Novel Full Chapter 264: Above Authority Is Principle
[After explaining that to Jade, you added, "Because each Authority is unique since they are made up of a specific law fragment, it’s impossible to use Equivalent Exchange to exchange for Authorities we encountered."]
["It’s only possible to exchange for it if the Authority is ownerless. But if it isn’t, such as it already being used as nutrients by the Ether Fruit Tree, we can’t exchange for the Authorities we’ve already used to fertilize the Ether Fruit Tree."]
[You’ve recalled that the Initial Aether rank World Serpent possessed the Life Authority.]
[Since it’s corpse possessed residual law fragments of the Life Authority, the World Serpent’s Life Authority was already used to nourish the Ether Fruit Tree.]
[Unless you chopped down the Ether Fruit Tree and released the World Serpent’s Life Authority back to the universe, it was impossible to exchange for the World Serpent’s Life Authority using Equivalent Exchange.]
[From what you know, while some portion of the Universal Law was ownerless, most of it was already owned.]
[In other words, to acquire more law fragments, you and Jade either had to comprehend Authorities and acquire more "share percentage" of that Universal Law, or plunder it from other Authority Holders.]
[The first method would eventually reach its limit, and it would take much longer than snatching ready-made ones.]
[Undoubtedly, Jade realized such a problem as well, which she replied, "Darling, our Zenith Train Crew can focus on hunting those Authority Holders."]
["With your All Stars Aligned and Wish Maker, it won’t be difficult to arrive in stations with Aether rank powerhouses."]
[Hearing Jade’s reply, you nodded in agreement, "Aside from that, I also need to further complete the Train Conductor Authority."]
["From what I discovered, each authority contains a different amount of law fragments depending on the percentage of that Universal Law owned by the Authority Holder."]
["For a law fragment to become legitimate and solidify into an Authority, a minimum of 0.001% of that certain Universal Law must be possessed."]
["From what I discovered from using Hint Prompt on the Vampire Progenitor’s Will Avatar, there existed higher grades of an Authority which is determined by the percentage of Universal Law Fragments owned."]
["I couldn’t discover all of the higher grades since the information known by the Vampire Progenitor’s Will Avatar is limited. However, I still discovered that above an Authority is a Principle."]
["To possess a Principle, the Law Fragment Percentage owned must reach 30.001%. If that is achieved, one can possess a Principle instead of an Authority."]
["From what I know, none of the Train Conductors possessed the Train Conductor Principle. Those Aether rank Train Conductors all possessed Train Conductor Authority."]
["The reason why none of the Train Conductors have reached Initial Starlight rank, let alone Peak Aether rank, is due to not reaching the advancement requirements to Peak Aether rank, and then to Initial Starlight."]
[Pausing for a while, you then continued your explanation, "Just like the advancement requirements of an Initial Aether rank require an Authority, which is a minimum of 0.001% law fragment, higher ranks also require certain percentages of law fragments."]
["It’s for this reason that some Train Conductors at Aether rank are stuck at a certain stage. Not only is accumulating enough stat attributes to reach higher stages way too time-consuming, owning more law fragments mostly requires talent and comprehension."]
["For Train Conductors, they either had to comprehend an Authority separate from the Train Conductor Authority, or they had to stick to the Train Conductor Authority and advance it by killing other Aether rank Train Conductors."]
["Only Train Conductors at Aether rank would possess a minimum of 0.001% law fragment. And since Train Conductors are way stronger than native station world powerhouses of the same rank, most Train Conductors would just find other Authorities to develop since it’s too risky to fight Train Conductors of the same rank."]
[You started explaining to Jade the law fragment percentage required to advance within the Aether rank.]
[From Initial Aether to Mid Aether, one must possess 0.01% law fragment. To achieve that, Train Conductors either had to kill 10 Initial Aether rank Train Conductors, or they had to spend a significant amount of time comprehending their own authority.]
[To advance to Late Aether rank, a Mid Aether rank Train Conductor must possess 1% law fragment, which is a huge leap from before. It’s literally a hundred times more than a Mid Aether rank’s law fragment.]
[The most senior and talented Train Conductors still manage to achieve that with a different authority, while only a few managed to achieve it with their Train Conductor Authority.]
[However, that’s where they’re all stuck. As for the reason why, the advancement from Late Aether rank to Peak Aether rank wasn’t something that could be achieved in just a few hundred years.]
[The requirement was literally 1% law fragment to 2% law fragment. Those at Late Aether rank had to kill a Train Conductor that possessed 1% law fragment of the Train Conductor Authority.]
[From what you’ve discovered, none of the Late Aether rank Train Conductors ever fought to the death with each other. Even those Train Conductors who walked the path of advancing their Train Conductor Authority would rather fight against Mid Aether and Initial Aether rank Train Conductors than those of Late Aether rank.]
[Those at Late Aether rank could be counted on one’s hands. There were too few of them since most walked the path of a different authority. Because of that, it’s way too reliant on talent and comprehension.]
[For those lower-grade authorities like the Fire Authority, they literally have limited universal law fragments left unowned.]
[If the unowned law fragments ever ran out, then even if someone was a prodigy, they’d have to kill other Fire Authority Holders just to release those law fragments back to the universe and have the opportunity to own them.]
[If the advancement requirement of Peak Aether rank was already that high, the advancement requirement from Peak Aether rank to Initial Starlight rank was even more difficult than it’s outright impossible for Train Conductors.]
[Realizing what you were explaining, Jade gasped in shock, "Darling, don’t tell me that to advance to Starlight rank, one must possess a Principle?!"]