Jay was in the middle of putting the plates away when Ryn spoke.

"The last ingredient was in the fridge."

Jay froze.

Slowly, he turned around.

"…I'm sorry," he said. "Say that again?"

Ryn closed the icebox, then turned and stared at Jay dead in the eyes.

"The final ingredient for the Essence Condensing Pill. Ethereal Ice. It was in the cold storage."

There was a long pause.

Then Jay's face went blank.

"...What did it look like?" he asked carefully.

Ryn didn't look away.

"Clear," he said. "Perfectly smooth. Looked like ice."

Jay's breath caught.

"…How big?"

"Palm-sized. Maybe smaller."

Jay dropped the plate.

It didn't shatter, as he caught it last second, but the clatter echoed loudly enough to make his panic very real.

"I almost used it," Jay said hoarsely.

Ryn frowned. "What…?"

Jay dragged both hands through his hair, eyes wide, unfocused.

"I was reaching for it. You know…to cool the boiled eggs so we could peel it faster."

They shared a brief look, half disbelief and half relief—the absurdity of the hero's house settled into a moment they decided to put past them.

Ryn was quiet for a moment longer than necessary.

Then he spoke.

"We can make the pill," he said. "Here. All the ingredients are in place."

Jay looked up immediately. "Here?"

Ryn nodded. "With your Blessing, it's possible. But…there's a condition."

Jay tilted his head, listening with intensity.

"The Ethereal Ice can't be removed," Ryn continued.

"If it leaves the cold storage, it'll start to dissipate. So the refinement has to happen inside the icebox."

Ryn drew a slow breath.

"The problem is...I can't be in there with you."

Jay blinked. "What?"

"My Essence would interfere," Ryn said.

"The Ethereal Ice absorbs cold-aligned flow indiscriminately. If I'm anywhere near it while it's being refined, it'd literally suck me dry."

Jay's expression sharpened, "So it'd bind to you before it's finished."

"Or destabilize," Ryn said. "Either way, it ruins the refinement."

Silence settled between them, broken only by the soft hum of the cold storage.

Jay glanced toward the icebox, then back at Ryn. "…So you're saying I'm the only one who can do it."

"Yes."

"And I have to do it inside that thing."

"Yes."

Ryn exhaled softly,

"Look, it's fine if you—"

Jay laughed under his breath, a resolved grin plastered on his face.

"Alright," he said. "That makes sense."

Ryn frowned slightly. "You're… not hesitating?"

Jay shook his head.

"Ryn, as you said, my Blessing is literally made for this. Sitting in the cold for a bit is fine."

Ryn studied him. "You're sure?"

Jay met his gaze. "You've done worse for me. For my family. For the orphanage."

He smiled faintly.

"Let me return the favor in the one way I actually can."

Ryn's shoulders eased, just a little.

"…Alright, I trust you."

Jay stepped toward the icebox, rolling up his sleeves.

"Count on me! You should go explore. I doubt Ethereal Ice was the only thing the Hero left behind."

Ryn paused at the doorway, then nodded. He reached into his ring and pulled out the Life Essence-rich vines and Earth Dragon horn, leaving them on the table.

"Be careful."

"You bet," Jay smirked as he grabbed the ingredients.

The icebox door sealed with a soft click, its hum deepening as Jay worked his magic inside.

Ryn stood there for a moment longer, then turned away, his footsteps carrying him deeper into the mansion.

If Jay was handling the future of his power—

Then Ryn would make sure the future of everyone else was ready too.

Ryn wandered without a clear destination.

The mansion wasn't laid out like a fortress or a dungeon. Corridors branched organically, rooms opening into one another without rigid symmetry. As if the house had grown around its owner's habits rather than being designed all at once.

More than once, Ryn realized he'd doubled back without meaning to.

Eventually, the air changed.

It was subtle, but barely noticeable. The Essence density thickened, becoming more deliberate. Ryn felt as if he was pushing through layers of water to even move a step forward.

He slowed, eventually making his way to the end of a narrow hall. Unlike the others, this one only had a single door.

Stone reinforced with metal bands, not to ward out intruders, but to protect what was inside. Even if there were sigils to dampen the power, Essence still leaked out.

"…So this is it," Ryn murmured.

He pushed the door open.

The room beyond was modest in size and meticulously organized.

Shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, each one reinforced with magical seals and spells instead of physical locks.

Ryn stepped inside slowly.

The pressure intensified the deeper he went, Essence brushing against his senses like a low hum.

There were no obvious artifacts, gold, or weapons.

Instead, every shelf held materials. Ingredients meant to be consumed, refined, or infused—things that were meant to make the user stronger organically.

Ryn's breath slowed.

In his first life, Rora's rise had been meteoric. He'd gone from obscurity to overwhelming strength in a span that never made sense.

Ryn had checked his Essence signature once.

It had been a disaster.

Advancement paths tangled together, traces of differently aligned elements swirled inside his system, somehow coexisting. It was actually impressive that he managed to not blow himself up.

At the time, Ryn had assumed it was arrogance. That Rora simply messed up somewhere with his Technique and just powered through.

Now Ryn knew the truth.

Rora had come here.

He'd found this room. In his eyes, this would've been a treasure trove. The world's strongest swordsman had taken what he wanted, when he wanted, without understanding sequence or consequence.

And no wonder that strength had eventually collapsed under its own weight.

Ryn straightened, eyes steady.

"…You were given a miracle," he said quietly.

"And you treated it like a shortcut."

His nail dug into his palm, a flicker of anger surfacing—then settling just as quickly.

If only he hadn't squandered everything.

…Would that really have changed anything?

Ryn shook the thought away and advanced.

His eyes locked onto the first thing, a bright orange feather, gleaming through the glass display.

He approached it.

The feather was longer than his forearm, its barbs a deep ember-red that faded to gold toward the edges.

Ryn's breath caught.

"…A phoenix feather," he murmured.

One that had been shed and given willingly at that. Ryn knew exactly who this would go to.

Amelia.

She carried both an S-Rank fire-related Blessing and fire-aligned Essence. Power layered atop power. Output compounded—and with it, the risk of burnout.

In his first life, that same imbalance had killed her.

Ryn exhaled slowly, some tension finally easing from his chest.

Not in this life.

The phoenix's feather can act as a regulator, lessening the chances of overheating.

He carefully put the container into his ring, turning his head to the next.

The next container sat higher than the others, suspended within a lattice of pale runes that hummed softly as he approached.

He opened it.

Inside rested a single crystal.

Clear as glass, yet faintly luminous, shaped like a droplet frozen mid-fall. Light refracted through it in gentle bands, never harsh nor blinding.

Ryn's eyes widened slightly.

"…A unicorn's tear."

Crystallized.

Unicorns were extinct, wiped out long before this era, but their legends remained. Creatures born of pure holy Essence, untouched by corruption. Even their tears carried immense sanctity.

He understood the potential of this immediately.

Sera's ascension into her S-Rank Blessing.

In his first life, she had ascended her Blessing the hard way—through a grueling trial of endurance and self-sacrifice. She was nearly broken by the end of it, but just barely survived.

Not by skipping the ascent, but by easing it.

A catalyst that expanded her capacity to hold holy Essence. That would help her acclimate instead of tearing itself apart in the process. With this, the climb toward S-Rank wouldn't demand everything she had.

"…You won't have to suffer for it this time," he said quietly, putting the container inside his ring.

His gaze finally settled on the last shelf in the back. Two containers rested there, placed close together.

The first held a flower.

Petals of soft green curled around a glowing core, Life Essence radiating so densely it almost felt heavy in the air.

Ryn didn't need to think.

"…A dryad's flower."

Dryads shed only one in their lifetime. A gift, not a sacrifice. A pure accelerator—one that drastically increased Essence growth and recovery without destabilizing the body.

"For Jay," Ryn said quietly.

He moved on.

The second container held a single scale, long and slightly curved, pale blue veins running through it like captured gusts of wind.

"…A wyvern's scale."

Descendants of dragons. Creatures of the sky. Their scales were saturated with wind Essence.

Another Essence booster.

And Ryn knew exactly who it was meant for.

"…Fritz Calder," he murmured.

For the future Hero, this would be invaluable.

Ryn's hand hovered over the shelf.

There were more.

He could feel it, ingredients tucked deeper into the vault, sealed and waiting. Answers he hadn't even thought to look for yet.

Then—

BOOM.

A deep, muffled impact that rippled through the floor beneath his feet, rattling the containers on the shelves just enough to make them hum in protest.

Ryn's head snapped up.

"…Jay."

A surge of cold Essence that spiked hard enough to be felt even here, rushing through the mansion's veins like a warning pulse.

The refinement had reached a critical point.

Ryn clenched his fist, already turning toward the door.

Ingredients could wait.

Jay couldn't.

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