25 Volume 3 - Chapter 1 (1/2)

Check out Volume 2 of Reborn: Apocalypse on Amazon for the completed story before this!

IMPORTANT: The last part of Volume 2 has Micheal leaving the First Layer! If you do not remember that, do not read further!

This is the link for the American site: bit.ly/WizBook2

For other nations, simply search ”Reborn: Apocalypse” on Amazon to find my series!

The story below will contain the events after Volume 2 finished, a rough draft uploaded to get feedback from my open beta-readers, to correct typos, and to share :)

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Alone in a sea of green stood a tree. Ancient and proud, stretching upwards towards the sky as if to say even the sun itself was not worthy of making it bow, this tree had stood unbending for centuries. Its bark was withered and grey, but carried within it a strength to last generations more. The leaves on its branches were a dull green, carrying little color but holding on to life nevertheless.

Around this tree, the sea of grass spread out for hundreds of miles. This lone tree was joined by thousands of others, spread out roughly 5 to 8 meters apart in irregular patterns. Some trees were taller than others, while some were shorter or fatter. This particular tree was set farther apart than all the others, roughly 15 meters away.

There was nothing particularly special about this tree, apart from its oddly tall, unbreaking posture and its lone stature. It was calm and quiet, still and silent, carrying a presence that was both subtle and overwhelming at the same time.

Its quiet stillness was destined to come to an abrupt end, as fate would have it.

A quiet flash of light warped the air around this tall tree. This light fled just a moment later, leaving behind a robed and masked figure.

The figure stood at an above-average height and wore a set of unassuming green robes. The mask he wore covered his face completely, a simple white mask that revealed a pair of gleaming blue eyes.

This masked man sat up as soon as he appeared, getting to his feet in an instant. His head snapped to the left and the right as he looked around carefully.

In the background, many voices could be heard. Some were joyful and excited, while others were worried and confused. If one focused, they would be able to pick out hundreds of distinct voices, coming from all over.

'Hmm. Well, it looks like I made it to the Spawning Grounds successfully.' Micheal thought, his eyes narrowing.

The area looked exactly the same as it had when he arrived here before. Tens of thousands of trees and a huge field, stretching as far as the eye could see.

This was where every human that came from the First Layer appeared after reaching the 'Subway' exit. There wasn't any magical trial one had to conquer to leave the 'Subway.' All you had to do was sit on a bench.

As Micheal finished studying his surroundings, he took a deep breath and then exhaled.

Just like that, he had made it to the Second Layer.

After a moment, Micheal frowned beneath his mask as he reached up and tapped on it lightly.

'Did it mess it up?' Micheal's emotions were calm as he tapped on his Spatial Ring, pulling out a small glass mirror.

He quickly pulled off his white mask and looked into the mirror, keeping his face concealed while he did so.

After a moment, however, he smiled, storing the mirror away. He didn't put the mask back on, but instead stored it too, and strapped a longsword to his waist.

'Good. It stayed.' Instead of Micheal's normal smiling visage, a slightly tan, handsome appearance that he had known for most of his life, made slightly more muscular by all the training he'd been through on the First, Micheal's face had changed.

His face had grown slightly thinner and far paler, gaining a sort of ethereal quality. His eyes gleamed lightly from the Ki energy in his body, matching a warm smile. The hints of muscle in his face had become slightly more delicate, though still present.

But the biggest and most obvious change of note was the huge, red splotch that covered 2/3rds of his face, starting on his right side and marring his appearance. A giant, pale red birthmark that, combined with the other changes, made him completely unrecognizable.

Micheal picked a specific direction to walk in and began to stride forward, leaving his tree immediately. His thoughts focused on these changes, still pleased with what he saw.

The teleportation between the First Layer and the Second Layer was magical. The process of it would heal any cuts or slashes you had, help set any broken bones or other injuries, even fatal ones. Through the same metric, it would also heal any injuries to the Soul one had.

This had been particularly important to Micheal because, before he left the First Layer, he had been sure to practically rend his Soul practicing with Master Tier Sword Energy.

After all, his boosted Soul stat would only last while on the First Layer. After he got to the Second Layer, the boost vanished, the power of his Soul returning to normal.

The baptism of so much Master Tier Sword Energy, however, was immensely helpful for helping adapt Micheal's Soul to use the deadly power as early, and with as little energy as possible.

'That probably saved me at least a month of training.' He felt at his Soul, feeling its flexibility and resilience. It didn't increase the power of his Soul, but definitely made progress in adapting it to using Master Tier Sword Energy. He had used a rather voracious amount, such that he was almost sent into a coma.

However, as he knew, the teleportation between Layers would also heal physical injuries… and that was why Micheal had quickly checked his face when he arrived, and worn a mask beforehand.

The huge, new birthmark he had on his face was from using a rather simple poison formula that was known to permanently stain one's flesh. Its effects looked nearly identical to a regular birthmark. The poison itself originated from a rather famous incident in the future.

It also had the side effect of making his skin paler and having a few 'beauty-ifying' effects, like making his face and body look less muscular.

Because of the way the birthmark appeared and these changes took place, Micheal hadn't been sure if it would stay on his face. Thankfully, it seemed like it had. He was also confident that he could get his Life Orbs to not heal the birthmark or revert these changes when he died.

The Orbs would 'heal' him by restoring him to his normal capacity. As long as his body viewed all of this as 'normal,' it would remain this way. He would only have to convince his body that it wasn't 'normal' later if he wanted to revert back to normal.

This was all rough conjecture that needed testing, but Micheal felt like it was an accurate assessment. That said, he should probably stay alive for as long as possible to give his body time to get used to it.

Thus, he now had an appearance that very few people would recognize.

'Hmm…' Micheal surveyed his surroundings as he walked, ignoring the people that popped up all around him.

It was around the middle of the morning on the Second Layer. Tons of people on the First would be sneaking into Subways to move on to the Second Layer, creating a rather constant supply of people popping up at various Spawning Trees.

Most of those people would excitedly fall to the ground, hugging the grass and trees. Many would cry or celebrate, jumping for joy at escaping the vile nightmare that was the First Layer. All around, Micheal could hear such cheers and merriment, raw joy and happiness.

Micheal only sighed when he saw that. He wondered if he had been like that when he first got here.

If the First Layer was a nightmare, then the Second Layer was hell itself.

'Not yet, though. Not yet.' Micheal clenched his fists, emotion cindering in his eyes.

'I can fix it, like I did the First. And this time, no failures.' His mouth twisted as he thought about the one huge stain on his record.

The death of the Godfather, Cameron, a good man he had failed to save.