This news stunned Genesis. The fact that a 'magical underworld' had existed during the 21st century with the majority of the planet being unaware stunned Genesis.
'Or was it more of an open secret? Like that Illuminati nonsense?'
Another terrifying thought emerged in Indra's mind.
'If one was a powerful cultivator before the system, just how strong would they be after getting one?'
Ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt, China, Scandinavia, South America, etc, countless nations had mythologies and religions that could be sourced from real life. If so, how many modern powerhouses would be able to survive the surge of the hundreds if not thousands of powers that had connection to ancient times.
Many cultures had some sort of 'supernatural' stories and legends.
What if they were true? What if gods truly existed in ancient times? What would happen to new superpowers that had no history of practicing the mystic arts? How powerful would nations that had millennia of history that produced countless artifacts and myths become? Would technology even have a purpose?
Genghis Khan was a man capable of conquering almost a quarter of the world, and his grandson Kubla Khan was the Monarch of the largest Empire in history known to man.
Alexander The Great Macedonia had conquered an area the size of Europe by the time he was 33.
Shaka The Zulu was a powerful dictator whose name shook southern Africa to the point that his enemies were forced to come together and form a new empire just to survive his dominance.
Julius Caesar revolutionized Roman warfare, from his conquest of Egypt to his victory over Pompey to his adjusted phalanx formations.
Mansa Musa Of Mali is the richest man to have ever lived, having been estimated to have had a networth of 400 billion usd mostly in the form of pure gold and salt. His historic pilgrimage to Mecca is still widely accepted as the most expensive trip in human history.
These men were all behemoths of history, and if they left behind legacies that could be inherited through the system or through cultivation, who could stop them?
Genesis shivered at the very thought. There was no doubt that such a thing would be akin to giving wings to a tiger.
'This system isn't as fair as it seems. People with exposure to cultivation beforehand will have a huge advantage,'
Genesis lost track of time and got absorbed in his research, which allowed him a better understanding of Earth. The system was formally activated on earth on October 15 2015. It would gradually enter a period of choosing users to gift with classes until a quarter of the planet's population had classes.
Dungeons filled with demonic beasts of the demon path popped up everywhere in different forms. Some existed hidden in pocket dimensions, and others were unique in that they needed to be accessed through unique entrances. Most however appeared in the atmosphere above the clouds as floating behemoths of odd shapes and sizes.
One dungeon he saw looked like a giant wooden ark sailing in the sky. Another appeared like a seven-layer pagoda that rotated on the spot. Another took the form of a mountain in the shape of a sword, with a peak that seemed as if it intended to pierce the heavens themselves. If these dungeons were left unattended, then a dungeon break would occur.
These were instances when a dungeon's population would exceed its limit and the dungeon would expel many of its residents outside. This was known as a dungeon break and was the main source of terror for humans on earth, besides other humans of course.
Genesis stopped his research to gather his thoughts and properly understand his situation. Now he wasn't completely clueless about the general circumstances he could move on to details on cultivation.
According to what he had learned, the Dantian was a region two inches below the navel. This is where Yuan is stored. Qi is stored in the body, Mana in the mind and Yuan in the Dantian.
'The Dantian is the center of everything for a warrior.'
Mages mainly fought with their minds while warriors spruced their power from their bodies. But the dantian was the main storage unit of energy in the body, hence it was paramount to understand one's own Dantian. This was no different from learning how to ride a bicycle, continuous arduous trial and error were the only path for success going forward.
There were thousands of Spiritual Veins that transport energy to different areas of the body. Acupoints were places of intersection of the Spiritual Veins; a player could control these Acupoints to direct energy. These energies and networks were not in the same dimensional plane as the physical body and did not interfere with the function of the body.
Meridians are valve-like points that exist along the network of Spiritual Veins. The 20 Meridians were divided into two classifications, the Eight Gates, and the Twelve Doors. The amount of meridians that were unsealed in the beginning is a measure of a player's talent for harvesting energy.
The more a player trains, the more Doors they can open and the more control over the energy they gain. The number of open Gates never changes; it is fixed for each player. Gates are named according to the attributes that they modify and enhance.
The Gates each represented a basic element: Fire, Earth, Water, Metal, Wood, Spirit, Balance and Space/Time. In other words, the Gates affected energy quality. The Doors affected energy quantity and current. In other words how much energy you could utilize and the rate of flow. Accessing the Doors and Gates was something beyond the current Genesis but he felt that in time if he spent some research on the topic he could do amazing things.
When Indra attempted to check Qiankun energy it was blank, the system had no information for him, he found this odd but only for a moment then he decided to ignore the phenomena for now and focus on other things. All he knew was that this had something to do with his space/time Gate.
A Qi user with Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, Metal, Space/Time and Balance. These were the elements at his disposal. He had decent Strength and Knowledge. Good Endurance with superb Agility and Wisdom. Genesis now had a rough idea of where his cultivation direction should go. After a few hours of quiet contemplation, he got up and picked up some fruits to eat. He came back to the cave with a full stomach and continued his research.