Chapter 382
Ra’thala couldn't help but look to where Ascender Shadow, Allie, had vanished. He and Ascender Titan, Matt, were dozens, if not hundreds of planets away at the Ascender’s own fiefdom and traveling to his guild, but none of that was at the front of his mind.
Like a specter of the night that sought to take his life, the information he had spent his last few days learning refused to reconcile itself with everything he thought he knew.
Hearing Ascenders were the strongest people of their Tier in this Realm was one thing, but learning that to earn that title they needed to reach Tier 25 in less than two hundred of their years was beyond shocking. Their years weren’t exactly the same length— his Realm didn’t have standardized years across planets— but they were easy to convert. Once he had done the conversion, he realized these people had gone from unawakened mortals to the peak of his Realm in less than a Divines’ lifespan.
And they did it with minimal help.
Sure, they had some support and trainers, but that didn’t change the fact that they earned their power by entering Monster Dens and killing the monsters inside, instead of just killing the spill off that escaped from full rifts.
Their cultivation was different; certainly that could account for some of their speed, as they weren't limited by the ambient essence and others cultivating near them. But the fact remained they had effectively raced through his entire former Realm in a little longer than an early Divines’— a Tier 5’s— total lifespan.
It had taken Ra’thala almost an entire day to actually believe that, and even then, he had needed to go over the insurmountable amount of media surrounding each Ascender’s Ascension before it really sank in.
It was only after he truly understood what made one an Ascender that he could appreciate his new acquaintances and Yun Me, who had reached their level through grit and effort.
Even Susanne, who acted like Ascender was a nigh impossible goal, had only failed at the final hurdle, and from the media reports, could have completed The Path of Ascension if she had been just a dozen years faster.