Chapter 5 - Cultivation Stages and Beasts Ranks

"This cabin was built for you, to be specific a waiting place for you," the old man added.

"Eh?"

Red was stunned and don't know what to say. He was flabbergasted and confused, how did they know that he will be here?

Is this all a scheme? Was the death of his dear friend, Ienze, part of this scheme?

His eyes turned crimson as he remembers the death of his friend, the anger and hatred that was hidden deep in his heart once again resurface and took control of him.

But this time he did not hear the tearing sound from his soul, his heart beats fast as if it was racing instead. The blood in his veins felt alive. Every drop seemed to have a life of its own. He could feel the power in his blood, a tremendous power.

Seeing the scene in from of him, the old man panicked. He quickly explained himself.

"Kid, don't get me wrong, an oracle told us that"

Red calmed a little but his eyes are still crimson.

The old man put the seasonings on the pot.

"Err, perhaps you don't know what an oracle is," the old man inquired seeing there's not much change in Red.

"An oracle is someone that has the power to peek at fate. Of course, what an oracle can see is limited and sometimes won't happen or will happen at a very long time," the old man continued.

"Also, peeking at fate is not an easy task. It cost a lot."

"In order to peek, an oracle must be on top condition and after an oracle finished peeking he, most of the time, will be injured or sometimes die, especially if they looked beyond where they were allowed to."

"The truth is, you're not the only one who got here, there were two others actually, but they were injured and are hard to cure and they died just a few days when they were here."

Red calmed down and looked at the old man confused. "Why were they injured?" he asked in his mind.

Seeing this, the eyes of the old man twitched, then he cast a look to Little White.

"This forest is filled with beasts, most of them are dire beast but there few magical beasts"

"The strongest beast is around rank four, and the only safe place is this cabin because they dare not approach it," the old man said with a ferocious look.

Red was once again confused. "How are the beast ranked?" he asked.

The old man looked at him and wondered what backwater place did he came from to not know the basics regarding cultivation.

The old man took a deep breath and started to explain.

According to the old man, there were nine power stages and each stage as you progress is harder to reach than the last.

There are two ways to cultivate, the first one is by absorbing mana from the surroundings and the second one is by strengthening the body so it will absorb mana naturally.

The former is required to understand mana and the elements. Then create a medium in the spiritual space to store them. The medium is called mana core. But forming a mana core is not an easy task as it requires a high amount of spirituality/spiritual strength.

Spiritual strength cannot be obtained, it was innate to anyone, only, the spiritual strength of everybody is not on the same level. Some have weaker spirituality that is not suitable for the former, while some have stronger spirituality.

Of course, you can strengthen spirituality but it comes at a great cost and there is a limit on how much it could be strengthened.

After the creation of the mana core, you must carve a spell model near the mana core in your spiritual space. The spell model allows you to cast a spell almost instantly, the requirement of carving a spell model is spiritual strength. For every spell model, the carving is only done once, of course, unless you want to improve it.

Those that have successfully created a mana core and spell model are called magus. In addition to creating a mana core and carving a spell model, a magus must also train the body to become stronger because mana will corrode and destroy the body.

Though the process of becoming a magus is extremely complicated, the power of a magus is also terrifying.

As for the latter, one does not need a medium to store mana in the spiritual space because it will be stored in the body, to be specific, to every cell of the body.

Storing mana in the body is easier than the former. One does not need to comprehend mana and the elements, they only need to train their body then their body will automatically absorb mana in the surrounding. Then they will create a Will. Will is a type of intent that will allow you to use mana without using spell models.

There are many types of will, for example, the Swordsman's Will, this type of will makes you powerful when you are using a sword, of course, you can also conjure a sword using mana.

Those that use the latter method are called Body Refining because they refine their body through harsh training.

Though they are powerful, they still pale compared to the magus but their strength lies in their number. Unlike being a magus, a body refiner has no requirements regarding spirituality.

The old man also discussed the beasts.

There are three types of beasts. The Dire Beast, The Magical Beast, and The Immortal Beast.

The Dire Beasts are like Body Refiner the only difference is that the Dire Beasts have no will but still, their power did not pale in comparison to the Body Refiners.

Then the Magical Beasts, this type of beast is rarer than the Dire Beasts. They can be compared to the Magus, they can also use mana. The only difference is they cannot use all elements as they will, they can only use elements that are innate to them.

Then the Immortal Beasts, the Immortal Beasts only live in rumors and legends, till now there are none sighted or recorded.

Beast also comes in stages from stage one to stage nine, and every stage is stronger than the last. But most of the beast has a growth limit, depending on their parent or ascendant.

A stage one beast is called rank one beast, a stage two beast is called rank two beasts, and so on. But a stage nine beast is called a Beast General.

In addition to all of these. The nine-stage, whether beast or humans, is divided into three levels, the Low, the Mid, and the High. The low level is from stage one to stage three, the mid-level is from stage four to stage six, and the high level is from stage seven to stage nine, and in every level, there is a qualitative change in mana and spirituality.

As the old man finished explaining, Red remained silent but excitement can be seen in his eyes.

"How can I become a magus," Red asked.