Chapter 173: Chapter 170: Paths

Mila

“Alright. I’ll go first.” Nitya stood up from where she was sitting. “I’m following the traditional wind mage path.

“As we all know, my race is specialized for the element of wind, my bloodline boosts the power of mage skills, and my uniqueness is awesome, greatly boosting the effectiveness of my Attunement stat.

“I need natural treasures to help with each of my race advancements so I can increase its grade each time, as well as treasures to help with my racial abilities, and that’s about it. As my path is quite common, Nana Xara has the method for integrating my One With the Hurricane skill into my cultivation technique, so we can get that from a random quest, and, as I’m aiming for one of the three most common acupoint opening orders in the universe, we already have it from the Shadow Thief’s vault.”

Nitya smiled at everyone. “I’m the cheapest one here. And my path is really common, so there shouldn’t be any blockers in my way until B rank. Finally, given my race and bloodline, even if I awaken to another uniqueness, it is unlikely my path will change.”

She turned to Irena as she sat down. “Irena?”

“Okay.” Irena stood and started reporting next. “I’m following the path of a four elements monk. It’s not as common as a wind mage, but it’s not too out there either.

“My race helps with all four elements of fire, water, earth, and wind, and my bloodline makes fighting with my fists better than with weapons. Meanwhile, my uniqueness boosts my senses and gives me some unique extra ones as well.

“Like Nitya, I pretty much only need help with my race advancements and racial skills as Nana Xara has the method for integrating my skill into my cultivation technique. And, while my acupoint opening order is a bit uncommon, it’s not that rare so it was included in the Shadow Thief’s vault.”

She turned to look at Isaiah. “Isaiah, I believe you’re next.”

“Yes.” Isaiah stood up as Irena sat down. “I’m going down the path of a balance knight who uses both shield and spear. It is very much not a common path, but it’s a path I should meet all the requirements for relatively easily so long as we’re able to get certain resources and techniques.

“My race is powerful and works for all my Laws, and it also increases in grade automatically every time it ranks up. My bloodline allows me to cultivate much, much faster than I would be able to otherwise and gives me an all around boost, and, due to one of my racial abilities and Diana’s help, it increases in grade incredibly easily as well. Then, finally, my uniqueness increases my Perception, which is helpful but doesn’t really matter that much for my build.

“I will, however, need more resources than Nitya or Irena. First, I will need some resources which shouldn’t be that difficult to get to raise my race to a strong soul variant. Second, I will need resources to help alter the path of one of my racial abilities, Active Daoist, as it is a trap racial ability I otherwise don’t want to advance. And, third, given Dragon Drive is a very rare skill, we don’t have access to the method to merge it with my cultivation technique, so we will have to get that from the War of the Chosen.

“Fourth, my acupoint opening order is very rare, and I don’t know how we’re going to find it. Fifth, when I take my second class at D rank, I’ll need 5 new specific Fabled grade skills, which will likely be very hard to find. And, finally, sixth, when I reach C rank and merge both my D rank classes, I’ll get a new Empyrean grade class and need 5 new C rank Empyrean grade skills.

“The end result, Nana Xara and Aalam both think will be very powerful, but I’m a bit worried.”

He sat back down and looked at Diana. “Di, you’re next.”

“Okay.” Diana laughed and stood up. “My path is that of a yin yang summoner, which is very, very rare. And, like Isaiah, at C rank and beyond it will basically involve maximizing the power possible at every rank.

“My race is about as good as you can get for all Laws, and my bloodline provides ridiculous cultivation speed, a huge overall boost to my stats, and makes raising the grade of my race easier. Meanwhile, I have three uniquenesses which boost my affinity with yin yang Laws, my Magic stat, and my Soul stat respectively.

“I will need more resources for upgrading my race and they will be hard to find. And, when I merge my two current classes upon advancing to D rank, I will need 5 new D rank Mythic grade skills, which also will be difficult to come by. Nana Xara, however, does have the method for integrating my skill with my cultivation technique and the acupoint opening order I plan to use, while I already have all the resources I need to upgrade my racial abilities, so I’ll be cheaper overall than Isaiah.”

She sat down again and smiled at Aalam. “Aalam, can you report for you and Mila? I imagine the paths of you two will be the most difficult.”

“Okay.” Aalam stood up. “I’m following the path of the sage, which will give me three extra classes by C rank, so I’ll also be following the paths of a heavenly spark crafter, a heavenly spark psychic, and a heavenly spark domain lord.

“My race provides good affinity for all Laws, my bloodline allows me to use a single nearly dead monster or cultivator as a race advancement resource once per rank, and my uniquenesses make me much more powerful in my own Territory and a psychic berserker if I feel particularly strong emotions.

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“I will need more resources for upgrading my race, strong monsters or cultivators whose racial power I can absorb with my bloodline, and a much larger Territory. Also, I will need lots of skills, from the skills required to merge Ruler’s Raiment at E rank, to the skills to merge other skills at higher ranks. Given I can merge skills for free, however, my required skills will probably be easier to come by than Isaiah’s and Diana’s.

“As for the method to integrate my chosen skill with my cultivation technique, it does not exist, so Nana Xara and I will have to create it, which will take time. But the acupoint opening order I plan to use is one Nana Xara already has, so it will just require a simple quest, and my racial abilities will upgrade how I want them to without any resources required.

“Overall, though, especially due to the Territory requirements, my path will cost us the most time and effort.

“Mila, on the other hand, will probably cost us only a little more than Nitya and Irena.

“She has the same race I do and a bloodline which allows her to easily and cheaply upgrade her race to match mine, while her uniquenesses are one which boosts her Aura stat and a second which is the exact same as Irena’s.”

Aalam of course knew Mila’s first uniqueness did more than just boost her Aura stat, but he also knew revealing such was tantamount to killing her in the future, so he never had. As a result, only he, Nana Xara, and her grandfather were aware of what her true uniqueness was, and her grandfather only because he had a weaker version of the uniqueness himself.

“She’s following the path of an essence servant and a trickster, and at D rank she’ll gain a second trickster class and merge the two together at C rank, where she will gain yet another class. What she’ll choose for her third and fourth classes then I don’t think she’s decided.

“She’ll need no resources for her race. She already has the resources for boosting her racial abilities. And both the method for integrating her chosen skill with her cultivation technique and her acupoint opening order are already owned by Nana Xara. So, the only expense from her will be for skills and, given the nature of her servant class, some of those I’ll be able to help her merge, allowing them to be much cheaper yet take more time to raise.”

Aalam sat back down, a smile still on his face, and Mila knew he was enjoying this type of talk more than any of them.

“Alright.” Epecteos looked at all of them. “We know what we need. And we also have three active plans to help us gain our required resources without having to go find them out in the universe: competing in the War of the Chosen, apprenticing Aalam to the Alchemist of the Deep Woods, and having the Yin Yang Sage put us even more in her debt during the System hosted auction in eight years.

“I want you all to remember something, though, as things have been quite easy for you lately.

“Don’t get complacent, and always plan for the worst. In the grand scheme of the universe, we’re incredibly minor players, and there are many, many forces completely beyond our control. In the face of any of them, all our power and scheming mean nothing, and all you can do is run and hide.”

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