Basil’s POV

Although the Mental Realm that Basil and Primrose shared was created from a perfect fusion of the two's Bloodline powers, and was the perfect environment for nurturing both the Anima and Soul. It did not allow for the cultivation of the physical body or the practicing of said Bloodline powers. This was due to it being a Mental Realm that was completely separated from the Physical.

As such Basil had devoted most of his efforts towards establishing his own path of cultivation in the Physical World.

The forest area surrounding the house that he, Gaia, Rhea, and Demeter resided in was erected in what was considered one of the holy lands of cultivation within the Realm of Olympus. 

The density of the Origin Qi and Mana in such a place had given birth to many powerful Devaum. Some of which had reached the 4th Tier after hundreds or thousands of years of painstaking cultivation and ceaseless battle among themselves. 

Others had managed to reach even the 5th Tier after struggling to survive for tens of thousands of years. 

Much fewer had managed to reached the 6th Tier after a hundred thousand years or so, countless near death experiences, and numerous moments of enlightenment.

A mere handful of creatures had managed to reach the 7th Tier after an immeasurable span of time, and not a single existence within the forest had managed to reach the 8th Tier.

This was to be expected though as even the top tier geniuses located through out The Three Realms found it basically impossible to reach the stage. Only beings who had 9th Rank Bloodlines were guaranteed to reach such a level of strength, no matter the race.

There were 12 (13- The Transcendence Stage which was a complete mystery) Stages, or Realms, of Cultivation/Evolution for each of the Four Major races and the countless Sub-Races belonging to the Deva and Humana Bloodline. These Realms were further divided into 10 phases depending on how far one had progressed in a realm. These phases could then be catoragized into low, middle, high, and peak phase, respectively denoting; 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10. 

Beyond that there also existed top-tier, specifically reserved for those that surpassed the common standards for each Realm, capable of jumping across Tiers to battle opponents without the help of outside items that weren't their own Regalia, Corona, Divine Armament, etc.

The creatures of the 5th Tier and above usually stayed away from the central region of the forest as they could sense the auras of Gaia and the others who had long since surpassed the 9th Tier. They instead choose to rule the internal and outer regions of the forest along with the resource rich mountain range surrounding it.

This gave Basil ample space to roam as he engaged 3rd and 4th Tier creatures as grinding stones to better understand the powers of his Bloodline and plan out a potential route of cultivation.

After around 15 years of battle and silent meditation he had finally settled on his future path cultivation. 

He and Primrose had decided to enter The Holy Ascension Academy in 17 cycles when it opened up to accept another group of students. 

The Academy was founded countless cycles ago by The Father, and it's current headmaster was Adam who had ascended to become a Seraphim after death. Because of this it received much support from both Humana and Angles. 

It was often referred to as, 'The Heavenly Cradle', as it was the number one learning environment throughout the entire Heavenly Realm having nurtured countless experts that had gone on to become Divine Emperors or Overlords, with an extreme minority even reaching the Origin or Paragon Realms. 

Its students and faculty came from all reaches of the Heavenly Realm and the various Sub-Realms connected to it. The Academy laid claim to one of the most resource dense locations on Paradisium (The Main Continent).

It took in new students every 20 cycles and countless people from every race would arrive to take the entrance examinations.

When they were born Primrose and Basil had just missed the previous round of examinations by 3 cycles leaving them with just under 17 cycles to prepare for the next round of examinations and travel to the ‘The Heavenly Cradle’.

Each cycle equated to roughly 20 years in the Realm of Olympus; this meant that going by rough calculations he and Primrose had around 320 more years to prepare at this point in time.

***

Basil was currently sitting on the edge of a cliff located at the peak of one of the tallest mountains in the chain encircling the forest he and the others lived in.

Not only was it one of the tallest mountains and also possessed dense amounts of Origin Qi and Mana compared to the other mountains.

The mountain's original owner was a Midnight Blood Dragon with an 8th Rank Bloodline who had reached the 7th Tier and possessed abilities comparable to some 8th Tier existences.

Such a high tier creature was obviously a force to be reckoned with and should be very defensive of its territory; attacking anything that came within a certain range of not only its nest located at the mountain peak, but the mountain in its entirety.

Yet, it showed absolutely no sense of hostility towards Basil and was conversely very welcoming to his presence.

This wasn't a reaction unique to just the Midnight Blood Dragon either. For the few years where he was fortifying his foundations he also spent time exploring the outer regions of the forest and the mountain range beyond.

As he did he realized that Deva and Devaum whose Bloodline Ranks or Cultivation had surpassed a certain Rank and Tier respectively, were very welcoming of his presence on an instinctive level.

This was a result of his Paragon(12th) Rank Bloodline.

Such a Bloodline was incredibly rare with less than ten beings have been born with such a Bloodline in Olympus since its creation.

In order for such a Bloodline to appear it must be the perfect fusion of multiple Bloodlines of at least the 9th Rank belonging to more than one of the Four Races.

Basil's Bloodline was that of the Primordial Sovereign of Creation and Destruction endowing him with Authority over two of The Three Realms' Top Grade Foundational Truths.

Power over these two elements could otherwise only be achieved when Deva and Devaum reached the 11th phase of their Cultivation, the Origin realm; thus allowing them to truly create something from nothing, or completely erase something from existence. 

His Authority over these two things also endowed him Authority over a few other Foundational Truths and countless Profound Laws that were inextricably inked to Creation and Destruction.

As he continued to cultivate his Divinity, although he had yet to reach the 3rd Tier he had begun to emit an pseudo Divine Might that possessed a nurturing affect for creatures below a certain Cultivation Realm and Bloodline Rank due to his own Bloodline.

Divine Might was a type of aura released by Deva and Devaum that they gained after having successfully reached the 3rd Tier. It was the manifestation of their Anima's strength and could be used to pressure their enemies. It also carried some of the power of their Authority and Bloodline.

As Basil continued to stare into the sunset the Midnight Blood Dragon came over to his side and curled up on the ground beside him.

It had midnight blue scales and a pair of crimson red horns that released a gem-like luster. Its eyes were a violet red color and possessed an overwhelming sense of clarity.

A fire pit burning with golden colored sacrificial flames burned behind him, bringing the two an obvious sense of warmth.

Burning in the center of the flame was the head of a Peak phase 4th Tier Golden-Winged Thunder Panther. 

Basil had fought it before ascending the mountain and sacrificed its head to Hestia before he and the Midnight Blood Dragon cooked and ate the rest of its corpse for dinner.

Basil of course was responsible for all the prep of the corpse before cooking it including; skinning the body, defeathering the wings, and dividing and seasoning the body with some nearby herbs that could qualify as Divine Materials.

Now as they relaxed under the rays of the setting sun, Basil spoke up, "I believe I have made enough preparations to breakthrough to the 3rd Tier tomorrow. Also if my calculations are correct Hestia should be arriving on Vulcan tomorrow morning. Such a coincidence could be considered something of an inauspicious sign. But it could also be construed as being very auspicious. In conclusion, the next fee days ate likely to have the ability to make or break my future prospects."

He took a pause as he stared into the horizon and his eyes released a determined light before he continued to speak, "Be that as it may, nothing shall serve to sway my determination."

***

Basil stayed over night on the mountain peak as he prepared to make his breakthrough to the 3rd Tier the following day.

When the sun arose Basil was already sitting in a meditative pose to optimize the flow of Divinity and Lavithium within his body, as well as the state of his Soul and Anima.

The cultivation path he had settled on involved core aspects of not only Angel and Deva cultivation paths, but also the Soul and Anima Cultivation of Humana whose physical bodies had perished. It also included some aspects of the Worldguard cultivation system.

Worldguards were powerful beings who perished under rather specific circumstances and had their Souls and Anima taken in by the Heavenly Will which gave them new, Soul based bodies.

After their Rebirth they would cultivate World Essence, which was a lower form of Primal Source Energy, which only God had been able to Cultivate and control in its purest form. The soul and Anima of anyone else that even tried to absorb Primal Source Energy would typically burn away in mere moments.

Worldguards would absorb Essence Energy into their bodies in an effort to further strengthen their Souls and Anima while furthering their understanding of the Heavenly Will and developing World Seals. Each Tier was represented by the number of World Seals they had crafted.

The cultivation path he had outlined for himself required him to absorb Essence Energy similarly to Worldguards, but unlike Worldguards he would fuse it with his Ruhk. This would further purify and strengthen both his Ruhks and the Internal World they linked to.

He would also cultivate Lavithium which was a fusion of both Holy Attribute Mana, (which in itself was an evolved form of Light attribute Mana), and the concept of an Angel's ability to sanction the abilities of the other Races. ¹ Similarly to Worldguards; Angels were Soul based beings whose Soul had taken on physical form with their Anima serving as the core. They cultivated Lavithium to continuously purify and strengthen their Souls, thereby ascending to higher Tiers. The pair of wings they possessed was one of several physical indicators representing what Tier they had reached.

But he had decided that instead of using Lavithium solely in the effort of purifying his soul/body, he would also use it to refine his Internal World. This would both strengthen his own Authority and give his Internal World a suppressive affect that would limit the abilities his opponents would be capable of using. 

This being a method adopted from the Humana's use of Mana to strengthen their Soul so that they could thereby enhance their Domains and the control they could exert over the surrounding World.

***

Basil's Internal World was currently empty aside from a seemingly endless sea of Divinity.

The Divinity possessed a golden-black color that gave off a unique feeling of both creation and destruction. It was as if a new world was about to be born from the destruction of the one before it.

At that moment the sky made of darkness parted briefly as Basil's Anima descended upon his Internal World.

Basil stretched out his hands to either side and the previously seen pair of gold and black dual swords appeared within his hands.

The 3rd Tier consisted of refining one's Anima and was usually the stage where one would begin the refinement of their, Divine Armament, Regalia/Corona, World Armament, or Corrupt Armament depending on what Bloodline System they belonged to.

But as a Celestial Fae his Divine Armaments had been naturally gestated along with him and existed as an extension of his Anima, similarly to his Soul.

Since this was the case he could refrain from tempering his two blades with his Divinity and focus on his Anima. But like other Celestial Fae he chose to refine them anyway in order to lay a better foundation for their future growth.

He released them from his grasp and they began to circle in the air around him releasing a silent pressure that caused the air to still.

His will then swept outwards and the surface of the ocean below him began to move. It quickly formed a giant hurricane connecting the ocean of Divinity bellow to the black sky above.

The Divinity then began to rush into him as it continuously refined his Anima through a process of creation and destruction, bringing him no small amount of pain; yet his will remained firm and he moved his mind to channel the Divinity into the two swords as well.

As they absorbed the seemingly endless streams of Divinity, the swords began to emit gold and black flames corresponding to their color.

The process had continued on for a few hours when suddenly an explosion sounded out and a shockwave rippled outwards ripping apart the hurricane.

He was standing in the same spot yet his eyes now emitted a black-gold light and he gave off a genuine sense of Divine Might.

After hours of continuous refinement he had finally managed to push his Anima to the next level and broke through to the 3rd Tier - Divine Refinement.

The two swords hovering at his sides now released brighter glows than before and gave off sharper auras.

He grasped the swords in his hands and took another glance at the ocean of Divinity beneath him before departing his Internal World.