With a slight amount of trepidation, Alistair glanced down at his outfit. Sure enough, he was wearing a hot pink tuxedo and a bow tie with a smiley face.

“Welcome back, sir.” The bartender wiped down shot glasses with a fine silk cloth as he spoke to Alistair. It made him wonder if drinks could actually create messes in a spiritual space like the Soulnet.

“I didn’t catch your name last time,” Alistair said.

The bartender seemed to perk up at his comment. “I am a mere servant created at my master’s whims, but if it pleases you, you may call me Drauku.”

Alistair pulled out a seat to the bar, a blocky white stool that was surprisingly comfortable to sit on. If you asked for his opinion, the contemporary bar and chairs didn’t match the traditionalist decor of the ornately decorated walls and paintings.

“Do you actually serve drinks here?” In his excitement, he had entered the Soulnet over thirty minutes before the meeting and had some time to kill.

“If you so desire, sir. Of course, as we are in a spiritual demiplane, you cannot get drunk in the traditional sense of the word.”

“The traditional sense?” Alistair asked.

“For a very reasonable price, I can serve some of the finest soul wines from the Akata Vineyard. Your soul will never have felt so refreshed, I guarantee it,” Drauku boasted. He took out an open bottle of aquamarine liquid that glittered under the ambient light, pouring the beverage into a crystal shot glass. “I present to you Pallox Semper, a combination of fermented Abyssal Titan spinal fluid and goldenfruit extract and before you protest, sir, I promise it is completely edible and hygienic, and quite delicious.”

Alistair looked at the turquoise liquid with some hesitation. In the end, he decided to grab the glass and imbibe the mysterious wine.”What the hell, why not?”

He downed the soul wine in one gulp, trying not to imagine what an Abyssal Titan looked like or why on Earth he was drinking one’s spinal fluid. It went down easier than expected and a cool, soothing feeling washed over him. As soon as the liquid enter his stomach, he could feel it seeping into every fiber of his being.

“Whoa,” he said aloud.

“Delightful, isn’t it, sir? Do you notice any changes? Besides the delicious aftertaste, of course.”

“I feel… deeper.” It made no sense, but Alistair felt like he could feel a whole new dimension to the world. It was small and out of sight, but it was there, and more real than anything he had ever known before. If only he could grasp the smallest part of it, he knew he would reach power beyond his wildest dreams.

The sensation faded after a couple of seconds, leaving Alistair feeling empty and incomplete. It was like a girl he had never been with had broken his heart, leaving him full of longing for something he never had.

“What was that?” Alistair asked.

“A small taste of the lowest quality drink cultivators use to ponder the Dao,” the bartender said, a twinkle in his eye. “A gift from an old spirit to a young man.”

“Thank you, Drauku.” Alistair bowed his head to the bartender, who had gone back to cleaning, just like he always did. “What are you? And what is the Dao?”

“I’m no one of import, young sir,” he said. “A homunculus created by the Akata Corporation long ago to help fledgling cultivators in the Final Frontier Empire. My prime days are long past.”

Drauku had a wistful look on his face. Despite his physical appearance belying a man of no more than fifty years of age, his expression spoke of an ancient soul with regrets of things long past. “I’m nearing the end of my life, and the Akata Corporation decided to assign me to your planet.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Alistair said. He hadn’t thought about it, but with all the talk of “securing eternity”, he imagined it was possible to live an exceedingly long life, if not achieve true immortality. The sum totality of his own life was probably but a mote of dust to the nondescript bartender.

“As for your other question, it might be more fruitful to ask what the Dao is not. The Dao exists in all parts of the multiverse, though it is so very thin here. As your cultivation progresses, you will ponder the mysteries of the universe and your own place in it. As your own path and self-knowledge deepens, and as you confirm your journey against the tribulations of the Heavens and the Earth, you seek the end to the path of eternity,” Drauku spoke.

“What is the end to the path of eternity?” Alistair asked, completely rapt by Drauku’s explanation.

“If I knew the answer to that question, I wouldn’t be here now. In truth, not a single soul in the Final Frontier Empire knows the answer, not even the Fell Emperor. To a child like yourself, we have untold power, but the true powers of the multiverse view us as smaller than an atom. But thank you for indulging an old man and giving me some company.”

“No, I have to thank you. Because of that wine, I feel like I’ve seen through a veil that’s been over my eyes my entire life. I’ll be sure to use that inspiration for something,” Alistair said.

“I see you’re in a hurry, so don’t let old me hold you up. Just one word of advice: the one who rushes through life rushes to his grave. You might imagine it less applicable when immortality is in sight, but wiser men than me have said otherwise.” Drauku smiled at him. “I wish you good fortune, sir.”

“Thank your for you advice,” Alistair said. “I’ll stop by again next time, Drauku.”

As Alistair walked away, the smile left Drauku’s face. His augury had grown weaker since his youth, but the tempests of Fate were strong with the young man. They were always more powerful on a newly initiated planet, an epicenter of death and conflict, but he had rarely seen such a tumultuous destiny before. Drauku only hoped that his promise to return would come to pass.

The ballroom was more crowded this time around, with nearly a hundred people loitering about. If the scene in front of him was taking place in real life, Alistair would have thought he was at some kind of weird Hollywood party, with wacky dresses and colorful suits. The increase in numbers was to be expected since thousands of more people had reached level 15. Three days into the apocalypse, having a Class was no longer reserved for the foremost elites.

Alistair ignored the susurrus of conversation, walking toward the hovering message board. Messages filled the screen to the brim, causing the text to leave holographic projection and become three-dimensional, like technology from a Marvel movie.

“Alistair?” a voice called out.

His heart skipped a beat as soon as he heard his name. It came from a voice so familiar to him, he would remember it after a thousand years of solitude.

“Evangeline?”

He turned around, just to be hit by a crushing hug. It turned out that an embrace given by a person with super strength wasn’t very comfortable.

“I missed you,” she said.

“I missed you too.”

Evangeline was much the same as Alistair remembered. The top of her head came up just past his shoulder, something he never hesitated to tease her for. Her black hair fell down to her waist, and she was wearing a puffy Victorian-style dress, carrying a gray parasol.

“You look like you’ve put on some muscle!” Evangeline said, poking his chest. “I see the stats are treating you well.”

While her exterior was jovial, Alistair knew his older sister well enough to see her eyes revealed a deeper sadness. He hardly wanted to speak his next words. “How are mom and dad?”

The smile left her face instantly. “Dad is fine. Great even, he’s level 19 and says his back hasn’t felt this good in ages. But mom… she disappeared when everyone got displaced. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “There’s nothing you could have done. Katelyn and my friends are also gone. We’ll just have to find them. I’m sure they’re out there somewhere. Mom’s a fighter. I’m more worried about how the monsters are doing.”

“We should have faith in her, you’re right,” she admitted. “How have you been doing?”

“I’m ranked 965th in the world on the leaderboard, so pretty well. I thought I could beat you at one thing, but then I saw you were above me at 700. It wasn’t too bad, though, since it was confirmation you were still alive. You’re still in Turkey?”

“I’m your older sibling, so it’s only right that I’m ahead of you,” she joked. “Yeah, dad and I are still in Istanbul. From my calculations, it’s around 50% in terms of those who got displaced and those who didn’t, and I haven’t seen any patterns in it. What Class did you get?”

It was just like his sister to go from personal conversation straight to business. “Magical Pugilist. Basically, as the name says, I punch people with magic fists. My primary attributes are Agility and Intelligence, so I’m fast as well. What about you?”

Not that he didn’t trust his sister with his hidden Subclass, it was just that he didn’t feel comfortable saying it inside of the Soulnet.

“Spiritualist. Weren’t you wondering how I even located your region of the Soulnet? There are at least a hundred rooms just like this one, separated by a series of chambers and corridors. I can detect people’s soul signatures, it’s kind of like having a fantastic sense of smell. Spiritualist is less of a combat Class, though I’ve been able to make it work. I can affect people’s souls. You know, I never would have thought I’d be sitting here saying that I can look at someone’s soul and determine if they’re about to attack me, but here we are.”

“Like what even is a soul? Was it always there, even before the initiation, and it was just that scientists couldn’t detect it? There are so many metaphysical implications, I don’t know where to begin. And don’t get me started on all the Daoist references, I’m still trying to piece together how Chinese philosophy is related to magical cultivation that can make people faster than trains and shoot fireballs out of their hands,” Evangeline said, her brain moving even faster than her tongue. At least that would never change.

“Well, the bartender back out front did give me a drink that let me ‘contemplate on the Dao’. It was just for a brief second, but I felt like I had, I don’t know, some kind of cosmic knowledge. I felt like I had the secrets of everything in my grasp, like normal reality was an illusion,” Alistair explained.

“That’s very interesting.” Evangeline stroked her chin, looking up in rumination. “I suppose…”

“Suppose what?”

“Nothing, just letting my imagination run wild. Spirituality isn’t really my thing, as you know, but the structural context of Daoism makes sense. No, no, I’m probably trying to connect dots that don’t exist. I just think with all the hints, if we can somehow get ahead of the curve on the Dao, we’ll have a huge comparative advantage.”

Someone came along to use the message board, prompting Alistair to lead his oblivious sister away from the potential eavesdropper. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You always do. I actually wanted to ask you for some sisterly advice.”

He explained what was going on with his subregion, telling his sister about his new allies and the situation with Sofia and Marcus.

“Hmm… I’m not sure what you should do. I was never the best with interpersonal conflict. But if I know you like I think I do, you’ll end up doing whatever you want.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alistair raised an eyebrow.

“Oh no, it’s not an insult,” Evangeline shook her head. “Ever since we were kids, you’ve always done your heart’s desire, no matter what. You’re the most stubborn bastard I know. If you set out your mind to do something, you’ll do it. And you’ve always had a soft spot for people in need.”

Evangeline brought in Alistair for another hug, this time much more tender.

“Be careful, of course. I can’t lose my little brother,” she said, looking down at a nonexistent watch. “I don’t have much time left now.”

“What?!” Alistair exclaimed.

“No, not like that. There’s a time limit on how long you can stay in the Soulnet. It took me hours to travel over here since Turkey is thousands of miles away in the real world. That’s why dad’s not here; I would have brought him if he could have survived the trip. Our souls are too weak right now to spend too much time separated from our bodies. I swear on my life I’ll keep dad safe and keep looking for mom, so don’t worry too much. We might not be able to see each other in person for a while since the longest range teleporters only have a range of a thousand kilometers.”

“I’ll be waiting for you in America,” Alistair said, his emotions swelling as he said goodbye. “Let’s get to number 1 and 2 together.”

“With me as one and you as two, right?”

“Sure, we’ll go with that,” Alistair laughed. “It was great to see you, Angie.”

“You too.”

They hugged once more, Evangeline fading away shortly after. It was a better outcome than he imagined at the start of the entire ordeal. His sister was alive and thriving and his dad was safe.

Alistair realized that he had lost sight of his true goals, spending too much time growing complacent with getting stronger and leveling up. What good was power on its own, with no direction?

He remembered his experience drinking the soul wine when he felt the secrets of the universe within his grasp. The key word was his grasp. Knowledge, power, destiny— it wasn’t something that just happened. It had to be seized. Once, he was not the arbiter of his own fate. Even before the arrival of Atavius Meloi, Alistair was a mere automaton, going through the motions of life. He was a slave to his peers, to his own mortal existence.

That had all changed. Despite the anger he harbored toward the Final Frontier Empire, he recognized he was given a chance to indelibly mark his name in the halls of history. He was a cog in the machine of the greater multiverse, but he could see a path forward. A path carved in the blood of millions of evildoers in service of the greater good. Justice without mercy was cruel, but justice without force was powerless.

He would never stop growing, improving, and upgrading himself. He would push himself beyond to his limits and beyond, to seek vengeance for his planet and to save those he cared about. If the system the Final Frontier Empire created was unjust, he would break the system itself.

Alistair could feel his desires and intentions resonate within his very being, and when he exited the Soulnet, a new notification awaited him.

Achievement unlocked: Fledgling Dao — Receive a Dao Inspiration. Due to receiving a Dao Inspiration before the formation of a soulcore, a path-appropriate reward shall be given. Reward: Upgrades “Good Samaritan”.

Badges:

…

“Good Samaritan [Altered]” (Tier 1 Rare Badge): Put your life on the line for a complete stranger against all odds. All Stats +7, also when fighting enemies you deem as reprobate evildoers, gain +20% to your two highest stats. Upgradeable (0/50).

…

Increase Badge Slots (0/200)

It was perfect that Alistair had a certain evildoer in mind for testing his new Badge.