Soaring Cloud Library, Soaring Cloud City...
Dylan made it to the Library without any issues unlike earlier. He walked to this grand hall that seemed more like a national museum rather than just a city library.
"Finally, I'm here. Now, I can truly consolidate my knowledge about this world. As they say, information is a business's vital resource. For a businessman, there is nothing more important than to have actionable intelligence over raw force." Dylan reminded himself of his goal for today.
In a world blinded by brute cultivation, he knew that power without context was merely a weapon swung in the dark. Raw strength could win a duel, but information dictated the entire board. Tt exposed market inefficiencies, mitigated unseen risks like the City Lord's hidden hostility, and turned historical context into a blueprint for leverage. To rule the market, one didn't need to be the strongest fighter in the room; one simply had to be the only one who understood how the room was built.
Inside, the space was massive and spacious, bookshelves numbered hundreds here as the floor reached nearly a kilometer in total area.
There were two floors filled with books and scrolls from different ages and points in history. The Library did not have a lot of visitors but there were mostly scholars here.
In a world of cultivation, knowledge outside of cultivation that was not adjacent or related to cultivation like history, literature, and economics, was considered to be trivial and was not pursued enough by its inhabitants. Thus, resulting to the lacking development of technology.
He presented the City Lord Token to the librarian, who was flustered after seeing such an important emblem. The librarian treated Dylan with so much respect as he gave him an in-depth introduction and guide of the library.
"Thank you very much!" Dylan said gratefully.
"You're welcome! Please do put out a good word for me to the City Lord." The Librarian pleaded.
"I will!" Dylan smiled cordially as he thought to himself, ' I guess he would never have thought that someone with the City Lord's Token which was supposed to signify goodwill and backing, is actually someone wants to be killed by the City Lord. I'm sorry for lying to you, brother.'
"First off, I need to review the level of strength of this world so I need to review the entire cultivation system. Vastocean knew the basics and the realms but he did not understand what each stage actually entails." Dylan tapped his chin as he went through the "Theories on Cultivation" Section.
He picked up relevant and prominent books in the shelves with the recommended tag as he read through them one after the other. The characters within the book is far different than any written form of language in Earth but Dylan had already taken his time to fully understand this world's alphabet.
Dylan was a genius in its truest sense that have little to no difficulty understanding and comprehending knowledge. He has eidetic memory and he is able to consume knowledge at an unbelievable rate. After reviewing Dylan Vastocean's memories, Dylan was able to familiarize and master the letters and characters of this world's language. Thus, he had no problem reading any of the books in this library.
The first thing he read about was, "A Martial Spirit."
In this world, there exists an innate power that every cultivator possesses called Martial Spirit. Once a cultivator awakens, a Martial Spirit is a corresponding power that manifests with it. It may manifest into a weapon, a beast power, or even an enhanced body part! This is a power that primarily determines your cultivation path and your compatibility with certain techniques and cultivation techniques.
"Oh, I have read about this in manhuas so there's this concept which applies to this world." Dylan remembered this concept from his times of reading in Earth.
Dylan summarized as he flipped through the pages of the book, "It seems there is five known realms of cultivation: Spirit Gathering Realm, Origin Palace Realm, Mortal Severing Realm, Half-Saint Realm and Immortal Saint Realm."
These were the things he has compiled after reading through everything.
"The first cultivation realm is called the Spirit Gathering Realm." Dylan read as he took notes.
The Spirit Gathering Realm is subdivided into 3 sub-realms: Spirit Core, Spirit Veins, and Awakened Spirit. Each sub-realm has 5 stages: Initial, Early, Mid, Late, Peak.
The Spirit Core is a unique organ that hosts natural energy and transmuted into Innate Energy which can also be referred to as Spirit Energy. In this stage, a cultivator must unlock his spirit core for it to be capable of containing natural energy and strengthen it for it to be able to have a larger capacity. One could easily unlock this with a proper cultivation technique.
Upon advancing to the Spirit Veins Realm, a person is capable of absorbing more natural energy at a faster rate with their spirit veins unlocked. In this world, there are one hundred twenty-five (125) spirit veins inside a cultivator`s body. To advance a level in this stage, one must be able to unlock twenty-five (25) veins for each level.
Fully unlocking ones veins constitutes to faster absorption rate and increase in power output. Many people get stuck in this realm because it gets increasingly hard to open up a spirit vein as a human proceeds.
When a cultivator reaches the Awakened Spirit Realm, an evolution occurs within one's Spirit Core and Martial Spirit. He manifests an ability called Spirit Manifestation which is the ability of any cultivator to summon an Avatar of the Awakened Spirit.
An avatar is a mysterious and ethereal entity that can grow stronger relative with the owner's cultivation rate. It may manifest in the form of a humanoid or a beast. This power not only boosts the foundational strength of its user, it also increases one's affinity's to certain techniques and abilities.
Simply put, an extension of the Martial Spirit. It forms a synergy with the Martial Spirit to provide even greater strength to the cultivator. Additionally, one can manipulate this as a separate body, acting like a secondary body to the cultivator. It's perks is why many people dreamed of reaching Awakened Spirit Realm.
"So, those things that Victoria, the City Lord, the grim reaper and the puppeteer lady used were all avatars..." Dylan remembered the intense clashes on that night seven days ago.
Dylan wrote in his notes, "The next realm is called Origin Palace Realm. In this realm, the primary objective was to transition from raw energy to a permanent structural power, the Origin Palace..."
The first step was Origin Transmutation, where a cultivator condensed and converted their vast pool of Spirit Energy into denser, far more potent Origin Energy.
Once transmutation was complete, they began building the Origin Foundation inside their Spirit Core, using that crystallized Origin Energy to form a solid base. Upon this foundation, a cultivator was required to erect Origin Pillars, constructing twenty-five structural pillars of compressed energy that would support the weight of the entire domain.
The final culmination of this process was Palace Establishment, where the foundation and all twenty-five pillars were interconnected to construct the complete Origin Palace. Once established, it triggered the birth of a True Avatar; the Avatar of the Awakened Spirit will resonate with the newly built palace, causing it to evolve into a far more mystical manifestation than its predecessor.
"So it's not just about accumulating energy anymore... it's literal internal manufacturing of one's software," Dylan realized, nodding slowly. "Once the palace is built, the avatar evolves along with it, huh? A True Avatar..."
He flipped to the next chapter, which detailed the Mortal Severing Realm.
"I believe this is the realm that Victoria is currently in... A realm where each realm detaches you from mortality." Dylan remembered Victoria briefly mentioning it.
Spirit Gathering and Origin Palace Realm cultivators are essentially humans with supernatural capabilities. Even if they strengthen their body by cloaking and reinforcing it with Innate Energy, they are still not that removed from regular humans if caught off-guard.
Mortal Severing Realm as the name suggests is where the practitioner systematically discards their mortal constraints. Unlike the earlier stages that merely bolster human potential, this realm marks the true beginning of a cultivator's evolution beyond their biological origins.
This realm was broken down into four distinct, arduous phases that severed a cultivator's ties to mundane limitations.
First was Law Inception, where a cultivator had to undergo a profound meditation in a place of natural power, such as a sacred mountain or ancient forest, to perceive and comprehend the fundamental laws of the universe, severing their reliance on mortal understanding to fully integrate those laws into their cultivation.
Next was Body Reformation, where cultivators were required to confront and break through the boundaries between the mortal and immortal realms by entering forbidden zones and overcoming powerful barriers, severing their ties to mortal physical limitations to embrace their new potential.
The third phase was Heavenly Connection, demanding that cultivators gain insights into the heavenly way by meditating under a celestial phenomenon like a rare star alignment or lunar eclipse, severing their earthly attachments to achieve a higher state of spiritual power.
Finally, they had to undergo Moulting Rebirth, a transformation process akin to a phoenix rising from the ashes where the cultivator entered a chrysalis state of intense purification, severing their old self entirely to complete a true rebirth into a higher form.
"It seems after Mortal Severing Realm, the details began to thin out significantly. There isn't a lot of literature on it. I guess that's to be expected considering a Half-Saint is the pinnacle of most nations. So details surrounding it would be censored by the elite clans.." Dylan observed the trend of decreasing literature and records on the later realms, the more he progressed.
However, he was still able to gather enough information regarding it to understand the mechanics of this realm.
The Half-Saint Realm was briefly noted as a stage focused on the absolute purification of one's essence, requiring three distinct phases of progression: Saint Energy Refinement, Saint Body Refinement, and Saint Soul Refinement. At this point, a cultivator was no longer merely manipulating energy, but transforming their energy, physical vessel, and soul into something truly divine.
"It seems it's merely a bridge to transform the one's entire being into something truly divine... If Mortal Severing reinforces your immortal nature, Half-Saint brings you closer to divinity..." Dylan deduced.
"As for the final realm mentioned in ancient texts, the Immortal Saint Realm, there were no recorded stages or concrete guides. I guess I have hit a dead-end on what I can gather through public knowledge regarding cultivation." Dylan scratched his head.
It was treated as a mythological boundary, an unattainable concept whispered about in legends. Scholars debated whether anyone in history had ever truly achieved it, or if it was merely a theoretical horizon created by early cultivators to mark the absolute limit of existence.
"Immortal Saint. It seems that is the pinnacle of this world!" Dylan's eyes were glued to those three characters as his ambition once again burned in his heterochromatic eyes!