Delton’s body appeared back at Fortissimus’ house. Lucius still stood, unmoving, in front of the stele, and a thin layer of dust had settled on top of him. Fortissimus was no longer around, but Caelus was still there, sitting beside Lucius in a cross-legged pose.

“Seems like you were also a strong kid, old man,” Delton murmured to himself, while looking around for the weird trio. He listened closely, only to hear faint sounds of someone weeping from above him.

Floating up through the roof, he found the trio reclining, while stuffing themselves with different flavored potato chips and watching a credits scene roll by on the night sky. The weeping sounds had come from Unli, who was drinking straight from a bottle of what smelled like incredibly strong alcohol, while tears dripped down his face.

After the credits ended, Fate stood up and applauded, wiping a few tears and saying, “It’s as if these mortals have a better grasp at some of these concepts than cultivators who have spent their entire lives devoted to just one of them. To think that this has been here all along. I was too hands off and too naive.”

Unli wiped away his tears, but they kept dripping down, so he said with his voice breaking and cracking, “To think that a mortal’s creation would have such an effect on me.”

Lucius looked down from Fortissimus’ house and found his mother lying down and resting. He sighed and said under his breath, “I miss you, mom…Was this all worth it?”

Noticing Delton standing behind them, Fate took on a more serious face, while Unli said, “Congratulations, Denton Thunder.” After scenes flashed through his eyes, his previously ugly crying face, now carried a scowl, making it appear even uglier. He shouted out, “I take it back! You killed yourself?! You took the easy way out of my trial! And you did it only after the second mountain! Explain yourself!”

Delton shrugged his shoulders and said, “Thank you for the opportunity again, but I’m not made for this. Cultivation simply isn’t for me.”

Unli shook his head and said, “Tsk. Tsk. If only your world wasn’t like this, I would’ve allowed for this. But since I’ve already remembered your name, I want you to survive. Leaving this trial prematurely will be one of the biggest regrets of your life.”

Fate chimed in and said in a cold voice, “Don’t say anymore, Unli. You’ve already said too much.”

“Who cares? You’ve already given up on this experiment, haven’t you?”

Fate smirked and said, “Not anymore. *Mother’s Wishes* has shown me something more to these mortals than I originally thought. I would like this experiment to continue on for a slightly longer period of time.”

“Fine. By the way, Kid Denton, show me the two pieces of equipment you took from that piece of shit.”

Delton puzzled, then looked at his wrist and found the same timepiece that he took from Rokex. He then touched his temple and noticed that he was also wearing an eyepiece. He exclaimed, “What the hell? How could I have this on me?”

Unli rolled his eyes and with a wave of his hand took both of the pieces. Then another flash of memories went through his eyes. He grinned and said, “I’ll be back soon, Fate. These idiots think that they could avoid taking the trial. After I deal with these idiots, prepare to get beaten up again, Kid Denton. Just thinking about this makes me so angry!”

Then, Unli gave the pieces back to Delton, as he immediately disappeared. Fate walked towards Delton and said admonishingly, “You’ve now created three connections to this world! What kind of dog shit luck is this? Fate! We should have nothing going on between us, yet you still bully me. Ugh, Lucius play the next show please.”

Lucius, who had been staring at his parents for the time being, snapped out and then he started to play *First Memories of You*. Another bowl of chips, which had an orange seasoning, formed beside them. Fate began to munch on them and reclined, while Lucius walked to Delton and motioned for him to follow after.

Flying to a different location in the village, Lucius asked him, “So? You really left the trial? Why would you do such a thing, and how did you even figure out how to leave the trial?”

Delton recounted everything he experienced in the trial, without leaving anything out, “...Yeah. Because this trial was similar to the road of cultivation. The only way to truly escape the path of cultivation is with death. Isn’t that right?”

Lucius nodded, then cupped his chin, saying in a sage-like tone, “Hoho. So insightful of you. But I have a counterpoint to that. Look at me. I’ve obviously died, but I’m still on the path of cultivation.”

“You’re a special case, but in essence you haven’t truly died yet right, old man?”

“It seems this has been an eye-opening experience for you. During that trial, you must’ve seen numerous mountain ranges. Each of them had countless people on it, but when I experienced it, I did not encounter anyone else. It seems like my path is indeed unique, just like Caelus’. But, while my trial was vastly different from others, it does not correlate to the actual path I’ve taken.”

After taking a sip of water, Lucius continued, “All it goes to show is that the road to cultivation is multifarious and not to be taken simply. You’ve now learned about two such paths, and have even received some enlightenment, regarding a merging of those paths. What if I tell you, in numbers that you can comprehend, that there’s billions upon billions of such paths. There’s no such thing as the one true path. Whoever tells you that has been fooled. The only right path is the path that you personally walk on. And if that path is for you to laze around and live a normal life, then that’s fine. However, that won’t stop me from training you.”

Lucius flashed a smile, causing Delton to inwardly shiver. Lucius took another sip of water and said, “But this trial has been extremely fruitful for you. I’ll let you take a break these next couple of days and only hound you to perform simple exercises to improve your physical body.”

Delton spoke with incredulity, “Physical body? What do you mean? How much time had passed while I was in there?”

Lucius smirked and said, “We actually finished all of *Mother’s Wishes*, so around five days have passed in my dreams, since you entered the trial, so a day passed in reality. With the improvements that the trial has done on your mind and soul, you should be waking up real soon. See you there, kid.”

Suddenly, the world around Delton started to fade away and was gradually replaced with that of a hospital room. His hazy view cleared up and he could move his head with little trouble. He looked at his arms and saw various tubes inserted into them. Tilting his head more, he felt some resistance and noticed that there was a piece of equipment on his mouth with a tube stretching out of it.

Delton then clutched his hands on the blanket and tears started to fall on his face. A door quickly opened and a middle-aged man, wearing a lab coat, followed by various others in uniform, walked in. He looked at Delton in shock, then he performed various tests to check Delton’s vital signs.

One of the tests caught Delton’s attention, as the doctor’s originally black eyes, turned purple as he stared at Delton’s head. Feeling as if being seen through, Delton held on to his arms, causing the doctor to laugh.

After this and with the help of some of the people following him, they took out the equipment on his mouth, causing Delton to have a coughing fit.

The doctor said, “Congratulations, Delton. Welcome back to the real world. Your family will see you shortly.”

One of the aides brought a cup to Delton’s mouth, allowing him to drink some nutritional fluid. After swallowing it and feeling reinvigorated, Delton asked, “Thank you. Family? Who came here?”

The doctor spoke in an amicable tone, “It seems that they are your older siblings, who went down here from their cities to visit you. You’re a lucky, kid.”

A young woman wearing a business outfit, walked into the hospital room, followed by a slightly older man wearing a janitorial outfit. Her flowing black hair contrasted the older man’s balding brown hair. The doctor and his aides had quietly left the room to give them some privacy.

Both of them quickly got to the hospital bed and the older man raised up his calloused hand to hold Delton’s arm. “It’s been too long, Delt.”

Delton smiled and said, “I’d hoped we’d meet again in a different manner, Gat. It’s nice seeing you, too, Mellie.”

The young woman looked at Delton with a pout on her face, but after staring for a while, tears started to well up in her eyes, as she broke down and said, “You know how worried sick we’d have been. A coma? What the hell?!”

Gat spoke in a concerned and understanding tone, “Is it the stress? Mom Sol hasn’t been too pleasant lately, huh?”

Mellie slapped Gat at the balding area on his head, saying, “Read the room, Gat! Why in the hell would he want to talk about it, if it stressed him out to the point of a coma.”

Gat, who was rubbing a slightly red bald patch, said, “Hehe, my bad, Delt.”

Delton, with tears in his eyes, said, “You two didn’t have to come all the way down here.”

“We know we didn’t have to. Life as a First is already hard, it would be even harder having to live it alone. Besides, reports were saying that you had been screaming out that I had been killed or something.”

Delton blushed in embarrassment and said, “Haha. I don’t know what happened back then. I think some nightmare was the last straw. But my life as a First has been fine, so don’t worry about that, Gat. My goal is still to meet a nice woman.”

“Ha! Don’t worry about it? You’re insane. Meet a nice woman?! You’re even more insane. Good luck with that! You don’t even talk to anyone. I was actually surprised to see two people come out here to check up on you,” Mellie scolded.

“I’ll have you know, I actually went on a date, Mellie.”

“Oh yeah! Then you should be able to answer these questions for me. Who? When? And why?”

“She was a manufacturer, and we went out two months ago, but she’s a Second now.”

“Of course she’s a Second now…Describe her to me,” Mellie spoke sarcastically.

The three siblings talked and talked, catching up until the day had turned to dusk. Gat said, “I have to head back now, Delt. But stay safe. If you need someone to talk to, feel free to talk to me. I know how much you wanted to be a Second back then, and I know how that feels.”

“You can talk to me, too. I’ll tell mom and dad you’re fine. The doctor said you should be discharged in the next couple of days, depending on their tests, but he seemed very optimistic. I’ll still be in the area for another day, so you have to take me to try some good food, Delt. Get some rest.”

A couple of minutes after they had left the room, Tekle walked in and told him, “You got a nice family, Delton.”

Chuckling to himself, Delton said, “I didn’t think you’d come and visit me after I haven’t visited you in so long.”

“It was just fate. I was planning on checking up on you that day anyway. From my multitudes of experience with women, I think two months is enough time, so I messaged you, but it said that you had been hospitalized.”

“Multitudes of experience you say. Haha!”

Suddenly, the door opened and Boss Bopa entered the room saying, “Hey, kid. Glad to see you’re doing alright.”

Seeing these two, Delton couldn’t help but smile.

At the rooftop of the hospital, Lucius and Fate had been watching the new show. The originally clear orange sky, quickly turned dark as clouds enveloped it. All of a sudden, a lightning bolt struck the hospital roof, causing another power outage, much to the chaos in the hospital. Delton, Tekle, and Boss Bopa were originally talking to each other. However, because of the power outage, Tekle and Boss Bopa went out to search for a nurse to check up on Delton, as most of the equipment performing the vitals readings had gone out. Delton tried to stop them, but they had already left, causing him to sigh and look up, as if he had an idea of the possible cause of the outage.

After the smoke subsided, Unli, now holding a stone tablet similar to the one at Fortissimus’ house, came into view. He spoke in a hurt tone, “I can’t believe you’re starting to watch the next show without me.”

Fate shook his head and said, “You’re lucky that this is an interesting show. I’m willing to watch it from the start. What are you gonna do with that tablet now?”

Unli let out a wide grin and said, “I have a very interesting idea, if you’d let me.”

“I’m in a good mood, so I’ll humor you. Lay it on me.”

Lucius was about to get his phone, when a green egg-shaped ball of light emerged from the tablet. The egg was as big as half of a human and plopped itself on the ground. With a couple of shakes, cracks started to form, revealing a naked man with silver hair that reached down to the middle of his back.

The man opened his eyes and looked around to see two men frowning at him. Feeling the breeze, he looked down and noticed his state, and covered his genitalia. He asked, “Greetings gentlemen, I am Rokex-451, but you can call me Rokex. I hail from the planet Alteron from the Janus star system. Before we continue this conversation, I’m hoping if you have any clothes that I can wear.”