Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu already had a perfect map of the region in his mind, he didn't need to go and double check. The problem was how he would set up anything. Doing it in advance was obviously impossible because that would require stepping into the beast's territory. Once he did so, it would have free reign to attack him as it pleased and by then, he would have to focus everything on surviving.

Of course, there was another path, and that was to focus all of his attention on closing the gap. But Ryu felt that it was impossible if he was also considering a time frame on top of everything else.

In the back of his mind, though, he was constantly thinking of just where the gap lay, and he believed that he had some understanding.

It wasn't just sheer talent, and it wasn't just sheer battle prowess either. Rather, it was a combination of the two that made the panther beast so absolutely powerful, and would likely also make the monstrous geniuses of the Eighth and Ninth Heavens so powerful as well.

In terms of talent, it wasn't just about having a high grade. If Ryu was correct, the Eighth Heaven had likely figured out a method of restricting the types of talents their descendants could receive, causing them to align far more.

If one thought about it, Ryu's original talents had nothing in common. His Ice Jade Crystal Bones, his Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation, his Chaotic Silk Meridians, his Perfect Blackbody Soul... Each one was more powerful than the last, and they were all equally his birthright, but they didn't fit into a single path properly.

His Bloodlines were even worse, clashing and fighting against one another, and just in order to have them coexist well with one another, he had to restrict a great deal of their power.

Talents of the Eighth Heaven, at least in Ryu's speculation, were not like this at all. Every one of their Six Pillars was in perfect Harmony with one another, causing an effect that was larger than the sum of its parts.

That was when Ryu made another observation. The humanoid races he had met until this point... they were mostly human. Of course, there were still some of the other races like the Dream Asuras and Akurasa Clan, but the vast most were human.

Why was that?

In Sacrum, humans weren't all that powerful at all, and those that were had the Bloodlines of Ancient Beasts like Ryu's family.

But then it clicked for Ryu. It only made sense that humans were the vast majority on the lower planes, because humans didn't usually have Race Talents to restrict their paths forward.

Take Ailsa, for example. She was born with dual Meridians, one a flawless match for her Cultus Faerie Bloodline, and another a perfect match for her mother's Quibus Faerie Bloodline. Ryu had never thought about it so clearly in the past, but this was a unique characteristic of special humanoid races. Their paths tended to blend down a single path, all stemming from their Race Talents.

Humans were different. They followed such variable paths, and the powers that they did gain like Ryu's Tatsuya family, came from outside sources like plundered Dragon Blood Essence, or maybe half-dragons that had married into their Clan.

"That's the difference, that's where the gap is...'

It slid into place for Ryu.

He hadn't forgotten about Sarriel, he was certain that if she was anywhere on the first Seven Heavens, he would have already met her. There was no way a woman like her wouldn't be in the mix, even if she was trying to maintain somewhat of a low profile.

The fact she wasn't meant that she was at least on the Eighth, and the fact that she was meant that that was where what remnants remained of the Fey Race were. That coincided perfectly with Ryu's guesses.

A Great Circle Talent... No, a True Great Circle Talent.

It wasn't just having all talents at the same level, but talents that perfectly complemented one another, layering atop of one another, uplifting one another, pushing them to such an elevated level that they echoed with a strength beyond their grade.

Exceptional geniuses of the Eighth Heaven were like at least Omniscient True Great Circle Talents. That actually seemed low, but if Ryu's comprehension of the situation was correct, then even a True Great Circle Talent at this level could crush him.

The question then, was how could he fight back? Or, how could he fuse his current talents into an approximation of a True Great Circle Talent at the very least?

'I've got it.'

Unfortunately, these words weren't for the answer to his question, but rather for how he would deal with the panther beast. In reality, all of these thoughts of True Great Circle Talents had happened at the back of his mind.

Was he discouraged? No. In fact, he felt a faint excitement bubbling up within him as he charged into the panther's territory.

Ryu's gaze was sharp as he moved with an nimble quickness. Star qi descended from the skies and formed a star map that hovered just above the ground. He pushed his [Absolute Domain] to the limits as a streaking black shadow closed the space to him with great speed.

He suddenly flickered and vanished, but the moment he did, the panther beast reacted, pivoting as though inertia couldn't affect it at all and rushing toward the location Ryu would appear nearly before he did. However, when it got there, it found that Ryu was still in the place he had been before.

Ryu's aura flared and he slapped his palms together hard, a flourishing tide of Spiritual Qi spilling out in all directions. This time, he didn't hide anything and his Spiritual Qi rolled with a dense blackness that nearly looked like dark fog crawling along the ground. It felt like any moment not, a bone yard of skeletons would rise from the ground, reaching out of the dense, black fog.

However, just as quickly, the fog condensed, forming innumerable kernels that sped off in all directions, each one carrying the dense characters of Morvar's Visualization.

The Formation Eye Visualization.