“Sergeant, if Deviation realm cultivators can increase the chance of trait deviation by having more Qi while breaking through a minor realm, why doesn't every animal cultivator have a bond with high-grade traits?" Tamara raised her hand.
"Because there is no way to suppress minor realm advancement, unlike major realms where you can suppress the advancement. So to have enough surplus Qi during the advancement to have a better chance at trait deviation, you need to kill Spirit beasts with higher cultivation. The stronger the spirit beast, the better your chance, but also the higher the risk," Layla cautioned.
"Moreover, Trait deviation does not always mean higher-grade traits; side grading is possible depending on how the trait deviates. It can even lower the grade if you made a wrong choice," she added.
"Let’s not get side-tracked, shall we? Next is the Amplification realm," the sergeant started to scribble on the board again.
"In the Amplification realm, things are similar to Trait deviation, but instead of changing Traits like in the Deviation realm, Amplification realm strengthens the bond’s traits with the use of Qi."
"Trait Amplification does not come with realm advancement, but in order to advance, your bond needs to Amplify their Trait with Qi, which will unlock their Combat skill or Martial Technique. Bonds that cannot amplify their Trait will be stuck on the 1st Amplification realm forever!" Layla got serious.
"That's why for anyone with a 1st gen bond, you need to deviate the Perception Trait of your bond to sense Qi if you don't want to be stuck in 1st Amplification realm forever. Learn from your predecessor's mistakes and do better."
There were a lot of people who were stuck at 1st Amplification realm not because they didn't want to fight or lacked aptitude, but because they did not know better.
"Can’t people change bonds if they make such a mistake?" Simon asked, which earned him a glare because he did not raise his hand.
"Under the Integration realm, changing bonds is possible. But unless your bond dies of old age or due to an outside factor, you can't change your bond. There were people who killed their own bond because they made mistakes in cultivation, but the Animal Cultivation System never allows them to get a new bond after."
"Unless your bond sacrifices itself or dies of natural causes, there is no way to start over, so don't ever think about killing your own bond." She glared at each of them as a warning.
The room turned silent for a moment before Layla continued with her lecture.
"After the Amplification realm is the Integration realm. Integration realm is equal to the core formation realm in traditional cultivation, which makes our bond into our cultivation core. Integration realm cultivators can keep their bond within their soul and have 100% of their bond’s strength."
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This caused Arthur’s eyes to grow wide, "That means..."
"So if you encounter someone walking around without their bond alongside them, don't assume they are defenseless; assume they might be Integration realm or higher!" Layla cautioned them, but the squad was more interested in her, who didn't have her bond with her.
"There is another bottleneck in this realm. The reason there is only a handful of Transformation realm cultivators is that at the peak of the Integration realm, your bond needs to have 10 traits to break through into the next realm," Layla said, which caused the squad to be shocked.
"That's too much! Little Orange only has 5 Traits! Does that mean we are fated to never become Transformation realm cultivators?" Simon protested loudly.
"Private Simon, it seems you would rather replace me as the lecturer here," Layla reprimanded him. "You will be running 5 extra laps around the yard after this."
After a few moments of pregnant silence, the sergeant continued. "There are a few ways to increase the number of traits of your bond, but you are not qualified to know them yet. When you reach Peak Amplification realm, then you will know."
After the previous talk with the colonel, Arthur had an idea of what can increase a bond’s traits, but there might be more ways, since Layla said there are a few.
"Let's continue. In Transformation realm, bonds can transform into another form, usually geared toward combat, and they get a qualitative change in power. Some bonds can transform into mountain sizes after reaching this realm!" Layla shocked Arthur; mountain-sized bonds are basically godlike in his opinion! The peak of humanity! Unbeatable existence.
"As for Monarch realm, there is not much public information even inside the military. There are only rumors that I can share with you. It seems that Monarch realm cultivators can have multiple Bonds."
This revelation caused a bomb to explode in Arthur’s mind, "If a Monarch realm can have multiple bonds, then they can have an army of behemoths that can destroy a city with a mere command!" the possibility terrified him.
"Ma’am, is there a bottleneck stopping people from reaching Monarch realm?" Arthur raised his hand.
"There is not much known on what the requirements to advance to Monarch realm are. If one day you know what the requirements are, please tell me," she said nonchalantly.
The lecture continued with more knowledge about bonds and cultivation. While Layla was not very kind, at least she was not actively targeting Arthur. With Simon attracting her aggro all the time, Arthur got off easy.
"Arthur, Simon, get to the yard and start running. I will have Karina keep an eye on you guys and motivate you. She needs some exercise as well, so it's perfect," Layla said with a grin.
Arthur turned ashen as he ran to the yard; he would better finish his laps before Karina needed to motivate him.
Simon ran after Arthur, seeing the boy run after hearing Layla’s words.
"Arthur, what's up? Who is Karina?" Simon inquired.
"I’m just hungry; you don't need to worry. As for Karina, she is a very pretty lady. You would love to know her," Arthur lied with a straight face.
Simon stopped running, "Then you can run first. I will catch up after having a little chat with this lady Karina," Simon grinned.
Not five minutes later, Arthur found Simon running for his life, with Karina playfully pouncing at him from time to time.
"Arthur, you asshole! What pretty lady?! It's a Tiger!" Simon protested in resentment.
"Nice to know you, Simon. I got to go," Arthur increased his speed to put some distance between them.
Arthur thought that Simon was the perfect bait. In the future, he should be a great tank with his talent for aggroing people.