It has been generations since the question that no one can answer was asked for the first time.

Are we humans too insignificant to understand the world around us? Or is the world ever-changing?

There are multiple examples of discoveries that changed our perception of the world forever.

The appearance of magical beasts.

The discovery of cultivation.

The underground.

The types of elemental energy.

All of them are obvious to the current population of cultivators, but in the past, they were a great revolution that changed our lives forever.

Thinking about a world without cultivation sounds ridiculous, but according to the registers and tales from the three tribes, it only appeared after a few geniuses ahead of their time developed the first archaic techniques.

After the appearance of these techniques, the world of cultivation advanced at great speed, managing to surpass its previous limits in each generation over and over again.

At first, it may look like once people understood that cultivation was possible, they began to polish and develop new techniques in a very short time.

But some people think that it is the opposite.

Some of the greatest scholars of all time argue that it is not that people discovered cultivation at that time, but that cultivation was impossible before.

That led them to create a theory, which was called "The Theory of the Ever-Changing Phases."

Contrary to most of the previous theories, this one says that humans are not too weak to understand the world around them but that the world is changing at the same time we discover them.

That would explain why the three tribes discovered cultivation around the same time, or why they didn't find the underground until they received Heaven's message. That would also explain why the elemental energies began to appear around the world once the first elemental beast was discovered.

If we take this theory as true, it means that a new change is nearing, and humans need to prepare to adapt to it before they fall behind in the world's progress.

"—Extract from "The Theory of the Ever-Changing Phases", by Head Master of the Ventar Academy, Ethan Silverflint.

Inside one of the corrupted forests of Orixe, a group of three Esvert cultivators was advancing carefully through the trees while scouting the area in search of any magical beasts.

The vegetation was dense, so the three cultivators walked in a line, and while one of them opened the path for the other two, they kept alert for any danger.

"I hate this place. Why do we have to be the ones coming to check on the beast population here? Wasn't there any group fitter for this quest?" Marianne asked as she looked around her.

Nathan said as he closed his eyes to see through his spheres of energy. "A small group is best for this kind of mission, and we can adapt to a lot of situations, so it is not difficult to understand why they chose us."

"That's bullshit. The headmaster had sent us here because we screwed up the expedition into the Frostbite Mountains, and you know it." Travis said as he brushed aside the vegetation in front of him with his hands.

After hearing Travis's words, Nathan couldn't help but grimace with annoyance. Their academy had prepared for months for the expedition to the Frostbite Mountains, and because a group of magical beasts attacked their camp while the three were on guard, everyone claimed that it was their fault that they had lost most of the provisions for the mission.

After that incident, they were sent from Eden to a branch of the academy in Orixe. The headmaster tried to soften the news by disguising it as a regular transfer, but everyone in the academy knew that a transfer to Orixe meant that the higher-ups of the academy didn't want to see you ever again.

The situation only became worse once they arrived on the old continent, as they were given the task of checking the magical beasts' population of a nearby corrupted forest where they had been acting strangely for the last few weeks.

The most probable cause was that a new powerful beast had appeared in the forest and that it had broken the balance of power inside it. With none of them reaching the fifth stage of cultivation, it meant that if they were not careful, they would meet certain death.

As they were advancing through the forest, Nathan, who was in charge of scouting the surroundings with its far vision techniques, suddenly said something.

"Hey, guys. I think I have found something."