After a few moments of just staring at the book, Daniel decided to read it; afterall, in order to get stronger, he must leave home at one point and also adventure, and to do that, he'll need to know about the surrounding lands. Since the book is called a guide, it must have some information on that.
Opening the book, he looked at the first page.
On the page was what looked like a formation. Suddenly, the formation began glowing and a beam if light shot into his forehead.
A very large amount of knowledge seemed to appear within his mind. Due to the vast volume of it, his head started aching, as if someone was slamming a hammer onto his brain without stopping.
"AHHHHHHH~!" Daniel screamed because of the pain. It was unbearable for a nine year old.
As the knowledge was being digested by his brain, he began learning the contents of the book.
He had learned that the kingdom he is in is technologically more advanced than and more wealthy than the other kingdoms, but is the weakest of the kingdoms. The Aries Kingdom's strength and wealth comes from its technology. Its individual strength is also the weakest, as the strongest person in this kingdom could be the weakest in another kingdom, however, due to technology, it can rival all of the other nations.
The word "technology" refers to alchemy, formations, architecture, and blacksmithing. For a nation to be advanced in technology means having alchemists, formationists, architects, and blacksmiths at a very high level of skill.
The reason the Aries Kingdom is the weakest kingdom is because the strength of the beasts that call this kingdom home does not exceed a certain limit. Beasts are beings that plague the world like animals. They can cultivate naturally by killing other beasts and digesting their core to evolve. Beasts develop cores when they are first born; it is how they cultivate by absorbing the natural qi of the world. The requirements to evolve to the next tier is different for every beast. How far they can evolve depends on the parent beast and how strong they are. The strength tier for beasts is as follows: Mortal Tier, Earth Tier, and Sky Tier. Sky Tier is the highest tier beast spotted in the kingdom to date.
Mortal Tier beasts can demonstrate a strength that can kill non-cultivators, and fight against Early Seed Formation Realm cultivators. They can be killed by both non-cultivators and cultivators, however, it is next to impossible for the former to achieve this feat.
Beasts of the Earth Tier can kill Early Seed Formation Realm cultivators, and fight against Middle Seed Formation Realm cultivators. Like before, Early and Middle Seed Formation Realm cultivators can kill Earth Tier beasts, however, for the former, it is almost impossible to do so.
Beasts that are at the Sky tier can kill Middle Seed Formation Realm cultivators, and fight against Late Seed Formation Realm Cultivators. Middle and Late Seed Formation Realm cultivators can kill Sky Tier beasts, but it's close to impossible for the former to do so.
Cultivation Realms can be classified in four sections: early, middle, late, and peak. The early section describes the first stages, second stages, and third stages of every cultivation realm. Middle refers to the fourth stages, fifth stages, and sixth stages of every cultivation realm. Late relates to the seventh stages, eighth stages, and ninth stages. Lastly, Peak refers to those that can breakthrough at any moment, but chooses to suppress their breakthrough to reach the absolute peak in combat strength of that cultivation realm.
Amongst the kingdoms, the Aries kingdom has the most average population. It was built on plains. This means there are no mountains or hills, and perfect farmland. Out of the three kingdoms in the region, the Aries Kingdom has the highest food production rate.
The kingdom has three major cities, two of which are named Solun, and Magmus. The third city is the capital of the kingdom called Infernus. It is located the furthest North in the kingdom, next to the Northern border. Solun is located the furthest East next to the Eastern border, and Magmus is located the furthest West next to the Western border. Between these three major cities as well as further south are places of different sizes.
Places of habitance are classified in ten different categories: small village, medium village, big village, small town, medium town, big town, small city, medium city, big city, and major city. How a place is classified is directly proportional to the population size, income, and strength of that place.
Solun is the trade hub for the kingdom. As stated before, Infernus is the capital city of the kingdom. Lastly, Magmus, however, is only a major city due to it being next to the Western border. Each Major city is like a fortress: heavily fortified. The most important and fortified of the three is the Capital city. The second most important and fortified is Solun, as it is the trading hub of the kingdom.
The Royal Family is known as the inferno family. The Inferno Family has been the ruling family since the kingdom's creation, about 10,000 years ago. It has the most power authoritatively. The current king is Robert Inferno the 72nd. The family resides in Infernus, the capital.
Another power also resides in the captial: the Holy Church of Eternal Cleansing. It is the leading power in the religion of the region. They believe that we are born sinners, and that we sin every single day either knowingly or unknowingly. In order to pass onto the afterlife safely and completely, one must be cleansed through flames.
When one's body dies, the body traps the soul within, not letting it into the afterlife. The body must be incinerated to allow the soul to escape. However, only a holy flame of their god, Soenus, can achieve this. The holy flame burns the body and the sins the soul has committed with it, essentially cleansing the soul for its next life.
Within the kingdom, there are two more powers; they are sects. Sects are like schools for cultivation. To enter a sect, one must show sufficient talent for cultivation, as well as the aspect of cultivation that sect is centered around.
For example, if a sect is a water elemental sect, you must have a sufficient affinity to water and cultivation talent to join.
Joining a sect gives one the chance to get stronger as if you show enough potential, you could be guided by an elder in cultivation and other arts of that sect. It also gives one the chance to battle other humans, as well as beasts, to refine one's battle skills and acquire resources for cultivation.
The more potential one shows to the sect, the easier it will be to cultivate, however, in turn, the more expectations that person will receive.
The two other powers are known as the Transcendent Sword Sect, and the Blazing Inferno Sect.
The Transcendent Sword Sect is a righteous sect. Their goal is to eliminate all beasts and make the world a safer place. The sectmaster's name is Thomas Vales. He has a cultivation base of the fifth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm and is believed to be only 80 years old.
The second power, the Blazing Inferno sect is a sect led by the Royal Family, which is why it has "Inferno" in it. There is not much to be said about this sect as the fact that it is under the control of the Royal family says it all. The sectmaster of the Blazing Inferno Sect is named Kevin Inferno. He has a cultivation base of the third stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. His age is unknown.
Between the two, the Blazing Inferno Sect has the most strength as it has the backing of the Inferno Family; however, the Transcendent Sword Sect has the most hype of the two due to having such a righteous goal and talented sect master.
As the last of the knowledge was digested, he started rubbing his temples as the pain subsided. He was drenched in sweat balled up on the floor.
After that little mind-journey he went on, he decided that it would be best if he just slept on it for now. So that is what he did: got ready for bed, and dozed off.
One thing he didn't know, is that if the process had lasted any longer, the large intake of knowledge could have made him brain-dead.