Introduction to Advancement (1)

First was the Qi System. When advancing from apprentice to Official Rank, practitioners of this system could condense a Life Core within a Qi Acupoint. Using the power of transformation that came with advancement, they could transform it into a Life Source Core unique to themselves.

A Life Source Core was formed from the condensed life essence of a Qi System practitioner and their own will and beliefs. Once it had been formed, the practitioner's heart, head, and other such parts were no longer weaknesses. Even if their head and heart were destroyed, as long as their Life Source Core remained intact and their Qi had not run out, they could use the Life Source Core to absorb the Qi in their body and continually repair their injuries.

At the same time, because the Life Source Core contained the practitioner's beliefs, those beliefs would undergo a transformation when the Life Core became a Life Source Core. Depending on the beliefs within the Life Core, they would transform into different abilities.

For example, the will to protect would generally transform into abilities such as shields, damage immunity, or taking damage on someone else's behalf.

As their strength continued to increase, the abilities within their Life Source Core would also grow stronger. For example, Lin Yu had read the story of a certain great being before they became a god. When that unnamed great being broke through to Official Rank, the ability born within their Life Source Core was the ability to devour life force.

At first, this ability could only devour others' life force to restore the user's own. As that great being grew,

the ability continued to grow as well. At first, it could only devour the life force of dying beings to heal the user's injuries slightly. Later, it could directly drain the life force of every being within its range whose strength was no greater than the user's.

Eventually, the ability was no longer limited to devouring the life force of living things. It could even extract life force from things that were not alive. By that point, the ability was no longer devouring life force, but the very concept of existence.

When that great being ascended to godhood, the ability had developed to the point where it could devour abstract concepts such as space, time, fate, history, and memory.

Of course, with enough luck, there was an extremely small chance that one's will could directly transform into an ability approaching a concept. For example, while reading historical stories from the Era in the library, Lin Yu had once read that when the king of a certain country broke through to Official Rank, an ability called Undying was born within his Life Source Core.

The ability was simple: as long as he did not want to die, no one in this world could kill him. Whether they destroyed his body, annihilated his soul, ground down his consciousness, or tried to alter the timeline to erase the history of his birth, no method could kill him. His body, soul, and consciousness would return the moment after they were erased. Even if the history of his birth was changed, he would still exist. Time could not affect him.

In the end, however, the king died. He was not killed by anyone. With Undying, he was immortal; his death had been entirely his own choice.

Undying only guaranteed that he would not die; it guaranteed nothing else. The king was sealed by his enemies in a special space designed for him, where he suffered eternal torment.

After discovering that he could never escape the torment, the king ultimately chose to turn off his ability and end his own life.

As for whether he still had a chance to return from death, that was unknown.

With the Qi System covered, next came the Battle Qi System, which was similar to it.

When Battle Qi System practitioners broke through to Official Rank, they condensed Battle God Armor.

Battle God Armor was different from a mage's Innate Spell and a Qi System practitioner's Life Source Core. It had none of those fancy abilities. It had only one defining feature: tremendous power.

The essence of Battle God Armor was actually battle qi that had been tempered many times during the apprentice stage, then elevated through advancement after being tempered to its limit.

This battle qi possessed destructive power at its utmost. Once it covered the user's body, any attack that lacked sufficient power would be destroyed and erased by the overflowing battle qi the instant it touched the coating. The battle qi covering the body looked like a suit of armor, which was why it was called Battle God Armor.

Along with its ultimate destructive power, battle qi at the level of Battle God Armor was also extremely effective at strengthening the body. With its enhancement, a person's physical attributes would increase by at least severalfold.

There were also many different methods of tempering battle qi, depending on the cultivation technique and the elemental mana one could sense. The Battle God Armor formed through different tempering methods also differed.

For example, Battle God Armor tempered with the fire element was better at projecting attacks than enhancing the body. When this type of battle qi was projected outward, anything it touched would either burn or explode outright. Fire-attribute battle qi, however, was not as good at enhancing the body as battle qi of other attributes.

Compared with the immense destructive power of fire-attribute battle qi, water-attribute battle qi tempered with the water element was better at defense and enhancing the body. When projected outward, it covered the body in a smooth film of water. Though this thin film looked fragile, ordinary attacks that struck it would be directly "devoured."

Besides the fire and water attributes, there were also wind-attribute battle qi, lightning-attribute battle qi, and so on...

Of course, besides these conventional elements, there were also some that were difficult to perceive, such as space and time. Battle qi of these types possessed the power to distort space and affect time, unlike battle qi tempered with ordinary elements.

After explaining Battle God Armor, the transformation of battle qi, Lin Yu paused, took out a waterskin, drank a few mouthfuls, and rested for a bit.

After drinking a few mouthfuls of water and resting for a bit,

"Can I ask..." Seeing Lin Yu stop, Guan Canghai was just about to speak.

Seeing Guan Canghai open his mouth to ask something, Lin Yu hurriedly interrupted. "Stop. Wait until I've finished the rest before you ask. For now, listen to the rest of what I have to say."

Hearing Lin Yu's words, Guan Canghai closed his mouth and waited for him to finish.

After resting for a while, Lin Yu continued explaining the remaining systems.

When Qi System practitioners advanced to Official Rank, they could condense different Natal Divine Abilities based on the cultivation texts they practiced.

Natal Divine Abilities were somewhat similar to the Innate Spells condensed by mages; both could be activated at will. So, did that make Natal Divine Abilities and Innate Spells the same type of ability?

The answer was no. Natal Divine Abilities only looked like Innate Spells. A proper study would reveal that Natal Divine Abilities and innate traits were entirely different things.

A mage's Innate Spell was freely constructed by its owner, and its abilities came in every imaginable variety.

Natal Divine Abilities were different. Their formation was subject to restrictions, depending on the cultivation technique the practitioner used.

Different cultivation techniques produced different Natal Divine Abilities.

For example, a practitioner of a fire-element cultivation technique had to condense a Natal Divine Ability related to fire. Unlike a mage's Innate Spell, it could not be something like soul manipulation when the user's specialty was elemental magic.

As for why a Natal Divine Ability had to have the same attribute as the practitioner's cultivation technique?

The reason was simple.