As Ren continued cultivating, time passed far more quickly than he expected.
Before he knew it, three full days had gone by.
During those three days, his life had become extremely simple.
Cultivate.
Eat.
Wash up.
Cultivate again.
Other than stopping to prepare food and deal with basic daily needs, he had spent almost all of his time meditating and feeding energy into the seed.
And the difference between Stage 1 and Stage 2 quickly became obvious.
Back in the Seed Stage, there had always been clear limits.
His body would grow strained.
His mind would grow tired.
Even if he wanted to continue, he had been forced to stop after a certain point.
But now that he had entered the Germination Stage, those restrictions were mostly gone.
The body strain that had once built up after a few hours of cultivation had almost disappeared.
His body could now endure much longer sessions without complaint.
In fact, after experimenting with it for the past two days, Ren realized that he could now cultivate for almost as long as he wanted.
He could even replace sleep with meditation.
That had honestly shocked him at first.
The first night it happened, he had only meant to meditate for a few more hours before sleeping. But by the time he opened his eyes again, morning had already arrived, and instead of feeling tired, his mind felt refreshed and his body felt even better than usual.
It was a strange experience.
Not sleeping, yet not feeling exhausted.
Still, there was one thing he could not escape from yet.
Food.
Even though meditation now replaced sleep, it still could not replace meals.
That was because almost all the energy he absorbed during the Germination Stage was currently being used to help the seed develop roots throughout his body.
The seed was still in a growth phase. It was using everything it received to build his foundation, strengthen his vitality, and expand those root-like channels deeper and deeper into his flesh.
Only after reaching Stage 3 would he be able to gradually stop relying on normal food.
For now, he was still very much bound by his stomach.
Not that he minded too much.
After all, eating real food was still better than chewing tasteless supplements every day like some people online claimed they did for "efficiency."
Still, after three days of near-constant cultivation, Ren could clearly feel the improvement.
The roots inside his body had spread much further than before.
He could not yet sense every detail perfectly, but the difference was unmistakable.
His body felt denser.
Not heavier, but more grounded.
His energy moved more smoothly.
His breathing was deeper.
Even his senses felt slightly sharper than they had been just a few days ago.
And more importantly, he no longer felt like someone who had just begun cultivating.
Now, at least a little, he actually felt like he had stepped onto the path for real.
On the fourth day, after finishing breakfast, Ren finally decided it was time to move on to the next step of his plan.
Today, he would go to the Explorer Guild.
He had already spent the last three days focusing on energy meditation and getting used to the changes inside his body. That part of his foundation had to be built first.
Now it was time to see the place that would likely become one of the most important parts of his future cultivation.
After washing his plate and making sure he had everything with him, Ren called a hover taxi.
The vehicle arrived only a few minutes later.
Ren stepped inside, gave the destination, and sat back in his seat as the taxi lifted off smoothly and joined the flow of traffic above the city roads.
As the city moved past outside the window, Ren found himself thinking about some of the things he had researched over the past few days.
Among them, one topic had stood out to him more than most.
The Top Four Powers of this World.
Actually, from what he had been able to gather, the true balance of global influence was centered around three major neutral powers and then the great national and noble powers beneath or beside them in different regions. But in everyday discussion, many people casually referred to the main three guild-based forces as the "top powers" because of how much influence they had across multiple continents and even across different planets and realms.
The three powers most often mentioned together were:
The Explorer GuildThe Mercenary GuildThe House of All Merchants
According to most of the information available publicly, these three organizations were considered roughly equal in overall power.
Not necessarily identical in structure or methods, but equal in standing.
They each had top-level powerhouses backing them.
They each operated across enormous territories.
And they each held influence not just on Edius, but across multiple worlds, secret realms, and cultivation networks.
Still, even if they were equal in rank, their roles were very different.
Ren looked out the window while thinking through what he had learned.
The Explorer Guild, as the name suggested, was centered around exploration.
Of the three great organizations, it was the one most deeply connected to Secret Realms.
It controlled access to a huge number of them and was famous for constantly searching for more.
Its members explored newly discovered realms, mapped them, recorded dangers, identified resources, and collected all kinds of valuable materials.
Plants.
Animals.
Beasts.
Monsters.
Supernatural creatures.
Mutated environments.
Ancient ruins.
Lost legacies.
Anything that could be discovered in unknown or dangerous places was, in one way or another, connected to the Explorer Guild.
If a new realm appeared somewhere in the universe, there was a high chance the Explorer Guild would either be the first to enter it or among the first to gather and sell its information.
In a sense, they were the pioneers of this age.
People who walked into the unknown and returned with knowledge, treasure, or sometimes not at all.
The more Ren thought about it, the more he felt that the guild fit his future path perfectly.
His cultivation route depended too heavily on rare resources, genetic materials, and realm-specific treasures.
If he wanted to grow fast, he would inevitably need access to the kind of places and networks the Explorer Guild specialized in.
Then there was the Mercenary Guild.
That organization was also huge, but its function was different.
If the Explorer Guild was built around discovering and collecting from the unknown, then the Mercenary Guild was built around missions.
But unlike the Explorer Guild, whose core missions were usually internal and focused on exploration, gathering, and documentation, most missions in the Mercenary Guild came from private individuals, groups, noble families, businesses, cities, and other outside clients.
The range of assignments was enormous.
A client might request a team to search for a specific genetic material.
They might hire protection while traveling through a dangerous area.
They might need escorts inside a Secret Realm.
They might need bodyguards.
They might need monster extermination.
They might even need something less public and more politically dangerous—though those kinds of missions were obviously not advertised openly.
The rewards for such missions were provided by the client, while the guild took a share as a platform fee and guaranteed a certain level of order and protection for both sides.
In that way, the Mercenary Guild was less about discovery and more about service through strength.
Ren understood why it was so powerful.
A neutral, large-scale organization that handled dangerous jobs for countless people and factions would naturally grow rich and influential.
And finally, there was the House of All Merchants.
Out of the three, this was perhaps the least combat-focused on the surface, but that did not make it any less terrifying.
Its power came from trade, wealth, standards, and control over large-scale commerce.
As its name implied, it was the ultimate merchant platform.
According to the information Ren had read, once a merchant, business family, trading group, or production organization reached a certain level of fame and wealth, joining the House of All Merchants became almost mandatory if they wanted to continue growing on a world-scale or universe-scale.
The House standardized quality.
It helped regulate prices.
It created trade routes.
It connected markets across vast distances.
And by doing so, it essentially controlled the arteries of inter-world commerce.
It was not just a business platform.
It was a commercial empire built on order and reputation.
If something was sold through the House of All Merchants, buyers trusted it far more than random outside sellers.
That trust alone was worth more than many treasures
But those three were not the true peak.
Above the Explorer Guild, the Mercenary Guild, and the House of All Merchants, there existed a fourth power—
The strongest known power in the world.
The All-Being Survival Alliance.
Unlike the other three, this was not just an organization.
It was the highest authority created for one purpose only:
Survival.
The Alliance had been established in the 50th year of the Awakening Era by the most powerful beings alive at that time. Its sole goal was to prepare humanity—and all allied lifeforms—for the coming Trials and the even more terrifying Plane Wars that would follow.
According to what Ren had read, once a cultivator reached Stage 4, they would automatically become part of the All-Being Survival Alliance.
This was not optional.
It was mandatory.
Anyone who tried to refuse, avoid, or reject joining the Alliance would immediately be labeled a traitor to humanity.
And that title was not just for show.
The reason was simple.
At that level, a cultivator's strength was already too great. A Stage 4 being could no longer be treated as an ordinary citizen or a private expert. They had become one of the pillars of civilization's future survival, whether they wanted that responsibility or not.
Because of this, the All-Being Survival Alliance stood above all other powers and countries like a sword hanging over their heads.
It supervised the great organizations.
It monitored noble families.
It oversaw countries, colleges, and major institutions.
Even the powerful neutral organizations had to stay within certain boundaries under its watch.
Its authority was absolute in all matters related to survival.
If any power was found doing something harmful to humanity's future—such as suppressing or destroying geniuses, practicing slavery, abusing their authority, or weakening civilization for selfish gain—then the Alliance would step in.
And when it stepped in, it did not care about status.
It did not care about fame.
It did not care whether the guilty party was a noble family, a major guild member, a college authority, or even a national powerhouse.
If they were found guilty of harming "survival," they would be publicly executed.
No exceptions.
No mercy.
That was why the All-Being Survival Alliance was feared even more than it was respected.
It did not rule for wealth.
It did not rule for territory.
It ruled to ensure that humanity—and the life aligned with it—would still exist when the real disasters arrived.
Even all colleges ultimately came under its control.
Ren had paused for a while after reading about it.
Because this was not some normal superpower organization.
This was a war-preparation machine built on the bones of fear, necessity, and the desperate will to survive what was coming.
And the most terrifying part was—
From everything he had found, it seemed to work.
Ren slowly exhaled and turned his gaze back to the window
The hover taxi continued moving through the city.
Below him stretched broad streets, transport routes, layered highways, high-rise buildings, and glowing holographic advertisements. People moved everywhere—some dressed like ordinary city residents, others wearing robes, uniforms, or equipment that clearly marked them as cultivators.
Some had visible bloodline traits.
Some carried weapons openly.
Some looked completely ordinary.
This world still had technology, but it had fused completely with cultivation.
It felt like a strange blend of futuristic civilization and fantasy world.
After about twenty minutes, the taxi finally began descending.
The driver turned slightly and said, "We've reached your destination."
Only then did Ren fully come out of his thoughts.
He looked outside.
The Explorer Guild branch building stood before him.