Jericho scanned the eight Titanic mountain peaks in front of him with emotion. 'So this is where I will be staying now. There are this guy's memories, but it's still different when you see it up close.'
The mountains were shrouded with fog all around that gave it a mysterious ethereal vibe. He couldn't help but remember that each peak master that resided on these eight mountains was in the same realm as the main body. Saint experts... Even in the Zhao Kingdom, Saints are extraordinary and have the power to influence a city and even become a city mayor.
Jericho headed to one of the peaks with a steadfast gaze.
...
"Master, I'm back!"
Jericho swiftly arrived at the peak. He looked ahead of him with his eyes squinted.
The fog on the peak wasn't as dense. Grasses and pink flowers with butterflies flying around gave the place a nature's touch. Bamboo trees and bird nests nestled in between could be seen.
In the middle of the grassy ground of the mountain peak, there was a man who looked in his 40s in a reclining chair. He has white hair with a mix of black strands, brown eyes, and a wrinkled forehead.
Even though the man looked older, his jawline and chiseled side profile gave him an impression of being a masculine man in his early years, an absolute chad.
"You lad, I've already sensed your arrival at the gate. Well, I wondered why it took you so long to return. But now, sensing you're realm, it seems you already reached the Noble Realm." The old man, with a deep masculine tone, gazed at Jericho deeply as if he could see through falsehoods and illusions. "I am gratified. You've exceeded my expectations. Most direct disciples, or rather, your peers, are still in the Awakened Realm of 9th grade. They're stuck at the bottleneck."
Hearing this, Jericho forced out a smile. 'I am not your real disciple. I'm just a soul fragment.'
Then his face turned curious. "Master, how did you sense my arrival when I was just at the gate."
As Jericho asked this while pretending to be casual. A thought appeared inwardly. 'The main body is in the same realm as this master's body. Yet the main body doesn't have the capabilities to sense that far, right?'
"Hehe... You lad asks a good question." The old man looked sideways, unintentionally projecting his jawline that could cut fruits. "Well, I've been stuck at the Saint Realm for how many years. A hundred or even two hundred? I only needed to take that one step. But the bottleneck, or perhaps, the requirement is hard without enough talent."
Jericho was shocked. 'Damn it... He's stuck 100-200 years at the Saint Realms bottleneck? Is this how difficult it is? How old is this old man in front of me then?'
At this time, Jericho finally began to realize how much of a cheat the main body's leveling deity black innate talent really was.
Leveling from the 1st minor realm and 9th minor realm just needs one to kill monsters or creatures to obtain experience points. To accumulate one step at a time. Personally, from 1st grade of Awakened Realm and 9th Grade of Awakened Realm, he found it easy.
However, at the Noble Realm, the needed exp becomes enormous. At every minor realm, one needs an exp amount equivalent to 1st grade of awakened up to 9th grade.
For instance, just a rough figure, it takes 50,000 exps to go from 1st grade to 9th grade Awakened. Now, to become 1st Noble to 2nd grade noble, you need 50,000 exps! That's equivalent to the exp of the entire Awakened Realm!
That's why accumulating exp was difficult. You need to kill a lot of creatures stronger than you if you want to level up fast or absorb a huge amount of exp stones. Experience points are like the energy needed. After all, energy is the universal currency of the Universe. Everything needs energy. Energy is needed to support realms. As a fundamental law, energy cannot be destroyed, can only transform to one form to another.
Still, although difficult, energy accumulation is not the real hard part. As long as there are resources, one can accumulate bit by bit. Although the needed amount increases one's realm increases, it's still achievable.
Because as one's strength increases, one would be able to come in contact with more resources and compete for them, and be able to fight stronger monsters to accumulate exps.
The real hard part was the bottlenecks! For one, you had fulfilled the exp needed. But you're stuck at the one last step. Bottlenecks are the requirement for one to step into the next major realm! Every major realm has bottlenecks and those bottlenecks can take a short time, or an extremely long time. It depends upon one's luck, talent, and resourcefulness. But talent is the number one.
Just like the old man in front of Jericho. He had already filled the exps needed to brim. Just like an empty bottle that was filled with water. But the bottleneck was the sole reason why he couldn't take the step.
Jericho, who thought all this, suddenly had an enlightenment. 'The main body's leveling deity... It seems what's really horrifying was its ability to completely ignore bottlenecks as if they don't exist. A leap of six major realms? Without facing bottlenecks? Monstrous!'
"So long story short. The bottleneck for Saints to step to Beyonder Realm is to fully condense one's divine sense."
"Currently, I've managed to condense a seed of divine sense to roughly reach the sect's gate at max. I only need ten more years to expand its range, and at that time, it is the time for me to break through Beyonder Realm!"
'No wonder... It's for this reason that the main body and this master is the same realm, yet the main body doesn't have such sensing range except for the monitoring range of his spatial domain. Because he haven't yet condense a divine sense seed like this old man.'
The old man looked at Jericho with an expert demeanor. "Once you've reached the peak of Noble Realm, you'll surely need at least 13 years to overcome the bottleneck... Well, it took me 29 years but you're more astounding than me at the same age." He sighed.
"Master, thanks for the guidance." Jericho couldn't help but feel grateful. Along with this, he transmitted to Dylan every bit of info about bottlenecks and so on.
The old man burst out laughing. "Lad, no need for that. A master and disciple relationship is stronger than a father and a son of mortal families. After all, a father and son only live together for a hundred years and below. But for us, who had long lifespans? As a master and disciples, we would be together for thousands of years. Remember this!"
Jericho shuddered. "Yes, master!"
The old man gave a satisfied nod. "Hmmm... I could feel you still have a question. Go ask..."