The bartender leaned on a shelf behind him that was covered in a myriad of colorful bottles and seemed to be made of mirrors. "I'll give you the short version. Do you know what a gladiatorial pit is?"

Trillia nodded. She had heard about them from some of the minotaurs and from many of the humans of D'Jamu. "The mortal in question was bred to be a warrior in the pits. A race of long-lived psionic creatures would capture enemies. Using a combination of magic and science, they'd take the best traits from two creatures and ensure that a child with those traits was born."

"This mortal fought in those pits from the time it could walk until it had seen nearly twenty-five years pass. To escape, it had to kill its parents, its owners, and a number of other psionic creatures. As it fled and its heart threatened to beat out of its chest. As its feet bruised and tore from running. As its mind spun with all it had been forced to do over the years, it also asked the question. How do I stop the cycle? How do I break a fundamental truth?"

"How do I make it so that the weak are not ruled and toyed with by the strong. This mortal was lucky to be born from a creature that had a long natural life span. It had hundreds of years to seek out a solution. Time and time again, it would run into things that it simply had no answer for. Time and time again, it would create an answer. One day this little mortal happened upon an old deity. This deity was sitting on the shore of a lake, fishing and passing the time."

At this point, the bartender pulled out a pipe, stuffing the end with some dark red dried paste. The thing began to glow with heat as he put it to his mouth and pulled a long drag. "You see, the deity was tired. Tired of war, tired of worshippers, tired of the constant struggle of eternity. So the deity made a deal with this young upstart. The deity would teach the young mortal all it knew. About diplomacy and economics. About science and magic. About life and death."

The bartender took another drag and puffed little circles of smoke out, bringing a smile to his own face. "The young mortal was hesitant. This wasn't how things transpired. The weak were ruled by the strong. Even an old and tired deity was capable of terrifying feats of power. So, of course, the young mortal asked what the cost of this training was."

After a long pause, Trillia leaned forward a little more. Eager to hear more. "The old deity replied with a single word."

The bartender smiled a little more and stared at Trillia. "Eternity. In exchange for knowledge, this young mortal would be turned into something more. Something greater. Your kind knows this as ascension. The young mortal's realm had another word for it, death. That is the truth of ascension, you see. It is a death of who and what you were. You will watch as time marches forever forward. You will grasp at all that you know and love and try to drag it forward with you. Only to watch it slowly decay in your hands."

The bartender took another drag as he paused the story yet again. Trillia sat there, entranced. Whether by the story or by the bartender himself, she didn't know.

"That is the truth of ascension. You cannot bring those you love with you. It's a rare thing for someone to ascend. It is rarer still for the ascended to aspire to greater heights. But the old deity didn't know the fortitude of this young mortal. Didn't know that the mortal's plans involved becoming something far greater than anyone could have imagined. So the mortal gratefully accepted. The following thousand years were nightmarish for the young mortal. A breaking of its mind and soul. It's very being twisted into something more."

"Many times, the mortal didn't think itself capable of continuing. Didn't think it possible to break the mold. But after that thousand years of mentorship and trials, it had become an immortal. It vowed to climb higher still. The old deity passed its mantle onto a different prodigy. The young mortal didn't mind. It bided its time and waited. It observed and studied and learned."

"It learned that even immortals could be consumed. It learned that deities could be consumed. Its hunger for power was insatiable, and it began to consume. Oh, many immortals and deities tried to fight and stop it. But by the time anyone paid any real attention, it was far too late. The young mortal's drive for progress made it unstoppable. You see, it didn't see immortals and deities as its kin. It saw mortal kind as needing protection. It saw itself in every mortal that lost its life to the games of immortals."

"Eventually, this young mortal played a little game itself. It challenged a deity that had been in power and existed for billions of years to a duel. Very clever wording and very precise tactics allowed the young mortal to trick this deity and kill it. Taking yet another mantle. Obtaining yet more power. It used its new position to enforce its will onto the universe itself. It made rules that the immortals were not allowed to break within its little section of the universe. For to break its rules was to invite the all-consuming entity down on the offending party."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"That's when mortals had a fighting chance. But, you know what really shocked the young mortal?"

Trillia shook her head as she leaned in a little closer. "The mortals enslaved each other. Even faster and in greater numbers than before. They fought, and they killed. They prayed to their deities and killed in their names. They burned innocent people alive for having the wrong mana or believing the wrong things. Hundreds of thousands of years spent obtaining the power to make change. Only to watch those it was trying to protect throw it all away."

Trillia frowned at that. "That's basically what I was shown by Lethe. What was the purpose of this story?"

The bartender took one last drag before emptying his pipe. "That the only way to change something; Is to make it want to change. No amount of power can ever change the fundamentals of life. Strong immortals prey upon weak ones. Strong mortals prey upon weak mortals. A tiger will eat a lovax. The Lovax eat plants. Plants pull moisture and nutrients from Alirast itself." The bartender drew a little circle in the air with a finger.

"Make it so that the tiger doesn't want to eat the lovax anymore. Make it so that the strong do not want to prey upon the weak."

Trillia leaned back, shaking her head. "Why didn't the young mortal do that?"

"How often do you actually listen to those stronger than you? How often do you heed the advice of those above you in power?" The bartender pulled out another glass and filled it with a dark brown liquid with small cubes of frozen water in it. Taking a drink as he awaited her answer.

Trillia opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. Remembering that she was supposed to be taking it easy. Remembering that she was constantly trying to prove herself stronger, despite being told she was enough. "That's...that's different."

"It is? Because you want to change. Just like the young mortal did. But no one is willing to listen or take advice. Every living thing seems to think it knows better until it is proven later in its life that it knows so very little."

The creature sitting next to her spoke, which caused her to jump a little, having forgotten it was there or that it existed. "I heard a rumour the other day, Lord Blade. Concerning the realm of Alirast."

The bartender smiled at her and gave a little wink before turning his head. "Oh? Do tell. A bartender loves good gossip."

"I heard that there is a way for mortals to consume the cores of dungeons and take a great deal of their power. It's a process similar to how we deities fight, by consuming the cores mana and burning it away with our own."

The bartender rather poorly feigned surprise. "Really? It was to my limited understanding that mortals couldn't obliterate mana!"

The creature nodded enthusiastically. "As did I! It turns out that with a certain combination of classes and a large enough mana pool, even mortals can obliterate mana."

Trillia was a bit dumbfounded. She knew keenly what was going on. She was aware that the creature next to her was the second axle. The deity that her parents worshipped. The father of the deity she was bound to. She remembered hearing Stas talk about 'overhearing' conversations since the axle wasn't allowed to directly communicate with mortals on Alirast. She never expected it to be so blatant.

"I believe it was [Mana Sage] in the high two hundreds, coupled with [Runic Scholar], also in the high two hundreds. I'm quite interested in seeing it happen." The axle looked over at her with a smile.

The bartender nodded sagely. "It would certainly be an interesting turn of events."

The one sitting next to her stood and stretched. "I fear I must be going, Lord Blade. I have so much to do." Just as quickly as he appeared, he vanished again.

Trillia sat there staring at the bartender, who only smiled back. "How does that not count as breaking the rules?"

With a shrug, he cleaned off the second set of dishes. "Immortals are terribly bored creatures. I imagine the entity that created our universe is no different. Perhaps it amuses the all-father to watch us dance and skirt around the rules. It's not often he steps in himself to dole out punishments."

The bartender brushed a hand across her plate and glass, both being refilled by the gesture. "I hope this trip was enlightening. Would you like to be sent back to Lethe's gaze or to your tent?"

Trillia sat there for a second, staring at the food. "My tent, once I've finished. If that's ok." Seeing the bartender nod, she continued. "Who are you?"

The man smiled and bowed his head slightly. "Just a tired old tavern keep. It's been a pleasure, Lady Trillia. I look forward to meeting you again."

As he said it, he seemed to sort of fade into the background. Becoming like so many of the other blurred patrons and conversations around her. She was left alone with her meal, her drink, and her thoughts.

The moment she had finished her last sip of lemonade, she found herself staring at the inside of her tent. Warm, full, and strangely content.

The first thing she did was check her notifications, only to find the barrage of them had vanished from her system. She pulled out her journal and wrote down the two classes and approximate levels. [Mana Sage] would be easy. She was already leveling it. She could clear [Monster Slayer] soon and take [Runic Scholar]. If there was a chance, she'd take it.

She thought back to the story she had been told. She didn't have the patience for thousands of years of plotting. But a few years wouldn't seem so bad. Now that she knew what to actually aim for.

Taking a deep breath, she stood and set off to find Amelia. Both to apologize for not speaking to her at the funeral and to prepare for their next delve into the dungeon. A couple of classes at level two hundred. That wasn't so difficult of a thing to do.