Alerius left the class feeling unsettled. After being told about the stats and Life Energy units required to reach Paste and Solid Phases, he had made calculations and realized that he could reach the Solid Phase within a year but he could only do that if he only strengthened the main attributes alone.
This meant that he wouldn't be doing any magic this year. But he could learn next year during the shrouded year even if he didn't learn at the academy.
He preferred to do it this way but the reasons why he shouldn't rush to the Solid Phase were more than the reasons he had for trying to reach Solid phase early. One of them was that the Underlord had sent him to the Academy so that he can learn magic and he couldn't afford to go against the Underlord's wishes. Secondly, he was pretending to have a talent of 3.5 and if he reached the Solid Phase early then he would be inviting trouble for everyone would know that he had lied since he didn't know how to hide his Cultivation Realm from Underlords.
Every cultivator starts with all his attributes being around 10 when they get their status window at the age of 12. From his calculation those with a talent of 3 can not reach the Paste Phase with Life Energy units produced from an expanding core alone and when it came to the Solid phase then only those with with a talent of 6 can reach it with such Life Energy Units. Talents of 5.5 and below had to reach the Solid Phase with help from Life Energy units that are converted from Natural Energy.
He didn't want to give up using the spiritual elixir if he could help it. He didn't want to find out later when it was to late that it could have helped him reach the Underlord Realm faster and he was confident he could reach that realm with is special ability.
Why is it so important to come to the Academy in the first place? He silently asked himself. I am sure Houses have their own people who can train their children.
He decided to visit the library to find out more about the Underlord Realm, then about the academy and if there was another way of producing Life Energy that he didn't know about.
*****
The library was located in a huge building which was about five storeys tall.
When alerius went inside he was surprised to discover that the librarian was a fat middle aged man who was only in the Liquid Phase as the man had a white circular badge on his shirt.
The white badge signified that the man was part of the academy faculty. It was the first time Alerius had seen a member of the academy who was not in the Solid Phase. He was starting to doubt if the library had any valuable information when the librarian was only in such a realm plus he hadn't seen any guards anywhere since he arrived.
Maybe the librarian is in disguise. He thought. I will just have to be respectful just in case
As Alerius approached the librarian, he was disappointed to note that the ground floor contained only a few books lined along the walls in book shelves. For such a large building he had expected the place to be packed with books.
"Anything useful is found in level 3 and above. If you don't have access to those areas then you will just waste time here." The librarian told him before he had even said anything.
"Thank you. How can I get to level 3?" Alerius asked. He decided to be direct since the librarian had been direct as well.
"Each floor represents a level so level 3 is on the second floor. The whole building is warded so if you don't have access to a certain level then the door leading to that level will not open."
Alerius thanked the librarian and used the stairs that he was told led to the floors above.
He reached the second floor and tried to open the door. When he touched the handle of the door, He felt the library pass in his pocket become warm and the door opened easily.
The second floor contained only a few books just like the previous floors.
Alerius searched the books but was disappointed to discover that most books were about House Histories.
He continued searching and later found a book simply titled; The Path of Ascension. He knew it was The formal name for cultivation.
He opened the book and skipped the pages until he found one titled Underlord Realm he then read what was written there:
The Underlord Realm is the highest a person can reach on Kiania as the Blood Energy required to reach the Overlord Realm is not stable on Kiania. The Blood Energy appears once every 11 years and manifests as a Blackish Red Fog which covers all of Kiania for about 10 months.
So Blood Energy causes the shrouded year alerius thought.
Every 11 years the land is covered in a fog which lasts for about a year and is called the shrouded year. The fog is poisonous and can cause death or mutation in anyone not found in one the 11 Major Cities found on the continent. So when the shrouded year approaches people living outside migrate to any of the Cities until the fog ends.
Alerius continued reading.
This has made it impossible for Aspirants to go beyond the Underlord Realm. To progress further Aspirants must leave the moon and go to the Planet Yezir through the Space Gate.
Alerius was not surprised when he read this. He had known that he lived on the the continent called Kiania which was located on the moon with the same name. He could see the Planet Yezir every night and had heard rumors that powerful cultivators could travel the planet. Now he knew that the rumors were true and they used what is called the Space Gate.
I have to search about the Space Gate later. He thought and continued reading.
Once an Aspirant reaches the Solid Phase; His Core can continue expanding until the Spiritual Energy level reaches 100 from the level of 40 the Aspirant has at the start of the Solid phase without the use of Life Energy at any point between level 40 and 100. When the Spiritual Energy level reaches 100 the Core stops expanding. To progress further the Aspirant must ignite his Soul Fire from the Solid Spiritual Energy in his core. Successful ignition of Soul Fire Means that the Aspirant has reached the Underlord Realm.
To successfully ignite Soul Fire, all the main attributes should have reached 90 and all the secondary attributes should be at least 50. The amount of Life Energy units required to ignite Soul Fire is 80.
Alerius had observed that the number of Life Energy units required at every advancement in realms was double the amount required in the previous advancement. At first it had been 5 then 10 followed by 20 and then 40 and lastly 80.
When alerius turned the page he discovered that the information about advancement to the Underlord Realm had finished. The information on next page said that the Underlord realm cannot be reached after one goes beyond the age of 40 and it went on to list the names of the youngest cultivators to reach this realm.
Let's see what this book says about other sources of Life Energy. He thought.
He found a page about Life Energy and from what was written on it, he discovered that spiritual energy generated from an expanding core is called Spiritual Life Energy. He also found two other new methods of producing Life Energy.
One method involved cracking one's spiritual core. When the core was cracked it released about 320 Life Energy units at once. The downsides were that a cracked core cannot convert Spiritual Energy to Natural Energy and once the core was cracked then it would never expand again. Therefore the cultivator would be stuck in the realm their in at the time they crack their core with no way of getting additional Life Energy
Alerius could see why some people cracked their cores. Someone with a talent of 0.5 can produce about 36 units of Life Energy if they converted energy everyday so it would take them close to 9 years just to produce 320. This is a huge amount of Life Energy to get at once for someone with no hope of advancement.
The second method he discovered involved taking a elixir called HOPE POTION. Once taken this potion partially cracks the spiritual core and produces about 160 Life Energy at once. The advantage of taking this potion was that the core would later heal and Spiritual Energy conversion to Natural Energy can continue after the core has healed. The disadvantage is that advancement is impossible before the damage heals and this elixir can only be taken once In a cultivators lifetime and that healing the core takes along time and may take about 7 to 10 years just to heal though you can no longer use the spiritual elixir after it heals
Alerius didn't find anything useful about why the academy was special or about the Portal Gate in the library so he decided to go and consult the Registrar.
*****
"Come in"
Alerius entered the registrars office after heard the voice tell him to enter.
"Please have a seat" the registrar said. Alerius accepted the invite to seat down. He observed that this time the man remained seated behind his desk.
"I didn't expect to see you so soon Mr Alerius. So how can I help you?"
Alerius knew that people usually got annoyed when asked to many question so he quickly summarized what he wanted and what he had found in the library and decided to put all his questions into one and simply said "Sir, I don't understand what the information I have gathered and so far means. And I don't know where to get additional information, so I was wondering if you could help me."
"Every cultivators dream is to one day reach the Underlord Realm but sadly there is a time limit for this. A persons average life span is about 75 years old so between the range of 35 to 40 years old, a person his at his most prime so after 40 years the body starts to grow old and weak. Igniting the Soul Fire is very dangerous and failure usually leads to death so the Underlord Realm must be reached before your body becomes weak."
The registrar then wrote something on a piece of paper and passed it to Alerius. On the paper was written:
1).SE(9)-Fog: LE(5) = 5
2.)SE(19)-Liquid: S(10) + LE(10) + PLE(5) = 25
3.)SE(29)-Paste: S(30) + A(30) + LE(20) + PLE(15) = 95
4.)SE(39)-Solid: S(50) + A(50) + M(50) + LE(40) + PLE(35) = 225
5.)SE(100)-Underlord: Main attr 240(80x3) + sec attr 250(50x5 + LE(80) + PLE(75) = 645
From the list, Alerius could see that the that PLE was the Life Energy spent on the core alone in previous advancements and not on attributes, SE was Spiritual Energy level required to reach that ream, LE was Life Energy spent on the core, S was Soul, A was Aura and M was Mind.
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"The list I have given you shows most minimal requirements for reaching each realm. Since every cultivator starts with each attribute around 10, the numbers in brackets are the number of units of Life Energy needed to be added to the required attribute for it to reach the number needed to qualify for advancement to that realm. So if you multiply your talent to the spiritual energy level, you get the total number of Spiritual Life energy you would have generated at that level. From the list you can see that those with a talent of 0.5 cannot reach the Fog realm with Spiritual Life Energy alone, so they have to start converting Energy and that means giving up the use of the spiritual elixir. When it comes to reaching the Liquid Phase; those with a talent of 1and 0.5 cannot reach it without Life Energy from converted Energy. The same happens to those with a talent of 3 and below when it comes to reaching the Paste Phase. When it comes to the Solid Phase; its only those with a talent of 6 who can reach this phase with Spiritual Life Energy."
Alerius saw that no one could reach the Underlord Realm without Converting Energy but those with a talent of 6 came close as they could generate 600 Life Energy by the time their core stopped expanding and only needed to Convert about 45 life Energy to reach the Underlord realm.
"Without the spiritual elixir it would take months or sometimes years to expand the core by 1 especially in the Solid Phase and you have to expand it about 60 times in the Solid Phase alone. So the earlier you stop using the spiritual elixir the longer it would take you to cultivate. This is one of the main reason there so few Underlords as you have to reach it before forty years."
"Does that mean that those with a talent of 6 are the only ones who can reach the Underlord Realm?" Alerius asked, he was sure there were other ways of accelerating core expansion because if it took about one year to expand it by one then it would take about 60 years in the Solid Phase alone.
"There are other elixirs which can accelerate core expansion but there are not as effective as the spiritual elixir. The best among these that I know of can help expand the core once per month but its very expensive as the ingredients for making it only appear during the shrouded year."
"Why can't the spiritual elixir work once you start converting Energy when other elixirs can work."
"The advantage of the spiritual elixir is that as long as your soul is above 60 then you can take it every week but it stops working when you start converting Energy because when Converting Spiritual Energy to Natural Energy the core is slightly damaged. This damage is not as extensive as when you crack your core or drink the Hope Portion but the spiritual elixir is not strong enough to expand a damaged core no matter how slight the damage is. This damage does not heal on its own but you can heal this damage and continue using the spiritual elixir again but it takes about 80 Life Energy units to heal it."
No wonder our Instructor said that once you start Converting Energy you can never take the spiritual elixir again Alerius thought.
"You might think 80 Life Energy units is a small number but if you think about it that's not the case. In the best case scenario: with your Soul attribute above 60, you can Convert Energy once a day so in a year you would have 360 Natural Energy Units. Those with a talent of 0.5 and 1 can convert this into 36 units of Life Energy but in your case, with a Talent of 3.5 you can only make 9 units of Life Energy a year so it could take you about 9 years just to get 80 units."
Alerius was not worried about this point with his ability to change his Talent he got the best of both worlds. He could get 6 Spiritual Life Energy units every time his core expanded with a Talent of 6 then when it came to converting Energy he can change his Talent to 0.5 and use only 10 units of Natural Energy to produce 1 unit of Life Energy so in a year he can make 36 units of Life Energy from energy conversions alone.
"This brings about the next point I wanted to point out. You have seen the number of advantages that come with having a Soul with strength above 60 but what I hope you have noticed is that you can only make your soul reach 60 in the Solid Phase or you will run out of Spiritual Life energy earlier and fail to advance to the Paste Phase. In your case by the time your spiritual energy level reaches 29 with a talent of 3.5 the total amount of Life Energy you would have generated at that time is 101. If you deduct the 95 required to advance to paste phase you will remain with only 6 units of life energy, which are not enough to raise your Soul strength from 40 you would have at the time to 60. So if you raise your soul to 60 before Solid Phase it means you will start energy conversions earlier. This is the same problem which arises when it comes to being able to perform magic. If you increase your secondary attributes before Solid Phase, you will run out spiritual Life Energy earlier. That list I showed you is important as it shows which attribute to increase and how much to increase it to, in any given realm if you want to progress faster because any deviation means you have to start energy conversions earlier. Many cultivators you will meet follow the rules on that list and can't do magic until they reach the Solid Phase"
"Then why do people come here at the academy." Alerius asked. He was sure Houses could teach their own people how to to do magic. All the students he had met where in the Liquid phase and Paste Phase.
"There is only one reason and that is to reach the Underlord Realm. The City of Zophia was built on top of the ruins of a training facility used by the first people."
Alerius had heard about the first people. It was what people who lived in the first empire to cover all the 9 known worlds where called.
"There are a lot of such ruins in Kiania but only two still work. One is here in Zophia while the other is in on the cities that make up the Agashi Kingdom. Every year about only 300 people under the age of 20 no matter their cultivation realm can enter this ruin and if they pass the trials inside, they get an Ability Crystal which can grant a cultivator the ability to Crystallize their Aura into Crystallized Amour. This Amour boosts all your attributes by an addition of 10. This includes attributes which are not shown in your status window such as Strength, Agility, Body and Blood. Just like you read in the library igniting Soul Fire is Hard even if you have reached the attributes required to advance to the Underlord Realm because cultivators bodies are weak. So having this amour means having twice the normal body strength. This is amour is very useful when ascending to the Underlord Realm that all the Underlords use it when ascending. And before you ask Agility, Strength, Body and Blood attributes are not included in status windows because Increasing them requires Blood Energy which we do not have in stable supply of here on Kiania as it is only present during the Shrouded year."
No wonder everyone wants to come here. Alerius thought.
"The entrance to the ancient ruin are located here at the academy. Each of the six Cities which are part of the Northern Alliance sends 100 cultivators which are accepted here at the academy as students. Because only 300 can enter the ruin, a tournament is held and the top 300 among the students gets a chance to enter the ancient ruin."
Alerius was faced with a dilemma. if he wanted to get the amour then he would need to learn magic in order to participate in the tournament. On the other hand he could also reach the Solid Phase the following year with the help of spiritual elixir.
That's why some of the students from other classes are older, they waited until the last possible moment to enter the academy in order to raise their realm and stock up on Life Energy.
"I think I have answered everything apart from what a portal gate is. A portal gate is used to teleport you from one place to another. The Portal Gate used to Teleport to the planet from here is called the Ascension Gate. The portal activates every 70 years, usually after every seventh shrouded year ends. It is expected to activate after next years shrouded year ends. The number of people who can be teleported before it closes is different every time but it does not exceed 2000. This limited number of people who can be teleported leads to the breakout of war between the Agashi Kingdom and our Northern alliance."
Alerius could understand why the war broke out every time the gate activated. Every cultivators dream is to become stronger but the lack of blood energy on Kiania makes this dream impossible. The Gate offers a chance to allow some cultivators to archive their dream so the fighting would be intense as each cultivator would like to get a chance to teleport to the planet and because the next time the gate activated the cultivators who missed their chance would dead from old age.
"The Underlord sent you here so that you can become stronger by learning magic. What I can advice you to do is to reach the Paste Phase quickly while using the spiritual elixir and then use the Hope Portion in order to get enough Life Energy to increase all your attributes so that you can be prepared for the coming war by arming yourself with magic. Crystallized armor is another layer of protection that can be available to you if you manage to do well in the tournament. I would also advice you to take the spiritual elixir weekly though taking it weekly before your soul reaches 60 makes your soul unstable and makes it hard for you to control your aura but this problem would be fixed once your soul reaches 60 so you don't have to worry. If you follow my advice, you would be able to reach the peek of Paste Phase in 20 weeks time and fix your Soul problem with enough Life Energy left over to get all your attributes increased so that you can start practicing magic."
Alerius would have followed the advice he had been given if he truly had a talent of 3.5 but since he didn't, he would have to come up with a new plan that was suitable for him but at the same time able to fool those around him to think he had followed the registrars advice because that's what every one would expect. The registrars plan involved him starting to practice magic after 20 weeks so he would have to keep a low profile until then.
Alerius thanked the registrar for his advice and left