Shawn felt that he was not smart enough.
Ms. Hecate's lectures were too esoteric and profound. Without the forceful memorization from the power of Reading Magic, he could hardly keep up with the course's pace.
Moreover, Ms. Hecate only explained everything once, completely unlike teachers on Earth who would repeat their explanations.
"In comparison, Transcendents of the Warrior Series are easier to advance." Shawn felt his head buzzing.
A Mage is indeed not something an ordinary person can become.
Take for example the Wanderer he met today, who only needed to digest an Extraordinary Relic to immediately possess agile skills and a reaction speed beyond that of ordinary people. Then, he could become familiar with his abilities, and once he fully mastered his current stage's abilities, he could slowly raise his limits.
Shawn, however, was different.
He couldn't even talk about raising his abilities; just learning General Knowledge was enough to make his brain fried.
And all of these were just the basics, including astronomy, geography, religion, mysticism, etc. A qualified Wizard probably needed to memorize an entire library's worth of books.
"A top student isn't necessarily a Mage, but a Mage is definitely a top student."
The only thing Shawn could rely on was the Reading Magic of the 0 circle; whether he understood it or not, he had to memorize it forcefully and review his memories later.
Maze Library.
After waiting for Shawn to forcefully memorize the knowledge of the day, Ms. Hecate slowly stood up. With a graceful wave of her slender, elongated fingers, a scale on a stone pillar emerged in front of Shawn.
"Next is today's most important course."
Ms. Hecate's expression gradually turned solemn as she slowly said, "About the limits of Transcendents."
Limits?
Shawn raised his head, with a hint of confusion on his face, concentrating to listen.
"Before stepping onto the Path of Destiny, all Transcendents have a limit to the Extraordinary Essence they can accommodate." With a gentle wave of Ms. Hecate's hand, twelve majestic pillars of different colors appeared in the Dream Realm. She softly said, "The Twelve Mythical Paths are the starting points of the Path of Destiny."
"But before you prove the Way of Destiny, you must first perfect yourself as a mortal."
"Only then can you survive."
Survive?
Failing meant death?
It seemed Ms. Hecate heard Shawn's inner voice, a slight cruel smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, saying, "Death? No! You'll become food."
Food?
Ms. Hecate's words sent a chill down Shawn's spine.
Because he thought of the Angel chewed up by the 'Orphans of Mist Island', the Divine Envoy from the Otherworld that Lorice sacrificed her life to summon.
Lorice's death was somewhat suspicious.
"Once you step onto the Path of Destiny, you are no longer an ant in Their eyes, you have also entered Their food chain."
"Not perfect enough, not strong enough, you'll only become food."
Ms. Hecate's voice seemed to echo in a whisper: "To ascend to Destiny Legendary, you must stake everything!"
"Life, flesh, soul..."
Destiny!
In Shawn's understanding, the concept of destiny in this world is a principle, a Root Source Law that can influence the entire world's operation.
Humans have always wanted to reclaim destiny and turn the Bizarre Realm back into a normal world.
And the strong of Destiny Legendary are humanity's hope to reclaim everything.
Ms. Hecate didn't seem to want to say too much within the domain of destiny, for it was too remote for ordinary Transcendents.
Just like how Shawn couldn't understand the Butcher's strength, their concept had surpassed his range of understanding.
In contrast, the Transcendents he encountered in the real world, although their abilities were strange and powerful, had traces to follow, and at least he could comprehend part of it.
"The Extraordinary Essence that a mortal's body and soul can bear is limited."
Ms. Hecate turned around, looked at Shawn in front, and said, "Likewise, the pollution and madness a mortal's will and spirit can bear are also limited."
"This is the world's shackles."
Two scales formed by countless silver runes appeared in front of Shawn. Ms. Hecate softly said, "This is the limit of Extraordinary Essence a mortal can bear, and this is the limit of pollution and madness a mortal can withstand."
"Using the Promotion Sequence of turbulent times, these scales of Extraordinary Essence represent the cap of 20 Professional Levels."
The left scale had one hundred, the right scale only twenty.
A balance appeared before the scale.
Immediately afterward, the Banshee Maidens of Ms. Hecate brought in bizarre creations, including writhing flesh organs, obscure swirling gray fog, orbs of lightning, and blooming decayed flowers, among others. These were all extremely peculiar Extraordinary Relics, the Root Power for the advancement of many Transcendents.
They all came from those monsters in the Bizarre Realm.
"This is you."
Ms. Hecate's fingers lightly traced over a section of invisible, continuously writhing energy tendril that fell into the balance, causing the scale representing Extraordinary Essence to immediately rise by a section.
Similarly, on the other scale, the indication for madness and pollution was also slowly rising.
"This is the Orc you encountered today."
Ms. Hecate wiped the Extraordinary Relic from the balance, and the Invisible Hand placed a writhing flesh organ in it. Its weight was three scales, while the scale representing pollution and madness continued to increase.
This Extraordinary Relic's pollution and madness are more because a dark green trace spreads on the scale, which represents the gene sequence of Non-human Races.
Ms. Hecate gently picked up a bunch of Eye Stems of shadows, gazed at Shawn for a moment, and placed it on the balance.
Two completely different Extraordinary Relics were merging!
The balance representing Extraordinary Essence rose to four scales, while on the other side, the scale symbolizing madness and pollution started to soar, directly surging to a level above ninety during the fusion of the two Extraordinary Relics.
Eventually, with a boom, the two Extraordinary Relics exploded into a pile of indescribable wriggling flesh fragments.
"This is the Transcendent losing control." Ms. Hecate calmly stated.
She waved her hand to signal the Banshee Attendant to clean up the exploded flesh fragments, which crawled all over the ground like maggots in minced meat. The lady softly said, "Most Transcendents, if they don't intend to step onto the Path of Destiny, only need to digest as much Extraordinary Essence as possible within their tolerance range."
"Preferably from the same Mythical Path, a similar Promotion Sequence."
"This can reduce madness and pollution."
Pollution represents flesh, madness represents spirit.
On Shawn's scale representing loss of control, the extending trace was purple, a mysterious and enigmatic trace, while the out-of-control Orc's pollution scale was red, with a section of dark green, like the dark green blood he bled.
Shawn pondered for a long time, raised his head, and gazed at Ms. Hecate in front of him, saying solemnly, "What if a Transcendent wants to tread the Path of Destiny?"
Ms. Hecate had a trace of appreciation in her eyes, smiling, "Then one needs to become perfect."
"To face the [Gift of the World] with the posture of a perfect mortal, confronting the ancient unknowable!"
Success.
Treading the Path of Destiny and touching the essence of the Twelve Mythical Paths.
Failure.
To become food for those bizarre existences in the Bizarre Realm, for They also hunger for Extraordinary Essence, to elevate to a higher existence, or even to become a new 'Old One'.
"And all this requires knowledge."
"A vast amount of knowledge."
Shawn needed to know the essence of the power contained in each Extraordinary Relic, how different sequences of Extraordinary Essence could be combined to make himself stronger, how to suppress pollution and madness to avoid losing control and exploding into an indescribable flesh monster, and so on.
Only by approaching 'perfection' within the twenty Professional Levels of Extraordinary Essence, would he have the qualification to step onto the Path of Destiny.
To survive!
If he blindly elevated the Sequence Level, he might ascend faster but die sooner.
Because the dining table was full of ancient unknowables!
Clearly, Ms. Hecate was concerned that Shawn might unconsciously or consciously absorb other Extraordinary Sequences, so she entered his nightmare tonight, instructing him on the mystical knowledge of Transcendent promotion.
This might be mystical knowledge that other Transcendents couldn't know in their lifetime, as only those who have insight into the world's essence are qualified to know all of this.
Ms. Hecate hoped Shawn would take a seat at the table, not be served directly on it.
Shawn bowed his head respectfully, "Thank you, teacher."
No matter what the people in the Bizarre Realm wanted, Ms. Hecate was indeed doing her best to be a good teacher.
.........