[Location: ???]

In a cheap apartment located in a dystopian mega-city, an unexpected event was taking place—unexpected, at least, for a world devoid of magic.

Although the conventional reality remained unchanged, something extraordinary was happening in the almost non-existent spiritual plane of this dimension—an event rare even in higher, more supernatural worlds.

In the endless emptiness of this spiritual plane, one could observe the souls of the living floating about, alongside various dead ones beginning to dissipate into raw spiritual matter.

To those with enough knowledge of the occult and sufficient power to perceive this hidden side of the world, this phenomenon would be immediately recognizable.

It occurred mainly due to the absence of an afterlife in this world, where the universe instinctively recycled spiritual material to give birth to new life.

Yet, the real focus was on an even rarer phenomenon, so rare it might not occur even once in a hundred lifetimes of the universe.

In a certain corner of the spiritual plane, two souls could be seen engaged in an unexpected duel, as the larger, more powerful soul devoured the smaller, weaker one.

Although described as a battle, it was hardly one—the weaker soul was consumed so quickly it took mere seconds in the spiritual plane, though it may have spanned an entire night in conventional reality.

Elsewhere in the spiritual plane, the ambient ectoplasm began to distort and deform, slowly coalescing into a dark shroud, almost unnoticeable in the vast emptiness of the plane.

Suddenly, the shroud began to move on its own, its non-existent steps echoing in the void.

In what seemed like only moments in conventional space, the shroud reached its destination.

As the shrouded figure arrived before its target, an expression of what could be interpreted as intrigue appeared on its non-existent face as it observed in silence.

After an indeterminate amount of time had passed, the figure moved. From within the folds of its shroud, it produced a small vial, holding it in its insensible hand as its unseen eyes roamed over the soul.

The vial itself was ordinary, though ornately decorated, but the liquid inside was so valuable that entire universes would be culled to obtain even a single drop.

Sensing the significance of the liquid, the soul began trembling furiously, as if craving the substance with its entire being, yet remaining still due to the presence of the entity holding the vial.

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Slowly, the entity uncorked the vial, exposing the gray liquid to the realm.

Normally, such an act would send ripples through the entire spiritual plane, but perhaps the entity was preventing this from happening.

As the figure gently tilted the vial over the soul, the gray liquid began to pour out, drenching the soul with its essence.

The soul vibrated eagerly, absorbing every drop as if letting even a single one go to waste would be a grave sin.

Curiously, no nearby souls reacted to this event, seemingly unmoved by the heavenly elixir that could alter the fates of mortals and gods alike—completely unaware of what was happening in their midst.

As the soul absorbed the liquid, its color shifted from a brilliant blue to a unique shade of gray, transforming and molding its spiritual essence into something new—something vastly superior to its former self.

The inconsistencies caused by the consumption of another soul were erased, and its entire being brimmed with boundless potential.

As the last drop left the vial, the vial itself shattered and dissolved, as though it had lost its reason for existing.

With the vial and liquid gone, the entity glanced at the now-gray soul floating silently in the spiritual plane, and a slight, almost imperceptible smile appeared on its non-existent face.

Slowly, the shrouded figure began to fade, eventually disappearing completely, leaving the gray soul as its only trace.

As the entity vanished, it was almost time for the soul to once again sleep in the spiritual world and awaken in the conventional reality.

…

Waking up in a strange place after sleeping in your bed was an odd experience—one that he wished would never happen again.

But even stranger were the memories of two lives mixing together, confusing his half-asleep mind about his current identity.

One identity spoke of a person named Rahul, a 19-year-old living in the metropolitan city of Mumbai, India. In his own words, he was a successful student studying at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and moving toward a bright future.

Another, however, spoke of a young adult Japanese salaryman named Satoru Suzuki. He was 29 years old and worked long hours in a stressful, unrewarding job. His job left him with little time or energy for a social life or meaningful connections outside of the virtual world. In his own opinion, he was a complete failure in the real world, finding worth only in the virtual world of Yggdrasil, where he had made all his friends.

What was even stranger—and he was shocked that it was even possible—was that, according to Rahul, the year was 2024, and he was currently in his college hostel in the city of Bombay, India. Yet another part of him, the part that was Satoru Suzuki, disagreed greatly with that statement. According to Satoru, the year was 2137, and he was in his cheap apartment located in the poorer area of the city, most likely hours late for work.

The last part almost made him panic, but he quickly suppressed it to focus on his current predicament.

He looked around the apartment, and it appeared that the part of him that was Satoru was right—he was in his cheap apartment in Japan. He should have felt some satisfaction at the answer, but this also meant that he was currently in a dystopian, cyberpunk-like world set in the year 2137.

From the memories he received from Satoru, the current world was heavily polluted, overcrowded, and rife with inequality. People were living in cramped quarters and facing numerous social issues.

This world was an Earth ravaged by World War 3, now mostly controlled by powerful mega-corporations that used the population of the mega-cities as slave labor. For all intents and purposes, he was a slave in all but name.

The realization disgusted him. He was abhorred at the mere thought of being a slave and working away his entire life for someone else. He almost wanted to curse but held himself back. He knew that it was never the solution to his problems.

He took a deep breath and relaxed his body.