Chapter 34 & 35: Hope And PromiseFor an ascendant, there were three things that were more significant than any other.First was base talent, the higher the better. Any kind of bloodline, affinity, and even a knack for battles or certain skills were all welcome. Although all beings under the sky had an equal chance of ascent, their base talent usually decided how far an ascendant could reach.Then came hard work, which was a no-brainer. The class, the tiers, the skills, all were configured in such a way that mere talent alone wasn’t enough to push one to Gold. Perhaps not even to Silver.The third was resources, be it potions and elixirs, training facilities, skill stones, or treasures that could improve attunements. Even artifacts, weapons, and all useful tools fell into this category.With sufficient resources, one could even bypass talent and hard work to some degree. Ember himself was a good example of that.In his early years, his mana foundation grew at the pace of a snail. But once he was inducted into the Elementary Mana Chamber, his growth increased two- or threefold, and it continued to rise in the Copper Grade Mana Chamber.After making it to Tier 3 in mana, he could also ingest the half-dozen mana elixirs he had gathered to improve his foundation even quicker.There were also evolution potions that could forcibly raise one's skill levels. Even if they came with huge consequences, they were still something miraculous to someone who had no hope of advancing.Resources became more prevalent for high rankers as they ascended higher, especially for the Mage Classes. As the requirement for mana foundation continued to double, there was no other way to push your mana forward in the short term without using high-quality mana elixirs. Adding in attunements, which were arguably the hardest aspect to gain proficiency in, no amount of hard work could push someone untalented beyond the minor rank. (...)