The mortal realm is split into five smaller realms, each representing the state in which the mana core is in. First comes the ethereal mana core, which is the first state the mana core forms in after one begins to cultivate. Once they have gathered enough ambient mana, they will finally break into the gaseous realm, where their mana pool will essentially multiply based on their talents, making it so that not everyone in the same minor realm is equal in strength while also creating a disparity in power between each minor realm.
After the gaseous realm comes the liquidous realm, which is achieved after concentrating all the gaseous mana from the mana core in a single spot, creating a mana drop within their mana core that has just as much mana as all their gaseous mana combined. This only works to further the gap between each realm, making it much harder for anyone in the gaseous realm to even stand a chance against someone in the liquidous realm.