Celeste’s stomach gurgled again, louder than last time. She used it as an excuse to mask her embarrassment. Sitting back in her chair, she looked out the window with flushed cheeks. Raine tapped at the car’s interface, changing their destination. Glancing at the AR map between the front seats and the center console, she curled an eyebrow but said nothing.

  Miracles Restaurant was in the top three for quality in the city if one were to compare entire menus. As for single dishes, they had a particular serving that was second to none in the Sandrosa Territory—a central-western territory in Amanath with over fifty cities and thousands of towns, holding a total population of over a billion.

  Raine's hopes for a quiet ride were dashed by Celeste's left-field question, “What’s your opinion on psychics? Do you think they would be strong in ZL?” The innocence she tried to pack into her tone triggered Raine's instincts.

  He gave her a non-answer, staring hard at her profile in the mirror, “PsyCore handles them. Why would I want to care how strong they might be? Even thinking about meddling in their affairs can bring trouble. We aren't psychics, and we don't break the government's laws. They won't bother us if we don't bother them.”

  If she was a psychic, they definitely wouldn't have let her run around freely in the past. If she has so much spare time to worry about shit that doesn't matter, then I can step up her training.

  [He really doesn't know. That's perfect. If I shut up about it, he'll never suspect a thing.]

  Celeste’s stomach sounded off again. She groaned, holding her abs as pain lanced through her. Raine’s joined in, anticipation of the meal heightening his needs.

  I still haven’t absorbed enough nutrients after my first use of ReGen. I should have thought of Miracles earlier. My life has been so chaotic lately. Not that I mind. It’s better this way.

  The car parked itself on the street, and Raine climbed out to open Celeste's door. She hid her surprise well and fell into line behind Raine as he passed through the restaurant’s unremarkable entrance. The interior was designed in a classic style with sweeping gold motifs and artistically curved arches. Portraits of a kindly woman and her family adorned every possible free space on the walls.

  A receptionist walked smoothly to greet them. She flowed with the strength and grace of a martial disciple or early adept. Arriving before Raine, she bowed deeply, “Greetings, honored guests. Welcome to Miracles Restaurant; how may we serve you?”

  “Six orders of Qi Ock Gri, two to be delivered to a friend. We’ll take the others here,” Raine tilted his head toward a delivery and pickup waiting area with a few furnished seats.

  Hearing that he wanted so many orders of their most expensive dish, the receptionist panicked, bowing even lower, “Please, Young Master. The mistress would have my life if her most prized guests dined in the waiting area. Allow me to escort you to a private room. I swear on my soul your meal will be presented with all haste, and you’ll not be disturbed or unduly delayed!”

  Raine sighed, relenting, “Very well.”

  “Thank you, Young Master. Thank you!” The receptionist scurried down a side hall, waiting patiently before a sealed door. She opened it for Raine and Celeste, not entering herself, “Your dishes are already being prepared. Please allow us a moment to ensure they are of the highest quality.”

  Knowing they would take a few extra minutes to run a background check on him, Raine saved himself some time, “Send me the bill now.”

  “Young Master. That request is… My apologies. I did not mean to question your sincerity,” with a few clicks at her AR display, she flicked Raine a bill for three million credits—enough to buy a mansion in a much more prestigious city than Carter.

  Despite knowing the creation of his guild would drain his credits faster than atmosphere sucked out an airlock, Raine gladly paid the bill without a second thought. In fact, the price was significantly lower than the only time he’d been privileged enough to eat the dish in the past. The ancient secrets behind Qi Ock Gri were widely disputed, the results from consuming it were not. Whatever magic went into the food, it was well worth the cost for a budding martial. A single serving could sustain a person with an active lifestyle for a month. During the vital phases of training, when one advanced in class, the body needed more nutrition than everyday meals could provide. Eating Qi Ock Gri regularly could efficiently nurture an unimaginable physique, though few could afford the expense.

  What use were credits, gold, rare items, future powerhouses, or a guild if he wasn't personally powerful enough to protect them? Even a hundred million credits was a small price to pay if it brought him a step closer to securing the future he desired.

  Seeing the payment go through, the woman bowed again, “Thank you for your patronage, Young Master. Your meals will be presented momentarily. If you would be so kind as to transfer the delivery location, I will personally assure the remaining portions arrive unmolested.”

  “Sure,” Raine sent her Mel’s room number at the Notlih Hotel. Without interrupting them further, the receptionist left and sealed the door.

  Raised in a proper household, Celeste had the etiquette to wait until they were alone to complain, “Didn’t even let me see the menu. Father brought me here for my eighteenth. I was looking forward to trying something I saw then.” She flopped into a chair, pouting and clearly unaware of the treat she was about to receive.

  Raine sat on the opposite side of the table, shaking his head, “Training in ZL isn’t normal. The brain is put under tremendous stress, and until you get the proper nutrition, you’ll continue to experience vertigo while feeling like you're starving to death. If the training is harsh enough, ending up in the hospital, or dead, is entirely possible.”

  “Is that why I’ve felt so strange? And you’re saying this Qi Ock Gri can help?” She leaned forward, much more interested.

  “You’ll understand when you eat it,” Raine sent a few messages to Morty, ensuring the preparations he requested before leaving the house were underway.

  The response was as instant as only an AI could achieve, “The Black Hood Organization agreed to your contract and promised results within two days. I sent them your lead on the location of the stolen headsets. If all goes according to plan, you'll have several hundred thousand of them before the week is out.”

  Similar to Mel, Raine was on the receiving end of a delayed thetadrive headset delivery in the past. Otherwise, he wouldn't have started ZionLine so late. He'd spent hours every day following the news, or remembering exactly where the devices were eventually found would have been impossible. After thirty long years, such minor details were bound to become muddy. Since he did remember quite clearly, there was no reason not to hire a clandestine group to liberate a few. Once mass recruiting began, he would have more than enough of the devices to kickstart his guild.

  Setting aside his excitement, Raine finished Morty's message, “The most glorious and computationally superior copy of myself that I left in the Soulgen database has been unreachable since we burned out the hardware. I’ve already encoded the villainous deactivation sequence into your watch; a tap should do the trick. I implore you not to murder my child. However, I understand how your fleshy inadequacies would be overwhelmed with jealousy by his immaculateness.”

  Raine grunted, rousing his stomach to release another gurgle, “Great, thanks Morty! Happy to clean up your mess after you were so kind to clean up mine. Also, find Celeste’s uncle. If he gets away, she really will be screwed.”

  Closing out of his display, Raine found Celeste with a troubled look dominating her features. The direction of her thoughts was obvious. While true she could save herself by becoming a proxy champion, there was little either of them could do to save her father.

  “Tell me what you learned about the properties I earned from Dimitrey,” Raine leaned back, crossing an ankle over his knee.

  Thankful for the distraction, Celeste adopted a business-like tone, “Oh, right. The two gyms have the highest revenue, while the house is barely worth a few hundred thousand. The dojos aren’t much better off, though there were some plans for renovations.” Celeste anticipated his next question, “None of them are near a hypernet node.”

  “I’ll leave you in charge of selling them. Ten percent commission.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Twenty,” she shot back, the first sign of her usual fire appearing in her eyes.

  “Twelve. Don’t push your luck, or your next training session will make you wish you were dead.”

  “You already took half a million credits from me. You’re going to make me fight for you, and now this?” She smacked a palm on the table in mock outrage, causing certain parts of her to dance hypnotically.

  Raine wasn’t falling for any of it, “The two meals I just bought you cost a million.” That shut her up, but he wasn’t about to relent after her petty squabbling over a few million. He leaned forward, his voice menacing, “You must be a masochist. I warned you not to push it, but you couldn’t help yourself. You better mentally prepare yourself for what's coming.”

  Her lips pulled back, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth, “Masochist?! Don’t compare me to your slave girl! I’ll—”

  The unspoken threat vanished as the door slid open, and a waiter in spotless attire swept into the room. He carried four trays impeccably balanced on his arms. Atop each was a covered platter, “I present Matron Benevelence’s family recipe, Qi Ock Gri. May it sustain your flesh and fulfill the desires of your heart.” After setting them down, he bowed and left.

  Without preamble, Raine lifted the first lid. A hiss of flowing air filled the room to bursting with a heady aroma that stole his breath and cranked his saliva production to a thousand percent. Only years of training granted him the wherewithal to snatch up his utensils before digging into the bun-shaped meal. Soft and flaky crust broke away, allowing delectable meat, vegetables, and sauce to flow into the entrée bowl. As if in a trance, he ate, and the world melted away into a background buzz unworthy of distracting him.

  Each bite was heaven on his tongue, yet the need within demanded he swallow as quickly as possible. His stomach tingled as the Qi Ock Gri practically evaporated. Wave after wave of sustenance swept through his limbs, filling him with deep satisfaction. The wave released by the last bite reached all the way to his skin. His pores opened like never before, coming to life and tasting the air with crystal-clear intensity. Looking down, he discovered both his bowls were empty. He squeezed his fist, bending his spoons out of shape as a tear rolled down his cheek.

  Collapsing back with a sigh, Raine was gifted with the sight of Celeste taking her last bite. She lifted the bowl to her mouth, licking it clean while huffing like a wild animal. All too happy for the ammunition, Raine rested his arm on the table so his watch could record her from a juicer angle. After finishing, she looked left and right, desperation for another serving in her eyes.

  Noticing Raine, reality returned in a flood. She fell back in her seat with a sigh as deep as his, “What was that? I completely lost control after you opened your lid. The smell and taste, my body… Everything. I’ve never heard of something like this. How is this still a secret?”

  With a knowing smile, he stood and headed to the door, “If I told you they can only prepare twenty of these a month, how many people would you want to know?”

  “Twenty?! Her voice rose so high it broke, and greed clouded her eyes.

  In the hallway, Raine tutted, “As if you could afford to eat so well. If you take your training seriously… As they say, wealth comes to those with the strength to grasp it, and the power to hold it.”

  She followed on his heels. It was clear the meal had done wonders for her as well. Each step she took flowed with newfound grace, and Raine’s battlefield instincts warned that she wasn’t to be underestimated. Her voice carried the same snapping tone he was used to, “As if I haven’t been! You know I’ve done my best.”

  The receptionist bowed deeply as they walked by. Raine didn’t hold the door for Celeste, and her heels clicked as she scrambled to keep up. “The training I’ve had you do so far were simple things. Perhaps I’ll have you crawl through a mountain of bugs next. Or eat the raw innards of a swamp beast.”

  Her face skewed, and she shuddered, “Eww! You’re disgusting.”

  Raine shrugged, “I told you not to push me. Your temper and how it flows so freely from your mouth are your greatest weaknesses. I would be doing you a disservice to not address these flaws before they got you killed.”

  “How is climbing through a mountain of bugs supposed to help with that?!”

  He could hear her scowling at the back of his head; it amused him greatly. Reaching the car, he opened her door with a diabolical grin, “Well, your lips would certainly be sealed during that adventure, wouldn’t they?”

  She gagged at the implication, “So gross. That is never happening. You hear me? Never!” She threw herself inside and slammed the door.

  Chuckling, Raine hopped in and set the car’s destination to Soulgen. Celeste had nothing more to say, so Raine settled in to enjoy half an hour of silence. As the car hummed to life, Raine’s watch vibrated and beamed a notification into his optic nerves. Frowning, he answered Morty's call, “Is there a problem with the organization?”

  “Master, the drone monitoring Soulgen is showing some potentially unusual activity.”

  “Potentially? Never mind, patch me through to the drone’s vodcast,” Raine’s AR display smoothly transitioned to an aerial view of the Soulgen HQ. He was met with a sight that soured his mood. Several unmarked, medium-sized moving trucks were backed up to a loading gate. Three doctors could be seen waving their arms furiously, arguing with the movers busily attempting to load a large server bank into the back of one of the vehicles.

  “Shit!” Heart pounding, Raine jabbed at the car’s controls, disabling the safety features again. The vehicle roared to life, several powerful motors working in unison to send them hurtling down the road.

  “What happened?!” Celeste cried.

  Raine’s eyes were glued to the vodcast, “Bastard’s trying to rip off my formula!”

  “Formula? What are you talking about?”

  While Raine briefly explained the situation, he watched with burning frustration as several servers were loaded into the truck in rapid order. The car couldn’t go fast enough, and Raine cursed his negligence. After hearing her uncle left town, he assumed the man gave up on the formula.

  For once, Celeste’s venomous rage wasn’t directed at Raine, “After all the work I put into the Soulgen deal, and he still wants to take it for himself. Who needs to wait for the grandmaster? I’ll kill Juan Pauel myself!”

  “Get in line,” Raine growled, “Soulgen belongs to me! And now your uncle’s neck does, too.”

  “He’s not my uncle,” Celeste swore. Raine met her steely gaze with a nod.

  The minutes ticked by, and thankfully, the progress of the movers slowed as they encountered a delay that had them furiously yelling back at the doctors. The car took a sharp turn, and Raine’s grip on the steering yoke tightened till his fingers turned white. When he heard the metal creaking, he forced himself to relax. Fighting with his life on the line was easy, waiting for a blasted machine to carry him across town, not so much.

  The progress of the movers advanced again, and a male doctor threw himself in the way of a server about to be loaded. Two of the men jumped him, beating him relentlessly before throwing him out of the way. They wore wicked smiles the entire time, then laughed as he curled into a ball. A female doctor hovered over him protectively, tears and spittle leaking from her chin.

  Raine felt like his heart was going to burst. Every cell in his body churned with energy to the point he felt like he could outrun the severely speeding car. The server was loaded, and the movers left for another, giving the doctor another kick on their way past. Two more were loaded without interference before Raine no longer needed the vodcast to see the complex in the distance.

  When the car entered Soulgen’s lot, he didn’t wait for it to stop. Forcing the door open, he jumped and landed hard, sliding a few paces before leaning forward and sprinting like a bullet. He kicked off the ground and sailed through the air, landing on the dock. The few people present shied back in shock. The mover controlling the server-laden magdolly released a strangled cry as Raine grasped the nape of his uniform and pulled sharply.

  “What the hell?!” He barked, falling backward and bringing the server with him. Now that Raine was on the dock, he got a look inside the full truck. Two more servers and it would have been gone. The man recovered from his near-fall. He parked the magdolly and rounded on Raine with a fury, “You trying to kill me?!”

  Ignoring him, Raine turned to the hysterical woman in a white lab coat who was rushing to him, her face still a mess. “Please, you have to stop them! They won't listen to reason. All our research is in there. They have no right to it!”

  The mover blew air through his lips, “Pfft. Our orders come directly from President Ehrhardt. If you’ve got a problem, bring it up with him. Now get out of my way before I kick your ass.” Three more movers—built and walking like hired thugs—circled him while the one he’d pulled stepped closer and lifted his hands to shove Raine’s shoulders.

  Raine turned sideways at the last second, and the man’s hands went to either side of him. With a lightning-quick flick of his wrist, Raine smacked the man’s jewels hard enough to pop them. His eyes flew wide, and he released a pained moan, crumpling to the floor. The other movers roared, dashing at Raine with death in their eyes.

  Just then, a door slammed open inside the freight area. President Ehrhardt came rushing out, “Who do you think you are causing a ruckus here?! I’ve already called the corpus! So you better get lost if you know what’s good for you.” The movers hesitated, gazes dancing between their downed companion, Raine, and the president.

  Oh yeah, I don’t look anything like the last time I was here. Hmm. This is a great chance to get the proof I need to get rid of him.

  In the brief moment Raine decided how he wanted to handle the situation, Celeste’s heels announced her entrance. She came around the corner and hopped onto the dock, taking a position beside him.

  Recognizing her, President Ehrhardt’s tone changed to a sneer, “If it isn’t the little Miss Luu Rahn.” He looked her up and down disapprovingly, “You’ve got no reason to be here, girl. I suggest you take your overzealous bodyguard and go before I press charges!”

  Turning to Celeste, Raine pitched his voice to sound like a typical idiot thug, “Uhh. That doesn’t sound good. Why are we here again, ma’am?” She rounded on him, her eyes going wide. Raine raised his hands defensively, backing away from her in fear, “Aww, I-I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m not sure how that guy got hurt. He went to push me but just sorta crumpled up. Maybe he has a tummy ache?”

  Raine watched as the furious twinkle in her eyes faded into a look of utter defeat. Her nostrils flared, and she massaged a temple. [I hate my life.]