After hearing that my actions had indirectly caused the world to undergo a nuclear fallout, I was dumbstruck.

"I would not worry too much about it Mr. Williams, after all this is a pretty common way for those in lower-tier worlds to become ascender talents," explained the afterlife administrator in a calm voice.

"What does that even mean?!" I exclaimed, showing the most amount of emotion since my arrival, "I basically destroyed my whole world and you're telling me not to worry!"

The administrator paused for a second while I regained my composure.

It didn't feel great knowing my actions had the exact opposite effect they were supposed to, but at the end of the day, it didn't matter to me now that I was dead despite my lamentation.

"I'm sorry about that, it caught me off guard." I apologized.

"It is okay Mr. Williams, but allow me to do my job and elaborate.

There are countless worlds out there which can be classified into three different levels: low, middle, and high.

As I already explained, someone who "dies" normally will have their spirit exit and re-enter a different unoccupied body without retaining their memories, but there are special cases, like yours.

Someone can achieve something so great that it is decided they should move up to a higher ranked world with the inclusion of their memories."

"But how can you classify destroying a world as a great achievement, it's pretty evil by just about every standard I can think of, is it not?" I questioned him.

He took a brief moment to rub his head before he smiled again and started to speak.

"Mr. Williams the matter of good or bad is highly reliant on whose perspective you are looking at, so it wouldn't be fair or really accurate to judge someone based on that. However, things like gathering a lot of knowledge or impacting your world in a significant manner, that we can measure and also reward properly."

I thought about what he said for a bit, and while I didn't think he was exactly correct, I neither cared enough to change his mind nor did I think that I could.

"Moving on," the afterlife administrator started once again, "if you can accomplish something of that scale once more, then you will rise yet again, but if you fail, then that is where you stop. It should also go without saying that in the case that you fail to rise again, you will not retain your memories after death, something we call having an identity death."

"Well, that's kind of depressing. What happens if I go past a high-tier world though?" I inquired, but as soon as I finished my sentence, the smile on the administrator's face briefly vanished as he took a deep breath before returning in a way more exaggerated form.

"Ah, well you see I was actually going to get there if you maybe stop interrupting me."

'What?' was all I could think was before he quickly carried on talking.

"Anyhoo, after the high worlds you will be in the realm of gods." He casually stated.

"....."

I don't know what surprised me more at that point, the administrator's sudden passive-aggressive quip or the fact that gods were apparently real, and I had a chance at becoming one of them.

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Trying to get a better idea of these gods before falling down a rabbit hole of thoughts I decided to ask another question,

"Are the gods-" but before I could finish my sentence the administrator quickly cut me off.

"I can't dispense any information about the gods Mr. Williams, and if you don't have any more questions then we can send you on your way."

My mind was still running wild with thoughts and questions and seeing how rushed the administrator was in wanting me out, I asked another one.

"Will I see any other ascender talents?"

The administrator's expression was getting more strained while still maintaining his cordial smile.

"No there can only be one at a time, part of the reason for your long wait. Now I think we should be-"

"Just one more thing, what is the new world I'm going to go to be like?"

The administrator seemed to have finally snapped as the corners of his lips extended by an astonishing amount into a frightening smile and his eyes turned into a hostile gaze.

"WHY DON'T WE FIND OUT MR. WILLIAMS!"

Suddenly, with a wave of his hand, a door opened to reveal a completely white room and I was sent hurtling towards it at high speeds.

When I entered the room, I saw that there were no walls or a ceiling to the room, at least ones that I could make out, and upon closer inspection no floor either, which explained why I had started to fall with no end in sight.

*****

As soon as Zach had been thrown out of the office, the administrator sped away checking hundreds of things and reconnecting his mind to closely monitor them.

By doing this he eventually managed to calm himself down back to his normal temper.

Afterlife administrators were very advanced beings, and this meant their level of brain activity far surpassed the normal human as well.

When non-administrators were to enter their space, they were required to take precautions in order to ensure that the outsiders didn't mess anything up, and one of these precautions was complete isolation from the outside.

Extended time in these conditions could be uncomfortable for some administrators, akin to how a hyperactive individual would feel if forced to stay still for long periods of time, and this was something that applied to this particular administrator as well.

After doing his routinely check-ups through his paranormal means, the administrator then exited to a hallway and shot away at unimaginable speeds towards a different room.

Just as he put his hand on the door to open, he stopped, because inside the room he had sensed another individual, one that he wasn't very fond of.

After a quick sigh, he pushed the door open and entered.

The room was lined with rows of giant bookshelves that went on for as far as the eye could see in both height and length.

The other individual looked to be a kid dressed in similar robes as the administrator.

"Hey Fozz, done with the ascender already? That was fast." The child-like individual quickly blurted as soon as he saw his co-worker.

"Yes, now if you do not mind, I need to pick a world for him so do not bother me." The first administrator responded, giving no eye contact as he treaded towards one of the shelves.

The small administrator squinted his eyes in suspicion while staring at the other's back.

"You sent him out early again, didn't you?"

"I told him everything he needed to know." He nonchalantly replied while browsing books from the large shelves.

"Come on Fozz, rules are rules, you can't just do that every time! One day, you're going to get us into a lot of trouble." The small administrator commented as he facepalmed with his tiny hand.

The first administrator didn't bother saying anything back that time.

Noticing his silence, the smaller administrator loosened up and started to float above his shoulder.

"Hey, pick that one- no wait what about that one? Actually, I think you should pick that one there." He said while pointing to different books.

This went on for around 15 minutes until the other administrator finally decided to acknowledge his existence once more.

"Stop bothering me Aclem, I do not require your assistance."

The smaller administrator stayed silent for a few minutes while still floating above his shoulder until the larger administrator took a book from the bookshelf.

"Ooh! Let me see what you picked!" The small administrator blurted enthusiastically.

Seeing that he would not reveal it, the smaller administrator rushed for the book but was denied a view by the first administrator when he turned his back.

"It is none of your business." He replied in a monotone voice.

Not being satisfied by that answer, the two started grappling with each other like fighting siblings before the book was dropped onto the floor.

It was a red book with gold engraving that was titled:

"Levia"