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  “Floor 80… Yes, we do know a bit about that,” said Caesar. “They belong to the Sed Order of Gods, the sed stro amongst all of them. They have a Pantheon; I don’t know how many gods are there, but Floor 80 is a vast world that has quered and assimited some of the floors below. It makes sense if they were to attack Father; they are also querors, but much stronger.”

  “So in only a year they pn to strike?” wondered Elphiette. “There isn’t good news at all, and if you say we all died... It means they are much more powerful than we were back then. But it makes sehat beings on such high floors have an average level of eight thousand. Divis, which are a type of monster imbued with Lesser Divinities, are usually born within Floor 78 and above. These worlds are so vast and imbued with so much Divine Power that they are thousands of times greater in both power and essehan any other world below them.”

  “My inal world also beloo the Sed Order; after all, it's from Floor 71 and above,” muttered Caesar. “Father is too ambitious; he might have instigated the wrath of those gods.”

  “Do you know who they are?” I asked. “How do they look, or at least their titles?”

  “I only know three of their titles so far,” said Caesar. “{The Guardian of Knowledge}, {The Radiant Sun}, and {The Diviher of Thuhey're the three stro gods, with the Diviher of Thunder leading their entire Pantheon.”

  “Huh, those titles remind me of some famous gods,” said Yanisse. “But those are alien worlds, so I suppose what they have in on is just that.”

  “Yes, I also thought about Athena, Apollo, and Zeus with suames. But at the end of the day, those are the gods from our mythologies. Alien gods are never going to be the same as ours,” I said. “Well, unless it's a parallel world? But those worlds are indepe.”

  “Yeah, I suppose so,” nodded Yanisse.

  “They never had names, just Titles,” said Seth. “Their Divis, however, are the real deal. Thousands of them, each so powerful, id waste to anything. It was in this event that other hunters died too; most of the North Ameri hunters died, actually. Nichos, Yanisse, Aiyana... all of them died.”

  “I died too?!” Yanisse gasped. “I… Hah, I suppose I should have seen that ing. Was Bing Xue not there?”

  “She was not. This is the point of divergeh this timeline,” said Seth. “Bing Xue never existed iure I came from. She’s uo this timeline and also the cause of my memories awakening to begin with; when she kicked me back then and then healed me, all those memories came bay head.”

  “That’s... strange. How is it possible for her to iure you e from but to exist in this one? And even before you could have ever ged anything?” Caesar wondered.

  “I have no idea; Bing Xue is probably some sort of paradox, a variable, or something else... Perhaps the Murim world she lived in was outside of even timelines. It would expin why it was so ridiculously powerful as to give her so much power after spending all those years there.” Seth stated his theory.

  “So you’re implying that... There’s a future where my daughter never es bae,” my mhed.

  “Yes, most likely,” Seth said, without trying to sugarcoat it. “Perhaps… And this is only my theory: Murim is a world that exists outside of timelines. It has its own time, and it flows forward without being interrupted. Other worlds kept moving on their own, timelines being born and dying, while Bing Xue spent that time in Murim.”

  “That would mean... My inal world died long ago, wasn’t it?” I said it with a mencholic smile.

  “That ’t be... But where did the other Katherines go to then?” My mother insisted.

  “And that’s the problem; we don’t know,” I said. “So that’s why it is only a theory and just as improbable as others.”

  “Maybe…” Elphiette suddenly ented. “Perhaps Bing Xue here might be an amalgamation of all her parallels within all timelines.”

  “What? How so?” wondered Caesar.

  “I studied Time Magid the Time Element when I was young bae. My mother was one of the few gods trying to learn this elusive element the most,” Elphiette said. “We learned about paradoxes and “beings outside of time." She expihat there are certain beings iower that exist within all timeli the same time but have only one body “anchored” in a chosen timeline. And this timelihen bees their true timeline.”

  “So you’re saying… My own self is the bination of tless parallel selves? But I don’t really feel like that, nor have I ever met myself before,” I said.

  “Yes, that’s why it might just be a theory,” said Elphiette. “I don’t know much else, sorry.”

  “Well, it’s fine…” I held my mother’s hands, caressing them. “And don’t worry, mom. You’re my mother, and I am your daughter; I know it, and nothing will ge that.”

  “Kat…” My mother felt slightly moved as she nodded.

  “Anyways, now that I am here, the future be ged, even more with Bing Xue, a friend I hought we could ever have to help us,” said Seth. “Although I believe she’s incredibly powerful, at the level of the stro gods... It’s never good to be too fident. Bing Xue, I would like to apany you to the sed floor. There’s a way for me—and well, for you too—to bee even stronger.”

  “I was going to go there and kill that warm, barbarian god anyway, so sure,” I nodded. “I’ll mostly target all gods that deserve their punishment. If I ever e across those that do good or are ral, I won’t kill them, but the rest? They will bey power.”

  “To think someone would someday appear, capable of killing gods and abs their powers seamlessly, Not even ods easily do that, you know?” the King said. “If the Divinities of the od are not patible, it could cause more harm than anything else to the od. This is the reason why they often ehe God that was defeated or sometimes seal their bodies and divinities into a special Divine Armament.”

  “So the gods themselves are hunting each other already…” I ughed a bit. “Well, isn’t that quite ironic? Despite this alliahey have, they’re all just eager to kill each other anyway.”

  “Yeah… The Tower is a chaotic pce, but for the first twenty or so floors, it doesn’t feel that way,” said the King. “This is why I’ve been mostly trying to hold back humans from climbing higher, as you’ll only awaken the sleepis there.”

  “Wait, what happens once humanity reaches floor 21?” Yanisse asked.

  “Once a race that represents a p reaches Floor 21, the Tutorial Phase ends,” said Seth. “And the real game begins. The gods of the tower are allowed to do even more destru, and gates appear even more frequently. Even Dungeons begin to appear—special gates that merge with the earth entirely, creating physical pces, not just a portal that pours out monsters. In a way, they begierraf of the p.”

  “But that’s not all the scariest part,” said the king. “Pyers from other worlds of the tower, much higher, will be able to e to Earth too. Pyers at such high levels could destroy entire tries. They will e here to iigate first, but then they will freely pilge aroy anything they want. It bees a free-for-all, and the only way for the po survive is by reinf its inhabitants and creating a rge group of specialized guardians. What Bing Xue is doing has facilitated that process, but we need more help than that. I’ll help.”

  “That’s right if we create a unified alliah your many troops and my sect,” I said. “We could potentially create a rge enough anization to defend the p. But I think we need more than that. I nning on unifying the entire p’s hunter associations. The elite hunters of every try. I will go visit them oer another and do everything I , so they join the alliance.”

  “If it’s you... Then I believe it,” the king smirked. “But I suppose you won’t start right away?”

  “ly; I will be sending some Doppelgao a few tries starting now. I already did it, like a few days ago. I sent them to where the Gray Portals had opened, as I’ve been monit them and what es from them. I’ll use that as an opportunity to recruit worthy disciples.”

  “I see, so what’s your pn now?” wondered Elphiette.

  “I’ll go to the tower and catch up, mostly climb and level up, get skills, and bee strohan I am right now,” I said. “Because I am sure I rength if the worst-case sarios happen... In the world I came from, there was a being, one I couldn’t win against.”

  “Wait, what?” my mother asked. “Is that true? What sort of being was it?”

  “The Heavenly Will,” I said. "I've already introduced them to some of my disciples, an iity that was the representation of Murim’s heavens themselves, and perhaps the whole world. It used to be nine, but they ate each other, and at the end, the White Heaven survived, being the absolute being.”

  “So like a God of Murim?” wondered Seth.

  “Yes, most likely,” I nodded. “I could only escape their tenacious cws, but I still remember how they said they would eventually find me, no matter what.”

  They were left speechless, a being that instilled fear even ihey were surprised.

  They probably thought I was invincible, didn’t they?

  Well, partially invincible.

  But against the Heavenly Will or beings of his caliber, I am weak.

  I o get stronger, even if I am stomping my way through the tower.

  I know I’ll eventually find someone capable of stopping me.

  For that reason, I ot sck off et cocky.

  “Anyways, as I climb, you will stay here, of course,” I said, giving the King and the Queen their rings and a third one for Cecil. “Use these things to teleport ihe pagoda every day to receive your training. You will be growing expoially stronger in the ing days, weeks, and months. Eventually, you will bee s you won’t even be able tnize yourselves anymore.”

  The King and the Queen seemed surprised, admiring the rings I gave them and pg them on their fingers.

  “Thank you; we will e every day then,” the king nodded. “To save this world, I’ve made my new home, to protect my family, to stop the future from being a reality, and to defeat my father... I must bee stronger.”

  “And I’ll do my best to help you too, honey,” said Elphiette. “Thank you, Bing Xue, for trusting us.”

  “It’s fine.” I smiled. “Give the third ring to your daughter Cecil as well. I might leave, but my Doppelgangers will remaio teach you all the basics. I will e ba a couple of days anyway, so don’t worry. I won’t be there forever. If something very urgent happens, I will step in.”

  “I see… Thanks,” the King said, extending his hand for a handshake. “Bing Xue, we owe you more than you imagine. My family and this kingdom, we swear our loyalty.”

  “Oh? So soon?” I giggled. “Oh well, sure thing.”

  I gave him his treasured handshake and then decided to move on.

  “Ahing… The magis I killed, let me revive them,” I said.

  “T-That’s… you would?” The King wondered.

  “Of course, I wouldn’t want you to reseill secretly for that. e o me show you how I do this.” I smiled.

  We stepped out of the pagoda with the remains of the magis.

  “Although most people may believe my ability to revive others is incredible and omnipotent, that’s ly the case. There are many rules to it, and it ’t be done infinitely either,” I expined, waving my hands. “There’s usually two ways to revive them. Time Regression or Pure Healing. Both have their repercussions. For now, {Time Regression} will do.”

  FLUOSH!

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  Pach