Let us start with a peaceful scene.
Imagine a grassy hill.
There, do you have it imagined?
Then, think about the soft feeling of the grass brushing on your bare skin as you lay down on top of the hill, letting your long hair splay out all around your head, creating a circle of darkness.
You're also a very handsome dude, well, more pretty than handsome, but, same difference.
Just doing my job as an author to inflate y'all's ego.
Anyways, as you're laying down on that grassy knoll, the scene around you is backdropped by the setting sun, as it casts a pale red filter over your surroundings, only enhancing the beauty of the environment.
But, you, the person laying on top of the hill, well, you're screaming at the top of your lungs right now.
Why? Because you're slowly crushing your balls together.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that you're a boy as of this moment forward until the end of your time reading this novel?
Anyways, you scream in agony for the next hour, as you come closer and closer to the edge of becoming infertile.
But, you stop at just the right moment, and, as the tears glistening in your eyes threaten to fall out, you swallow your saliva and get ready for another round of commentary with your torturer.
Yep, the person that you were just in the shoes of was the protagonist of this story, Ruiki, so, let us all give him a moment of silence, for his sperm cells.
"For his sperm cells." (This is what you readers, as a group, all solemnly said at the same time.)
"..."
Welp! Now that that is over, let's get back to the story!
Oh yeah, wait, I forgot that I had said previously that what was happening was too violent for the human mind to imagine.
Let's just say then... that what I had just described was only about... one tenth of the torture faced by our protagonist.
Yup, he's gonna become a masochist soon.
See? He's already breathing like he's on a post nut high.
Hah! That means you're breathing like you're on a post nut high.
After all, aren't you the protagonist right now?
(A/N: Hmm... Some major inception-type shit is happening right now, and I have no understanding at all of what I've just written. Maybe I'll understand it later during the edit.)
(E/N: This is my perspective during the edit, and well, all I can say is... being a reader is "fun".)
...
//Welcome back, my Dear Reader!
//grooooaaaannnnnn
//You guys can just ignore him for now, he's just suffering from some... complications, but you still have me, right?
"Yep, yep, yes..."
//Awww, that was so weak!
"Yes Ma'am!"
//That's more like it! Now that you're all ready, we can get back to the story then. So, by now, I've explained the entirety of the power system here in the world of SLMR, but, there's one thing I haven't talked about, and that's the comparison between the stages of dao beasts and the footholds of a cultivator's path.
And, there are multiple comparisons, yay!
'I'm gonna be bored as fuck...'
//What was that, my Dear Reader?
'I didn't even say anything... Can she read my thoughts?'
//Yes, yes I can.
"What?!!"
//Hahaha, I'm just kidding, I was just guessing what you were thinking about. You WERE thinking about how interesting this was, right?
"Y-yes Ma'am!"
//Then, if you're so interested, let us continue.
First is the comparison between a dao beast's stage and the talent potential of a cultivator that is born with that dao beast as a part of their soul.
Well, it's pretty simple really, all you have to do is take the number of the stage of the dao beast, add one to it, and then apply it to that number foothold on a cultivator's path.
So, if you had the soul of a sky sentinel dao beast in your own soul, then you would have the potential to be a nascent stage scribe.
Here's a whole list in case you're a stupid person:
Earth Sprout -> Earth Gathering
Water Skipping -> Golden Dantian
Sky Sentinel -> Nascent Soul
Heavenly Carapace -> ???
That was the relation between the stage of the dao beast in one's soul and their potential talent level.
Of course, there were drugs that can boost the level of your dao beast, but those fortunate encounters were few and far between.
And that was also why cultivators that obtained their dao beast through bonding after they were born were so envious, as the whole system explained above didn't apply to them at all.
Anyways, enough about that, onto the next comparison.
This comparison is often called the "Expert Rule" by most cultivators, and applied to almost everyone, unless one was exceptionally weak for their foothold on the cultivation path, or exceptionally strong for that matter.
So, when fighting a dao beast in the wild, many cultivators would often die because they accidentally challenged the wrong beast that was more powerful than them.
And the "Peak Rule" was the rule used by most cultivators for "normal" situations.
You see, I forgot to explain this in the last chapter, but each foothold, except for the Body Tempering foothold, was split into four stages.
Novice -> Acolyte -> Master -> Expert
And the "Peak Rule" basically stated that one must be a novice in the next foothold to be able to kill a dao beast in a certain realm without losing their life.
Again, here's a list if you're a stupid person:
Earth Sprout -> Novice Stage Earth Gathering
Water Skipping -> Novice Stage Golden Dantian
Sky Sentinel -> Novice Stage Nascent Soul
Heavenly Carapace -> Novice Stage ???
Of course, this rule was often thrown into the trash like many other rules when applied to real life situations due to the many factors that could affect it, with the most notable factors being that the dao beast is a special case, the environment screwed you over, or you're fighting with another scribe over the dao beast.
Honestly, if you were to be pitted off against a dao beast in the real world in a life and death situation, then it was best to just trade a few blows with the beast first before deciding whether you could kill it or not. If you couldn't, then it was best to just run away.
I mean, there was always the chance of one being lucky or skilled enough to take on dao beasts above their level, but most people that thought they were one of these few chosen ones were often the scribes that were killed before they ever advanced far on the cultivation path...
//So, in other words, people with smooth brains.
//Exactly... Wait a second!
//That's the end of the chapter, next chapter will finally have the plot of SLMR and the start of the new arc, bye!
(A/N: And with that, he was never heard of from again...)
---
1178, that's how much words are not in the author's note below, just for those that think I cheat with my author's notes.
A/N: The real author's note now. I just wanted to say sorry for all this info dumping, but it's a cultivation novel, I have to info dump, lest I want to make all y'all confused in the first chap of actual story afterwards.
Also, I hope you weren't that bored whilst reading all that information, I tried to make it as fun as possible whilst also giving y'all all the information that you need to be able to understand everything later.
As they say, a strong foundation is often the best.
Welp, it's literally midnight now, so I broke my promise unfortunately...
But, I won't go to sleep before I finish 10 chapters, so, I hope y'all can forgive my little transgression. I'll be going to sleep at like, 2 in the morning, and I think that's enough of a punishment.
Anyways, the story starts next chapter, so stay tuned!