CG Chapter 3: The Path to True Immortality

After Tom checked his new stats window, he was quite happy that he could better understand his body. However, there was still something that weighed on his mind.

This thing was none other than Death. How could a man who once faced death every day accept it? How could a man who escaped death and survived accept that he is but a mortal being?

Tom told Noor to edit the stats window and add a section where he could list his goals under Quests, making it feel more like a game and thus increasing his motivation to work. However, I doubt he would need more motivation than death itself.

Now that he was done with that, the next step was to actually use the new quest feature. So, Tom ordered Noor, in a somewhat excited voice, "Add the main quest: The Path to True Immortality."

Although that sounded like a big step toward achieving immortality, Tom understood that he didn't know where to start or where to go to get the answers he wanted.

At this bleak hour, Tom remembered a saying, "To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did." Almost everyone wanted immortality, but no one succeeded in reaching it.

At least, that was what he knew; thus, if he wanted to achieve it, he would need to tread a path that no one had walked before.

That place, where a miracle happened and the merger of two different consciousnesses occurred, needed a name befitting of its status. He decided to call it Soul Space.

Assigning a name to the Soul Space was cool, but how would he be able to enter it again? That place was not designed for the mortal eye to see; he only knew about it by accident.

Tom asked Noor if she had captured any unique signal or anything that would let him enter the Soul Space again, with a slight hope that it might be an unexpected coincidence.

Surprisingly, Noor had captured a unique signal from that Soul Space that might enable Tom to enter it again and explore it for real this time.

He went to the same surgery room where he had merged with Noor previously, but this time, he had a different purpose. The Soul Space that he had previously entered by accident, he would now try to enter with a clear goal. That goal was to uncover something that might aid him on his path to immortality.

Tom connected the remaining nutrient fluid to his bloodstream. Then, lying on the same bed yet again, Tom ordered, "Noor, start the signal that you recorded."

Once Tom issued his order, Noor started to stream what they thought was a gibberish-sounding signal: "From the heavens' realm to the earthly abode, the mystic call to seekers flowed. A gate unseen, with secrets thronged, reveals its path to hearts prolonged."

As soon as Noor played the signal, Tom felt a pain similar to that of the merger, although this pain was much less intense.

Another good thing was that just after the pain started, Tom fell unconscious and entered a place with a blue sea and blue sky.

What place was this? This place was Tom's Soul Space. Although it was different from before--the cracks that had covered the sky during the merger had gone away--Tom had a slight feeling that his Soul Space was more robust.

However, the increase wasn't significant. Still, this place contained his core, so it was instinctual for him to be able to tell.

Tom didn't know where to go; after all, this was only his second time entering the Soul Space. Finally, Tom walked straight for hours, or at least what he perceived as straight, feeling that there was a place here that called to him.

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While walking to that unknown place, Tom constantly looked around, hoping to see something other than the simple blue sea and sky.

Step by step, the journey was difficult. He felt as if he were being tested by a mysterious entity, as he saw his mental energy depleting little by little.

Finally, Noor said in her robotic voice, "It might be a good idea to exit the Soul Space and re-enter when your mental energy recovers."

Tom knew that was the last thing he needed. He wasn't about to lose an opportunity to achieve immortality. Thus, he replied to Noor, "Disable the warning system temporarily."

Noor answered,

[Understood]

[Warning system status: Disabled.]

Continuing on what felt like a fruitless journey, Tom kept walking, holding on using his iron will that he had forged in the fire of years of struggle and pain caused by his illness.

After what felt like hours or even days, Tom saw something new, something other than the simple water and sky. He saw a strange building shaped like what he knew as a pagoda.

It had nine floors and a shoddy-looking wooden slate that didn't fit with the majestic pagoda, as if it were older than the building itself. It had words written on it that he didn't understand.

Tom blinked unconsciously for a second, and the meaning of the words started to flow into his head: "The Lord of Reincarnation welcomes your presence to his inheritance."

Tom was surprised for a second. His brain told him this was impossible, but at the same time, he remembered that his disease, which people had told him was impossible to cure, was cured after the merger, and he had found the Soul Space.

So why couldn't Tom believe in a Lord of Reincarnation or even a Lord of Games? After all, Tom wasn't one of those stupid novel main characters who would acknowledge that he had reincarnated but couldn't believe in cultivation or magic.

Every time Tom read about characters like this, he wanted to bring the main characters of those novels to his place and teach them about common sense. After all, if you accept that low-tier cleaning magic exists, who can say that the world of high-tier universe-destroying magic can't also exist?

After reading about characters like this for a while, Tom made a promise to himself that no matter what happened, he would never lie to himself. He could lie to the whole world but never to himself.

He remembered another saying while wondering what to do: "Humans wear masks to cover their true selves, but many times they fall into the pit of believing that this mask, this facade they built, is their reality."

Not hesitating anymore, Tom took a deep breath and then took a giant step, walking into the pagoda. Tom used his tiny hands to open the massive doors of the pagoda, feeling as if he were trying to push open a solid mountain. Surprisingly, those doors opened quite easily, too easily in fact, that Tom thought he wasn't the reason why they opened.

After the doors opened, he took a quick peek around, but he couldn't see anything because of the darkness. Suddenly, he saw what looked like a fireball, but after looking closely, he saw that it was "a firebird? Was that a Phoenix?" But just as abruptly as it appeared, it changed into a small boy with blood-red hair and red eyes that looked like those of a feline. After the boy appeared, the room started to light up.

The boy spoke with a gentle voice, "I welcome Thomas Blackwood to the last tower left behind by the Lord of Reincarnation. I welcome you to The Reincarnation Pagoda."

Tom wanted to ask him how he knew his name, but he shut his mouth because after all that he had seen, simply knowing his name was like child's play.

The boy smiled, telling Tom, "I am starting to like you more and more by the minute; not only did you enter your soul sea as a mortal from a Rank zero world, but you also understood that asking the magician about his tricks would not be a smart move."

The boy tapped the ground with his boots, saying, "Well, I think I owe you an explanation. After all, you passed the first trial already."

The boy continued without pausing, not letting Tom say a word. "The first trial is called Answering the Call. I think it's pretty self-explanatory. This inheritance called for you, and you came; thus, you passed it. You wouldn't believe how many so-called sons of the heavens failed this trial before. After all, you need to have a true fate with the inheritance if you want to get here. Oh, since I already knew your name, it would be rude not to tell you mine. My name is Yang Yang."

Tom replied, "Thank you, sir, Yang Yang for..."

Without giving him a chance to continue, Yang Yang said, "For an old man such as yourself to call me sir just makes me cringe. I might have lived much longer than you. However, I am only a kid in the Phoenix race, so I am considered a child. Remove the sir and simply call me Yang Yang."

Tom replied with a bit of nervousness in his voice, but he was still excited. "Can you tell me more about this trial? The only thing I know about it is that it is the inheritance of someone called the Lord of Reincarnation."

Yang Yang replied with a smile. "Well, as you saw from the outside, there are nine floors in this pagoda. Each floor represents a different trial, and after you finish all of them, you will receive the final reward left behind by the Lord of Reincarnation."

Tom asked Yang Yang, "What might this gift be?"

Yang Yang laughed and laughed. It could be seen from his personality that he was pretty childish. Yang Yang said, "Don't worry. The gift will be to your liking and will achieve the goal that you came here for."

Tom couldn't hold himself back and asked again, "Do you mean that I will achieve immortality after finishing the last trial?"

The smile on Yang Yang changed into a frown.

"Thomas Blackwood, don't be too greedy. Although the Lord of Reincarnation was a great person, I, as his servant, would know better than anyone about his powers. Still, even he wouldn't dare say that he was close to achieving immortality. So how could you expect him to give it to another person even if he had it?"

Tom said, "Sorry, that might have been too much for me to ask."

Yang Yang's frown went away, and he replied, "Sorry, I got angry at you. While it's only natural for you to wish to achieve immortality--after all, who wouldn't? Even we, the Phoenix clan, known for our almost immortal lives, wish for true immortality to be unshackled by the mortal world, to do as we please, and to stand at the top of the world."

Yang Yang spoke again, "Well, we've spoken long enough. Don't you think it's time for your first trial? Get ready for it."