Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 122: Questions(II): Pioneer Scale

[To merely become a Pioneer, one needs to show unprecedented genius, thus breaking the Laws of Evolution itself.]

[Doing so reshapes the Pioneer, fusing massive fluxes of Fate and Destiny within them, thus opening their Path towards Godhood.]

[To become a God Path Wielder, one needs to be a Pioneer.]

[Beyond this, Pioneers are mysterious. It is said that they are undefeatable and the most dangerous existences across the universe.]

[High races of the universe often hunt them to keep the scales balanced.]

[To know more about Pioneers, a higher resonance level will be needed.]

’High Races...’ Uriel’s gaze narrowed. ’Pioneers are those who have opened the Primordial Fate Paths of a world...’

He caressed his chin.

"Say," his thoughts churned and he spoke aloud, "if a world happens to birth ten pioneers, thus opening all its Primordial Fate Paths, and all these Pioneers happen to have paths heavily attuned to the fire element, what happens?"

"Does the world twist to accommodate their path? Does everything thus become attuned to flames, the laws leaning toward that element?"

[Yes. The Primordial Fate Paths define the fundamental laws of the world and the very fate of the world. And in turn, the Primordial Fate Paths are entirely controlled by Pioneers.]

[They are nodes of Fate itself. They are Fate.]

"So what happens if ten pioneers are born, but all wield conflicting paths? Both literally due to their path’s laws, but also spiritually due to the essence of their path, what happens then?"

[The world will either collapse or evolve. The world may develop several planes, each accommodated to one of the Pioneers, or it will entirely collapse into shards, fusing its respective parts into the Pioneers.]

[Younger Pioneers often prefer the second path since it usually allows them to rapidly approach Godhood. Older Pioneers prefer the former, though.]

Uriel fell quiet. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"You said Pioneers are often hunted by the High Races. Beyond the fact that they wish to keep balance, why would they do this?"

"What benefit could they gain?"

[There are three types of Pioneers. Primordial Pioneers, like you. Acquired Pioneers, those who had the title handed down through bloodline. And Chaos Pioneers.]

[Chaos Pioneers evolve from what are known as Crownless Seekers. Those are people with paths grand enough to open a Primordial Fate Path, yet born too late to do so due to their world having already birthed all its Pioneers.]

[Crownless Seekers are extremely common in worlds owned by High Races, both because their racial advantage increases the chance of geniuses being born, but also because the ancestors of these races are almost always Pioneers.]

[Crownless Seekers are then often sent to lesser worlds in the midst of their awakening to kill young Pioneers.]

[If they do so, they can steal their Crowns and thus become Pioneers.]

"And after that, they force the world to collapse, absorb it, then rapidly become Gods in their world, yes?"

[Yes.]

Unlike what most would expect, Uriel didn’t panic. In fact, he smiled.

"And I suppose I, as a Pioneer, can gain something from killing Crownless Seekers and Chaos Pioneers?"

[Yes, but the information regarding the exact boons is unclear.]

"That’s good, that’s good." He murmured under his breath.

A plan was forming in his mind.

"Talking about Pioneers, what’s the Pioneer Scale linked to my limiter? What do either of these terms mean?"

—

•>Limiter: Pioneer Scaling (New!)

—

It was one of the new segments of his Status that he didn’t understand at all. Even back then, when Ayah had explained the details of statuses to him, even she hadn’t known how to explain what a Limiter was.

In the past, his limiter had been at the Ex(+) rank, but now it had suddenly changed.

He was quite curious.

[A Limiter reflects the limits of an Awakened within a rank. For example, an F-Rank with a B-Rank Limiter, with enough effort, can display the might of a B-Rank.]

[It essentially measures your talent and ability to bypass the steps and realms of cultivation.]

[Often, the highest of geniuses have limiters not across ranks, but steps, with some First Step geniuses able to contend with Ninth Step experts purely due to their limiters.]

[Granted, fully excavating the potential of one’s Limiter is extremely hard and requires a perfect foundation atop a ridiculous amount of resources to nourish the body and soul.]

Uriel hummed in understanding.

’Oh, so that’s how I was able to contend with the Emperor, and also how we were able to defeat the three monsters in that simulation.’

A thought flashed through his mind. ’Enoch said Sentinels are a nightmare to fight and keep up with... is it because of their limiters?’

As a race of beings born from the essence of the laws of the world itself, it would make sense that they all naturally had high limiters, so Uriel wouldn’t be surprised.

Though he wasn’t surprised, he still frowned. Knowing he had a group of limit breakers after him still left a sour taste in his mouth.

Especially considering that unlike him, they’d most likely have the resources to fully unveil the potential of their limiters.

The thought made him sigh.

[The Pioneer Scale is one of the many Boons of Pioneers. What it does is simple.]

[It makes the Limiter of Pioneers infinite.]

"...what?!"

Uriel’s breath hitched and he nearly choked on his spit.

[Pioneers are Emperors of their own Path, their own Avenue of creation, and thus they set their own limits.]

[This means that Pioneers aren’t very limited by cultivation realms, steps of Ascendance, or even Godhood as a whole.]

[The most talented of Pioneers, as a mere G-Rank mortal, with enough resources, could have the power to slay the mightiest of Gods in the universe.]

[As said, Pioneers are monsters, and only other Pioneers can match up to them.]

[Even Pioneers born in weak worlds without resources, or nascent worlds newly awakened, can grow to be monsters as the Pioneer Scale allows them to endlessly widen their well of power by facing adversity and overcoming it.]

Uriel swallowed hard and nodded.

He did his best to suppress his raging imagination, his mind already filled with what felt like billions of ideas, grander and more ambitious than the last.

He managed to focus, though.

"Why?"