"Hmm, What's this Heavenly Tribulation you speak of?" Asked Elif while grabbing a handful of lightning cherries and eating them in delight.
"I know, I know!" Quickly answered Sarah, whose face was a little dirty from stuffing her face full of food.
"A Heavenly Tribulation is a form of punishment that the heavens inflict on cultivators as they cultivate, and in order to continue cultivating, you must survive a Heavenly Tribulation. My elder sister received a Heavenly Tribulation when she advanced to the Saint realm; however, she managed to beat it." Said Sarah, though when she mentioned her elder sister, the smile on her face that had accompanied her since they arrived at the pagoda disappeared.
"Well, they don't sound that bad." Replied Elif, though he didn't fully understand the horrors of a heavenly tribulation.
"For your information, your highness, fifty percent of cultivators die while attempting their first heavenly tribulation." Interrupted Illumia, who this entire time has been standing behind Elif's chair.
"What, fifty percent!? That's ridiculous, but doesn't that mean the half who died were too weak and untalented?" Asked Elif, slightly shocked, before calming down and thinking about it.
"That is mostly true, Prince Elif, but the truly terrifying thing about Heavenly Tribulations is that their strength isn't fixed; the power of a Heavenly Tribulation is determined by the cultivator attempting it. So even an extremely talented and powerful individual could still be killed by a heavenly tribulation, Prince Elif." Answered Maga as he wiped his face down with a handkerchief.
"Woah, that is indeed quite scary. However, doesn't that mean your elder sister is especially strong?" Asked Elif as he started to truly realize the terror of a heavenly tribulation.
"Y-Yes, she is Prince Elif, although I believe Maga or Kare could give you better details than I." Replied Sarah, slightly shivering while putting her head down.
Her words slightly confused me since I figured, as her sister, she should know her best, or at least better than someone from another noble's house, but I digress.
"So, what do you know about Sarah's elder sister?" Asked Elif as he tried a different fruit other than lightning cherry since he had finished them all. Though his question caused Kare and Maga to show unpleasant faces; however, they still answered Elif's question.
"Sarah's elder sister is Marley Eve, and she's currently the heir to Eve's family, her age is eight, the same as mine and Maga's, and she is currently the leading figure in the younger generation with her incredible talent and strength." Answered Kare while trying not to show any anger or hate when speaking of Marley, which Elif didn't catch, considering how he seemed to be paying more attention to the food on the table.
"Eight? You guys are twice my age; I'm only four; what about you, Sarah?" Asked Elif.
"I'm six, Prince Elif." Replied Sarah, who was still hanging her head down, no longer eating.
"So then what's her spirit root and or physique?"
"Marley's spirit root and physique are a low God and high Divine tier, respectively, and she has recently just advanced to the Saint Emperor realm, the first among the younger generation to achieve that." Replied Maga while barely showing any emotion when speaking of Marley.
What Maga said highly disappointed me considering since she's supposed to be very talented and powerful, I thought she was going to be impressive, but it seems like she is nothing special, However, Saint Emperor is a cultivation realm I haven't heard of as I only know six, and with it being called Saint Emperor I'm going to assume it's higher than a Half-step Saint, though I wanted to know for sure.
"Illumia, what are the cultivation realms after Half-step Saint?" Asked Elif.
"In order to advance past the Half-step Saint realm, you must survive a heavenly tribulation, and once you've achieved that, you will leave the mortal cultivation plane and officially be regarded as a true cultivator in the Saint realm after the Saint realm, it is Saint Lord, Saint King, Saint Emperor, and Half-step Divine, your highness." Answered Illumia, as she gave more details than Elif asked for.
'Hmm, I'm a little less than three full realms behind Marley, and I've only been cultivating for a month; I should easily be able to surpass her. To think it took her four years to reach the Saint King realm, I guess she really isn't as talented as everyone said she is.' Thought Elif, as he considered her irrelevant and someone he would pass soon.
"Before you think like that, your highness, I want to inform you that cultivating isn't the same when you advance to the Saint realm; your current cultivation speed will be massively slowed down." Stated Illumia, as she saw right through what Elif was thinking.
"Really? By how much, then?" Asked Elif, partially convinced.
"Well, for reference, Prince Elif, it took me a little more than two months to reach the Saint realm from when I started cultivating at four years old; however, after almost four years, I've only reached the peak of the Saint King realm." Said Maga while clearly seeing the frustration on his face at his progress over the years.
"Yes, Prince Elif, I'm the same as well, and as you continue cultivating, the difficulty to advance increases with each Major realm." Said Kare, also showing frustration as well.
"When I cultivate, I also notice that it takes slightly longer than last time to advance, but why is the increase in difficulty so Immense when you advance to the Saint realm?" Asked Elif, utterly shocked at the revelation.
"That is because of what we cultivators call the half-step chasm. When you reach a realm with the title 'Half-step' in the name, there are a few reasons for that. The first reason is the difference in power displayed by someone in a half-step realm and someone one realm above them. For reference, your highness, if a talented individual capable of fighting an entire realm above them were a peak Half-step saint and they tried fighting an average cultivator who was an early Saint, the Half-step Saint will be easily defeated. The second reason is that every time you advance past a cultivation realm with the title half-step, the difficulty in continuing to cultivate will be severely increased; luckily, the increase in your lifespan will also be greatly lengthened. Finally, the third reason is that to advance past a realm with the title half-step, you must first survive a Heavenly Tribulation that comes along with it." Said Illumia as she informed Elif of what the half-step chasm signifies.
"Now cultivation doesn't sound that fun anymore." Replied Elif, annoyed at what he will have to experience in the near or far future.
As I was feeling annoyed at the prospect of cultivation being far more dangerous and challenging than I previously Imagined, I decided to change the conversation to something different, and no one was opposed to it. However, it seemed Sarah was especially happy at the change in conversation. The atmosphere between us started to improve once again as we started talking and eating; however, I noticed I got along with Sarah more than the Maga and Kare. There wasn't anything wrong with them per se, it just seemed Sarah, and I had more in common.
"Did you guys know there are about a trillion living beings in the city, or was it just the first district? It doesn't matter but isn't-" Said Elif, who suddenly stopped talking as an apple hit his face, exploding on impact. Everyone present, whether it was Maga, Kare, the Manager, or even the group of dancers on stage, when they saw something hit Prince Elif; they all stopped what they were doing and looked at the culprit, Sarah, intensely all thinking differently things.
'What is wrong with her, to throw something at the Prince, does she wish to die!?' Thought Maga, staring at Sarah.
'My goodness, I hope Prince Elif only directs his anger at her.' Thought Kare while also staring at Sarah.
'Please don't shut down my restaurant! Please don't shut down my restaurant!' Thought the manager as he clasped his hands together and started praying to the heavens.
'Why do that while we're dancing, we're just a group of commoners who worked hard to get our current positions; now, all because of her stupid act, everything we've worked for is ruined!' Thought the lead dancer in denial and anger while looking at Sarah with intense hostility.
'I must say she is quite lucky that his highness is intelligent and quite calm-mannered; otherwise, she would've either been killed or had her cultivation crippled.' Thought Illumia, trying to suppress a smirk that was about to form on her face from Elifs appearance.
'Hehe, I saw some of the younger family members do this while I was eating alone, and they all seemed to have fun; maybe I can do the same and play with Prince Elif!' Thought Sarah shyly, though entirely oblivious to the tense atmosphere she created with her actions.
Smearing the apple off me, I look at Sarah, as she's the one that threw it, and I see her giggling while looking at me; reaching my hand to a plate, I grab a couple of random fruits and throw them back at Sarah. She was too busy laughing to herself to notice what I threw at her; however, right when it hit her, she stopped laughing and looked at me while both of us were covered in juices.
"Hahaha, you look so dumb; here, have another one." Replied Elif, laughing at the pouting Sarah while actively throwing more food at her. Elif's reaction to the situation surprised everyone except Illumia, and they all simultaneously exhaled in relief.
While Sarah and I were laughing and enjoying ourselves as we were throwing fruits, vegetables, and other stuff at each other, I was suddenly hit from the left. Looking over there, I saw Maga, and I didn't know for sure if he threw it, considering behind him was a group of people dancing on stage, but I didn't care if he did or not, and threw some food at him as well, of course, I didn't leave out Kare either.
I don't know how long this went on for, but we only stopped throwing food at each other once there was no more food to throw. Everywhere you looked was covered in food, the walls, window, ground, stage, chairs, and even the dancers and the manager were covered in food. The only place not covered in food is a small area around Illumia, around her spotless, and it's not like we intentionally missed her; in fact, we all tried throwing stuff directly at her, but everything would phase right through her, so after a while, we stopped and continued playing amongst ourselves again.
"That was great; that was the most fun I've ever had!" Shouted Sarah in joy while covered in food and juices.
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There is over 100 chapters at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]; so if you've got time might as well go and check it out.