In front of Igneel's cabin on top of a huge mountain in the Great Beast Forest....
"Firstly let me tell you about the mortal levels" Igneel began his explanation to Max.
"They range from level 1 to level 9. Level 1-3 are known as the junior stages. During these stages a person can only coat their bodies with mana when they fight and basically can't cast spells. Of course just because all three stages are in the same category doesn't mean they are equally strong. It would take around twenty level 1 juniors to defeat a single level 2. And even worse, it would take around fifty level 2s to defeat a single level one 3. This is due to the physical boost they get from their different mana levels along with the defence that can't easily be breached by lower level juniors."
Igneel explained level 1 to 3 before pausing, giving Max time to let it sink in before continuing.
"Then there's level 4-6, known as senior levels. From level 4 a person can cast spells, of course the spells of a level 4 will be a lot weaker than a level 5. In fact the spell power of a level 5's spell is fifty times stronger than a level 4, while a level 6's is another fifty times stronger than a level 5. At level 6 a person is already considered an expert and can basically live a carefree life if they choose...as long as they don't try anything foolish of course.
Then there's level 7. From here a person can fly and is known as a Master. Their destructive power can destroy a city within hours. And without an ambush, no amount of lower levels can kill a single level 7 since they can just fly away if things get tough. Of a thousand level 6 seniors, only about five can make it to level 7, which shows how hard it is to get to it. In fact many of the strongest warriors in the human Kingdoms are level 7."
"After that is the level 8, also known as a Grandmaster. They are so rare that out of the many human kingdoms, only eight of their strongest kingdoms have a one. From there one can access the mana zone ability. It's an ability that allows you to cast spells from even behind the enemy instead of it always being frontal attacks like the levels before it.
Then there's the current peak of humanity. Level 9, or the Sage level. Only two humans have been known to have reached it in recent history. One is an old fossil from Sosaphrica who's already at death's door and the other is your mother. Though because of her weak space element affinity only allowing her to teleport and her holy element that only works on beings with darkness element which are rather rare, she's barely acknowledged as a Sage and was called a "Holy Maiden" instead since her power is primarily that of a healer. Despite being a stage lower than Mary, her healing capabilities don't lose out."
"And so we come to the level of the beast elders, which is level 10 or the "return to origin". This is because a natural barrier of mana that automatically defends is generated around the cultivator. Or you can call it, the "half-step stage" like I do, since that's were the interaction between the dantian and soul begins, though it's still vague but can still provide some benefits. Like allowing telepathic communication with those of the same stage. It's like a weakened devine sense since it can't sense anything else other than the telepathic waves of those in the same level.
"You might be wondering why the elders are all at this stage when none of the humans are on it right. Well, like Iight have mentioned, we're called devine beasts. The thing that makes us so is our origin, normal beasts are born through mating or something along those lines, we however are different. When there's a region of heavy mana concentration that's undisturbed for a long time, there's a chance of it birthing a beast. It's so rare that so far I only know of me and the elders in my 500+ yrs."
"Other than our birth, the other thing that sets us apart is that we were all born with level 9 power. I know, you must be jealo... Never mind, I forgot who I was talking to. But the problem with this is that it's super hard for us to improve beyond that. Well it's relatively easy to get to level 10 but I'm the only one who's been able to do it so far and it took me three hundred years, luckily I had the lifespan to spare..."
"Oh, I'm straying from the objective, anyway, the information I'm about to tell you is definitely more important to you so listen up. You see after Level 10 there's "Stage one of the path to immortality", the name is so stupidly long and the author is too lazy to think of anything else so it's just called Stage One for short."
"What?" (Max)
"What?" (Igneel)
"You said something about the auth..." (Max)
"That's not important, don't disturb, let me continue"(Igneel)
"This is the stage after one creates a link between their dantian and soul. What makes a "Level" and a "Stage" so different is the presence one emits along with the evolved mana." From Stage 1 it starts being called devine mana, and no matter what a level 10 does, they can never be as strong as a Stage 1's finger. Remember this Max, there can be a miracle of a level 9 defeating a level 10 but there can never be a miracle of thousands of level 10s defeating a Stage 1, they are just that different. The presence alone from a Stage one or their spell is enough to render a level 10 immobile."
"Oh so that's why..."(Max)
"Yes, that's why your aunt Caroline didn't do anything when you attacked, she couldn't do anything. And yes my boy, this is the power level you are on. So now I hope you understand why I intervened."
"Yes father, and sorry for lashing out like that before"
"It's fine son, you're still five after all, even if you're already Stage One."
"So what Stage are you father?"
"That doesn't matter, you already know what you need to know"
".....sigh, fine, so how do I improve from Stage One?" (Max)
"Oh, that's easy, when you gather enough mana and it's purified enough, you'll get the urge to form a second link, it took me a century though"
"Oh, so you're Stage two then?" (Max)
"This brat...yes I'm Stage two, you happy now, knowing that you're only one Stage away from your father at five". Igneel replied angrily but it was mostly due to the shame of having a son that's already close to his strength even before reaching puberty.
"Sorry for asking". Max apologised seeing his father act so childish again.
....
"Can you tell me how the people cultivate from level one?...I'm sure the readers would want to know in case they get reincarnated in the novel as a side character like in some novels."
"What?" (Igneel)
"What?...are you the only one aloud to do it?" (Max)
"This brat..."(Igneel)