Chapter 32

Me: Alright, time to see if this works.

I was holding a ring that was filled with experience worth 50 levels (from 1 to 50) and the other, Invidia’s Mirror.

Me: Pray this works…

As the item activated, the mirror disappeared and in my other hand appeared a perfect copy of the ring with…

Me: As expected. We programmed the mirror to copy every line of data…the exp is copied as well.

This was all we needed to hear. We took out our personal exp rings and copied them.

Diana: Cheers. Here goes nothing.

For the first time in almost forever, we activated our rings (copied ones) and I felt…

*ding* *ding* *ding* *ding* *ding* *ding* *error* *error*

*Experience earned has caused an anomaly*

*Experience earned has caused an anomaly*

*Experience earned has caused an anomaly—

*Experience earned has caused——

*Experience—-bzzz. Bzzz*

??: Congratulations, you girls found a way to beat the system. While I would have liked you two to stay mortals for a much longer period and mess up this world as well, this is also an acceptable result. The fact that you remain my Netflix episodes will not change either way. Anyway, I’m here to congratulate you on your immortality.

Me: …what?

I looked around to see a familiar space. A completely white space with just a glowing ball of light. But this time, we weren’t just souls drifting around but rather we still had our avatars with us.

??: Your souls, or rather your very existence has changed. Could you feel it?

Something WAS different…but I couldn’t really place it.

??: Then let me explain. Everything is your own power now. All the magic, skills, and stuff you did came from something else…except your haki. The Devil Fruit powers you use will come from you. It will no longer be from the powers of the fruit you have consumed. The magic and other skills you have used, you are no longer borrowing from the tree. You are your own source and origin for magic. Kind of fitting of a World Dragon and an Arcane Goddess, don’t you think?

Diana: Wait, does that mean we have to relearn everything?

??: No, I just mean that you have new limits—yourself. But the fact that you two are already so crazy powerful kind of defeats the purpose. But congratulations.

Diana: Alright, that’s good. Now we won’t be bullied by the contract anymore. But here’s the real question, how do we get stronger from here? Why are the immortals who are supposed to have infinite amounts of time so weak? At least most of them.

??: Bottlenecks of power. Almost all immortals are born immortals. Actually in this Universe, you two are the only ones who have achieved immortality by breaking through the barrier. Now, what if you were born like Kizaru? From the moment of birth.

Me: Enel Effect… I become confident in my strength and never see reason to grow

??: Mostly. They’ve always been the strongest so there’s no reason for them to pursue more strength. Besides, it’s much harder. Your infinite exp rings won’t help you anymore. Gaining experience to get stronger, or leveling up, was a system created by the World Tree. You’re free from it now. It won’t do anything.

Diana: Then how do we improve? We’re not dumb enough to assume that we’re going to be the strongest things out there. You’ve said most immortals, not all immortals. We want the entire truth.

??: Norse mythology and Christianity. Both of them have gods or God. They use the same word but they’re different aren’t they?

Me: Obviously

??: As I said, immortals aren’t bound by anything, thus they are free to do whatever they wish. Yet this also comes with a downside. They are no longer able to be held in a contract or system that allows them to grow stonger…except one small thing in common.

Diana: Faith?

??: Faith. Becoming the object or worship.

Me: I don’t like the sound of that. I’m not a big fan of creating another Slane Theocracy

??: Here’s the thing. The strongest immortals out there in the cosmos aren’t gods you people have worshipped. They found other ways for themselves to gain strength. Ways that are different for every immortal.

Diana: Simple please

??: Think of faith as something like gravity. It’s extremely weak. So weak, but the more you have it the more powerful you get. But here’s the thing. The power of faith is like electricity and you are the battery. If you don’t get continuous stream of faith, you will be drained of your power. Did I mention that it’s incredibly weak as well? So yeah, don’t put it as your main source for power.

Me: There has to be something in common though, for immortals who manage to get stronger without relying on faith of the masses.

??: It’s quite ambiguous and you won’t fully understand it. Possibly never will. But here is the key to strength. The more authority you have, the stronger you will be.

Diana: What authority? In the Universe? Authority where?

??: I told you, you won’t be able to understand it yet. Possibly never will. Immortals who have grown in power have more often stumbled upon understanding than figuring out what it means.

Me: …I don’t understand and honestly I don’t want to. But tell me about the World Tree. We’ve met her but we didn't get a chance to talk to her for long. Tell us her story and her influence on us.

??: She gave you her ‘authority’ but now it is perfectly yours. It is synchronized and in harmony with you who are.

Me: But what does it do?

??: Anything, who know? This isn’t a game anymore Kara. Fire Elementals won’t just spit fire when they become immortal. What she gave you wasn’t a devil fruit that allows you to perform a special function. What she gave you was her ‘authority’

Me: There’s that word again.

??: Well then, let me give you something you can understand then. All your powers are your own. In other words, the strict borders you had to obey are now nonexistent. You can bend and make your own rules with your power.

Diana: I’m still kind of lost.

??: Fine then. But let me give you one advice. Try and study the world. Understand it’s secrets. Look beyond what is shown and bend it to your advantage. The better you are able to do that is part of what it means to have ‘authority’.

Me: Alright. I guess we do have eternity to think about it. But what do we do now? We’ve achieved what we reincarnated for. I honestly didn’t think I’d achieve it so easily and early on.

??: Honestly, me too. You girls were more creative and abusive with your powers than I thought.

Me: It’s the power of capitalism and corruption.

??: Just 200 years ago you girls were getting rid of every hint of corruption.

Diana: Desperate times call for desperate needs. But see, it payed off.

??: It did indeed. I’ll send you back, but now, nothing really changed. You girls will continue to be yourselves and entertain me. Being immortal also means being bored a lot. So have some fun and know that plot armor is on your side.

Diana: It feels strange. What are we supposed to do now? We achieved what we came for.

??: Are you kidding me? You girls didn't even know stuff like this existed less than 50 years ago and you were doing fine. Just do what you want to. Do what you've always done. This time, with freedom and a hell of a lot more power.

Me: Thanks, I guess…but seeing you like this for the 3rd time…? Can we be friends? Officially?

??: How many times do you think I’ve helped you? I’ve saved you girls more times than you have fingers.

Me: Then give me a proper name to call you. We’ve known each other for over 4000 years. I don’t know about you but for me it’s a pretty long time.

??: Maybe another time

I blinked and we found ourselves back in Society.

Diana: Well, I guess that officially means that we're immortal

Me: It feels kind of unreal. I don’t really feel anything different at the moment.