Chapter 262 – Greater spring

“But, if that’s the case, shouldn’t these beast gods have dominated the universe already? How can the rest of us compete with creatures that advance so fast?” the same boy from before jumped in again.

The teacher shook her head this time.

“I can see why you’d think that, but it’s not as simple. Despite the relative abundance of resources on their planet and the various techniques they’ve invented to manage their hunger, they can’t just allow everybody to advance past a certain grade. If they did that, they’d wipe their world clean in no time.”

“Can’t they steal resources from other worlds?” a girl asked.

“Believe me, they’ve tried.” Mrs. Lia smiled. “But that’s not as straightforward as you might think. First, gods can’t easily step foot on foreign worlds, for reasons that I won’t get into right now. Of course, that’s not an insurmountable problem for a peak faction like Sixiang. More importantly, the other factions wouldn’t just sit back with their arms crossed as the beast gods conquered the universe.”

“So, they’ve been defeated?” somebody else asked.

“Yes and no.” the teacher replied, before elaborating. “Obviously, they weren’t allowed to freely expand to their heart’s content. Despite that, they’ve still colonized multiple new planets and remain one of the most powerful factions in the universe to this day. In fact, the legends they have spawned permeate nearly every culture. Even here on Felmara, you’ve all heard of them.”

She paused for a moment, appreciating the sight as many students’ faces lit up in realization. Percy, too, had some idea of what she was talking about, having grown up on similar stories back home.

“Yes, they are not mere myths – I assure you they’re as real as you and I. The azure dragons, the vermillion phoenixes, the white tigers and the black tortoises – collectively known as the divine beasts.”

More chatter broke out, Mrs. Lia giving the students a chance to process the revelation. It wasn’t until a minute later that she looked ready to move on, though another student raised his hand, cutting her short.

“Ok. Last question I’ll answer on this since we’ve already strayed quite off-topic.” she warned, nodding at him to speak.

“What makes sapient life-forms so different from beasts? Don’t we all descend from them in the first place?”

The teacher sighed.

“Another excellent question. It’s true that intelligence doesn’t just pop out of thin air. All the sapient races in the universe started off as beasts. Over countless generations, we grew smarter, gradually shedding our beast affinity in favour of other elements. Some scholars consider this a downgrade, from a superior affinity to lesser ones. And, strictly speaking, they aren’t wrong. At least when it comes to worlds without an alternative means of advancement.”

She paused for a moment to let her words sink in.

“However, this is an inevitable consequence of natural selection. Getting rid of our insatiable hunger is what allowed us to thrive. Plus, the path to godhood is infinitely smoother for us, as evident by the discrepancy between gods and divine beasts in the universe.”

‘What does this all mean for Micky?’ Percy wondered.

Originally, he’d hoped his familiar stood a better chance of reaching godhood than him. Even as a Red-born, his promotions were supposed to scale a lot better. Sure, dealing with his growing hunger would be an issue, but not necessarily an insurmountable one.

Yet, the things Mrs. Lia had shared didn’t bode well. Micky’s first core might surpass White within his lifetime, but he’d be hard pressed to master a concept with it. As for his second core, it was stuck in the same slog as Percy’s…

‘Actually, how do the Moirais even become gods? Do they need to master two concepts at the same time, or can they be gods with just one core? And is it even possible for Micky to reach godhood as a familiar? Or maybe, he needs me to do it first?’

Suffice to say, Percy had way too many questions – most of them impossible to answer anytime soon. In the end, he decided to put them aside, his focus returning to the lecture.

“Alright. Now that’s all behind us, let’s discuss the things I actually had planned for today.” Mrs. Lia chuckled. “As Miss Eryn mentioned earlier, planets with life are further divided into a couple categories. We’ve already talked about those without sapients, but even those with them can be split into one of three types, based on their access to advancement resources: Barren worlds, lesser springs, and greater springs. I trust that barren worlds are self-explanatory, but can any of you tell me the difference between the other two?”

Nobody raised their hands.

“I’ll give you a hint.” she said. “Felmara is a lesser spring. Greater spring is essentially a synonym for the peak factions in the universe.”

This time, a few people reluctantly raised their hands. Mrs. Lia gestured at a boy close to her to speak.

“Does this have to do with the amount of advancement resources a world produces?”

“Not exactly.” the teacher shook her head. “It’s not so much a question of quantity, as it is one of quality. Lesser springs only possess the means for Green-borns to attain divinity. Any world that allows for Yellow-borns or below to do so is considered a greater spring. The reason for that is simple. Although the exact ratios vary slightly from one place to another, Green-borns are generally several orders of magnitude rarer than the rest.”

Percy nodded along, the information pretty much in line with his understanding. The reason the Divine Order wanted to get their hands on the Aurora Dew was precisely because it held the potential to elevate Remior to a greater spring.

“Ma’am, what about worlds where Orange-borns can do it? Is there a different term for that?” somebody asked.

“No.” Mrs. Lia said. “First of all, the number of places where that is possible can be counted on one hand. The Moirais and Sixiang are famously among them. But the difference isn’t actually that big.”

Seeing the students were still confused, she tried to explain herself better.

“Let me put it this way. On Felmara – as in most places – Green-borns are around a thousand times less common than Yellow-borns. If we somehow became a greater spring tomorrow, we could produce hundreds of times as many gods and, by extension, several titans. On the other hand, Yellow-borns are only three times less common than Orange-borns, so the benefit of going a step farther wouldn’t be nearly as steep. Sure, it would help, but it wouldn’t revolutionize our world in the same way.”

This time, some commotion ensued, the teacher’s words generating some excitement among the students.

“Mrs. Lia, how exactly can a world turn into a greater spring?” somebody asked. “Is it something that might happen in our lifetime?”

Percy noticed the guy was a Yellow-born. Clearly somebody who had a vested interest in the answer, as it would determine whether he stood a chance of ever shedding his own mortal coil.

Yet, before the teacher even had the chance to answer, another student jumped in, this time a Red-born.

“What about Red-borns? Can we also do it?”

The others immediately gave that person disapproving looks. And, well… Percy didn’t exactly blame them. Even though he technically belonged in the same camp, Felmara wasn’t even a greater spring yet. Wasn’t this guy getting ahead of himself?

But Mrs. Lia didn’t seem annoyed by the question.

“Now, now… I’ll answer everyone, just not all at once.” she chuckled, turning to the first student. “The way to become a greater spring isn’t set in stone. The problem comes from our limited lifespans and slow advancement speed. Naturally, there are multiple ways to solve it. The most common ones involve some way of extending one’s life or boosting the efficacy of cultivation resources. It’s not necessarily impossible for us to discover either at some point, but these things typically take millennia, not decades I’m afraid…”

The kids’ faces noticeably drooped in disappointment, but she wasn’t done.

“Then there are some outliers who have achieved their status in more unique ways. Sixiang and the Moirais are – once again – perfect examples of that. Even so, most approaches yield modest results. For example, the Moirais would have only been able to let their Yellow-borns past the threshold had they relied solely on their twin cores. It’s only thanks to some additional means that they’ve pushed the boundary to include Orange-borns.”

Next, she turned to the Red-born student.

“I hate dashing people’s hopes. Truth be told, the universe is a huge place, and I don’t think anybody – from the lowest mortal to the strongest titan – can say with certainty what is or isn’t possible. Still, no Red-born has ever reached godhood as far as we know…”

The words hit all the Red-borns in the room like a hammer – Percy included. This was the same thing Metatron had told him. But something else had also caught his attention.

‘So, there are a few factions that can turn their Orange-borns into gods… Then, why did Svarog fail to help his family? Did he not have access to those means at the time?’

Percy had no idea how long ago the rogue titan had lived. Perhaps, the Moirais hadn’t even created their own Decree yet at the time. Or maybe he’d just failed to seize whatever resources he might have needed.

Either way, the way forward was a little clearer.

“Mrs. Lia… How many greater springs are there in the universe?” he asked, drawing everyone’s attention.

“888.” she replied. “Well, there are 889 peak factions if we include the Vault of Magic, but that’s technically not a greater spring. It’s an artificial world that several peak factions have repeatedly tried – and failed – to capture. It’s only placed on the list due to its potential – the dizzying speed by which it has been expanding, the dozens of gods they’ve recruited from all over the universe, and their accumulation of precious resources. Oh… and keep in mind that the actual number might exceed the reported one. I wouldn’t be surprised if several factions keep their cards close to themselves…”

Her words shocked Percy once again. Apparently, the number of factions that could elevate Yellow-borns into gods were merely in the triple digits!

‘And I didn’t know Metatron was that big a deal either…’

Evidently, his concerns about cooperating with him were warranted. The titan might truly become unstoppable if he got his tentacles on the wrong spell.

But most importantly, he now had a clearer path forward. 888 greater springs. Visiting any one of them could bring him a step closer to his goal. Of course, it was entirely possible that most of their approaches overlapped, otherwise Metatron would have felt a lot more confident about Percy’s chances.

In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if more than half the factions on the list had achieved their status thanks to the cyan powder. After all, it was by far the simplest approach, hiding right under everyone’s noses. Which meant that the true treasure troves were even fewer.

‘It doesn’t matter. I’ll search through them one by one if I have to. Even if that’s not enough to go all the way, it should buy me time to come up with something else.’