Malrik grinned as he considered Adyr’s question.
He himself was a Rank 2 practitioner—it had taken him years to reach that level.
"You’re still so young, and you’re already aiming for Rank 2... You’ve got a terrifying future ahead of you," he said with genuine admiration.
The king and the lords standing nearby, still quietly listening, exchanged stunned glances. Malrik might not have been the strongest practitioner in existence, but he was widely regarded as a hero and a prodigy in his own right. To hear soone like him openly praise another’s potential was rare—shocking, even.
Adyr replied modestly, "I’m just asking. Doesn’t an I can do it."
Malrik held his gaze for a mont, then began to explain.
"If you’re planning to reach Rank 2, the first basic step is finding a Spark compatible with that rank—and more importantly, one that aligns with your current path. You’re an Astra-path practitioner, so you’ll need a Rank 2 Spark from the Astra domain."
Adyr narrowed his eyes slightly.
There was sothing he’d been noticing for a while. Despite the similarities between this world’s practitioners and the players from Earth, no one here ever seed to walk more than one path. On Earth, so players started the ga with two or even three paths. Adyr himself now possessed all four. But here, the very idea seed to be treated as impossible.
He needed clarity.
"What happens if I try to evolve using a Spark from a different path? Are there really no practitioners who walk two paths?"
Malrik’s expression changed. He exhaled slowly before responding.
"That’s not possible. A practitioner can only walk one path. Choosing two would be... a violation of natural law."
Adyr’s brows knit slightly. His suspicion was confird, but he still didn’t understand the reasoning.
"Why?"
Malrik clasped his hands behind his back, now fully convinced that his little brother truly lacked even the most basic knowledge. But he chose not to question it. If anything, he saw it as his duty to guide him now.
"It’s simply forbidden. You already know, don’t you, that each path was created by a different god?"
Adyr nodded. When he first started the ga, there had been brief information about the four gods. Since then, he’d picked up bits and pieces from books he’d skimd in his spare ti.
In this world’s mythology, the planet had been created by four divine beings, each contributing to a different aspect of existence.
As the myths told it:
Astrael, the creator of the Astra Path, was responsible for the formation of all physical matter. Disturbed by the void, he reached into the nothingness and shaped the physical world from it.
Aetheris, the goddess of the Aether Path, governed all things of spirit. Her story claid she clashed with Astrael, accusing his creations of being empty and lifeless—re toys. In defiance, she gave them souls and inner aning.
Ignivar, god of the Ignis Path, didn’t want to be left behind. Declaring both Astrael and Aetheris incomplete, he gifted movent to their creations—will, ambition, and motion.
Finally, Nethera, the goddess of the Nether Path, said to be the eldest of the four, grew tired of what she saw as a childish ga. She introduced destruction and rebirth, ensuring that nothing would last forever.
There were deeper tales and more intricate conflicts, but to Adyr, that was the gist of it: divine siblings in a constant state of competition, each claiming superiority while shaping the world in their own image.
Malrik continued, "If you understand the foundations, then you should also understand why a single body can’t house more than one path. Each path—and each creator—is fundantally opposed to the others. Walking two paths at once would be the sa as defying all four gods at once."
As he said this, a visible shiver ran through him, and a shadow of fear flickered in his eyes.
He followed the Astra path and worshipped Astrael. But that didn’t an he disrespected the other gods. Each one represented an essential part of creation, and all were revered. No practitioner, no matter their path, would dare insult another god or another path. The idea itself was sacrilege.
"So in short, my little brother," Malrik said firmly, "don’t even think about trying sothing like that. And don’t ask again."
He didn’t want Adyr dragging himself into a situation that no one could save him from.
"Yes. Thank you. I wouldn’t want a problem like that," Adyr replied with a serious tone.
But inwardly, he was amused. Too late.
He had already begun walking all four paths.
Even if it ant angering the gods themselves, he intended to see where this road would lead. The enemies and trials that lay ahead would only make the journey more entertaining.
But there was still one more question—one he hadn’t found in any of the books he’d read.
"What about the fifth god?" Adyr asked, his tone purely curious. "I heard that in so myths, there’s actually a fifth path."
Unlike the four conventional paths, the one he had chosen at the start of the ga had been labeled as a fifth—yet no god had been ntioned alongside it.
He recalled the system prompt clearly:
[Primora]
– The One.
– They longed to exist, and I let them be.
The words had been bold, radiating power and dominance. And yet, nowhere—neither in books nor teachings—was there any ntion of such a na. That absence itself was telling.
As the question left his lips, not only Malrik, but even King Vale and the surrounding lords turned to look at him strangely.
"I’ve never heard of such a myth," Malrik said, lifting a single brow. His tone was skeptical, but asured. "What exactly did you hear?"
Adyr observed their reactions carefully. They didn’t seem to be hiding knowledge. They genuinely didn’t know. Still, hoping that the term itself might spark so recognition, he said the na out loud:
"Primora."
The mont the word left his mouth, everything froze.
And not taphorically—everything truly frozen.
Malrik froze mid-expression, one brow still raised in silent question. The king and the lords held their expectant postures, unmoving. Even the grass and flowers, bent by the gentle wind just monts before, hung in perfect stillness. The distant, ever-present tremors from the Rank 4 Spark had ceased entirely.
Adyr slowly turned his head, scanning the scene. It was as if the entire world had been paused.
Only he remained in motion.
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