Strongest Hammer God

Chapter 883 - Refinements

ʼFinally, I can focus on the Major Laws of Aspects. Iʼve been stuck with the Level Two Laws forever. Would be amazing if I could upgrade them. Although I would also need to infuse my Essences again if I want to have a proper improvement.ʼ

The Wisdom Fire Realm was a big one since it unlocked so many things.

Teleportation.

Dimensional descent.

New Laws of Aspects.

Primary Worlds.

An insane increase in power.

Kyle remembered the first Sage he had properly talked to, which had been Wolfmistress. However, compared to him, she hadnʼt been a True Sage. Yet, even a False or Failed Sage had been so much more powerful than him back then.

Wolfmistress had owned an entire Planet with a Law Well, which had been unimaginable to Kyle back then. Now, this didnʼt seem special anymore. After all, Kyle had owned a bunch of Planets already.

In the Supreme World, there was also a big divide between people below and above the Wisdom Fire Realm. In order to become a Lower Primary Organization, an Organization needed at least one True Sage and at least a couple of False Sages.

Sages had a considerable amount of power in the Main Dimension. Very often, they led Lower Primary or Higher Secondary Organizations. These were Organizations that owned several Planet Systems, if not entire Domains. Of course, most of them still answered to more powerful Organizations, but they were still powerful themselves.

As a Sage, Kyle could also travel across the Supreme World without needing to use Teleportation Formation Arrays. Sure, if he wanted to get from one end to another, he would still need to travel for thousands of years, but he was no longer limited to just a couple of Planets.

He had entered the Supreme World as a Transcendent. In the Supreme World, Transcendents were basically considered new Seekers. Now, he was a Sage, someone who actually had power. It was normal for a Domain to only have a single Sage.

Kyle closed his eyes and focused on his mind. At this moment, he felt an almost unnoticeable headache. He needed to use all of his focus to sense it since the searing pain of the Sin Flames overshadowed it so tremendously.

ʼIʼve heard that the Wisdom Fire Realm is the most miserable Realm out of all of them. Itʼs just a brutal slog of pain and more pain.ʼ

Kyle also focused on his Sin Flames next. ʼIʼve gotten used to them by now. Still sucks that theyʼre present, but I can live with them. From what Iʼve heard, the pain of the Sin Flames is about as bad as the Fifth Refinement. A Fifth Refinement Sage is also considered a Fulfilled Sage. So, until Iʼm a Fulfilled Sage, the pain shouldnʼt be an issue.ʼ

As the name suggested, the Wisdom Fire Realm was all about strengthening oneʼs mind via purification. The ability to focus was one of the biggest when it came to succeeding in a mentally strenuous task.

Back on Earth, there were games or disciplines in sports that were often bottlenecked by oneʼs ability to focus. Speed chess, real-time strategy games, and similar games required the player to maintain a high level of focus without breaks, and the more they could focus, the more they could optimize their strategy, increasing their chances of winning. Very often, these players could only retain their peak performance for less than an hour. For the remaining time, they were still very competent, but they would not be as good anymore.

The Wisdom Fire Realm aimed to improve oneʼs focus and mental resilience. Fiery pain would shoot through a Sageʼs head during Refinement, and if they lacked any of these two things, they would fail the Refinement.

It was important to note that Refinements couldnʼt be paused. If someone stopped in the middle of one, they would need to start from the beginning again.

In the beginning, this wouldnʼt be a huge setback. A Sage received an additional 40,000 years of longevity, and the first couple of Refinements didnʼt need a lot of time to complete.

When a Crusher became a Sage, they became First Refinement Sages, who were also called New Sages. They were called as such because they had technically already gone through a Refinement while they had been advancing. In short, the First Refinement was simply becoming a New Sage. Naturally, Kyle had already finished his First Refinement and was now a New Sage, or First Refinement Sage.

A Sage could start their next Refinement whenever they wanted. There were no prerequisites they needed to fulfill.

They didnʼt need a certain amount of Energy. They didnʼt need certain Laws. They didnʼt need a certain level of Momentum. They could simply start their Refinement whenever they wanted, and they could also restart a Refinement however many times they wanted. The only thing one would lose upon failing a Refinement was time.

Focus and mental resilience were imperative in the Wisdom Fire Realm. In the early Refinements, oneʼs focus would not be as important. Mental resilience was much more important in the early Refinements. However, oneʼs focus would become much more important later.

The Second Refinement, which was actually the first Refinement, only needed 100 years. As long as one could withstand the pain for a hundred years, one could advance a level and become a Second Refinement Sage, a Minor Sage. Most people became Minor Sages on their first attempt. They just needed to find a quiet place and focus on their Refinement.

The Third Refinement needed 300 years and was quite a bit more painful. Half of the Sages failed during their first attempt, but after a couple more tries, most of them would succeed and become Major Sages.

The Fourth Refinement was the first one in which focus started to become relevant. It needed an entire millennium and hurt a lot. A thousand years was a good chunk of time. Even though Sages could live for an additional 40,000 years, a thousand years still represented 2.5% of their longevity. For a regular Mortal, this equated to two entire years.

Of course, with enough mental resilience, the Sage would succeed, but without enough focus...

They wouldʼve just sat around for a thousand years.

This was a thousand years without comprehending Laws, managing an Organization, increasing oneʼs Momentum, refining an External Complex Law, or accumulating resources. With enough focus, a Sage could keep doing other things during their Refinement.

The Fourth Refinement was a big hurdle. Barely 10% of Sages could pass it for multiple reasons. Sometimes, they failed due to things not in their control. A lot of things could happen in a thousand years. For example, their Organization might have weakened significantly during their absence, and an enemy was suddenly threatening to destroy it. Maybe a beast found them.

However, if they managed to get past it, they would become an Advanced Sage, and as an Advanced Sage, they had earned the right to advance and become a Spirit Lord.

Yet, for the truly talented Seekers, this was not the end.

The Fifth Refinement needed 2,500 years and hurt as much as Sin Flames. Committing so much time to a Refinement was also risky and costly. The Fifth Refinement was when the number of deaths increased drastically. Getting through a thousand years of torturous pain just to realize that one wasnʼt strong enough was too much for many Sages.

Many of them tried to force it and go all-in, which would lead to a significantly weakened, dire, and dark mental state.

There were only three ways one could die during a Refinement.

One, swearing on oneʼs life to succeed and failing.

Two, sudden collapse of oneʼs mind. This was very rare, though.

Yet, the most common one was number three...

Suicide.

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