96: Bottleneck rule theory

Oakes had a reason for asking such a question.

This touched upon a rule of the Wizard World.

In the modern Wizard World, after tens of thousands of years of elemental recovery and development, the elemental concentration is still less than one-tenth of its peak, and the resources it nurtures are less than one-hundredth of its peak.

However, the scale of the Wizarding World at this time, especially the proportion of high-level wizards, is far less than one ten-thousandth of the Ancient Wizards era.

Aside from resource scarcity, insufficient elemental concentration, and partial disruption of wizard civilization, there was another crucial influencing factor—the bottleneck.

According to the experience accumulated by senior wizards over thousands of years, there is a widely accepted theory, tested over a long period and countless undeniable facts, which all wizards agree upon.

That is—the bottleneck rule theory. What is the bottleneck rule theory?

It is said that in ancient times, wizards, using various forms of wisdom, developed countless tools and potions to aid cultivation.

Ancient Wizards, as long as they maintained their sanity, could advance by leaps and bounds with the accumulation of countless resources.

Ancient Wizards, either specializing in the advanced Meditation Technique of Elemental Wizard, continuously consumed potions; once their Spiritual Power reached the required amount, they could immediately break through without any major bottleneck.

Even if there were obstacles in terms of physical body or Spiritual Power purity, with the wisdom of Ancient Wizards, they could quickly find targeted solutions, drinking one or two tubes of potions to achieve rapid breakthroughs.

Ancient Wizards also refined the bloodline development of Bloodline Wizard, utilizing the powerful creature bloodlines from various other worlds, extracting and applying them to themselves.

Bloodline Wizard had one characteristic:

As long as they hadn't reached the limit of the bloodline source and their own bloodline purity, there were no bottlenecks, and their cultivation speed was incredibly fast.

Ancient Wizards also followed the path of war wizards, constantly plundering resources from other worlds, offering precious treasures to the origin of the Wizard World, directly receiving enlightenment, and their cultivation would soar.

As long as they were lucky enough to acquire a few powerful treasures, it was no problem for their cultivation to break through an entire stage.

But that was the ancient era.

That glorious and brilliant era has ended.

Those Ancient Wizards who resorted to unscrupulous means to plunder and wage wars for self-improvement, power, and eternal life, faced a harsh reckoning after their expansion.

Yes.

The Ancient Wizards were blinded by rapidly increasing power, became arrogant, and provoked an insurmountable enemy.

The Wizard World also declined from its peak, entering a long recovery period to lick its wounds.

It is said that the last three great 7th-tier existences among the Ancient Wizards, with the help of the Wizard World's originating artifact—the Scales of Truth—imposed a new rule on the Wizard World: every advancement of a wizard must have a bottleneck!

Moreover, this new bottleneck is always related to the wizard's mind and will; only when a wizard's mind achieves a certain completeness can he successfully advance.

Otherwise, a forced breakthrough would, at best, lead to severe injury, near-death, a regression in cultivation, and irreversible after-effects, directly severing his future path and foundation.

At worst, he would instantly die on the spot, brain-dead, beyond any hope of rescue.

This is a Mind Bottleneck rooted at the rule level!

—Rules!

—Mind!

These are the two insurmountable challenges of this bottleneck; if one's level is not sufficient, there is simply no way to overcome it.

Over tens of thousands of years, countless wizards have tried to bypass these two challenges, but no one has ever succeeded.

Fortunately, the lower the level of the advancement bottleneck, the easier it is to resolve; the higher the level of the bottleneck, the more difficult it becomes.

When encountering bottlenecks involving a leap in life-level, such as advancing from a Wizard Apprentice to a 1st-tier Formal Wizard, it has stalled countless wizards.

Therefore, the current Wizard World exhibits an extreme polarization phenomenon.

More than 99.99% of wizards remain at the Wizard Apprentice stage.

The total number of wizards in the entire Mist Coast reaches a magnitude of 100,000, but the number of 1st-tier Formal Wizards has not yet broken a hundred, and this is an accumulation over several centuries.

After all, Formal Wizards have means to extend their lifespan, easily living for three or four hundred years.

Not a single 2nd-tier Advanced Wizard has ever been born.

After 14 years on the wizard's path, when Green was preparing to advance to an Intermediate Wizard Apprentice, he encountered his Mind Bottleneck—the psychological trauma of being bitten by ants.

Later, Mentor Jordan intervened and helped Green dispel his psychological trauma, the kind that was physically dispelled.

Therefore, Green successfully broke through to become an Intermediate Wizard Apprentice.

This time, Green reached the threshold of an Advanced Wizard Apprentice.

It was normal to encounter a bottleneck again; it would be abnormal not to.

Do you know why, in the Wizard World, academies specifically created a new term?

—Senior Intermediate Wizard Apprentice!

The so-called 'senior' refers to Intermediate Wizard Apprentices whose Spiritual Power has reached a bottleneck, but they haven't found their Mind Bottleneck, or they have found the bottleneck but failed to resolve it within three years.

Then, they are stuck there, unable to move.

Unless they have the luck and destiny of winning 5,000,000 in the lottery, they will remain at this level until they die, unable to break through.

Stuck at the Intermediate Wizard Apprentice stage for decades, or even a lifetime... If that's not 'senior,' who is?

According to the records of Plant Heart Wizard Academy, there are three important prerequisite conditions for Wizard Apprentices to achieve a successful advancement.

1: The Wizard Apprentices' own Spiritual Power must meet the standard.

The total Spiritual Power of a Wizard Apprentice must reach the bottleneck, and at the same time, the purity of the Spiritual Power cannot be too low; those who consume potions have many impurities in their Spiritual Power, which requires time to refine and purify.

Green did not have this concern; all his Spiritual Power was painstakingly obtained through meditation, bit by bit (Hundredfold Harvest). In eight years, Green never used a single potion to aid Spiritual Power meditation, selling them all at the flea market in the exchange hall.

Spiritual Power purity: 99.99%!

2: Wizard Apprentices must find the location of their Mind Bottleneck.

Yes, the Mind Bottleneck also plays hide-and-seek with Wizard Apprentices.

After all, the mind is the most elusive, mysterious, and unquantifiable domain. The wisdom of wizards leans more towards rationality and science, with extremely deep research into the material world.

But when it comes to the spiritual domain, everyone is an amateur.

Therefore, this step has stumped many Wizard Apprentices.

Some have even searched for their Mind Bottleneck for decades, and there are even those who search their entire lives and never find it.

3: Wizard Apprentices must resolve their Mind Bottleneck and achieve a certain completeness.

Yes, this is even more metaphysical than wizardry itself.

It belongs to the mysterious realm of mind cultivation.

No one knows to what extent your Mind Bottleneck needs to be resolved to be considered complete.

Only when you reach completeness will there be a natural enlightenment, which greatly tests one's patience.

However, there are only three years.

After three years... if Wizard Apprentices still haven't resolved their Mind Bottleneck, they will never need to be troubled by it again.

Because, from then on, the word 'Senior' will be added to how others address you.

Every time he read this, Green couldn't help but wonder:

Was one of those three great Ancient Wizards who set this Mind Bottleneck rule also a senior who transmigrated from Aqua Blue Star?

They led the wizards, who were supposed to study science and were known for their rationality, astray onto the path of Taoist idealism in mind cultivation.

Must one first achieve physical and mental harmony?

Wait until the mind is complete and clear?

Only then can wizards break through?

"Senior, oh, Senior..."

"You've certainly posed a huge challenge for the wizards of the Wizard World."

"Of course, you've also severely harmed later transmigrators."

Green couldn't help but mutter,

"Does this count as predecessors digging pits and successors suffering?"