1577 The Doors
The glasshouse began to glow softly, the light coming from the glasses that he did not shatter.
"…I should break them all?" Varian's lips twitched.
He had just learned that he was supposed to be pick 'one' mirror, break it and leave the place. But by breaking multiple mirrors at the start, he made the process unnecessarily long.
Now, he had to clear the more 100,000 mirrors in the place.
"Well…"
Varian exhaled deeply and slowly clenched his fist.
An explosion engulfed the glass house and a mix of colors began to glow in the
room. It continued for the next ten minutes, like it's some light show.
Varian panted lightly as the light faded and mirrors pieced themselves back.
A path opened itself for him and he moved his feet without hesitation. To be very honest, he didn't feel comfortable staying here after watching the truth of that night.
On his exit, an interesting line of text waved him off.
[There isn't a single day. There isn't a million years.
There is only now.
This instant is the only time that exists.
Everything else is perception.]
Varian's footsteps paused and he froze like a statue. The traces of time divine power on him strengthened gradually. Eventually, the space divine power also began to rise.
[Pseudo Divine: Slivers of Divine Power
Paragon Body: 40/90
Ignis: 45/90 (+15)
<Your will has grown stronger after accepting a bitter truth and not breaking.>
Death Giant: 40/90
Order: 30/90
Chaos: 30/90
Space: 60/90 (+35)
Time: 60/90 (+35)
<Congratulations on your enlightenment. It is highly sought after by most pseudo divines hoping to reach the divine rank.>]
Varian had no idea how much time had passed. Perhaps a few seconds or hours or maybe even days.
It was difficult for him to determine the timeflow in a location literally built for space-time.
"Once I clear this, I'll get the approval…" Muttering under his breath, he sped forward.
Not too long after, he reached the third and final location they were supposed to clear to end this expedition.
What greeted him was a bridge built out of starlight leading to two large, cracked double doors.
And everything else in the surroundings was the glowing white light eminating from God's Eye.
In other words, it felt like he was standing on a bridge of a glowing white ocean.
"What's behind the doors?"
He frowned and assumed a defense posture.
The doors gave off an ancient feel, far far older than anything he experienced. Even Hortus did not feel this ancient.
[Destroy the chaotic creatures formed by the fluctuations of space-time eminating from God's Eye.
God's Eye will draw beings that have lived through same time period as you into this space.
Do not try to reach the divine rank here as divine power will only amplify the fluctuations of God's Eye and cause it to expand.]
Unlike the other stages, this one had the clearest instructions.
Varian expanded his perception and try to cover God's Eye. The glowing white sea roughly in the shape of a human eye was squirming at its boundaries, trying to expand outward. But it wasn't able to do so.
Anything that touched this white sea vanished. Even aura.
Varian thought for a moment and fired a beam of death energy into God's Eye. Like he had thrown something from a cliff, the death energy vanished without even making a trace.
"Hmm…"
Using the power of his vitality, Varian created a finger identical to his and threw it into the white sea. He even attaced a strand of his soul to it for analysis.
"Kuh!"
He fell to his knees in a blink and coughed out blood. The connection to soul strand vanished. It wasn't broken or destroyed. It just vanished.
"What the fuck is this?"
Taking a small breath, Varian walked down the bridge a few hundred meters above the white sea which frothed and bubbled intensely.
Aura moved violently and a monstrous entity made of pure space energy emerged in front of him.
"Ah...huh?"
Varian took a step back and raised his hands in confusion. There was a look of disbelief in his eyes.
"Grwwww~"
The creature growled menacingly and raced toward him.
Varian flicked his fingers and it vanished.
"Why the heck is it so weak?"
It was only a rank 3 celestial beast!
"Ah! The same time as me!"
Considering that, this was already a great achievement.
"No wonder they were asking for geniuses."
The ones with the shortest life lived and strongest power.
Varian didn't know that whether Immortal and team ended this round already or whether they were yet to arrive. But he found this to be the easiest place of them all.
Every elite time attending this place would take days to cross the bridge. He did it under two minutes.
And he inevitably reached the small piece of floating land, containing the two cracked, ancient double doors.
He circled around it but it was the same from all sides. But Varian's intuition told him that to know the real secret, he'd have to open the door.
[You can leave through the portal]
Following the words, a portal did appear. On the other side was the border region of Pala kingdom!
But Varian was conflicted.
"Should I? Should I not?"
The sole reason he came here was to win the approval of the Genesis rulers. With this stage cleared, he could leave.
Yet, this door…
Why did teams leave before opening this door?
And God's Eye…what the hell was going on with this place? Why did the Primordial Gods even bother to create something that would expand and could potentially swallow the universe?
More importantly…
"Why am I feeling so anxious?"
His heart was about to burst whenever he stood hear the doors. It wasn't fear. It was…it was…
Varian didn't even know what he was feeling.
But his gut told him he couldn't just leave.
"Fuck it!"
Gritting his teeth, Varian reached for the door.
Boom!
God's Eye shook.
*** *** ***
A/N: I am currently in a water-only fast (err, it's not as crazy as it sounds.) and not feeling great physically or mentally. So, the chapters have been inconsistent and might remain so for a couple more days. I will do what I can. But if I fail to deliver, I'm very sorry in advance. I'm as excited as any of you as we reach the final phase of the story and want to see it progress. It's a shame I'm not writing as much as I should.
