Taking stock × One step further

To prepare medicines.

Pack them separately by category.

Kevin looked at the packaged medicine in front of him and nodded in satisfaction.

This is for Melusina.

It would be more than enough for Melusina to use her abilities to reach a million; at that point, the only hurdle would be training in the Gravity Zone.

After doing all that, Kevin pushed open the door.

Sunlight streamed down from the side onto the Dark Continent.

He looked at the ring on his hand.

"It feels weird."

Because he lent his [Blank Meteor] Nen ability entirely to Melusina, he was unable to use it himself.

Because this is a passive Nen ability, it has existed since the moment it was acquired.

It's strange that they're suddenly gone.

Bringing his thoughts away from that, Kevin focused his gaze on the tablet in front of him, which displayed Netero's notes.

It is the culmination of his research on abilities accumulated over the past year or two, as well as his inferences about the changes in the Lord Rank based on what he learned from Lord such as Kevin and Slash Ghost, and he summarized the Lord Rank.

It is now known that the first bottleneck for humanity is below one million units of mental energy, which fluctuates depending on individual talent, but is mostly around four hundred thousand.

This limit can be tentatively called the racial limit.

Different races have different characteristics, and powerful races don't even have such limits.

A million thoughts constitute the common limit for all life.

Based on current information, apart from extremely rare and powerful biological species, all other life forms have a limit of millions of Nen.

Like the Resentful Eater Snake, it is currently the only Lord Level creature discovered that does not have a limit of one million Nen.

The trade-off is that the population is extremely small, and growth is very time-consuming and troublesome.

Therefore, for humans to advance to the Lord, they need to break through two limits: the limit of their own race and the limit of the common life force.

Using humans as a data reference.

The difficulty of breaking through the limits of one's own race is far less than the common limits of all life forms.

Even without Kevin's potion, through sheer hard work, humanity can break through its limits on the Dark Continent.

Many of the explorers in the Small Town broke through on their own.

Besides reaching one's own bottleneck, a breakthrough only requires two sufficient conditions: external pressure and internal drive.

External pressures come in all shapes and sizes; intense training and various forms of suppression can all achieve the desired effect.

The internal driving force is one's own will and the necessary nourishment.

The limit of racial commonality is more complicated and is a very difficult goal to achieve.

The key reason for this lies in time.

The improvement of human strength is very clear: first, train the physical body to generate more Life Force; then Qi Refining to generate more Life Force, which merges with the will to produce qi.

This exercise involves constantly controlling the Qi (vital energy) and making it flow; this process gradually increases its strength.

That's where the problem lies.

Why does the more thoughts one has, the slower the growth?

Time is finite, and willpower has its limits.

When your recitation volume is less than 100,000, exercising for an hour every day will basically push you to your limit. At that point, your body's energy will be almost completely depleted, and it will increase the next day, thus creating a cycle.

Once you reach 100,000, one hour won't be enough; it will likely take much longer.

The longer the time goes on, the closer it gets to the limits of human endurance, and the more severe the test on will and body becomes.

How many people are willing to dedicate a significant amount of time entirely to the pursuit of training?

Reaching this stage means more than just exercising every day; it requires years of dedicated training.

But when the number reaches 200,000 or even more, the problem becomes increasingly serious.

You might even need to dedicate almost all of your time each day to exercise to feel any improvement.

This is already unacceptable to many people.

What is the purpose of training and growth? Is it merely to become strong for the sake of being strong?

Only a very small number of people would think this way, such as Netero.

Netero is a pure martial arts fanatic; he can draw enough motivation from sheer strength to spur his own growth.

Kevin wouldn't do that.

Strength is a means to pursue goals, not an end in itself. He is not someone who strives to be strong for the sake of being strong, and most people are not like that, not even Biscuit.

Biscuit is already considered one of the most Martial Faction, willing to invest a great deal of time. She's even willing to sacrifice her appearance for strength, which is a huge sacrifice for Biscuit.

Therefore, before exploring the Dark Continent, it can be discovered that most of the elite Nen user in human society have a Nen level that hovers around 200,000.

This applies to Biscuit, Morel, and even some of the combative faction's Twelve Zodiacs.

Actually, there is another shortcut, and that is combat—real combat, not training.

Ordinary people will find that the fatigue they experience during regular training is completely disproportionate to their fatigue during actual combat.

Ordinary people can easily endure high-intensity weight training for half an hour or even an hour, but once they get involved in real combat, wrestling, or intense fighting, they will find themselves exhausted within minutes.

Unlike training, combat requires the use of the whole body, including rapid brain thinking.

Training is like being part of a machine, while combat is like that machine running at high frequency.

Therefore, many people have discovered that the effect of this kind of combat is that it can exhaust a person's limits after a day's training in a short period of time.

However, in human society, as strength grows, individuals capable of fighting on equal footing become extremely rare, and no one is willing to spend their time on that.

Things are different on the Dark Continent. The high pressure of the environment and the overwhelming hostility stimulate the body, causing its strength to naturally begin to struggle.

With the simple aid of Kevin's potion, improving one's strength is as easy as eating and drinking, easily reaching the limits of human capability.

This is what the external environment brings, so the real limit becomes the common limit of life: one million thoughts.

So the question returns to the same old one: how to consume so much energy?

This is something that training can't provide. Even if you spend 24 hours a day training, you still can't consume a million units of energy. Even with the help of drugs and the heavy pressure of the surrounding environment, it's impossible.

At this stage, none of the hostile creatures on the Dark Continent are fools; who would want to provoke them?

If it's a monster with a mechanic-based system, then it's completely putting its life on the scales, and on the disadvantageous side at that.

The same cycle, the same bottlenecks as before.

At this point, humans are on the same starting line as all other living beings, so talent begins to play an important role.

Talent here includes physical attributes, willpower, and growth.

Without the corresponding Nen ability, even if Kevin provides enough drugs, there's no way to break through this bottleneck; it's simply impossible.

Once one breaks through to the Lord level, life evolves and is elevated.

Human talents were once divided into six systems based on individual differences. According to theory and the principle of proximity, these systems were somewhat diminished. By the time one reached the Lord, they were no longer needed, as life had approached perfection.

Leaving aside Mental Image for now, let's talk about the fundamentals of life: achieving 100% mastery of all six systems is sufficient, and focusing on a particular system can even break through limits and reach an unknown realm.

In the simplest terms: a focused skill set will grant abilities similar to those of monster-hunting.

Use Kevin as the standard.

[Blank Meteor]

From strengthening bodily memory to beginning to memorize things that are fundamentally impossible to know or discover, i. e., information gathering.

Memorize unknown information during battle, such as the enemy's Nen ability, the enemy's techniques, the enemy's past, and information about the enemy's race.

This is no longer a gradual increase in Nen ability, but a leap forward in Nen ability.

[Moment's Dream]

The change is evident in his appearance, though this change is largely due to individual differences among Kevin's peers.

And abilities, which were previously three fixed combinations, have now become a large number of arbitrary combinations, resulting in true freedom.

And that absolute, unstoppable refining ability—this ability was never originally offensive, but now it's become ridiculously powerful.

This is the change brought about by breaking through 100%.

The percentages of other departments will also be reflected at this stage.

During the Knight's era, humanity was still bound by the limitation of Memory Capacity, meaning that the existence of Nen ability was finite and could not be created indefinitely.

However, once Lord is established, this restriction begins to loosen to some extent.

It doesn't mean you can generate Nen ability at will, but rather that under 100% Nen conditions, you can simulate and achieve them using simple Nen Aura, just like the various Nen ability techniques of the past.

For example, in the Emission Type, Kevin could see that almost every Lord in the Arena possessed a spatial Nen ability, which is the Specialization of the Emission Type. However, depending on their preferences, the personal spaces they created were slightly different.

Newly appointed Lord may not possess it, but as long as they live long enough, they will acquire countless strange and convenient Nen ability.

For example, the ability to observe fighting spirit that he learned from Loko is, to some extent, a type of manipulating Nen ability.

At this level, Nen Aura into various forms and imbuing them with properties becomes simple; this is Conjuration Type.

The Lord's battles are always accompanied by wind, thunder, and fire, which are generated by the Transmutation Type.

Therefore, Netero's advice is to fully explore the advantages brought by these six 100% systems.

Having discussed this common characteristic of all life, it's time to talk about the unique characteristics of humankind: Mental Image.

Reaching the Lord means that one's will and body are in balance, achieving perfection, which is essentially a further enhancement of the will.

Before reaching the Lord, humans are characterized by being purely flesh-and-blood beings.

The body firmly bears the will. Without the body, the human will is extremely fragile, or even completely nonexistent. The will is merely something born from the human body, perfectly conforming to the characteristics of flesh-and-blood creatures.

Willpower was humanity's weak point at that time, which is why there are extreme cases of individuals and various psychological problems; even the slightest thing can affect the entire body.

Human willpower is both strong and fragile, but it is undoubtedly vulnerable to genuine psychological attacks. This is its real weakness and Kevin's biggest problem at one point.

No matter how strong your physical body is, it can't withstand mental attacks.

It's not difficult for the physical body to become strong, and with the addition of Qi, which at this point is essentially Life Force providing energy, it's not so difficult to achieve this.

Upon reaching the Lord, one's will and spirit soar, reaching a balance with the body, and it is at this time that Mental Image arises.

The sudden increase in mental attributes, combined with the Qi that he had been learning to control, was like breaking through a limit, and this fusion produced this thing.

It may seem illusory, but it has actual physical effects during combat.

It appears to exist, but in reality, enemy attacks will pass right through it, making it seem like an illusion.

Furthermore, it can be large or small. After training, it can even sever actions that are synchronized with human movements, directly project them out of the body, amplify all kinds of human attacks, and even unleash pure mental attacks that humans can hardly deliver through Mental Image.

Based on the current speculation, Netero believes that the characteristics brought about by breaking through 100% of the system will definitely bring about changes in Mental Image.

However, because Kevin is a dual-elemental being and he is the only Lord, there is too little data for reference. Moreover, Slash Ghost is not a pure human, so he cannot be used as a primary reference.

Netero believes that when other categories break the million mark, they must not be influenced by Kevin's Mental Image.

Because Mental Image also possesses characteristics of Nen ability, it can be influenced by the subconscious and habits.

Having seen so many of Kevin's Mental Image, one might think that this is perhaps what human Mental Image are supposed to be like.

Humanoid Mental Image will be produced in large quantities, and their characteristics will tend towards gods and demons, mainly due to the negative influence of Kevin and Netero.

Netero is Thousand-Armed Guanyin Statue, and Kevin is Four-Armed Tripod-Bearer.

It's too mythical.

But the Mental Image that Slash Ghost created was that of a bloodthirsty demon wielding two swords.

The image of Slash Ghost, who was not influenced by the two, reveals that he actually has very little mythological significance. His characteristics are more concentrated on the two swords. However, he appears to be a madman, like a demon, or a mad swordsman.

The next Lord is very likely to emerge from among a few individuals, and these individuals are absolutely interconnected. Once the preceding lords have established a fixed order, the probability of subsequent lords being influenced will greatly increase.

For example, Melusina's Mental Image is highly likely to be Kevin's, and it will most likely be a mythological idol, and Melusina will definitely be humanoid or humanoid.

Netero placed more emphasis on the possibility of altering established patterns in Kim, who was the kind of individual who was difficult to influence by others, and whose image was absolutely eccentric.

Kevin pursed his lips as he read the complaints on the document.

However, he had never actually thought of it that way.

The page was covered with a dense array of conjectures and theories. After reading it, Kevin pondered and rubbed his chin.

"Hmm... the increased possibilities for Nen ability brought about by being 100% proficient in all six elements can actually be verified."

Kevin's Nen ability, acquired through the potion, perfectly illustrates this point; after reaching the Lord, he mastered various fusion and usage techniques with ease.

Previously, it was thought that the Ant King's potion was the cause, but now it seems that the 100% success rate of the six elements at the Lord Rank was the main factor.

However, Kevin doesn't need to worry about this improvement; the potion will work on its own.

The ability that others need to think, train, and gradually plan can be solved by Kevin using drugs, of course, the right combination of drugs must be found.

However, this ability doesn't necessarily require S-Rank. S-Rank abilities are simply powerful, similar to Nen ability, and A-Rank and B-Rank abilities are equally useful.

Does this mean Kevin's scale barrier is useless?

Although it is created by fusing several Nen ability from B-Rank A-Rank, it is still simpler and easier than S-Rank.

From this perspective, it's entirely possible to shift some of the focus back to various B-Rank and A-Rank potions. These materials are countless and could perfectly meet Kevin's various requirements.

And the message highlighted in red by Netero: At the Lord Level, perhaps the most important thing is a change in mindset.

Netero had already benefited from this advantage when he was at the Knight-level, which allowed Netero to gain a certain level of Mental Image ability due to his improved mental state at that Knight-level.

Netero believes this will be a safe shortcut for overtaking and improving at the Lord Level, but his mindset is too ambiguous.

"Sigh, these kinds of mysterious yet undeniably real things are the most troublesome."

Kevin was helpless, but he could also think about it in this direction.