Michael Rivers cried rivers. And Ryan was more than surprised at the sight. Rather, he was quite shocked. Michael had been acting so stuck-up earlier, but now, he had ridiculous streams of water flowing out of his eyes that were really just physically impossible.

Looking around, it seemed like nobody else had noticed, since Michael was trying his best to hide it and everyone was focused on the show that Alicia was putting on.

"Uh... dude, you alright?" Ryan asked, looking at the young man next to him. Michael slowly nodded, pressing his palms onto his eyes.

"I-I'm fine, nothing's wrong, I-" he replied, sounding as if he wanted to convince himself just as much as he wanted to convince Ryan. With a long sigh, Ryan pushed the rest of the food left on his plate into his mouth and then pushed Michael along. He didn't particularly feel like staying in here with that whole commotion right now either.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Michael stuttered out, but Ryan just clicked his tongue and continued pushing him toward the door on the other side of the room.

"Just shut up and walk."

Though unintentional, Ryan sounded pretty rough right now and like he was angry at Michael. If someone else heard him say it, it would probably sound like he was bullying Michael, who was leaving behind a literal trail of tears on the ground. Sure, Ryan was a bit annoyed at the situation, but basically the only thing that hadn't annoyed him tonight was the food. Either way, intentional or not, Ryan's tone made Michael comply rather quickly, and the two soon made their way to the men's washroom.

"Come on, take off the jacket for now," Ryan instructed, and Michael anxiously did as told. He still hadn't stopped crying yet, but the streams coming out of his eyes seemed to be a bit weaker. When Michael took off his jacket, Ryan immediately spotted the large spots of wet all over Michael's shirt, not just the front parts that seemed to be Michael's focus. And the person himself quickly noticed it too as he looked into the mirror.

"Oh, gods... no, no, I ruined it, I... what am I supposed to do?"

"... What do you mean with 'ruined it'? It's just water and sweat, it's not a big deal," Ryan replied as he folded the jacket and placed it onto the counter for now. Luckily this place was pretty high-class so this wasn't like a regular public restroom, but more like something you would see in an expensive restaurant.

Michael nervously looked back at Ryan, "But these shirts are ruined when they get wet... right?"

"What? No, that's ridiculous. Who told you that?" with a confused frown, Ryan pulled some paper towels out of the dispenser and held them up to Michael, who carefully grabbed them trying to dry his eyes as the streams of water slowly faded out.

"My... my brother told me. I tried to have that server call him earlier but I think I sounded rude? I get so stressed when I try not to cry..."

With that, Ryan had the last clue to connect all the dots. With a loud groan, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Is your brother that server's manager?"

"Y-Yeah... I didn't know what to do, so I figured I should ask him... I really need today to work out..."

Ryan looked Michael up and down for a moment. He was pretty tall, but now that Ryan actually looked at him properly, he did look a little young. Maybe three or four years younger than him. The suit didn't seem to fit all that well either, like some kind of hand-me-down, "Do you always cry... this much?"

Michael replied with a slow nod, "Yeah... I've always had a lot of mana, even before I awakened... And then when I awakened as a Hydromancer, this started happening..."

"So when you were glaring at everyone earlier that was just you trying not to cry?"

Immediately, the young man flinched as he looked back at Ryan, clearly close to tearing up again, "Did it look like I was glaring? I-I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry, it's fine. Just... maybe go apologize to that server later as well, okay?"

"... Okay."

Ryan grabbed a few more paper towels, helping Michael pat down the soaked, dripping front of his shirt, "But I guess this is what Alicia meant when she said you can't control your magic?"

"I... I have a really low Spirituality stat..."

"How low?"

"... 0.3."

Almost startled by that number, Ryan stared at Michael, "Excuse me?"

"I know... but in return my mana stat was really high, when I awakened it was at 2.6!"

"Excuse me?" Ryan repeated himself, even more shocked by that number. The average non-awakened person only had 0.2-0.3. Though low for the average magic class, Ryan's 0.54 that he awakened with was already far above the norm. But Michal had basically five times what Ryan started with?

"But... but how did Miss Boreard even know about that..? I tried so hard to hide it..."

Ryan thought about it for a moment, but in the end, the answer was obvious, "She's the magic tower's mistress. She's got her ways of figuring out how good someone is with magic."

Michael nodded, slowly leaning over the sink to splash some water on his face, "I guess so... but now I don't even have the chance to show her my magic, and it was such a good chance..."

"Of course you can show her your magic, what do you mean?" Ryan replied, and Michael turned toward him, water dripping off his chin.

"Huh?"

"She just said she was going to have to put up a barrier first, not that you're not allowed to show her," as if it were obvious, Ryan looked at the stunned Michael, who only seemed to be tearing up even more after the realization.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

With a loud groan he pushed his hands against his eyes, "Oh gods... I must look like a total idiot..."

"Eh. Maybe. But who cares? I'm pretty sure Alicia is a lot more curiosity-driven than you might think," Ryan pointed out, "Just make sure to show off properly later and make a good impression on her."

With a slow nod, wiping the big blobs of tears out of his eyes, Michael stood up straight, "Okay, got it!" he exclaimed, before looking down at his shirt, "And... you're sure this isn't ruined?"

"Of course not. I'm sure everyone's kind of making a mess of themselves while showing off their skills right now anyway, so something like a wet shirt won't stand out."

"Right," Michael took a few deep breaths and dried his face again, before taking his jacket and putting it back on, before coming to an awkward realization. He stared at Ryan nervously, "Uhm... sorry, but what was your name again?"

With a slight scoff, he held forward his hand, "It's Ryan."

"Michael. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Ryan replied, as the two made their way back to the main hall. After realizing that Michael was really just a young, anxious teen, Ryan figured that holding his behaviour against him wasn't fair, considering that he clearly didn't mean to get angry at that server. He just seemed really stressed out about not crying. Though, that did make Ryan just that much more annoyed at Michael's brother. Telling someone that clearly sweats and cries literal buckets that a little bit of water would ruin their clothes felt kind of a bit too mean, especially on a day like this.

Before long, the two stepped back into the area where the other awakened were taking turns showing off their skills. Some of them seemed kind of exciting, and seeing the skills in action was something completely new for Ryan as well. To some degree, he wanted to try and show off as well, but there really wasn't any need for him to do that.

He was a part of the Aglecard family now; having the position of 'Spirit Keeper' meant that he wouldn't ever financially struggle in the future. Rather, once Ryan chose his proper 'job' in the family, he would receive a very decent salary and benefits. Even continuing to go to school seemed a bit useless at this point. Ryan didn't need to show off; his future was basically already figured out. And he doubted that he would be able to find anyone worth 'recruiting' here. Runar did mention that it wasn't a bad idea for him to try and get some people around him that could help protect himself and the spirits, but he wasn't quite sure about that yet.

Even so, seeing everyone get so excited at seeing others use their skills, beside those few that were acting like they were above it all, standing at the edge of the room just silently observing, made Ryan feel like showing off too. No matter how cool their abilities were, Maximus and Gaia were far cooler than any of them. Even if they weren't quite as flashy.

"Oh? And here I thought you were running away," from right next to the door, Alicia's laugh could be heard. Ryan turned toward her with an awkward expression.

"Why would I? I'm not gonna show my skills, but that doesn't mean that I can't stay here," Ryan pointed out, and Alicia smiled at him. For some reason, that smile made him shiver.

"Really? What a shame, I'm sure everyone would have loved to see the skills of a unique class," she said, making sure to emphasize those last two words to the point where plenty of the nearby people could overhear. Michael in particular, who was still standing next to Ryan, looked at him confused.

"Unique class? You have a unique class?" he asked with utmost curiosity, as Ryan stared at the woman in front of him. But before he could even ask her what her deal was, more people gathered around him.

"Seriously? I've never seen someone with a unique class before!"

"What's it called? What kind of skills do you have?"

"Are you a physical type? Or a magic type maybe?"

Taken aback by the sudden attention, Ryan glared at Alicia, before slowly answering some of the questions. At least, to the point that was publicly accessible.

"My class is called 'Spirit Keeper', and it's a magic type class..." Ryan replied, trying not to get overwhelmed by the stares of the people around him, "Basically, I can form a connection with some spirits and then just... take care of them afterward, I guess."

"What do you mean, 'take care of them'?" someone immediately wanted to know, and Ryan awkwardly looked around, trying to figure out what to do and what he could say.

"I... really just help them do what they want, I guess? One of them really likes webtoons and novels and stuff, so I'm trying to put together a proper setup for him so he can use my computer, and the other one is like an earth- and plant-spirit and spends most of her time on our balcony garden," Ryan explained, not sure how vague he should be. But this was probably fine?

"Could you show us?"

And there it was. The question that Ryan didn't want to answer. He was seeing Alicia's curious smile, as if she eagerly wanted to know what choice Ryan was going to make.

"Uhm... could you excuse me for a second? I'll have to ask them first if they want to come out," Ryan said, immediately turning around and leaving the main hall. He stepped out of the building for a second to get some fresh air. Once he was outside, he quickly pulled out his phone and called his uncle.

"Yo, what's up? Did something happen?" Runar immediately asked as he answered, and Ryan let out a long sigh, not exactly sure how to answer that.

"No? I mean, maybe, I guess? First of all, Alicia's here," Ryan pointed out, and his uncle stayed silent for a few moments, giving Ryan the opportunity to continue, "Plus, she then started some kind of thing where everyone is showing off their skills for some reason, and loudly proclaimed I have a unique class to make everyone extra curious about me."

"That..." Runar groaned loudly, "I'm really sorry about that, I didn't think she would do something like that. Or, actually, I should have guessed... she always does stuff like this."

"... She always messes with other people's lives?"

Runar seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then carefully answered, "She always does things that I can't really understand, but she also always has her reasons. Alicia sees the world differently from the way we do."

"Okay, sure, but like, shouldn't I be keeping the Spirit Keeper class as secret as possible? Why would she be trying to make me show it off?"

"About that... I don't actually know if you need to keep it a secret. Honestly, just treat it like any other class. The people that are actually dangerous to you already know everything they need to about the class anyway. At this point, it might actually be better for you to be more public with it. If people know about you, it's going to be a lot harder to mess with you so openly. Honestly... you could reason for any direction."

"Well sure, but... you keep your level a secret, for example, and you were freaking out so much about me registering. The class is kind of a big deal, right?"

"Yeah because it was new information that I didn't expect, but at the end of the day, you are the Spirit Keeper, not me. No matter what the legacy of the class is, you were chosen for it. Just do whatever the hell you want. Of course, be smart about it, but I don't think you need to treat it any different to other classes. If it helps you get closer to other Awakened, just use whatever you can."

Ryan stayed silent for a few moments, "And... you think showing my skills to others could be useful?"

"Yeah, why not? Networking is important. It's not going to be everyone, but most of the people in there will reach the upper levels of their respective fields. It's always good to know people, no matter what you choose to do later on."

With a groan, Ryan rubbed the bridge of his nose, "For once, you're actually making sense. Gods-dammit... Just... fine, I'll try and figure out what to do. Thanks."

"No problem. If you want to leave, I can send Yamada back to pick you up again, by the way. You don't have to do this."

"No, no, I'll stay here," Ryan replied.

"Well, if you say so. Just let me know, or text Yamada later. You got her number, right?"

"Yeah, I do. See you later, man, I guess I should get back."

"Alright, have fun!"

Ryan hung up and sighed, looking inward at the domains of the two spirits, "What do you two think? Do you want to come out?"