Soul Path
Soul Path
Dyon walked along a moving floor, heading back to the same pillar he had met Libro in – Patia-Neva Pillar. Looking down at the white card in his hand, he sighed.
'After all that, it seems like I'll be stuck with books on just the first level.' He smirked. 'Delia's never going to fall for me if I have to ask her for help at every turn.'
Thinking back to Meiying, Dyon chuckled. 'She's definitely not simple either. I felt like I was almost being used, but what complaints would I ever have about such a pretty little lady needing my services?'
Dyon's eyes flashed with seriousness. He knew he needed an action plan.
For one, the currency system in this martial world was entirely different. Dyon was so poor here that he couldn't even afford a ride on the silver yacht. Secondly, there's the matter of access. Being restricted to just the first level wasn't a big deal for now, but considering Dyon's speed reading ability, he knew he'd finish the entire first level in about 2 months at the most, and that was if he read things useless to him. Plus, that wasn't accounting for the increase his speed would undergo as he further familiarized himself with the technique.
Dyon shook his head. 'These people are so petty. By my performance, I definitely deserve higher floor access. But considering their anger, being frozen out might be the best possible outcome. I'll have to publicize my future accomplishments so that they have no choice but to follow the rules in the future.'
Dyon's eyes glazed over in thought. In truth he had many ideas, but they needed time to be implemented. With just 1 week before classes started, Dyon didn't have much time before his freedom was cut down by almost half.
'This money thing is going to be an issue…'
Although Dyon had his wrist bands to preserve the food he brought from home, considering how much he ate, that would last another 2 weeks at the most. After that, he'd need money to eat. And that's not even speaking on how he would protect himself.
Of course, the main way students protected themselves were factions. But, with Dyon's pride, he had no intention of asking Delia to join hers. Even if she asked him, his answer would be no.
To these people, his arrogance was bordering on stupid. To them, he had a pride he hadn't earned. But, only he knew what he had been through in his life. He'd crush them in their own field without relying on anyone else.
That said, this didn't mean that Dyon didn't have avenues to explore. In addition to student led factions headed by the 'Chosen' and 'Pseudo-Chosen', there were so-called secondary profession factions that caught his eye. Usually, students who joined these factions had niche abilities that 'Chosen Factions' would seek out. The best factions could permanently employ those of secondary profession factions.
From the books Dyon read, the library was considered one. But, he immediately crossed it off his list. Unfortunately, he didn't do this willingly. According the faction rules, only those of the Sapientia family could become members. Also, it required having knowledge of the first 600 levels to be admitted.
Unlike the student formed factions, that were more free-form, pillar factions had strict rules and guidelines to be met, as well as their own internal ranking systems that provided higher tier members with extra benefits. Of course, that isn't to say that student run factions don't have their own admittance tests. They were just seen as generally easier.
It was unfortunate that this route was barred to him because this faction provided the easiest path to the Inner Library. But, it couldn't be helped.
The next were sports factions. But, as you might imagine, Dyon had never heard of these sports before. If it was a simple matter of reading the rules, he would have considered it. However, Dyon knew that these sports factions required understanding of the martial world he simply didn't have right now.
It might have seemed like Dyon magically became a genius of the martial world after just a few hours of reading, but this was a wholly false perception.
Firstly, the shout that made Mayumi cough up blood was terrible double-edged sword.
After a few hours of reading, Dyon learned that his energy cultivation talent was absolutely terrible. However, he surprisingly had what was known as an innate soul.
Normally, martial warriors needed to go through various steps to awaken their souls from slumber. Souls would then provide an excellent means of communicating with the heavens and comprehending wills.
The problem was that Souls were extremely fragile. If Mayumi had been prepared for Dyon to do something so stupid as directly attack with his soul, the worst-case scenario would have been Dyon's death. Simply put, the stupidity of Dyon's actions was the only reason why he was standing right now.
In addition, invoking the will of music was something simple for him. Dyon had been playing the piano ever since he was tall enough to climb onto the bench that stood in front of his mother's favorite Steinway. The only reason that he didn't produce phenomena like today in the mortal world was because it was devoid of the energy the martial world had.
But, it wasn't like Dyon could carry around a piano where he went. And, he had no idea how to attack with it, he could only vaguely affect the emotions of those around him.
This said, there was good news too. Although souls were terrible for combat, those talented in the soul path were the staples of secondary professions.
Dyon had no idea whether he was "talented" in the soul path or not. Simply having an innate soul wasn't enough of a marker. But, what Dyon was certain of was that whether he was talented or not, he would grasp this chance. At the very least, he had a little more talent on the soul path than the energy path.
'There's the alchemy faction, the formation faction, the forging faction, the beast master faction, and the philosophy debate faction. Of those...'
Although the idea of what creatures the martial world piqued Dyon's interest, he had no way of knowing how long it would take to make significant contributions to a faction that required raising animals. For all he knew, it could take decades to raise a decent creature. And even then, he would have to give it away for him to garner any of the basic benefits he was looking for.
At first, he had thought of the possibility of using beasts as a proxy for his strength, but the time needed was again a barrier, not to mention money.
As for the philosophy debate faction, Dyon once again had to push the idea away because he simply didn't know enough. It was clear that a faction of philosophy was important to a world based in understanding the wills of things, but without a clear understanding himself, even marginally contributing would be difficult. And the crux of the matter was that if he wanted to profit from joining, it would again take time to build up a reputation, so others would be willing to pay to listen to his lectures.
The forging factions was quite a good choice, but it required high cultivation levels to improve at a steady pace. Without appropriate strength, it would be impossible to forge the materials of the martial world, or even handle the environment needed to mold said materials.
At the moment, Dyon couldn't even sense energies of the martial world. How would he gain enough strength to hammer those godly materials or handle the heat needed to smelt them?
This left the alchemy and formation factions. However, Dyon felt that there was something severely off-putting about them. It wasn't that anything about them in particular was odd, but rather the fact there existed a faction that combined the both of them…
'Why do the alchemy and formation factions exist if something like the array alchemy faction does? I don't get it.' Dyon's brows furrowed as he continued to walk. 'Plus… According to the Book of Factions, the alchemy and formation factions have dozens of members each, but the array alchemy faction only has two…?'
Although Dyon was confused, he smelt the signs of opportunity. Due to the importance of secondary professions, Libro had warned Dyon that they were arrogant and uppity. Maybe a small two-person faction was exactly what Dyon needed to get his feet wet. Still, the question remained… How could you combine formation theory with alchemy theory?
Having made his choice, Dyon spun on his heels. He could look for his room later, but now, it was more important to do more research. So, he headed back towards the library.
Dyon walked into the library to find it to be in the same state he left it in. It must have been almost midnight by now, but it seemed like the students hadn't noticed.
'Maybe there's some technique that also reduces the amount of sleep you need?'
Dyon had previously thought that this might be a possibility, but since he was on a time crunch, he hadn't asked Libro.
Standing in front of the grandiose desk, Dyon waved at the monitor.
It flickered to life to reveal Libro shaking his head. "You're really reckless you know. Had you misread the situation even a bit, you would be dead."
Dyon smiled a devious smile. "So you have cameras in more areas than just the libraries?" Dyon shrugged. "They wouldn't dare openly harm me unless they want war with the mortal world."
A wry smile spread across Libro's lips. "Maybe Focus Academy is wary of the mortal world, but the same can't be said for higher echelons of the martial world. You need to be careful."
"I'll keep that in mind." Dyon was well aware of this fact. But, he was a person who adapted to the situation while following his principles. If this approach wouldn't have worked, he would have found another. "I'm thinking of joining the Array Alchemy faction, so I need whatever books this first level card you gave me can get on them and their area of expertise."
Libro's eyes flashed with something that looked like disappointment. "You know, I could put in a good word for you and help you join the Library and Research faction. Also, the array alchemy faction is…" A complicated look graced his features, taking over the disappointment.
"Thank you, Libro." Dyon said sincerely. "But I don't think I'd like to join the Sapientia family."
Libro sighed. "I understand. If you ever change your mind in the future, we're always looking for intelligent lads like you."
Libro really was disappointed. He had just watched Dyon learn a speed-reading technique that only the top percentage of the Sapientia family knew. He had only given it to Dyon to help Delia fulfill her favor and because he never thought he'd be able to learn it.
Now, an elite technique of the Sapientia family was out in the world and the person who had it wasn't willing to join them.
"But Dyon, there are other factions you could join. The Array Alchemy faction is dead in the water. Not to even mention the fact that since you only have access to the first floor, none of their advanced techniques aren't available to you. Even if you had Delia's card you would be at a loss.
"Focus Academy doesn't have a single advanced technique with connection to the Array Alchemy faction regardless of floor."
Dyon was sad to hear this, but he had no choice. Only a faction like this would, for one, accept him, and also have a low requirement for cultivation. He had limited options.
"I get it, I get it." Dyon said softly. "Although the fact the entire academy doesn't have any advanced techniques is surprising, I'll have to continue forward with them."
The Array Alchemy faction had 2 members, one of which was barely at the lower common grade threshold, while the head barely touched upon the door of the high common grade. Considering the heads of the alchemy and formation factions had all broken into the practitioner grade, this showing was simply too pitiful.
"I won't deny that the theory behind Array Alchemy has supreme value. But, there's a reason that there's a taboo on combining alchemy and formation theory. They're too difficult to learn alone, let alone fusing them." Libro shook his head.
Dyon smiled. "I can't begin my road in the martial world yet because I don't want to begin without the proper cultivation technique. And even if I had one, my talent in energy cultivation seems to be pitiful.
"But, Array Alchemy from the lower to peak common grade doesn't require my power being high. I only need an understanding of plants, array theory, a refined soul and plenty of practice drawing arrays and grafting plants together. I can do this." He looked at Libro, eyes burning with determination.
Libro's eyes softened. "I'll make an exception. Since even the so-called array alchemists of our school don't check out these books, I'll give you a copy of every array alchemy related book we have at Focus Academy. And, I'll toss in the alchemy and formation theory exclusive books for the first ten floors."
Dyon smiled brightly, feeling very thankful to Libro.
However, what he didn't know was that Libro was keeping a harsh reality secret from him.
In the martial world, all three paths – energy, body and soul – were connected. Currently, Dyon had an innate soul awakened, which made him "lucky", but only insofar as a 1/5 probability was concerned.
When all was said and done, Dyon's soul was at the lower foundation stage. This meant he could practice array alchemy to the lower common grade. However, if he wanted to progress to the middle common grade, he needed a middle foundation stage soul…
The body, energy and the soul were all connected. If the body was not powerful enough, one could not house more powerful energy, nor a more powerful soul.
Simply put, if Dyon wanted to progress along the soul path, he had to either progress along the arduously difficult and ignored body path, or learn to leap over the hurdle of his poor talent and use the auxiliary ability of energy cultivation to temper his body…
Either way… It was impossible to rely on the soul path alone. Yet, that was all he had.