Rebirth

"Are you sure I will go with you?" Alex asked.

"Of course you will," Scarlet said. "I'll drag you with me even if you don't want to."

Alex chuckled a bit. "That's not what I meant," he said. "Do you know how old I am?"

Scarlet looked at him for a bit. "Uhh… 2 thousand years old? No, wait, 1,500," she said.

"Lady Phoenix, young Alex is one of the players we told you about earlier," the elders said. "He can't be older than a century."

"What? No way," Scarlet shouted. "That sort of cultivation speed is considered decent even in the higher realms."

"All the players are like that," the elders said. "They are terrifyingly talented."

"Most of us are, for sure," Alex said. "Which is to say, I will probably reach immortality before it is your time to leave."

"But why?" Scarlet asked. "Why are the players suddenly so talented?"

"Because we're humans," Alex said.