Apotheosis – Ascension to Godhood

Chapter 3832: The World of Nothingness

Geoffrey almost had never experienced any sort of hardship before. How could he tolerate such an intense pain now?

At this moment, the pain had shut out his ability to think. He only hoped that he could pass out and escape the situation he was in somehow. However, the soul power continued to strengthen his soul, and at the same time, the pain that wrung through his entire body with it grew much stronger.

It seemed like endless torture that refused to meet an end.

He suffered in silence as the pain had him writhe and groan. It was killing him to have to tolerate it unwillingly. When he was about to open his mouth to release the pressure, the water forcefully poured itself in.

His time of soul infusion was only thirty seconds longer than that of Elder Xue, but Geoffrey felt those minor seconds to be equal to those of a century.

After it was over, Geoffrey remained in the water without moving for a while, staring up into space. His newly acquired powerful soul made him have a new perception of the world, so he just lay there, taking his moment to digest it all in.

“My soul... I can feel it... How did it become so powerful?”

After processing his thoughts and coming to terms with his newly acquired abilities, Geoffrey swam out of the transparent water. The moment his eyes made contact with Elder Xue, they reflected unparalleled momentum.

Of course, Elder Xue quickly caught on with the change in Geoffrey at one glance.

As a top-level master in the main world, Elder Xue's soul was extremely powerful. After he absorbed the soul power of the Fostering race, his soul power had increased by four times, but Geoffrey was different from him.

Geoffrey was a mere True God in the chaos. Because of the difference in their status and abilities, after he went through the ordeal of absorbing the soul power of the Fostering race, his soul had probably grown exponentially.

“This feeling... It's like no other I have ever felt. It's amazing!”

Geoffrey eyed himself up as he exclaimed with excitement. A while ago, he was writhing in pain and prayed for it to stop. But now, he seemed to have forgotten all about it after having obtained such great power in return. He felt as though he had been reborn.

Elder Xue shared his excitement. It was indeed a great surprise that they could strengthen their souls to such a level. But soon as the excitement wore off and he began to collect his thoughts, he turned to Geoffrey and asked, “Why do you think they infuse such a surging soul power into us?”

The Levitation Tower was the last-standing hope left by the Fostering race as a symbol of their existence before they were annihilated. They were an astute race, and nothing they did was pointless. There must have been a reason why they chose to strengthen Geoffrey's and Elder Xue's souls.

“I guess we'll know when we go up,” Geoffrey said as he pointed to the top of the tower.

Elder Xue gave him a slight nod then continued to walk up the steps alongside him.

After they left the transparent water, the green lines that once portrayed the path they could walk on disappeared.

When they made their way onto the next floor, which was two hundred and ten feet high, they saw a ball appear before their eyes in the center.

The ball hung loosely in the air. It was free of all imperfections. It was as if it was carved with utmost intricacy. There were no flaws on any side of it.

However, just as they stared deeply at the ball, they suddenly felt themselves being slowly consumed with strong feelings of loneliness. The ball seemed to be in existence for as long as forever. It had no meaning attached to its life. It was without a beginning or an end.

“What's wrong with this ball?” Geoffrey asked in a concerned tone.

Elder Xue kept his gaze fixated on the ball as he walked and gave his shoulders a light shrug, indicating his lack of knowledge about it as well.

At this moment, a faint light appeared before them, stopping them in their tracks. The light continued to twist and changed its form continuously until it finally manifested itself into a little girl. It was the same little girl that Geoffrey had encountered several times in the previous illusions.

“Nice to meet you again,” the girl spoke indifferently with her hands clasped behind her back as she leaned towards him.

Geoffrey began to look around in all directions in a frantic state before he asked nervously, “Is this an illusion, or is this real?”

The little girl shook her head at his confusion and replied in a monotonous voice, “It's real.”

But Elder Xue could see through the little girl and tell that the girl herself was an illusion.

“If that's really the case then... What are you doing here?” Geoffrey asked as he raised his brows.

In fact, he understood that the little girl was somehow connected to the Levitation Tower. The Levitation Tower needed a person to communicate with Geoffrey. The little girl was created to serve that purpose. R̃ÃℕÒ₿ЕṤ

“I'll be your guide. Let me help you climb up from here on,” the little girl said, her face devoid of all emotions as she beckoned them to follow her.

“Thank you for the offer, but I think we'll be fine on our own,” Geoffrey said blatantly as he refused her help with a wave of his hand.

The little girl paid no heed to his remark and pointed towards the lifeless ball. “This is the World of Nothingness. It is infinitely large and small at the same time. It contains everything, and yet it also remains empty. It's the first-grade world.”

Geoffrey still chose to ignore her and brushed her words aside. However, Elder Xue's expression switched drastically after he heard what she had to say. He pointed towards the ball and asked, “Are you telling me that this is the first-grade world? The real first-grade world?”

“Of course not.” The little girl cut his confusion short with a curt reply. She stared at Elder Xue with eyes filled with mockery as if to look down on him. “The World of Nothingness contains all kinds of things. Even an insignificant needle wouldn't be able to escape it. If it really were to appear, you'd instantly become a part of it, and if that happened, you wouldn't even be able to stand here.”

“Is this World of Nothingness a creation of the Fostering race?” Elder Xue asked again.

“No, it isn't.” The little girl shook her head. “It was created by Clarence.”

“And who is this Clarence that you speak of?” Elder Xue continued to ask one question, followed by the other, to dissolve his confusion.

The girl tilted her head and placed her finger on her chin as if she was lost in thought. “He owns everything, and he has created everything.” After giving a brief, yet vague explanation, she continued while pointing her finger upwards, “To advance further, you just need to climb up.”

“That's not so hard. We'll be fine.” Geoffrey shrugged as if to refuse all her help.

The atmosphere in the World of Nothingness really did have an eerie vibe to it, but what could it possibly do?

At most, it could only manage to affect something so little as his mood, right? That was not so bad. Without giving the ball a second glance, Geoffrey continued to climb up, ignorant of his surroundings and the situation he was putting himself in because of his arrogance.

Seeing Geoffrey's indifferent behavior, the little girl just smiled and shook her head in disapproval in silence.

After they walked two circles around the Levitation Tower, they reached the height of two hundred and thirty feet. There, the ball disappeared out of sight, along with the lingering desolate feeling brewing inside of them.

However, just as they took the next step forward, a huge wall appeared before them in the center of the tower. The wall was crafted with several intricate patterns, consisting of squares and circles of various sizes all interlinked with each other, along with different sets of lines that formed unusual things.

“What you see before you is the Wall World, the second-grade world,” the little girl explained from behind in her usual monotonous voice.

To Geoffrey and Elder Xue, the Wall World was nothing more than a picture. However, it felt relieving compared to the World of Nothingness they experienced earlier. They could even sense faint signs of vitality emanating from the lines that formed vivid pictures of living creatures etched on the Wall World.

“This is not a test at all. It's just a brief visit,” Geoffrey scoffed as he gave his shoulders a slight shrug.

The little girl seemed frustrated from Geoffrey's continued arrogant demeanor. Unable to withstand it any longer, she snapped at him, “The World of Nothingness and the Wall World are at lower levels compared to your world, which is why you remain unaffected. When you are confronted with the higher-grade worlds up there, I'll see if you can still speak as arrogantly as you do now.”

Elder Xue was taken aback by the little girl's strong statement. He began to piece everything together and finally figured out the reason why the Fostering race bestowed them with their current soul power.

Next, they would have to go through the baptism of the higher-grade worlds. The higher the grade of the worlds, the more information they contained, and the higher the requirements for the souls.

'Could I withstand the sixth-grade world with my current soul power?

What about the seventh-grade world? And the eighth-grade world...'

While Elder Xue pondered over his limitations, his eyes fell on Geoffrey, who remained beside him.

As a creature from the third-grade world, Geoffrey was surprisingly able to move freely in the fourth-grade and the fifth-grade worlds. Perhaps he could be able to reach those higher worlds with ease compared to Elder Xue himself.

Even though Elder Xue harbored these concerns in his head, he didn't voice them out to Geoffrey. Instead, he continued to climb up alongside Geoffrey without uttering a word.

After another climb of twenty feet, they came across the third-grade world. This was the world Geoffrey was most familiar with.

Geoffrey had been away from the chaos for a steady period. Suddenly coming face to face with his world made him stop in his tracks as he stared blankly at it. Upon seeing things he was once familiar with, he couldn't help but feel homesick. But then, he lowered his gaze to shake the feeling off.

Then came the fourth-grade world. This time, it was Elder Xue who started to experience deep feelings of nostalgia with one short glimpse of it. After all, he had spent a fair amount of time in the fifth-grade world and never got the chance to return to the main world.

When they continued their climb and reached a height of three hundred feet, they were faced with the fifth-grade world. This world did not pose any difficulty for them as they had no feelings attached to it like the previous ones.

“This is the fifth-grade world, known as the Stellar World. Those are the members of our now perished Fostering race,” the little girl introduced.

Just as Geoffrey laid his eyes on the creatures of the Fostering race, he broke out in a fit of laughter. “Seriously? Those are the members of your Fostering race? They look so funny!”

Elder Xue had never seen the members of the Fostering race before. He didn't expect them to look so naive and cute to the eyes. However, his reaction wasn't as offensive as the one Geoffrey portrayed. He nudged Geoffrey with his elbow and shook his head to gesture him to stop laughing.