MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 870  Four Pillars: Authority

"Is this… really me?"

Staring at the somewhat blurry reflection of himself on the knife, the young Vaughn stood there in silence as he went over a myriad number of thoughts in his mind.

While going through those thoughts, there were times where the knife he held would move closer to his neck.

Of course, the opposite could also be said as he would look at the knife with a frown from time to time.

By the time a few more minutes had passed, Vaughn had seemingly made up his mind, returning the surgical knife back to where it was as he had come to a conclusion.

"Though there's no one else left in this planet aside from me, that doesn't mean I can't continue the wishes and aspirations of those that once roamed the world."

With that thought lingering in his mind, the man finally grabbed some food and water, eating and drinking enough to barely stave off the immense thirst and hunger he felt.

Then, over the next few days, he gradually increased the amount of food and water he consumed, reminding himself of the possible consequences of deciding to eat or drink too much all of a sudden.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I found out I wouldn't die even if I had no food or water for an absurdly long time," muttered Vaughn to himself with a wry smile.

Deciding to do some experimentation on himself in the future, the man continued to keep up his routine, even going so far as to add a few sessions of mild exercise here and there.

Thankfully, returning to his previous condition took far less time compared to him reaching his lowest low, only spanning a couple of weeks from what Vaughn recorded.

Going through a few basic combat movements, as well as a series of basic strikes, Vaughn tightly clenched his fists in slight satisfaction, sensing that his condition had more or less returned to what it was before.

"I suppose I've pushed back looking through this Apparatus thing I've been given."

As those words left the young Vaughn's mouth, Vaughn decided to pause the memory there, looking at Valyr with a hint of curiosity.

"Did you know that [Immortality] has levels just like [Longevity]?" asked Vaughn out of nowhere, prompting the young man to look back at him as he pondered over it for a bit.

After a minute or so, Valyr faintly nodded with slight uncertainty. "There are four levels, no? The basic one, the intermediate, the high, and the extreme one."

"That's if you're talking about the stages," replied Vaughn with a nod. "There are actually four major boundaries to [Immortality], each having four stages, coming to a total of 16 levels."

"16…" Muttering this number to himself, the young man went over the various enemies and bosses he'd fought alongside others in his past life.

From what he could recall, [Extreme Immortality] was the highest degree of immortality an enemy could have, allowing them to regenerate wounds as if it were nothing.

In fact, Valyr thought that the man before him had [Extreme Immortality], considering how the orc that used to order Vaughn around in the past cut his arm off, yet was able to reattach it back to him without much difficulty.

"Normal, Mythical, Divine, and Primordial," said Vaughn in response to Valyr's murmurs. "Each boundary causes one's degree of immortality to be more outrageous than the last."

Resuming the memory that they were viewing, Vaughn looked at the young Vaughn heading out of the building for a bit before returning his attention to Valyr. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"During this time when I was experimenting with what the system had to offer, I eventually found out that I had been given the skill [Mythical Immortality]."

Saying these words, Vaughn explained that [Mythical Immortality] was the first level of the second boundary, mostly exhibiting similar properties to the [Extreme Immortality] vividly recalled.

However, unlike [Extreme Immortality]…

Whoosh!

Without any warning, Vaughn conjured a blade of energy in the air before using it to decapitate himself.

Puchi!

Watching the man take his own life all of a sudden, Valyr was left at a complete loss for words, his eyes widened in immense disbelief.

Though immortality meant that one was able to live forever, that did not mean that one was invincible from death.

The higher levels of immortality were, in a way, a path that allowed one to become both immortal and invincible.

Yet, even the boss Valyr and his friends fought against in the past eventually succumbed after its head was cut off.

Even though it had access to something like [Extreme Immortality].

Feeling a mix of emotions wash over his body as he had no clue what to do, the young man let out a wide sigh of relief as Vaughn's head began to extend tendrils of flesh out all of a sudden.

With the part where his head was cut off extending tendrils of flesh as well, Vaughn eventually returned to the way he was before, looking at the young man with a slightly amused grin.

"And that's what separates the Mythical boundary of immortality from the previous stage," said Vaughn after giving Valyr some time to readjust. "Unlike [Extreme Immortality], [Mythical Immortality] means you're now immune to death."

Looking at the man beside him in silence for a bit, Valyr eventually asked him a question. "So, even if you did end up taking your life back then, you wouldn't have even died?"

In response, Vaughn bitterly smiled. "To be honest, if I found out that the immortality I was given went that far, I would've probably fallen into deeper despair."

After that, Vaughn gave a brief overview of the two remaining boundaries of immortality, talking about how there was an extent to how immune someone with [Mythical Immortality] was from dying.

When compared to [Mythical Immortality], [Divine Immortality] meant that even if one were turned into specks of dust, one would still be able to regain their previous form.

As for [Primordial Immortality]…

"You'd probably need all of the strongest beings in the entire universe to conspire against you for you to actually die if you had something like that."

"It's that absurd."

Committing all of the information Vaughn had given him to memory, it took a while for Valyr to return his attention to the memory they were viewing, which showed Vaughn finally out of the underground laboratory he holed up in.

Though, unlike the fearful expression he had back then, the young Vaughn now adorned a vigilant expression, hoping to find out how the Apparatus worked.

With a bit of experimentation back in the laboratory, he was able to find out that his physical and mental abilities were quantized into numbers.

Going over the various numbers his screen had shown him, Vaughn wondered whether his stats that were around halfway to 10 points while being at Level 1 was considered high or not.

Aside from that, he found out that he had a few skills that had been seemingly integrated into the system.

Among the skills he had was the [Mythical Immortality] the Arbiters had given him, as well as two passive skills he had gained from running around the beasts and starving himself to death respectively.

Wryly smiling at how all of the skills he had so far had something to do with life, the man roamed the area around the underground laboratory with great vigilance, making use of the newly obtained sixth sense he had gained.

Eventually, he found a wolf-looking beast that radiated an aura that was considerably weaker than his, giving Vaughn the urge to fight against it.

Recalling all of the things he learned on close combat before the complete annihilation of his race, the man eventually charged towards the wolf-like beast, landing a punch that directly made contact with the wolf's abdomen.

Bang!

Surprisingly, that punch alone was enough to send the wolf flying, crashing against the walls of one of the many buildings lining the street he was in.

Staring dazedly at the aftermath of his punch, Vaughn stared at his fist for a bit before hearing a notification sound go off in his mind.

Then, as if the entire situation was the final jigsaw piece he was looking for, everything clicked in Vaughn's mind at that moment.

And with that, he looked at the beasts roaming the streets with a slightly excited grin.

"…I see."

"So, this is what the Apparatus relies on."

And with that, after the one-sided fight with the wolf-like beast had awakened his bloodlust, the young Vaughn had gone into a fighting frenzy,

Reminding himself to keep his hunger and thirst in check, Vaughn gradually went through all of the beasts within the vicinity of the underground laboratory, briefly wondering if the Arbiters had intentionally arranged the beasts this way.

Aside from that, he allocated the experience he obtained from killing the beasts into improving his level, increasing his strength to where he had the confidence to roam the streets that went beyond the underground laboratory.

At some point, he had even begun to gain skills that utilized the limitless energy the Arbiters were talking, giving him the ability to fight against beasts that would have normally been impossible to defeat for his level.

By the time he had gotten used to the existence of the Apparatus, half a year had already passed since the entire population of Veldanyr had been wiped out.

And at that time, he found out that there was more to his system than he initially thought.

Such as the existence of the hidden stat named Authority.