Rob’s fists were clenched, eyes steady. “I’m going full-time,” he said. “I’ll order a capsule today.”

  Jack kept his expression neutral and stayed silent.

  “I’m turning in my resignation,” Rob went on. “I’ve got savings—enough to get by for a few months. Been with them long enough to have benefits. Some fallback options.”

  He said it like he was trying to convince himself.

  “And if it all goes sideways... I’ll just move back in with you,” Rob added. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Finally, Jack let himself smile. “It means a lot, Rob. I know you’ve worked hard to be where you are now.”

  “It’s a no-brainer, really.”

  “You know… I already ordered a capsule today.”

  Rob looked up, surprised, and gave him a faint smile. “You’re all in on this plan of yours, aren’t you, cous?”

  Jack looked down, words catching in his throat. “What choice do I have, Rob?”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  Marie touched Rob’s arm, gently nudging him forward. Rob seemed to take the hint. He stepped up and rested a steady hand on Jack’s shoulder.

  “Jack... I’m proud of you,” he said. “Not so long ago, you were still trying to find your feet—and now, look at you.”

  He hesitated, then added with a slight tremor in his voice, “And I know Uncle Zé is proud too.”

  Jack covered Rob’s hand with his own and gave it a squeeze. “Thanks, cousin. Let’s get this money and pay for his stupid treatment.”

  Rob pulled him into a hug. They stayed like that for a moment, steadying each other, a quiet exchange of strength.

  For a beat, no one spoke. The silence wrapped around them—heavy, warm, and full of unspoken understanding. Marie wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.

  A loud, choked sob broke the moment. Jack turned. Horace was crying—hard. “Oh man. This is such a beautiful moment,” Horace sniffed, tears running down his face. “The brotherly bond. The love between a son and his father.” He rubbed his eyes.

  Amari walked over and gave Horace’s back a firm pat. He took a breath, then looked around the room, his voice steadying the air.

  “All right, we’ve got a lot to do, and not much time to do it. Jack, let’s hear what you’ve got planned so far.”

  Jack nodded, wiping his nose discreetly. Amari had handed him an off-ramp from the emotional intensity, a chance to shift gears. He took it.

  “All right. While you were away, I picked up two professions—[Tinkering] and [Masonry].”

  “Hm,” Amari said, hand on his chin. “I get masonry—but why tinkering?”

  “Because when we completed the Breach run, I received a reward recipe called [Pinned Barrels]. But it required [Tinkering]. So while you guys were offline, I focused on leveling it up.”

  He paused for effect.

  “And it turns out I can use [Tinkering] to build robots.”

  Horace wiped his tears. Rob perked up slightly.

  “What did he say?” Rob asked.

  “I believe he said he can make teapots now," Horace said.

  Jack shook his head. “Not teapots. Robots.”

  “Did you just say robots?” Rob asked, incredulous.

  Horace was already grabbing Jack by the shoulders. “Robots? ROBOTS? You mean those ugly pots in your house? You’re kidding me, right? It’s impossible. This is a game with dinosaurs. There’s no way the developers added robots, too. What’s next? Can you make spaceships?!”

  Jack felt like he was on an emotional rollercoaster. Minutes ago, Rob and Horace had been solemn and teary-eyed—now they were practically vibrating with excitement. The way Horace was shaking him, like a schoolyard bully trying to make him drop his lunch money, only heightened the whiplash.

  “I’m not lying. But hold your horses. They suck, okay?” Jack raised both hands in surrender.

  “What do you mean?” Amari asked.

  “They’re clunky. They’re not even real robots—more like automatons. They don’t have sensors or brains. I can barely get them to follow basic tasks. Honestly, it’s a bust. Oh, and get this—you have to crank them to charge.”

  Horace and Rob visibly deflated. Amari stood still, locked in thought.

  Marie was the only one who didn’t look disappointed. She’d spaced out the moment Jack said “robots.” Now she looked like she was trying to decide what book to read next—or maybe what to order for lunch.

  Seeing Horace and Rob begin to slump back into disappointment, Jack jumped in before the energy completely faded.

  “But I still have hopes for the robots,” he added quickly. “Anyway, I digress. [Masonry]—that’s the real deal. I picked it up, and my class synergies kicked in. Turns out that I can make bricks.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The group froze. It was the kind of stunned silence Jack had only seen a handful of times before, like when he first showed them he could temper equipment, or when he revealed he’d become a bard.

  “No way…” Amari stammered. “What a breakthrough…”

  Seeing them speechless filled Jack with a quiet, unexpected satisfaction.

  “Any specific buildings you’ve already unlocked that might give us an edge?” Amari finally asked.

  “No. I’m only level one. All I have are brick versions of the buildings players usually get. I’m sure I’ll get more recipes as I level up. Oh. I did spend all my [Bushcrafting] XP on the [Camping] skill, so I could unlock fortification recipes. The synergy with masonry generated a better kind of fortification: [Fortified Wall].”

  “That’s good. Good.”

  Amari started pacing.

  Marie seemed to be back in the room with them now. Everyone waited as their leader processed everything. Jack waited too. Amari was the most knowledgeable player he knew, and he’d grown used to letting him take the lead. He hadn’t let them down yet.

  “What level of Tinkering was the robot recipe locked behind?”

  “Seven,” Jack said.

  “What level are you now?”

  Jack nodded. “Seven. Just enough.”

  “Wonderful.”

  Why is level seven ‘wonderful’? Jack wondered, brow furrowed.

  “Anything else you’ve got planned?” Amari pressed.

  “Uh… I still have a bunch of recipes I haven’t even touched: skull armor, melomel, drinking horns. Then there are things I’ve already made. I can make retreat vases for guilds, plus stuff like blowing horns, amphorae, ocarinas, pot hives…” Jack trailed off, ticking items off on his fingers. “Basically, a whole catalogue of weird exclusives. I was thinking of asking Horace for help with selling some of it.”

  “Hmmm…” Horace said, scratching his chin.

  “Good,” Amari said. He turned to Horace. “Horace, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Horace rubbed his hands together. “I am.”

  Amari just smiled at Horace’s reaction, offering no explanation. Jack was left guessing what the two of them were plotting.

  “Anything else, Jack?”

  Jack shook his head. “I also thought about offering tempering services. You did say it was a solid way to make money.”

  Amari gave a thoughtful nod, absorbing that. “Right. Right. Okay. One last thing. Have you given any thought to the best location to build the village? Or how to monetize information about it? Or the Breach run?”

  Jack scratched his head. “Uh… I actually haven’t. I’ve been focusing on my professions,” he admitted, a little embarrassed.

  Amari nodded slowly. “I’ll need a moment.”

  Jack exchanged a look with the others, who just shrugged. Amari paced back and forth, fingers twitching in rhythm, muttering to himself now and then. Every so often, he’d pause mid-step, caught in a calculation only he understood.

  After a full minute, Amari finally stopped.

  “I’ve been thinking all day about our village. And the problem I kept coming back to is manpower. We’re just a team of five. That’s too few to build, manage, and defend a village. Even if we somehow managed to build the village from the ground up without any outside help, a powerful guild could swoop in and reap all the rewards.”

  Jack winced. This wasn’t exactly encouraging news, but he was right. They were going to build the first village in the game. What guild wouldn’t want a piece of the pie?

  “That’s why I spent the whole day thinking about possible alliances with guilds.”

  Marie drew a sharp breath. “Amari, we can’t. You know what guilds are like.”

  “I know, Marie. I don’t like it either. They’d want the lion’s share of the benefits and kick us out of the village as soon as they had the chance. But now that Jack’s told us how urgent his situation is… we’re going to need guild money, one way or another. Half a mil credits? There’s no way we earn that without tapping into the guilds’ deep pockets.”

  Marie and Horace looked downcast. Although they didn’t talk much about it, both had had bad experiences with guilds. Rob, too, seemed discouraged. With his history with IronIre, that wasn’t a surprise.

  Jack looked down. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to corner us.”

  Amari shook his head. “Don’t be. We’d have to deal with guilds, no matter what. But these robots of yours?” A grin started forming. “They change everything. They’re the missing ingredient!”

  Jack gave a weak shrug. “I just told you they suck.”

  “I know. But you’re only level seven. That means there’s room to grow. Maybe you can make them stronger, faster, smarter. You might even make them combat-ready. Who knows what’s ahead?”

  Jack blinked. He hadn’t even considered that. He’d rushed to reach level seven and then stopped—but maybe the robots were just in their infancy. There could be more. Much more.

  “Don’t get me wrong. Bricks are a huge deal. Huge. But robots? That’s where the real money is. And let’s be honest—it’d make amazing content for my channel. Can you imagine? An army of robots repelling an invasion…” He trailed off, already seeing it play out in his head.

  “That would be awesome,” Horace said.

  “Jack, we need you to keep working on your [Tinkering],” Amari said, more focused now. “We have to know how far we can push it when building the village. Think you can handle that?”

  “Sure.”

  “Now…” Amari flicked his hands, and a whiteboard blinked into existence in the virtual room. With a swipe of his finger, he began to write:

  Robot Improvement and Mass-Production

  Eternian Auction

  “What’s an Eternian Auction?” Jack asked.

  Horace grinned and clapped a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Haha, you’ll see. Just know it’s the best way to get top buck for your gear.”

  “And it will take a lot of preparation,” Amari added, “but that’ll come later.”

  He paused, then wrote one more line above the others:

  Class Advancement

  Amari looked around at the team. “Here’s the plan, everyone: first, I want you all to get your class advancement. It's a huge power spike for us.”

  Marie and Horace had fire in their eyes.

  “Rob, you already have it so—” he paused, thinking, and looking at the board, trying to find something for Rob to do.

  “Don’t worry about it, Amari. That actually works for me. I’ll use the time to handle real-world stuff—send in my resignation, square things away, and order a capsule. Once that’s done, I’ll see how I can help Jack.”

  “Good,” Amari said, scratching his head. Then he turned to Jack. “By the way, how was your first class advancement quest? Any cool new skills or recipes?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Amari blinked. “You haven’t done your class advancement quest? You’ve reached level 30, right?”

  Jack nodded slowly.

  “It’s not just regular classes that get advancements. Yours does too.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Of course. You need to do that as soon as possible. It might unlock new recipes or abilities that could make or break our success. You need to go talk to that weird NPC in the village again.”

  “Right… right! I hadn’t even thought of that. This is awesome. I’m glad you brought it up.”

  His mind was already racing with the possibilities.

  “Okay, everyone,” Amari said. “For now, let’s all go to Ashengate. Jack, can you send us the coordinates of your base of operations?”

  Horace snorted. “Base of operations? Please. The place is a dump. I’ll find us a real base. Jack, seriously, how did you not think of us when you rented that thing?”

  “Sorry, I had a lot on my mind.”

  “Okay, okay,” Horace said quickly. “I’ll give you that one.”

  “Once we reach Ashengate, we tackle our advancement quests. Meanwhile, I want you all to start thinking about the best possible location for our future village. If you have any ideas, PM me.”

  As everyone started exchanging ideas and coordinating, Jack and Rob shared a look. Jack knew what his cousin was thinking.

  You’ve got some really good friends, Jack.

  And somehow, that’s when he knew: he could do this. He would do this. He was going to save his dad.

  And even if it took the rest of his life, he’d find a way to pay them back.