"Realm jump? You mean we have to go to another world?" "Yes and for that you have to become a lot stronger. If a measly level 100 stepped out of their world, they would be swatted like a mosquito in no time." Liam chuckled. "That divine bitch clearly planned to make you stronger first and take you to new heights before pushing you into the depths of the abyss, so let's use her plan and her groundwork." "We have all of this nether around us. It would be a waste to miss out on them considering you have such a high affinity. Let's use that and train some new skills." "In the meantime, your main task would be to improve your mana core. You cannot rely on nether too much at the moment as you have already taken the first step in your mana cultivation and your body is also more suited for mana cultivation." "So for now you have to focus on improving your physical body and your mana core. Only this can buy you some time until you are ready for the Limit Breaker fruit." The draconian princess paused and contemplated various things before giving Liam a thorough explanation of what needed to be done and what shouldn't be done. Liam silently listened and made a note of everything. Despite the gravity of the situation, he couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement well up inside him. It was more than clear to him that the stage he was going to be fighting from now on was going to be a completely different one. The rules had changed, and the game was now about to be more cutthroat than ever before. Liam clenched his fists. He was ready for it. He reached for the spatial artifact and took out the Ison King's mana core from within it. "I have this with me." He showed it to the draconian princess. "I take it to increase the strength of my mana core, I have to absorb more mana?" The draconian princess shook her head. "Yes and no." "Look here, brat. Let me teach you some of the very fundamental basics of mana core formation. There is no way someone like you has this knowledge and trying to cultivate mana without knowing anything about this is simply a waste of time." Liam's face twitched as he heard the woman address him time and again as a brat, but he was in agreement with the rest of her words. So he did not say anything and continued listening. "The first step in mana cultivation is called awakening. In this, a living being is awakened to mana and is now either able to sense the presence of mana in the surroundings or not." "This is dependent on that person's natural talent, bloodline, and so on. Of course, this is not something set in stone and can be changed using several methods." "The next step is to use your newly awakened senses to gather and collect the mana around you into your body." "There are a lot of ways to do this and also a lot of secret methods wherein the mana can be incorporated into your blood, bones, and so on." "The next stage is to flood your body completely with mana and condense it all to form a mana core." "This process is extremely troublesome and once again there are a lot of methods to do it. The strength of the mana core formed is dependent on the efficiency of the said method." "You have obviously crossed these three stages, so there is no need to discuss them right now. We cannot change the past. The only thing you can do is to focus on the next step, which is to refine and expand your mana core." Liam nodded, listening intently. This was something he already knew but what he did not know was the best method to do it. But unexpectedly… "This step is rather simple. There is not really a right or wrong way to do this step." The draconian princess said. "Gather and absorb as much mana as you possibly can until you feel that your mana core is ready to burst and explode." "That's about it. However…" "?" "The source of the mana is important!" The draconian princess grinned. "You have the right idea in using mana cores for cultivation because if one relied on the atmospheric mana it would take decades to just progress to the next step." "But at the same time, the quality of the mana core also matters. If you use a shitty Ison mana core to expand your mana pool, then it won't matter if you have attained saturation or not, you will spend all eternity refining it." "Isons are trash. Their high evolution speed makes everything about them half-assed. Their bodies are plagued with impurities." "Their mana core is also the same. Heck, even their soul strength is trash. Do you understand? So throw that mana core or better exchange it in the magic shop for something else." "Then which mana core do you suggest that I use?" Liam clicked his tongue. "There are not many options available for me, you know. Our world has only barely started to evolve. So I probably have the highest level here." "Heh? Do you really think that? How arrogant!" The dragon lady chuckled. "Didn't I say before? When a world is bequeathed with mana, new treasures are born." "Along with them, world guardians are also born. In a way, these guardians are also a sort of treasure. For the mana cores that you need, we will be hunting these guardians one after the other." "Oh?" Liam had no idea about these things. In his last life, he was barely trying to survive so how could he possibly know something like this? Treasures? Guardians? "So this is why we are getting invaded…" Liam mumbled to himself. "Yes, your world is currently naked. Just like how every man wants to ride a naked woman, everyone wants to take advantage of your world's current situation." Liam cringed at the explanation but seeing that the other party was seriously talking, he remained silent. "When your world fully evolves, the will of your world will be able to erect a strong barrier that cannot be crossed by the likes of these lower realm trash." "So unless a mid-realm being takes interest in your world, which doesn't happen often, you should be safe enough and the invasions will also stop." "How do you think these idiots are casually raiding your world?" "It's because their own worlds have completed evolving and are now safe and secure. They have nothing to worry about in the matter of defense. Hence they are going all out on offense." Liam nodded as he silently contemplated everything that he had heard. He now understood many things. While he did not know if this newfound collaboration was going to bring any good results, he was happy that at least he was able to get some understanding of what was happening. While he silently mulled over the memories from the past and the present to make sense of everything, the draconian princess continued talking. "Of course, there are ways to hasten the progress of the evolution of a world but that method is a pain in the ass. Finding that damned seed is a chore and even if we find it, we will become a target the moment that seed is in our hands." "Anything and everything in this world will start chasing us and hunting us relentlessly. Even the guardians will not let us be. Bah! It's really not worth it!" The draconian princess grumbled, letting out an exasperated sigh. She then looked at Liam to ask him where he wanted to start hunting first but unexpectedly she found him staring at her with a weird expression. "Huh? What happened now?" She was confused. Liam gulped. "Are you by chance talking about the world seed?"