At the conceptual level, the Murim World had changed.
This was what Compass Carburettor understood after observing the state of things for thirty years. Originally, the people of the Murim World were born with Dantians.
This was the most basic concept of a Murim World—Dantian.
Without a Dantian, a Martial Artist couldn't exist. Even though they were all humans, those on Earth didn't possess a Dantian. Thereby, they couldn't accumulate internal energy or Qi.
Whether it was a human or any other race living in the Murim World, they all possessed a Dantian. Of course, some were born with defective Dantians or shattered Dantians like Rass. But everyone possessed one, including animals.
There was Qi in every living being, including minerals. For Martial Artists to cultivate and develop, they needed to ingest items rich in Qi to develop their internal energy.
Similarly, they would need to refine minerals rich in Qi to create weapons that they could wield using the same. This meant that for survival and development, Qi was necessary, and that formed the core rule of the Murim World.
Without that, a Murim World wouldn't exist.
This was the difference that Compass Carburettor had intended to figure out between a Grade 2 System and a Grade 3 System.
A Grade 2 System depicted a race. A Vampire System converted any race with its fragment into vampires too. That was absolute. The same went for other Grade 2 Systems too.
A vampire could live in any setting, be it a Cultivation world, a Murim world, a modern society, or even an apocalyptic world. But they would remain a vampire, albeit with changes according to the setting.
But Grade 3 Systems simply changed the world. Or rather, they added a fundamental rule into the existing setup.
For example, it is a Dantian in the Murim World. A Vampire could live in a Murim World. And in accordance with the effects of this law, the Vampire would develop a Dantian. Its innate abilities would morph to accustom a Dantian and would revolve around it in usage.
The Vampire would rely upon the Blood Qi stored in its Dantian to attack. Similarly, a different race would change to live in the world.
Grade 3 Systems only created a template, like a concentrated drop of ink. Depending on the colour of the solvent, the resultant mix varies.
'Originally, I thought a Grade 3 System causes all races in a world to change when it changes the laws of the world. Just like the Gunmetal Gold World that was changed by the Invader System to birth the Invaders. But now I understand that I was wrong.' He nodded, 'The only property the Invader System introduced into that world was the concept of invasion.'
'The races there incorporated that into them and accustomed to it better.' He nodded in understanding, 'Indeed, a bear has the best odds of survival in the jungle while a polar bear has in the polar ice caps. Both are the same species, but they have adapted to the respective environment and can survive there the best, not the other way around.'
'So, that's what it means.' He finally understood the difference.
A Grade 2 System could introduce a race in a new environment, but their survival isn't guaranteed. If they adapt, they survive, otherwise, they would get wiped out.
But a Grade 3 System ensures that all the races adapt to the changes. That aspect that allows them to adapt is what defines a Grade 3 System.
And when taken to the extreme, a Grade 3 System can manifest its Core Skill to create a world where everyone engulfed by it is forced to adapt to its rules.
In the case of Martial, through Rass, he introduced the concept of CC Seed that devoured and took the place of the Dantian. The rest of the equation remains the same. Only one variable had been changed.
And the introduced variable ensures the native races would adapt to it.
It had to be noted that there wasn't any significant difference in the world order. Things continued to flow the same as before, but the torrent had changed thanks to the new variable in effect—CC Seed.
'That means when the Apocalypse System targets a world, it only installs the variable of apocalypse into the world. The races of zombies and the likes are just the natives adapting to the variable.' He nodded in realisation, "That means, to become a Grade 3 System, did the Apocalypse System devour the Grade 2 Systems like the Zombie System…?"
His eyes lit up in realisation, "The hunting grounds of Grade 2 Systems."
In the Hunter World, humans became Hunters through the Hunter System fragments in them. They hunted the Dungeon Monsters, absorbing the Dungeon Monster System fragments to grow in response. And similarly, the Dungeon Monsters too killed and consumed them in reverse.
This means that the Hunter System had absorbed some of the Dungeon Monster System's essence and vice-versa.
This implied that when the Hunter System reaches Grade 3, when it affects a world, the humans there would adapt to become Hunters. Similarly, the animals there would adapt to become Dungeon Monsters.
As the essence of the Dungeon Monster System exists within the Hunter System, this was possible.
"If a Grade 2 System is purely concentrated on one concept, then a Grade 3 System is a fusion or an amalgamation of multiple concepts. Indeed," He nodded, "A world is infinitely complex as compared to a race. From the food they eat to the air they breathe, everything must be suitable for a race to survive."
"But, a single race cannot sustain itself. Just like the food chain, biodiversity must be attained to create a stable, functional world."
A lack of trees causes desertification, and too much flora without fauna would cause an overgrowth before they run out of carbon-di-oxide and other factors to sustain themselves and wither. Predator and prey must be balanced. Otherwise, an imbalance from one would upset everything.
The information of billions of races is necessary to successfully introduce that one variable without causing an imbalance. Even the Apocalypse System followed the same.
Even for the Genre Representatives, it was the same. After all, the output of whether it was a Core Skill Manifestation or a Genre Representation was the same—a world.
That begs the question: How diverse must a genre be before it could be represented?
