Garion kept sleeping until he suddenly woke up. "Ha... ha..."

For a moment, he just stared blankly ahead, still dazed from the long sleep.

Then his consciousness finally returned, and he immediately called out. "Atlas."

[Hohoho, you’re finally awake, huh? How do you feel?]

Garion looked down at himself, clenching and unclenching his fist. Surprisingly, his body felt light and stable.

"Quite good, actually. I feel better than ever."

[Of course. You’ve been sleeping for five years.]

The moment Atlas said that, Garion’s eyes widened. "The hell do you mean five years?!"

[Yeah. Teleporting everyone to this space took a huge amount of energy from you.]

Garion rubbed his forehead and let out a long sigh. "Damn... to think I slept that long..."

He slowly looked around the endless white space surrounding him.

"Then tell me something. What exactly is this place? And how the hell did we avoid that god?"

[This space is basically a hidden security function of the system. It activates in situations like this.]

Garion nodded slowly. "I see..."

Then another thought hit him. "Wait. Now that I’m awake, what about the others? Have they woken up yet?"

[Not yet.]

Garion frowned immediately. "Huh? Why not? Are they okay?"

[Because I intentionally kept them asleep. Don’t worry, they’re completely safe.]

Garion let out a relieved breath and leaned back slightly. "I see... good."

For a few seconds, the space became quiet again before Garion spoke once more.

"So now what? We’re heading to that new civilization you talked about, right?"

[Of course. But before that, I need to transfer new knowledge to you.]

Garion raised an eyebrow. "Knowledge?"

[Of course. This is information about the real world beyond your old one. The data was finally unlocked, so you need to receive it.]

Garion clicked his tongue. "Fine, fine. Just give it to me already."

[Sure... beginning information fusion now.]

---

Garion crossed his arms, bracing himself for the information injection.

But the moment Atlas began, a massive wave of information slammed directly into his brain.

"AAAGGHHH!"

His entire body jerked violently, especially his head, as countless streams of knowledge flooded his mind all at once. "Damn it!"

Garion grabbed his head tightly, pain shooting through his skull like lightning.

The pressure was far worse than when he first received divine knowledge back in the Lower World.

Back then, it had already felt overwhelming.

This, though?

This was on a completely different level.

It felt like his soul itself was being ripped apart just to force all the knowledge inside.

[Your current level can barely handle this amount of information. Endure it.]

Garion gritted his teeth hard enough to almost crack them. "You could’ve warned me better, bastard!"

[Would you have accepted it if I did?]

Garion frowned. "...Yeah. I still would’ve done it."

[Exactly. That’s why there was no point warning you about the pain.]

"Tch. You still could’ve told me so I could prepare myself."

[Where’s the fun in that?]

Garion’s eye twitched. "Goddammit..."

Still clutching his head, he forced himself to breathe slowly.

Little by little, the pain began to settle. The endless flood of information finally stopped.

As silence returned, Garion slowly lifted his head. His eyes widened.

"So this..." he muttered, staring blankly ahead. "This is the real world..."

[More or less.]

Garion stayed silent for a while before speaking again. "The cultivation realms..."

He slowly clenched his fist, his expression turning serious. "So the realm we came from..."

[Was merely the Mortal Realm.]

Garion narrowed his eyes. "Mortal Realm..."

[The true meaning of Mortal Realm refers to beings incapable of naturally leaving their world.]

[As long as someone is bound to a planet or world and cannot survive beyond it, they are considered mortals.]

Garion absorbed the explanation quietly, piecing everything together in his head.

"So anyone who can leave their world enters the next realm..."

[Correct. That realm is called the Awakening Realm.]

The space around Garion suddenly distorted.

Countless projections appeared around him, figures flying through the void of outer space, crossing planets and drifting between stars.

[Awakening Realm beings have awakened beyond planetary limitations.]

[They can leave worlds, travel through space, and survive temporarily in the cosmic environment.]

Garion studied the projections carefully. "Temporarily?" 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

[Yes. Their bodies are still unstable compared to true cosmic lifeforms.]

Garion frowned slightly. "So even if they can survive out there, space still isn’t really their territory yet."

[Exactly.]

[Most Awakening Realm beings still rely heavily on protection methods, energy circulation, ships, domains, or temporary stabilization.]

[Their bodies are not yet fully normalized to cosmic existence.]

Garion crossed his arms thoughtfully. "I see..."

The projections shifted again.

This time, the figures looked completely different.

They moved through space naturally, unaffected by vacuum pressure, radiation, or violent cosmic storms.

One of them casually walked through a collapsing starfield as if taking a stroll.

[The next realm is the Star Realm.]

Garion’s eyes sharpened immediately.

[At this stage, the cultivator’s entire existence becomes normalized into true cosmic life.]

[Their body, soul, mana... everything about their very identity evolves.]

Garion watched silently as one of the projections stood in the middle of a massive cosmic storm while waves of destructive energy flowed harmlessly around him.

[Space itself no longer rejects them.]

Garion slowly exhaled. "So this is where someone truly becomes a cosmic being..."

[Correct.]

Atlas continued explaining while more images appeared.

[Most Star Realm experts begin condensing their existence into something greater.]

[Their cores continue evolving in preparation for the next realm.]

The projection changed once more.

This time, Garion saw something impossible.

Inside a cultivator’s body floated an enormous glowing world filled with mountains, oceans, stars, and flowing energy.

His eyes widened slightly. "The hell is that...?"

[Celestial Realm.]

Garion stared at the miniature world in disbelief.

[At this stage, the cultivator’s core fully evolves into an Inner World.]

His mouth slowly fell open. "An... Inner World..."

[Whether it is called a mana core, divine core, spirit sea, or energy nucleus does not matter.]

[All paths eventually evolve toward the same destination.]

Garion remained silent while listening carefully.

[The Inner World at the Celestial Realm can already sustain life.]

Garion looked surprised. "Living beings? Inside their body?"

[Yes.]

The projection zoomed closer, and inside there, not only lands and sea but also some creatures existed, but not an intelligent one.

But this fact alone already made him very surprised. "That’s really insane..."