Jason paused at his doorway, sniffing the air. A weak scent of his mom's perfume trailed from the door to the exit while his dad's musk lingered in the air. He breathed out a sigh of relief and he entered his apartment with confidence.

That confidence melted the second he saw his mom standing within their kitchen. The young Delver rubbed his eyes and nose, looking at his mom and then at the door. Above the doorway was a small sachet that had various soaps within it; all of which were scents he knew his dad wore whenever he got back from a long hunt.

"Oh! Hi, son, you got back pretty late, so I wondered if I put up my little trick too early." His dad said, waving at him from the couch with a smile. "From that look on your face, it seems like your old man fooled those senses once again."

"Haha…" Jason's nervous smile trembled, threatening to break into a frown. Why is it that the one person who could fool his nose was his dad?

"Thank you, Christopher." Jason's mom chimed in. "You did good."

"H– hey guys, sorry about being late. I had a sudden assignment put on me last minute, so I had to stay a little later. You should understand, right?"

"A sudden assignment? I recall the contract only allowed for company assigned missions, and the most they can force on you must be capable of being completed within the scheduled shift hours."

"Well, that's the funny thing…" Jason's strained smile wavered momentarily, cursing himself internally for not reading the fine print on that contract. "It has to do with my Innate–"

Jason was cut off as his Holo buzzed and its screen turned red. He raised it up like a shield, fending off the terrible beast that was his mom's interrogation. His dad chuckled in the background, clearly seeing what Jason was doing.

"It's Delver information, so I can't say it. Company secrets and all that, you know."

His mom glared at the red Holo, and Jason was worried she might just figure out how to destroy it from spite alone. Eventually, she sighed, sagging in her spot and leaning onto the kitchen counter that separated her from the living room. The rustle of clothes took Jaosn's attention as he found his dad had crossed the living room to stand in front of him.

His dad patted his shoulder. "We just worry a bit, Jason. You know your mom and I love you. If you ever want to talk, we can just find a train and stash our Holos somewhere."

Jason blinked, unsure how to feel at that. His dad blatantly stated how they could circumvent the Holo's monitoring, and Jason felt inclined to say that he probably could ask Luciano for a better method. Of course, that reaction was stopped as his mom made her way over to them just to pinch his dad's side.

"Ow! You violent woman, stop that! It hurts!"

"Christopher, what did I say about saying these things?"

The man slumped over. "Not to do them where Holos can record."

Jason held back a laugh, covering his mouth. His dad caught his action and smacked him on the back.

"You think its funny when your old man gets– hmm?"

Jason froze when his dad paused. The previous playful slap had scored a direct hit on the healing wounds Luciano had inflicted on him, causing Jason to flinch.

"You…" His dad trailed off, shooting a glance at Jason's mom. With a casual ease, the man waved his hand and laughed. "Dang, I forget how much you changed. I might as well have slapped a rock."

"And you shouldn't hit him too much. Delver's abilities are dangerous, so you should be careful when interacting with threats like…"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. No need to startle the big bad Delvers who just want to beat their old man, hmm." His dad said, pointing in Jason's direction.

It was different when he did it. Jason knew it was playful, and the teen didn't flinch when that accusation was thrown his way.

"Right, yes, that is…" his mom paused, shaking her head. "I suppose I will lay down. Perhaps, I was a little too high strung today."

"Do you need me to get you anything?" His dad asked.

His mom shot a glance his way before she pursed her lips. "No… No, I will just go now. Its good to see you home safe, Jason. There's been rumors of kidnappings going on all over the city."

"And you believe they'll take a Delver like our son?" His dad asked with a laugh. "You going to go with some strange men into a random housing block or something?"

"Shut it, dad."

"The point still stands. And Jason, I…" his mom called, and Jason perked up before she shook her head. "Never mind. I will see you in the morning."

Jason heaved a sigh as he watched his mom leave, holding back his own deluge of emotions. There was too much that needed to be said, and the teen knew that he couldn't say it without losing the tenuous current situation. A rope once held the two of them together, but now it was frayed and strained as they drifted apart.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"You okay, son?" his dad asked, pulling the teen from his thoughts.

"M'fine. Don't worry about it."

His dad hummed, and he moved away to sit on the couch. The man patted the empty space next to him. Jason sighed but moved to sit next to him, falling into the soft cushions.

"I don't want to talk about it, dad."

"I know," his dad said, and Jason felt the man shift to lean back into the couch with him. "But, that doesn't mean you can just shut us out. You're not alone here, Jason. At the same time, it wouldn't be me if I didn't ask about the… you know."

"The wounds."

"Those, yeah. Does a normal corporation make you bleed constantly?"

Jason scoffed. "Don't they all do that?"

"You know what I meant, Jason." His dad shook his head, patting Jason's shoulder softly. His touch was warm. Caring. "Hiding is only useful when you have prey in sight."

"Not everything has to be a hunting metaphor, dad. I was just training, and we got a bit too into it. They're not even that deep."

"So long as you say so," his dad said with a shrug.

Jason bit his lips. He wanted to tell his dad, consoling himself with the man's advice. However, the fear stopped him; the fear of his parent's reactions to his situation. The teen could see his mom blowing up, desperately trying to pull him out of the Calderone's grasp. His dad would do much the same, showcasing his skills as a hunter and how they translated to violence. They would fight for him, and that was what he feared.

His parents were normal humans. They might as well be paper to him. And yet, Luciano and Balakrishna easily bested him.

Things would not change unless he could do it himself.

"Dad," Jason started, dropping his head onto his dad's shoulders. The man grunted but held him up. "I…Sorry for coming home late."

"So long as you're sorry."

Jason nodded.

"And you'll have to apologize to your mother tomorrow morning."

Jason paused, nodding after a moment.

"And… do my chores for the week?"

"Only if you help me convince mom of something." Jason said, and his dad raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, so long as you're not going into the lower Blues, I can help. I am no miracle worker.

"Haha, yeah…" Jason coughed. "About that–"

----------------------------------------

A miracle worker, his dad was. Jason stifled a laugh as he remembered his dad's look of betrayal after he said he was going down to the lower Blues. Of course, he had used his talents as a Delver to… run away in a panic from his irate mom.

Jason leaned back against the wall of the elevator, listening to the symphony of gears and wires within. He felt bad for lying to them again, but at this point, the teen knew it was just another Bit to the pile.

"I'll make it up to them." Jason decided to himself. "Let's see what kind of things I can pick up on my way back up. The market floor on the 207th is pretty good for… hm?"

As he scrolled through his Holo, Jason caught his newest messages. Lessons and data packets from Luciano about Dragon Eaters and mana.

The teen tapped on one packet of information, skimming through the material. He shifted in spot as he read more, and then looked up to find that no one paid any attention to his Holo. When Jason found that he wasn't at risk of breaking his NDA, he went back to the start to read the packet again.

Wuxing, or Five Agents, was what Luciano had told him about the other day. However, most Delvers knew it as the Five Common Elements, and should there be no other circumstances, most Delver's element would fall under them as: earth, metal, water, wood, fire.

As he read over how the elements would promote or restrict each other, Jason couldn't help but think about his previous experience in the free-for-all on the first and second floors. Where Cecilia's fire element restricted Balakrishna's metal element. The teen pursed his lips as he thought back to the shinobi who had been killed by Balakrishna.

"That was definitely the water element…" Jason mumbled, interlocking his fingers and cupping his hands. The release hand sign for the water element.

When nothing happened, Jason smacked his lips, rereading how the water element was supposed to restrict the metal element. With that logic, the shinobi should have had the advantage against that insane monk.

Jason eventually gave up that line of thought. Balakrishna would have known this information as well, so it made sense he wouldn't just rely on just his rudimentary mana domain.

The teen continued to read, skimming through the sections that didn't interest him or things he didn't understand. After a bit of searching, Jason had finally found a segment on elements outside of the five. They were labeled as higher-tier elements, combinations of at least two of the previous five; like fire and metal for the lightning element in regards to the Lyonire he had killed before.

Jason blinked as he reread that part. Beyond how that combination made sense, he paid more attention to the fact that the notes mentioned his fight with the Lyonire. He thought back on Luciano's previous words and chuckled. A wry smile broke on his lips.

"They certainly looked into me, huh…" Jason mused, narrowing his eyes.

His pause did not last long. Jason went back to his data packet, reading over it again with a renewed fervor. He found a couple of lines on elementless mana, but most of them were that the element was more trouble than it was worth. Overall, it was agreed that it was an element that could only be released with a combination of all five hand signs instead of one. Unlike where a higher-tiered would trump its counterparts, the elementless was a neutral one.

Neither promoting nor restricting, elementless mana was something Jason struggled to accept.

The teen did not need something that would take years to figure out. Even the way to use it was a pain as he needed to figure out which combination of hand signs worked for him.

Gritting his teeth, Jason dismissed the rest of the data packet. He looked over the rest, finding that they were extensions to mana-oriented combat. It became apparent, when he glanced through the rest, that he'd first need to master releasing his mana. The only other pieces that interested him was the small amount that Luciano included about Dragon Eaters.

However, Jason realized that Luciano didn't want to reveal everything they found. All the man had given him were the several pictures of the winged humanoids in various depictions of war. He followed one of the larger pictures as the Dragon Eater within was shown fighting small creatures before it was pitted against larger and larger monsters until the last picture showed it against another serpentine dragon.

They were weapons, Jason realized. The only time the Dragon Eaters were not shown as fighters was when they kneeled to someone on a throne. Jason could only suck on his teeth as he realized just how alike his current situation was to the creatures in the pictures.

"If I am directionless, will that be the thing that defines me?" Jason's voice was whisper-quiet.

He touched his chest, thinking back to his Innate talent. Luciano might have said that the physical traits of the emulated species were copied, but Jason couldn't help but apply the same to the mental traits of the species. At what point were his decisions influenced by his Innate talent?

He didn't know how long he thought about that, but by the time he broke from his trance, he had arrived on the fifth floor.

Shaking off his apprehensions, Jason got off the elevator. According to Luciano's mission for him, he needed to figure out who was behind a string of kidnappings.

"I'll finish this quick, then I can panic about things later…"