Immortals (2)

"How much do you know about the levels of power of this world?" I asked Alice.

Alice fell silent. She thought for a moment before giving me an answer.

"This world's levels of strength are divided into layers. Most people only know about the first twelve layers, the human layers. For commoners, a seventh or eighth-layer combatant is already a powerhouse. A twelfth-layer practitioner is almost a legend.

"But in truth, the twelfth layer is not the limit. After the twelfth layer is the thirteenth layer, also known as Transcendence. That name comes due to the fact that they transcend the limits of humanity. A twelfth-layer practitioner's lifespan is about the same as a normal person, with the only difference being that they kept their youth for longer and seldomly fell sick.

"But it's said that a Transcendent can live up to 110 years of age easily. A fourteenth-layer practitioner, also known as Saints, can easily reach 130 years, and if you manage to breakthrough to the fifteenth layer, becoming a demigod, living 150 years is not difficult."

After Alice reached this point, she paused briefly and looked at me. "Of course, becoming a Demigod is very hard. I don't know the exact number of demigods in the entire world, but it must be around ten."

I nodded, expressing my agreement and urged Alice to continue.

"After that, you can become a god and live eternally, but I don't know much about that. I hear that there are stronger and weaker gods, though, and their power has to do with the faith they receive." Alice concluded with a shrug. She then looked at me with shining eyes. "If I'm not wrong, you must be a Saint or a Demigod, right?"

I smiled and did not answer. At that moment, a waiter served me a cup of tea. I took a sip calmly and enjoyed the sweet taste in my mouth.

When Alice was starting to become impatient, I chuckled and cast an isolation barrier around us to avoid having this conversation being heard for others.

Alice was surprised, but she did not stop me. She instantly knew that my following words were more serious than she thought.

"Your explanation is very textbook-like. It's not wrong, but not exactly right."

"Mm?" Alice was curious.

"You are right until the fifteenth layer. After that, things are a bit more complex. You see, to become a god you need to get recognized by the world's laws, fusing into one with an aspect of the laws, and becoming able to wield that power as if it was yours.

"But there is a flaw with that method. Firstly, if you get recognized by an aspect, for example, fire, you must discard all the other aspects you have learned through your life. Sword, ice, lightning, etc. Of course, some geniuses are able to get the recognition of two or more aspects at the same time, but they are very rare.

"However, that is not the biggest flaw. The biggest flaw is that the laws of the world are too strong. Once you become a god, the laws start to assimilate you, until you become nothing more than a manifestation of the laws, losing your sense of self. There are various methods to avoid that, but the most used is faith. By using the faith of the people as an anchor, you can keep your sense of self and wield a stronger power from the world's laws, unfortunately, that method is not perfect either. With time, the god's sense of self will eventually fade.

"Besides, gods are not truly immortal. To be more exact, they can live as long as the world itself. But once a world's lifespan comes to an end or it is destroyed, the god will die too.

"Due to that, gods are known by another name, false immortals." I took another sip of the tea while I waited for Alice to digest the information that I just told her.

Alice fell silent for a moment. She put on a pondering expression and looked down.

After a few seconds of silence, she finally found something wrong with my words.

"… But, if there are false immortals, there must be true immortals, right?"

I chuckled. "It's easier to talk with smart people. You are right, if there are false immortals, there are true immortals."

I then paused for a moment and narrowed my eyes.

"… Such people can be strong enough to destroy an entire world in seconds."

Alice opened her eyes wide.

Even Hannah and Aaron, who were seated behind Alice could nor suppress their expressions of surprise.

"[Immortality]." I chuckled with a self-deprecating smile. "It's a bit different than you think. Immortality has nothing to do with strength or age, you only need to comprehend a way to immortality, to find a method to use the universe's laws to keep yourself living forever. So, technically, an immortal can be as strong as a commoner and as young as a baby. Of course, after you live for a certain amount of time, you stop being old, and your strength naturally grows.

"There are many ways to immortality, and according to my knowledge, each way is unique. They can't be passed down, and they can't be shared. If you want to be immortal, you must pave your own way. Moreover, finding a way to immortality is very hard. If a world produces an immortal in ten thousand years, it is already great. Many times, a world did not produce one even after millions of years."

Alice's eyes shook. This information was greater than anything she had heard ever.

It took her almost ten minutes to suppress her expression of shock.

Finally, Alice looked at me and asked me something with a shaky voice.

"… P-Prince Claus, how do you know so much…"

I stared at Alice with an amused smile.

"Don't you got the answer already?"

Alice gulped down a mouthful of saliva.

"T-Then, you…"

"That is right, I'm an Immortal."

...

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