Technique Rankings

So, every technique has a ranking of it's own, this is dependent on a multitude of factors such as: The amount one's strength is amplified by a technique, the requirements to use the technique, the difficulty in mastering a technique, what rank of cultivator uses a certain technique, as well as how much damage the technique does to one's self.

These are the rankings of technique's

Novice Technique: This is a technique that is so easily learned even non-cultivators can learn it, that places little to no strain on the user's body; however, it also barely amplifies the strength of the user. Typically, a technique of this stage has a ton of flaws in it that can be easily seen through and exploited, something people only use as a foundation for future learning.

Beginner Technique: This is a technique that places very little strain on the body of the user, that all beginner cultivators can learn; however, it only causes an amplification of around half the user's original strength. This technique is typically an advanced version of a Novice technique where the creator has managed to remove a majority of the flaws but the technique still lacks in power.

Intermediate Technique: This is a technique that places strain on the cultivator, meaning that if you were to use a spiritual technique, you could potentially run out of qi; only cultivators in the mid-high range of cultivation can use these techniques, these techniques can range from doubling to even tripling the user's base strength. Typically, these techniques will have little-to-no mistakes in them and is the point when the user is required to comprehend them in order to advance to the peak of the technique. At this stage, you can start to notice how much talent one has as someone with less talent will lose out to someone using the exact same technique as their comprehension isn't nearly as deep.

Advanced Technique: This is a technique that places significant strain on the body, one in which only top-tier mid-level cultivators can use while most high level cultivators can use, these techniques typically give around a five times boost to the user's strength. At this stage, unless one has a relatively high comprehension, they should forget about learning a technique of this rank. These techniques are very rare as someone must have an unbelievably high comprehension to manage to create one, and are typically placed as the magnum opus of the creator. Typically, techniques of this rank become more specified, so rather than for all sword users it may be people with an ice affinity that use the sword.

Peak Technique: This technique is only usable by those who reach the peak rank in the realm they are in, putting a huge strain on the body of the cultivator; this technique can amplify the strength of a cultivator up to ten times. These techniques are so rare that even Royal families may only have a handful of them, and they are so hard to learn that only people with the best comprehension in the world have the chance to comprehend them. Typically, techniques of this stage require one to have a very deep understanding of whatever the technique focuses on.

These ranks of techniques can be further divided into categories of cultivation; for each realm of cultivation, there is a corresponding level of technique.

Besides this, there is another way these techniques are divided that was made by people learning them - comprehension. The way this is measured is that what the average person can do after learning this technique is taken into account and marked as a Basic Comprehension, after this is an Advanced Comprehension, then an Extraordinary Comprehension, and finally a Peak Comprehension. At Peak Comprehension, one can no longer improve upon the technique without changing it in some way. And then even above this stage, is when one takes a technique and modifies it to fit themselves better, a stage that only geniuses can reach.

There is one final 'stage', which is not really counted by the majority of cultivators as it's unachievable by the vast majority of people, with even geniuses often unable to accomplish it. That is - self created techniques - when one creates a technique by themselves, made specifically for them. As the technique was made with them in mind and used their comprehension, the technique will resonate with them more than anyone else. However, there are still some limitation to this; the most obvious one being that, as one changes and learns more, the technique will slowly become unaccustomed to them. This can be remedied if the creator were to continually edit any technique they create so as to fit their changing state of mind. The reason this is considered nigh impossible is that it requires one to have a deep understanding of themselves aside from their cultivation, something that can only be accomplished with a strong spirit.