The moment Kael stepped into the kitchen, Lyra turned around from where she stood by the stove. A bright smile instantly spread across her face, one that seemed impossible to suppress.
"Good morning."
"Morning," Kael replied with a faint smile. "How was your night?"
Lyra let out a small laugh before shaking her head.
"I barely slept at all. I was too excited."
Kael couldn’t help chuckling.
He understood exactly why.
Today wasn’t an ordinary day.
Today, they were finally going to use Dun’s potion on their mother.
Every trial had already been completed. Every test had been run countless times. Dun had practically exhausted every possible safety check he could think of, and the final results had exceeded even his own expectations.
Technically, the medicine was ready to be released to the public.
Only Kael had asked him to wait.
The Mothlight Guild existed only as a blueprint inside his head, but once it officially came into existence, Dun’s potion would become its first foundation. Releasing such a revolutionary medicine through the guild would instantly push its reputation into the spotlight.
Still, delaying its public release didn’t mean delaying what truly mattered.
Their mother wasn’t going to wait another day.
Even Kael found himself looking forward to what would happen.
Lyra, however, was on an entirely different level.
She practically floated around the kitchen while serving breakfast, humming under her breath the entire time.
Her excitement became so obvious that Kael had to stop her several times.
"Slow down."
"I’m eating normally."
"You nearly choked."
"I didn’t."
"You literally coughed."
"...That doesn’t count."
Kael sighed.
"It definitely counts."
Lyra only laughed before taking another enormous bite, forcing Kael to remind her once again to slow down before she actually managed to choke herself.
By the time breakfast was over, the excitement still hadn’t faded from her face.
After cleaning up, the siblings changed into fresh clothes before leaving the apartment together.
A transit vehicle arrived only a few minutes after they booked one.
As Kael looked out the window during the ride, another thought quietly entered his mind.
’I should buy a car.’
It wasn’t something he’d cared much about before.
But now that money was the least of his concerns, relying on public transit every time they wanted to go somewhere suddenly felt unnecessarily inconvenient.
The ride didn’t last long.
Before long, the towering hospital came into view.
The moment they arrived outside the entrance, Kael took out his phone and called Dun.
The call barely lasted half a minute before the hospital’s automatic doors slid open.
Dun practically rushed outside.
No...
He was almost skipping.
"You’re finally here!" he called out, his grin stretching from ear to ear.
Kael blinked.
For a second, he couldn’t help wondering whether Dun was somehow even more excited than they were.
He quickly decided not to think too deeply about it.
Instead, he gestured toward Lyra.
"Dun, this is my sister, Lyra."
He then looked toward her.
"And Lyra, this is Dun Smith. The one I told you about."
Lyra smiled warmly before giving a polite nod.
"It’s nice to finally meet you."
"Likewise," Dun replied.
"Thank you... really."
Her voice became noticeably softer.
"I honestly thought we’d lost all hope of saving our mother."
Dun immediately shook his head.
"You should be thanking your brother instead."
He smiled at Kael.
"Without his investment, none of this would’ve been possible."
Both pairs of eyes naturally shifted toward him.
Lyra already knew about the money Kael had invested to support Dun’s research, but hearing it directly from the man himself still filled her with pride.
Kael, meanwhile, immediately sensed where the conversation was heading.
Before either of them could continue praising him, he cleared his throat.
"We can save that for later."
He glanced toward the hospital.
"Let’s go."
Dun nodded without hesitation.
"Right. Follow me."
The three entered the building together.
As they walked through the spotless corridors, Dun quietly updated Kael on what had happened over the past few days.
"The director has been strangely quiet ever since that day."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"He hasn’t caused any trouble?"
"Not once."
"Interesting..."
Instead of feeling relieved, Kael became even more cautious.
Someone like the director wouldn’t simply give up after suffering such a humiliation.
No.
People like him didn’t forget.
They look for better opportunities to strike back.
Kael wasn’t worried about himself.
But Lyra...
And their mother...
They were different.
Unlike him, they couldn’t defend themselves if someone decided to target them.
That thought lingered in his mind until an idea slowly surfaced.
Varek.
His shadow constructs.
Those creatures were practically perfect bodyguards.
One was already hidden inside Kael’s own shadow.
Even with his vastly improved senses, he only noticed its presence because he already knew it was there. Anyone else would walk past without the slightest suspicion that a living entity was concealed beneath their own feet.
As Varek continued absorbing the Instance Core, their concealment only became stronger.
By the time he fully recovered even a portion of his former strength, Kael doubted many people on Earth would even be capable of detecting them.
They weren’t particularly powerful in direct combat.
But they didn’t need to be.
Their greatest strength was that they simply cannot die.
Cut them apart.
Crush them.
Burn them.
As long as Varek continued supplying mana, they would reform endlessly.
Against truly powerful enemies, that kind of immortality was far more valuable than raw strength.
They only needed to delay an opponent long enough for Lyra to escape.
Or buy enough time for Kael to arrive himself.
That alone was enough.
With his decision made, Kael mentally noted to ask Varek for more shadow constructs later today.
Lyra and their mother would each have a few watching over them from the shadows.
A soft ding echoed through the hallway.
The elevator doors slid open.
They had arrived.
Dun led them through another quiet corridor before stopping in front of a familiar hospital room.
He reached for the handle and slowly pushed the door open.
Kael’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
He quietly drew in a breath.
Then stepped inside.
The room looked exactly as he remembered.
White walls.
Sterile air.
The steady rhythm of medical machines filling the silence.
Yet none of it held his attention.
His eyes were already fixed on the woman lying on the hospital bed.
His mother.