Cultivation Realms
Every player starts at Body Refinement, Early-Stage and climbs toward immortality through 7 realms, each split into 4 sub-stages: Early, Middle, Late, and Peak.
flowchart LR;
R1["Body Refinement"] --> R2["Qi Condensation"];
R2 --> R3["Foundation Establishment"];
R3 --> R4["Golden Core Formation"];
R4 --> R5["Nascent Soul"];
R5 --> R6["Soul Formation"];
R6 --> R7["Void Refinement"];
Within each realm, a player advances Early -> Middle -> Late -> Peak, then breaks through into the next realm’s Early-Stage.
Advancements vs. Breakthroughs
Both are real, timed meditation rituals - meditate in a chunk with enough Spirit Vein Qi present, and the ritual makes progress over time. Cancel one early (by moving too far, or manually) and you’re demoted a stage as the price of failure.
| Sub-Stage Advancement | Realm Breakthrough | |
|---|---|---|
| When it happens | Early -> Middle, Middle -> Late, Late -> Peak | Peak -> next realm’s Early-Stage |
| Minimum chunk Qi required | 200 (Advancement-Min-Chunk-Qi) | 750 (Breakthrough-Min-Chunk-Qi) |
| Base duration | 8 seconds (Advancement-Base-Seconds) | 30 seconds (Breakthrough-Base-Seconds) |
| Duration scaling per realm | x1.3 per realm reached | x1.5 per realm reached |
| Stakes | Failing costs you a stage | Failing costs you a stage - the bigger, higher-stakes ritual of the two |
A race with a Breakthrough-Duration-Percent-Reduction bonus (like Deity) completes both kinds of ritual faster, clamped so it can never cut the duration by more than 90%.
The Qi Curve
How much Qi is needed to advance is fully config-driven (see Config) and grows along a curve built from four numbers:
- Base-Qi-Requirement (140) - the Qi needed for the very first advancement (Body Refinement, Early-Stage).
- Substage-Growth-Rate (1.45) - multiplies the requirement for each sub-stage climbed within a realm.
- Realm-Base-Multiplier (3.75) - multiplies the requirement for each realm reached, stacking on top of sub-stage growth.
- Realm-Breakthrough-Multiplier (5.5) - an extra multiplier applied only to a realm breakthrough’s Qi cost, on top of the normal curve - this is what makes a breakthrough feel like a much bigger deal than a routine advancement.
Realm & Stage Bonuses
Higher realms and stages grant additive max health and percentage damage bonuses, both scaling off your total sub-level (realm x 4 + stage):
- Health-Bonus-Per-Level: +4.0 max health per sub-level.
- Damage-Percent-Bonus-Per-Level: +2.0% damage per sub-level.
These stack with any race bonuses you have, and are visible at any time via /cultivation info or the persistent HUD (/cultivation hud).
See the Commands page for the full /cultivation admin setrealm/setstage reference, and Qi Gathering for how to actually earn the Qi that drives all of this.