In the next four days, Atlas used almost all his free time absorbing the Sun Energy and questioning Deus more about this world and the cultivation path.
The Mortal and Saint Realm were no longer an enigma, but the Sage and God Realm were still hiding many secrets.
About the Sage Realm, once one reached the Pseudo-Sage Realm and met specific conditions, the path toward it was opened. However, what troubled the young man mostly was the details about those requirements.
Body constitution was a fundamental foundation for the Saint Realm, but what about the next one?
"As you should already know, the Saint prerequisites are the Chaotical Crystal and Body Constitution, but for Sages, what truly matters are the Chaotical Essence and the Soul. It's a completely different process from the first one and way more dangerous..."
The explanation was long but highly detailed, as Deus gave him all the necessary information.
After almost an hour of speech, Atlas found out that the Pseudo-Sage step was fundamental as it was where the Chaotical Crystal was posed under fragmentation from the internal energy to become the crudest form of Chaotical Essence and where the leftover energy generated the Soul Seed.
Clearly, if one of the two didn't succeed, there were small possibilities of survival, but those who survived could not step further in the cultivation path.
Once the Chaotical Essence and the Soul Seed were formed, the cultivator was officially a Noveris Sage.
As he already knew, the first stage had to pass the Thermal process, where the Chaotical Essence was slowly placed under critical temperature changes that made it constantly alter its state between solid, liquid, and gaseous. This granted the Soul Seed continuous nutrients in the purest and various forms and gradually enchanted it until it reached full growth.
Pandeus Realm was about the Pressure process, which imposed the Chaotical Essence to reduce its shape, making it purer and unique. During this stage, the Soul Seed continued to absorb the energy, while the Soul Space gradually took shape under the cultivator's desire.
The cultivator couldn't make even a single mistake in this phase, as the Soul Space was the home of the future result released from the Soul Seed.
Finally, the last step in the Sage Realm was the Oberium stage. In this step, the Chaotical Essence had gone through many changes and was ready to expand. Indeed, the last process was named Expansion.
In the Expansion phase, the purest form of Chaotical Essence reproduced as much as possible using the Chaos Energy collected from the cultivator.
As for the part concerning the soul, here, with the Soul Seed and the Soul Space ready, it was finally time for the last step, the Manifestation of the Will, an essential part where the Wisp of Existence was definitely formed.
The Wisp of Existence was the first and necessary step for those interested in the Soul Everlasting Path.
The Mortal purified the core, the Saint tempered the body, and the Sage established the soul. Those three fundamental steps were necessary for the Chaotical Cultivation Path.
A perfect Martial Cultivator had to cultivate the three paths simultaneously to reach the God Realm with optimal conditions.
Choosing the Chaotical Cultivation Path allowed everyone to proceed further toward higher Realms because each Major Realm could simulate, even if in a minimum part, a tri-path cultivator with minimum requirements.
Depending on many factors, one was the type of chaotical core. Instead, choosing one or both of the other paths as a supplement to the primary path added more significant benefits, boosting strength and purity of chaos energy on an entirely different level.
Taking the path of the three cultivation was extremely rare for various reasons such as excessive usage of resources, the need for a strong determination, a life more challenging than any other, and lastly, but not less important, three valid and balanced cultivation techniques.
Atlas wanted to follow his grandparent's path and take all of them. Indeed, even Deus repeatedly encouraged him. So, the three-path cultivation was surely a necessary step for his future achievements.
He had the mysterious manual, Devourer of Chaos, for the Chaotical Primordial Path and the newly acquired Eternal Sun Soul Art for the Everlasting Soul Path. However, he still lacked a proper body cultivation technique for the Tyrannical Titan Path.
Fortunately, there was still time before the Saint Realm, giving him enough time to uncover the secrets of his peculiar body constitution.
After this long explanation, Deus gave him a brief introduction to the God Realm. Still, he limited those details to the Pseudo-God Realm because the appearance of the Heavenly Tribulation was still a tremendous shock for the old monster.
Essentially, one had to cross the Heavenly Tribulation and survive the cruel baptism of the sky. The best way, but not necessary, to do this was to reach that stage with a perfect combination of core, soul, and body.
As for what was beyond that, he only told him about Kurmanus' current level, the so-called Netherius God.
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Time passed, and on the fifth day, a small rural village appeared in their sight. Even if the young man had learned of its existence days before, seeing this place with his eyes made him speechless. After all, they were still in the depths of the Endless Primordial Desert, a place filled with countless dangers.
When they were only half a mile from their destination, Kurmanus halted his colossal body and shouted: "Karimi!"
Since Kurmanus seemed to know someone from there, the group waited patiently for an answer. And five long minutes later, a humanoid creature appeared at the village entrance.
Just like Jasper, such a creature was a novelty for Atlas because he resembled a human in many aspects yet was different in many others.
His face was undoubtedly human, except for his pale skin and long ears with a tinge of red on their tips. Atop its head were two long arching horns that were inky black and had a long, crystallized part along the back face.
Besides this, a long gown covered his body, making it impossible to discern any other detail.
His movements were slow, so it took him a while to reach their location.
"Kurmanus... it's been so long. What brought you here?"
The old turtle sighed in response: "Indeed, it's been too long... how is it going here?"
"It could be better, but at least we live a peaceful life..." Karimi replied, occasionally moving his gaze from his muzzle to his shell: "You are not alone. What's your purpose in coming here?"
"We are here for a transaction... we need information about a creature."
"Hmm... a creature?! And who might that be?"
"Falsul... the Soul Spirit!"
The deadly desert turned strangely silent at Kurmanus' words. But that stillness didn't last long, as Karimi's voice echoed again.
"Falsul... And why are you asking me about that creature? It's strange for you to ask me such a specific question. It's as if you already know you could have found an answer here." Karimi said slowly, looking calmly at his old friend: "My friend, divination is a double-edged sword because the Heaven are quite jealous of those secrets."
Evidently, the advent of the Heavenly Tribulation didn't escape his eyes.
"Well... it's true, yet this has nothing to do with me." Kurmaus commented, unperturbed by his warning, and then proposed: "I can give you some Awakening Saint Apples for this information."
Karimi stared at the shell intently as if trying to pierce the thick barrier shielding Atlas and Deus. Alas, he couldn't do anything against the impenetrable shield and sighed: "Three fruits in perfect condition."
"Fine..."
Atlas had more than three fruits, so Kurmanus rapidly accepted and delivered the payment.
After he had carefully checked the fruits, Karimi looked back at him and opened his mouth: "The rebellious bastard had imprisoned that poor fellow on Akkariest. As for where exactly, I don't know."
They had a long history, so he had no reason to doubt his words.
"Thank you. If you need anything else from the outside world, feel free to ask."
Akkariest was more dangerous than one could think, especially for other races, so knowing that the old turtle tried to lay the basis for future cooperation.
Hearing his offer, Karimi stared at the enormous creature for a while as if waiting for something, and sure enough, he spoke out a few more things.
While Kurmanus and Karimi were discussing, Atlas, hidden inside the oasis, questioned Deus about those strange creatures.
"Why are they hiding in such a dangerous place?"
"Well... It happened more than a thousand years ago. At that time, there were interesting rumors about the Imperial Family and an usurper. It seems that he appeared between their main legion and seized the throne with some shady and brutal means." Dues replied, staring at the creature in the distance.
"So, you think they are the remnants of that Imperial Family?" Atlas asked, intrigued by the story.
"Mmm... that's a possibility. But honestly, I don't care even a bit." Deus finished giving his opinion: "And the same should go for you... so don't meddle with other people's business!"
The exchange didn't last much longer, so after sharing valuable information, Kurmanus resumed the journey toward the other side of the desert, leaving behind the small village.
As for Atlas, he couldn't help but look back curiously because this small village remembered him of the people in the Black-Clawed Crab Village. A place cursed by the malignant and that needed his help.