The First Cocktail: Action Over Words

"Or so that's how I was supposed to introduce myself," added Malkuth as she instantly changed into her cold gaze once again, altogether with her monotone voice.

She then went silent as she continued with her work.

Jack felt a little awkward because of that treatment. As of now, he was trying to maintain his kind smile. He felt like he needed to wait for something before actually being able to talk.

A glass was lightly sent from the hand of the bartender into the middle of the countertop. Malkuth could be seen preparing something on the counter table although Jack wasn't able to get the right angle to see what was happening.

With mixed feelings, Jack focused on something else. He noticed that there were four bottles that he heard being placed before. Each of them had a stainless pourer attached to them for easier pouring. Out of four of them, he only noticed two.

The premium triple sec orange flavored liqueur, Cointreau. One of the possibly the heart of a cocktail ingredient originated from an ancient country of her former world called French.

And the molasses from the best sugarcane in the world, Bacardi Rum, a unique strain of yeast and local spring water that when combined with its pioneering process, gives it a rather strong flavor.

The rest of the two mysterious liquors had a strange vibrant red and white color in them. Jack felt a little bit skeptical about this.

'I'm assuming that I'll be served a cocktail now,' Jack maintained his friendly smile before trying to do anything awkward and stupid.

Aside from the mixed scent of various beverages, Jack could smell a hint of seafood being cooked, possibly beyond the countertop on the segment level of the table he couldn't see. A strong smell of spices could be found too.

After Malkuth was done with her handcraft beyond the countertop, she immediately poured a little bit of the vibrant white liquor onto the glass. Her eyes didn't even latch onto her action. Then before Jack knew, she took a pocket torcher out from the mysterious counter table and lit the white liquid on fire.

There was a weird chemical reaction happening within that glass. Instead of a normal yellow red fire, what Jack saw was a clear bluish green raging inside the glass.

Like a child being shown a magic trick, the expression on Jack's face was more than surprising.

'That white liquid is either a strange kind of liquor with a high amount of concentrated alcohol, or it's just a straight-up pure shot of alcohol'

As Jack was too mesmerized by the dancing flame—without any warning, Malkuth poured a generous amount of cinnamon powder from a container, resulting in a rather shocking sound of a non-destructive explosion of fire as the embers ascended to the air.

"That spooks me out, ahahaha…" Jack wryly laughed at himself.

Malkuth maintained her serious and cold expression.

She immediately poured two bottles of the orange-flavored Cointreau and the sweet Bacardi out of their stainless pourer into the glass at low amounts. There was no measuring done by her as if she had already calculated it by a mere gaze. From the looks of it, it seemed like both of the liquor were only poured for 3/4 oz or 20 ml each.

The unknown red liquor was then poured with the same amount as the other.

She took a squeezer that was already squeezing a broken ice that she likely had prepared on the counter table section. The moment she opened it, a half hollow orb was already molded.

Malkuth then put the half hollow sphere of ice into the glass, it fit perfectly and latched on top of it.

The flame strangely dissipated, and a waterfall of vapor began to flow into the middle and dropped like a waterfall, before spreading to fill the closed space between the liquid below and the half spherical ice.

'Now I feel really horrible for not trying a different kind of cocktail back in my past life, this is just a fun experience.'

While Jack was too preoccupied by the scene, Malkuth was trimming a block of ice that she held with a glove using a seemingly sharp knife into a tall cuboid ice the size of her palm.

After she was done and checking on her trimming result, she grabbed the glass without looking at it and wiggled it on top of the counter. The amount of the vapor increased rapidly and immediately filled the empty space of the glass in a solid cloud.

In a second, she abruptly tapped the glass against the counter top, creating a sharp sound of shockwave as the ice crumbled into the liquid—releasing the vapor out into the air.

'For the love of—please! Don't spook me anymore!'

Malkuth then took a unique stamper and pressed it onto the upper front of the tall cuboid ice. The moment she unleashed the stamp, a glimmering golden symbol of a bough of a tree could be seen. She then placed the cuboid ice on the shallow unfinished drink and its crumbled glacier with the glinting symbol facing Jack.

She then poured the liquid on her Boston shaker from back then and poured a club soda on each hand, filling the drink to its bare limit of the container. The tall ice leaned and towered above the lake of colorful liquid, showing its prideful golden bough symbol.

Malkuth then put a metallic straw on the drink. "I prefer action above words. You might be as confused as this prideful cocktail at the moment, so feel free to ease your mind with questions as I prepared your meal, Boss."

"What is this place?" Jack had many questions piling on top of his head, but a simple and precise sentence was enough to uncover most of it.

He then reached for the sleek drink that was made for him. The cold of the glass immediately wrapped his hand.

He didn't care if this body would turn out to be as weak to alcohol like a normal child does. His mouth craved for the truth, and so he served his tastebud the moment of truth.

It might be the best drink he had ever drunk in both of his lives.

"Whoaaaaaa! This is something else!" Jack then continued to sip even further.

"Once again, this is the first floor of Asiyah, the Bar of Longingness. And by any means." Malkuth then took her gaze to the countertop again, processing something for her boss. "It's not only meant as a place for you to rejuvenate one's mind and body, but also the reception floor and confrontation to execute the first phase of Project Sephiroth."

Jack was too entranced with his drink before he realized that he needed to ask what was this Project Sephiroth all about.

"Can you elaborate about that…?"