Note: Be sure that you finished reading Volume 2 to the end before you read Volume 3's rough draft here!

Volume 2 ended with Micheal leaving the First Layer. If you don't remember that... go read Volume 2 over!

You can find the edited story live on Amazon here: https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B07RNNJB8K

For other nations, simply search "Reborn: Apocalypse" in the Amazon search bar and it should pop up.

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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.

He had started a mental list with Cameron's name at the top, vowing to never forget him, or anyone else he failed.

Micheal rubbed his forehead, wanting nothing more than to lay down and rest. For him, it had only been a few hours since Cameron died.

In that time, he had spawned a new Life Orb, written out several long messages for Shin and Sophia, a private message for the Seer, and one for Doctor Isaiah as well. There was much that needed to be done on the First Layer still, but it was now within very reasonable levels. He had laid a powerful enough foundation, especially for the billions of people that had yet to arrive.

Humanity would have a very real chance this time around.

The others could finish it up, especially with Shin and Sophia behind to handle those last few tasks. He, in the meantime, needed to move on to the Second Layer. He didn’t have a minute to waste, not if he wanted to stop the Great Disaster. There was much to do before they came up and rejoined him.

After walking for a few miles, Micheal passed several large crowds of humans standing around a stage. There were hundreds of similar stages set up at various spots within the Spawning Grounds, each one with several speakers talking into a microphone.

New Chosen that had just reached the Second Layer would naturally congregate there, full of questions and worries. No one that made it to the Second Layer was naive, and many were suspicious. However, the idea of free information on an unknown, and likely dangerous world, was a draw few people could ignore.

Micheal ignored them completely as he walked directly past several groups, his eyes zeroing in on a small, stone wall in the distance.

This wall encircled a large ‘Camp’ or basically a village where new Chosen could stay after they arrived in the Spawning Ground. The wall was well maintained, but only 3 meters tall, making it very clear that it wasn’t a serious defensive wall. It likely only kept out small animals and nuisances.

The Spawning Grounds were huge, one of the few strongholds of humanity on the Second Layer. There were hundreds of these Camps spread out along the Spawning Grounds, each one able to hold tens of thousands of humans if need be.

‘It’s not enough for the Fourth Wave.’ Micheal frowned when he realized that. Humanity was woefully unprepared to deal with each increasing wave, especially as billions of people began pouring through.

He had come early compared to most Fourth Wavers, but these facilities would likely reach their maximum capacity in just a few months, perhaps sooner.

As Micheal kept walking, he began to adjust to the gravity of the Second Layer.

His body felt heavier, every movement taking more energy and effort for the same result. If the gravity of the First Layer had been roughly equivalent to Earth’s, the gravity of the Second Layer was around 35% stronger.

It was a very sizable increase for people that weren’t used to such changes. Regular people would likely find it intolerable and develop all sorts of health issues. But as long as you had some physical boosting ability from the Shop, Ki Cultivation being the clear winner, it was bearable.

This 35% change had to do with the law of gravity itself, and how the math of gravity worked, however, and not with the size of the planet they were on. Scientists had done a great deal of research when it came to this problem, eventually determining that the laws of reality itself had changed.

They were in a ‘higher’ reality now, where gravity was naturally more powerful. It was hard to wrap one’s mind around the concept, so Micheal typically just accepted it for what it was. He left the researching to the researchers.

‘The air…’ Micheal thought, waving his hands slightly.

It was rich in energy, decently more so than the First Layer. Here it should be possible to naturally cultivate to the Sky Tier, even if you weren’t an abnormal freak like Director Prime. It still required a lot of talent and was very difficult, practically impossible for most.

‘But it’s not enough. If I recall, the maximum one can normally reach is the Middle of Sky Tier. It’s almost impossible to reach the Late Stage, and essentially impossible to reach the Peak Stage.’ He nodded to himself as memories of the Second Layer rushed over him. It was only on the Third Layer that one could reach the Lord Tier of Ki Cultivation. The Second was still limited to Sky Tier.

And worse, for many people, was that you couldn’t buy Sky Tier Ki Cultivation here. You actually had to achieve it with your own effort.

The Points Wall sat at around 500,000 Points, give or take 25,000 Points. Buying Sky Tier Ki Cultivation in the Shop cost 606,500 Points.

‘I wonder what my Points Wall is at?’ With a Soul Quality that reached 3 Stars, the limits of his Points Wall should’ve risen considerably. He didn’t quite understand how it worked, but it seemed that a higher Soul Quality allowed him to ease some of the restrictions reality enforced, letting him raise his Points Wall.

‘Also… will the Champion’s Gift affect my Points Wall?’ He looked down at his leaner body, unsure of how it might transform in the future. He also noted that the poison he’d taken had made all of his muscles look noticeably thinner and leaner, though their strength and power was unaffected.

While the effects of his Champion’s Gift weren’t usable currently… they would be in the future. And when they did activate… Micheal’s excitement for this ‘gift’ was one that had reached extreme heights.

His mind flashed back to the text of these rewards, the details he had gone over so many times already.

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—-Reward Obtained—-

Reward: Champion’s Gift

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—-Champion’s Gift—-

You have become a hero of ages, a Champion for your race. As a conqueror, you will destroy your enemies while reaping the benefits.

You may gain the Attribute of any race whose essence you absorb. (Limited to one use)

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He could only use the reward once, but that didn’t matter to him because of the word ‘Attribute.’

This was a very specific word that was only discovered later on in the Seven Layers. It was how the ‘7 Layers,’ or the being that created the 7 Layers, referred to the unique aspect of each race.

Humanity had its ‘Shop’ as its Attribute. Every race had its own Attribute. Many were boring, like low-level unique Physiques, while others were complex systems of magic or sorcery. There were at least as many Attributes as there were races, meaning a veritable font of them.

And according to this reward, he could gain an entirely new Attribute as long as he could find the ‘essence’ of another race, which Micheal understood to mean the remnants of, like a corpse.

To Micheal, this changed everything. His future plans, the powers he might choose, the goals he had set. This was an incredible reward, for one very important reason.

He could steal the main Attribute that made the 12 Tribes of Deities so overwhelmingly powerful...

Their precious ‘Titles’ system.

And even better than that…

The essence of a Deity… he could find it on the Second Layer.

For, to its inhabitants, the Second Layer was known by a different name.

The Ancient World.

And it just so happened to be a world that one of the Tribes of Deities had inhabited, long ago…

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