Theus: "Near-God?" That title stirred many associations in Theus's mind.
Jules: "That's right. Above the second tier, there is a third. As long as a second-tier Transcendent crosses the Three-Pointed Gate, they can become third-tier."
That was fairly close to Theus's guess. After all, the Three-Pointed Gate had "gate" in its name—there had to be some way to cross it.
So the current Transcendence system was actually incomplete? Theus had always felt that the Transcendents in this world were somewhat too weak. Most of them could not even win a one-on-one fight against an armored vehicle, while gods were far too powerful. Between them, there were only extremely rare beings like Named Ones. It was strange.
Theus: "Do third-tier Transcendents exist?"
Jules: "Of course they do. Third-tier Transcendents are gods."
Theus's eyes widened at once.
Theus: "The third tier means becoming a god?!"
Jules: "That's right. The third tier of Transcendence leads to godhood. The first tier is Transcendents, the second tier is Near-Gods, and the third tier is gods."
Theus: "...This is the first time I've heard of such a thing."
Jules: "That's what I remember, but that's all. I don't know why the Three-Pointed Gate can no longer be crossed, nor do I know why only first-tier Transcendents remain in the world."
After thinking it over, Theus told Chloe about the Near-Gods.
"That's a thing!?" Chloe was clearly surprised as well. "Then... could this be connected to the fall of the gods? All the gods were killed, the Three-Pointed Gate was closed, and no more gods could ever appear. Even second-tier Transcendents could no longer exist in the world and could only remain in the Sea of Unconsciousness."
"That makes some sense. That would ensure that gods could never appear again, while the strength of Transcendents would be