With still wet hair, from just taking a quick shower to get rid of all the oil that was covering in extremely random places, Ryan walked up to the flat's front door, opening it up. At the bottom of the steps in front of him, Vanda started walking up the stairs.

"Yo, thanks for coming so quickly," Ryan said, but the hobgoblin just stared up at him almost hesitantly.

"Yeah... no worries... Honestly, I thought you were just gonna send me a cab or something, but you really have your own private driver?" she asked, reaching the top of the steps.

"She's not really a driver, she's my uncle's personal assistant, basically. And my uncle is trying to support me in any way when it comes to my class, so he was fine with me sending Yamada to pick you up."

"Ah... your uncle that's running a small café can afford a personal assistant?"

"It's a long story," Ryan responded, making way for Vanda to step into the flat. The two of them were looking at each other a bit awkwardly, not really sure what to do. The thing that Ryan usually defaulted to was just hugging someone, but that was mostly when he was on at least 'okay' terms with someone. And while it wasn't like he was on 'bad' terms with Vanda, they weren't really friends either. Considering what happened with Gaia, it was a pretty complicated situation.

In the end, they seemed to mutually, and without words, decide to just move on and get to Ryan's bedroom. He guided her inside, quickly pulling up his chair for Vanda to sit on while grabbing the small stool at the side of the desk for himself.

As Vanda sat down, her eyes landed on Maximus, who was reading something on the small monitor set up at the side of the desk. Actually, the monitor was much, much smaller than what you would usually see here, specifically made for extremely small species who simply lived in smaller spaces and needed the furniture to match to some degree to be useful. Ryan had set this up so that Maximus didn't have to strain his neck too much when looking around the screen. Same with the mouse that he was using, and Ryan even got a smaller keyboard and prepared a more comfortable seat for him. Everything was still a bit too large for Maximus, but it was much better than before.

"That's the... spirit that you were using to fight during the Power Duels, right?" Vanda asked. Maximus slowly turned his head toward her, greeting her with a nod, before focusing back on his web-comic.

Ryan raised a brow, "I'm just saying, but I didn't 'use' Maximus. We both wanted to participate in the duels, so we did. If Maximus didn't want to do it, we wouldn't have done it. He's not a tool," Ryan pointed out. Vanda nodded in a panic.

"R-Right! Sorry, I didn't mean it like that..."

"... No worries. But yeah, that's him. He's managed to settle in a bit more around here since then. He really likes fantasy webnovels and webtoons, apparently."

"So you just summon him so he can do that? Doesn't that use up a ton of mana or something?"

Ryan quickly shook his head, "Summoning them doesn't take any mana at all, actually. My class is technically a 'summoner' type, but it works a lot different. When my class awakened, I basically became something like a home for them. They're always with me, and are free to come and go whenever. Gaia is upstairs in the garden right now, actually."

Hearing then name, Vanda flinched. Ryan knew why, of course. While officially, the story was that some 'experimental power source' went out of control, though even that story had been suppressed as much as possible to the point where it wasn't even a rumour around uni, Vanda knew that it wasn't actually that. Ryan had briefly mentioned that it was a spirit core's fragment, and he even said Gaia's name in relation to that fragment around her back then, so she was obviously able to put everything together.

"She doesn't hold any grudges, don't worry. She's ridiculously kind," he explained, and Vanda let out a relieved sigh.

"So everything worked out? I don't know how that whole thing works for your class, but you were able to summon her with that 'fragment' thing? Again, I'm really sorry about that, by the way, I really didn't know that-"

"I know. Don't worry, it's not your fault," Ryan replied, smiling lightly. Though, for a while, the two grew silent. It was starting to get a bit awkward as they were just sitting there. Vanda was looking around the room, glancing at the dozens of plastic models set up all over the place, as well as the model cars, planes, and train sitting on the ground in the corner of the room. As if trying to break the silence, she slowly stuttered something out.

"You... you really like building models, huh?"

Ryan scoffed, nodding, "You can say that, yeah. It's been my hobby since I was old enough for my mom to trust me not to accidentally swallow the pieces."

"Fair enough," Vanda laughed, looking over at the desk, "And the one that you're building now is a robot?"

"Yup, basically," Ryan replied, "Though it looks like it's a bit different to the ones you're used to. A lot more... steampunk. Cogs and pipes, rather than wires and computer chips."

Curiously, Vanda leaned over the pieces, "I see... Do you have any idea at all where the pieces go?"

"Yeah, so, one of my stats is 'Intuition', and it works surprisingly well for me apparently, I don't know why... anyway, I was able to figure out the sort of rough areas of each part, like splitting it up into the different limbs and stuff. Here are the legs, here the arms, these parts belong to the head, and then the rest should be the torso."

The hobgoblin cupped her chin as she took a quick look. She quickly picked out some of the parts, "I think these should be the joints. Though they look more like heavy-duty hinges. I guess that's what joints are, I guess?" Vanda muttered, and Ryan raised his brow as he watched the girl continue sorting through the parts a bit more, "This seems to be a miniature pneumatic piston... and this part should be something like a shock absorber, but... yeah, look here, it's split in two. Did you do something to break it?"

"Oh, nah. Some of the parts are probably split up into smaller parts."

"...What?"

"Don't look at me like that, I didn't make the models. Complain to the System Administrator or something."

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"Yeah, yeah, fine... But alright, in that case, that's a bit more annoying... Do we need to... I don't know, weld them?"

Ryan shook his head, "I've got a skill that can put them together properly. It's off cooldown now, but I figured I should wait for your input before using it again so I don't waste it too much."

"Hm... got it," Vanda replied, carefully starting to sort through the pieces, trying to explain everything as well as she could understand it herself. Ryan didn't get everything she was saying, but he picked up on the important parts, at least. And at some point, Vanda had properly sorted through all the pieces for one of the legs. The hobgoblin stretched a bit, "Alright, this was the other leg, right? I'll do this one now as well."

"No, that's fine. Get started on the arms, I'll get to putting the legs together already. Now that I know the structure one of the legs should have, I can figure the other one out easily enough," Ryan pointed out. He cracked his knuckles with a slight grin on his face. Vanda's eyes soon landed on the red, wriggling strands on Ryan's hand. They looked like the red tattoo dye was trying to flood out from underneath his sweater.

"If you're sure, then alright," Vanda responded, taking a closer look at the parts for the arms as Ryan had suggested. But as she started sorting through the pieces, she quickly got distracted. Ryan was picking up the small, individual pieces and was pressing them together at a speed that looked like someone was watching a video and doubled the playback speed. And it wasn't just the pieces that were being pressed together, but even the screws and nuts that had to be put into place; the oil that needed to be applied to the right places on the joints and hinges.

"Wow..." the hobgoblin muttered, surprised. Ryan chuckled lightly.

"Impressed, huh?"

"What? Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to stare..."

"No, no, don't worry. It's all good," Ryan shook his head immediately, as he pressed the individual parts of the foot onto the lower end of the shin, starting to build the thigh onto it all next, "I get shocked whenever I see this as well. My dexterity is above 1.8 by now."

"Seriously? Already?" Vanda asked, surprised. While she didn't know a ton about Awakened, she knew that a stat like that wasn't something you usually reached this fast after awakening.

"Yup. I mean, I'm level 9 already, so that's why. I should reach level 10 on friday if everything works out. As I said, my uncle is supporting me a ton in this process.

"Huh..." Vanda responded quietly, "Even so, 1.8 is super impressive. Is it even possible to get that without awakening?"

Ryan thought about it for a few moments, but wasn't able to come up with any examples off the top of his head, "There must have been a few people across history that awakened with pretty high stats... 1.8 is pretty close to that 'superhuman' level, but I think it's still possible. Just, like... not very easy, you know?"

"Well, duh. Obviously it's not easy," Vanda sighed, "But still, it's pretty insane to see. Plus, you're barely even looking at it... Is that also part of your insane dexterity?"

Ryan shook his head, "No, that part is mostly my intuition. Now that I know what to do with each piece, it's pretty easy to put together. Plus, I just kind of instinctively know what part I'm holding when I pick it up, and I also instinctively know where the next part that I'm looking for is, so... yeah."

"Wow, that's... kind of bullshit, what the hell?" Vanda laughed, "Awakening really just pushes you ahead of us 'regular folk', huh?"

Ryan was almost stunned by what Vanda was saying. He couldn't really say anything to deny that, since it was true that as an Awakener, your life would improve considerably. Whether it was through the increased physical or mental abilities, or because of the societal treatment of Awakeners; this was something that changed your life in a myriad of ways if you took advantage of it properly.

Though Ryan felt like the atmosphere had become a bit lighter, since him and Vanda had been speaking more casually, that changed again very quickly.

"You know..." he started, "I'm really, really sorry about destroying Energiser. If I could have, I would have tried to save him, but that really wasn't possible anymore."

Vanda looked at Ryan confused, raising her brow, "Where the hell did that come from?"

"I just figured I should say it. Like, I know that making the showcase thing work properly was important to you. I heard it was pushed back a bit now, but I doubt you'd be able to make a completely new one until then... right?"

"Well," Vanda let out, looking back down at the desk. She continued to sort through the pieces as she explained, "Of course I was upset about what happened. But it wasn't like I was angry at you or anything, that would be insane. I'm more mad at that fucking-"

Vanda stopped suddenly, as she tried to speak without sound coming from her mouth. She wanted to say the name of the person that had given her Gaia's fragment. Of course, Ryan now knew that it was Christopher. But he couldn't really just say that. Ryan didn't know what was part of the contract that Vanda really entered, and what sort of stipulations Christopher snuck into that whole thing. He didn't want to risk putting Vanda into any danger or drag her into this any more.

With a frustrated groan, Vanda continued, "I'm mad at that guy. He's the one that completely fucked everything up. And really, it wouldn't have actually been that much work to build Energizer again. I had all the notes and blueprints prepared already, but I just wouldn't have been able to do it until the next day."

"Right..."

"Plus, Modak actually suggested some stuff to me to help improve Energiser's design. He's much, much more efficient now, so I can actually get away with using a regular mana battery," Vanda pointed out smugly, "I wanted to show it to Modak, but he's been pretty busy recently, huh?"

"Hah, you can say that again," Ryan scoffed, "With him working at the magic tower now, plus him and Yanna finally dating, he barely has time to hang out lately."

Vanda immediately froze up, immediately turning her head toward Ryan, "Excuse me?"

"Hm?"

"What did you just say?"

"About him and Yanna dating?" Ryan asked with a raised brow, "I mean, it's not that big of a shock. Yeah, it was surprising that it ended up happening so quickly. We all thought it would have happened much-"

"Oh gods, who gives a shit about that?" with a groan, Vanda rubbed the bridge of her nose, "I meant the 'Magic Tower' bit!"

Ryan looked at the hobgoblin surprised. It wasn't really a secret. Rather, Modak said he would take full advantage of this in the future. Whether he got to keep working in the magic tower after graduation or not, he would plaster 'Magic Tower Research Team Leader' on literally every single application and project he worked on in the future. As he should. But Modak probably just didn't get to tell everyone around him about it yet. It was pretty sudden, after all.

"Modak was scouted by the Magic Tower's mistress and is working on a project now," Ryan explained, "I don't know how much I can tell you about that, so just ask him yourself the next time you see him."

Vanda's arms slipped from the table, hanging down the sides of her body, "... He's working at the Magic Tower? At 18? After our first semester at university? And he was scouted by the Mistress? Seriously?"

"Yeah... Modak is pretty awesome, isn't he?" Ryan pointed out, as if he was bragging about his best friend. Though, it wasn't just like that; he was actively bragging about Modak right now, "But it's just a part time position."

"S-So... he's working as some research assistant? Or is doing an internship there?" Vanda asked, still confused, but Ryan quickly shook his head.

"No, actually. He's the team leader and is researching his own project at the tower."

Vanda stared at him with narrowed eyes, "So, you awakened with a unique class, and Modak is a prodigy working at the magic tower... Is Silvia the only normal one in your trio?"

Ryan stayed silent, unsure how much he should share. Though, then again, he was pretty curious about what Vanda's reaction would be, and he couldn't hold back his grin as he started to speak, "Well, actually..."