The Foundation of Mana
In this world, the amount of mana a person possesses is fixed from the moment they awaken to its use. That number never changes. What can be improved, however, is the quality of their mana—refined and tempered as the practitioner forges both body and soul.
The path of cultivation is divided into stages:
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Stage One – Forging the Body
At this stage, the practitioner draws in the surrounding mana to strengthen their body, refining it until it reaches the peak of human capability. Strength, speed, endurance—everything is raised to the natural limit of what a human body can achieve.
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Stage Two – The Soul's Casing
The practitioner begins to shape a casing around their soul, creating a vessel to hold mana within themselves rather than relying only on the outside world. The stronger the soul, the larger the reserve it can contain. At this stage, however, they cannot generate their own mana—their reserves must be replenished from the ambient mana in the atmosphere.
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Stage Three – Beyond the Human Peak
The body is forged further, surpassing normal human limits. At the peak of this stage, a practitioner may become five times stronger than a peak human.
Why not go further? Because both body and soul encounter a bottleneck. Push beyond this, and the soul can no longer properly command the body. Even if attempted, the body simply ceases to strengthen—as though refusing to obey.
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Stage Four – The Mana Core
The practitioner creates a core within the soul. This core acts as a mana generator, drawing in ambient energy and refining it into mana of much higher quality.
The value of their mana increases fivefold, making their reserves feel vastly larger. Their soul also strengthens in the process, laying the foundation for greater growth.
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Stage Five – Shattering Limits
With their strengthened soul, the practitioner can now continue forging their body past the bottleneck. At this level, raw strength is said to be enough to shatter a mountain.
Few dare to test this claim—those who have left behind fewer mountains in the world, and an army of enemies for destroying something so rare and vital to humanity.
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Stage Six – Refining the Core
The core within the soul is tempered further, refined by both internal and external mana. Its output increases fivefold once again, producing mana of extraordinary potency and pushing the soul to unprecedented strength.
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Stage Seven – Becoming a Dragon
At this stage, a practitioner is no longer compared to mortals. They are spoken of as dragons—though dragons are nothing but myth in this world. If such a beast ever existed, its strength would rival those who reach this level.
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Stage Eight – The Mythic Ascendant
No living being has ever witnessed someone reach this stage. The mana produced by the core is so dense and potent it exerts a crushing pressure that can drown others in sheer presence alone. The core's refinement is now five times greater than Stage Six.
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Stage Nine – Reclaiming Eternity
At this point, mana not only empowers the body but restores youth itself. A practitioner may shed the ravages of age and step back into their prime. Are they still human at this stage? None can say—for no one known has ever attained it.
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Stage Ten – The Infinite Core
This stage exists only in legend. It is said that the final refinement increases the quality of mana not fivefold, but a hundredfold, reaching an almost infinite reservoir of power. But to most, Stage Ten is nothing more than myth, a dream of immortality whispered in old tales.
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The Cost of Advancement
The density of atmospheric mana greatly affects cultivation speed. The most concentrated sources are found at the peaks of mountains or the depths of the sea.
Yet both come with deadly risks:
The sea is a breeding ground for terrifying monsters.
Mountains are sacred, rare, and vital to the world's balance. To destroy one, even if you had the power, is to make yourself an enemy of humanity itself.