After verifying that the Grunars were indeed trapped, everyone came towards Raja.
Gerald then said, "Good thing you arrived, Raja, or who knows what would have happened."
And the diamond rank adventurer who was about to be hit by the grunar leader said, "Thanks, Raja. If it weren't for you, I would have died."
Raja then said, "You don't have to thank me. After all, I was supposed to be in this fight with you guys from the beginning."
"Still, thanks a lot."
"Hahaha, you're welcome."
Gerald then said, "Well, someone better go see how the rest of the guys are dealing with the grunars. Come with me, Karin."
And Karin said, "Okay.", and the two then walked towards the rest of the group.
One of the diamond rank adventurers then said, "I better go see how the wounded are doing.", and then he walked towards them, leaving Gen and Raja alone.
Gen then asked, "So, what's it like being on the level of influence?"
"How can I explain Gen? It's all ... very different."
"Different, how?"
"... Let's go from the beginning. When you get your essence and enter the body level, you get to use it in your body to exceed your physical capabilities. Then, you get to the external level, and you start to be able to use the essence outside of your body in a small area around you, which is called the core. Then you enter the material level, and from here, you are able to use your essence outside your core, but the time the effect lasts is limited."
Raja then continued, "Were you able to perceive?"
"Perceive what?"
"What always increases when the essence level goes up."
"The strength of the essence?"
"No. The strength of the essence is always the same. What goes up is the usable area."
"Usable area? What do you mean?"
"If you take the progression of the level of essences, we start by being able to use them in our body, then in our core, and then in the world outside of it. That means that the difference between the levels of the essences is how much you can use them to affect the world around you, the act of leveling up being simply the understanding of how to affect the world on a larger scale."
Raja then continued, "That said, what do you think you need to affect to get to the level of influence?"
Gen then began to think, 'At the body level, my essence is limited to my body. At the external level, it is limited to my core. At the material level, it can temporarily affect outside my core, but at the level of influence ...', and then he said, "To get there, you need to affect the world permanently."
"That's not it. You skipped a step."
"What is it then?"
"It's simple, Gen. Just think about what I told you just now when I trapped the grunars."
Gen then began to think, 'What Raja said was ...', Gen then heard Raja's voice speak inside his head, 'From the moment they believe, it affects the world around them and becomes real. That's how influence works.'
Gen then thought, 'That's it. How could I have missed it.'
Raja then looked at him and asked, "Did you manage to remember?"
"Yes."
"So what is the answer?"
"People, or rather, other living beings. That's what you need to affect to get to the level of influence."
"That's right, Gen. From the moment you can affect the people around you, everything changes. If I had to put it on a scale of strength from one to a thousand, the body level would be one because you can only use it on your own body. The external level would be five because once you start being able to use the essence outside of your body, it brings up many possibilities of what you can do with it. The Material level would be fifty because, from this level, it is possible to affect the world outside your core, even though it's temporarily."
Raja then continued, "Now, the level of influence would be between fifty and a thousand.", "Between fifty and a thousand? What do you mean?"
"At the level of influence, you begin to affect the people around you so that they strengthen your essence through their perception. For this reason, its strength varies. If a person at the level of influence is alone, he will have the same level of power as a person at the material level. Still, if he is in the middle of a crowd, it is impossible to determine how strong he would be, and he could even reach the maximum potential of his essence, affecting the world permanently."
Gen then said, "Wow, I get it. It's a huge jump in strength when you get to the level of influence."
"Yeah, there's no comparison."
"You said earlier that I skipped a step? What did you mean by that?"
"I was talking about the level above Influence."
"Is there a level above influence?"
"You could say there are two actually."
"What do you mean? Are there one or two levels?"
"Let me explain: above the influence level, there are two levels, the Natural level and the King level. Let's start with the Natural level. The natural level is the level where you can affect the world permanently."
"Isn't it already possible to do that on the influence level?"
"Yes, but on the influence level, you need the help of other people. On the natural level, you can affect the world by yourself."
Raja then continued, "The world we live in has its rules. It knows all the essences that exist inside and outside of it and regulates them so that, for example, there is no ice on a volcano, nor lava in the snow, but through the essences, we are able to circumvent these rules."
"When you awaken and reach the body level, it is as if you take your body from the world, freeing it from the rules of the world. On the external level, you can bypass these rules inside your core while using your essence. On the material level, you can bypass these rules and affect the world for a brief moment until it realizes what you've done and corrects the anomaly you've created."
Raja then continued, "On the influence level, you can do the same as on the material level, but you can use the people around you to prolong and strengthen what you've done. It's as if the world comes to fix what's wrong, and the people around say to him, 'There's nothing wrong here.', which leaves the world in doubt as to whether or not something is wrong."
"Depending on the number of people around and how much they believe in what you have changed in the world, you can get to a point where the world believes them and accepts that there really is nothing wrong."
"Now, at the natural level, as I said, it is possible to change the world by yourself. It is as if, in the same way as before, the world came to fix something, and you said, 'There is nothing wrong here.', and it immediately accepted that as the truth. You could say that to get to the natural level, you have to earn the world's trust."
Gen then asked, "Gain the world's trust? And how do you do that?"
"If I knew, I'd already be at the natural level."
"That's right."
"Well, let me continue then. Only the King level is missing."
"Okay."
"Well, first of all, the king level is a level that doesn't necessarily exist."
"What do you mean?"
"It's more of a title than a level."
"A title?"
"Yes. A title was given by our world. You know that each person has an understanding of the essence that they awaken, right? For example, two people can have the essence of water, but the way they understand water can be completely different."
"Yes. I know that."
"Good, that makes it easier."
Raja then continued, "The world gives the title of king to the strongest person with a specific essence, and that person has to be at least at the natural level. By getting the title, the person can force their understanding of the essence on other users of the essence."
"What do you mean?"
"It is common knowledge that every awakened person has a rune, which corresponds to their understanding of the essence."
"Yes."
"But what is not known is that the rune that is forming may not be representing your understanding, but the king's understanding of that essence."
"What? If this is true, how do I know if the rune is not mine?"
"You can only know when you reach the natural level. Until then, you have no way of knowing."
"I see, but what does it change that the formed rune is not mine?"
"It changes a lot. First of all, the world takes the king's understanding as the true nature of the essence. This causes all other understandings to be weakened. And besides ..."
"Besides what?"
"That doesn't matter for now."
"Now I want to know what it is."
"There's no need to rush. I'll tell you later."
"Ok ... Hold on. What do you mean by later?"