The aircraft hummed quietly as it soared above the desert wasteland, leaving no traces in the sky.
Daniel sat in the pilot seat, feet up on the console, staring out at the horizon through the windshield. The sun hadn't moved since he arrived. Time felt strange here, like they were forever at noon.
He rubbed his chin, eyes distant. "So... now what?"
He'd survived a lynching, obliterated a tyrant, and intimidated an entire settlement into submission. Not a bad first few hours in the afterlife.
But what came next?
Daniel pulled up the System Shop again. This time, he tapped into a category he hadn't looked at before.
[Reincarnation & Transcendence]
It was mostly locked.
Most options were grayed out, tagged with prerequisites or soul quotas. Some had insane prices. Others simply read, [Unavailable – Conditions Not Met].
One caught his eye.
[Reincarnation Tier 1 – Return to Mortal Realm with Random Body – $10 Billion]
"Ten billion?" Daniel whistled. "That's the cost of a second chance?"
He kept scrolling.
[Reincarnation Tier 2 – Choose Body Type – $50 Billion]
[Reincarnation Tier 3 – Return With Memories & Abilities – $250 Billion]
And the most extreme.
[Ascension Path – Become Entity Beyond Death – $1 Trillion]
He leaned back, stunned.
"So this place isn't just the afterlife... it's a waiting room. A proving ground."
It was clear now. Everything here was about merit, struggle, survival, and wealth. This wasn't heaven or hell. It was a brutal economy where the strong paid their way out.
Daniel chuckled. "Well... I'm already ahead of the curve. Might as well enjoy the ride before the next big leap."
He exited the reincarnation tab and returned to the shop's main catalog. If he was going to live here for a while, he needed more than powers and protection.
He began browsing lifestyle categories.
[Sky Lounge Pod – Floating apartment with panoramic views – $5,000,000]
[Gourmet Chef Companion – AI-controlled cooking expert – $250,000]
[Entertainment Archive – Movies, music, games from all recorded realities – $100,000]
[Garden of Peace – Creates a mini-environment of calm flora – $2,000,000]
He added them to his favorites. Something in him craved normalcy. The kind of normalcy that came with luxury. Maybe a place where he could sleep without being ambushed by lizard monsters or betrayed by smiling warlords.
But first, he needed to find a good location. Somewhere off-grid. Somewhere secure.
He marked a few possible zones on the map, including mountain ridges and crater valleys.
Then leaned back and sighed. "Time to enjoy the afterlife like a billionaire."
-----
Far away, Lord Vexar stood atop a newly erected jagged black spire overlooking the settlement of Scorched End.
Wind tugged at his cloak as he stared down at the remains of the square where Lysara had been vaporized. Even now, faint wisps of smoke still rose from the ground. It was residual energy from the orbital strike.
Around the base of the spire, his war camp had sprung to life. Dozens of aircraft lined the ridges, dark, and bristling with weapons.
Vexar narrowed his glowing eyes, thoughtful.
"One man." He murmured to himself. "One man with no army. No banners. No legacy. And yet... he wields death from the sky like a god."
He turned as his generals approached, five of them, each representing a different house under his rule. The one at the front, Warlord Drex, bowed stiffly.
"We've assembled thirty-four airships and fifteen scout wings. The energy trail has stabilized. We're ready to follow."
"And the people?" Vexar asked, his voice like gravel wrapped in velvet.
"Terrified. They believe he is as powerful as a divine being. They say he spared them as an act of mercy."
Vexar sneered. "Compassion is just another angle of power. He probably let them live to spread his name."
He looked to the sky. "I wonder... what kind of soul carries that much money into the afterlife? What kind of man survives his own death and still dares to climb?"
The generals waited silently. None dared interrupt him when he was thinking.
"This place, this Afterlife, is a game. We all know it. Kill. Earn. Rise. But this one, this Daniel, cheated. He skipped the crawl and went straight to the throne."
Drex hesitated. "Do you think he... earned the money in life?"
Vexar turned to him slowly. "Does it matter? He has it now."
There was a moment of silence before one of the younger warlords muttered, "He came with money. He doesn't have to work like we did. He's changing the rules..."
"No. He's reminding us what the rules have always been." Vexar said. "We were just too poor to see them."
He strode to the edge of the spire. One of his soldiers approached and offered a floating crystal orb.
"The energy trail is ready, my lord. It points northeast. Faint but stable."
The orb shimmered. A golden line extended from it into the sky, a thread of the orbital strike's lingering signature.
Vexar raised his voice.
"Listen well! We hunt not for vengeance, but for wealth. The man who called down judgment from the sky walks alone. He is not backed by kings or lords. His power is bought, and so can be stolen."
He pointed into the sky, where the trail disappeared beyond the clouds.
"He flies north. His trail is fresh. And where there is a trail, there is a prize."
The soldiers roared in unison.
Vexar's smile returned, wide and dark. He stepped onto his command ship, a vessel of shadow-forged steel with dragonbone wings. Its engine thrummed with black fire.
"Send word to every scout, every hunter, every raider. Map the skies. Watch the sands. We ride the storm."
He raised one hand and summoned a blade of golden energy, searing and sharp.
"And when we find him, we take everything. His aircraft. His wealth. His soul."
The fleet of warships rose behind him, an armada of hunger and ambition.
"And I always get what I want.""
He stepped forward, gesturing toward the nearest soldier. The man bowed and activated a floating sphere of blue light.
It pulsed. A thin, golden trail appeared, stretching across the desert sky.
"Follow the trail." Vexar commanded. "Hunt him. Strip him of his wealth. And bring me his heart."
The fleet of aircrafts took to the air, dozens of engines igniting in harmony. The sky shimmered as the warband rose into formation.
Their course? The path of the orbital strike's energy.
They would find him.
-----
Daniel leaned over the navigation screen, considering a valley just north of what the map called "Ashfang Ridge." It was remote, mountainous, and marked as having very low monster activity. Ideal.
He tapped the location. "Let's set a course."
The autopilot responded.
[New destination set. ETA: 42 minutes.]
Satisfied, Daniel returned to his pilot seat with a can of soda and the entertainment archive now installed.
He had just begun scrolling through music options when the radar blinked.
[Warning: Multiple high-energy signals detected in nearby skyspace.]
He turned to the radar screen, frowning.
A cluster of red dots had appeared in the upper atmosphere, descending fast. Too many to be wild entities. Too fast to be wildlife.
"No way..."
He tapped the zoom.
Dozens of ships. All closing in. All heading towards him.
Like a pride of lions.