Vael stepped into the house casually.
The door creaked.
From the kitchen—
Footsteps.
Then suddenly—
A knife pointed at him.
"Don't move!"
Jessica Soryn stood there with a kitchen knife, eyes sharp like she was back on an adventurer job.
She squinted hard.
"…who are you and why you in my house?"
Vael blinked.
"…ma, it's me."
She frowned.
"My son ain't leave this house looking like a grown noble heartbreaker."
Vael laughed.
"You left early. Puberty hit me like a truck."
She studied his face.
He added,
"You still hide emergency money in the flour jar nobody supposed to know about."
Her eyes widened.
"…Vael?"
He grinned.
"Yeah. Unless you adopted another handsome elf."
She slowly lowered the knife.
"…must be your father's genes."
She looked him up and down.
"Well damn. I'm finna have a lot of grandkids."
Vael laughed.
"Then you babysitting."
She smacked his arm lightly.
"Crazy boy."
Shower & Growth
Vael turned off the gravity rune weighing on his body.
Relief washed over him.
He stepped into the shower.
Warm water ran down his shoulders as he flexed his arms.
Muscle already firmer.
"…I'm getting stronger fast."
His healing and desire-absorption were speeding recovery.
He thought back to the fight.
To Velvet Reality.
Maybe I can use that dream thing to train.
He stepped out and dried off.
Looked in the mirror.
His physique was sharpening fast.
Incubus body adapting.
Then he glanced lower and laughed quietly.
"…wow. I got a real womb toucher."
He shook his head.
"Yeah puberty wild."
Dinner Talk
He dressed and joined his mom for food.
Simple meal. Warm.
Halfway through eating he said,
"Ma, I'm gonna make us rich soon."
She smiled softly.
"You talking big now?"
"Just watch."
She studied him for a moment.
Her son looked different.
Sounded different.
Moved different.
More drive in his eyes.
He was growing up fast.
Schemes & Ideas
Later in his room, sleep wouldn't come.
So he read.
Rune theory.
Spell structures.
Enchant diagrams.
He understood them quickly.
Too quickly.
He started sketching ideas:
Self-heating mugs
Comfort enchantments
Travel gear
Lucien's dad could mass produce these…
Money plan forming.
Velvet Reality Attempt
Vael leaned back.
"…Velvet Reality."
He sat cross-legged on his bed.
Focused.
Breathed.
Then—
The world faded.
Dream Domain
Dark space.
Purple-gold mist.
Velvet Reality.
"…this crazy."
He could move here.
Control it.
He smirked.
"Lemme test something."
He imagined opponents.
Three Tylers appeared.
All ready to fight.
Vael smiled.
Sharp.
A little psychotic.
"Aight then… round two."
He stepped forward.
Ready.