Party rock is in the prison tonight

Having never drunk in his life before, Kai didn't really know what to expect when he picked up the glass. The glass glistened and Kai could feel the moisture seeping into his hand.

Slowly bringing his lips to the drink, he tipped the glass up and drank. The taste reminded Kai faintly of apples, yet it was much nicer than any apple you could ever find back on Earth.

"Hey... that's incredible." Kai exclaimed as he wiped the remnants of the drink from his lips with the back of his hand.

"I know, right." The Ever-changing grinned. "It's a specialty from a subdimension called the Malus empire. The way they came to be was a spaceship transporting agricultural goods must've been attacked, leading to the ship being destroyed. Some of the goods survived but were consumed by a Galaxy Eater.

The thing is, since the goods were so small they weren't digested properly in the Eater's ginormous stomach, hell, the stomach is many times the size of your home planet.

Anyways, once the Galaxy Eater completed its digestion, it released its waste into space. The only thing being that five completely normal apples came out unscathed, yet because they were in the stomach for so long they must have absorbed some of the Eater's energy.

With their newfound powers and sentience, the apples continued to grow and they soon built a prosperous empire where they focus solely on making goods to do with apples as they believe apples are the greatest consumable thing ever."

Kai stared at The Ever-changing blankly.

"Did you make that up?"

"Hm? Oh, no, that's all true. I used to be good friends with one of the Apple Lords, but that was before I was locked up."

Apple Lords...

Waving his hand dismissively, Kai brings the glass back to his lips and takes another sip, this one much larger than the last. The tantalisingly sweet drink floods his taste buds with the most glorious sensation he's ever felt.

Going to drink some more, Kai takes another gulp... But there's nothing there. Looking down at the empty glass, Kai feels his heart drop in despair.

"Uh... do you have anymore?"

The Ever-changing grins.

"Well of course, what party would it be with only one drink?"

Another can of the godly beer appeared on the table, this one different to the one Kai just had though. Frowning slightly, Kai lifts his head and is about to speak when The Ever-changing shuts him down.

"Just try it."

Inwardly sighing, Kai pours this new drink into his glass. This new one was a dark red colour, but looked amazing.

Swallowing, Kai brings the glass up to his lips and drinks the sweet drink. Once he's tasted the new beer, he sighs contently and says:

"Ahhh, cherry."

"Correct. This is the best thing about beer created by the agricultural factions. They taste incredible and still get you drunk. Honestly, back in my day the only way a God could get drunk was off the nectar of a soul tree, and that was too much effort for a measly amount of tree beer."

"Being a God sounds... interesting."

The Ever-changing sighed wistfully as they drink from their own glass.

"It definitely is, but it does get boring after a while, especially if you're trapped in a place like this."

Suddenly, The Ever-changing clicked their fingers and a wide array of foods and delicacies appeared on the table.

"What type of party doesn't have food? Kai, tonight we enjoy ourselves."

Kai didn't need to be told twice. After months of surviving off of porridge and the sludge that they were fed in Thr Dome, the sight in front of him was too beautiful. Picking up something that resembled a chicken wing, Kai couldn't help but think about how happy he was about picking his current class.

*****

"And that is how the Nation of Lust came to be."

Kai gave a few small claps as The Ever-changing took a bow and sat back down in their seat, can of beer in hand.

"Incredible story. Lillith deserved much better than the Prince though, how could be do that to her? But what a beautiful story, and fair play to you for playing all the characters."

The Ever-changing placed a hand over their mouth, failing to hide a cheesy grin.

"Praise me more, no, don't, wait, do. Nevermind, but I do agree though. The story behind the Nation of Lust is one of the saddest, yet at the time I got locked up it was one of the most prosperous."

"Another thing though." Kai cut in. "Why didn't you make, like, a movie of that? I'm sure you could've been rich."

"Oh, Kai" The Ever-changing scoffed. "What God cares about money? Plus, there already is a movie of it, in fact, I'm pretty certain there's a movie on the founding of every subdimension."

Kai blinked.

"Are all of them that sad?"

The Ever-changing nodded.

"Majority are."

Damn...

Leaning back in his chair, Kai gazes wistfully at the bright sky of his master's prison. A thought pops into his mind as he frowns slightly.

"Hey, I've been drinking otherwordly beer, right? So why don't I feel drunk?"

The Ever-changing chuckled.

"Well, I didn't want you to be drunk for my play, so I negated your sense of taste. Here, I'll give it back."

A wave of nausea rushes through Kai as the feeling of everything he's drunk this far course's through his veins. Gagging slightly, Kai grips his hair and mumbles.

"Could you not have gone easier?"

The Ever-changing smirked.

"That wouldn't have been as fun."

The Ever-changing sighs contently as they relax in their chair, looking  over at their apprentice.

"This was fun, Kai. I enjoyed myself and I hope you did too."

Kai looked up, holding back another gag. Something about the way the conversation feels ominous.

"Yeah, I definitely did. Incredible drinks and the best food I've ever eaten, plus, a screenplay by a God. What party could possibly be better?"

The Ever-changing chuckled slightly.

"I could think of a few from back in my time, but I'll leave that for another time. The thing is Kai, the diary you read helped me more than you could ever imagine.

I feel a little guilty, you gave me so much yet I've given you so little even though I'm supposed to be your Master-"

"What about Grace of The Ever-changing?" Kai cuts in. "I would be dead if you didn't give Umbra that skill."

The Ever-changing smiled softly.

"Ah, that, honestly, I could've done a lot better, I just didn't want to. So to make up for it, I'll tell you something I didn't in our first meeting."

Kai blinked, waiting for them to continue.

"Your bloodline."

Kai's heart rate picked up as he leaned forward slightly, struggling to contain his curiosity.

"What is it then?"

The Ever-changing nodded softly.

"In all seriousness, I don't know."

"What-" Kai tries to speak, but gets cut off as The Ever-changing lifts a hand and starts speaking again.

"Your bloodline is question marks as nobody knows what it is. Every once in a while, someone comes along with question marks in their bloodline, but they don't understand what it means.

The way it works is like every innate ability, every unknown bloodline is different. It's unknown how it works though. The three percent of your bloodline which is question marks could be part goblin yet it could also be the blood of a forgotten God or one of the mystery creatures of the vast universe even the gods don't understand.

Nobody will know before you do, yet its up to you to figure it out. The way the ones the same as you discovered their mystery bloodline was through a traumatic experience or just doing something so incredible it makes no logical sense."

Kai's shoulders slumped.

"So my bloodline has the chance to be absolutely terrible?"

The Ever-changing nodded.

"But it has the same chance to be absolutely incredible, and with me guiding you I'm sure it will be incredible."

The Ever-changing suddenly clapped and stood up out of their seat, gesturing for Kai to follow.

"Enough about that, that's only part one of my two part apology. Since part one is obviously theory, part two will be practical. Kai, come over here."

Doing as he's told, Kai approaches his master, stopping just before the slightly taller figure.

The Ever-changing lifts their hand and lightly pokes Kai on the forehead. Kai stood there, waiting for something to happen.

...

Nothing happened.

Frowning slightly, Kai looks at The Ever-changing and says:

"What-"

Then it happened.

What Kai would've expected was agonising pain to tear through his body, readjusting his bones and muscles or something. Instead, a soft calming feeling made its way through him. Starting with his head, the pleasant feeling slowly fell down through his body until it reached his feet and disappeared.

"What did you do?" Kai asked, but The Ever-changing only smiled and held up a single finger.

What?

Skill obtained

Kai's eyes widened, quickly snapping his head up to look The Ever-changing in the eyes.

"Well, have a look at your new skill. I think it will suit you perfectly, and it will solve your problem of having nothing to practice."

Nodding, Kai quickly opens his status screen and scrolls down to his skills section. Looking through them, he spots a new skill sitting at the bottom of the list.

[Soulcery (common)]

Staring blankly at his status screen, Kai can't help but feel a little disappointed.

A common skill? They made it seem like it was going to be incredible.

As if sensing his thoughts, The Ever-changing chuckled.

"Obviously I'm not going to give you an incredible skill in the beginning, I would become the laughing stock of the gods if my only disciple was lazy and relied on high rarity skills."

Kai blinked.

"Wouldn't you already be a laughing stock since you were imprisoned? What's the shame of a few more chuckles if it means I get a better skill."

A small smile sits on The Ever-changings face as he shakes his head.

"Trust me Kai, this is the best possible skill I could give you, it suits you perfectly, and I should know. Plus, the growth potential on this skill is humongous. I mean, this skill is basically a second innate ability. Plus...

Its rare."

Kai's eyes light up at the description, deciding he should at least read the description before judging it, Kai scrolls his status screen down.

[Soulcery (common)]

A type of magic created by a long dead God. This magic focuses on souls and all their different purposes. This skill has countless branches of growth each specialising in different aspects of the soul.

Huh... it actually does look pretty good.

Looking away from his status and back up to his Master, Kai sees the same grin that The Ever-changing had before when they knew they were right. Honestly, at this point Kai was almost certain they could read his mind.

"Nope, I can see your memories though, so I just check what you thought the millisecond you think it. Much more efficient than mind reading."

Inwardly sighing, Kai closes his status screen and asks:

"The skill said it had different branches and stuff for when it upgrades, so how do I upgrade it?"

"The same way as anything in life." The Ever-changing answers. "Practice. Unless you get an upgraded version in your skill selection of course, but you should never pick those."

Kai frowned.

"Why?"

"Because you can upgrade any skill given enough time, plus, the upgraded version might not be what you want. Skills can grow in different ways. Two people could get the same common skill, but by the time both get the skill to epic they could be vastly different.

Actually, if the skill upgrade is something amazing and you think you wouldn't be able to accomplish it normally, there's no shame in picking it."

Huh.... Everything happening is way too confusing.

"Okay. So I get it, I think. But what do we do now?"

The Ever-changings smile grew into a wide grin, giving Kai a bad feeling.

"Now? Now it's time for me to be a good master and train my apprentice."