There were five paths of cultivation in this world. Some focused exclusively on the body or the spirit, while others cultivated both. Each cultivation system had its own corresponding cultivation method.
There were two specialized paths: the Caster System and the Life Source Qi System.
The Caster System specialized in Meditation Techniques. It pursued the transformation of the soul, seeking to analyze, understand, and master everything in the world.
The Life Source Qi System specialized in Breathing Techniques. It pursued the transformation of the body, constantly strengthening one's ability to survive. Its qi was mainly used to strengthen oneself, and its destructive power when released was relatively ordinary.
Besides these two systems, there were three cultivation paths that combined Meditation Techniques and Breathing Techniques.
They were the Battle Qi System, the Qi System, and the Spiritual Power System.
Cultivators of the Battle Qi System focused on the body and cultivated the soul as a secondary pursuit. Mana and qi combined within Qi Acupoints to produce Fighting Spirit. Besides strengthening the body like ordinary qi, Fighting Spirit could also be converted into various attributes and released for attacks. It had greater destructive power than qi.
Next was the Qi System. Cultivating it had one prerequisite: one had to fuse one's Magic Aperture and Qi Acupoints to create Three Dantians. Cultivation of the Qi System strengthened both body and soul, and qi could be used to cast certain spell-like abilities. When Lin Yu read the description of this system, he thought of the manga Under One Person.
As for the last one, the Spiritual Power System, it seemed a lot like the immortal cultivators in novels to Lin Yu. Its cultivators focused on the soul and cultivated the body as a secondary pursuit. They had spellcasting abilities close to those of casters, and their bodies also had some combat ability.
Lin Yu only needed to concern himself with the Caster System. It was the only system he could follow; his body wasn't strong enough to meet the requirements of any of the others.
According to the Meditation Technique, to advance from apprentice to Formal in the Caster System, one first had to strengthen one's Magic Aperture enough to construct a Magic Formula. By Lin Yu's calculations, that meant having more than 1,000 mana points. Then one had to construct a Magic Formula unique to oneself within the Magic Aperture.
After completing those preparations, one had to set up an Advancement Ritual in the outside world and prepare enough ritual materials. Once everything was ready, one could activate the Advancement Ritual and use its power to transform the Magic Aperture. As long as the transformation succeeded, a Mage Apprentice could advance to a Formal mage.
After advancement, the Magic Formula constructed in the Magic Aperture had a chance of becoming an Innate Spell. Like an innate ability, an Innate Spell could be activated directly by spending mana whenever one wished. Its power was close to that of Ritual Magic cast with a complete ritual and supporting materials. Moreover, as its user grew stronger, the Innate Spell would continue to evolve.
Recalling what the book said about advancing to a Formal mage, Lin Yu decided to see what advancement through the system was like.
On the panel, the system listed four methods of advancement.
They were simple advancement, normal advancement, advanced advancement, and perfect advancement.
Each had different requirements. The higher the level of the advancement method, the more difficult the requirements and the more attribute points it awarded after the breakthrough.
Only simple advancement was lit up on the panel before him.
Simple advancement had no requirements, but using it would grant no attribute bonuses.
Next, Lin Yu looked at the requirements for the other three methods.
Normal advancement required 100 ordinary Magic Cores, which would be consumed to advance. Using this method would grant 10 points to every attribute after advancement.
Lin Yu had seen Magic Cores mentioned on the forum. They were a material obtained by dissecting the corpses of magical beasts. Players currently didn't know what Magic Cores were for, though Lin Yu had learned from books that they could be used to make magic items, cast Ritual Magic, brew potions, and serve as ritual materials for an Advancement Ritual.
Advanced advancement required 10 special Magic Cores, which would be consumed to advance. Using this method would grant 50 points to every attribute after advancement.
Looking at the special Magic Cores, Lin Yu thought back to the books he had read. Special Magic Cores was a collective term for the Magic Cores of certain special individuals among magical beasts. These individuals were generally much stronger than others of their species. As for where to find them, the books hadn't said.
Next was perfect advancement. It required a material called king's soul, and five of them had to be consumed to advance perfectly.
Lin Yu had never seen king's soul mentioned in a book. Fortunately, the panel explained how to obtain it.
[King's soul (restricted material) This is recognition of the strong. It only drops after killing a boss-level unit whose level is no lower than your own. This material can only be used for advancement. (Restriction: this material only drops from a boss whose level is no lower than your own if it is killed while you are awaiting a breakthrough.)]
After reading the description of king's soul, Lin Yu understood that a perfect breakthrough required him to kill five bosses whose levels were no lower than his own. Come to think of it, what's a boss? The server's been open for so long, but I don't think I've seen one! So there are item drops in Era after all.
After reading the description of king's soul, he moved on to the attribute bonuses for perfect advancement. Seeing that it directly granted 100 points to every attribute, Lin Yu had to admit he was tempted.
As much as he coveted the attributes from perfect advancement, there was one question Lin Yu had to consider. What about the Innate Spell? Why don't any of these four system advancement methods mention one? Was it left out, or does advancing through the system mean not getting an Innate Spell?
At that moment, Lin Yu was torn between advancing on his own and relying on the system.
Forget it. I won't think about it.
After struggling with the question for a while, Lin Yu gave up thinking about it. Advancement wasn't something he was in a position to consider yet.
If I advance on my own, I'll at least need to strengthen my Magic Aperture to its limit, right? At its current strength, it still hasn't reached the limit of how far I can improve it!
He also hadn't finished setting up the ritual, preparing the materials, or choosing an Innate Spell. He would consider advancing on his own once he had taken care of all of that.
As for advancing through the system, he hadn't even seen a boss yet, so there was even less reason to consider it.
What he needed to do now was log out and see whether he could practice a Breathing Technique himself.
Having decided what to do next, Lin Yu chose to log out immediately.
He opened the game pod and stood up. After moving his body around a little, Lin Yu prepared to try the Breathing Technique.
He took a deep breath and adjusted himself to his best condition, then began recalling what he had read about Breathing Techniques that day.
It was strange. This breathing method was very strange. Lin Yu tried hard to adjust his breathing to match the description in the Breathing Technique.
After maintaining it for less than half a minute, Lin Yu felt the world spin around him. It was as if something had tightened around his neck, leaving him unable to breathe at all. His body felt as though it would collapse at any moment.
By then, Lin Yu could no longer concern himself with maintaining the Breathing Technique. He gulped down fresh air.
Only after Lin Yu stopped maintaining the Breathing Technique did the feeling of suffocation slowly fade.
After resting for a while, Lin Yu finally recovered.