Is That A Wisp?

"So, that's how it is." Krune nodded in understanding as he closed a book, letting out a sigh soon after. "To think this was actually a pretty dangerous place that's survived over a thin sheet of ice all along."

It had been three months since he began to live in the attic of the old age home. He had been pretty careful all this time, managing to finish making a complete recovery in the meantime. He also read through the books continuously, making use of his Neon Radiance to light up the attic while he read. 

There were numerous books to be read in the library. As such, he had obtained a sizeable amount of information from that. After all, it seemed that all the books the old people had collected during their lives had been stored here. So, he obtained a sizeable amount of information regarding Layer 1.

All the information he had read through over the past three months could be summarized into the following excerpts. 

The city he was in was called Demon Wall 22. It was one of the 24 cities where humanity lived and survived. In fact, all 24 cities survived on a belt called the Abyssal Trench. It was a trench with seemingly infinite depth. 

In this place, flying was prohibited, even if it were done using wings. The width of the Abyssal Trench was 600 kilometers, the exact dimension occupied by the cities. For some reason, it seemed the cities were an exception. 

After all, all 24 cities floated at the top of the Abyssal Trench, a place where flying was impossible. Krune recalled how his Cloud Whale was instantly pulled towards the battlefield the moment he flew above it. 

He also remembered the endless dark abyss below the battlefield. The abyss was the reason the demons were unable to surround the cities and bombard them to death, despite their near-infinite numbers. 

Thus, the only way to enter a city was a lone path spanning a width of 100 meters. It spanned from the ground beyond the Abyssal Trench, entered a battlefield, then spanned another kilometer in length before reaching the city. That was the only way to enter the city. 

The same applied to all 24 cities. This was also the only path the demons could take to reach the cities. And that was why the battlefield, oval in shape, spanning a length of 20 kilometers and a width of 15 kilometers, was where the humans and demons clashed constantly. 

Based on the books, it was unknown how the demons were created. But, based on historical records, they were endless in number. There was never a time when the number of demons on the battlefield was smaller than the number of humans. They constantly streamed towards the cities endlessly like an unending river. 

It seemed like the goal of the demons was to reach the interior land within the ring formed by the Abyssal Trench. It was a circular piece of land spanning a radius of 3000 kilometers. It was surrounded by the Abyssal Trench like a ring. 

Surprisingly, this piece of land was actually an ocean, a gravity-defying ocean where the water formed a pillar, reaching the sky. After seeing the picture of the species local to the water pillar, Krune realized that they were the very same octopuses he met in Layer 3. 

Plus, it seemed that they had formed a certain deal with humans. They were the actual goal of the demons. It was unknown as to what the goal was. Humans were just the shield, the guards of the octopuses. 

They also maintained trade relations, supplying the cities with food and water while the humans traded them with Demon Cores that they harvested from the demons. And it seemed that these Demon Cores played the primary aspect of Layer 2. 

The way the power structure of Layer 2 was established was through the weight class. Whether it was a human or a demon, both were humanoid creatures possessing similar-sized physiques. Fortunately, this factor seemed constant to Layer 2. There weren't any giant organisms that existed anywhere in Layer 2. 

Even the octopuses had a humanoid form that they used when transacting with humans. And their physiques were the same size as well. So, their weight class played much importance. 

When he first read it, Krune had been incredibly excited, knowing the actual prospect of the Sub-Realm and what they had been emphasizing from the start. 

Body cultivation!

Everything was about improving the physique. That was the theme of the Sub-Realm. Krune realized that every layer was setting up one aspect of body cultivation, creating the basic layout to establish it whole. 

As it was an entirely new field, it had to be introduced one after another through numerous layers of restrictions placed on the cultivators that had been brought into the Sub-Realm. Krune realized that the God(s) that had created the Sub-Realm had been pretty ambitious. 

The weight class was pretty much the same between humans and demons. The only difference was the names. 

Among the Demons, those below 150 kilograms were simply called a Demon Child. A Demon Child was called as such because it didn't possess a Demon Core. They rarely appeared on the battlefield. Plus, they were easily noticeable due to their pristine white skin, including their white horns. 

Ranging between 150-200 kilograms was a Demon Soldier, violet in color and possessing a violet Demon Core. They were typically called a Tier 1 Demon Core in the city and formed the core currency circulating around. 

Considering the number of Demon Soldiers that appeared on the battlefield every day, Tier 1 Demon Cores hardly had much value. It was to the extent that even regular food cost a couple of Tier 1 Demon Cores. 

Following that was the Demon Lord, a demon weighing between 200-500 kilograms. They were blue in color, and their blue Demon Core was called a Tier 2 Demon Core in the city. They were rather precious. 

The next class after that was called a Demon King, ranging between 500 to 900 kilograms. It was green in color, and its green Demon Core was called a Tier 3 Demon Core in the city. Moreover, killing a Demon King awarded one Godly Point. 

At this point, Krune was flustered. It was because the value of Godly Points had further spiked as compared to Layer 3. Layer 4 was the most rewarding as Krune was able to farm almost two Godly Points per day once he understood the situation. 

Layer 3 was relatively difficult as it was hard to even get 15 Godly Points per year there. If he wished to obtain more, he had to challenge Secondary Landmasses alone. The ticket to it cost 15 Godly Points, and it was only possible to obtain a total of 45 Godly Points from there. That too had to be done in a year before the duration of the ticket expired. 

It was really difficult to obtain Godly Points in Layer 3 as compared to Layer 4. And now, he might very well say that it was simply impossible for the average person to ever obtain a Godly Point. It was simply because even a Demon Soldier was as strong as an Emperor Monster from Layer 3. 

It was the very first enemy he had faced against once he arrived at Layer 2. Adding on the healing effect from the miasma, a Demon Soldier was able to kill three Emperor Monsters with ease and solo more than 10 Emperor Monsters.

And, this was the weakest of the demons that appeared on the battlefield. Not only that, but the average human in Layer 2 was at this level. Simply comparing himself based on the weight class, Krune was equivalent to a Demon Child. 

After all, even after growing in height once he obtained Ocean Heart, he was around 100 kilograms in weight. With that, he was below average in that regard. While maintaining the same physique, speed, and agility, when one's body weight increased, that meant their body had more density. 

And that meant their attacks were more powerful than giant creatures with their weight. That was because more of their power was concentrated in their tiny bodies. That was the secret to Layer 2. 

In the same physique, cram as much weight as possible to cause even regular punches to become deadly. A Demon Soldier was only Tier 1, while a Demon King was Tier 3. So, it was already something only an elite was able to kill. Even then, killing it only rewarded one Godly Point. 

Beyond a Demon King was a Demon Emperor, a Tier 4 Demon that was yellow in color. They were the ones the Red Demon had freed in prison the moment it was able to move around. A Demon Emperor weighed between 900-1400 kilograms. They were tremendously fast and packed an insane amount of power. 

Based on the strength he witnessed from them on the battlefield while they hacked his Cloud Whale, and based on what he experienced in the God Realm, Krune was able to determine that if it were in the God Realm, a Demon Emperor was capable of soloing a Nascent God easily. 

That was how strong a Yellow Demon was. 

And above this stood the Red Demon, a Tier 5 Demon that was called a Supreme Demon. It weighed between 1400-2000 kilograms and was the strongest that could be found on the battlefield. Krune recalled the Red Demon that jumped on his Cloud Whale, brimming with hatred upon thinking of its mocking look as it toyed around with him. 

The worst of all was the fact that all Demons were sentient, possessing intelligence on par with humans. Thus, they were also capable of schemes and tactics. Surprisingly, Red Demons were strangely cunning to the point that facing one would be the worst. 

Last but not least, standing at the peak of Layer 2 was a Demon God, a Tier 6 Demon that weighed between 2000-3000 kilograms. It seemed that the level of a Demon God was the limit possible at Layer 2. In any case, Demon Gods were tremendously overpowered to the point they haven't been killed from recorded history. 

Based on the recounts, no human had ever been able to reach the level of a Demon God, or in other words, the Tier 6 status.