MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

"I'm surprised she still hasn't forgotten about it," Valyr said to Adrian, taking a brief break from his unsavory past. "I haven't even brought it up to her when I visited your place a few months ago."

"Well, that's just how she is." Adrian shrugged in response, only to let out a slight sigh soon after. "After all, your mom used to be her closest friend."

"Yeah," replied the young man, his gaze shifting elsewhere as he felt a bit of guilt from those words.

"Then again, I guess your reaction to the incident is more odd than Mom's," said Adrian not long after, intentionally ignoring the shift in Valyr's gaze. "I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but aren't you actually the most affected by the incident?"

Hearing the question leave his mouth, Valyr merely looked at Adrian with a wry smile in response, his thoughts finally continuing where it had previously left off.

With even the two of them breaking their backs every day not changing his mother's tide of fate, Valyr felt something within him and his father change the moment they stood in front of his mother's grave.

Was it some sort of suspension of disbelief? Was it them finally realizing that their efforts were all for naught? Or was it something else entirely?

Whatever that feeling was, it undoubtedly caused Valyr to hole himself up in the world of VRMMORPGs even further, craving that escape from reality more than ever before.

Though, while that was happening, his father tried to reach out to him in any way he could, hoping that he'd be able to fill the void in Valyr's heart that his mother left behind.

In fact, because of that, his father decided to play a couple of VRMMORPGs alongside Valyr… only for it to be all for nothing as the young man merely holed himself up even further because of it.

At that point, his father understood that he needed some time to process what happened to them, prompting him to realize that he himself also needed some time to process it as well.

And thus, the two spent a couple of months barely interacting with one another, their conversations only lasting for a few minutes at most during those months.

Fortunately, that all changed by the time three months had passed since the event, with the friends Valyr made in-game giving him the courage to start anew and return to the way he previously was.

Knowing that his father tried to reach out to him while he was at his lowest, the young man made it his priority to do the same thing back to his father, inwardly reminding himself to apologize to his father first before making amends.

Yet, before he could even do that, Valyr was swiftly greeted by the sight of his father having fun with a couple of women he did not recognize, causing him to feel as if something had subtly changed within him once more.

Not wanting to make it any worse for both him and his father, it was there that the young man made the decision to live elsewhere, writing his father a letter partially soaked in tears before leaving the home he'd known for most of his life.

Though the things he did after that were mostly a blur due to those memories seemingly melding in his mind, it was only after finding stable footing for himself did Valyr finally look back at that time of his life once more, internally naming it as the incident.

"I'd rather not think about it," said Valyr in response after some time. "Especially now that I've finally found my footing."

"…Sorry," replied Adrian, giving the young man an expression of slight guilt. "I… didn't think about my words before saying it."

"It's fine." Valyr reassured the man, looking at him with a faint smile.

Grabbing a glass of water for himself, he continued, "In any case, did Aunt Teresa say anything if I wanted you to go back home?"

Seeing as the young man was giving an opportunity to move on from the topic, Adrian did not hesitate to bite on it, giving him an awkward smile. "Well… she told me to stay with you through any means possible."

"Even if I didn't let you into my apartment?" asked Valyr in return, which caused the man to look at him in panic.

"Damn… are you really gonna let your cousin stay out in the cold like that?"

"…Do you want me to?" asked the young man in response, to which Adrian profusely shook his head.

"Then, I won't," replied Valyr after that, finally allowing the man to relax his nerves as he sunk into the sofa.

Taking yet another sip of his soda, the man noticed Valyr scoot a bit closer to him with a serious expression, causing him to don a serious expression of his own as he sat upright.

"…What is it?" asked Adrian, looking at Valyr straight in the eyes.

"I've just realized that we might have a problem if you plan on staying here," said Valyr in response, causing Adrian to slightly freeze up as his mind immediately thought of multiple worst-case scenarios.

"What problems?"
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"Well, for one, you might get bored out of your mind while you're here," replied the young man, his expression remaining the same. "Most of the time, you'll probably see me inside the gaming pod over there."

Briefly glancing at the gaming pod Valyr pointed at, Adrian looked back at him before giving him a reassuring nod. "That's fine. It's not like I don't have a way to pass the time myself."

Valyr looked at him weirdly after that. "…Does it involve holing yourself up in the bathroom for long periods of time?"

"Hell no!" exclaimed Adrian in response. "I've got games on my phone, brother! I still have to my dailies on some of them for crying out loud!"

"Oh." Valyr nodded in understanding after that, seemingly forgetting the question he just asked. "I guess we don't have any problems, then."

"…But on second thought, that makes me think about another potential problem we might have?"

"What problem is it this time?" asked Adrian, only to become speechless the moment he heard the words that left Valyr's mouth.

"Well, think about it for a bit."

"Since you're gonna live here for the meantime… doesn't that mean you should pay part of the rent on this apartment?"

"…"