July 23rd marked the beginning of Kuoh Academy's first-semester final exams. Caleb had taken a small long break previously, but his foundations were solid. He passed all subjects safely, except for History.
As for History... he truly couldn't help it. The history of this chaotic world was completely different from what he remembered. It wasn't just Japan's history; World History also had significant discrepancies. However, Caleb's history knowledge was only average to begin with, so he couldn't pinpoint the exact differences.
After the summer vacation began, Caleb digested all the talents he had acquired and the results of his Dual Cultivation. Except for his practical combat experience, which remained at its former level, he had made significant progress in all other aspects.
Attribute Details
Name Caleb
Talents [Devil Bloodline (High-Tier) · Fragmented], [Physical Mastery (Beginner)], [Sword Heart (Beginner)], [Lightning Flash · Fragmented], [Insight Eye], [Mental Resistance], [Mirror Reflect], [Perception], [Spirit Affinity], [Tenacity], [Charm]
Skills [Magic Power Extraction (Beginner)], [Melee Combat (Beginner)], [Sword Zen (Beginner)], [Lightning Spear], [Fireball Spell], [Wind Blade Spell], [Earth Spike Spell]...
Overall Rating B-Rank Peak
The personal panel didn't include the final overall rating, but Caleb found that no matter how much Dual Cultivation he performed, there was no longer any increase in his stats. Puzzled, he specifically asked Rias. After a detailed inquiry and observation from Rias, he received this evaluation and learned about a more detailed hierarchy of power levels.
Mid-Tier Devils generally possessed A-rank strength, corresponding to Mid-Tier Magicians, Mid-Tier Fallen Angels, Four-Winged Angels, and Martial Sage level powerhouses.
High-Tier Devils were S-rank, corresponding to High-Tier Magicians, High-Tier Fallen Angels, Six-Winged Angels, and Martial God level powerhouses.
After that was the Ultimate-Tier Devil, SS-rank, corresponding to the Highest-Tier Fallen Angels and Eight-Winged Angels. It was more difficult for Magicians and Martial Arts experts to reach this level. Magicians needed to find the 'Source' (根源), and Martial Arts experts needed to cross into the 'Immortal Path' (仙道).
Rias did not elaborate on the 'Source' and the 'Immortal Path' because she was not entirely clear on them either. It was said that crossing this threshold would lead to a smooth journey afterward, but this threshold was thousands of times more difficult to cross than other advancement methods. In the past ten thousand years, there had been no rumors of anyone finding the 'Source' or the 'Immortal Path'.
After SS-rank was SSS-rank, also known as the Dragon King Tier. Ten-Winged Angels, Fallen Angel Cadres, and similar beings were at this level.
The Maou-Tier was above that, essentially the strongest combat power in the Three Factions, designated as EX-rank. The corresponding combat power was the Twelve-Winged Angels and the King of Fallen Angels.
Existences surpassing the Maou-Tier generally did not easily show up in the Three Factions and had no clear rating division, but under Caleb's persistent coaxing, Rias still revealed some information. Above the Maou-Tier were the Super Maou-Tier, Chief God Tier, and Sub-Dragon God Tier.
During this, Rias informed Caleb that the breakthrough of every major realm was extremely difficult. Among them, the breakthrough to A-rank and EX-rank were the most difficult, naturally excluding the 'Source' and the 'Immortal Path' from the discussion. These two methods of cultivation, which had almost become legends, were likely even harder to break through than surpassing the Maou-Tier. Conversely, once successful, one could advance smoothly all the way to the Chief God Tier, and their combat power would definitely be at the top of their rank.
The reason Caleb was stuck was that he was facing the bottleneck from B-rank to A-rank. In Rias's words, A-rank was the true start of the supernatural, where the essence of life begins to metamorphose. After reaching A-rank strength, Magic Power and other supernatural energies truly become the basis of everything. As long as one had Magic Power, they could go without food, drink, or sleep. No A-rank powerhouse was known to have starved to death or died from overwork.
At A-rank, the increase in combat power with each tier was no longer additive, but exponential. A-rank might not be enough to crush B-rank, but S-rank could easily crush B-rank. The attack of a High-Tier Devil could incinerate a small mountain. The power difference between a Low-Tier Devil and a High-Tier Devil was like that between an ant and an elephant. Because of the distinctiveness of A-rank, many people were stuck there for their entire lives. Therefore, Upper-Tier Magicians and Martial Sages were practically the peak fighting force in the human world.
Caleb was currently facing this situation. His Dual Cultivation ability could only increase the 'quantity' but could not help him achieve a qualitative change. Therefore, no matter how hard he tried with Dual Cultivation until he broke through the bottleneck, it would have no effect. A superior bloodline made breaking the bottleneck easier, but it didn't eliminate the bottleneck. Rias herself took several months to break through to A-rank, let alone Caleb, who only had a fragmented High-Tier Devil Bloodline.
Upon learning this information, Caleb was somewhat distraught. Rias and the others told him that with his magical talent, he would naturally break through after mastering Mid-Tier Magic Power Extraction... But he knew his own situation. Caleb had no magical talent whatsoever. Since he hadn't managed to extract the Mid-Tier Magic Power Extraction skill from Tsubaki Shinra, he had to try to learn it himself. But after almost a month of studying, he saw no progress. He originally thought it was just a matter of spending more time, but it now seemed that time was not the issue. With his mediocre magical aptitude, it would take at least one or two years to learn Mid-Tier Magic Power Extraction.
Caleb didn't have that much time to waste. Until he broke through to A-rank, he couldn't enjoy the Dual Cultivation ability's super-accelerated training speed. He planned to rush for Maou-Tier within a year, but now, not only was Maou-Tier questionable, but reaching A-rank within a year was also a big question mark.
On July 30th, Caleb successfully passed his history make-up exam and officially began his summer vacation. Since he couldn't break through to A-rank magically, he started focusing on martial arts and practical combat improvement. Compared to his non-existent magical talent, Caleb's talent in martial arts and practical combat was genuine and high. After acquiring Sakura Miyajima's [Sword Heart (Beginner)] talent, he quickly grasped a sliver of the true meaning of the sword, which resulted in the [Sword Zen] skill in his skill bar. Of course, this was also because Caleb's base strength was already high, saving him a lot of time honing his body and technique, leading to extremely fast entry.
According to Sakura Miyajima, Caleb's current Sword Zen was just the start. By continuing to improve, his martial arts strength would continue to grow. For a Martial Arts Master to reach the Martial Sage realm, or A-rank, they needed the unification of Essence, Qi, and Spirit. In the way of the sword, when Sword Zen reached its highest realm, it meant that the unification of Essence, Qi, and Spirit had been achieved, and the Qi within the body would naturally begin to be born, leading to the Sword Saint realm. The cultivation methods for the Master realm and Sword Zen were passed to Sakura Miyajima by Sōsuke Miyajima, and Sakura Miyajima passed them to Caleb. Since starting Dual Cultivation with Caleb, Sakura Miyajima's strength had soared and now surpassed Sōsuke Miyajima. The Miyajima family had a Sword Saint ancestor, and so Sōsuke Miyajima passed on all the ancestral insights and notes to Sakura Miyajima to avoid delaying her training. The highest realm of Sword Zen had many names, the most widely circulated being the Union of Man and God and the Nirvana Realm.
August 3rd. Caleb arrived at the Miyajima dojo as usual. Ignoring Miyuna's resentful gaze, he embraced the blushing Sakura Miyajima and entered the private training room in the back. After a session of intense Dual Cultivation, beneficial to both parties, Caleb, naked, picked up the Miyajima family's ancestral weapon—the famous sword Harusame—to perform Sword Zen. On the other side, Sakura Miyajima didn't waste any time. Although her weapon was being used by Caleb, her Sword Zen had reached the third realm, allowing her to practice without the aid of a weapon. The only downside was that the efficiency would be slightly lower. However, the abdomen full of essence was more than enough to compensate for this.
The beautiful swordswoman with an excellent physique sat next to Caleb, her purple hair spread out. Her beautiful eyes were slightly closed, the flush on her pale skin gradually receding, and her entire body radiated an aura of peace and serenity. If the girl wasn't also naked, with white fluid occasionally flowing from her inner thighs, anyone would mistake her for a dignified and pure master of the sword.
Half an hour later, Caleb opened his eyes. He looked at the girl with the harmonious aura next to him, then at the [Sword Zen (Mid-Tier)] in his skill bar, and decided to have another good Dual Cultivation session. Because he couldn't rapidly increase his Magic Power through Dual Cultivation for the moment, Caleb discovered a previously overlooked aspect. The Dual Cultivation ability not only improved physical fitness and accelerated the cultivation of supernatural power, but it also had an effect on the mental, or rather, the soul aspect. It was just that the effect was very slight compared to the other two. If the other two aspects hadn't stopped growing, Caleb wouldn't have noticed it, let alone the beautiful girls who only occasionally engaged in Dual Cultivation sessions.