He quickly got ready for the new day, wearing a clean pair of clothes. Today, he rolled with a gray shirt and cornflower blue tasseled pants.
And in no time, he found himself in front of Maya. Two steaming cups of tea between them.
"So, what would you like to learn about today?"
Maya snapped her fingers, and a hologram made of the Shimmer Element took form between the two, facing towards Mikhail.
It was a simplified diagram of the body. With four separate parts labeled and colored according to those labels.
The Elemental Routes had been grayed out, and was the second label down when counting from the top of the list.
Above it was the label for the Cerebral Core, pointing to a spot in the brain that Mikhail vaguely remembered being the location for the Pituatary Gland. Only, instead of that part of the brain, there was a structure that resembled some kind of crystal.
"I guess I'll go with the Spiritual Realm today."
Grand Elder Maya nodded.
"Wonderful. Well, then… How about I start by explaining the different Subminor Realms this time?"
With another snap, the contents of the hologram shifted, showing a simplified rendition of the nervous system, and eliminating all the other details.
Under the label that said [Cerebral Core], more lines of information could be seen. And the Cerebral Core had become a dull gray.
"This is what the Cerebral Core looks like before it awakens. Dull, lusterless… Lifeless, in a sense. But, it does not stay this way. When you broke into the Spiritual Awakening Subminor Realm, it changed to look like this."
The hologram let out a silvery shockwave across its surface, revealing a much shinier and far more glittery Cerebral Core.
"Given its miniscule size, we consider this to be a Cerebral Core in the Initial Metamorphosis Realm. Not even constituting as a Cerebral Core in the Low Tier Spiritual Awakening Stage."
Mikhail nodded, his lips to the rim of the cup of tea.
"So, how does it progress past that point?" he asked while setting the cup back down onto the ground.
"So, let me preface the explanation by saying this: The method of progression for the Minor Realm of the Spirit will always stay the same, unlike the Elemental Realms."
"And the way you progress through the Minor Realm of the Spirit is to expand it into the nervous system by using what we call an Expansion Method. So, let's say you train with an Expansion Method for about a month without interruption."
The glittering silver Cerebral Core on the hologram expanded, expanding outwards from where the Pituitary Gland would've been in Mikhail's last world to encompass the Diencephalon.
"You would reach the Low Tier Spiritual Awakening Stage."
Mikhail took note of that, needing to remind himself that a month in this world was actually around a little over two months back in his last world.
"And then, let's say you do another month. Again, uninterrupted."
The Cerebral Core expanded downwards, very slowly, encompassing both the spinal cord and its ganglia.
"You would reach the Mid Tier Spiritual Awakening Stage."
"Rinse and repeat, another month of uninterrupted training goes by."
The Cerebral Core expanded outwards, encompassing all of the nerves within the torso.
"At this point, you've reached the High Tier Spiritual Awakening Stage."
"You know the drill by now."
The Cerebral Core expanded from the torso and out into the limbs. Now, the Cerebral Core was spread throughout the entire body… Save for the brain.
"Now, you're at the Final Tier of the Spiritual Awakening Stage. The only place that hasn't been expanded into is the brain, and for good reason… It's very difficult to expand into it due to their significance."
Mikhail nodded.
"So, the Cerebral Core expands down and outwards first since it's the path of least resistance?"
"That's right. With nowhere left to go at that point, your Cerebral Core must expand upwards into the brain. A very, very difficult endeavor."
"So… After one year of uninterrupted training…"
The Cerebral Core expanded off to the side, slowly encompassing the Cerebellum.
"You would reach the Low Tier Spiritual Tempering Stage."
"And then after another year…"
The Cerebral Core expanded upwards slightly, taking over a comparatively small portion of the brain's hind side.
"You reach the Mid Tier Spiritual Tempering Stage."
"Another year…"
The Cerebral Core expanded upwards from the Diencephalon into the Cingulate Gyrus. A very small increase in size when compared to the previous breakthrough.
"You reach the High Tier Spiritual Tempering Stage."
She then repeated another iteration, explaining how a long time of training passed yet again. And afterwards, the Cerebral Core expanded from the Cingulate Gyrus into the surrounding Temporal Lobe.
"Now, you've reached the Final Tier of the Spiritual Tempering Stage. The next breakthrough is to the Spiritual Savant Subminor Realm, and as you've said, the Cerebral Core expands through the path of least resistance until…"
The Cerebral Core took up the entire brain.
"Your entire nervous system has become one with your Cerebral Core. In other words, you've reached the Final Tier of the Spiritual Savant Subminor Realm."
Mikhail emptied his cup of tea, and just as he swallowed, the cup vanished from his hand. The two sat in silence for a time after that.
And that was because Mikhail was taking the time to digest and parse out all the information he had just been given. It was quite a bit, after all…
And after reviewing it in his mind a few times over, with his eyes closed of course, he felt to have remembered it properly.
"Right then… Now, what about the features of the Spirit? I only have an extremely bare bones understanding of those and I would greatly appreciate being clued in."
Maya scratched at her chin.
"Hmmm…"
Her eyes darted to the side for a moment before going back on Mikhail.
"There should be enough time for that… Sure."
"Ahem… So, the features of the Spirit are as follows. The Spirit Link, the Spirit Storage, the Spirit Sense, and lastly… Fabrication."