The two of them order a bottle and they reminisced about ‘the good old days’. Bar was soon in awe of Victor’s drinking ability, and they managed to finish the bottle between the two of them. Victor wrote off his improved drinking ability as him making up for lost time. They may be friends, but he was not about to tell Bar about how his cultivation had improved his alcohol tolerance.

At around midnight, Bar had enough and begged for mercy. Finding some gold in his heart of stone, Victor gave his old friend a break and left the bar with him. He wished Bar a safe trip home and walked towards his car. His two villain support were there waiting, and they drove him home.

Home was currently a flat in one of the buildings the Sweet Crew had bought. From the outside, the building looked like a dump, but there were guards at the various entrances of the building, and only a select few knew which flat Victor was sleeping in.

When Victor stepped into the flat, he stepped in luxury. Designer furniture, a state-of-the-art television that double as a holographic display, and a stereo system so advance Victor hadn’t even figured out half of its functions yet. That was just what’s in the living room. There’s no reason to work so hard as a villain if you are not going to enjoy your ill-gotten gains.

Victor sat down on a sofa his agent promised came directly from the vault of The Treasure Hoarder, a mad villain known for stealing priceless artifacts and then placing them in secret locations for treasure hunters to find. Of course, the villain filled these secret locations with death traps, but the traps don’t deter treasure hunters. In fact, the traps were an attraction to them. The Treasure Hoarder would occasionally show the ‘runs’ of the treasure hunters on his secret broadcast channel to finance his next big score and many treasure hunters bragged about being on his channel even if they came away with nothing.

Treasure hunters aren’t known to be smartest of people.

Rumors has it that the Hoarder died five years ago, but no one knew if all his secret locations had been found, so Victor guessed it is possible that the sofa came from a vault. Victor turned on his white noise device. The flat is supposed to be secure, but a villain can never be too careful. Victor whispered.

“Reunion.”

“Terrible, host! You have not completed the task given-,”

“Later!” Victor growled. “What happened to Takuma? Why didn’t you tell me he was in trouble?”

There was a brief silence, before the system finally replied. “Well, this is a surprise. Usually, you can’t wait to get your prize. Host, it seems your son’s condition is causing you to be off your game.” Victor’s reply was a low growl that Reunion quickly interrupted. “Hold your punches, the reason is simple. First off, I am not all powerful. My power does not cover the whole globe. When Takuma Niwa was injured, he was in another region far away from the host. I did not know about the matter till much later.”

“Then why didn’t you inform me the moment you knew?”

“There was no need.” The system said. “Takuma Niwa’s life was not in danger. It still isn’t. He is just in a coma, and although there is a slow deterioration of his body, his life is not currently in danger.”

“Just in a coma?” Victor said with a bite. “There’s no such thing as ‘just a coma’! You should have told me the moment you knew.”

“No, I do not.” Reunion corrected. “Host, I am your System, not your secretary. I do not have to do anything for you.”

A growl came from the villain, but otherwise Victor kept silent. Victor was angry but he knew being an ass to Reunion was not going to be helpful. He also knew that his system was right. Reunion was an aid, Victor’s own secret superpower, but it had no obligation to him. It was a parasite. The system gave Victor power in return for feeding on him. Reunion could disappear tomorrow and there would be nothing wrong with that. Victor needed to go at this in another direction.

“Fair enough,” Victor pretended to calm, “but is there really nothing you could do about that ghost in Takuma? You are the Reunion System, right? I can hardly reunite with Takuma if he stays in a coma.”

“That’s…true.” The system conceded. “Him being in a coma does not help anyone. However, I am not powerful enough to just wake him. The best way is for you to find something in the store.”

“Like what?” Victor asked. “Is there anything in your store that deals with ghost?”

“Well, there are some cultivation methods that deal with spirits and ghost, but they-”

“Great! Show them to me.”

“Come into your inner world.” Reunion said.

Victor did not argue. Ever since Victor managed to open his inner world, most of his interactions with the system has been through there. Reunion said it took less power for it to connect to Victor’s inner world than to Nexus. Victor did not know how true that was, but he never argued about it. It was a simple thing for him to enter his inner world, and he do enjoy his time there.

Victor gathered his Qi and felt the energy gathering in his core. Victor focused on the new organ in his body, feeling the Qi gathering within, and closed his eyes. He willed himself into the core and felt himself diving. When the feeling stopped, Victor opened his eyes. He was no longer in his flat.

He was standing in a field of grass. Victor had appeared on a large field made out of compacted dirt. To his left was a small forest, and in the distance, Victor saw a spirit bear laying lazily on the grass among the young trees. The bear sensed his arrival and raised its head to look at Victor. Then, it laid back its head back onto the ground.

Victor couldn’t help but chuckled at the spirit bear. Technically, the spirit bear was a demon, but Victor had never been fearful of it. If anything, he found the spirit bear’s antics to be amusing. Victor turned to his right to look at the latest additional of his inner world. It was a machine that was standing on three legs with a metallic rod pointing upwards toward the sky. From the rod, a red laser shot into the dark void. Victor grinned as he looked at the embodiment of his Fire Qi. Victor was no technologist and was almost certain the machine was an impossibility, but there was one advantage of having it.

“Can you please change that?”