Chu Shen has luckily written down all of the notes from his cla.s.s along with any interesting facts he has picked up. As he discovers more he will write down more notes.

Cultivation Stages Chu Shen knows are separated into 4 realms. The Mortal Realm, Martial Realm, Natural Realm, and Universe Realm.

Note

Inside the realms there are different stages, each stage also has 10 levels. There are 8 Major Meridians and inside the meridians is a total of 10 blockages resulting in 10 levels. When the 10th has been cleared the meridian or stage has been mastered. This ranking system was adopted to the other stages as well.

Note

Included are the different signs of being in that stage. Emperor stage is unique in that an addition meridian is needed to break through from level 5 to level 6. Almost any meridian can be cleared in any order. However, the first meridian is always the outer meridians. The outer meridians are unlike the other Major Meridians. It is a series of small meridians that must be unblocked. These small meridians also have 10 blockages.

(Mortal Realm: Body Strengthening and traces of Qi)

Man: Characterized by Qi being present in body

Tiger: Characterized by amount of Qi being present in body and dantian

Dragon: Characterized by amount of Qi being present in body and dantian

(Martial Realm: Qi manifestation and unlocking meridians)

Student: Working on 1st major meridian, the outer meridians

Pract.i.tioner: Unblocked 1st major meridian, working on 2nd.

Scholar: Unblocked 2nd major meridian, working on 3rd

Warrior: Qi in dantian turned to liquid, unblocked 3rd meridian, working on 4th

Army: Unblocked 4th meridian, working on 5th.

King: Unblocked 5th meridian, working on 6th.

Emperor Level 1-5: 6th meridian done, working on 7th.

Emperor Level 6-10: 7th meridian done, working on 8th

(Natural Realm: Meridians unlocked and access to natural laws)

Earth: Has unlocked Elemental affinity, ???

Nature: ???

World: ???

(Universe Realm: Unknown)

Cosmic: ???

Celestial: ???

Heaven: ???

Ratings for Pills and Weapons Chu Shen knows

Note

Pills and weapons are separated into Tiers and inside those Tiers are grades. Grades are 1-10 just like cultivators. Included is cultivation stages that these would be suitable for.

(Mortal Tier: Weapons with 0-1 Star inscriptions, Pills with appropriate energy)

Low-Tier any grade: Man Stage

Middle Tier any grade: Tiger Stage

High-Tier any grade: Dragon Stage

(All Further Tiers are unknown at this time)

The soul is what allows martial artists to control Qi, geniuses have faster soul growth than others. The soul grows fastest in the first 20 percent of a martial artist’s life. As a martial artist becomes more accomplished in their cultivation their lifespan increases, letting them extend their souls growth rate.

If a person has more Qi inside their body than their soul can handle, their Qi will go out of control and destroy their internal organs or even their cultivation. This is a side effect from raising cultivation through artificial means. Does not apply to those with const.i.tutions. Their souls do not control Qi through normal means and do not have to bear a load when manipulating it. Therefore they don't have issues with their soul losing control. They can only absorb Qi with their element though otherwise their soul will reject it completely and cause them great pain.

Mental demons or shock may affect a cultivator’s soul. This can lead to cultivators becoming distracted and losing control. In sever cases this can lead to death.  As a result, most cultivators try to be true to themselves and have no worries.

The only way to cultivate the soul is by learning, fighting, or surviving life-or-death trials. Because of digesting the soul of the plant when eating some medicines, it can result in growth of the soul. However, stabilization of the current cultivation is needed to make the soul their own. Also works with powerful pills and beast spirits. Dangerous because if the soul fragments are too powerful it can even kill the cultivator.

Qi is channeled through the meridians. If the body absorbs too much energy the meridians can burst. It also leaks through the meridians into our body which can lead to backlash if the energy that leaks into the body is too powerful.

Qi is imprinted by the soul when absorbed, allowing one to use it without meditating. The soul controls Qi and focusing on fine control or controlling large amounts of Qi causes the martial artist to become too distracted.

Reflexes are done without thinking and is formed by repeating an action until it is ingrained into the body. Martial arts are based off this by making a certain circulation of Qi become a reflex. An example is the body s.h.i.+eld of a martial artist, brought on by the body’s survival instinct.

Training a martial art to the point of being a reflex for your soul, you can activate martial arts requiring large amounts of Qi without being distracted because you do not have to focus. But you must first learn how to channel Qi in those particular meridians, which can be a great roadblock to cultivators.

Martial arts use certain amounts of meridians to channel their energy. The more meridians used, the more energy can be channeled and spread out without backlash. Of course, these meridians, even for the basic martial art, is over a hundred since the outer meridians are in the millions.

Qi evaporates when it leaves your body. But by making a structure, you can allow it to hold its form longer. It can also have effects like making blades that slice, s.h.i.+elds, increasing your speed, or your bodies strength. But if the structure becomes destabilized the backlash can kill you.

The reason martial arts are often based off of nature or animals is because by studying the circulation of Qi in animals or plants and how it affects such objects, one can copy the Qi flow and recreate the objects.

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK

In Alteria Qi is called Mana. Mages and warriors are born with an element already, like someone with an innate const.i.tution. Mages are born with a certain amount of Major Meridians already unblocked and call these Mana Rivers.

Warriors are born with Minor Meridians unblocked and call this the Mana Network. Mages and Warriors cannot unblock anymore meridians besides the one they are born with.

Warriors expand their meridians size in order to advance Ranks.

Mages cannot send Qi outside their bodies fast because of the mana river sending in a constant flow of Qi. So they cast spells by mixing their mana with the mana around them. This also makes the spells more powerful than their level should allow but takes time to cast since they need to mix the mana and control it properly.

Battle Mages are those born with both types of meridians unblocked.

A Mage G.o.d was a mage born with all 7 mana rivers while a Warrior G.o.d was one that fully expanded their mana network. However, they could only become a rank 8 at best. Only battle mages could become rank 9 and were cla.s.sified as Paragon G.o.ds.

Man/Tiger/Dragon = Rank 1

Student = Rank 2

Pract.i.tioner = Rank 3

Scholar = Rank 4

Warrior = Rank 5

Army = Rank 6

King = Rank 7

Emperor (1st part)  = Rank 8

Emperor (2nd part) = Rank 9

1>Beginning Success: Can cast spell using full chant with spellbook.

2>Small Success: Can chant from memory. (Spell Rank = Mage Rank)

3> Medium Success: Can use abbreviated chant. (Spell Rank = Mage Rank minus 1 Rank)

4> Large Success: Can cast using only spell name. (Spell Rank = Mage Rank -2 ranks)

5> Perfection: Can insta-cast using only mental image. (Spell Rank = Mage Rank -3 ranks)

Rank 6-7 spells only have first 4 stages. G.o.d rank (Rank 8-9) spells only have the first 3 stages.

To successfully cast a spell using an abbreviated chant one needs to be one rank above the spell. Using the spell name needed two ranks above the spell and insta-cast needed to be three ranks above the spells rank.

An example would be this. A Rank 5 mage can cast a Beginning/Small success Rank 5 spell. However, they can only cast a Medium Success Rank 4 spell, Large Success Rank 3 spell, and a Perfection Rank 2 spell. The reason behind this spell system was because a higher rank mage could a.s.similate more Qi with the atmosphere in a shorter amount of time. With that a high rank mage could cast weaker spells almost instantly.

If mage is insta-casting and becomes distracted, the spell may backfire causing damage to the soul.

Realms: Different Dimensions that may have different universal laws or the same laws.

Heavenly Treasure Pavilion: A mysterious pavilion that leads to a pocket dimension/realm. The Chu Sect was using this to test their disciples. Inside are PaG.o.da’s that contain many weapons. The PaG.o.da’s are separated into realms.

Blacksmith: Forges weapons

Inscription Master: Lays inscriptions on weapons, giving them special effects.

Artificer: Combination of blacksmithing and Inscription master.

Array Master: Lays down arrays that can have special effects on the surrounding world.

Beast Core: A beast’s version of a dantian. The outside of the beasts dantian is formed of solid material, usually crystal. It contains the beasts Qi inside it. As a result, if a beast is killed before it wastes its Qi in defense, it will have more energy than one that doesn’t.

Artificers are ranked according to the highest star array they can a.s.similate into a weapon they have forged.

Inscription masters are ranked by the highest star array they can a.s.similate into a weapon.

Blacksmiths are separated into the highest Tier weapon they can forge.

Hypers.p.a.ce: Means of faster than light travel inside the Sci-Fi realm

Chu branch sect Misty Pa.s.s: Chu Shen’s hometown. A small out of the way town on the border of the forest.

Majestic Sword Academy: A prestigious school that trains students run by the Chu Sect. Unlike other schools this one is available to all those who are talented and not just n.o.bles. Outstanding students may be invited to join the Chu Sect by the teachers.

Sparta: A planet that is run by scientists. Scared of being hunted down by the Pure Ones, a radical religious group, they founded a militaristic nation. They are the most advanced group in the entire Human Galaxy.

Chu Shen’s home realm

Heavenly Treasure Pavilion pocket realm

Sci-Fi Realm

Martial Realm

???

Thanks to 123isme for suggesting to Chu Shen to release his notes to the public.