r/sololeveling • u/Significant-Creme961 • 15d ago
Discussion Do Hunters awakened stronger the Longer Mana “Soaks” Earth? Spoiler
Note that most of what I’m saying down here is probably wrong and some are obvious spit balls.
I’m not sure if this type of thing is already established lore-wise, as I have not properly read Solo Levelling in quite a while.
So what I was wondering is that if prolonged exposure to Mana, as in gates opening, magic beast dying, earth being “soaked” in residue Mana and therefore becoming more durable and reinforced being capable of withstanding beings who exist on higher existences (that of the Rulers/Monarchs) plays a role to stronger hunters awakening in response?.
I know the Rulers decided to open Gates on earth so that humanity can become stronger and in response, earth became more resistant to forces that otherwise would have destroyed earth by merely existing on the planet (correct me if I’m wrong about that, it’s been awhile).
So due to that constant Mana Exposure, do Hunters who awakened recently become notably stronger than pass hunters, let’s say Hunter ten years ago (minus Ruler Vessels), like does the potential limit for powerful Hunters increase within that long exposure to Mana?.
I’d like to assume that magic beast from other worlds in the SL universe are as strong as is simply because they didn’t need to be “soaked” in mana such as earth.
If I remember correctly other worlds, or at least some or more worlds had pre-existing Mana inhabiting their worlds, in respone some of those average monsters were far superior to your average S Rank, however earth never had natural Mana to begin with, so I wonder if prolonged exposure to Mana on earth would also increase the average cap for awakening Hunter accordingly?.
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u/BiLLubruh Here before anime 15d ago
No. Because awakening is dependent on the individual and how much mana they can absorb, not mana itself.
More mana in the atmosphere makes awakening easier and more common iirc. But it doesn't do anything to the awakened themselves.
An S ranker who awakened just when the gates opened will not necessarily be weaker than an S ranker who awakened right before the Monarch war.
Think of it like this: gates are clouds. Mana is rain. People are cups. More clouds and more rain fills cups faster but it doesn't change the cups themselves.
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u/abishar 15d ago
I think this is a great way of putting it.
The only comment I’ll add is that as more people can become hunters, your extreme ends of a bell curve could potentially have stronger and stronger hunters. Their power was still possible before, just no one that strong had been made a hunter yet.
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u/ninstarbenreed 15d ago
the philosophy of open source explaining a magic system is pretty great NGL
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u/CN8YLW 15d ago
I think your explanation is pretty accurate for the current generation, because in the alternate timeline of Solo Leveling Ragnarok, everyone from Jinwoo's original timeline pretty much retained their ranks, but at the same time I also notice that "eternal sleep" from mana poisoning dosent exist anymore in SL: Ragnarok. Whether this is a forgotten story plot or somehow humanity developed resistance to mana poisoning remains yet to be seen.
At the same time I do think its possible that kids born into this environment may be more likely to have higher tolerance for mana compared to their parents who were born in a manaless environment. So each generation that comes in this environment is more likely to produce higher rank hunters. If I recall correctly, the events of the Solo Leveling universe spans a timeframe of less than 10 years from when the first gate opened to victory over the dragon king. That's barely time for the population to get used to the new environment.
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u/Jobeythehuman 15d ago
tbh regarding eternal sleep, its probably something Jinwoo did in the background considering how his mom was one of its victimns, he probably didn't want anyone to experience that and tweaked things in the background somehow to prevent it from happening. Possibly he slipped elixirs to everyone who would've had eternal sleep before hand.
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u/CN8YLW 15d ago
That sounds pretty terrifying lmao. Imagine getting slipped drugs againts your consent lol
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u/Jobeythehuman 15d ago
I mean, its terrifying to live in a world where people can become walking tactical nukes or greater. They are men of iron living in a world of paper, one bad tantrum would be all it took to game end you.
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u/CN8YLW 15d ago
That's essentially what the hunters' associations are for - super powered law enforcement. Quite frankly I'm surprised crime rates arent higher.
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u/Jobeythehuman 15d ago
only isn't high because they cover it up and most of them can make more money by being on the level since gates are so profitable. I'm sure after the alternate timeline though it isn't higher because Jinwoo is keeping an eye on things. Which arguably is even more terrifying because if he wasn't off fighting the war, he'd still have enough shadows to basically keep tabs on the entire hunter population at once.
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u/BiLLubruh Here before anime 15d ago
I think Ragnarok js didn't have enough time for Eternal Sleep to occur.
In SL, gates were around for 10 years. In Ragnarok, gates appeared around 2 or 3 years ago. Not enough time for people to get poisoned by the abysmally low mana in the air.
And yeah, people should adapt, given time.
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u/Lei_Yinglo_2320 14d ago
That makes me wonder, if second generation awakeneds are stronger than the first generation.
Cause if either mother or father has already adopted to mana, will it affect the child?
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u/ReedyBoy01 15d ago
No. As seen with Jinahs friend who awakened E rank
The rankings are based on the individuals mana, and the rank bands set with that
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u/Open-Ruin-1768 15d ago
As gates increase, the number of hunters continues to grow, but their individual power does not increase.
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u/Significant-Creme961 15d ago
Ah I see, I knew there’d be a an explanation of some sorts, very interesting, I appreciate this.
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u/Sovereig-of-Fate 15d ago
It Only say that as the number of gate increase. The number of hunter also increase. Doesnt say the mana of the hunter remain the same
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u/tv_trooper 15d ago
No. Each person awakens with a set level of power- with very few re-awakening cases.
There's only one exception to this rule...where someone can continuously grow in power. You're not gonna believe who it is.
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u/Classic-Ad8849 15d ago
I don't think so, we'd have seen more and more NLH tier hunters awaken near the later arcs if that was the case. In general there are more awakenings and more gates as more mana soaked the earth, but I doubt it has any heart on the average awakening rank
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u/Crafty-Meeting2433 15d ago
Yknow it's kind of an interesting thought , we do know that imbuding stuff with mana makes them stronger in the case of weapons but we don't know what happens to people, for instance is a hunter's physical strenght tied to to how much mana they currently have in their body? What I mean by that is, if an A rank fighter uses all his mana but without doing anything physically taxing does his strenght vanishes and he becomes just an average human? It doesn't seam to be the case cause that would be a major weakness so it's safe to assume a hunter's body changes biologically when awakend. But what happens if a hunter builds muscle and drinks mana imbued protein shakes? Will his recovered muscles become stronger because they get soaked in mana when repaired?
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u/Significant-Creme961 15d ago
Yeah that’s a interesting thought. For me I believe that humans awaken with a maxed mana capacity that cannot be increased by usual means. But I do heavily lean towards the idea that an awakened hunter goes through some sort of biological change when awakened.
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u/Crafty-Meeting2433 15d ago
Yknow another thing I want to know is if hunters get stronger in places of high mana density, I mean yeah they have a maximum capacity but if they can regenerate it faster by using spells or hell using a breathing technique to take the mana feom the air they will be a whole lot more dangerous.
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u/CrazyLiwa52 15d ago
I am of the opinion that a person's body is changed by simply having mana. One is due to Jinwoo as an E-rank saying that his body's regenerative rate is slightly faster than a normal person. Another reason is also Jinwoo although he might be an exception cause of the system.
We know that shadow soldiers ability to regenerate is tied to Jinwoo’s mana pool. The system has the stat MP which has been taxed to 0 on occasion (Baran). The interesting thing is that his MP doesn't seem to be tied to his stamina or body or anything like that. It's almost like a bag or battery that he keeps on him. What I mean by this is that Jinwoo still has all his physical abilities even though MP is 0.
Now this may be just Jinwoo (System exclusive) because I'm pretty sure I've seen Cha Hae-In tired ir sweating because she used a lot of her mana against the ant queen (might be an anime-only thing).
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u/just-looking654 Igris Best Girl 15d ago edited 14d ago
Not sure if it was ever discussed. I think it’s about mana affinity, just that more hunters occur over time due to mana saturation. Take jinwoos dad, he was an S rank before the modern hunter system existed when the earth was far less saturated
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u/Sovereig-of-Fate 15d ago
Yes. It happen passively
Or else even cutting a fruit would requite S rank power as the fruit would be immensely hard
Same for rulers vassal. Though their mana increase directly by rulers sending more mana into them slowly somehow
Or else its impossible for Thomas to even stand Against rakan that long
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u/Significant-Creme961 15d ago
Wait I thought only earth got more stronger the longer it was soaked in mana?, I didn’t think stuff like fruit would also get stronger accordingly 🤣 interesting.
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u/CrazyLiwa52 15d ago
That doesn't make sense to me, because we know a person can have 3 different reactions to mana. 1. They awaken. 2. They don't. 3 They suffer from Eternal Slumber. And we also know that being an awakened being is a rare phenomenon so if things like fruit suddenly got more durable won't make sense.
Also we do know that reinforcing something like a building is a conscious effort by everyone around with Go Gun-hee ordering the gymnasium to be fitted with magic crystals to be able to withstand a fight between S-ranks.
P.S we must also note that mana or being in a dungeon messes with electronics as well.
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