Aeryon arrived home late at night, exhausted, but the sly grin never left his face thanks to the flawed "Restricted Carry Pocket" he'd discovered. He pushed open the creaky wooden door, and Lyra immediately blinked awake in the adjacent bedroom.
"Brother? You're back?" she whispered sleepily, though her voice carried a hint of worry.
"Yeah, I'm back," Aeryon rasped, trying to mask the pain and fatigue. He stepped into the cramped bedroom where the shared mattress held Lyra and Kalin. Kalin, as usual, was deep asleep, his soft snores filling the room.
"Are you okay?" Lyra asked, her green eyes peering at him in the near-total darkness.
"I'm perfectly fine, Lyra," Aeryon lied, while every bone in his body screamed. "Just a little tired." He sat down heavily on his own thin mattress, feeling the cold ground beneath, and fell asleep almost instantly.
---
Early the next morning, Aeryon woke to a faint sound coming from the kitchen. Lyra was trying to light a fire in the stone stove, her red-rimmed eyes barely open from exhaustion.
"What are you doing?" Aeryon asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Trying to make breakfast..." Lyra mumbled, her face smudged with soot. "But the wood is too damp, and I can't get it to catch."
Aeryon remembered—from the original Aeryon's memories—that they always gathered damp firewood from the forest, and lighting a fire was a daily nightmare. "What a... lovely way to start the day!" He swallowed the curse. "Let me see."
He crouched by the stove. "Where are the potatoes?" he asked, recalling the ones he'd bought yesterday.
"What potatoes?" Lyra looked at him in confusion. "We don't have any potatoes, brother."
Aeryon grinned widely and placed a hand on his waist. "We do now!"
Fwoosh~
A small sack of potatoes materialized out of thin air into his palm. Lyra's eyes bulged.
"Magic?!" she gasped, staring at Aeryon with awe. "Brother, did you become a mage?!"
"Haha... ha... something like that," Aeryon chuckled nervously. "Just an... old trick. Don't tell anyone, okay? It's a family secret!"
Lyra looked at the potatoes, then at him, then back at the potatoes. "Does... does that mean we're having potatoes today?"
"We're having potatoes!" Aeryon declared with forced enthusiasm. "Now, let me show you how to light this damn—" He bit his tongue. "This... difficult fire!"
After much struggle, Aeryon managed to get the fire going using his "completely non-magical" skills of blowing, adjusting, and peeling away the damp bark. Soon, the smell of roasting potatoes filled the tiny kitchen—a scent Lyra and Kalin hadn't enjoyed in a long time.
"Mmm, smells good!" Kalin said as he shuffled into the kitchen, awakened by the aroma, his sleepwear a mess. "Is this another evil tree, brother?"
Aeryon laughed louder this time. "No, little one. This isn't an evil tree. These are... magic potatoes."
---
After breakfast, as Aeryon watched Lyra and Kalin play in the cramped space of the house, he felt a strange moment of peace. This familial warmth, this innocence—it was something he'd never experienced in his past life. It was an odd mix of comfort and crushing responsibility.
"I need to do something," Aeryon thought. "We can't live on potatoes and soup forever."
He decided to test his new skills. Opening "Insightful Gaze," he looked at Lyra.
Ding~
[Target Information: Lyra]
Name: Lyra
Age: 8 years
Race: Human
Level: 1 (Beginner)
Strength: 1
Intelligence: 5
HP: 70 / 70
Mana: 10 / 10
Innate Talents: [Undiscovered]
Skills: Cooking (Locked), Keen Eye (Locked)
Titles: Responsible Big Sister (Incomplete), Little Chef (Incomplete).
"Undiscovered talents?" Aeryon muttered. "Interesting. Maybe I'm not the only one with hidden potential in this wonderful world."
Then he turned his gaze to Kalin.
Ding~
[Target Information: Kalin]
Name: Kalin
Age: 5 years
Race: Human
Level: 1 (Beginner)
Strength: 1
Intelligence: 4
HP: 60 / 60
Mana: 8 / 8
Innate Talents: [Undiscovered]
Skills: Fighter (Locked)
Titles: Curious Little Brother, Tiny Troublemaker.
"Tiny Troublemaker?" Aeryon smirked. "That title suits you perfectly, you little gremlin."
---
Aeryon slowly adjusted to his new life at home. He made an effort to avoid cursing in front of the kids, though dark jokes slipped out sometimes. Their life was hard, but the children made it bearable. They had to make do, and Aeryon was now the head of this pitiful little family.
"I need to go out and find more money. Or another way to get food." Aeryon stared at the remaining potatoes. "This isn't a sustainable life for them. The damn system won't help me. I have to carve my own path."