"So you agreed?"
"I did"
Back at Dan's home, Mane was engaged in conversation with Dan. It was pretty late, and the sun had just gone down. Mane had trained all day since Dan wasn't around. He was waiting for him so he could tell him what had happened today, and he was finally able to once Dan arrived a few minutes ago. The highlight of the conversation was his decision. For he had agreed to Ivor's proposal.
"Do you think it's a good idea?" Dan asked worriedly.
"No," Mane replied honestly. "I do not trust the guy," Mane added with a hint of wariness. Of course there was no way he thought going with Ivor was a good idea since he didn't know anything about the man and had only just met him. Added to the fact that Ivor was stronger than him and could easily deal with him, Mane was very wary of him.
"So why do you want to go?" Dan asked curiously. He didn't understand what Mane was saying. The boy claimed that he didn't trust Ivor, and he knew that this was a bad idea, yet he was still set on his decision. His understanding of Mane made him believe that there was no way Mane would do something dangerous without a good reason. And he was curious as to what the reason was now.
"Because I need to grow," Mane stated.
"I need to see the larger cities and meet strong people." He hadn't forgotten his mission in this world. His main mission was to introduce chaos into the world, and he couldn't do that in the comfort of a small village. If it was only about growing stronger, he would have considered staying here to do so. After all, now that he was reconnected to Edict and had received the ultimate cheat skill, Devour, from Cronos, he didn't need to really worry about his growth. But even without the opportunity Ivor was giving him, he would have left. For he was never someone who was comfortable with a comfortable life. He was someone who sought out challenges and was eager to face the trials of the world.
"You have met me," Dan countered. It was a simple statement, but it was enough to rebuff Mane's reason for leaving. His intent was obvious.
'I am a Nightmare level powerhouse. Which person would you meet that is stronger than me?'
That was what he was implying. If Mane was looking for strong opponents, then what was he? He was right to argue that Mane wouldn't find one as strong as him in Asher City. After all he had seen the Grand Tourney before. And he was unimpressed with the strength of the competitors. Even their Champions were ants before him, so if Mane's reasoning for leaving was to find stronger opponents, it would be invalid.
"You were the strongest person – until now," Mane stated. Dan looked at him with a raised eyebrow. What was the boy trying to say? Was he saying there was someone stronger?
"Who did you meet that is stronger than me?" Dan asked curiously. In this village he doubted that there was such a person, but he was curious to know the person's name.
"Ivor," Mane replied simply.
"Him? He's strong. There's no doubt about that. I'm sure he's at my level. But unless we battle it out, how would you know who is stronger?" Dan argued logically. But the person he was speaking possessed powers that defied logic. Mane's senses as a Scholar told him that Ivor was almost two times stronger than Dan. And he didn't even need to use True Eyes to see this. Added to the fact that Hildegarde evaluated Ivor as someone well versed in the Law of Space, Mane was certain he was stronger. After all, Dan who had comprehended the Law of Wind didn't even know that he had. And if he didn't know what he had, how would he improve on it?
"I can't tell you how I know this, so please don't ask me questions about it." Mane sighed.
"That energy you are able to draw your power from, it's called Edict" Mane started, and then he explained to Dan what Edict was, its component parts – inner and outer energy – and how to cultivate it.
"This…" Dan was stunned as he listened to Mane speak about the energy he had been trying so hard to understand all these years and yet had failed miserably.
"I don't know how you were able to get to the level you have reached without a Wielding Manual, but you are at what we refer to as the Heaven Realm. Around the 4th or 5th stage of the Heaven Realm. I'm not quite sure yet, a bit more research and I would be certain of it. As for Ivor, he's likely at the peak of the Heaven Realm"
Mane knew this from combining what he had seen with his True Eyes, and comparing it with his own strength. After seeing the Grand Tourney matches, Mane was able to organize the power ranking of this world into the power ranking of the True Universe. The True Universe had 7 Grand Levels of Power:
Mortal Realm
Above Mortal Realm
Profound Realm
Earth Realm
Heaven Realm
Nobility Realm
Ascension
Each of these Grand Realms was further divided into 9 levels, and the gulf between each sub-level grew larger as one grew stronger. In contrast, this world had only 5 known realms of power
Soldiers
Animal Hunters
Thrashers
Predators
Nightmares
After seeing the fighters of the Grand Tourney, Mane was able to conclude that Soldiers were within the Mortal Realm. But they were only in the lower and middle ranks (Mortal Realm Stage 1 to Stage 6). Animal Hunters were stronger than Soldiers, but they were still in the Mortal Realm. The difference between the two was that Animal Hunters were high level Mortal Realmers (Mortal Realm Stage 7 to Stage 9).
Thrashers were Above-Mortal Realmers, and Peak Level Thrashers were at the peak of the Above-Mortal Realm. Predators were only comparable to Profound Realmers. And the so-called Tigers were merely at the peak of the Profound Realm. Predators with Uncommon titles were often more powerful that Tigers, but they were only comparable to Half-Step Earth Realmers. But this was where things got weird. It would have been logical for Nightmares to be Earth Realmers from the information Mane had gathered. However when he compared Dan's feat of destroying Village Head Samoa's home, and the knowledge of the battle against the Pseudo-Legendary Class Magical Beast, he realised that Nightmares weren't Earth Realmers. Nightmares were Heaven Realmers! It was a bizarre transition that left Mane confused as to whether there was another level that people didn't know about, or there was just no Earth Realm in this world. Strangely, Mane was inclined to believe the latter. And this was because of how unbelievably difficult it was to cross the threshold of Predator, into the Nightmare Level; so much so that people had branded it as a level impossible to attain. Maybe it was so difficult a level to breach because the level that was supposed to be after the Thrasher Level was nonexistent. Mane was certain that it was because there was no Wielding Manual for them to refer to, and that was why their wielding system was so bizarre.
"What is a Wielding Manual?" there was so much Dan wanted to ask, but he respected Mane's wishes and didn't ask anything related to Mane's origin. However, he was curious about the manual Mane spoke of.
"That I can show to you," Mane smiled. Since he rediscovered his connection to Edict, he was recovering his strength at a rapid pace. Currently he was at the peak of the Above-Mortal Realm, but his impressive fighting prowess made it possible for him to face a Predator. However, he still wasn't strong enough to face a Tiger. This was because his Soul-Integration Rate wasn't high enough. If it was the True Universe, he would have been able to sweep Profound Realmers at the peak with no problem. Anyway, because of his recovery, he was able to do a few things that he could do before, and access some parts of his memory he couldn't access before – like the Manual Section.
Mane pointed at Dan's forehead, and a small light shot from his finger into Dan's head at blistering speed. The light was so fast that Dan wasn't able to react in time and get away. However, once the light sunk into his skull and he analysed it contents, his face was filled with awe.
"I see. This is amazing!" Dan exclaimed in praise.
"Yeah," Mane nodded. He could understand a bit of what Dan was feeling, for he too felt the same way when he chose his first manual. Mane had given Dan one of the High Class Manuals he had, and he chose it for a simple reason.
True Art Of Restoration
That was the name of the manual. It was a High Class Manual that was capable of repairing injuries and restoring one to their top form. Mane was certain that it would help Dan recover. Right now Dan was not at full capacity, but if he was able to recover his strength, Mane wouldn't put him below Ivor in terms of power!
"Let me come with you," Dan suggested. Although he was eager to start trying out what he had received, his zeal to protect Mane was stronger than his wants.
"No. You need to stay here and recover," Mane shook his head. Although Dan was curious about how Mane knew about his injury, he was too worried to care.
"So you want to go with a stranger stronger than me to a city you've never been to alone?" Dan asked worriedly.
But Mane only smiled and said, "Who said anything about going alone?"