14: Chapter 14 The Quality of Believers

The two questions had been explained, and Teacher Tong Qian waved her hand to disperse the projection, seemingly intending to provide a summary and bring this lesson to a close.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao was far from willing. Just a moment ago, four branches had appeared on the projection, and only the "Foundation Accumulation" had been covered. What about the other three?

Before she could speak, he quickly stood up with an apologetic smile on his face.

"Since we've reached this point, Teacher, why not just explain the remaining three as well? It would save having to cover them separately later."

Teacher Tong Qian shook her head with a faint smile, and the projection reappeared, this time displaying "Origin Expansion."

"You have a point. Since that's the case, I might as well explain the rest to you now. It will save me from having to teach it again later."

Her subtext was clear: this was for him, and she wouldn't be teaching it to other students later—this was a private lesson.

Lin Xiao bowed slightly once more.

"Thank you for your hard work, Teacher. If I achieve anything in the future, I will certainly not forget the grace of your instruction today."

Nodding with satisfaction, this was exactly the response Teacher Tong Qian wanted.

"Before we continue, I want to ask you a question. Believers are divided into First Tier, Second Tier, Third Tier, and the post-breakthrough Qi Refining, which is the Spirit Rank.

Therefore, logically speaking, Believers of the same tier should have no differences when using the same moves, cultivation methods, or combat techniques.

So, the question arises: how do we distinguish between Ordinary, Elite, Genius, and even Prodigy-level?"

This question left all three of them stunned, and even Lin Xiao didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Teacher Tong Qian didn't give them much time to think and immediately began calling on them.

"Wang Tao, you answer this question. Don't worry, just speak according to your own understanding."

Wang Tao smiled bitterly to himself. Why was it him again? After thinking for a while, he frowned and answered in an uncertain tone.

"The level of comprehension of cultivation methods, perhaps? Take the Believers' combined attack formations as an example; the deeper the understanding of the formation, the greater the power."

Teacher Tong Qian shook her head slightly, signaling him to sit down.

"That's very one-sided. Comprehension of cultivation methods is really nothing special. As long as enough time passes, Believers will eventually be able to fully comprehend a formation.

If we only looked at that, there would be no need for those higher academies to recruit students from other departments. Why not just recruit only from the Mechanical Department? Wouldn't the power be even greater?

No matter how deep your formation comprehension is, can it compare to mechanical creations? Their information processing can reach the sub-second level; what formation could they not comprehend?"

Uh... Faced with this rhetorical question, none of the three could explain, as the Mechanical Department was renowned for its precision.

Teacher Tong Qian clearly had no intention of making things difficult for them; she had thrown out this question simply to introduce her teaching topic.

"To give you an intuitive understanding, let's use an Ordinary Believer who hasn't yet increased their tier as a reference unit.

In a scenario where neither side uses weapons or equipment, a First Tier Believer can slaughter a hundred Ordinary Believers and retreat unscathed from an encirclement of a thousand.

If both sides fight to the death without retreating, a First Tier Believer can take down all one thousand Ordinary Believers before exhausting their strength.

To encircle and kill such a First Tier Believer, it would require a thousand Ordinary Believers who have mastered formations to pay the price of half their number in sacrifices.

This is the standard for an ordinary First Tier Believer, also jokingly referred to by gods as: 'One Against a Thousand.'

The words 'One Against a Thousand' appeared on the projection, with 'First Tier' displayed behind it, and 'Ordinary' noted in parentheses.

After listening to the teacher's explanation, the three of them had an intuitive understanding of the strength of a First Tier Believer and revealed expressions of envy.

One against a thousand! No wonder the teachers always emphasized that Believers should focus on quality rather than quantity.

"Now that you understand the standard for an ordinary First Tier Believer, I want to tell you about Elite-level First Tier Believers.

Facing a thousand Ordinary Believers who have mastered formations, they can wipe out the entire thousand-man squad without sustaining any injuries.

A Genius-level First Tier Believer can slaughter ten thousand Ordinary Believers alone. Facing a massive formation of ten thousand, they can still take down half of them.

As for Prodigy-level Believers? Their standard is very simple: they can be called Prodigy-level Believers if they can kill a Third Tier Believer one-on-one."

What the hell?? Did the teacher misspeak? A First Tier killing a Third Tier Believer one-on-one? Is this still First Tier? Isn't it said that the higher the tier, the greater the gap in strength?

Wang Tao and Su Xue felt their worldviews were being overturned once again. What was going on with this Divine Realm? Why was it different from what they understood?

Compared to the confusion of his two subordinates, Lin Xiao was filled with excitement. He quickly formed his own understanding of this classification of Believers.

Ordinary Believers equal White-tier cannon fodder units.

Elite Believers equal Blue-tier elite units.

Genius Believers equal Purple-tier epic units.

Prodigy-level Believers equal Golden-tier legendary units.

What more was there to say? His own units must be Golden-tier legendary! Even epic-tier units would be a downgrade!

"Since you've said so, Teacher, and there is a clear classification, I presume this 'Prodigy-level Believer' has something to do with these three pieces of knowledge?"

Teacher Tong Qian nodded upon hearing this, and the text on the projection changed again. A note appeared after "Origin Expansion": "The accumulation and expansion of the Dantian."

"We previously discussed the principle of Believer strength enhancement, which is the absorption and conversion of energy. This converted energy is stored in the Believer's lower Dantian.

You can think of this Dantian as the energy core of a mechanical creation, and it will be easier to understand. As strength increases, the amount of energy a Believer can store in their Dantian increases.

This energy can not only be used to maintain daily consumption—as long as they have energy, Believers can go days without eating or drinking and be fine.

Besides that, energy can also be used for attacking enemies, defense, healing, and so on.

The amount of energy a Dantian can hold represents the strength your Believer can exert; this shouldn't be hard for you to understand."

The three of them nodded. At this moment, energy cannons and similar weapons of mechanical creations appeared in Wang Tao and Su Xue's minds.

"Let's continue using the Ordinary First Tier Believer as an example. Suppose their Dantian is like a cup; when they promote to Second Tier, the cup expands.

It becomes a large bowl, and then when they reach Third Tier, their Dantian expands again and becomes a bucket.

The water in these containers is what we call energy. Different containers have an upper limit to the water they can hold.

An Elite Believer at the First Tier might have a Dantian container that is a large bowl, and a Genius-level Believer's Dantian capacity might be a bucket.

And a Prodigy-level Believer's Dantian might be a huge water vat. Now, I think you should be able to understand why a First Tier Prodigy-level Believer can kill a Third Tier Ordinary Believer one-on-one."

After listening to the teacher's intuitive and vivid analogy, Wang Tao and Su Xue felt numb all over.

If they were also transmigrators, a sentence would appear in their minds right now: "Is this playable without a nerf??"

First Tier comparable to Third Tier Believers! What would happen if they reached the Third Tier? Killing Spirit Rank with a Mortal Tier?

They dared not even imagine such a scene. That was the Spirit Rank! It represented the existence of a Demigod level, yet it might be killed by a Divine Being?

Who is the real Demigod here? If this is true, is there any point in striving to break through? Wouldn't killing a Demigod be as simple as eating and drinking for a Prodigy-level Believer?

What is this? A God-level Divine Being??