Within the Spirit Language illusion, the middle-aged man smiled as he answered the student's question. "That's where you're wrong!"
"Which of our people's twelve current sages didn't begin with the smallest of beginnings and grow stronger little by little?"
"Every true sage possesses a selfless heart and a sincere desire to better themselves."
"The more willing you are to contribute to our people, and the more you temper your will and earn the recognition of the 'World Stone,' the faster your cultivation will naturally progress."
"Besides, over the past several thousand years, our people have accumulated many Last Wishes from our worthies and sages."
"They are willing to use their accumulated knowledge to help later generations cultivate faster. But there are only so many Last Wishes. You must demonstrate your worth before you can receive individual guidance from those worthies and sages."
The students grew excited at these words.
The middle-aged man continued, "We have also taken in some powerful Homeless, all refugees from other regions. Though they are Homeless, there are still things we can learn from them."
"You may spar with them, learn their skills, or listen to their stories. Only then will you understand how precious survival in the Demon God's Sea truly is. You must not look down on them. Understood?"
"Understood!" the students answered in unison.
As the middle-aged man continued his explanation, Zhang Ming learned quite a bit.
The Blue Crystal Civilization had five distinct social ranks. The first was "Ding." Commoners automatically received Ding status at birth.
The second rank was "Shi." It apparently required cultivating the power of Golden Light to a certain stage before one could earn that title.
The third rank was "Adept." Adepts might have needed to reach the Human Limit, or break through its first bottleneck, Physique, to