There was a blackboard, a chair, and Carto Harts—sitting on the aforementioned chair.
On the board, a series of writings spanned across five paragraphs.
To be more precise, these paragraphs contained everything he knew about the cultivation method of this world.
"The Five Stages of Aether Arts," Wilford named it as he reviewed the information.
Each of the five stages, to his understanding, revolved around the refinement of essence, with Aether serving as the catalyst.
The Mortal Stage marked the entry point to this process of refinement. It involved manipulating Elemental Energy, requiring complete mastery of control to reach the pinnacle. In Paradise, most of its inhabitants were still in this stage. This stage was further divided into four major realms, each requiring a level of mastery to advance to the next. Spell Conduits were employed to give the energy a more tangible form, allowing practitioners to progress faster and more efficiently.
If he were to compare this stage to his former world, a Great Mortal was akin to an artillery tank in terms of strength.
After the Mortal Stage came the Elite Stage, so named because those who reached it could establish their own noble clans or houses. Entering this stage required the practitioner to perform a relatively simple task—refining the body through Elemental Energy. It seemed basic to Wilford, but it got the job done. The Elite Stage was divided into three realms: Outer Refinement, Inner Refinement, and Complete Refinement. During this process, it wasn't uncommon for someone to form a Vestige Mark.
Vestige Marks were mysterious in origin. All Wilford knew was that they appeared to a fortunate few in the Elite Stage. Their main utility lay in their ability to channel a specific spell of a particular element with such efficiency that the spell's power was doubled if not tripled. As a result, Elites were considered high-ranking individuals within the outer circles of The Central Hold.
Wilford's eyes moved to the next paragraph: the Saints.
The big dogs.
To the majority of people, Saints were the most powerful beings in the world. They could summon storms capable of sweeping across regions and altering the climate of vast lands. With just a snap of their fingers, they could bring about the destruction of an entire kingdom in mere seconds.
To the mortals of Paradise, these Saints were akin to gods. Yet, aware of The Council and its true gods, the people referred to these figures as Saints instead.
The Saint Stage was divided into four realms: Iron Seed, Jade Sapling, Bronze Stalk, and Ruby Petals.
To enter this stage, a practitioner first had to construct an immaterial Animus Flower with their mind, which served as the framework for the true, corporeal Animus Flower. From there, they had to build the flower using Elemental Energy and give it physical form.
While it sounded simple, in practice, it was anything but.
Advancing between the realms of the Saint Stage followed a seemingly straightforward procedure: using Elemental Energy to construct parts of the Animus Flower, imitating its natural growth. This wasn't particularly difficult. The real challenge lay in the fact that the Animus Flower served as a proxy for the mind. Therefore, giving corporeality to the flower was, in essence, a process of refining the mind itself. And the mind… that was a delicate construct, shaped by information. Anything that involved it became inherently complex, and refining the mind led to a phenomenon known as Mind Catastrophes.
These catastrophes could arise for a myriad of reasons, but any Saint would eventually face them. They took countless forms, yet at their core, one element was constant: The Will.
It could manifest as questions or doubts, illusions of fearsome beasts, or even vivid nightmares. No matter how much one tried to avoid it, it would inevitably come—unless the cultivator abandoned their path entirely and gave up on advancing further.
Wilford had already faced two Mind Catastrophes. The first came when he broke through to the Saint Stage, and the second when he reached the Jade Sapling realm. Both were tied to painful moments from his past.
Ironically, it was the first Mind Catastrophe that indirectly led to the extermination of House Darrow. In his desire to forget his past, the Catastrophe had forced him to confront it in full, bringing his wrath to corporeality along with his Animus Flower.
"I wonder what it's going to be like this time," Wilford mused as he shifted his attention to the next Stage.
Quasi-Deities.
The strongest beings Wilford had ever witnessed. They formed The Council of the Divine Alliance of Paradise as well as The Great Generals of the Wildlands. They had existed since the dawn of Paradise, maintaining the barrier that separated Paradise from the Wildlands.
Without them, there would be no Paradise—of that, Wilford was certain.
Despite their power, the title Quasi-Deity seemed somewhat underwhelming. Yet, Wilford understood the logic behind the "Quasi" prefix. Though they were the protectors of Paradise, they still weren't as powerful as the true Deities, and thus the term "Quasi" was added.
"The Four States of the Soul" Wilford thought to himself.
The Soul.
What exactly was it? In the realm of Paradise, the soul was considered the blank canvas of one's existence. Unlike the mind, which was shaped by accumulated information and experiences, the soul was an eternal force, untainted by such things. It was something inherently divine.
The mind could be thought of as a lesser, more transient version of the soul. The soul, in contrast, contained only two essential components: The Innate Attribute and The Core.
The Innate Attribute was the defining force behind an individual's personality, shaping their thoughts and actions. Even if two people were given the exact same memories and life experiences, their Innate Attributes would cause them to grow into different individuals. It was the subtle but crucial element that influenced how a person interpreted their memories and environment.
The Core, on the other hand, was the very essence of existence. It was the anchor that tied an individual to Time and Space as well as to the memories of others. If the Core were destroyed, it would be as though that individual had never existed. This was why the soul was considered eternal—one of the Core's properties was its Transcendent Durability, which affected the entire soul, granting it eternal endurance.
But the soul wasn't just meant to exist; it had to be harnessed. This led to the development of a method to "refine" the soul, giving rise to the concept of Soul Realms.
Soul Realms were spaces created within the soul through the use of Aether. Practitioners used these realms to draw tiny fractions of the soul's power and refine it for personal use by embedding this Soul Force into the Soul Realm.
According to the information Wilfordhad gathered from Hot Pot, Quasi-Deities were divided into four stages, each corresponding to the process of enhancing and expanding the variety of Soul Realms through the use of Soul Force.
Obtaining Soul Force was simple due to the existence of the Soul Realm itself. However, embedding it into the Soul Realm was the challenging part. Initially, Soul Force could only be embedded into one-fourth of the Soul Realm. To embed more Soul Force, practitioners needed to acquire a different type of Soul Force from within their own soul.
Fortunately, the complexity of the human mind was there to save the day. By forcing the human psyche to interact with the soul, it would generate new forms of Soul Force, allowing for further embedding and refinement of the Soul Realm.
"This is truly interesting," Wilford mused as he thought about the Soul Realms.
The four realms—Golden Sea, Eternal Life, Crimson Earth, and Sapphire Sky—were stages of refinement, although the order in which they were cultivated was up to the individual. The destructive capabilities of a Quasi-Deity were still unknown to Wilford, but he could estimate that they had to be incredibly high.
"And now, the Deities," Wilford thought, shifting his eyes to the bottommost text.
The information he had about Deities was extremely scarce, so much so that it could be summed up into three points:
They were the most powerful beings in both Paradise and the Wildlands.They harnessed something above Soul Realms.They were unshackled.
The first two points were nothing extraordinary and could be derived from existing knowledge—nothing unknown to most. The third point, however, came from Hot Pot, who had been vague, only mentioning that Deities were "unshackled" and had "broken the shackles."
This could have several implications, but the most important ones were few. Did unshackled refer to being free from the constraints of Time and Space, even in the event their Core was destroyed? Did it imply a completely acausal existence? Or perhaps it meant they were free from other natural laws? Maybe unshackled meant they had infinite power, unbound by limits.
Did it refer to both?
Wilford couldn't know for certain, so he sigh as he looked out the window into the green fog that lay outside. That was the barrier known as El-Eudo, meaning The Shield.
"Now, the method," Wilford 's eyes glinted with solemnity as his thoughts shifted. Yet, this 'thinking' was not as simple as it seemed. Wilfordhad limited his synapse response by half, deliberately slowing his thoughts about the power method. Furthermore, half of the synapse responses were being transported directly to The Library.
This was done because he knew someone was always watching him.
Well, it wasn't quite spying when the individual's senses eclipsed the entire town. He was merely indirectly spying on Wilford due to his position.
"Hot Pot… He should be around a 1st Grade Quasi-Deity or a 2nd Grade,"
The Grade System was something Wilford had devised to assess the power of Quasi-Deities, though he was certain the Divine Alliance had its own efficient system as well.
There were five grades in total, arranged in ascending order:
1st Grade referred to someone who had formed their Soul Realm but had yet to embed Soul Force and 5th Grade referred to someone who had completely embedded Soul Force into their Soul Realm.
It's tragic that he couldn't enter the Library, always fearing that others might notice his absence. But in that moment, as his body stilled, a terrifying idea crept into his mind—a faint realization that only surfaced now, in the midst of his inability to take decisive action, coupled with his slowed synapse response.
His heart raced as he immediately dumped all thoughts of the power method into The Library. His synapses resumed their normal pace, and his mind cleared.
It was time for an experiment.
Within seconds, a small arrow of Elemental Energy formed at his fingertips. With a subtle wave of his hand, two rabbits appeared, hopping about the room. He'd gotten them from Ms. Grease not too long ago.
His expression remained neutral, but his eyes gleamed with curiosity and intent.
"Let's begin the first test to see whether my theory is correct,"
Wilford thought, throwing the arrow towards one of the rabbits. At that exact moment, he disappeared into the Library.
A few moments passed.
The arrow struck the rabbit, and the surviving one squeaked in horror, quickly scurrying to a corner of the room. Wilford reappeared, his eyes drifting to the dead rabbit. He nodded slightly, then turned to the other, still-living rabbit. Approaching it with careful steps, Wilford found that instead of fear, the rabbit hopped toward him and climbed onto his head.
"Alright," Wilford muttered, mentally calculating the details. "The Library... it has made me into a semi-Acausal being."
He understood now. The Library operated under a unique set of rules, and upon entering it, his own existence aligned with those rules. As a result, to anyone or anything bound by the world's natural laws, he became undetectable, almost nonexistent. However, actions he performed before entering the Library still impacted the world since they were carried out when he was still bound by the same rules as the world outside.
"At least this gives me some assurance," Wilford mused. "Now I can enter the Library without fear and conduct my research."
Suddenly, Tharmas's voice echoed in his mind.
[Looks like you've discovered one of the features of the Library! Good work! Now it's time for a reward!]
"Reward?" Wilfordasked, skeptical.
[Indeed! A reward is necessary for your accomplishment! And we have to give you one, as per the Contract! Since material rewards are useless for you and higher-level information is too dangerous, the Board has decided to reward you with something else: information about yourself!]
Tharmas paused, then continued.
[Do you ever wonder why you can create Power Methods like the Qi Beholder Method? Or how you're able to uncover mysteries that previously eluded you? Why the techniques you invent are so powerful? Well, the answer is simple! At Tarthocas Enterprises, we've made several deals with the Brahmans of All Worlds just for you, Carto! One of those deals ensures that your thought process isn't influenced by the laws of the world. That's why you can think outside the box in ways the natives never could—no matter how powerful they become, they remain bound by the laws of their world!]
As Tharmas finished, Wilford felt as if a hammer had struck him. A sudden, hollow sensation swept through his being.
However just as quickly as the feeling came, Tharmas's calming influence washed over him, reigning him back into place.
The thought that his so-called "genius" was merely his natural way of thinking still loomed over Wilford 's mind like a storm cloud.
[Why so sad?]
Tharmas's voice chimed in again.
[The techniques you created were still born from your intellect! The deal just ensured your intelligence wasn't held back!]
That reassurance was enough to calm Wilford down, though the weight of the revelation still lingered.
"Alright, if that's all, then thanks," Wilford replied, his tone less tense.
[We shall meet again, Wilford, and very soon, I must say! I look forward to our meeting]
Tharmas added with an ominous cheer before falling silent once more.
"Well it looks like it's definitely inherited some traits from its predecessor."
With a flick of his mind, he swiftly entered the Library.
"Alright, it's been a while since I've used you, but now I am. Using all the information I've gained in my three lives to create concepts for the power method of the world!" Carto commanded.
The Library briefly shook in response, and suddenly, something familiar appeared before him: a green progress bar.
"Why are you back?" Wilford exclaimed, surprised to see it again after so long.
Tharmas's laughter echoed in his mind.
[This was done to ease you! Sometimes jokes are the best way to lighten up!]
Wilford's lips twitched in a mix of annoyance and resignation.