She grunted. "The last one is not important because it is sothing that only happens once or twice in the history of the world. It's called Primal. Not much is known about it except that it gives a passive ability and makes cultivation easier.
"The one or two people who had the Sigil vanished, and they never left anything about it. But don't worry. It's sothing you won't co across."
"Right. Let's talk about Paths and the four stars." She added more at to her stick, putting it over the fire.
"The simplest way to explain a Path is that it is the way you take to evolve the Sigil. First, you have to create your stars, which are basically energy containers around your Sigil. These stars can be ford with monster aura. Are you listening?"
Riven nodded, blowing on the at in his mouth. He hurriedly swallowed. Unlike her, he couldn't just eat sothing hot.
Kivara continued. "Let's use a Fire Path that I know as an example. The main Sigil is fire, but once you evolve it to the first rank, you have to hunt and absorb the energy from Ashling monsters, Blazewind monsters, Windshrike monsters, and Scorching monsters.
"Each energy will go into different stars, and you will keep hunting and absorbing these different monsters, cultivating their energy into the different stars until you have enough. This might take months or years, depending.
"At the sa ti, you cultivate fire aura in your Sigil, and when your Sigil is ready, you will crush those stars in certain patterns into your Sigil. The Fire Path I was explaining will turn into Tempest Blaze."
Riven nodded. He knew all of this, but he still let her explain.
"There are thousands of Paths, but not all of them have a combination that reaches past certain ranks, and that's why people guard their Paths jealously. People go to war because of Paths. The right combination of Paths can make you stronger or weaker.
"And that's why you should be careful with what Path you choose. So can't reach past rank three or the Aurathrone rank," Kivara paused and narrowed her eyes. "You know the nas of the advancent ranks, right? Na them."
Riven cleared his throat. "We have the Awakening or Activation, which isn't really counted. We have rank one and two. From rank three, practitioners begin to use techniques. The rank after that is called Auracrest, divided into Low, Mid, and High Crest, and the difference between each Crest is like that between rank one and two.
"Then we have the Aurathrone rank." Riven stopped there before admitting, "I don't know the nas of the rest."
Or how powerful they are.
Kivara nodded. "That's good enough. You'll learn the rest later. Where was I? Yes, the Path. So Path combinations are cut short, so everyone is struggling to get their hands on strong Paths and to choose one where the monsters are readily available."
"Can Paths be crossed at certain ranks?" he asked.
"Depends on the type of Path and how close they are. Say Earth and Crystals. With so monster combinations, you might be able to swing heavily in either one. But only one can be very dominant," she warned.
Riven nodded. He understood more now, especially the combination part. And the thing about it was that a practitioner must continue to hunt different monsters until the stars are full, no matter how many monsters it takes.
But he had a question he didn't understand. "Then what about the Sigil itself? Why should we cultivate aura into it?"
"To make it stronger so it can withstand the evolution when it's ti. But you must also rember that the Sigil is a lot of things. It's also a container where you store the aura used for techniques. The higher the rank, the bigger the container.
"And this is also another place where the higher-classified Sigils have advantages. They can store more aura than any other of the sa rank and also absorb faster," Kivara explained.
He looked at her in curiosity. From the way she was speaking and the power she had displayed, Riven was willing to bet that she had either the Glowing, like him, or the Radiant. So he asked her, "What's your Sigil?"
Kivara raised her brows and did not imdiately answer. Instead, she stroked the fire. "Aura practitioners don't reveal sothing like that easily. It's a good way for you to be planned against for an ambush. But even more, don't ever reveal your Path to anyone unless they're your masters and such."
"So she wasn't going to answer my question?" Riven thought. But he didn't let that stop him, and he asked her another one. "What's your Sigil classification?"
Instead of answering, she pointed her at stick at him. "What's your Sigil?"
Riven scowled. "Why would I tell you sothing like that? You said yourself never to reveal it."
"But you're different," Kivara pointed out. "You have no idea what all this is. You don't even know what to do next, right? Maybe if I know your Sigil, I might be able to point you to a sect or association that might train you. Or do you have any other options? It's part of the requirents of paying you back."
Riven hesitated. As much as he would like to disagree with her, he knew she spoke the truth. He didn't know which step he should take next, but he knew it must be one that led to power.
He stared at her and thought to himself, She is strong. She must co from a powerful sect and such. Maybe her master can train as well?
So he asked her, "Can your master train as well?"
She looked surprised at the question and gave it so thought before she shook her head. "Sorry, but he won't. He's a madman and has a very strict rule. He only takes people who are unique or so. But you... are so ordinary.
"The best I can do is point you to a likely sect that has a low chance of you dying in the first few years."
Riven didn't take offense. Instead, he dug deeper. The more she said about her master, who sent her into Shadowwood by herself, the more he wanted to know. "What do you an by unique?"
Her gaze flickered to him, dark and piercing, and she said in a voice like a razor, "Sothing you are not. Alright, tell your Sigil na."
For his part, Riven didn't flinch as he t her gaze. He answered slowly, "Undying."
Kivara went very still.
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