8: A God's End
(Sorry for the late update. A 'Spontaneous IRL Quest' came my way. This chapter was also really hard to write. Fuck this chapter.)
(IMPORTANT: This chapter is jam-packed with Lore to the extreme, so buckle up, get some coffee, and read it slowly.
I could've dragged out the lore for the MC to unravel slowly but I wanted the MC to live in the present and look forward to the future rather than just mull over his past all the time.
A lot of the lore is inspired by many web novels that I've read throughout the years, most prominently the endings of 'Pocket Hunting Dimension' and 'I Can Track Everything'.
I will be updating the synopsis to shout out all the novels that inspired 'GRTBD'. I didn't do it before cause my knucklehead made the Novel Title way too obvious, adding more to the synopsis would just spoil things even more.
Also don't worry about the jargon and different terms that are used in this chapter. They will all be introduced properly when their time comes in the far future.)
--------------------------------------------
[Emergency Protocol Activated!]
'What the fuck is happening all of a sudden!'
[Host's consciousness has been transported to an Isolated Space!]
'Fuck! Am I in trouble?!'
Welp, it was a short but sweet run…
[*Sigh* Calm down, nothing is happening to you.]
'Huh?!'
The system voice was still monotone as always, but for some reason, I felt a bit of humanity in it right now… I instinctively had an idea about who was behind this voice.
[It's good that you're quick on the uptake but it's also backfiring on me right now…]
'Who are you?'
[Don't act, you already know. We wouldn't be having this conversation if you didn't.]
'Tsk, a proper introduction wouldn't hurt now would it? You should know that I have a lot of questions.'
[Just listen carefully to what I have to say. You have already figured out your origin now, so keeping the full picture a mystery doesn't make any sense. It would rather only needlessly waste your time and energy.]
[Most of your questions will be answered as you hear a brief summary of my history, Our history. After me, you will be the only one to know it, if you wish to keep it a secret.]
'Okay… go on'
Beggars can't be choosers. I could only shut my mouth and listen. I didn't want to waste his time by questioning, only for him to go 'Time was limited so that's all you'll get~'. I've seen enough of that shit on tv shows.
[As you have already surmised, I am you and you are me. I am one of your past reincarnations but now I am nothing more than a temporary shadow residing in the system, that the 'original me' left behind.]
[I was someone with the potential to become a God in my mortal days, but because my Universe was of a 'Low Grade' and was extremely poor, I always lacked meaningful resources to grow.]
[Even after scouring a large part of my universe, I couldn't find much.]
[I was dissatisfied with the status quo that had been going on for millennia and foolishly used a forbidden 'Path' to take a step towards Godhood, one that I would later regret.]
[Path of Seers]
[It let me have the power I wanted with little to no resources, but in return, it was slowly chipping away at my humanity. Gradually turning me into an emotionless husk. It was the price I had to pay, and initially, I was content with it. The 'Path of Seers' gave me clearer insights into Causality and the 'Nature of the Multiverse' as opposed to other 'Paths'.]
[After I attained my initial Low-Level Godhood, I could finally escape my Universe and see what the Multiverse had to offer, on my own. So I explored other more resourceful and powerful Universes. At that time, the erosion of my emotions was minimal and I didn't feel much of a difference.]
[Because of my 'Path of Seers', I could avoid 'Chaos' and disasters with ease. I could even gauge where opportunities lie for me. It helped me increase my own power and collect more and more resources for myself. I was slowly letting my guard down towards the 'Path of Seers', unfortunately so.]
[During my travels to different Universes, I felt an opportunity for me in one of the Universes. That opportunity led me to find a pair of orphaned girls who had incredible potential but had no resources nor knowledge to make full use of it.]
'!!!'
[Yes, they were Lora and Lana.]
[I deeply empathized with them as they were in the same situation as me. They were also very adorable and good-natured kids who I just didn't have the heart to ignore.]
[On that fateful day, I adopted both of them as my daughters and disciples.]
[I had already collected a lot of resources at that point. Enough to at least make them Low-Level Gods, through the normal 'Path of Ascension'. So I settled in their Universe and took care of them.]
[In that period, most of my attention went towards taking care of them, ignoring my own progress, and fortunately so. I didn't know at that time that the erosion of my emotions would accelerate even more, the further I got into the 'Path of Seers'.]
[Those were the happiest and most memorable years that I had ever lived. From simple empathy, my feelings for the girls slowly changed into 'love from a parent'. I also knew that they loved me, even to the verge of breaking taboos, but I barely controlled their budding feelings from erupting.]
[ Centuries later, Lora and Lana, both successfully ascended to Godhood. We could finally leave that Universe and travel as a family, even if the dynamics were starting to get a bit skewed.]
[But those happy times didn't last long. Lora and Lana were now full-fledged Gods. They already had all the knowledge I could give them. They could walk on their own two feet without much of my assistance. With this extra time, I started to concentrate on myself to progress my own cultivation.]
[Eventually, I progressed to a Mid-Level God, but that was also when everything directly crumbled for me.]
[Just after my breakthrough, almost all my feelings and emotions started to wane from me. In a frenzy, I could only try my best to hold onto my most precious ones. But I knew that even they would eventually slip off from me if I didn't do something about it quickly.]
[Lora and Lana didn't know of my condition and I kept it that way. I acted in front of them like how I would usually act from the recollections of my past memories. But it was all just a meticulous facade.]
[Time was of the essence so I started to scour for any opportunity I could find wherever I traveled in the Multiverse, in hopes of finding a solution.]
[At the very least, I could connect with the Causality of the Multiverse a lot better, now that I had progressed in the 'Path of Seers'. Making my search a lot easier. Even if I couldn't find my own solution, I was still collecting a lot of resources for the girls. That thought gave me some solace.]
[Lora and Lana started to notice the oddities in me at some point. Specifically, the urgency I had in my actions and that I wasn't cultivating anymore. They asked me about it, to which I could only lie that I was facing a roadblock in my cultivation. The last thing I wanted was for them to know that I was almost an emotionless husk inside.]
[My search continued for a long time. I could also feel those precious few emotions I had slowly slipping out of my hands, as time passed.]
[Now only my love for Lora and Lana was left. I was grasping at it with all my might but even that was showing signs of leaving me. Everything was getting colder and colder for me.]
[Just as I was on the verge of losing it all, I sensed an incredible opportunity for me, practically gleaming at me. Its location was unusual. Rather than being within the bounds of a Universe, it was outside, in the Primordial Void.]
[I was already grasping for straws at that point and didn't care about its location. I traveled nonstop towards it, leaving Lora and Lana behind since they were too slow compared to a Mid-Level God like myself.]
[When I came to the location, I found a head-sized luminescent 'Orb' with power levels that even I as a Mid-Level God couldn't comprehend. Even a collection of hundreds of Gods couldn't compare to the power levels that 'Orb' was showing.]
[If there was one thing that being emotionless helped with, it was that I had forgotten how to feel afraid. I didn't care what would happen to me at this point. My 'self' was already on the brink of collapse.]
[Through reading Causality, I had already deduced that many other Gods would be coming towards this location at any moment.]
[I didn't delay my actions even for a second. I grabbed onto the 'Orb' and flew away. Thankfully, although the 'Orb' was extremely heavy and took some time to gain inertia, it was relatively stable and didn't explode on me.]
[I tried to get the 'Orb' into my spatial dimension but it just didn't go inside no matter how I tried. I tried to teleport along with it but that didn't seem possible either.]
[I could only try my best to conceal the Orb's power signatures as I flew away. But I knew that this strategy wouldn't work for long against the perception of other Gods.]
[Suddenly, I felt a 'thought' being conveyed to me. The source was something that every God had some level of familiarity with.]
[It was the 'Great Will of the Multiverse'.]
[The 'thought' had no language but I understood exactly what it wanted to convey, in full detail.]
[The 'Great Will' knew of my situation and even knew of what I was holding. The 'Great Will' didn't withhold any information from me and told me exactly what that 'Orb' was.]
[It was a Seed. A Seed of a Universe.]
[It was a Seed of a 'Mid Grade' Universe but its power was exponentially close to a 'High Grade' one. The Seed's consciousness had been too ambitious and tried replicating a 'High Grade' Universe.]
[Needless to say, it had miserably failed even at the first step. The failure resulted in the complete destruction of its consciousness.]
[Now only its core structure and power reserve were left behind. That was the 'Orb']
[According to the 'Great Will', my condition didn't have any proper solution since my emotions were eroding at every level, from my body to my soul. But it proposed something to me.]
[The 'Great Will of the Multiverse' wanted to make a deal with me.]
[According to the deal, I would be taking part in an experiment for the 'Great Will'. I was eligible for that experiment because I had both of the main 'ingredients': my 'Path of Seers' and a 'Disabled Seed of a Universe'.]
[In return, if the experiment succeeds, my emotions could get regenerated and I could even have a Seed of a Universe infused into me.]
[I knew that there was a 'Price' that I had to pay that the 'Great Will' hadn't mentioned yet. After the last time with the 'Path of Seers', if there was anything that I had learned, it was to never underestimate the 'Price'.]
[I didn't give any confirmation to the deal but asked the 'Great Will' to hide my whereabouts from the other Gods for now, to which the 'Great Will' surprisingly complied without any qualms.]
[I flew away and sought refuge within the bounds of the Universe where Lora and Lana were staying. All the while the 'Great Will' concealed me and the Seed from any prying eyes, even Lora and Lana's.]
[Now that I was safe, the 'Great Will' transferred more 'thoughts' into me. Proper information and details of the deal unraveling to me.]
[The bare bones of the deal was to reincarnate again and again, for thousands upon thousands of times. Each reincarnation, my soul would get more and more in tune with the 'Seed', and would slowly heal.]
[But there were two major problems with the plan.]
[Firstly, the whole process would need an immense amount of 'Causality'. 'Causality' that even I as a Mid-Level God couldn't afford. Secondly, my last reincarnation will have the memories of all my reincarnations. Their lives, their relations, their deaths, everything.]
[The 'Great Will' had proposed that I could circumvent the cost of 'Causality' by making all my reincarnations 'work' for 'It'. To make them all a sacrificial lamb for the worlds that I would be reincarnating in.]
[But that didn't cover the other major problem but exaggerated it further. I would have memories of so many lives, so many miserable lives. But I also didn't have much of a choice either. I could either let my body live out without any sense of self or I could take this leap]
[I chose the latter]
[But I had to negotiate with the 'Great Will of the Multiverse' and tune up the details of our deal. ]
[I knew that no living being could live with so many memories from the get-go. Those memories had to be disseminated safely, with as many failsafe as possible, or else my last reincarnation would become mad or even braindead.]
[While I was at it, I requested even more conveniences for my last reincarnation. Each tune-up costing me even more 'Causality', in turn making my reincarnations' lives even more miserable. But it had to be done, I didn't want my last reincarnation to be born lacking resources just like myself.]
[And thus, the basic architecture of this System was born and the deal was finalized.]
[I didn't have much time left so I could only leave the System's details and workings to be fleshed out by the 'Great Will of the Multiverse' itself, I had faith in 'It'. There were also more important things that I had to do in my remaining time.]
[Saying farewell to my dear Lora and Lana]
[The 'Great Will' had already taken the Seed away from me after the deal was made. So I freely teleported to the girls.]
[I didn't tell them the truth. Knowing them, they would most likely twist all the facts and blame themselves for my reason to reincarnate.]
[I continued with my lie of having a roadblock and twisted my deal with the 'Great Will' in line with my lie. Trying to convince them that I was doing all of this for power.]
[Only my love for them was left in me at that point. If possible, I wanted them to live their own lives happily and move on from me, since my reincarnations would take an astronomical amount of time, even from the perspective of a God. It would be too much for my girls.]
[But this love was also very hypocritical and paradoxical.]
[I told them that they would be notified about my last reincarnation, when it happens, and where it happens. It was a part of my deal with the 'Great Will of the Multiverse']
[One part of me wanted them to move on from me but the other didn't want to lose them. I knew that this would be torturous for them but what could I do. My love for them was the only thing left in me, it dictated all my actions, even if they were contradictory.]
[But some rationality did come through to me at my last moments and I made them vow to never tell my last reincarnation about his origin and his past. I was only a verbal vow, I didn't want them to be incriminated if they ever made a mistake.]
[The vow was to ensure that they would have enough time to make their decision about the 'new me' and not feel obligated to be with him if they didn't like him. They also didn't know the truth behind what really happened and would only further confuse my last reincarnation with the lies I had told them.]
[My time was up after that. The 'Great Will' slowly turned my body to ashes. The last sight I saw was of Lora and Lana's crying and distraught faces]
[One part of me felt hurt seeing them like this, but the other one felt jubilant about the fact that I felt hurt seeing them like this.]
[It meant that my love for them was still preserved to my last moments.]
[And so my journey ended.]
[And now yours has begun.]
--------------------------------------------
Too tired to write a skit. You can leave a Power Stone if you want to, no pressure.