In a gigantic room that had no windows, a group of elderly and a middle aged man were sitting around the only table in the room.

There was no banquet, no refreshments. It seemed that they were just there to talk.

The 5 elderly were brothers and sister and consisted of :

-the previous head of the Merchant Union, Diamond Drake,

-the Chief Accountant Dio Drake,

-the Company Supervisor, Diana Drake

-the marketing Manager, Don Drake

- and the Grand Elder, David Drake

The last person in the room was the current head of the Merchant Union, Diamond Drake's son, Dino Drake.

Just like Arthur Drake, they all had red hair and blue eyes.

There were seven places on the table though and six were already filled. They had been there waiting for the last Elder for an hour already and were starting to become impatient.

"Where is that black sheep of the family? I swear I will have him castrated if he doesn't show up in the next minute. For god's sake, he's the one that called this meeting saying that it was urgent...a matter of life and death...and now he has the gall to have us wait?" Said the previous head, Diamond Drake.

His son Dino Drake then tried to console his father as he liked his quirky uncle, Arthur, he said, "Maybe he is still mad about the fact that you exiled him in the Erfat Kingdom, father."

The Chief Accountant, Dio Drake then said, "Exiled? That's our most important and strategic Kingdom. That's a huge responsibility. I wish Iwas the one who was assigned to that place."

"You make me work like a beast of burden to bring money home and you still have the gall to say that it's a huge responsibility? It's just that none of you wanted to go there in the first place. You like your lavish mansions and your decadent lives, but who should blame you. You are old and need to take care of yourselves in the last years that you have left to live." a young voice said as a hooded figure entered the room.

"Who?" Diamond Drake said as he put his hand on the dagger he always had on his belt.

The man that had just entered advanced slowly and when he was in front of the table with everybody facing him, he took off his hoodie.

A young teenager could be seen with a smile that seemed to carry some hidden wisdom.

The other six looked at him thinking that it was one of their descendants, but they couldn't recognize him. Instead he looked vaguely familiar.

Diamond Drake started backing up as if he had seen a ghost. He had recognized the young man as his big brother, Arthur Drake.

"How...how is this possible?" Diamond Drake said.

The Company Supervisor, Diana Drake then said, "What is it Big Brother Diamond? Do you know who this impertinent young man is?"

"That's exactly how Arthur Drake looked when he was young." Diamond Drake said with a shivering voice.

Arthur had wanted to shock them all and then laugh at their shocked faces, but it seemed that he'll have to make do with what he had. So without further ado, he said, "I am Arthur Drake and the reason I look like this is because I met Three Gods in Bluelight city. They are real Gods with powers that we cannot fathom and they will be ushering this world into a new era...an era of wonders."

He recounted what had happened in full and at the end of his monologue he took out a bottle of pills in which there were ten white pristine pills.

"The six of you take one pill each, then find some trustworthy people to take the other four pills. I'd prefer that these other four are our most promising descendants. I believe that the esteemed beings will give us more of these pills later, so I think that no one will be left behind in our family. I want our family to be the first to embark on this journey with the esteemed beings." Said Arthur. "One more thing. I need all the gold coins that you can give me. I want to build the first temple on the Alduin continent dedicated to disseminating the news about the Esteemed Beings and I want you all there to be the proof of their benevolence to us along with me. We will showcase our powers to the masses and those that want to join us will be recruited."

The other six looked at the little bottle in front of Arthur and they all had the urge to jump at it and be the first to eat a godly pill, but against all odds, they restrained themselves. They were shrewd individuals and they had to plan ahead for the future. Besides, the bottle wasn't going anywhere.

The Grand Elder, David Drake, said "This means that we will not be the Overlords of the Dune planet anymore."

"If you even think of cheating the esteemed beings, you will not know how you died." Arthur said sternly.

Diamond Drake then said, "We should feel lucky that the esteemed beings approached a member of our family instead of those greedy kings that keep plotting our demise behind our backs."

Diana Drake said, "The first thing we should do is relocate all our family members, including the side branches, to the Bluelight city. It should be done before the esteemed beings make contact with us again."

Arthur nodded, "That's what I was thinking as well. We need to be the first immortal family of the Dune planet so that we can at least maintain our status as overlords under the Esteemed Beings."

Diamond Drake then asked a question that had been bothering him for a while, "How does your new body feel?"

"Oh, I do not just look younger. I can fly faster than a falcon. My wounds can heal, I even have the impression that a lost limb can regrow itself given enough time. There's also this weird kind of power that allows me to see everything in a five hundred meters radius even with my eyes closed. I can destroy a little mountain with a single punch. Well, I am still discovering my abilities, you'll understand when you become like me." Arthur said with a smile.

"In our old age, we are given such an opportunity. Who would've thought? I am glad I lived to reach this day." Diamond was the first to stand up and took the bottle.

"Um, we should go outside, if you do not want to destroy our precious headquarters." Arthur said after remembering the damage he had caused during his rebirth.

This all happened in the days following the visit of the hooded trio.

***

The next day after Damon had acquired the gold coins, after having had a wonderful sleep, he held a little meeting with his two reincarnations inside his room.

"I reckon that we need a way for you to cultivate faster. There are no powerful beasts that can cultivate that you can kill around here. All this planet has are normal beasts. I could feed you a portion of my soul energy to get you to at least LVL 10 of soul cultivation but it wouldn't be advisable for you to rely solely on me for that." Mad Pill said

"Why can't I cultivate Essence Cultivation by using your pills? And why didn't you give me a Rebirth Pill as well?" Damon asked.

Mad Pill shook his head, "Ask your Requiem System if you can cultivate Essence Cultivation."

"System?" Damon asked.

[Essence Cultivation path prohibited.]

"What? Why?"

[It clashes with the higher levels of soul cultivation because the Essence Cultivation asks for mastery of the Daos stealing fortune from the heavens to live longer while Soul Cultivation is the true way towards true immortality. A body will ultimately perish while the soul can't, it just changes states whether it reincarnates or turns into fuel for another soul.]

Jata then said, "It's true. I wasn't cultivating as an immortal but my body was the strongest among all the gods of my time. I saw old gods fall and new ones be born, but even I knew I would ultimately perish. I could cheat by going back in time and relive the same life differently over and over again...in fact, I did just that for a while, until I found that there was no meaning for my long life anymore. For how long could I continue living like that? You can imagine the rest. With no will to live, I could only look for death."

Mad Pill then said, "In the end, those who cultivate their souls will see their bodies break apart because their souls are too strong to contain them. Body cultivation and Essence cultivation just prolongs the inevitable."

"System. What about body cultivation?" Damon asked with a hopeful look. He didn't want to turn into a bodiless creature yet.

[Any Cultivation System that doesn't force you to comprehend Dao is allowed.]

"What is this Dao thing the system keeps mentioning?" Damon asked the two.

"Some say it is the origin of all things. If you gain insight into the Dao, you can gain incredible powers. Like reversing time or having power over life and death." Mad Pill said. "My Dao was the Dao of Alchemy. The only Dao I comprehended in my life. It gave me an insight into the myriad possibilities heavenly plants could be combined to create the desired effect...but as long as I created a new pill recipe using the Dao of Alchemy, anyone with an acceptable soulfire and grit could attempt to concoct it without having comprehended the Dao of Alchemy. Their success rate was horrible but they had some results. In contrast, those with the Dao of Alchemy had an almost 100 percent success rate."

Jata then said, "Let's go back to the main topic. You said you need a huge number of beasts to kill. I can help with that."

Damon shook his head and said, "I know what you are going to say. You want to bring us to another universe with beasts. No, I don't wanna leave the Dune planet. I'd rather be strong enough to rely on myself rather than rely on the two of you when we leave for other worlds."

"You won't have to leave the planet." Jata said.

"I wonder how. Can you weave miracles?" Mad Pill said with a derisive smile.

"It seems I was born to prove you wrong once again." Jata Akil said. "You walk around with a Soul Realm, can't I have something similar?"

Mad Pill then said, "If I concoct pills with the herbs I have in my Soul Realm, I will attract a Heavenly Tribulation strong enough to make this little planet tremble. You want to say that the beasts someone as strong as you walk around with are something that little Damon can kill with his current LVL 3 Soul cultivation strength?"

"That's because you have no idea what my title is." Jata said with a smile.

Damon's eyes lit up, "System. What's Jata Akil's title?"

[Dungeon Master.]