Only two passengers occupied the bus, aside from the driver.
Mike, and James.
They sat at opposite ends, avoiding any interaction, despite being alumni of the same high school. Awkward.
“New York Superpower University! Everybody off!”
The doors hissed open, and the two disembarked, heading in opposite directions.
Most students, like James, had to go through another round of selection and elimination to secure a spot.
Only the top three from each sector at summer camp received automatic admission.
Following the instructions on his acceptance letter, Mike found the registration office and completed the new student enrollment process. Easy peasy.
“Mike, you’ve been assigned to Class 3, 46th cohort. Your dorm is in South Sector A105. Here’s your student ID, dorm key…” The instructor handed Mike a folder. “Your assigned upperclassman is Kaelum. The records show you two know each other… Kaelum! Over here!”
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
“Mike! You’re here!” Kaelum rushed over, surprised to see Mike so soon after summer camp.
“I’ll show you to your dorm. Classes don’t start until tomorrow.”
Kaelum led Mike to the South Sector dorms, a row of… single-family homes.
“You call *this* a dorm?” Mike raised an eyebrow. A single student in each of these luxurious villas seemed… excessive.
“Land is cheap, and houses go up in minutes. Why cram everyone together?” Kaelum said matter-of-factly.
The Tower of Truth had not only boosted humanity’s overall power levels but also led to an explosion in productivity.
Even construction had become ridiculously efficient.
What used to require a hundred workers could now be done by a single person!
If it weren’t for the constant threat of the Abyss, human life would be even more ridiculously convenient.
Kaelum gave Mike a quick rundown of the university, leaving him with a map before rushing off.
Mike’s first day was free time, a chance to explore the campus and get his bearings.
Class assignments and instructor details would be finalized later, once the new student roster was complete.
Just as boredom began to set in, Mike’s Trade Secret Realm pass buzzed.
“Fourth Bro, you in New York?”
“Yep. What’s up?”
“Can we meet in person?”
“Sure.”
Moments later, space warped before Mike, a gold coin materialized, and Foreskin stepped
out.
If Foreskin wanted a face-to-face meeting, it could only mean one thing: Apollo-related business.
Foreskin looked around Mike’s villa, nodding approvingly. “This is a new building. Decent defense systems. Even a peak Chief wouldn’t be able to scratch it…”
“Peak Chief?!” Mike’s eyes widened in alarm. “So, any random Lord could just… demolish this place?!”
“We could upgrade the defenses, but it wouldn’t make much of a difference,” Foreskin said. “Even if it could withstand a Lord’s attack, would you feel safe? You’re way stronger than a Lord now!”
Mike paused, considering this. He shook his head.
“No.”
“Exactly.” Foreskin pointed at the wall. “It’s all about cost-benefit analysis. Even Nine-Star Lord level defenses are meaningless for you. And upgrading it to withstand someone like Maxen… that would break the bank.”
“Ugh, I should have just skipped university,” Mike sighed. “I could have built a cabin in the Forest of Truth and lived off the grid.”
Mike’s comment gave Foreskin an idea. “I could build you a teleportation array, connecting directly to the outskirts of the Forest of Truth!”
“Now you’re talking!” Mike’s eyes lit up. “I need to visit Apollo for my weekly therapy sessions anyway.”
Foreskin’s eyebrow twitched.
Thor’s enthusiasm was never a good sign.
Judging by his tone, Thor wasn’t planning on paying for the teleportation array.
“Let’s get down to business.” Putting the teleportation array aside, Foreskin turned serious. “I spoke with Ares. He has a solution.”
“And that is?”
“Have Apollo visit the Abyss. Ares wants to see for himself what’s going on.”
Mike nodded. “Any news from Shadow Nine?”
“Not yet.” Foreskin shook his head. “Afterskin hasn’t caught up with Shadow Nine. It’ll take some time. However, I did consult with Professor Gregory. He has a theory.”
“I’m all ears.” Mike perked up.
Professor Gregory’s theories were usually spot on.
Mike had forgotten about Professor Gregory. He and Shadow Nine had collaborated extensively on Soul Element research.
Professor Gregory had even played a role in Shadow Nine taking Apollo as his student.
In a way, Professor Gregory was Apollo’s unofficial mentor.
And Apollo’s respect for Professor Gregory spoke volumes.
“Professor Gregory believes my boss is having an existential crisis. He’s trying to figure out if he’s a cloud or a butterfly,” Foreskin explained. “His robe reflects his state of mind. It was originally blank. The clouds appeared after Shadow Nine took him as his student. Now, there’s a butterfly. This suggests that my boss is currently leaning towards… butterfly.” Mike frowned. “Is that a good thing?”
“Not necessarily…” Foreskin sighed. “If my boss fully embraces his butterfly identity, the butterfly on his robe might… come to life. And then, who knows? Will the Supreme Being be my boss, or the butterfly…?”
—
Inside the villa, Mike and Foreskin sat on the sofa, their expressions grim.
“Foreskin, elaborate on Professor Gregory’s theory. I need more details.”
Mike’s inner thoughts: I’m completely lost.
“It’s like this…” Foreskin knew this wasn’t a simple matter. “This concerns my boss’s origins.
You have to keep this confidential.”
Origins?
Mike smirked inwardly.
He was a transmigrator, and he wasn’t going around bragging about it.
Could Apollo’s origins be even more mind-blowing than that?
Foreskin scattered a handful of gold coins, sealing the surrounding space with his Sea of
Truth.
“Three hundred years ago, the Tower of Truth descended…” he began.
Mike knew this was going to be a long story.
Apollo’s origins went back three hundred years?
Did he awaken his talent at the ripe old age of 200?
He hoped this was actual history and not just another one of Shadow Nine’s fabricated tales…
“After the Tower of Truth appeared, humanity assembled the first exploration team. Gregory was a member.” Foreskin hesitated, then asked, “Fourth Bro, do you know who else was on
that team?”
“I only know Morpheus and Gregory were there. That’s it.” Mike shook his head. “Even if I knew more, I wouldn’t trust Shadow Nine’s version of events.”
Everyone knew Shadow Nine had a habit of fabricating history.
And the Eye of Truth was surprisingly unhelpful when it came to information directly related
to the Tower of Truth.
It was great for tackling the tower’s challenges.
But when it came to human secrets, especially those involving Supreme Beings, the Eye of
Truth clammed up.
Foreskin seemed relieved by Mike’s answer. “Professor Gregory was on the team because he was a leading scientist, a Nobel laureate, a brilliant physicist and astronomer. He was the obvious choice to lead the exploration team. However, Morpheus wasn’t initially part of the team. Professor Gregory’s team tried everything, but they couldn’t enter the Tower of Truth. Not until Morpheus arrived…”
Mike frowned. “So, Morpheus opened the Tower of Truth?”
“Not only that,” Foreskin said, his expression grim. “To be precise, only Morpheus could
enter the Tower of Truth at first. It was only after a while that the rest of us could enter.” Foreskin didn’t know what had transpired during that period.
But he knew that Morpheus had played a crucial role in making the Tower of Truth accessible
to everyone.
Mike interrupted, confused. “Wait, we’re talking about Apollo, right? What does this have to
do with the Tower of Truth?”
Foreskin’s voice was tinged with bitterness. “That’s the thing. My boss only ‘arrived’ in this
world after the Tower of Truth appeared.”
Mike: ??? “You mean… transmigration?” Mike’s voice was steady, betraying no emotion.
Oh no, was Apollo another Earthling?
Mike had once read a web novel where all the powerful figures turned out to be
transmigrators, some even related by blood.
Surely, such a cliché wouldn’t happen to him?
“Uh, transmigration? What’s that?” Foreskin looked confused. “The prevailing theory is that
my boss is an alien.”
Mike was even more confused now.
“Aliens? How did *that* happen?”
This was getting weirder by the minute. Foreskin sighed, starting from the beginning. “My boss wasn’t originally from Earth. Three
hundred years ago, when the Tower of Truth appeared, he suddenly materialized on Earth. A kind soul took him in, and he lived in a church, performing divinations. A hundred years ago, nearing the end of his natural lifespan, he awakened his talent, entered the Tower of Truth, and became humanity’s third Supreme Being.”
Mike listened in silence, processing Apollo’s… unusual biography.
“This doesn’t make sense. Alien or not, no one noticed anything strange when he suddenly
appeared in America?”
According to Foreskin, Apollo had first appeared on Earth as a teenager, not far from the Tower of Truth.
Had no one noticed anything… unusual about him? “Actually, someone did. Nathan,” Foreskin admitted. “Nathan spoke with my boss, even had
his fortune told. In the end, he asked Morpheus to erase all traces of my boss’s existence,
allowing him to live in the church undisturbed for two hundred years.”
That made sense.
“What did Apollo do while he was in hiding?” Mike asked.
“He contemplated a question. And that question is the key to everything.”
Mike knew what the question was: Was he a cloud, or a butterfly? Foreskin’s expression turned grave. “The butterfly my boss has been contemplating… it’s not
an ordinary butterfly. To put it simply, my boss believes this butterfly has the power to create
worlds. It’s the embodiment of the world’s source. And it’s the source of my boss’s power.”
Power? Mike was skeptical.
Foreskin continued, “If my boss decides he *is* the butterfly, then ‘Apollo’ is just a dream.
The butterfly is real. He’ll revert to his original form, becoming the world’s source.”
Apollo would cease to exist. That was unacceptable. “What about the other scenario?” Mike asked urgently.
“If my boss decides he’s *not* the butterfly, he’ll wake up from his dream and become an
ordinary person. And the butterfly… will vanish.”
Mike gasped. “Are you kidding me? Either way, he’s screwed!”
Once Apollo made up his mind, the dream would end, and the butterfly would disappear.
The power derived from the butterfly would vanish along with it.
In short:
The more Apollo believed he was the butterfly, the stronger he became.
The more he believed he was Apollo, the weaker he became.
It was a tug-of-war that had lasted for three centuries.
“And that’s the best-case scenario. If that power doesn’t vanish, but instead… escapes my
boss’s control…” Foreskin sighed. “The consequences would be… catastrophic.”