Dylan felt so down in the dumps that he was only at the second level of the first realm. But at the very least he got a better understanding about the first cultivation realm.

The first cultivation realm was called the Spirit Gathering Realm. The Spirit Gathering Realm has 15 levels; it is then subdivided into 3 sub-realms: Spirit Core, Spirit Veins, and Awakened Spirit. From the first to the fifth level, that is Spirit Core Stage. From the sixth to tenth, that was the Spirit Veins stage. The last five stages is the Awakened Spirit Stage.

The Spirit Core is where natural energy is gathered. In this stage, a cultivator must open his spirit core for it to be capable of containing natural energy and strengthen it for it to be able to have a larger capacity. One could easily unlock this with a proper cultivation technique.

Upon advancing to the Spirit Veins Realm, a person is capable of absorbing more natural energy at a faster rate with his spirit veins. In this world, there are 125 spirit veins inside a cultivator`s body. To be able to advance a level in this stage, one must be able to unlock 25 veins for each level. Many people get stuck in this realm because it gets increasingly hard to open up a spirit vein as a human proceeds.

When a cultivator reaches the Awakened Spirit Realm, one would need to transmute natural energy into Spirit Energy. When a person is able to do so, he will be able to use Spirit Manifestation. Spirit Manifestation is an ability of a cultivator to summon an avatar. An avatar is a mysterious and ethereal entity for it can grow stronger with the owner. An avatar can be a beast, weapon, plant, human-like, and many more. An avatar can temporarily boost the strength of its user that is why many people dreamed of.

Thinking of this Dylan was very depressed as he found out that he was only at the second stage. But he still strengthened his resolve. He comforted himself but was later, depressed as he discovered that there were 5 stages for each level: Initial, Intermediate, High, Peak, Pinnacle. Worst of all, he was only at the Initial 2nd-level Spirit Core Realm.

‘How did I offend you, past Dylan? Why did you do this to me?’ he cried at his heart. But then a memory flashed through him, he saw the past. He saw a young man who was trying his best to train, day and night but he could not understand why he was not able to breakthrough past the 2 level or just the initial level. He was wondering why he had a bottleneck as early as 14 years old. So he decided to build a herbal store beside his house for hope that he may be able to encounter an alchemist that may be able to heal him. But sadly, no matter how long he waited there was none.

He searched everywhere in the Rising Cloud City. He even went to some neighbor cities to seek for an alchemist but to no avail, he failed to find one. No matter whom he asked or where he would ask, he could not just find an Alchemist.

He cursed the world why was he so unlucky as to quickly encounter a bottleneck just as he began cultivating. He could not understand why he was given such an ordeal. An alchemist is one of the most prestigious occupation a person could take but it is also one of the hardest to apply for because it has an extremely stringent requirement to a person`s constitution.

One must have a great affinity to fire and a tinge of affinity to wood which was as rare as one in a thousand. Another, occupation that is extremely hard to become is a Beast Tamer because even to become a Rank 1 Beast Tamer, one must have complete knowledge pertaining 100 types of beasts including their habitats, behavior, characteristics and even their like and dislikes.

He felt dismal as he returned to his homes. He almost lost all hope. He even wanted to commit suicide because with his present condition was no different than being a cripple. He despaired but just as he was about to lose hope. He met a peerless beautiful woman in a white dress while walking on a bridge at night. She looked like a goddess of the moon as she smiled upon him and the moonlight outlined her gorgeous face.

The woman approached him and asked with her clear mellow voice, “Why are you looking so gloomy?’

He was stunned because this goddess just took her own initiative and talk to her. He politely answered to the extremely beautiful lady beside him. “Lady Fairy, it is just that for some reason, I am no longer able to advance my cultivation and am no different to a cripple.” He bit his lips and bitterly said to the extremely beautiful lady.

He thought that the lady would laugh at him but to his surprise, the peerless beautiful lady patted her in the back and consoled the devastated young man, “My father once said that there was an ancient expert who was stuck in a certain cultivation realm but he never gave up. He gave up his advancement in cultivation and wholeheartedly focused onto comprehension. Later on, that ancient expert appeared again, his cultivation remained the same but he was able to fight 10 experts who were one sub-realm higher than him and even managed to kill them all, although with a frightening price. He was then crowned the king of his country and passed away several decades after.” As her eyes shone in reverence, her jade-blue eyes sparkled in the night and her light blue hair flew with the wind.

“But I am just an ordinary man. How could I compare~” he was interrupted midway as a voice suddenly sounded.

“Princess Elizabeth, there you are! His Highness, he’s been enraged ever since he discovered that you left the carriage. We need to go back right now or else His Majesty might do something rash.” A man wearing a royal attendant`s robe cried.

“Ughh… okay. Well then, I need to get going now.” She turned as her clothes revealed an enchanting figure and her light blue hair followed.

The lady left with an enchanting smile and chuckled. ” You never know. It depends on your own mentality whether you would become a boring carp or a soaring dragon. I, myself, would love to see the birth of a dragon. hehehe”.

Left in a daze, he woke up right after and felt boiling blood coursing through his veins. Because he vowed to become a dragon. He vowed to be the strongest in the entire Great Mystic World. He also remembered the name “Elizabeth” in his heart and said in his heart that the next they will meet he will become a dragon and thank her for the motivation she gave him.

That was why he never gave up; he believed that there was still hope for him. Since he cannot advance any further, he started to train his skills and techniques. He trained like mad for 4 years because now he knew that he could raise his strength through comprehension like that ancient expert.

The mastery of a technique is categorized by Novice, Minor Achievement, Expert, Perfection, and Grand Perfection. Normally a Spirit Core expert can only reach the Minor Achievement level while the Spirit veins are for Expert and Perfection at Awakened Spirit. It is said that if one reached the Peak of Spirit Gathering Realm one could reach Grand Perfection level. However, the past Dylan who was unable to advance in terms of cultivation but he has reached the Peak of the Expert Level.

He practiced three skills to the peak of the Expert level. The first is the “Boulder Breaking Fist”, a fist technique that could break a boulder without damaging the fist.

Next is the “Four Soft Steps”, a movement technique that could allow a person to move by only making a soft sound. The last was the “Rushing Flow of Water Secret Technique” a secret technique is a skill that can boost the strength of its user. It allows a cultivator`s energy to be as soft as a calm Lake or as violent as a waterfall.

Using these three techniques his prowess strengthens as it all complements with each other, resulting to a combat prowess comparable to a sixth level Spirit Veins cultivator. Strictly speaking, a person who is able to comprehend a technique to peak of the expert level could fight with a level 10 Spirit Veins cultivator. But due to the deficiency of the amount quality of energy could only allow a person to reach the strength comparable to a level 6 Spirit Veins Cultivator. Still, such prowess shows the exceptional talent of a genius in martial arts.

Clearly, his hard work gave fruit to something amazing which would benefit the present Dylan on his path to greatness. However, it causes quite a strain and exhaustion to the body of a cultivator as his body could not keep up with strength he could release which eventually lead to over-exhaustion which was the cause of the past Dylan`s death.

Discovering this, Dylan was no longer ashamed of his cultivation in the surface because he could fight to toe to toe with someone at an even higher level than him.

“Past Dylan, I am sorry for doubting you. I will use this second life to prove that we can be the greatest in the world.” he vowed to the past owner of his current body as he looked upwards.

” I cannot waste anymore time. I need to cultivate or else I would waste the hard work the past me has done.” Dylan reprimanded himself and continued practicing madly like what his previous self had done. He would not let down the past owner of his current body. An unwavering determination lit up in the eyes of that young man as he practiced the routine of Breaking Boulder fist.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep