Worlds’ Apocalypse Online

"…I've already seen too much death, I'll choose the Church of Secrets then" Zhang Ying Hao answered.

Then the figure of light informed him: 「 From now on, you will be a follower of Secrets, you must travel from here to the abyss of Heavenly War realm, only then can you enter the Church of Secrets and borrow the power of the Church to light your Tree of Divinity 」

After saying so, the figure of light disappeared.

Zhang Ying Hao excitedly spoke: "Who knew I'd run into such a great opportunity, being offered the chance to become a God just like that. I'll have to hurry up and go awaken the thing that it called the Tree of Divinity"

"After I become a God, I'll be the one and only true God of Assassins!"

While his fighting spirits were boiling, he suddenly felt that something wasn't quite right.

As he turned to look, all the wild beasts and monsters inside the cave ignored the figure of light in front of them to stare at him.

Their eyes contained all sorts of emotions, like shock, confusion, doubt, and respect.

Zhang Ying Hao was stunned from being stared at so much.

He retreated a step backward and smiled: "Boss, everyone, why are you looking at me like that? I've always been serving you out of respect, haven't I? Or did I make some sort of mistake?"

The green-scaled lizard kept staring at Zhang Ying Hao and spoke in a heavy tone: 「 That's not so, it's mainly because everyone is so shocked that they wanted to look at you a bit closer 」

「 That's right, it'll be quite a while before we get to see you again, after all 」a black panther on the side commented.

"Why is that?" Zhang Ying Hao didn't understand.

「 Because this world of ours lies at the upper Northern area of the Strife Zones, you could even say we're at the very peak of the North 」a hyena patiently explained.

A chameleon followed up: 「 While the abyss of Heaven War realm------ is at the bottom Southern area of the Strife Zones, the certified South-most world in the Strife Zones! 」

"Which means------"

「 You will need to pass through the entire Strife Zones, all 200 million World Layers of it, in order to reach the abyss of Heavenly War realm 」

Pass through 200 million World Layers!?

Zhang Ying Hao froze.

But the wild beasts still haven't let him off yet and continued on.

「 There are quite a few Super Dimensional worlds along the way, but we're all beasts here, we don't have any money to exchange a certificate ID for you to use the Super Dimensional paths 」

「 Ying Hao, with your current strength, you won't even make it into the space vortex just outside this world of ours 」

「 Furthermore, the void monsters that live inside the space vortex aren't herbivores, you probably won't even be enough to be a speck of meat that gets stuck in their teeth 」

「 Tsk, tsk, tsk, 200 million World Layers, looks like you're in for a long run, little Ying Hao 」

As soon as the beasts finished speaking, a 'thud' could be heard.

Zhang Ying Hao's legs became jelly as he collapsed from the shock.

The beasts all looked at Zhang Ying Hao's expression of despair and felt a bit empathetic.

So they didn't continue.

But they all began to leave.

-------indeed, they had all chosen their paths and were about to head towards their own chosen Churches.

Not just this world, but the living beings of billions of worlds were all making preparations to head towards the seven Holy Churches.

Only with the help of the Church could they light their respective Tree of Divinity!

That was the path to become a Demigod!

Without any warnings, the largest mass pilgrimage in the history of the Strife Zones had begun.

This day would later be known as the start of the Era of pilgrimage.

…

A certain World Layer.

A magnificent golden world.

This was where the crystallization of the infinite races' civilizations have gathered, the entire world prospered at an unimaginable speed, inventions were created day by day, even the toughest problem of eternal life was about to be cracked------ the only issue left was that in the current historical flow when the Apocalypse approached, no one could live forever.

This world was known as the Spire of Civilization.

Countless towers of various shapes and sizes stood on the surface of the world, each of them representing the accumulation and crystallization of a different kind of knowledge.

And in this world, lies one of the seven Holy Churches, the Church of Knowledge.

At this time, in the most luxurious restaurant in the world.

A certain young monarch was here, contemplating and hesitating.

A figure of light had also appeared before her.

"I was supposed to be here to improve my power and do business with the Church of Knowledge, why did such a random thing have to happen?" she complained.

"Your majesty, this is a perfect chance, would you like to join our Holy Church?" one of the church's cardinals asked her.

"No, we're here to conduct business, if I join you, what business can I do?" the young empress said.

"If you join our Church, you will have the chance to become a Demigod----- perhaps even a True God!" another cardinal sincerely tried to persuade her.

This was the most sincere moment of his life, even when he was praying to his God, he wasn't this sincere.

After all, as long as he could convince this empress to join the Church of Knowledge, he might even have a chance to become the next Pope!

"Let's not, I already have my own path to follow. Not to mention, our race has never feared any hardship or obstacle, there is no need for us to become something like a God" the young empress replied.

Saying so, she reached her hand into the void of space and randomly searched.

A sparkling shiny gem appeared in her hand.

"Hm… a first-rate Pure-gem, does your church want this?" the empress asked.

The two cardinals held their breaths, carefully observing the gem.

A Pure-gem contained the Origin power of Elements, a single piece as small as a fingernail was enough to supply an entire city's requirement of energy for a whole year.

And this Pure-gem that the empress was holding was about as big as their fists, if they could buy it…

The two of them became focused and gulped out of nervousness.

But before they could speak, an armored woman had already spoken up.

The woman said: "Don't sell it, our world migration device will need this Pure-gem, with it, we won't need to replace the energy source for our ultra-large concealment apparatus every day"

"Wow, that's very convenient, then I won't sell it" the empress replied.

She threw the fist-sized Pure-gem to the woman and ordered her: "Ilya, I'll need you to take care of the matters of our travels, I've already awoken the ability, but my personal strength still isn't much. If any problem occurs during our inter-world travels, my ability will only be able to save you alone, everyone else will surely die by the void monsters"

"Understood, your majesty, I will seriously take care of everything" Ilya replied.

Laura nodded.

She looked towards the two cardinals of the Church of Knowledge and spoke apologetically: "My apologies, it seems I won't be able to sell that"

"How about-----"

She once again reached her hand into the void of space and searched.

"Ah? Is this a coincidence?"

Laura appeared to be surprised before pulling her hand back out from the void of space.

--------it was another first-rate Pure-gem, but this one was twice as big as the last.

The two cardinals' eyes were opened so wide they almost popped out from their sockets.

…

Outside of the First Zone.

The space vortex.

Gu Qing Shan looked at the figure of light in front of himself, then at the various void monsters around him.

"If I become a follower, will I be able to solve my current problem?" he asked

Around him, the void monsters were also communicating with the figure of light.

But soon enough, they would finish making their decision.

At that time, he would be in danger again.

The figure of light remained silent without answering Gu Qing Shan's question.

"Seems like that's a no" Gu Qing Shan scowled.

The figure of light spoke: 「 I will only answer your questions after you become a follower 」

"I know you're a manifestation of law, but do you have to be so stiff? Can't you even answer a small question?"

「…」

"Fine then, I'll----- hmm-------- yeah I'll become a follower of the Church of Life" Gu Qing Shan answered.

The figure of light then spoke up: 「 From now on, you will be a follower of Life, you must travel from here to the Great tree of Harmony realm, only then can you enter the Church of Life and borrow the power of the Church to light your Tree of Divinity 」

Gu Qing Shan nodded: "I'm a follower of God now, please tell me, as a follower of the Gods, how do I travel through the space vortex safely?"

The figure of light replied: 「 Without tools or techniques to conceal yourself, there is no safe way to travel through the space vortex of the Strife Zones, although these monsters around you aren't particularly strong, there are always a few void monsters whose strength eclipses that of mortals. In a few extreme cases, their powers might be enough to rival that of a Demigod----- or perhaps even stronger」

Hearing that, Gu Qing Shan thought for a few moments: "In other words, arbitrarily exposing myself like this within the space vortex is an extremely easy way to die"

「 You understood the answer perfectly well, please make sure not to reveal your answer 」the figure of light told him.

It turned around and was about to leave when the man in front of him sighed and muttered: "I can't even freely move through space vortex after joining a Church, the Gods sure are weak…"

He suddenly tapped his forehead and decided: "If that's the case, I'll just withdraw from the Holy Church now"

He then looked up at the figure of light: "Oh right, as far as I know, there are only two punishments for leaving a Holy Church, one is never being able to join another Holy Church, and the other is that I'll be spurned by the Gods, is that correct?"

The figure of light hesitated for a while before answering him: 「 I originally can only answer one of your questions, but since you are attempting to leave right as you join, this is a serious matter related to your faith, so I must answer. That is correct! 」

「 To withdraw from a Holy Church means you will never be able to join another Holy Church for the rest of your life. Furthermore, you will be spurned by all seven Gods, leading to your soul drifting infinitely within the void of space after death without a space to go 」

After answering that, the figure of light stared at the man.

Only to see the man happily declare: "If that's the case, I'm withdrawing from the Church"

「 Are you not afraid of being spurned by the seven Gods? 」the figure of light asked.

Gu Qing Shan squinted his eyes: "Being spurned by the seven Gods? Aren't they already dead? Say that again after they revive"

「…」the figure of light.