Ryan "Bxg4"
Alex: "What are you, crazy? Your queen is under threat, and you move your bishop?"
Jay, in the background, reading his newspaper and thinking, "Man, that's nasty. He's sacrificing his queen, and it seems to be working, as most of his other pieces are quite active."
Alex: "If you're giving me a free queen, who am I to say no to it?"
Ryan: "Hmm."
The game continues, with Black slowly launching a maelstrom of attack. A lot of White's pieces get traded, and Alex loses her queen. Eventually, an endgame emerges: both sides have a bishop and a rook, but Black has his pawns neatly arranged, while White's pawns are spread across multiple islands. Black manages to promote a pawn to a queen and wins the game.
Alex: "Why did I lose? How did you win so well after losing your queen?"
Ryan: "My pieces were coordinated to attack. I didn't blunder the queen — I sacrificed it to get a better position."
Alex: "Again. I want to play another game."
Ryan, smirking: "Sure, if you like losing so much, who am I to deny you?"
Alex, angrily: "Grrh."
Meanwhile, Jay is watching from his sofa, contemplating the game.
Jay thinking: That way of playing—constantly sacrificing pieces to set up a better attack—I've seen that before. Maybe I should look up some recent chess news. I'm sure I've seen that kind of playstyle somewhere.
While Alex is setting up the pieces again and Jay reflects, Ryan is observing his status screen:
Current Templates:
Mikhael Tal: Beginner (100/10,000) (+1/100)
Kazuma: Beginner (80/10,000)
Patrick Jane: Beginner (15/15,000)
So, my Tal experience went up by 1. Looks like winning a chess game gives me +1 XP, which I guessed correctly. Although, since all my templates are still at the beginner level, the actual benefit is pretty minor—just some slight influence. It's a bit stingy.
Ryan begins to ponder how he ended up in this situation.
In an alternate timeline…
Ryan was just minding his own business on a quiet evening, walking down the street when suddenly a truck lost control and hurtled toward him. Everything went black.
When he woke up, he found himself in a strange, peaceful place—almost like heaven, but not quite. Standing before him was an odd, futuristic machine and a mysterious figure—ROB.
ROB looked different than what he'd imagined—more like a computer than a divine being. He explained that Ryan had died in that accident and, as a result, was granted a second chance at life with some special abilities. The world he would reincarnate into was already chosen—a world similar to his own, but with elements borrowed from various TV series.
But first, ROB said, "Let's see what you'll get." With a flick of a button, a three-template gacha system spun into motion.
First pull:
Mikhael Tal, a legendary chess prodigy. No powers—just chess skill. Ryan thought this was a good template. Tal was a fascinating chess player, and with this template, he could at least play good chess.
Second pull:
Kazuma. No powers—just a minor luck and skill at video games and rock-paper-scissors. Ryan thought this was a really bad pull. He probably didn't even get Kazuma's abilities. Maybe because the world was ordinary, the system just gave him a mediocre pull. Probably the third one would be nothing special, not like pulling Naruto or other big-name characters.
Third pull:
Patrick Jane, . No powers, but a keen mind and subtle intuition as a skill.
Ryan thought "Hm Patrick seems like a good pull for all his quirks he was a consultant that solved every case he was assigned too "
ROB then explained that Ryan would be reincarnated, but his future potential depended on how he trained and what he did next. The templates he received would be set at a beginner level—he'd have to work to improve them. Developing his skills in the character's domain would gradually raise their tiers.
Ryan: "What's the point of pulling them if I can't use them to their full potential?"
ROB: "The templates are just small boosts—initially at beginner level. They're meant to help you improve over time. As you level them up, they might influence your personality, but for now, you need to work to make full use of them. Now, go."
And with that, Ryan was sent to another world.
Ryan regained memories of this conversation with ROB and received his templates at around age 4, when he first learned he was adopted.
He was adopted by a gay couple, Mitchell and Cameron. Immediately, he realized he had been reborn into the Modern Family universe.
The first month was awkward. Mentally, he was still a kid, but he had none of the innocence typical of children his age. Mitch and Cam, inexperienced as parents, struggled at first. Lily wasn't adopted yet—Ryan was adopted before Season 1's canon. He talked more with Mitch, as his personality was easier to approach. He was grateful they adopted him, and he knew that — quirks aside — they were good parents.
Eventually, he met the Dunphys, Jay, and Dede. He got along well with Jay and didn't speak much with Dede. He also met Phil Dunphy, arguably one of the best sitcom dads, and clicked with him. He realized he was the same age as Alex, younger than Haley.
Ryan experimented a lot with his templates, discovering that he could improve them by doing tasks the characters performed in their daily lives. Mastering chess helped him level up his Tal template.
Kazuma was tricky because he initially saw little point in developing the template—but winning at rock-paper-scissors earned him XP. Cam, threw tantrums after losing 30 times and refused to play again. Mitch just thought Cam was being a crybaby, questioning how hard it could be to beat him. Mithc lost 50 times before avoiding the game altogether.
The Kazuma template made Ryan unbeatable at rock-paper-scissors.
Eventually, Ryan got bored of trying to convince them to play and gave up.
Jane was harder to level up, since he couldn't do much with it at first. He realized practicing observation skills and learning about psychology could help boost it, but it was the most difficult template to develop. Kazuma was the easiest.
In the end, Ryan was just glad he'd been reincarnated into this world. At least, the daily dose of comedy and entertainment kept things interesting. He was smirking while Alex seemed frustrated at losing another game.
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