Chapter 434 - 420: The Nirvana Tier’s Pecking Order
In just a few hours, Shi Ming had already grown intensely weary of the Azure Star Realm’s "potion-based civilization."
Some of these potions were indeed miraculous.
Others were quite crude, with severe side effects.
It was novel at first, but after removing the filter of a mid-tier civilization, Shi Ming found that Azure Star was nothing special. In some respects, it was far inferior to the Endless Ocean, let alone Earth during its Golden Era.
Immersing himself in the culture and customs of Azure Star, Shi Ming couldn’t help but sigh.
It wasn’t that he was being overly critical.
From a purely technological standpoint, the Azure Star Realm’s development was more than a level above Earth’s. This wasn’t just because Earth had suffered the impact of the Wandering Era, causing a precipitous decline, but also because Azure Star possessed a Hub Tower and had already connected with the interstellar community. Here, S-rank Awakened could own their own Interstellar Spaceships and could even modify their bodies as they pleased, adding custom cybernetics to adapt to land and space.
"Sickness" and "injury" were non-issues here; there was nothing that a single dose of a potion couldn’t fix.
Unfortunately,
the advancement of technology had not led to an increase in happiness.
On the contrary, Azure Star was caught in a state of extreme internal competition.
The cultivation and birth of new life had also lost its sanctity. Aggression and ferocity had been deliberately bred out, leaving the entire race with no sense of crisis. Creatures raised in a greenhouse, like castrated bulls, were left with only one purpose in life—and it was self-evident what that was.
’Hmm...’
’Perhaps this was also by design.’
Setting aside the development of their civilization, the experience from a traveler’s perspective was excellent.
Here, Shi Ming felt a sense of "being right at home" that he had never experienced in the Endless Ocean. Conflict was nearly nonexistent. Every blue-skinned, tail-wagging Azure Star Person was exceptionally gentle and friendly. If he hadn’t witnessed a massacre and disaster right after his arrival, Shi Ming might have developed an unnecessary misunderstanding of the Star Sea’s goodwill—
’The creatures here are super friendly, and they talk so nicely. I totally love it here.jpg’
Shi Ming’s objective had been achieved:
"Native" Shi Ming had connected with the Star Sea and gathered more information about the universe, covering categories such as power, geography, civilizations, and Star Domains.
The commonly accepted power divisions in the Star Sea were consistent with what was recorded on the great stone monument on the Top of Mount Everest. Below the gods, there were four tiers: Awakened, Legend, Holy Hall, and Nirvana.
However, because the number of Awakened in the Star Sea was endless, far surpassing the Endless Ocean, different minor stages existed within the four major tiers to more meticulously differentiate between intelligent beings.
[Awakened]: Same as in the Endless Ocean, divided into D-rank, C-rank, B-rank, and A-rank Awakened.
[Legend]: S-rank Awakened. (Subdivided into S, SS, SSS...)
[Holy Hall]: When an Awakened reaches the Holy Hall tier, besides the number of skills they possess, their comprehensive physical stats are an important standard for judging their strength. It is divided into four minor stages: Holy Hall, Sanctuary, Holy Palace, and Holy Sanctuary. The criteria are not strict. Based on Shi Ming’s comprehensive judgment and assessment, possessing Holy Hall Skills and having five-dimensional stats exceeding 500 points qualifies one for the Holy Hall Tier. Afterward, for approximately every 300-point increase in stats, one can be considered to have advanced to the next minor stage.
Following these conventional standards, Shi Ming made a judgment. Among the Seven Holy Halls on Earth, the Great Black Heaven Dragon, due to being in constant slumber and having ordinary strength, could be considered at the "Holy Palace" stage. The other six were all top-tier Holy Hall Fierce Beasts that had reached the "Holy Sanctuary" stage.
This showed that their foundation was truly extraordinary.
As for the [Nirvana] tier...
Compared to ordinary experts, those who reached the Nirvana tier were few and far between. Each one was a pillar of a high-tier civilization. However, with their higher status, they became more concerned with hierarchy and rank. Therefore, the Nirvana tier was roughly divided into seven levels.
Ascendant, Common, Veteran, General, Sealed King, Pillar Stone, and New God.
"Ascendant" refers to a Nirvana Tier Awakened who has just advanced and lacks any deep foundation, but they are by no means someone a Holy Hall Tier Awakened can mess with. Once they complete their initial accumulation, they are considered a Common Nirvana Tier expert; Rui Liang of the Dark Star Race belongs to this category. Further up, as they accumulate more experience and fortuitous encounters over time, their strength increases further, and they can be called a "Veteran." When their strength ranks among the top 20 in an ordinary Cosmic Country, they can be called a "General." When they reach roughly the top three, they are a "Sealed King."
Once their foundation and strength are comparable to the Sovereign of a Cosmic Country, with 3 to 10 Advanced Civilization Star Realms under their command, they can be called a nation’s [Pillar Stone].
Normally, once a Nirvana Tier expert reaches the "Pillar Stone" level, they can no longer advance even an inch.
However, a portion of Pillar Stones with great luck have managed to seize power from the blood and flesh of gods—power that does not belong to this stage. Relying on Divine Blood and divine flesh, they achieve another breakthrough that should have been impossible, stepping into the realm of "New God."
A New God is what the Eye of Destiny calls a "pseudo-god."
New Gods would never refer to themselves as "pseudo-gods."
After stepping into the New God realm, one has exhausted all potential for advancement and has hit the true ceiling. Perhaps only the legendary "Eye of the Divine, Heart of Chaos, Primordial Flow Body, and Uncertain Shadow" could allow one to advance further and assail the domain of gods. However, these four divine remnants have traversed time and space, and finding them is akin to finding a needle in the Star Sea.
Besides these seven minor realms, there is another extremely special existence within the Nirvana tier.