Jin sat at a table with everyone, drinking away his worries like a vampire suppressing his long kept blood lust.

He sat down at the table in the bar; with Flint, Alura, Baron and Sylvia. Krod still hadn't returned yet. It looked to Jin like Baron did the job well.

The bar was packed with people of different races, and different ages. And all of them had insane amounts of alcohol in their stomachs.

[Drug Detected]

[Resistance +2]

With the system providing Jin's body with resistance to the alcohol, it took a lot out of Aileen for him to get drunk. A lot.

Jin slammed an empty jug on the table, "These beers taste like shit!"

Flint peered at him, "Jin, it doesn't matter what it tastes like…as long as it could make you drunk; that's all you would ever want and need from it…"

"Yeah," replied Alura, "As long as I'm drunk, I don't give a fuck…"

"Baron gives no fuck too…"

"See? Baron doesn't give a fuck either! That's the spirit, Baron!"

Flint smiled, "It's all fun and games at the bar!"

Jin looked around the table at Flint and the others. Everyone had been boozing, except for Sylvia. Still, she seemed to be having fun listening to everyone crack jokes every so often.

He had not had this much fun in a long, long time. It felt like a Christmas party for him—one with people other than his grandmother.

Yet he felt like he was missing something. What could he be missing? In short, it was his school friends.

Tristan, Ashton, and Dobby.

He had been meaning for them to be right next to him; having fun with all the new crazy people he met, and already admired so much that it was just weird.

He hoped for a day like this to anew; and maybe next time by a long shot, his school friends would be next to him alongside his new ones.

He stood up from the table; getting a few eyes.

"Jin, where are you going, pal?" asked Flint, looking up at him.

"Just gonna get three more jugs…"

"You're not drunk yet?"

"Kinda…"

Flint amiably tittered and scratched his head, "Man, you're gonna make me broke at this rate…"

Alura narrowed her eyes at him, "You're already broke, what are you talking about? After today, you're gonna be owing Aileen…again."

She then turned to Jin, "Jinny boy, you go get yourself some more drinks. We don't want all Flint's money going to some total strangers…"

Jin turned on his feet, and started walking towards the bartender's counter. When he was there, he stopped at the counter, and peered at Aileen.

Aileen, the bartender, looked worn out already. Sweat had been trickling down her face, and she kept panting as if she had just run a marathon.

"What's wrong, Miss Aileen?" asked Jin, grimacing at her.

She panted, "I'm…just kinda tired. Abilities don't just work without taking anything from ya' y'know."

"Can you elaborate? What do you mean? What does it take from you. Your energy?"

"Chemical energy," she replied, "the type you gain from eating."

"Do all magic users' abilities take chemical energy from them for it to work properly, miss?"

Jin already knew the answer to this question like he knew the back of his hand. Before the accident that crippled him happened, he was rather enthusiastic about magic.

This enthusiasm had long dwindled away; but apparently he started getting curious about it again.

Aileen knotted her brows, "What's wrong with you and being all formal? You ain't in a castle, y'know," she placed a hand on her waist, "Just Aileen is fine—thanks…"

"I'm sorry about that."

"No biggie. So what do you want? To get filled up again?"

"I was gonna ask for three more jugs but now that I know you're all tired already; I wouldn't bother…"

"I'm gonna close up shop soon. No need to worry about me, it's fine," she smiled.

"Uhm," he put his hands in his pockets, "Miss Aileen…"

She facepalmed, "Oh, boy…here we go again. Do I look so old to you that you just can't help yourself?"

"I'm sorry," Jin tinged in embarrassment.

"It's fine," she sighed, "You were gonna ask a question?"

"Yeah. I uh…was gonna ask about you being in the military—if that's not too prying…"

"Ohh…I see. Well, what can I say? It was an okay experience I guess. I had a couple of friends working alongside me as well. Something interesting that I learned from the experience is that soldiers without abilities don't get paid nearly as much Meta Soldiers do…"

"Well no rocket science there," replied Jin.

"Another thing I grew accustomed to was pain," she leaned an elbow on the counter, "Y'know, I wasn't always like this," she moved a hand in a circular motion around her body, "I wasn't…"

Jin raised a brow, "What'cha mean?"

"I mean I wasn't fat, and whatever," she sighed, "I have a perfect replication Ability; one of the most prized Abilities in the world. It allows me to make perfect copies of just about anything…"

"Using this kind of Ability takes a lot out of me; a lot of my energy. What I figured out, that I wish I didn't up to this day," she chuckled, "Was the fact that eating a lot allows me to use my Ability for more challenging stuff…"

Jin tittered, "Ohh…"

"I was a pretty girl back in my days. All skinny and far from fat. Those days were great. Wait…what am I even talking about? This ain't no 'my one thousand pound life'—I'm not obese."

"And I'm saying 'back in my days' like I'm some old hag. I'm a young woman—thirty-two years old," she glared at Jin, "See what'cha making me do, kid?"

"Sorry."

"Alright, there's another drunk piece of shit's coming, kid. Let me tell you one last thing. You see this?" She pointed at her eyepatch, "This shit hurt like a mother fucker."

"It looks like it did. How'd you get it?"

"Someone with Earth magic ended up shooting a spike about the size of a bullet straight into my eye! I'm darn Luckyit wasn't an actual bullet—the thing would've entered my brain!"

Jin winced as if I'm pain, "Ouch…you can say that again…"

A man stood there next to Jin, "Aileen, fill me up there again. And this time fill it to the brim. Also, when the bar closes," he quickly licked his lips, "Meet me in the back, would ya'?"

"Sure," she smiled, "I genuinely felt like killing someone t'day; what a lucky guy you are…"

Her pretentious facial expression disappeared as she turned to Jin, "See ya', kid. I'm saying my goodbyes now, 'cause I ain't serving you no more drinks. You had enough!"

Jin smiled.

***

Jin had finally fallen drunk. As a matter of fact, the entirety of the people at the bar had drenched their mouths in alcohol already; expect Sylvia.

Baron had chugged seven jugs in a row, without taking a break. Remorse quickly struck into him from the time blood trickled down from his nose.

After getting over it, Baron started drinking again. And when a strange customer brought a DJ set to the bar, and started playing music for free; Baron had completely stripped down to his underwear, and started hitting the light fantastic.

Jin and the others laughed until they could no more; drunk until they could no more. At long last, Jin was at his limit.

His vision started to wither, his body started to sway. He felt as if he would pass out when the seemingly incurable nausea ran its course.

What's more, he ridiculously couldn't even stand the scent of his very own breath.

The music continued to play on; as his head began to ache.

Looking around the bar, he could see Baron quickly teleporting about the room non-stop. He was drinking while teleporting so fast that Jin's dizzy eyes could not keep up; his headache exacerbating.

"Why is Baron doing that?" he asked, his pupils still trying to keep up with Baron's body.

Flint, who appeared to be in far better condition than him, smirked and replied, "When Baron drinks too much; he doesn't pass out like us. His body starts to spasm, and starts teleporting him like crazy. He only passes out after getting dizzy from all the teleporting."

Alura put a hand on Jin's lap, "Think of it as Baron's way of putting himself to sleep…"

Jin began to blush, "Uhm, okay…"

Also becoming crimonsed, she stroked a finger on his cheek, "Jin, remember when I told you that I like you?"

"Yes?" he said with a slight tremble to his tone as his panic-stricken heart throbbed.

She put both her hands on either side of his cheeks, and turned his head to face hers, "The music. It's not a beat anymore. Can you hear it, Jin?"

"Y-yeah?"

"It's perfect for dancing, isn't it?" she looked at him as she bit her lip.

"I guess…"

"I wanna dance with you. Jin," she stood "May I," she put out a hand, "Have this dance?"

Sweating in fear, Jin swallowed the air in his mouth as he peered up at the incredibly seductive woman in his presence.

His fear had quickly arisen—like the first step of a staircase up, and something quite lower down his steps had too.