Answers

Right now, Connor is sitting inside a fancy carriage, decorated with bright-red elements, highly resembling fire.

How did he end up being here? Well, when they left Viva's shop, a boy with the red-haired man went to the gates of Aros, which led to the habitable side of the island, and right at the moment when Connor thought that they would travel all the way to the capital on foot, Alrick suddenly turned left and walked in some large building.

When Connor followed him, it turned out that inside that building was an open space with some kind of standing stalls for dogs, which looked precisely like Earth husky. They only were larger, much larger than their Earth versions. They were the size of a giant tiger.

"I am becoming more and more interested in this world evolution. Does the existence of Qi cause all these changes, or is there something else?"

While Connor was looking at the huskies, Alrick spoke to a salesman. The young scientist didn't hear much of their conversation, but he grasped that they were arguing about the prices and style of carriage, arguing for quite long, I would say. Not long after they decided, a carriage with a coachman arrived at the gates. Alrick showed a sign to Connor to come inside and enter the carriage himself. After it, the carriage began its journey to the capital.

Inside were quite comfortable, seats were made of leather. Also, there were some drawers under the seats and a moving table. One could use curtains to cover the windows of the carriage. Also, inside the drawers were set of candles used to light up the carriage interior in the night, if needed. Although the carriage was relatively small, it was very comfortable. After Connor looked at every possible corner, Alrick suddenly said.

-There is a long way ahead, and the only thing we can do between stops is talk, so I can finally fulfill your curiosity. You can ask all the questions you want now. I will tell you everything I can.

This was quite a shocking statement for Connor. Why did Alrick suddenly change his behavior? He was suspicious, so he decided to ask it first.

-Why did you didn't you answer me earlier?

-Because expedition group members were around.

Firstly, Connor didn't understand what the presence of those people changed, and secondly, he once again was surprised by the fact that Alrick didn't just call them "slaves."

-Why you can't tell them everything?

Melanholical expression appeared on the red-haired man's face.

-Because they are slaves, and slaves mustn't know anything about cultivation higher than their own realm.

Connor was once again confused.

-Why?

-Well, it's quite tricky to explain, but I'll try. Cultivation determines everything in this world. Literally, everything you can wish for could be achieved with a high enough cultivation. You can't understand it yet, but you will see that if you have a high cultivation realm, people around you will naturally start to obey your orders and try to become as close to you as possible. If you're a man, thousands of women would want to become your wives or concubines. If you're a woman, thousands of men will compete for the right to be your slave. Cultivation is everything in this world.

Alrick had a sardonic smile when he finished the last sentence.

-If this is true, the world is a horrible place

A red-haired man certainly didn't expect to hear that kind of answer, but except for surprise, he didn't show any other emotion, which probably meant that he agreed with Connor.

-Back to your question, because cultivation is so important, everyone is fighting for the resources. Knowledge is one of the resources. Obviously, slaves are held against their will, so to hold them in check, every clan and organization severely constrain every piece of resources given to slaves, including information, in order not to let them even think about resistance or rebellion.

Alrick's explanation covered many aspects of this world, which made even more questions than before, but one thing was 100% now.

"I am in the medieval kind of world where violence is the main tool to solve problems."

It tells a lot to Connor, and the situation overall was terrible because, in that kind of world, he would need to participate in conflicts to gain resources for his research, which would be quite troublesome for a scientist like him. He didn't even fight once in his entire life.

After Connor thought about Alrick's answer, he came up with an interesting question.

-Why do you answer my questions? I am not even in your clan.

Alrick certainly didn't expect that question because one could tell by his facial expression that he was confused.

-Well, I hope you, Connor, will become a member of our clan, and that's why I want to give this information to you.

"Oh, now it makes sense."

He wanted to recruit Connor, so it was natural that he'd share some information. Right now, information is one of the essential things for Connor, and besides that, he doesn't have any base or home right now, so joining the clan was indeed a good decision.

-If I join you, will you help me find my mum?

He said that just to remind Alrick he was still a young, naive child, and nothing, absolutely nothing more!

-Of course, of course, we will help!

Alrick was relieved because he succeeded in Connor's recruitment.

Now, when all suspicious moments became clear, Connor could finally get to the point.

-Then, will you tell me more about cultivations stages now?

Alrick calmed himself, thought for a while, and answered with a calm face.

-Yes, now I won't hide anything. First, you need to know that cultivators accumulate Qi for three parts of themselves. Body, Energy, and Soul. Energy aspect represents your energy type, its purity, amount, etc. The body represents your ability to store and conduct Qi inside yourself. Soul aspects represent the control over your Qi and your ability to comprehend Dao. As you already noticed, in the first realm, the Body Refining realm, you transform your mortal body into the spiritual one by nourishing it with Qi. When you reach the ninth stage and try to step into the next realm, the heavenly tribulation will happen.

-What? The heavenly tribulation? What is it?

-It's the process when Dao of the world tries to kill you in order not to let you become stronger.

"What? What?? What??? Laws of the world have their own will? Even if they have, why do the laws would even care about it?"

-Why did heavenly tribulation happen?

-Similar to the slave situation, Dao is the overlord of this world, so it didn't want anyone to become more powerful than itself and, by that, tries to reduce the number of cultivators, potential danger to heaven's rule. As for the details, it is the mysteries that couldn't be solved. Dao works in mysterious ways.

"Everything could be solved with correct methodology and time." Thought Connor.

-I understand, so what happens after the tribulation?

-If you withstood it, Heavenly Dao will reward you with spiritual revelations, with the help of which you could form a soul of yours. The second realm is called the Soul Creation realm. It also has nine stages like the Body Refinement realm. In this realm, you will strengthen your newly formed soul to the extent that it can perfectly control all the Qi inside you.

"What? First, Dao wants to kill me, but after the tribulation, it will reward me and help me on the path of cultivation? Are laws of this world retarded?" He wanted to speak his thoughts out loud but restrained himself. It would be really strange if a kid would doubt World Dao's mental abilities.

-I can control Qi already. What is the difference between my realm and Soul Creation realm?

Instead, he asked the thing that involved him directly.

-Can you control Qi somewhere else than the meridians?

Connor tried to control his Qi in his arms, but all he got was a dumb feeling.

-I can't.

-Yes, but in the Soul Creation realm, you would be able to control Qi in every part of your body. The quality of the control depends on in which stage of the Soul Creation realm you are.

Connor still had many questions about..... well, everything, but he would ask those later. First of all, the main question.

-What comes after the Soul Creation realm?

-Well, as in the Body Refinement realm, you will encounter tribulation when you try to step into the next realm. If you overcome it, Dao will once again reward you with spiritual revelation. You will be able to understand Qi more deeply, which will let you accumulate more Qi inside your body.

-So, the first three realms are the fundament for future realms?

-Exactly, I couldn't say it better.

There were so many questions ahead, but Connor was gradually grasping the basic basics of this world.