Apotheosis

Geoffrey had long wanted to know why he could go through worlds completely unaffected. Now was his chance.

The worlds he was visiting became more complex and obscure as time went by, but he reached them with no problems just the same.

He wanted to know what connection he had with these worlds.

But Elder Xue had already been subjected to much agony, and the Soul Reincarnation in the seventh-grade world proved even more torturous than the last. He managed to endure it, but it was clearly taking a heavy toll on him.

When warriors of the Elemental race suffered from some debilitating condition, their faces turned paler and paler then began to wrinkle. Elder Xue's face was now so white and covered with wrinkles; it resembled a crumpled piece of paper. It was a clear testament to the ordeal he had gone through.

"Go on ahead. Don't wait for me. Keep climbing..." Elder Xue said weakly, stopping to catch his breath.

A look of deep concern crossed Geoffrey's face as he saw the state Elder Xue was in. "Do you need to rest?"

He could afford to wait. There was no time limit in the Levitation Tower anyway.

But the little girl piped up, "Resting is futile. Undergoing the Soul Reincarnation always leaves behind a great pressure on the body. There is no fixing it."

Elder Xue nodded at this. The Red Jade Rite of the Four Spirits Sect had a similar effect. It could allow creatures of third-grade world to be able to become creatures of fourth-grade world, but it also imposed a mental strain which could never be lifted.

Elder Xue was able to bear it if he had only crossed a world, but as a fourth-grade world creature in a seventh-grade world, he was already stretched to the limit.

"Then what should we do? Go back?" Geoffrey said, frowning as he mulled the situation.

The little girl sighed exasperatedly, "I could just end his life."

After all, she thought, she really could.

Geoffrey chose not to respond to that. He hurried over to Elder Xue's side to support him as he struggled to climb up. Elder Xue sighed, "I'm afraid the eighth-grade world will be the death of me," he said, before being overcome with a coughing fit.

"But I wouldn't know what to do if you died," Geoffrey bewailed.

Geoffrey had been ambitious and self-sufficient before Elder Xue came along, but now, he would feel quite lost without him.

To Geoffrey's surprise, Elder Xue straightened up,

n snuffed out one after another in the tower. Now, he could do nothing but pray fervently.

Four hundred and ten feet...

Four hundred and twenty feet...

Four hundred and thirty feet...

"The Boundless Void World."

Four hundred and forty feet...

Four hundred and fifty feet...

Four hundred and sixty feet...

"The Boundless Secondary World."

Four hundred and seventy feet...

Four hundred and eighty feet...

Four hundred and ninety feet...

"The Boundless Shock World."

Geoffrey passed worlds of higher and higher grades, more and more changing scenery that would have astounded any observer.

His father would have cherished the sights.

Geoffrey, however, grew bored of them quickly. The consecutive drastic change in scenery was exhausting.

"The Boundless Shock World is the twelfth-grade world, a world the closest to perfect. A grade higher, and that would be the Boundless Perfect World..." The little girl was still informing him.

"Have I reached the top?" Geoffrey interrupted her.

"But the thirteenth-grade world, the Boundless Perfect World, can not be restored here. Even Clarence couldn't do that. Therefore, there are only twelve small worlds in the Levitation Tower..." the little girl rattled on, adamant that Geoffrey should know this.

"I just want to know if I've reached the top!" Geoffrey pressed.

Infuriated, the little girl stopped her lecture. "If you had just listened, you would know you are at four hundred and ninety feet, and you will reach the top at the next level. Go on up, then, if you can!" she snapped, a challenge in her voice.