The fact that they could return whenever they wanted to, was comforting as it would mean that they wouldn't have to leave everything behind. He thought that might be the case because not every fighter that had disappeared, disappeared forever or only came back injured.
There were some that become very successful and lived completely normal lives here, so it was evident that they had benefited from the trip and came back uninjured.
The energy thing wouldn't be that big of a deal according to the guide. It was written that the anima squeezed out of the person could be compensated by eating and a lot of rest. It would make them vulnerable for that transition period but after they had replaced their anima with normal energy they would remain as strong as before just a lot less efficient.
He figured that was also the reason why the other side hasn't conquered their world yet. If they came over here, they would lose almost all their strength as they resist the will of the world and even if they succeeded with the transition, they would have only juice for a few moves. Additionally, they would lose all their weapons and items that were made with anima around it.
Still, it would be like having a little nuke to threaten others, but it didn't mean much if Leo's earth also had some weapons of their own. Considering that there were several locations on that invitation Leo got, meant that the other countries had access to this world as well.
Leo still didn't understand why they wrote down several locations on that invitation. He had visited China first and didn't went to the location in America nearest to his home because Leo wanted to make it into a world trip.
It was more exciting to travel to a country that had a vastly different culture and a different language than a country that was very similar to what he knew and which he had already visited multiple times.
As he was reading through the guide, the girls started to wake up too and seeing him read the guide made them follow his lead.
They all sat around in the room and read through the guide while bouncing some thoughts off the others about a passage. There weren't many questions that popped up while reading the guide.
The guide was rather concise and straightforward. There wasn't much room for misinterpretation since it used common modern words. There was also a paragraph about the language since they were all speaking in a different one since a lot of people from a lot of different countries.
It seemed that everything said had the person's intentions carried with it. Meaning that even with different languages the meaning that it carried with it conveyed what it would have said in their language.
The guide warned that intentions could be faked and still made lying possible. The spirit beasts could convey their intentions as well. Speaking of spirit beasts, the ranking system used to describe the level of the beasts was rather straightforward as well.
It goes as following, first there were normal animals. Normal animals could be found in most regions with normal amount of anima. If an herbivore animal didn't come across herbs that held a lot of anima, they would remain animals in those regions.
Of course, there were a lot of regions that held more anima even in normal grass than some herbs in others and in those regions, it would be something rare to see a normal animal.
Even if the animals here were categorized as 'normal', they still could kick the ass of most ferocious predator on earth. The same could be said with humans too.
Though, there are some inhabitants who aren't talented at all and would migrate to earth since they would be a lot stronger than the average person even without any training.
Either way the most common beast is the low-level spirit beast, they inhabit every corner of the world as the jump to the next level is too high for most beasts. A level consists of three ranks, the Body, Mind and Awareness Rank.
The beasts would accumulate anima in their body until every bone, organ, and muscle in their body holds enough anima for their rank up. This was done by a lot of eating of either rare herbs or their fellow beasts. Either way it takes some time to advance but in theory any beast could advance to the next rank.
In the rank of the mind in the low-level the beasts must evolve into a self-conscious entity that could rival a human child's level of self-awareness. At that point, the beast would gain intelligence beyond what it had previously, and it would become a lot more dangerous than before.
Now the beasts were able to plan ahead, making endeavors in hunting them down a lot harder, but the most important thing they would gain is a sense of ambition. They wouldn't want to only eat and sleep anymore. They might take a liking to hunting down humans as a sense of accomplishment.
The next rank is awareness in which beasts would be able to use innate abilities to manipulate the world around them. The guide said that the rank of awareness makes the beast aware of the laws of the world and how to bend it.
To say this information was surprising, was an understatement. The information about the rank ups for low-level spirit beasts were rather simple, but the guide didn't delve into information about higher level spirit beasts besides that they existed.
It was probably for the better since this guide was meant for beginners and this dump of information was already a lot to remember. It was also likely that humans wouldn't see mid-level or high-level spirit beasts at all in their lifetime.
Spirit beasts were a lot stronger than the average cultivator forcing a human to be several ranks in one field or an entire level above the spirit beasts that they wanted to slay.
Humans had a similar ranking system from low to high level and three main ranks within a level, however the body rank was further divided into 2 minor-ranks: Internal and External.
This was the case because the human body was a lot weaker than beasts and they couldn't just eat to reach their level like they did. Though beasts aren't only advantageous. The spirit beasts had trouble to advance into the ranks of the mind and of awareness.
Humans on the other hand had the advantage in these ranks as they were innately smarter than beasts, however their body was a lot more difficult to strengthen to a degree that they could advance.
The human body resists the advancement to a higher rank by just eating especially those of earth, just like the beasts' capabilities to rank up in the mind and awareness just by pondering about the world.
The humans therefore created certain meditation techniques to target specific parts of the body to let them absorb anima until they could advance a rank.
The internal body rank starts with the organs as they are the first to come into contact with the anima inside the food, they ate which can be guided by the numerous meditation techniques. Then the meditation technique would go further to help the absorption in the tendons and in the end in the bones.
The external body rank is to strengthen the skin and muscles which is usually achieved by strenuous training and medical bath to lay in for hours until it enters every pore in the body.
Even if the body rank was divided, a simultaneous strengthening was usually advised. Train throughout the day and meditation at night, that was usually the routines many adopted.
Leo was nodding all the way as he was reading this as he mutters, "This is what I am talking about, some cultivation finally…" The others ignored him as they started to wrap their head around the things they were reading.
There were also some standard feats recorded in each rank. What surprised Leo the most was the fact that the ranks weren't linear. A beast didn't need to have completed the rank of awareness in the low-level to have completed the mid-level body rank.
It was especially the case for humans as they could advance to the mid-level rank of awareness to create techniques to manipulate the laws of the world which Leo just called reality warping abilities.
It was a surprising fact for Leo as the ranks in novels were usually strict and one couldn't advance until the other minor ranks had been traversed through, but Leo didn't complain about some freedom in the way he will be advancing.
He was already thinking about how he planned his future training arc to advance as fast as possible. The guide didn't really give any tips but to say to buy a meditation technique or to enter a guild or sect to be given one.
Another thing that was of interest for the group was the factions that were listed as they had to choose one. There were also those rogue cultivators, but one needed to be immensely talented and already have a fitting meditation technique to make it big in this world.
However, what really caught their eye were the explanation of the colors in their assessment from the night before. As expected, it shows the affinity to a certain style.
Every one of them had drawn out Violet, which represented an affinity towards awareness, specifically in learning new techniques that used the body.
Shunlei had Gray as another main color, which represented an affinity towards shadow techniques like stealth or manipulation of shadows. Gray was a rare color to draw out and those were quickly recruited as the rogue in a squad or as assassins and thieves.
Laura was affine to Red, obviously, being representative for strength and fire manipulation. Probably the most common one and one of the most powerful one. The ones with a Red affinity are usually the heavy hitters in a group.
Sarah was most affine to Green which connect to healing abilities and the manipulation of plant life. Green was one of the most sought-after affinities as no one could have enough healers in their factions.
Additionally, considering that they could manipulate plant life, many of the Greens were also known to be formidable in this world as most of the world was still covered by vegetation. Those with the affinity to the Green are also very adept in finding herbs.
Leo with his affinity to Indigo indicated a high affinity to consciousness. It represents the ability to connect with the inner mind as well to have his mind reach out to the world to gain awareness.
With the combination of Violet, it was clear that he would be advancing in the ranks of Awareness and the mind the most quickly.
Leo was rather disappointed as he expected his talents to be in the body. There were some colors that represented pure strength or speed, but he wouldn't mind being able to manipulate the world around him.
There was also the fact that Violet represented awareness in the way of the body, which means less magical spells and more cultivation attacks. He also made sure to make a mental note to at least delve into the other things.
He wouldn't take this guide as gospel and would treat it as it should be, as a guide. After reading through the entire book, they had finally enough of sitting in their room to read.
They needed to move around a bit and see the city. They wanted to look around and talk a bit with the inhabitants and see how the factions are seen, especially among the common man. Of course, one couldn't really rely on the average person to get a clear and truthful outlook at some factions, but it was better than nothing.
Although, some technology of the modern civilization could be recreated here by the so-called spirit crystals, there were many things this world was still missing, like the internet.
The internet being a relatively young technology would need decades to be replicated in this world. The average person couldn't even afford this worlds automobile since it wasn't mass-produced yet. There were still many technologies that had be adapted in this world.