David woke up the next morning refreshed and with a new outlook on his new life.
By the time he reached the kitchen, his father was already there, cooking scrambled eggs and honey bread. The scent of the vegetable wafted through the air, assaulting David's hungry senses.
Harlon glanced over his shoulder, spotting his son lingering by the door of their narrow kitchen. "You're awake!" he said with excitement. "I thought you'd be asleep for a little longer."
David smiled. "Wanted to spend time with you today. We don't have much of that left until I leave for Beastcorp."
Harlon agreed with a smile of his own. "I'm making eggs and honey bread. I know how much you like honey bread."
David got closer to the pan and peeked into its content, watching the egg bubble in vegetable oil. "Did you pick these eggs yourself, Dad? From Mr. Raekson? You know he keeps complaining about his eggs?"
"Eh, he's going to have to prove it was me who took it!" Harlon chuckled. "Besides, every credit I save is one more for you at the Academy. Tuition might be free but I know that you're certainly going to need credits for a lot of things."
A trace of a smile, deep in thought, crossed David's face.
"I wish you didn't have to, but thanks for all the sacrifices you make for me, Dad," he said, images of his father pushing him out of the car before it exploded into flames flashing in his mind. "I know for sure my life would have been worse if I didn't have you."
Harlon stopped stirring the eggs, turned and pulled David into a rough hug. "I'm your father, Jet. If I don't make the sacrifices for your sake, no one else will."
He released him just as abruptly, returning to the stove. "By the way, have you seen Spanner?"
Screeeeee!
David turned around just in time to see Spanner, his dad's Artillery Weasel, chasing his Red Lizard around the dining table.
He let out a tired sigh. "Just found him."
Screeeeee!
The lizard vaulted over a chair, just as Spanner was about to grab him in its clutches.
"Found my lizard too."
Harlon abandoned the eggs to join David in the doorway, watching the cat-and-dog chase. "Aren't you going to name him?"
David stared at the gutterling now cowering in a dark corner of the room, hoping the weasel wouldn't find him. "Eh, I'll think of something. As for now, he's going to have to be fine with Lizard."
Smirking, Harlon walked back to the pot and dished out the cooked meal in old steel plates, poured some coffee and placed them on the table, announcing that breakfast was ready.
"Looks delicious," David remarked, ignoring the fork and immediately digging into the food. He used the honey bread loaves like jaws to scoop the egg before taking big bites.
Harlon watched, amused and happy. "Do you still plan on being a Riftwalker?" he asked, the thought coming to him when he glanced at the gutterling beside Jethro, eating from a tiny bowl.
"It will be increasingly difficult with the lizard. I know part of that is my fault for not getting you a better egg but… I'm only worried, Jet." He rubbed his neck.
"The only role they could give you is carrier, and even then, the competition is high because that role is usually kept for low-grade Bronze Ranks, not Gray Ranks. It would take a miracle from Vincentine himself for Beastcorp to make you a Riftwalker."
David licked the vegetable oil dripping from his fingers, "Then I won't be a Riftwalker."
Harlon's eyes flashed open, cup clattering against the table. "What? But… It was your dream."
He gulped down the coffee and belched. "Not every dream is going to be actualized, Dad. Neither do they need to. Some dreams are not really what's best for us, and this is just the world's way of letting me know." He flashed a soft smile at his dad's face. "Besides, other things are more important right now."
"Jet…" Harlon stared, stunned.
He knew how much Jethro had wanted to be a Riftwalker. It was all he ever talked about. His opportunity to leave this old house and find a better life for himself. It was why he had given him all the money he had to purchase that egg.
Yet, he had changed his mind? Overnight?
Whatever was happening with his son, he was stuck in between being happy and worried about it.
Regardless, David's choice wasn't truly sudden. He had arrived at it overnight, in a sense.
But it was only after reading the glyph on Mechbeast hierarchy, and the older glyph on evolution— with its broken, glitching screen pages —that he reached a firm conclusion: he had no chance at all of becoming a Riftwalker… and, more importantly, he no longer wanted to.
The only position that could be given to him was the carrier; the one who extracted aether crystals, carried weapons and items, gathered beast cores and parts, and secured fallen squad members.
It seemed like a simple enough role, but after reading the brief explanation on how Rift were and what they led to, David knew he stood no chance of surviving those missions with just a gutterling.
It would be suicide. And why should he throw himself into that for a fleeting sense of gratification, a hollow feeling that he was doing something meaningful for the world?
What was wrong with the simple life?
Being a pest exterminator wasn't something to be ashamed of. Neither was helping his father in the garage with mechmachines. Or maybe— just maybe —he could take his knowledge of animals and become a mechvet. Riftwalking wasn't the only way to earn credits.
The danger just wasn't worth it, considering the rank of his mechbeast and the fact that it was never going to evolve.
Yes, that had also been a hard one to swallow.
The glyph on evolution had been broken and glitchy, but David had read just enough to understand that Gray Ranked Beasts had no chance at evolving.
Evolution was a trait possessed by beasts that had a stronger resonance with aether.
All beasts harnessed aether equally according to the limitations of their rank, but resonance was different. It was mystical alignment with aether that gave certain beasts— who had higher amounts of it —the power to break through ranks and unleash a mightier form.
Usually, this happened because it was necessary for the beast's own survival or growth.
Generally, beasts in the Silver and Gold Ranks were the ones that possessed this evolution trait, not only because of high resonance, but because they had higher ranks which they could evolve to, a strong and complete spiritual pattern, and enough magical density to hold the evolutionary shift.
In short, they had the minimum core strength and magical flexibility to allow a natural evolution to sometimes occur; unpredictably, but truly.
Gray Ranks, on the other hand, had magical capability that was far too shallow. Their beast cores didn't have enough aether capacity to sustain a transformation on their own. And even if one had high resonance, the combination of low core strength and an incomplete spiritual pattern made evolution impossible.
Evolution was rarer, but not absent in Bronze and Platinum Ranks. As for Black Ranks, they were already the pinnacle. Evolution didn't occur there because their bodies had already achieved what evolution would've attempted to reach.
After reading all of this, the last of David's hopes had quietly vanished into the void. He was left to accept his fate: to live the simple life with his father in this new world and enjoy it as much as he could.
And honestly, he was completely fine with that.
"Jet," Harlon's voice called him.
David lifted his gaze from his empty plate to his father. "Mhm?" His brows raised.
"Are you okay, son?" Harlon asked genuinely. "Last night, you were so different… kinder. You gave me what I've always wanted: your forgiveness and my son back. And today, you have this smile on your face and a new outlook on life. It's like all my wishes have been granted and yet… I can't help but worry."
His eyes softened as he leaned forward. "Tell me, son. It's everything okay?"
A happy smile stretched beneath David's nose. "Everything's fine, Dad," he replied, pushing his chair back and standing. "What can I say? I'm a different person now."
Harlon watched as David picked up the gutterling. "Come on, Lizard." Then he headed toward the dining room exit, stopping by the door.
"I still have to do the Rift Clearing training and the compulsory one year of education at the Academy, so let's do lots of stuff together this week. What do you say?"
Harlon chuckled. "I'm in!"
David smiled one more time, but stopped again just before leaving, and asked, "Hey, Dad? Do you think it's possible… for a Grey Rank beast to evolve?"
Harlon turned solemn, glancing at the lizard on Jethro's shoulder. "I… don't think so, son. Grey Ranks, their cores just aren't strong enough. Neither is their spiritual pattern. I'm… sorry."
David had a thoughtful look for a moment, then exiled it with a smile. "It's okay, Dad. Just curious."
He turned and headed back into his room, while Harlon watched with a concerned look on his face. Even if his son wanted to let go of it all and stay with him in the garage, Harlon knew it was impossible for a boy that age not to be ambitious.
He had to do more as a father. Anything it took to make his son a Riftwalker, he was going to do it.