Cultivation

Cultivation was discovery. It was to explore the universe and its secrets, and there was no telling what you'd find. Dao was as much chance as fate, where your experiences and encounters influenced your understanding of the Heavens. **Chapter 1,055**

This was the reality of cultivation. The Multiverse wasn't lacking for hard-working and dedicated cultivators. Yet few even reached Hegemony, let alone the higher grades. It was hard to say why some managed to continue climbing while others found themselves stuck, even though they outwardly seemed of similar backgrounds. Talent, dedication, opportunities, luck. Not a single piece could be missing, or you'd get dragged under by the river of fate.

Cultivation was ultimately to go against the natural order, to steal from the Heavens. How could it be easy? **Chapter 972**

There was undeniably something about cultivation that changed you to your core. Perhaps it was the increase in Intelligence or Wisdom that made your mind stronger, or perhaps it was the effect of their ruthless reality, but a surprising number of people were able to bear the mental strain just fine. They kept moving forward while the people around them were dying left and right. **Book 6, Page 164**

## Cultivation requirements

There were four requirements to cultivation: Wealth, Companionship, Method, and Environment. Not one could be lacking if one wanted to reach the peak.

1. **Wealth** was the most important, and that went double for a mortal. To cultivate was to burn money, and it only got exponentially worse.
2. **Companionship** didn’t refer to girlfriends or even Dao Companions. It meant that no one could reach the peak alone. You needed a master to teach you, friends you could trust your back to, a support system that could take care of things that were distracting you from your cultivation.
3. **Method** was partly referring to a cultivation manual, but it also incorporated things such as Inheritances, Heritages, Dao Impartments, and even hunting grounds. Some insights would have to come from within, but there was no need to reinvent the wheel at every turn. Taking advantage of the wisdom and knowledge of others would allow you to make faster progress without any detriment.
4. **Environment**, no crops would grow if the soil was barren. You needed to go to the more prosperous sectors of the Multiverse if you wanted to progress further after a certain stage.

**Chapter 540**

## Cultivation Aids

### Prayer Mats

* Unexpectedly, the simple-looking prayer mat he’d found in the first temple also ended up in his own treasure pile. It was a very valuable item made from D-grade materials. It was mainly used by cultivators, but it could even help a mortal to absorb Cosmic Energy faster. Sitting on the mat after a battle would allow Zac to get back to fighting condition almost twice as fast. **Book 3, Page 419**
* The moment he sat down, a wave of tranquility spread through his body, no doubt the effect of the prayer mat. **Book 7, Page 590**
* The normal agates were popular additions to jewelry or prayer mats, as they emitted a weak aura that could help calm one’s mind just like spiritual incense. **Book 8, Page 462**

## **Cultivators**

* Everyone can absorb Cosmic Energy to restore lost energy (like from fights). But only cultivators can absorb cosmic energy to level up. In a sense, you could say that Cosmic Energy is a Mana bar and Experience bar combined. When the Mana Bar gets filled, mortals stop absorbing from the atmosphere, but the Cultivators keep going, filling their experience bar.
* Those who are cultivators have the ability to use the Cultivation Manuals, also called Cultivation Methods or Cultivation Techniques, which help to absorb more cosmic energy following a predetermined method, improve the foundation and also help improve the cultivator's attacks.
* “The Ruthless Heavens allow you to start progressing on the path of cultivation starting at the age of 16 for both humans and demons, but it varies between species.
* “Cultivation has various benefits. First it improves your advancement speed in levels. At a certain point one can forego sleep completely and instead cultivate, making it possible to ceaselessly progress levels. At low levels it doesn’t make a large difference, but at high levels a single level can take a year or more, and at this point the difference starts to show.
* “Secondly, cultivation doesn’t only improve levels, it also improves our very foundations. It can improve our very beings over time. Essentially, it can help evolve our races, which is the biggest difference between a cultivator and a mortal. - **Chapter 74**
* “Finally, cultivators can increase their combat power compared to a mortal if they have a suitable cultivation method. Say the cultivator is a Pyromancer Class. If she has a fire-attributed cultivation technique, her attacks will get even fiercer. Conversely, if she use a water-based cultivation technique she might get weaker, or even hurt herself over time. **Chapter 74**

### **Affinities**

* Being a cultivator is having a certain amount of affinity with the deeper truths of the universe. Some call it spirituality. However, it’s not a binary situation where you either have it or you don’t.
* Simply put you can have various affinities with all the Dao, and you need a minimum affinity with at least one Dao to become a cultivator.- **Chapter 283**
* Affinities were a bridge between yourself and the Heavens, and not even crippling your cultivation could remove that. **Chapter 874**
* For high-affinity cultivators meditating on the Dao felt like gradual progress. In every session, they manage to extract a few grains of understanding. They were not worth mentioning on their own, but they would eventually accumulate into a mountain. **Ch 1,119**

### **How to Cultivate**

* The first step to cultivation was slightly confusing to Zac, as it was to ‘connect with the universe’ as Kenzie had explained it. By pushing his miasma in the specific pattern of the manual a rotation would be formed through his pathways. This rotation would, in turn, connect the energy outside the body with the energy inside, and as the rotation kept going some of the external energy would be dragged inside through his pores and join his internal energy. **Chapter 294** *Zac's failed attempt at Cultivation*

## **Mortals**

Some people have some sort of deficiency where they can’t naturally absorb cosmic energy and the system deem them worthless. It doesn’t bother with these people and leave them where they are. These people mostly die sooner or later as they are essentially defenceless at the beginning as the system generally vastly increase the danger of the surroundings. These people are generally called mortals. As far as research shows, it is random who can take in cosmic energy and who can’t. However, in worlds with lower class energy mortals are more common. The higher the energy, the more common it is to be able to absorb the energy. On B rank planets and above almost everyone can absorb cosmic energy naturally. **Chapter 8**

“Most mortals are forever stuck at F-Grade Classes, since they can’t afford the means to evolve into E-Rank Race. Advancing the Race is the most basic requirement for any class advancement, and no matter the Dao enlightenment or titles, without an advanced race you just will not progress. And as mortals progress it becomes unimaginably hard to find the treasures to keep their advancement going. - **Chapter 74**

The older one is the harder it gets to improve race. I am not sure if Mr. Trang will be able to evolve his race even with the medicinal baths ...You can side-step that with the Fruit of Ascension ... generally its better to evolve as soon as possible, it will be cheaper and you will avoid any risk of your body simply not being able to withstand another evolution. If it takes too long your body might not be able to take that last step, precluding you from evolving. So as soon as you reach E-Rank Class you should start working on your Race again - **Chapter 111**

### **Can a mortal become a cultivator?**

“Perhaps. It is said that mortals will automatically become able to cultivate when they reach a certain power level. But I am not sure whether it is true. Some say it is at C rank, others at B rank. Some say it’s just a hoax to give mortals false hope. I only know it’s not possible at D rank or lower.

“There are a few treasures able to turn a mortal into a cultivator though, but they are so rare they might as well be rumors as well. - **Chapter 74**

In the same way, mortals can both have an affinity of 20 and 40. Both are trash, but different degrees of trash. And the one with an affinity of 40 will have an easier time of forcing open nodes or turning into a low-grade cultivator in the future ... -**Chapter 283**

### **Defiers**

“Anyway, that brings us to Defiers like you. In extremely rare cases a mortal gains power far above what’s expected, either through luck, talent or hard work. There is no strict definition of them, rather a ‘You know it when you see it’-attitude. The name comes from the fact that the System essentially has deemed you trash but you defy the system and fate and become strong. Your situation is extreme even for Defiers, I mean a Herald spawning on top of you and you survive? Stealing a bunch of exclusive titles? Crazy. I think it has only happened a few thousand times in the multi-verse. - **Chapter 8**

## **Auras**

As a warrior got stronger their presence intensified as well, and if the discrepancy in power was too large it could even be considered a weapon. It wasn’t something like the Dao Field, rather just an effect of beings in different stages of existence. **Chapter 94**

Your aura was like a fingerprint, and Zac could essentially identify anyone he knew in the base was just by sensing their aura. **Chapter 578**

Forming Dao Seeds is essentially the System's way of quantifying a cultivator reaching enlightenment to the truths of the universe. This will unavoidably leave a mark, an aura of spirituality. This aura can be concealed to a certain degree (or completely in case of oddities like Billy).

Same goes for large amount of attributes. All attributes increase the Cosmic Energy reserves, and Cosmic Energy is the energy of the heavens, so that will also leave an aura.

Some with high affinities are better at sensing auras, whereas Zac pretty much relies on his Luck.

## **Paths to Power**

There are countless paths to power on the path of cultivation. Some of the most powerful are these:

1. Unique Constitutions
2. Powerful Bloodlines
3. Top Tier Limited Titles
4. Higher Dao
5. Individualized Skills
6. Peak Cultivation Manuals

## **The Grades**

* **D Grade - Hegemony**
* **C Grade - Monarchy**
* **B Grade - Autarchy**
* **A Grade - Supremacy**

## **Race grades**

**Racial upgrades**

1. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/593783253320597515/593783254121971713/669291351476666408
2. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/593783253320597515/593789035584159765/744267797294612600