Earlier that day, a level 59 had transcended on that platform, at a twelfth before noon. As the emperor was going to ascend to godhood at five twelfths before midnight, right after the level 59 had transcended, the platform was closed with Greatite. The emperor was behind the platform.

As my parents were only level 38 and 39 at that time, we were relegated to the commoners area, who could barely see the platform. I still could sense mana, and the feeling the emperor gave off was just deathly. He seemed kind but so overpowered that he could destroy us with a thought if he so wished to. I didn't know it at the time, but, having passed the second transcendence, he actually could do that sort of thing. The emperor got up on stage some time before he was to ascend.

"I, Emperor Labacus Hwalmeta, shall ascend today. As decreed by the Patron of Justice, an emperor shall not hold the crown for over a billion years. My billion years shall be done soon.

"My heir, King Tantantus Watermeta, has reached level 95, as of today. King, step forth."

The emperor and king grew in size. I could finally see both. The king radiated that sort of power, but the emperor seemed like a balloon about to burst, while the king seemed to have more room to grow. The emperor was wearing a crown and all sorts of fancy garments, with the staff that I knew contained immense power, and had been for the emperor only ever since it was discovered. The emperor looked kind under all of that stuff, but the king looked exactly like the type of emperor he would become.

The emperor took off the crown, but not the staff.

"I, the Emperor of this great Empire, the Empire of Taturater, the greatest empire in the galaxy, descend from the throne. The new emperor is Tantantus Watermeta!"

The mana in the air changed. The emperor let go of the staff. The new Emperor took the throne.

"Now. I was born here, on this very planet. In this same plain. Now, I leave this planet as a god from the same place. I vow that I will remain loyal to the empire as a god. I will become the Patron of Fairness. As Patron of Fairness, my Decree is follows:

'A council of seven, each over Level 90, will form the Imperial Court. The emperor may not interfere with their operations. Shall anyone interfere with their operation, they shall face Heavenly Judgement of Fairness. They may, at any time, with a majority agreement, override the emperor. Members may only be removed or added with a consensus of the other six. These original seven will gain the Transcendence of Fairness, and be the most powerful at their Transcendence.

'With this Patronic Decree issued, I shall now Ascend to Godhood.

"I ascend to godhood. Icharus quantitshillal thater cantam. Hwactcher cantin hall. Ob, hwanter call, char. Taltap Asctra Googoo, Fairness Hwanterc, Labacus Watermeta."

At the time, I didn't understand those words, which, I later learned, were how to transcend. Except one change. The char part was replaced with ek for the first time, do for the second time, and teen for the third transcendence. In a language called Hindi, that was how to count. I assume the first three sentences were the transcendence, and the final one was ascending.

As I said, it was shocking. I remembered some diamond-section, at level 99, but imprisoned under the platform for hideous crimes, who tanked all the power of transcendences which would normally kill anyone who wasn't gold-section within a few hundred miles, said that exact same set of words, and all that did was make the emperor more powerful.

The emperor was shrouded in white light. It was like a second sun. I was forced to look away. I could still see it, as was most of the entire planet of Kantala. Once I could see again, the emperor was standing inside a ton of white light. He seemed like the most pure, fair being alive.

A cracking sound filled the air. The mana in the air changed again. It seemed like the emperor, the balloon, had burst. The white light faded away. The universe itself oppressed the emperor. The emperor's Transcendence fought the universe.

"I ascend to godhood. This is the end of my time here, yet, to contact me, just say this:

"Holtha Cantar Labacus Fair.

"I will now ascend. This is the end of my time here."

A bursting sound came. My mana sight saw that the emperor's mana pool had turned into something... else.

I decided to call it Divine Energy. At least, that was until I reached level 65, which was where a lot of people you talked to revealed a bunch of secrets. After that, I was forced to call it Divine Mana, as that's the correct term for it.

As I was little and foolish back then, I didn't understand the damn magnitude of this thing, but now I understood all too clearly. An ascension to godhood only happened on average once every half billion years. As a weakling who hadn't even reached level 50 yet, I was damn fortunate to see one. However, as, by this point, I had found a Truth, I was immune to old age, therefore making seeing an ascension a matter of patience. As I was only 394,933,923,422 years old, I still had a while to wait before I could see one.

The emperor's very presence fought with the universe. The emperor stayed down to say one, final word.

"Goodbye."

As he spoke, the world trembled. So this was the true power of a god. The realm rejected his presence even more. He radiated power. I intuitively knew we had all been spared. Had he so desired, he could have seen any of us dead with the snap of his finger. We were spared. Sure, I was a powerless weakling back then, but now, I'm decently powerful, and the emperor still could have killed me with a thought. The only one who may have survived was the new emperor, but had the old emperor decided to attack, he'd be dead. All it would have taken from the old emperor was a flick, and Tantantus would also be dead. Hell, he could probably warp spacetime so the universe crumbled in on itself.

But the emperor didn't. He just let the universe forcibly throw him out. Well, not forcibly, as previous emperors had said that was uncomfortable, but he let the universe make him go out, albeit at a slower rate.

I watched him ascend in awe. I didn't know so much about it back then, I was just shocked. A bit after he left sight, a resounding sound spread across the entire universe.

It was really damn annoying to be powerless. I knew my place, one of high power. The emperor had extreme power. I would become like the emperor. I would rule over all, but kindly. Sure, most people were idiots, but I'd let the idiots grow, instead of stomping out potential. I had power to rule them. I would someday be as powerful as the emperor.

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I decided I would try to transcend once I maxed out all my other skills. So, I gathered some intelligence from the idiots. Sure, I could see the rocks floating nearby in space, but I didn't know much about them.

They were called asteroids in the native language of this planet, English, and they seemed to be a great testing ground for my power.

It took me 22 minutes to run there. That was a somewhat long time. I resolved to work on my speed. Once I was there, well, it was my stomping ground for a week. I leveled up all sorts of powers. Soon, I was sitting with my skill screen looking like this:

Skill Name: Level Skill is Unlocked At: Skill Cost: Mastery Level: Convert Resource 1 100% of resource being converted 20/20 Resource Burn 2 Resource being used, and stamina cost for everything becomes 150% 20/20 Fireball 3 50 Mana 20/20 Great Smash 3 30 Mana, 10 Stamina 20/20 Warhammer Mastery 5 N/A 25/25 Strength Increase 5 N/A 20/20 Bladed Warhammer 5 50 Mana 25/25 Physical Increase 10 N/A 20/20 Radiant Warhammer 10 100 Mana 25/25 Arc of Perfect Power 10 N/A 25/25 Gravity-Defying Hammer 15 1,000 Mana 25/25 Arcane Hammer 15 10 Mana/Second 25/25 Broken Town By Hammer 20 10,000 Mana 25/25 Hammer Wham 20 100 Mana 25/25 Cut 25 1,000 20/20 Flight 25 100 Mana/Second 20/20 Power Regeneration 25 1,000 Mana/Second 20/20 Skin Armor 25 Channel, but costs vary, with more mana meaning a stronger effect. Max cost is 100,000,000 20/20 Conjure 25 Cost Varies (1 mana/gram of matter, and 1 stamina/gram of antimatter) 20/20 Power Channel 25 1,000 Mana/Second 20/20 Planet Shatter 30 100,000 Mana 25/25 Mana Control 35 N/A 20/20 Elemental Magic 35 10,000 Mana 20/20 Basic Physical Transcendence 40 100,000,000 Mana 50/50 Elemental Hammer 40 100,000 Mana 25/25 The War Hammer 45 10,000,000 Mana 25/25 Empowered Heal 45 Cost Varies, Minimum 5,000,000,000 Mana 20/20 The Mortal Rocket 50 N/A 30/30 Physical Form 50 N/A 30/30 Arcane Bolt 50 155,000,000,000 Mana 30/30 Wisdom of the Hammer 50 N/A 30/30 Harvester of the End 50 1,000,000,000 Mana 35/35 Berserk 50 1000-100000% stamina cost 30/30 Arcane Reaper of the Hammer 55 N/A 35/35 Magic Berserk 55 Skills cost 10x more mana 30/30 Physical Transcendence 58 50,000,000,000,000 Mana and 500,000,000 Stamina (Passive bonus .01%) 74/75 Magic Mastery 60 N/A 24/30 Timesight 65 10,000,000,000,000,000 Mana on a level 0, and that times whatever level the person that it's being used on is if that person is higher then level 2. 7/30 The Fine, Endless Warhammer 70 10,000,000,000,000,000 Mana 1/35 Truth of the Warhammer 72 N/A N/A Truth of the Warhammer Active 72 5,000,000,000,000,000 Mana/Second N/A

To maximize efficiency, I had practiced Timesight, which also increased Magic Mastery, on level 0 asteroids, before I destroyed them. Once I got back to Earth, it was time to transcend.