Undym…
The world Alaric was reincarnated into is a plane of endless possibilities and horrors.
Such planes are typically categorized by a grading system, ranging from Tier 1 planes to Tier 12 planes, based on the level of practitioners who can comfortably operate within each tier.
Tier 1 planes have no practitioners; the highest level of strength that can be attained within them without being expelled or outright restrained is that of peak biological lifeforms.
Peak biological lifeforms, being lifeforms that had reached the very peak of strength, their natural biological limit would allow. This limit standard can vary from species to species.
For instance, a standard human bloodline within a tier 1 world could have their limit strength, [this being the strength they can attain after reaching their natural biological limit], be 700kg. In contrast, another human, one with a bloodline, would have double that amount or vastly more, depending on the grade and refinement of their bloodline.
Other species could have an average, such as a vicious tiger, that has physical and biological strength limits vastly surpassing the standard human limit.
Since it is a realm of possibilities, a standard human bloodline can be altered and upgraded if one is fortunate enough.
Tier 2 and above can hold practitioners who have surpassed their biological limits and attained a level of power that transcends common knowledge. 'Limit breakers' have naturally broken the restraint set by the world on them through sheer masochistic torturous training that requires a strong will that borders on insanity.
Long ago, a time forgotten due to the selective, widely agreed-upon intentional culling of lifeform populations across every plane, breaking your limit could only be achieved through training every aspect of your physical being to surpass the limit barrier. It doesn't matter how long it took; a lifeform could eventually break past that set limit.
But as fate would have it, in recent times, this can only be achieved through the assessment of the being called the 'heavenly dao'. The heavenly dao is the administrator of every plane out there. It is virtually omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent within those realms. It is believed to be the grand creator of every realm, from tier 1 to tier 12.
When a lifeform reaches 14 years of age, it will be assessed by the heavenly dao, checking their qualifications before permitting them to break their limit without the rigorous final training naturally. The lifeform must have trained enough to a satisfactory level before being allowed by the heavenly dao to pass the limit smoothly.
The most notable downside to this change is that if a lifeform fails the assessment during their 14th birthday, they are marked as failures for life. There are no second chances; a failure once is a failure for a lifetime.
Undym, the name assigned to the plane in which Alaric was born, is a Tier 11 plane that has experienced its fair share of unfortunate disasters. The last being the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Despite having experts with a remarkable level of expertise and resources, it still went through an event known as 'the culling'. For reasons unknown to the current populace, the heavenly dao decided to cull the population at the time, selectively exterminating most of the people in this realm, most especially the experts.
This event occurred millions of years ago, but its effects are still felt to date, as it caused people to remain ignorant of the history of their world. They remain unaware of the reason the heavenly dao decided to reduce their numbers to such an extent, or if it will happen again.
Many theories were made, of course, but none gained widespread acceptance because they could not be confirmed. Some say practitioners had gotten too arrogant, and the heavenly dao had had enough of the way they spoke without recognizing the true Mount Tai. Others say the heavenly dao is just setting a stage for the new generation to grow without the influence of the old.
This even effectively restarted civilization; without knowledge of the old, practitioners had to start practicing from scratch, using trial and error to formulate the current standard of cultivation in society.
Thankfully, this forced the new practitioner to adapt to the harsh environment, causing them to use more of their relatively scarce brain cell to create new techniques to progress.
Sadly, this has caused people in society to become too focused on finding new ways and methods to improve their strength by any means necessary, uncaring of how cruel those methods are to their fellow inhabitants.
Things like slavery became commonplace in society as they needed subjects for their untested methods. No one was suicidal enough to try theoretical methods that their brain cells manage to squeeze out and atrophied while creating, right?
This has led to a society where people often fear for their safety, even while in the 'comfort' of their own homes, causing the common populace to harbor resentment towards the practitioners.
Alaric has found himself in such a situation right now. He still hasn't realized the severity of the problem he has been put in due to his ignorance.
He could not be blamed. The settlement where he was born was unaware of the cruelty of the practitioner society, for they had lived their lives in ignorance. Their planet was a desolate one, located at the edge of their plane, and for some reason, it had no real practitioners or gatherings in the form of organizations or sects.
Frankly, he did not care about practitioners or their 'methods', which he was ignorant of, before this. There was a time when he held curiosity about them, when they were first mentioned. Still, when he learned about the increase in lifespan a practitioner gains after just breaking their limit, he gave up the idea entirely.
Who would want to live an extra 500 years of his miserable life as an emotionless machine? Certainly not him. He already considered the second chance at life a punishment for the first, so he was trying to live his life as faithfully as possible as a form of atonement, but that all changed the night of the massacre.