Kayden estimated that he would only be at half the strength he had accumulated if he had let normal mana be part of his advancement. It was a huge difference in strength, even more so with the jewelry on his head. The jewel in the center of his head was different from the other four, as the one in the center was smaller and completely round. Furthermore, it was a unique color, it wasn’t exactly black but rather a colorless color, an endless hole that carried Kayden’s entire path and feelings.
It took him a while to understand that he had to put his way and mind first in advance. That’s why his jewel was an abyss, it was just like him and his mind: an endless hole of greed and the desire for power. The new jewel took Kayden’s power to another level again. With his constant searches for improvements and increasing the conversion rate, he reached another frightening value during these years.
Its area reached ten kilometers of conversion, a completely ridiculous level. At this moment, Kayden was confident of jumping a realm even against a dozen opponents with seven lightning bolts. It was crazy, surreal, a degree of strength he had never achieved before. He simply spat in the face of kingdom divisions and stomped. His full-force aura slash was capable of breaking Julian’s barrier.
He didn’t have any ability to touch Julian’s robes, but he had the full ability to break a seventh realm barrier. When he did this test with Julian, he saw his friend stay quiet for hours before opening his mouth and saying he was impressed. Seeing the strength that Kayden achieved reignited the flames inside Julian and got him back to training. It was an effect of admiration that Kayden ended up having on most people.
His spiritual sense had reached the 1500-kilometer mark. It was such an extensive region that he had to learn to ignore much of the information that came to him, especially considering the quality of his spiritual sense. The amount of divine mana he attained also increased by several folds. Kayden sometimes found himself laughing like crazy alone. He failed in the fourth kingdom and it took him more than seven millennia to fix his mess.
It’s been seven long millennia with minuscule strength, being threatened by any idiot in the fifth realm with a little more strength. At this time, few people were able to even touch their feet.
"Haven’t you reached the peak of the fifth realm? What are you waiting for?" Julian asked when he found Kayden cultivating in his room.
"I still have a lot of years left, I just have to keep cultivating and improving." Julian couldn’t believe how ridiculous Kayden’s quest for power was.
*************
"You have become strong, I can’t tell the limit of your strength anymore." Eros and Kayden were strolling through a huge garden of purple trees.
"It has been some time." Eros was in the sixth realm and continued with his eight rays.
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"I didn’t expect to find you here, have you achieved the strength you were looking for?" Eros expected a positive answer.
"Yes, actually much more than I expected." Eros raised an eyebrow.
"How strong?" Kayden smiled.
"I’ll try eight rays." Eros was not surprised. There were millennia in the fifth kingdom, only those who sought something higher could spend that long.
"How long will it take? I can wait a few decades for you to go with us to the next zone. Furthermore, there will be a universal challenge in a few millennia." Kayden raised an eyebrow.
"It will take me a few millennia yet." Eros was surprised again. "What would be the universal challenge?" Again he was surprised that Kayden didn’t know about this.
"Your organization didn’t tell you? Aren’t you one of the false gods?" Eros was confused by the conversation.
"No, I’m from a distant, rural part of the universe." Kayden’s speech made Eros rethink his genius values.
"The universal challenge is something done by the greatest gods in this universe, those who are on a level above the highest level. Only those with seven rays above the fifth realm can participate."
"How common are seven rays?" Kayden had no idea of this in-universe value.
"As incredible as it may seem, it is something rare. But because of the number of worlds and solar systems, it has become common. That’s why there’s a first psychological screening test. It’s very simple, you will face the biggest fear of your life and then psychological pressure to reduce the competition even further."
They seemed like simple tests, but considering the level of this whole situation, it would probably be on a completely different level than any tests Kayden had ever done before.
"Typically, 99% of participants fall to this level and only have a few thousand trillion left." Eros threw that number out like it was just a few dozen, but it was a ridiculous amount of people that Kayden couldn’t even fathom.
"The gods don’t care about the weak, so normally the second stage is an open fight with about a thousand people, with only one wizard with eight rays. This is kind of an open invitation to the next step. This happens sometimes to reduce the number of people."
It was in line with what Kayden expected. In the end, those with seven rays would just go for learning. They were special, but at the same time, they weren’t even close.
"Then the same thing happens, a thousand people are brought together to face each other. Most at this level have about eight spokes. A minority have around seven rays and normally there won’t be anyone with nine rays at this stage."
"How strong is nine lightning?" Kayden asked curiously. Eros just laughed at Kayden’s question.
"They are completely monsters. It is easier for someone with a single ray to win a fight against someone with eight rays than for thousands with eight rays to win a fight against someone with nine rays." Kayden was silent along with Eros for a few seconds.
"That’s scary," Kayden commented.
"We will probably never find someone at that level. They are created from the first day they are born to be perfect gods. They are rare and, even in the universe, there are no more than a few hundred per kingdom."
A few hundred in such a huge universe was frighteningly little. Kayden once again felt like a frog in a well. This feeling seemed like it would haunt him throughout his life. He knew he was strong at that moment, terribly strong, he could probably get eight lightning bolts without much difficulty. But in the matter of nine rays? Kayden believed something was still missing.
"I don’t know what the next steps are. Only those who have passed have this information."
"What are the rewards?" Kayden didn’t want to fight just for fame and honor.
"You get one mana on your head. It’s harmless, but whenever you put some of your mana into it, you’ll see a golden number appear on your head, ranging from 1 to 100. This value will open many doors, depending on your value."
"What’s a good value?"
"The average is from 1 to 25. Above that, you already represent a potential genius. From 25 to 50 are those of high level, it is very difficult to achieve anything beyond that. Any value above 50 is a new world, these are the ones that are sought after by all organizations."
Kayden reflected a little and concluded that he knew nothing about the universe outside. These numbers were completely random and worthless to him, they had no meaning in his view. The two talked for a few more minutes and Kayden established a small connection with Eros. The two had a lot in common, in some ways, and Kayden gained a lot of knowledge in this story.
***************
The millennia began to pass and Kayden became increasingly isolated. All of his acquaintances from his time at the academy were no longer in that area or ended up dying over time, only Julian was still in that place. Kayden currently had four disciples following the path of perfection. The only one who had succeeded was a weak and fearful boy, but his talent was far superior to anything Kayden had ever seen before.
The boy had achieved a path and was in the fifth realm in just 200 years. All of this was done perfectly. The heavens did have their favorites. The rest were exceptional, but they were still missing something. Kayden didn’t care much about them, it was just a favor he did for Julian during his stay there. It didn’t cost him much time anyway, his only focus was improving himself.
His control of divine mana was at the highest possible level of the fifth realm, he hit an invisible wall where his realm limited his manipulation, it was the second time in his life.
He knew it was exactly that, because when he was in the fourth realm he suffered the same limitation, it was a wall that could be broken, but it would take many, many millennia of absolute focus, that was a time he didn’t have at that moment.
Author’s note: I’m better and at the same time having relapses that I never dreamed of, constantly with not very healthy effects, if you know what I mean, I’ll try to keep the uploads constant, sorry if the quality drops or if I get a little too depressed lol