you and Silas have one ability the same?’

‘Hmm, well, most likely because of our work. Silas only just got the second type a year ago when he started going to material auctions, and although I had the appraisal skill for years, I gained the second use when I started crafting. Maybe the Eyes changed to fit the users' needs.’

‘That’s so odd.’ Lan said before, both grunted at the same time. Abilities were meant to be set in stone. That was one of the things that made them separate from magic. Although his seems tailored for fighting, was there anything keeping him from the other uses? Which once again brought him to thoughts of the Other World God and how they had this power.

‘And what about the Other World Chest?’ Lan asked, and his father stared at him for a moment before grabbing him.

‘You were able to unlock another one!’

‘Yeah, it seems to be an Item box, and although I haven’t had a chance to test it yet, it doesn’t seem to have a limit outside of what I can lift. Also, I can use mana to remove items without touching them.’

‘Hmm, that would explain why neither Silas nor I got the Chest. We can’t manipulate mana.’ Lan’s father shrugged. ‘Would make a killing on shipping costs, though.’ He smiled, and Lan joined him, having had the same thought.

‘But we can talk more about that later. So what are you going to do now?’ his father asked but knew the answer as he looked into Lan’s eyes. Raising the broken tag. ‘I guess I already know the answer.’ He sighed. ‘Once again, you're asking me to let you go somewhere I can’t follow.’

This time, it was Lan’s turn to grab his father by the shoulders as he felt his will harden into steel. ‘I’m not going anywhere this time.’