"Now you know, my son? How this place is host to many contradictory things at the same time? And how great it is?" The elder interrupted Jacob from his inner musings.

"Yes, father. I know now. I wonder who built such a great place." Jacob was curious about the owner of this great place.

"It is the second elder of the Aumrin clan. He constructed this place many years ago. The other two comparable cities of this kingdom don't have anything like this.

So, Agoross has an edge over them in almost everything due to the presence of this coliseum. The boss that kind man from outside was talking about is him. Enjoy this place a bit. After a few minutes, we will go to the seating area."

At that Jacob nodded and started walking around the arena. He inspected the dried blood around him more closely. Some of it was dark red while some was bluish red in colour. He determined that the dark red must belong to a man of a beast while the bluish red must belong to the beast.

He walked around and also detected many scratch marks here and there. That must be made by the beasts. Their claws must be really sharp.

Jacob thought inwardly as he looked around. He could see many large cage-like gates that were lining the walls around him.

By now, it was afternoon. They had been wandering around the city for almost half of the day. But Jacob was not tired at all. Instead, he was much more excited than he was in the morning.

After Jacob thought that he had passed enough time in the arena, he went back to his father. His father had been waiting for him near the gate the entire time. He went to him and nodded at him.

The elder turned back and knocked at the large door from which they came. After a few seconds, a small gap opened for them to pass and they passed through. They entered the original passageway from which they came.

After nodding at the guards, the elder entered a side door this time. Jacob followed him into a small hallway and after climbing a few stairs, stepped into the seating area along with his father.

He was on the uppermost level of the seats. The scene from here was impressive. It was as if he is looking down on everything from a high place.

He could see the arena clearly but he had to focus hard in order to do so. He then stepped down towards the lower levels and kept going down until he reached the arena walls.

From here, he did not have to focus much in order to have a clear view. The arena was right in front of him. He thought that the front seat tickets must be more expensive than the tickets for the back seats.

After a few minutes, he thought that it was enough. He did not want to waste much more time here. So, he left the coliseum along with his father.

In the late evening, they returned to their room. They had visited a few other places after leaving the coliseum but they were not that much. So the most significant and memorable place they visited was the coliseum. His father saved it for the last. It was like the climax of their little city tour.

After having dinner, Jacob underwent his routine exercises before going to sleep.

......................

5th November, 3026 B.E.

He got up early the next morning as usual. They had to leave the city today. They had completed all of their objectives of visiting Agoross.

Without any word from his father, he got up, wore his upper garments and started packing what was left outside in their backpacks. He tried to be as much efficient as he could but still, he could not fit all the things in those two backpacks. They were filled to the brim and did not have any more space left.

The things that remained outside were the mop and the large bow belonging to his father. He took the mop in his hands while his father took the bow. They went down and handed the key to the barkeeper. After a simple breakfast, they sat out for their home.

After exiting the city, they hired a carriage specially in order to reach their home quickly. The driver set out immediately after getting his forty bronze coins fee.

The fee for hiring corresponded to the distance travelled by the carriage. In the case of special locations, they took double fees because they had to return to the city after leaving their customers at their specified destinations.

After sitting comfortably in the carriage along with his father, he unzipped his backpack and took out the newspapers excitedly. Now was the time to know about the world.

He had put the newspaper on the top of the packed things in a purposeful manner previously. But before he could read the first page, his father interrupted him.

"My son. Before you start reading that, do you remember the question you asked me two days ago? About the cultivation levels. Do you want me to explain that to you? It is better to learn about that before you start reading the news."

"Yes, father. I remember. Please tell me about it." Jacob put down the newspaper on his lap and fully concentrated on his father.

"Since you already know what cultivation is, I won't explain it to you. Cultivation is divided into many stages and levels. After cultivating for some time, a cultivator undergoes a qualitative change and advances to the next point of cultivation.

Those special points of advancement represent the degree of cultivation of a cultivator. Those points are known as stages and levels."

The elder paused at it and waited for a few seconds. He then continued,

"The levels are the larger units and hence, represent a greater qualitative change. Similarly, stages are small units and hence, represent a lesser qualitative change. So, a level consists of many stages."

By now, Jacob's eyes were almost shining. He liked this kind of knowledge the most, the knowledge that was related to cultivation. This was related to his future.

"So, in short, stages are minor advancements and levels are major advancements. After undergoing all the respective stage advancements, a cultivator undergoes a major level advancement."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"A newbie cultivator is always called a first stage first level cultivator. He has to undergo eight minor stage advancements first in order to have a major level advancement. After that, he will be called a beginner stage second-level cultivator. Do you understand what I am saying?" The elder asked for his son's understanding this time before continuing further.

"Yes father, I do." Jacob nodded quickly like a chicken, his face red with excitement. Seeing his son's antics, the elder's smile widened and he continued,

"So, the first level consists of nine stages. The second and third level consists of three stages each. A cultivator's strength keeps on increasing the further he advances along the way of cultivation.

The increase in strength is not that much in the early stages but the difference between stages becomes drastic the further we go on the road of cultivation."

"And the last thing, normal people who are not part of the great clans or sects use numbers with levels. But it is not the case for the cultivators of the great clans and sects.

They have different names for different levels, depending upon the nature of the level. For example, the first level is known as the body strengthening level. The second level is known as the foundation establishment level and the third level is known as the core formation level.

This is it. Your dream is to become a cultivator. So this is your way forward. Work hard." The elder ended his explanation while providing motivation to Jacob to follow his dream.

"Yes, father. Absolutely. I will become a cultivator. I will work hard and make you proud. Everyone will know that I am your son. I will never let you down. I vow to succeed."

Jacob suppressed his bubbling excitement and became serious. With a dead serious face, he vowed to never let his father down and work hard in order to succeed.

"Hahahaha. Such a good child. Of course, you will succeed. I will be there when you do so. I will always watch over you." The elder guffawed seeing his son's serious expression and started brushing his son's hair.

Jacob became happy after hearing his father. He would always support him in his dreams.

"Father. Is the third level the end? Are there any further levels?" After the elder stopped brushing his hair, he tried to rearrange his messy hair and asked a question.

"Of course, there are. But the information about them is irrelevant to you right now. The road of cultivation is unending. But, you have to concentrate on the first three levels first.

After gaining some achievements in them, you are qualified to worry about the road further. You don't have to think above your means right now. Otherwise, you will only get depressed and confused. Alright?"

"Yes. I got it."

"But I can tell you one thing. The strongest cultivators in this world are given a title of sovereign. You will come across this term regularly. So, it is better to know about it early on. Alright. This much lesson is enough for today. Go on. You can read the newspaper now."

After saying that, the elder patted him on his shoulders and left him to his means. He started looking outside through the window near him.

Jacob immediately picked up the newspaper from his lap and started reading it. The first thing on the front page that attracted his attention was a text that was written in bold and was larger than all the other text of the page.

The third draw this year. Sovereign Tamat's retreat from the beast territory.

Hmm. So this large text is known as a headline in the newspapers. The man yesterday was talking about this. I can read this sentence, but why can't I understand its meanings.

Jacob concentrated hard on this large yet simple line but could not understand it. This headline thing is too profound. It needs some explanation. There must be an explanation. Wait a minute, maybe the small text below it is going to explain it.

After thinking about that, he started reading the small text below the headline.

"Sovereign Tamat The Undying was intercepted by beast sovereign Cygregar The Beast in the northern reaches of Aitora five months ago. But this is not the first showdown between them. They had already clashed with each other twice in January and March. Both clashes resulted in a draw and they pulled back safely without any injuries."

By now, Jacob had already forgotten everything around him. All of his concentration was on that small text. He was right. The headline above was explained in great detail below.

He was in a special state of extreme concentration, forgetting what was happening around him. He did not notice that his father had already stopped looking outside and had started watching him reading the newspaper.

"But this time, beast sovereign Cygregar showed extreme cunning and managed to ambush sovereign Tamat with four other minion beast sovereigns. After a great battle, they managed to wound the human opponent.

But as expected, Tamat The Undying managed to break through their encirclement and escaped. According to some credible sources, he has safely retreated from the beast territory and is recuperating in some secret location in human territory."

"Although, it could be considered a human defeat that it is not that simple. Cygregar's ambush plan was not perfect due to the short window of opportunity and proximity to the front lines. You will be surprised to know that two of his minion sovereigns were pulled out from the battlefield in a rare show of hastiness.

Taking advantage of this gap on the front lines, four human sovereigns managed to overwhelm the outnumbered opponents and along with their seventh and eleventh armies launched a fierce attack.

They managed to push the opposing beast armies several dozen kilometres back before the reserve beast sovereigns could respond. It is estimated that many key beasts lost their lives this time. Some were struck down by sovereigns personally."

"Sovereign Tamat won't be able to carry his intelligence work for a decade or so. Some estimates suggest that it may take more than a decade for him to recover from his injuries. We have lost a great source of intelligence for almost a decade.

But on the other hand, humanity has managed to reclaim much more land in a single day than the land reclaimed in the past thirty years combined. So the third clash could be considered a draw due to the above reasons."

Jacob stopped reading after that. He was extremely impressed by the news he read just now. He had come to know many important things right now.

The most important of those things was the knowledge about the existence of existences like Tamat and Cygregar. But he was also confused a bit. So, he looked toward his father and asked,

"Father. Do beasts also have a territory?"

"Indeed. They occupy almost two of the four continents of the world."

"Which continent are we located in currently?"

"There are four continents in the world. They are Astoria, Euclador, Aitora and Vladur. Astoria, Euclador and one-third of Aitora belong to humans while the rest of the two third of Aitora and Vladur's area belong to the beasts. We are currently located in Euclador, near its border with beast-occupied portion of Aitora."

"So that is why there are front lines. Humans and beasts are fighting at the border of their territories?" Jacob showed a look of understanding and arrived at a conclusion. He put it forward to his father for further clarification.

"Correct. Humanity and beastdom have been fighting a great war since a long time ago. They are always fighting with each other. So, the front lines extend for thousands of kilometres."

Jacob was awed at that. He could not imagine how large the battle was between humans and beasts that entire continents were involved. For thousands of kilometres, people and beasts were fighting for every inch of territory. He gulped at the magnitude of this eternal war.

"Father, do you know something about Tamat and Cygregar?"

"Of course I do. The whole world knows about them. Tamat is the strongest human cultivator in the world. Similarly, Cygregar is the strongest cultivator from the beast side.

Both of them have a deep history. In addition to that, only these two cultivators have been given special titles in addition to the common title of sovereign due to their accomplishments. Interesting."

The elder had a slightly interested expression on his face. It was as if the strongest cultivators this world had to offer had managed to garner a little bit of interest from him.

Jacob did not pay much attention to his father's behaviour. He knew that sometimes, common sense stopped working on him. He was thinking about something else.

The strongest cultivator....Tamat... His mind was filled with these words and he was repeating them again and again as if he wanted to engrave them in his soul.