Mortals and Gods

"Well! I commend the effort but you really suck at fighting. You don't have a combat style, you rely too much on quick and unexpected movements, and your sword skills and strategies are very simple." Hero explained as he withdrew his greatsword.

Wiping the blood off his throat, Damon retorted. "It's not like I've had time to build any of these skills though. I mean, just about a week ago, I was just a plain clothed civilian worrying about my next car payment."

Hero rolled his eyes. "What I'm trying to say is that you have a lot of issues and need to

improve. I didn't come here expecting a god of war as a housewarming gift."

"What can I do to improve?" Damon asked.

"Well there are a few main things that anyone can do to improve their skills at fighting.

One, fight more. This builds up your instincts, familiarity with your own body, and allows you to find what type of fighting you are best at. Two, study your fights and realize what went wrong and what you could improve at for the next fight. And three, start specializing in a certain fighting style. Trust me, it will be important in the future."

"So let's study my fight. What exactly went wrong?"

"Hold your horses, Damon." Hero stopped him. "Before we study the actions themselves, you must study who is doing the actions and what separates them from you."

"Well, obviously you are much more experienced and powerful than me." Damon said.

"There's more to it than that. Follow me to the manor. I need to finally teach you about what differentiates you from me and us from mortals." Hero said mysteriously as they started flying off.

'What separates us from mortals, huh. Isn't it mainly the tenets and faith?' Damon thought as they arrived at the manor.

"Sit down on the grass and let me explain the different levels that gods have. This will put everything into perspective." Hero said as he sat down.

Sitting down on the grass, Damon signaled for Hero to begin.

"The first realm of the gods is called the Divine Foundation Realm. It is called that because one will have their old body reforged anew upon ascension to godhood. This means that they will have to temper their body with the new energy they have received."

"Like what I've been doing with the universal energy and parts of the creatures I kill?" Damon asked.

Hero nodded his head. "There are many ways to temper one's body. Gods can do the more extreme ones with ease to the durability of the divine spark and the quality of their energy. This includes direct destruction of the body in order to speedily temper it as well as using the berserk energy present within monsters."

"What are the less…painful methods?" Damon asked as he shuddered.

Smiling in amusement, Hero said. "There are certainly…softer methods of cultivation. In fact, most beings only use two main methods. One involves the circulation of universal energy around their body. This is a slow process but it allows the flesh to slowly absorb the energy and metabolize to improve itself."

"Does it cause any pain?"

Hero rolled his eyes. "Unless you are an idiot, no. It actually feels quite refreshing and relaxing. The other method is not even really actively cultivating but it still works. It involves the slow and methodical beating of one's core. You see, the core of a mortal will slowly leak universal energy into the bloodstream over time in order to speed up the process of refinement. This is also the case for gods but since we have techniques with much higher efficiency, we barely notice it."

Damon nodded. "Okay I get it. But what do you mean by realm?"

"Good question. A realm is the overall title for a sequence of cultivation. It usually follows a theme, such as body refinement, and has different levels. In this case, the

Divine Foundation realm has seven levels that are used to measure the amount of energy within one's body." Hero explained.

"So you used the words measure and title. Does that mean that the levels and realm aren't really a thing." Damon asked with a confused expression.

Hero raised an eyebrow. "You caught on pretty quick. Cultivation is not some universal constant forced onto us. It is a free ocean which we can explore. These realms and levels are only the confirmed way of cultivation set by people. You see, certain orders of cultivation will kill you. The current cultivation system has been tried and tested and is thus very safe if followed precisely."

"Kill you? What do you mean by that?"

Hero's eyes darkened. "It's actually pretty simple, but still horrifying. Body modifications that are done before the body is refined, will cause you to explode. Improvements in the mind and soul before one's body is able to catch up, will make you go insane. This can be due to sensory overload, a disconnect between the body and soul, or even a complete spiritual severance."

"Sounds horrible enough. But have you ever seen that kind of stuff happen?"

"Luckily, I haven't. People have had this figured out for ages and those who do experiments, almost always use animals or clones." Hero paused.

"Back to cultivation. Do you have any more questions before we start testing it out?"

"One last question. How does someone know if they are ready to move on to the next realm? Afterall, many people don't have a way of measuring it."

"Good question! There are many artifacts that anyone can use to measure it and higher level people can almost always tell when someone is ready to move on. The most rudimentary form of testing is by directly trying to cultivate the mind. If someone is ready, they may feel some discomfort, but will not feel any major pain. If someone isn't ready, then they will be wracked by painful seizures." Hero said with a beaming smile.

"Okay I get it now. So what cultivation do you want me to try now?" Damon asked.

"To get you used to it, we'll try the Circulation method. Of course, we will use divine essence, so make sure you keep it on a tight leash." Hero said.

Nodding, Damon focused on his core. Although he was low on divine essence, it was enough for a few circulations.

Damon began slowly siphoning the golden essence from his core and into his body.

"Shape the essence into a long snake." Hero instructed.

After a few minutes, the energy amounted to a snake that stretched half of his body.

"Now direct the snake towards the side of your body. Make it follow the outline of your body. Just make sure it doesn't cross the barrier between your head and your neck."

Damon slowly released the golden snake as it began slithering around the outline of his body.

Over the next hour, the snake circled around his body multiple times.

Each time, it shrunk more and more. Soon, the divine essence had been completely absorbed by his body.

"Not bad. It looks like your body improved quite significantly. Generally, a mix of calm and violent energy helps develop the body best." Hero praised.

"What level am I?" Damon asked excitedly.

"You just reached level three."