Nascent Soul was a step by step process. One couldn't rush it haphazardly, or the best effect was damaging your soul and the worst effect was destroying your soul. The consequences of both were not something that one could easily bear.
The Nascent soul stage did not have obviously divided sub levels like Golden Core before it. It was split into 10 mini stages, with each seeing a significant breakthrough in both spirituality and Qi essence of the Nascent Soul until it gained its own wisdom.
Darius and his Branded Servants shot through Nascent Soul faster than any stage before, because it mostly relied on the height of your Magic stat and their stats were far above the requirement, not to mention they had the severely exaggerated level 1000 cultivation method.
Unlike others who need to induce spirituality from their souls, Darius and co could induce spirituality naturally by cultivating so there was no danger nor loss. Given the abundant spirit energy, the high talent, and crazy stats, it made sense for Nascent Soul to take only a week.
If one felt that this was long, consider the fact that a normal grandmaster from elsewhere coming over, even with a peak talent and good technique, would take over 2 years at least.
When they reached the peak of Nascent Soul, their stats had increased greatly.
[Name: Darius Stone || Race: Ancestor Dragon (Fledgling) || Stage: Adept || Jobs: Itemancer, Magus.
HP: 3,802,500/3,802,500 (2,250,000) (5,703,750 HP Surplus) || MP: 89,700/89,700 (67,650) (313,950 MP Surplus) || STA: 89,700/89,700 (67,650) || QI: 58,500/58,500 (33,000) (585,000 Qi Surplus)
Level: 46 || Experience: 54% || Cultivation Stage: Nascent Soul (Peak) || Body Stage: Sarira (Peak)
Power: 2,550 (1950) || Speed: 1,000 || Constitution: 2,550 (1950)
Magic: 2,550 (1950) || Will: 2,250 (1650) || Luck: 880
AP: 5,475 (5450) || SP: 2465 (3465).]
[Name: Gunner || Race: Half-Human, Half-Giant (Royal Blood) || Stage: Adept || Jobs: Vanguard, Anti-mage.
HP: 3,240,000/3,240,000 (2,560,000) || MP: 18,998/18,998 (8,733) || STA: 82,800/82,800 (65,600) || QI: 12,390/12,390 (123,900 QI Surplus)
Level: 46 || Experience: 52% || Cultivation Stage: Nascent Soul (Peak) || Body Stage: Sarira (Peak)
Power: 2,200 (1800) || Speed: 800 || Constitution: 2,200 (1800)
Magic: 813 (413) || Will: 3,000 (2600) || Luck: 100
AP: 5,465 || SP: 5,150 (6150).]
[Name: Xieliartorsobotar Staonroefuso || Race: Elf (Royal Blood) || Stage: Adept || Jobs: Cleric, Divine Maiden.
HP: 70,200/70,200 (27,200) || MP: 99,360/99,360 (84,460) || STA: 12,420/12,420 (6,970) || QI: 64,800/64,800 (41,200) (648,000 Qi Surplus)
Level: 46 || Experience: 49% || Cultivation Stage: Nascent Soul (Peak) || Body Stage: Sarira (Peak)
Power: 460 (260) || Speed: 780 || Constitution: 470 (270)
Magic: 2,360 (2160) || Will: 7,060 (6860) || Luck: 1,000
AP: 5,465 || SP: 5,095 (6095).]
[Name: Luna Stone || Race: Moon Elf (Progenitor) || Stage: Journeyman || Jobs: Moon Walker, Dark Predator.
HP: 11,840,000/11,840,000 (9,240,000) || MP: 62,900/62,900 (41,600) || STA: 118,400/118,400 (89,600) || QI: 51,000/51,000 (26,000) (510,000 Qi Surplus)
Level: 37 || Experience: 82% || Cultivation Stage: Nascent Soul (Peak) || Body Stage: Sarira (Peak)
Power: 4700 (3700) || Speed: 3000 || Constitution: 4200 (3200)
Magic: 2700 (1700) || Will: 2700 (1700) || Luck: 1000.
AP: 5,570 || SP: 7,196 (8196)]
Once again, their stat growth was explosive and for each of them, it had doubled up from the level before.
Darius gained 600 points to Power and Constitution from the Body Refinement Sarira stage while he gained 600 points to Magic and Willpower from the Qi Cultivation Nascent Soul.
Gunner gained 400 points to Power and Constitution from the Body Refinement Sarira stage while he gained 400 points to Magic and Willpower from the Qi Cultivation Nascent Soul.
Xela gained 200 points to Power and Constitution from the Body Refinement Sarira stage while she gained 200 points to Magic and Willpower from the Qi Cultivation Nascent Soul.
And finally, Luna gained 1000 points to Power and Constitution from the Body Refinement Sarira stage while she gained 1000 points to Magic and Willpower from the Qi Cultivation Nascent Soul.
Man, it was nice to be the progenitor of a race. The bonuses from bloodline were simply crazy beyond belief. Both Darius and Gunner had elite bloodlines, but even they were being left behind, forced to take a bus while Luna drove her sports car.
Poor Xela couldn't even get on the bus despite being a royal elf.
Once they reached the peak of Nascent Soul and Sarira, it was time to breakthrough and enter the next stage, Soul Formation. For Body Refinement, it was the Nirvana stage, but that will be touched on later.
Soul Formation was another small realm in the next set of 3 that focuses on the talent of comprehension rather than absorption. Of course, it was also a major realm in the sense that it was the first of the two sub-realms within the adept stage, and it showed.
Nascent Soul was also called an Origin Infant and was a Yang-type spirit. This meant it was half complete and while it could exist outside the body and even survive for a while, that while was short and the damage it would suffer was irreparable.
Whether it was your combat or through traversal, your Nascent Soul taking damage was a permanent reduction of its 'HP bar'. You could not cultivate to fix it apart from upgrading your stage and even then, the defects might drag you back from breaking through.
One must remember one of the main benefits of being at the Adept stage was the ability to finally use an elementary form of telekineses for high intellect. If this benefit appeared in the Journeyman stage, it would ruin the rules Vena had set up, but cultivation allowed one to sneakily find a loophole.
After all, the Nascent Soul's existence could, to some extent, function like psychic power depending on how it was used.
However, Soul Formation would proudly tell you that it had no such weaknesses. It was a great transition for the Nascent Soul, going from Nascent to Origin and becoming an Origin Soul.
An Origin Soul was a perfect soul that had both Yin and Yang elements, allowing it to perfectly exist outside the body for long periods of time. Now, it was not the soul (CPU) that was bottlenecked, but now the body (GPU) that was bottlenecking your cultivation and preventing you from going higher.
Soul Formation had another name that many were more familiar with, and was honestly more astute as a name for the stage - or at least how cultivators used it - and that was Soul Wandering.
Cultivators at this stage would breakthrough Nascent Soul by facing a Nine-One Yin Thunder Tribulation. Tribulations were heavenly punishments meant to test the foundation of a cultivator and prove some necessary materials to forge themselves for the next stage.
If your foundation was enough, you would succeed. If it was poor, you would fail or die, it was fair. None of that stuff about the heavens hating you, who do you think you are? A mere Adept hopeful could incur the wrath of heaven? Then why doesn't it strike down True Lords or False Gods?
Tribulations came in a double numerical form. In other words, the first number was the amount of lighting strikes you would face per round and the second number was the total amount of rounds you would face.
So Nine-One meant that there was only one round of nine lightning strikes, which was theoretically pretty easy. Even this much brutality was only because Darius and Co were heavily talented and required more force to refine their Origin Souls.
A youngster cultivating for the first time only went through a Three-One Yin Thunder Tribulation. How could they possibly survive nine strikes with their meager stats? Every strike was double the strength of the one before.
As for the fabled Nine-Nine Heavenly Annihilation Tribulation, it was just a myth for those balance-breaking protagonists who swore to seal the heavens or something dumb like that. There was no way the heavens would unleash such ultimate cruelty upon a normal person who knows their place, even if they are super talented.
Darius and his three Branded Servants faced their tribulations and passed them easily, using the Yin Energy in the thunder to infuse into their Nascent Souls in order to perfect them. After doing so, the soul no longer looked tiny but grew significantly till it looked like a teenager.
Well, that was the case for Xela at least. Since Darius, Gunner, and Luna had non-human souls, they only grew in size and looked a little bit more aged. What was interesting was that the spiritual light in the eyes of the now Origin Souls was almost completely, but lacked a final step.
This final step was what the cultivation of the Soul Formation stage was about.
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