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, as Silvia slightly turned her head and looked up at the Minotaur stood behind her as she took out her earbuds.

"Dad? Didn't even hear you come in, I thought you're 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' 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 or 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 freshmen 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.

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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 back into 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.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"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."

"...This is a grocery store."

"To be exact, a grocery store that targets species with specific needs. Which means that you sell knives, tenderizers, pots, all that stuff, at a dozen different sizes," Ryan explained, starting to walk into the store as he grabbed one of the red baskets by the entrance.

Curiously, Silvia walked up next to him, "What, he's going to fight using kitchen utensils?"

"Yep. Last night after you guys left, I gave him my exacto knife. His skills worked on it, insanely well. But considering that an exacto knife isn't particularly strong, I figured equipping him with some more sturdy things wouldn't be a bad idea. And, you know, Awakened stores don't really sell things that work for him," Ryan explained, as Modak quickly took the lead.

"That sounds incredibly reasonable. So what kind of stuff are you looking for? You mentioned knives, tenderizers, and... pots?" Modak stopped at the aisle that the three were looking for, and Ryan shrugged.

"More like, lids, I guess. I was thinking they might make good shields?"

"Clever, clever," Silvia squatted down, taking a look at the items on the lower shelves, "So, what'cha thinkin?"

"Actually," Ryan held forward his hand, as a flood of red wisps poured out of his fingertips. Maximus appeared on his palm, "I was thinking we'd pick together. I explained the plan to him already, and he seemed up for it."

Modak looked around at the shelves, picking up a few of the packages. The one he was holding now was a kitchen knife, "So what about things like this? The handles for most of these are way too big for him."

"A lot of the time those are just screwed and glued on, we could pry them off and put new ones on?"

Modak thought about Silvia's suggestion, nodding his head as he turned to Ryan, "Right, that could work. Silvia, do you think you could..."

"Yes, obviously I can. Got all I need at home," Silvia replied, excitedly.

Ryan looked at his friends with a broad smile, happy to be getting their help. As she grabbed one of the knives and held it up to Maximus, Silvia tried to compare the sizes between the knife and the knight, "What about the size of these things in general? Can he even carry a knife that's as big as him?"

Ryan nodded immediately, "Oh yeah, for sure he can. I showed you his stats. Despite his size he has the physical strength of a 14 or 15 year old. And that's just at level one."

As the Knight looked around the new space that he found himself in, his eyes seemed to land on a few different things. He looked at the knife that Silvia was still holding next to him and nodded his head.

"Seems like he's into it," Silvia smiled, putting it into the basket Ryan was holding onto.

"So what kind of weapons would he need?" Modak questioned, "He's got a knife, so that's basically like a sword, right?"

"True, but I was thinking we could get a few different ones so he can fight in different ways. Like a cleaver, a serrated knife, one of those small cheese knives. But none of those will work against the monsters in the dungeon we're going to, some blunt weapons would be better. So some metal meat tenderizers, and anything else that could work against stone. Though, since we're here, I'd like to get anything I can get my hands on. I saved up a good chunk by now so I should be able to afford whatever I need."

And with that, the four got to work. Silvia and Modak picked out whatever they thought could be useful, and if Maximus agreed, it would go into the basket. At the same time, Ryan would show Maximus around the aisle to see if there was anything that stuck out to him. If they found something that seemed like a better fit than what they already had, they would replace what was in the basket, and if it was cheap enough, they would get multiple. In the end, they got their hands on a decent selection of things.

Some different knives, a few forks as well as spoons, though Ryan didn't know why Maximus wanted spoons. Silvia suggested a set of metal chopsticks, and that she could probably file down and sharpen one pair. Not only that, but a pair of meat tenderizers, small pans, like those for single eggs, small metal rolling pins, as well as a pair of scissors and the metal pestle of a mortar and pestle set. For shields, they picked out some small pot lids and cutting boards, though especially for the latter it was hard to find one that was small enough for Maximus to comfortably hold, and that didn't even account for the fact that it didn't have any comfortable way to hold it. But once again, Silvia said she would take care of it and figure something out.

"So... where are we going next? You're gonna need more than just some stuff for Maximus, right?" as the group waited at the checkout register, Silvia looked at the items on the conveyor belt. All of it was really just for Maximus, not for Ryan.

"For now, I'll just get things for the dungeon I'll be going to. The Awakened Centre had a computer I could log into Awakened-exclusive forums with, it's super fucking cool by the way, so much sick stuff on there, but they had some info on the dungeon itself. The monsters in there are made of stone and metal, so next I'll try to buy a sledgehammer and a pickaxe at that home improvement store a few blocks down," Ryan explained, looking at the list that he had written down on his phone.

Modak glanced at the list for a moment and curiously looked at his friend, "Why a home improvement store? Wouldn't a weapon store be a bit better? Since you've registered, you should have access to those now, right?"

"Well, yes, but everything in there is super expensive. And while I was having lunch in the Channel earlier, I met this guy, an Awakened Chef, and he told me that there's really not a massive difference between tools for Awakened and non-Awakened. He said he was using the same knives he's used since before he awakened."

"Then why are those Awakened stores even a thing?" Silvia asked confused, and Ryan quickly glanced at her as he paid for everything with his phone.

"I mean, there's a difference when you get to higher tiers, apparently. A regular joe isn't gonna need some highly-enchanted pickaxe, so those aren't sold in regular stores. They're pretty expensive to make, too. Not to mention things made of mithril or adamantine. Also, they sell swords, bows, axes, guns, and whatever else some classes depend on that are too dangerous to just be sold elsewhere. Though you'll need licenses for a lot of specific types of weapons anyway. The Awakened Centre apparently offers a bunch of courses for that."

The group made their way out of the grocery store, quickly walking to their next destination, when Modak was reminded of something else, "By the way, won't you need something like armour as well? It sounds kind of dangerous to go without any kind of protection."

"I've got that one covered too," Silvia pointed out smugly, "Once we're done here, we'll head down to Driftwood to the fabric store I usually go to. They sell a ton of stuff, including some materials for basic armour."

Ryan smiled a bit awkwardly at Silvia before turning back toward Modak, "Yeah, she told me about that earlier while we were waiting for you to finish. Said she wouldn't let me pay for it either..."

"...Aren't materials like that pretty expensive? And hard to work with? Will you be fine?" Modak questioned, just as confused as Ryan was when Silvia mentioned it to him earlier.

"I love giving gifts to my friends, so what? And you know I've got the money to spare."

"Right, I keep forgetting that you're actually already a professional... why are you going to uni, by the way?"

"The fine arts course at NRU is pretty good, and one of my professors is actually an Awakened with the 'Painter' class. I figured it'd be helpful," Silvia explained with a broad grin on her face, "Plus, because of my history, I was able to get a special admission to the school where I'm allowed to take some classes in other courses, like fashion design, architecture; stuff like that. It's pretty neat."

Modak sighed deeply as he looked down at the ground, "Can we count that as nepotism, somehow? So unfair..."

Ryan scoffed, "Dude, you serious? One of your mechanical engineering profs went to you for your opinion with his work. You're not really one to talk here."

"Says the most famous first-year student in the history of our school, our Knight in scuffed-up armour," Silvia pointed out, but Ryan just looked at her as he tried to hide his reddening cheeks.

"Please don't call me that... Also, that doesn't help me with any of my classes, just makes people either scared of me, or hit on me. Though that last part is pretty nice..."

"You bet it is. Oh that reminds me, that really cute Changeling girl invited us all to some club, right? When was that again?" Silvia thought, and Ryan let out a long sigh, as though he had only just remembered.

"I forgot about that with everything that's going on... It was this Saturday, actually... I might skip out on it this time, honestly. You guys feel free to go without me though."

"Seriously? You're the one that drags us out to pubs every other night," Modak complained.

"And again, we were invited by a really cute Changeling girl," Silvia emphasized, but Ryan shook his head.

"The dungeon stuff is more important right now. Depending on when I go, I might join, but no promises. Also, Silvia, she might have invited us through me, but she's clearly super into you. And from the sound of it, that goes both ways."

"...Shut up, just come join!"

"Seriously, I don't want to be the third wheel all night," Modak sighed loudly, but Silvia immediately turned to him with a raised brow.

"In that case, if Ryan can't come, I could invite Yanna," she pointed out, watching Modak's face turn a dark green.

Ryan grinned with a chuckle, "In that case, it might really be better if I don't come, huh?"

"...Le-Let's just talk about this later, alright?" as he stuttered, Modak picked up the pace so that his friends wouldn't see his face. Though of course, they both knew exactly what expression he was making.