A New World

"Race... Half-Primordial Elf." Punk couldn't even muster the energy to complain about this race name that reeked of cliché drama. Sure, "Primordial Elf" sounded lofty and grand, but in this world, ancient races weren't automatically powerful. Even by the logic of species evolution, the newest should be the best. That scenario where ancient gods swarmed the streets and modern mortals outnumbered dogs only happened when an advanced civilization was wiped out and a new one had just been established. While this Multiverse leaned a bit toward the latter case, at least in terms of bloodlines, the gap between ancient and modern wasn't nearly that huge.

Take Punk's Primordial Elf bloodline (and only half at that)—it just meant his life energy was a bit more efficient, he looked a bit better, and he was a bit more agile... that was about it. The so-called "Primordial" title only proved this race went extinct early, and maybe it'd be useful for exploring a few old ruins!

So Punk was really speechless about this whole Half-Primordial Elf bloodline. Where was the promised ancient divine power? Where, oh where?

Besides this bloodline that seemed useless for now, there was also the "lifelong learning" left by the original body's parents—something that "looked profound but was actually a messy jumble." Punk relied on the system to organize these scattered fragments of "knowledge" for what felt like over a month on Earth, sorting them into categories. But in the process, he also got a preliminary understanding of this brand-new world.

First, the world's history. The ancient Netherese Civilization had left a deep and lasting impact. For example, Netheril unified and improved the Meditation Method for spellcasters, and they fully publicized this perfected method that could train all the way to Legendary (Legendary and above relied on personal insight for advancement). Even now, when mages saw warriors killing each other over a dubious secret manual for battle qi, they sincerely thanked the Netherese Archmages.

Another example: the Netherese Civilization widely spread knowledge and provided free education, letting even ordinary people without the talent to become professionals understand the world. As a result, even now that knowledge was monopolized again, no plane once touched by the Netherese Civilization would see the foolishness of commoners worshipping professionals as gods.

And the plane Punk was currently on—the Faerun plane—had been reinforced back then as the birthplace and base of the Netherese Civilization. The final battle of the Netherese Civilization also took place here. At the same time, most gods of the Multiverse, in order to fight Netheril, had their ultimate fortresses—also ultimate prisons—their Divine Kingdoms, moved near the Faerun plane by Ao. Thus, the Faerun plane became the undisputed core plane of the Multiverse.

As for the Netheril Remnant... the Netherese Civilization had actually declared: "As long as one upholds the will of the Netherese Civilization, they are a member of the Netherese Civilization. As long as one strives for the revival of Netheril, they are part of the Netheril Remnant."

Though it sounded loose, Punk felt an indescribably immense and shocking cohesion from this declaration.

It was because of this that, even though the Netherese Civilization was nearly destroyed, the name "Netheril" remained an eternal banner of glory in the hearts of countless mages.

"If I get the chance, I'll join the Netherese Civilization too. Even though I don't even know what the Netheril Will is yet..." Punk thought to himself.

Another crucial piece of information was the world's power hierarchy:

The lowest level of combat professionals was levels 1–4, the Apprentice Level.

Levels 5–9 were the Novice Level. Compared to the Apprentice Level, this was a minor realm improvement—Novices were several times stronger than Apprentices.

But levels 10–14 were the Formal Level, a qualitative leap. Compared to the Novice Level, this was a major realm jump. Any attack below Formal Level couldn't break the defenses of Formal Level and above, and any attack at Formal Level or above ignored all defenses below Formal Level. This meant that in this world, challenging across minor realms might still leave a slim chance of survival, but challenging across a major realm—no matter how many people or how much protagonist halo you had—it was one word: death!

Levels 15–19 were the Master Level, a minor realm improvement.

Levels 20–39 were a major realm improvement, named—Legendary! (Equivalent to a Weak Divine Power god's true body!)

Above Legendary, there were three minor realms:

40–49—Morning Star (Lesser Divine Power god's true body)

50–59—Moonlight (Intermediate Divine Power god's true body)

60–69—Sunlight (Greater Divine Power god's true body)

Levels 70–79 were another major realm improvement—God Seat!

(Special note: God Seat is a realm name, not referring to gods. Unless gods shed the slavery of their divine duties, they cannot surpass the Legendary realm!)

However, for reasons unknown to anyone in this world, since the destruction of the Netherese Civilization, God Seat powerhouses were not allowed to interfere with the universe in any way. This rule was far stricter than Ao's binding of gods. Many who couldn't wholeheartedly pursue the mysteries dared not glimpse the glory of the God Seat, but those strong ones chasing their free souls never stopped. Of course, after achieving God Seat, they all vanished without a trace.

Levels 80–89 were Transcendence—transcending the universe, a major realm leap.

Levels 90–99 were Void—roaming the Void (truly roaming freely in the Void, with a wave of the hand causing universes to be born and die. Punk had only barely drifted along in the Void before, unable even to move)!

Legend said that if one surpassed the peak of Void level 99 and advanced further, it would be an incomprehensible level. To use an analogy: if the entire endless Void were a story written in a book, then above level 99, one could transcend that book and enter reality.

Only by reaching the Legendary realm could one gain endless lifespan and a sliver of qualification to contend with the River of Fate. Legendary-level spellcasters could also learn powerful, destructive Legendary Magic—commonly known as Forbidden Spells. From the information's description, Punk learned that even the weakest Forbidden Spell was dozens of times more powerful than a hydrogen bomb on Earth.

"Looks like I need to work hard to become a Legendary."

And so, Punk set a "small" goal—become Legendary. This world was turbulent, and he would never allow himself to exist as a weakling.

After sorting out the power system information (mostly for mages, since the knowledge source was a mage), Punk moved on to organizing knowledge about alignments.

This world had six alignments: Lawful Good (the legendary Saint Mother type), Chaotic Good (some rogue-like heroes), Lawful Neutral (most ordinary people), Chaotic Neutral (those who act on impulse but have a bottom line), Lawful Evil (organized evil forces), and Chaotic Evil (psychopathic murderers).

Special note: although there were many ways to discern alignments, the distinction was actually based on the individual's inner values. That meant if a madman, from his heart to his subconscious to the deepest depths of his soul, believed everything he did was good, then even if he spent all day destroying the world, his alignment would still be "Good."

So alignment distinctions were just a reference. If you took them as absolute truth... you'd definitely be screwed over.

Besides this information, there were some scattered "common sense" facts.

For example, high-level professionals in this world were almost transcending the universe, while the common folk at the bottom still lived a medieval life.

For example, the world's population was so huge that no one could count it. The Continent of Faerun's surface area was over forty times that of the sun in his previous life. And most races used the Common Tongue.

Then there were customs of common races and other knowledge and scattered memories from the "parents" before their death! After all, the original body's parents were only at the Master Level, living in seclusion with nothing to their name. From the information left behind, it seemed they wanted to gamble on breaking through to Legendary. Fearing that if they failed, their child wouldn't survive, they created this green egg for the child to gestate in and left behind knowledge inheritance!

Judging from the results, the outside was now dilapidated and ruined—clearly the original parents had failed. In this world, breaking through a major realm was always "succeed or die"; there was no third outcome.

Luckily, Primordial Elves were still part of the elf race, so once gestated, they took the form of a fifteen-year-old youth. Otherwise, Punk wouldn't have been comfortable as a baby.

"I wonder about the 'parents'' origins. Do I have any aunts, uncles, or other relatives?"

Thinking about all this, Punk finally found the most important knowledge in the last part of the scattered inheritance—knowledge about mage cultivation!

(Additional note: Due to reader feedback, an additional explanation is added!

Punk was only barely surviving in the Void; his soul was still at the mortal level. He couldn't compare to true Void powerhouses at this point. It's like a speck of dust and a super black hole both existing in the universe—does that mean a speck of dust is on the same level and as powerful as a super black hole?

So "barely surviving in the Void" is not "roaming the Void"—it's far from it~

Perhaps the explanation wasn't thorough enough; this has been added.)

Due to reader feedback, an additional explanation is added!

Punk was only barely surviving in the Void; his soul was still at the mortal level. He couldn't compare to true Void powerhouses at this point. It's like a speck of dust and a super black hole both existing in the universe—does that mean a speck of dust is on the same level and as powerful as a super black hole?

So "barely surviving in the Void" is not "roaming the Void"—it's far from it~

Perhaps the explanation wasn't thorough enough; this has been added.