CH218 Standing on Shoulders of Giants

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All Legends were, in truth, Energy Lifeforms.

The physical appearance they retained—still resembling their former bodies—was nothing more than a façade, an illusion sustained by the stubborn ego of their identity.

In reality, every Legend had begun the transcendence process, breaking free of the limits imposed by their birth and racial origin.

At this point, the baggage of birth—be it racial talent or inadequacy—no longer held sway. What mattered instead were the strengths bound to one's soul, and the fruits of personal effort, fortune, and providence. The individual had begun stepping away from the realm dictated by their species, and onto a path shaped entirely by themselves.

As beings of pure Energy, Legends were no longer confined by the distinctions of Warrior, Mage, or Warlock. These paths were reduced to little more than methods of preference.

Still, as the saying went: it is difficult to teach an old dog new tricks. Most Legends continued along the branches they were familiar with, even though they were no longer shackled by those constraints.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of humanity's early cultivation ancestors, fragments of the truth behind transcendence had been revealed.

Using the Warrior path as a template, they were able to deduce commonalities across other branches of cultivation. The greatest of these was the concept of Energy States.

Just as Internal Energy in the Warrior path passed through Gas and Liquid states, so too did the power of Mages and Warlocks follow the same transformations.

From Acolyte to Intermediate Rank, the mana within a Mage's Mana Heart and a Warlock's Spiritual Core existed in a gaseous state.

At the Elite Rank, that gaseous mana condensed into liquid.

Here, many cultivators faltered.

Just as Warriors struggled to take the step from Elite to Veteran, countless Mages and Warlocks found themselves unable to completely liquefy the mana in their Mana Hearts or Spiritual Cores.

Only those with sufficient talent and enlightenment could do so, and by achieving complete liquefaction, they advanced to the Great Mage or Great Warlock ranks. From there, they could begin to brush against Derived Laws, stepping onto the road of transcendence and eventually, Legendhood.

In essence, no matter which path one walked, all roads converged the further one climbed.

For all their faults, humanity's ancestors had been the driving force of cultivation progress on the Pangea Plane. Their relentless thirst for knowledge and ceaseless experimentation carved a path for a weaker race to stand alongside those born innately superior.

And because their system had been designed around humanity's frail physique, its effectiveness was undeniable. If it worked for humans, it held value even for the so-called stronger races.

Thus, even the mighty races of the plane could no longer ignore humanity's contributions. Trade and knowledge exchange followed, leading to mutual development. Humanity offered their cultivation frameworks, and in return, they acquired specialized techniques unique to other races.

This exchange laid the foundations for the realm-spanning academia that still existed to this day.

Reading and pondering on this history, Alex found one of his personal beliefs reaffirmed:

Brains beat brawn. But in truth, both were necessary.

From the records, it was clear that the greatest weapon of humanity's ancestors was their intelligence—the ability to deduce, adapt, and innovate. Yet they had only been able to do so because they first possessed the strength to back their research.

Without cultivation, they would never have had the security to conduct their studies, nor the might to gather the resources needed for their experiments.

Brains had guided humanity to enlightenment—but brawn had paved the way.

So yes, while it was intellect that fueled humanity's rise to its current heights, it was brawn that safeguarded and enabled that growth.

'It truly is an underdog story,' Alex thought to himself. 'Unlike races such as Titans, Dragons, Elves, Dwarves, or Orcs, we humans are not giants in and of ourselves. Instead, it is because we stand on the shoulders of those before us—our predecessors—that humanity as a collective can cast a vast, unbeatable shadow upon a world filled with stronger adversaries.

'I wonder what those from the Dark Ages, the very first cultivators, would think if they were told that a time would come where humans could clash with such innately stronger races with nothing more than our so-called 'fragile' bodies. That we would one day negotiate with dragons as near-equals... that we would even be capable of slaying them.'

'Indeed, it was upon their boldness and sacrifice that humanity stands where it does today.'

Alex's eyes glowed faintly.

He felt a powerful resonance with this realization—this truth.

He had never thought of himself as a genius. He didn't believe he was particularly special.

If there was anything unique about him, it was his ability to take the ideas and creativity of others and rework them into something new.

He was not a creative genius, but a pragmatic innovator.

His Rune-Tech platform, at its core, wasn't some grand, original masterpiece. Instead, it was the innovative culmination of principles and knowledge—compiled, refined, and reapplied from the work of humanity's predecessors across both his past life and his present one.

The platform wasn't about creating something entirely new from scratch. It was about finding solutions through adaptation—repurposing what already existed and bending it to meet his current needs.

Did that make him seem less extraordinary than others believed him to be? Perhaps.

But Alex didn't care. In truth, he was only walking the same road humanity had always walked.

Yes, there had always been creative geniuses who pushed humanity forward in great leaps. But innovators like him could not be discounted either. They were the ones who ensured humanity continued advancing, a small step at a time, yes, but never stopping.

'I may not be the one to revolutionize the world. But like the first cultivators, the ancestors, and the scholars after them, I can be of the one who facilitates that revolution when it does come.'

As Alex reflected on humanity's rise—from frailty to a force capable of clashing with Dwarves, Wildkin, and other innately powerful races—such a clash was unfolding only a few tens of kilometers away.

There, in an unremarkable village nestled deep within a remote mountain range, Exercitus Alexii's Vanguard Squadron's First Company was locked in battle against a horde of nearly five hundred goblins.

The company's archers held the high ground, raining arrows to suppress the horde, while its warriors surged forward to meet the charging Goblin Fighters and Goblin Warriors who sought to overrun the hill.

The humans rushed downhill in unison, crashing boldly into the goblin frontlines.

The result was something the people of humanity's Dark Ages could never have imagined.

Clad in armor-like Aura Coating, the warriors tore through the goblin ranks like mounted cavalry in a devastating charge.

A few among them even possessed Weapon Coating, their blades gleaming with deadly reinforcement as they cut down the weaker Goblins before turning seamlessly toward the stronger goblins, striking with trained precision and ruthless efficiency.

Not only did these human warriors prove themselves physically stronger than the innately gifted Goblin Warriors and Fighters, they also fought with a fearlessness born from having slain countless goblins before.

It was a sight that would move any human from the Dark Ages to tears of joy.

For it was undeniable proof of how far humanity had come—carried here by the courage and sacrifices of those who came before them.

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