The bartender opens the bottle and pours a single shot of the liquid into a shot glass and sets it aside, "If you choose a double, I will pick two essences and mix them together.
I will tell you the name of the combined shot but not the individual Essences that make it up. You will be given some amount of information on how they work and both will be limited to fifty percent of their regular power.
There is also no guarantee that these powers will work together effectively. However, you will be able to grow their power over time as you learn to understand your power better. With me so far?"
The soul nodded, "I am. Still leaning toward the single-shot thus far."
The bartender nodded in understanding while selecting a bottle filled with a liquid that was blood red with specs of black moving around inside of it.
He poured some into a second shot glass and set it next to the first neon blue shot, "As for the triple shot," He picked up a bottle with a liquid that looked like pure molten gold and poured it into a shot glass, "Much like a double, I will pick three Essence's to combine into a single theme, which I will tell you the name of.
You will gain minimal information on each individual Essence. As for how powerful they are, it will be up to me to decide the percentage of power each one gets.
I could choose for one power to be at fifty percent while the other two are at twenty-five percent each.
Basically, no matter which shot you choose, you will only have as much power as a single Essence would give, split however I choose. Though, once again, you can work on your understanding of the powers to increase their potency."
The soul contemplated that for a bit, "So basically, easy, medium, and hard mode, eh?" He crossed his arms over his chest, and wasn't that a wonderful thing he could now do? Leaning back he thought over his choices.
The single shot was instant maximum power. Tempting, but no real room for growth it seemed. If he was willing to take the double, he might as well take the triple for a higher maximum limit to his growth.
"What the hell, you only live once!"
"..."
"Uh, I mean, you only get one chance at this?" The soul deflated a bit but still smiled, "Triple shot."
The bartender nodded and pulled out a fourth, larger, glass and poured the previous three shots he'd selected. The three colors swirled together, never mixing, in a dizzying display, "I present to you... The Game Master!"
The soul picked up the glass and downed the drink in one go. He shuddered at the taste of fire, blood, and metal coated his ghostly tongue.
How did he know what fire tasted like anyway!? As the drink passed his throat, he felt as if his whole being was on fire. While he curled up in agony, the bartender spoke, "You really are a strange one.
You barely have a reference for most of the places I like to send people. Well, at least you know a little about the new world you're going to. I wouldn't want you to be completely blind."
The floor beneath the soul suddenly opened up into a gaping void causing the soul to fall into it. The last thing the soul heard was the bartender's cheerful call of, "Have fun!"
A groan of annoyance comes from beneath the covers of a bed as a loud alarm clock incessantly beeps and refuses to stop until someone stops it.
A tanned hand comes flying out from under the covers and hammers the top of the clock radio to silence the alarm.
The young man the hand is attached to throws off his blanket and sits up while yawning, showing canine teeth ever so slightly longer than normal, and stretching. He runs a hand through blood-red hair and blinks open bright blue eyes.
He looks around with a small frown before huffing, "So, this is my new life eh?"
It wasn't much. He was currently living on his own in a small apartment that just barely had everything he needed to live a normal if slightly cramped, life.
The memories of his life in this world were just 'there' in his head. He was now Okane Ryuji, a seventeen-year-old native of Japan whose parents died when he was young.
Apparently, he'd been quite industrious as a student and attracted the attention of someone who decided to give him a scholarship to a top-tier high school. One that, before last year, had been an all-girls school.
The ratio of boys to girls was still heavily skewed in favor of the fairer sex so students like him were scouted and invited over.
Everything had been included, help moving, living arrangements, transport, and even a bit of supplemental income to cover groceries and a little bit more that he could splurge if he wanted.
All normal utilities, plus the internet, were included for free.
All in all, he thought it was a rather nice deal. But! There's more! Aside from memories of his new life up to the point he was at now, he also had a small amount of information related to his new abilities as the Game Master.
The supposed bare minimum of information on his new capabilities was still a rather large amount. He couldn't imagine how much a single full Essence would include if he had this much information.
The most information seemed dedicated to his new ability to create 'scenarios' that any gamer might call a dungeon. Though 'dungeon' was not as accurate as 'scenario'. Using mana, which he now had, he could make doorways that lead into pocket dimensions.
He could design how these dimensions looked at will, though their size was currently rather limited. The pocket dimensions could be replications of a typical dreary game dungeon, outdoor landscapes, or even completely alien landscapes. His imagination was literally the limit there.