I, a cultivator, have ended up in the wizarding world.

Chapter 456 Level 5 Wizards and Bottlenecks and Levels
That day, in the quiet room of the laboratory.

Jemin had just finished "consuming" a wisp of dimensional origin containing the property of "forced absorption".

Consciousness slowly detaches itself from the vast array of cold formulas and complex models concerning energy siphoning, forced stripping, and unidirectional flow, returning to reality.

He rubbed his slightly throbbing temples, intending to take a moment to catch his breath, but suddenly paused for a moment.

A strange feeling welled up inside me.

The Ring of Truth trembled spontaneously in the spiritual world, becoming more solid and stable than ever before, and its resonance with the external elements became much clearer.

The total amount of spiritual power did not increase dramatically, but its operation became more smooth and efficient.

"This is... a level five wizard?"

Jemin felt the changes in himself, somewhat surprised, yet also finding it perfectly natural.

The requirements for advancing to the fifth level of wizard are clear: a mastery of at least one law of the law must reach 10% or higher, and the strength of one's mental power must meet the standard.

His mastery of the spiritual laws had already exceeded 20%, and his body had become extremely powerful after being trained by the Time Remnant. With the mutual influence of the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit, it was only natural that his spiritual strength reached the required level.

“Level 5…” Jemin muttered to himself, his tone calm.

For him, this promotion brought negligible improvement in terms of "actual combat effectiveness".

Ultimately, it comes down to the same old reason: the source of a wizard's power lies in "knowledge."

Leveling up simply means that your "hardware" foundation (mental capacity, energy manipulation limit, and law bearing capacity) has been upgraded, which is equivalent to replacing an old-fashioned computer with the latest model of supercomputer.

But what truly determines how complex and powerful your "computer" can run (programs) (magic) is the quantity and quality of "knowledge" stored in your consciousness.

Jemin's current situation is that his hardware has just been upgraded to "Level 5 Standard", but the "Level 5 Knowledge Programs" belonging to the orthodox wizarding system stored on his hard drive are still pitifully few.

It's no exaggeration to say that, in terms of the accumulation of orthodox wizarding knowledge and corresponding practical skills, he might not be as good as some senior level three wizards right now.

He threatened weak level 5 wizards with the Black Giant and composite techniques when he was level 3, and he was even more at ease when facing level 5 wizards when he was level 4.

Now at level five, he can only maintain a threat level against those of the same level, and is still powerless against level six wizards.

Moreover, the reason he was able to maintain his combat effectiveness during this process was entirely due to the knowledge of another system.

His superior combat ability stems from the "cross-disciplinary knowledge dividend" and "composite technological advantages," rather than from his wizard level itself.

Now, advancing to level five means that the "gap in orthodox wizarding knowledge" he needs to fill has become even larger.

Those wizards who can cultivate to the fifth level, which one of them is not a genius or monster who has spent thousands of years cultivating their respective fields, accumulating a vast amount of knowledge and countless trump cards?

Compared to them, Jemin's "lack" in wizarding knowledge was particularly evident.

"There's so much more to learn, research, and accumulate now..." Jemin sighed softly, feeling even more pressure on his shoulders than relaxed after advancing to the next level.

With a slight thought, he subconsciously focused his perception on the cultivation status of his own cultivation system.

The flow of the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit is much smoother than before, and the "disharmony" caused by the overly strong physique has been significantly reduced.

The gap between the three is narrowing rapidly. At this rate, it will be possible to restore them to a perfect, balanced and mutually supportive ideal state in just a few years.

This is good news.

But then another discovery made Jemin frown slightly.

The bad news is that the growth rate of his mental and spiritual power shows no sign of slowing down as balance is about to be restored.

They continue to climb at the same unprecedented rate as before.

Judging from the description alone, this seems like a great thing, after all, the power is constantly increasing.

However, considering his current level and perception, it implies a somewhat unsettling fact: he seems to be quite far from the theoretically required standard of the "Refining Void Realm".

"Hiss..." Jemin couldn't help but gasp, a look of surprise and uncertainty in his eyes. "Cultivators... is the gap in strength between these later major realms really that big?"

It should be noted that his mental strength and spiritual power are increasing simultaneously, and their strength is basically in line with his wizard level.

He is now a level 5 wizard, and his mental strength has reached the required level.

Based on past experience, the combat power of wizards and cultivators is roughly one-to-one. Logically speaking, the total amount and qualitative change of the three treasures of "essence, energy, and spirit" should also have reached the threshold of a cultivator in the Void Refining Realm.

But this is not the case.

He felt that he had absolutely no sense of direction regarding his chances of advancing to a higher level.

This feeling is completely different from the "natural progression" when breaking through minor levels step by step before.

"Something's wrong."

Jemin decisively put aside all his research and even temporarily suspended his absorption of the plane's origin.

He walked to the center of the quiet room, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and focused all his attention into the deepest part of his consciousness.

The illusory image of the Great Dao Library, cast in white jade, stands silently.

Jieming's consciousness stood before the door, his mind racing: "Search for the key to advancing from 'Deity Transformation' to 'Void Refinement', the essential differences between realms, and relevant classic texts comparing ancient and modern methods!"

Several ancient-looking jade slips or scrolls, exuding a sense of antiquity, immediately flew out from the depths of the library and hovered in front of him.

Jemin's consciousness quickly became immersed in it, and he began to browse at high speed.

Time slips away as consciousness races through the air.

He absorbed a great deal of profound and obscure information, involving ancient secrets and the essence of cultivation.

After a long while, Jemin's consciousness slowly raised his head, a hint of understanding flashing in his eyes, along with a touch of complexity.

"I see..." The good news is that the absolute strength gap between Nascent Soul Realm cultivators and Void Refinement Realm cultivators is not as exaggerated as he had imagined.

Some old monsters who have been immersed in the Nascent Soul stage for tens of thousands of years have the ability to challenge or even suppress ordinary Void Refinement stage cultivators.

The bad news is that advancing from the Nascent Soul stage to the Void Refinement stage will likely be far less easy than when he broke through those realms before.

Because, starting from the Nascent Soul Realm, the subsequent major realms gradually break away from the category of "man-made bottlenecks" and become... more "primitive" and "difficult".

“Bottleneck…” Jemin chewed on the word, and the key insights he had gained from the classics came to mind.

For countless low-level cultivators, the "bottleneck" is something they deeply resent.

It is the obstacle that hinders their progress, the source of despair for those who have toiled for years without making any progress.

But at a higher level, Jemin understood from these ancient records that the "bottleneck" was actually a "shortcut" that was artificially researched, created, and solidified by generations of brilliant predecessors in order to reduce the difficulty of advancement and pave a wider path of cultivation!
It could even be described as an artificial "ladder" that enabled later cultivators to climb to even greater heights!
Its existence does indeed limit the limits that cultivators can reach within a single realm.

Conversely, it also provides a clear, visible, and traceable "breakthrough point".

As long as you accumulate knowledge step by step and successfully break through this relatively "weak" barrier, you can achieve a leap in your life level and enter the next realm.

"As long as you can break through the bottleneck, you can be promoted"—for the cultivation path that involves exploring the unknown and facing an uncertain future, this is practically a "cheating" method, greatly reducing the randomness and uncertainty of promotion.

What Jemin is experiencing now is the true predicament faced by the ancient cultivators in the very early days when no predecessors paved the way: as long as resources and aptitude are sufficient, the power within the body can accumulate almost without limit. But the future is shrouded in chaos, with no clear "bottleneck" or "barrier" for you to "break through".

No matter how much you accumulate, you won't know which direction to focus your efforts in order to pry open the door to a higher level.

Breaking through the artificially created "bottleneck" is already extremely difficult for many cultivators.

However, from the perspective of higher-level cultivators, if they cannot even break through this "bottleneck" that has been deliberately weakened and pointed out, then they will be even more helpless in the face of Jemin's current primitive state, which has "no clear bottleneck, only a vague gap," and will never be able to advance any further in their lives.

The ancient texts also mention that in order to further reduce the difficulty of advancement, later cultivators made what can be described as "refined" modifications to the lower realms.

The most classic example is the Qi Refining stage.

As an inevitable path for every cultivator, the Qi Refining stage undergoes the most frequent and thorough transformations.

It has long since broken through the simple four-stage division of "before, middle, after, and completion", and has been refined into a total of nine levels from "Qi Refining Level 1" to "Qi Refining Level 9", with each level often further subdivided into three smaller stages: before, middle, and after.

In total, there are as many as twenty-six "minor bottlenecks" artificially set up within the Qi Refining stage alone!
Each small bottleneck reduces the overall difficulty of the final "big bottleneck" of "from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment".

It's like transforming a steep, precipitous, and insurmountable cliff into a series of relatively gentle steps with places to rest.

Although there are more steps and it's still hard to climb, it's much easier and safer than rock climbing directly.

Once the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages are reached, the number of cultivators who can reach these levels decreases sharply, and the "step-by-step" transformation of these realms is not as refined and thorough as that of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Therefore, the Foundation Establishment stage has four relatively clear stages: early, middle, late, and completion, while the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages often only have three: early, middle, and late.

But upon reaching the Nascent Soul Realm...

Cultivators who can reach this level are extremely rare, and naturally even fewer have studied or "modified" this level. As a result, their state is closer to the "primitive" state, which is what Jieming is currently experiencing.

Strength can be accumulated, but the "road signs" for promotion are vague and unclear. You need to explore, understand, or even "take a chance" or "have an epiphany" to find the direction.

"So this is the 'normal' state I'm in now... I had a smooth journey before, thanks to the hard work of my predecessors in reforming the cultivation system."

Jemin withdrew from his subconscious, slowly opened his eyes, and couldn't help but frown.

He suddenly thought of the wizarding hierarchy.

Following this logic, a wizard's apprentice must ignite the fire of the spirit and condense the ring of truth to become a full-fledged wizard.

From Level 1 to Level 2 wizards, one must build a complete energy cycle system. From Level 2 to Level 3, one begins to deeply engage with and initially apply the laws. These advancements are all marked by very clear, qualitative changes.

However, the promotion from level three to level four, and from level four to level five, is more like an accumulation of "quantitative change" rather than a transformative leap in life level.

Looking back now, the hierarchy among wizards probably underwent similar artificial adjustments as well.

"Perhaps, the transition from level three to level six is ​​essentially the complete realm of a 'mid-level wizard'?" Jemin speculated in his mind.

"Levels four and five are specifically designed as 'small steps' or 'mid-term checkpoints' to reduce the confusion and difficulty during this long accumulation process."

"In this way, wizards can have relatively clear goals during the long process of accumulating laws, know their progress, and avoid completely losing their way in the boundless ocean of laws."

This hypothesis perfectly explains why he was able to threaten and even defeat some weaker level 5 wizards at levels 3 and 4 using a combination of methods.

Because they are essentially still within the same "intermediate wizard" realm, the difference lies more in the "numerical" level of their mastery of laws, rather than in the absolute generational difference in life form or the essence of power.

But when facing a level six wizard...

That's the next major realm, the starting point for high-level wizards!
It is an existence that has completed the solidification of laws and undergone a qualitative change in its life form!

Therefore, the gap between level 5 and level 6 wizards is far greater than the previous minor realm differences.

Looking back, when Senior Viola chose to jump directly from level three to level six wizard, breaking through to level four and five was indeed quite easy. It was only when she finally broke through to level six that she had a lot of trouble.

"From this perspective, it seems that Senior Viola may have realized this back then. So for her, the so-called leap of three levels was just a direct breakthrough from one realm to the next major realm."

"In that case, a level six wizard... is probably more troublesome than I imagined." Jemin's eyes were serious, and his assessment of the danger of a level six wizard rose another level.

After all, he was about to face a proper wizard war, and wizards, being so clever and cunning, could never simply be king against king, general against general.

On the contrary, even Jemin himself, when thinking about future wars, his first reaction was to eliminate the enemy's low-level forces as much as possible to create an advantage for his own side.

Therefore, the possibility of him encountering a high-level wizard on the battlefield is very high.

"It seems I need to work even harder."

Jemin reached out, picked up the next test tube containing the origin of the concept plane of "Abyss Assimilation," uncorked it, and began once again that luxurious and arduous "knowledge swallowing."

(End of this chapter)