Demon Gods

Ian checked his account on the Akashic Records and learned that he had received a message from Merlin. He was mildly surprised, but guessed the reason and opened it. Merlin's projection appeared before him and said, "Hey, kid, looks like you're doing pretty well."

"I'm doing all right," Ian replied.

"No need to be modest."

"If I bragged a little, you'd only knock down my self-esteem, so what else could I say?" Ian shrugged.

"That's true," Merlin chuckled. "By the way, this is a recording; I'm not actually here."

Ian's expression darkened.

"Haha, I bet you're furious enough to twist your face right now. Oh, I really wish I were there to see it in person." Ian snorted and decided to ignore the drunken bastard.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear those rude comments you just made," the recording continued, making the corner of Ian's mouth twitch. "I left this message to congratulate you on reaching Tier 10, and also to warn you never to skip Tier 11 and enter Tier 12 directly."

Ian frowned.

"Yes, that can happen. You usually see it in worlds with nonlinear power systems, like the MCU.

Some people can destroy an entire Multiverse and survive in the Void, yet their variants or counterparts throughout the Multiverse are independent individuals. Sometimes, they have no variants at all and are the only such entity in the entire Multiverse."

Ian had considered this before, because in the comics, some entities that were clearly Tier 12 or higher fought their Multiversal counterparts. If all their variants had merged into them as part of themselves at Tier 11, such a thing should never have happened. "Tier 11 is extremely important. You absolutely cannot skip it. Otherwise, no matter how powerful you become, you'll be cannon fodder in the coming war.