Chapter 39: 39：A new path

Mack started to glimpse a different way for him. One that could change his current limitations and one that could make him progress much faster.

But he still had doubts. Many doubts. And the path itself was not clear yet. It was like something was missing in all this.

"There is one thing that bugs me. Why runes can influence Essence this way? Why not other languages? Or music?"

[I already told you this before]

[Everything influences Essence. It's just the degree of Influence that changes.]

"Yeap, but is still not clear for me. Why runes?"

[Think this way. If a say to you 'I forbid you' or 'you should avoid doing this'. Wich one of those two sentences you are more likely to obey?]

"The first one. Sure."

[And what if I scream to you 'DONT']

"Then this last one."

[Do you comprehend now? Everything has a will, and everything influences Essence, just the degree of it that changes. Runes just happen to be a more strong way.]

"Yes. I think I finally understood. It's like finally everything is connecting."

Said Mack, coming to a big realization. It was as if everything was starting to make sense for him now.

Just like a missing piece of a big puzzle finally cleared the path for him to put thousand other pieces.

The Essence, the will, the runes, his blood, the gates in his body, the trials, and the mages.

The mages....

"Mages still have the gates in their bodies. So they can't influence Essence outside their bodies. Because their imprinted Essence conflicts with the Essence outside. Just like water and oil that can't mix."

Said Mack remembering everything he learned about mages until now.

"So they use runes, magic circles, staffs and so on. All to amplify the will inside them to the outside. Forcing the essence to obey while burning the Essence inside them like fuel"

[Indeed]

"But my gates are broken, so I don't have Essence of my own. I can't use a staff or whatever. I don't have imprinted Essence to burn. But I can influence Essence be it outside me or inside me to the same degree. Just. It's a very very small degree."

[Correct]

"That's why all those tests. To make a strong-willed person. All for the sake of making me able to manipulate Essence more easily."

[Correct]

"But then my body mutated during that test. And the Essence saturation in my body is several more times than outside."

Said Mack, remembering his self-mutilation session.

[Correct]

"And because of that, I barely can do anything with Essence. Activating that runes I draw on my left hand was the limit already."

[Correct]

"While normal warlocks would easily pull essence from outside to his fist and make that fist stronger"

[Correct again]

"And it seems the Essence tends to occupy all available space too..."

Mack kept talking aloud to reaffirm to himself all he knew. It was like he was getting to an epiphany. Just a small piece was missing in the puzzle. It was as if he could touch that single thought.

"And it's there where my path deviated from the one planned by my ancestor. That NPC could not teach me because he knew I was a freak."

[Indeed]

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Mack pondered over and over while mumbling something inaudible, like trying to find the correct words....

"Did I become an overpowered Mage? Is it not the same?"

Said him, remembering the way of mages and warlocks.

"I mean, the mage path heavily depends on external tools. Like staffs and magic circles. While the traditional warlock path is heavily dependent on a strong will."

"But I myself can barely stir the Essence inside me because it's several more times dense than a normal warlock."

"I'm like a living battery without a way to use that energy."

[Indeed. that is a very good comparison]

"But.... if I draw runes on my body, then I can activate them, and I will be able to output this energy. And also, the desired effect will be innumerable times stronger than a normal warlock."

"The problem lies .... In the knowledge of the runes and their limited scope of use. Because I will need to have runes carved in my body for whatever I need to do with Essence."

[Correct again. It seems you found your way]

"My way? Right..... I bet no one was stupid or crazy as me before. A fool with no knowledge is more dangerous than a genius with all the possible knowledge."

[But you are smart enough to find a path on your own. Your path.]

"All that is needed now is to do more tests."

Said Mack, remembering his last runic test that almost took his life.

"The last warlock alive become someone who would tread both paths. The warlock and the mage path. Who could have thought of that?"

[...]

"Don't tell me....."

[Indeed]

"That bastard!"

[He was sure the warlock path was powerful. But you saw for yourself. Thousands of warlocks dying to a single mage. The progression/learning curve is too huge. Your ancestor's aim was that someone could grow as fast as a mage and be as powerful as a warlock]

"Clever bastard. I look at that NPC copy of him and can't see how he had become so powerful."

[Living for thousands of years]

"Right. Only a ghost to be able to plan this much. Wait, did you say thousand of years?"

[Yes. It's normal for mages or warlocks that are fortunate enough to live way longer than normal humans]

"Crap. I hope my life doesn't become boring to the point I decide to open a sect. Just imagine... All my disciples becoming villains? Better avoid."

But that only if he survived the next trials.

Mack stopped thinking of useless things and his gaze changed to the cube in front of him.

That cube had thousands and thousands of runes for him to learn and practice.

That cube did not have all possible runes in the world but had plenty for Mack to learn.

Not only learn which rune was responsible for what, but also how to connect them. How to create circuits and how the circuits interacted with each other.

Only after learning enough and planning carefully what to do with the runes and the knowledge he would gain he will be able to use them.

The only problem was time.

Because he had only 88 days remaining.

"Time to get dirty."

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