Ren walked slowly back to his room, the five thousand crystals weighing in his pocket like stones of possibility. The mushrooms in his hair pulsed softly while his thoughts wandered to his parents again. He stopped before a hallway window. At this hour, they would be preparing food in the small restaurant’s kitchen, earning barely enough to survive. "One hundred thousand crystals," he murmured with nostalgic feeling. "In just two months..." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺 Memories rushed in unbidden: his mother counting crystals at the kitchen table, worry in her eyes as she tried to make the money stretch. His father exhausted but smiling, always smiling. "The investment," he whispered while the mushrooms pulsed more slowly, as if sharing his memories. "I could return everything they spent on me." His fingers brushed the crystals in his pocket. Each one represented another step closer to repaying what they had sacrificed for him. Another memory struck without warning: his father on that night when he fell ill, coughing in bed while apologizing for having to use their savings on medicine. His mother, trying to smile while selling her best cooking pots to complete the payment for the worst egg. "Half a million crystals," Ren whispered, recalling the price of their old house. "I could get it back in less than a year at this rate." The mushrooms pulsed stronger, as if trying to show him something. The image of their old house appeared in his mind. It wasn’t large, but it had been their home for years… His parents had never complained. Not once. Even now, paying rent for the house that was once theirs, they kept smiling. Kept working hard. Kept believing in him. "No," he said suddenly, his voice firm. "It’s not enough." The mushrooms glowed more intensely as a new resolution grew in his chest. "They... they gave everything," he continued. "Not just the house. Everything. Their thirty years of savings. Their dreams. Their chances." He began walking faster toward his room, his energy building with each step. "Why settle for staying where we were?" the words came faster now. "Mom always wanted a bigger garden. Dad dreamed of a larger, better-equipped kitchen." He stopped before another window, looking out toward the distant city. The high-rank districts shone more brightly, their buildings rising above the rest like constant reminders of what lay beyond their reach. "Thirty years saving," his voice trembled slightly. "Thirty years working double shifts. Thirty years waiting to have a child. And when I finally came..." The mushrooms pulsed forcefully, sharing his emotion. "They gave me everything," the words rushed out now. "Without hesitation. Without second thoughts. Just... everything." His eyes moistened as memories flowed: his mother teaching him to cook even when exhaustion bent her shoulders after a double shift, her gentle hands guiding his smaller ones through each motion. His father carrying him on his shoulders like a dragon, spinning tales of legendary beasts despite his back aching from hours in the kitchen, never once letting the pain show in his voice. "They don’t deserve to just get their house back," he declared with renewed determination. "They deserve more. Much more." Ideas began flowing through his mind like a rushing river: a new house, larger than their old one. A huge garden where his mother could cultivate whatever she wanted without worrying about space. A kitchen where his father could experiment with new recipes, with proper equipment and room to move. "Ten million," he murmured, testing how the number felt on his tongue. "A house in the city would cost at least ten million crystals… If I just…" The mushrooms in his hair pulsed forcefully at the magnitude of the figure, their light reflecting off the window glass. "No no… It’s impossible, I’m getting cocky since I got a bit lucky lately," whispered the part of him that still thought like a low-rank family’s son. "Is it too much?" responded the new part, the one that had earned over a hundred thousand crystals in two months. "Is it really too much?" His eyes moved to the intelligence rune inside its box with a crystal, where spores continued developing. To the sealed containers filled with materials most would fear to touch but he had collected alone. To the crystals gleaming with contained power that he was absorbing daily now. "Two months," he repeated, his voice stronger. "A hundred thousand in two months. And I’m just getting started." Enjoy more content from empire The mental image shifted. It was no longer their old house with its familiar rooms. Now he saw a new house, spacious and bright, worthy of the people who had given him everything. "A house in any normal district of the city they choose, any one they want. If I can prove I’m capable of reaching at least Silver rank..." "I could get them a good place... No rank restrictions. No limitations." The mushrooms glowed like captured stars while his determination grew, casting dancing shadows on the hallway walls. "I’ll show them," he promised. "I’ll show them their sacrifice was worth it. That their faith in me wasn’t misplaced." His hands closed into determined fists, knuckles white with resolve. "I won’t just recover what they lost. I’ll give them what they always deserved to have. What they never allowed themselves to dream of because they were too busy taking care of me." Ren felt something new awakening inside him. He was no longer just a child trying to fix the past. He was a son determined to build a better future for those who had given everything for him. "Ten million," he repeated, this time as a promise. "And that’s just the beginning." The mushrooms pulsed one final time, sealing his oath with their ethereal light. This was no longer about recovering a house or the tuition of one million. The old goal of regaining what was lost now seemed so small, so limited. He no longer wanted to return to what they had. He wanted to take them where they never imagined they could go. This was about giving them the world they had always deserved.