Odyssey of the Blind God

In the blink of an eye, half a year passed and Nial finished the last of the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia.

His body released all the accumulated impurities from within. He underwent drastic changes now that he finished the Refinements of Imperfectia.

Nial's physique was as close to perfection as possible. This provided a solid foundation for him to advance to the Deux-rank and create a Mana Sea large enough to rival the biggest Mana Seas seen in the known Universe.

He might have spent a greater amount of time than he initially wanted to spend at the Prometheus rank but that was finally over. His Mana Core was already crumbling. The liquefaction process had already been initiated and the Emblems of his abilities had been removed from Nial's Mana Core as well.

The emblems hovered above the crumbling Mana Core, connected by a thin and nearly invisible strand of Mana. The linked abilities had fused with the Mana Core when they had been bound to him before. A shard of his Mana Core was inside every linked ability.

As they were connected to the Mana Sea, the linked abilities would grow in proportion to Nial's rank and growth.

That was also why he wanted to advance to the Deux rank as quickly as possible. It was time for him to receive a drastic enhancement in strength.

The Origin didn't really make things easier for him now that the mana all over the planet kept increasing rapidly.

More dungeons emerged in certain areas that were quickly turned into hunting grounds and thriving hotspots for various races to live and grow. The Elven races were not the only ones capable of descending in an isolated realm.

However, instead of doing something that would inevitably damage the Divinity if used wrongly, the other races would rather make use of abilities, items, and seeds of particular plants to create their own holy grounds of cultivation.

The Origin might be a planet that had reawakened from its long slumber but that didn't mean it had been civilized for a long time. Before it put itself to sleep, not many beings had lived on Jundra. At least, that was what the Royal Princess had said about the Origin.

She mentioned that the Origin had been the most suitable planet for all beings in possession of a Mana Core because the potent mana of the planet allowed beings to break through their natural limits. This didn't work for everyone and every single time, but it was universally known that the Origin had been used by the leaders of the strongest races and that they had become more powerful thanks to the Origin.

The Royal Princess had also mentioned that there were other means of Cultivation in the known Universe. Instead of a Mana Core that resided near their heart, the other means of Cultivation required one to be in possession of an Essence Crystal residing in the brain.

Instead of tempering the body, mind, and even more so, the Mana Core with mana to expand it and advance it, the 'Ascenders', Cultivators with Essence Crystals, used the Essence of the earth and heaven to enhance their Essence Crystal.

It was possible for them to advance much faster than Originals by absorbing the Essence of the opponents they had defeated. As long as your opponent was in possession of an Essence Crystal, you would be able to absorb his Essence and become stronger.

That way, it was possible to advance rapidly and become a true powerhouse in the blink of an eye. However, there was also a big downside.

Most Ascenders weren't able to become 'True Gods' on their own and hasten up the process because their Essence crystal absorbed too many impurities by devouring the Essence of other beings. They were forced to receive external help, which was their reason to create 'faux' Divinities.

The faux Divinities were much weaker than real Divinities that were generally considered as a necessity to become a 'real' God, but they helped the Ascenders a lot.

When Nial heard all of this about Ascenders, Essence Crystals, and faux Divinities, he was quite intrigued. He didn't even know that there was a different kind of Cultivation path, to begin with.

Beings with Essence Crystal were bound to be physically strong as long as they advanced rapidly. However, Nial could immediately tell that their foundation was far from strong, whether it was knowledge about combat or the fact that they advanced without consolidating their cultivation.

The path on which an Original had to walk was long and arduous until they would finally be able to create their Divinity and ascend to Godhood, but their knowledge, combat experience, techniques, and foundation would allow them to become much stronger along the path that would be unveiled after one became a proper God!

Getting to know all of this all of a sudden made Nial feel utterly confused for a few days. He couldn't tell for sure why the Royal Princess would tell him about this without context, or how any of that mattered to him.

If an Ascender were to attack him, he would just defeat him by giving his all, no matter how strong his opponent would be!

Once Nial got to know about the existence of Ascenders, he asked Kaeldur and the Tyrant of Destruction about them.

"You met an interesting Ascender a few years before Damian's godly fragment fused with me when I was a baby? Weren't you sealed in the fragment?" Nial blurted out when he found out that Kaeldur actually met an Ascender, not too long ago at that.

[He was a Peak Tier-2 Ascender at that time. That's roughly equivalent to the Peak of the Advanced Mirae rank. However, his strength was devastating. I'm pretty sure that the Primordial Ascension had occurred recently and that this human was able to increase his strength to a much higher degree. It has nearly been more than two decades since that…]

Kaeldur's answer was not exactly satisfying because he didn't directly answer what Nial had asked. His first question had been answered by talking around the bush, while the second question was still unanswered.

However, Nial's curiosity was piqued and he was still interested in a few things that he didn't really understand.

"They use Tiers to determine their rank? Forget about that…but there were human Ascenders? And what is the Primordial Ascension?" Nial was quite confused and unsure what else he should ask.

There were too many things he wanted to know about the other way of cultivation because it made him feel quite excited.

Maybe, it would even provide some important information that he could make use of for his own growth!

[There was a human Ascender, yes, and considering that he was able to unintentionally summon me from within Damian's seal, he should be the same as you- special in the eyes of the Universe.

As for the Primordial Ascension, it's a means to awaken the planetary mana core of planets and increase the amount of both Essence and Mana in certain parts of the Universe. The Primordial Ascension provides an artificial intelligence supportive device, also called 'System', to all beings that come in touch with the Primordial Ascension.

That is a means to support Ascenders to become True Gods, thus increasing the number of powerful beings all over the Universe. There are a few more things but I doubt that they're of any importance to you, right now.

You will meet the human Ascender I've encountered as well, probably not too far in the future!]