Aeromancer

This makes his actions and decisions feel a little flat, despite how big and impactful it was supposed to be. The conflicts the story focused on are more on the personal stakes despite the social situation influences, so having contradictory motivations can paint a hazy MC.

One example is how much he was willing to understand people and yet failed to look at his sister and father's cases.

The first motivation presented was solidly placed with his father.

The first substantial relationship you showed was the sister.

And yet, from early chapters the father was mentioned on a one-sided stereotype, and the sister took the back seat and plot device to move the story along. Yes, she had a vital role but that role was narrowly filtered on the protagonist's eyes. The story was able to express the personalities of strangers better than those with his sister he had been with for years, which made me, as a reader, question his drive. Not to mention how much he affected his family (primarily with his niche), more than the said strangers, you would think his take on them would also change. But maybe that change would appear in the latter chapters? So I can't really tell.

What I saw was, he was noncommittal (taking the path of least resistance on his life), wants to change (with how he approached Aiden), affected by family and how society saw him (motivation to take on his family's business).

That's why when he made big decisions and weighed it more on how he affects said strangers more than his family...it became more selfish since all I took from that decision was how it centered more on himself. We could say he was selfish. But nothing from earlier chapters showed that. He acts more on self-preservation and seeking for more in life rather than on selfishness imo. Which again makes his self-sacrificing acts, later on, feel hollow.

Then there are his trust issues. He distrusts Shepherds and yet wants to be them. He hates how Cassie used him, yet wouldn't mind being used by the Serio Family; He only mellowed on them (Cassie and Mafia) when he got something out of them, but those things were merely incidental (his memory/sight, and his training). Pinpointing his basis for that trust subsequently was lost to us readers.

His motivations and actions are contradictory. But I think its still fine. If these contradictions are done right, it could be used as a good stepping stone on shaping his character as long as there is a resolution, however, so far, I haven't come across a solid resolution to patch them up. Giving him a moral dilemma during the exam was a good avenue to address it, but it didn't provide answers but added to confusions instead, since he was quick and steadfast to his decisions so the 'dilemma' was nonexistent (which triggered my long rant above to how understanding he was XD).

Once I took in his personality, I then questioned his background. This is a guy readying himself to take a multi-million nationwide business, which again, I didn't saw..? He has more knowledge on the Hero side of his city than the business side despite implying he had resigned himself to his fate (rich kid in a higher society) that he hardly practice his mancy since elementary. It took the most recent chapter to know exactly what his father's business was and not once was it explored as one of his strengths aside from it being a cash cow. He exhibits smarts so it should have applied when he dealt with the pressure of his background even before the mafia.

Why am I saying this? Because it's frustrating! His background is cool. How will he use this shift, from being the heir of a business giant, to the heir of the head of a mafia (confidence, cutthroat market, manipulations through money...tho he doesn't abuse it, he must be aware of it); from using the money to get what he wants, to using the illusion of power to get his way (exploiting resources, fame and facades)? And how much it'll parallel to his old life (hero society) and the new (mafia family)?

How he'll operate being part of those two is yet to be seen.

The idea of two sets of laws operating a single society is great! The United Accords is a nice touch. I want to see him, being caught up between those rules. Nitpick on it and just use the things he needed to justify the things he wants to do or simply fuck it up, and see the consequences. Wanting to be a Shepherd while aiming to be a Dragon. The duality is too sweet!