40 The Path To Survival

The eldest prince smiled after what he heard.

"Heheh, I'm going to be having quite some fun on this elimination round. As the eldest and the one with the highest talent, I wonder of anyone from the other empires is good enough to stand against me."

The emperor frowned a bit, this son of his was getting more and more out of hand, his arrogance knew no bounds, he kept underestimating his opponents, a true flower grown in the protection of powerhouses. He didn't cut off his wings yet, because some confidence could help during cultivation, but this was a bit too much.

'The thing about once in a 100 years genius got to his head apparently, even after I showed him a bit of my powers.'

'Should I tell him now that once in a 100 year genius is nothing much, I alone lived 700 years, he might not even have the potential to reach Rank 5, I can't have a heir who can't reach that level, even through a Rank 5 can live long enough for a couple of Emperors to switch, I'm not the one who is going to Rank Up, while leaving useless trash behind.'

'Forget it, the chances he dies in the upcoming event are pretty high anyway, with him underestimating everyone like that.'

Both the other princes seemed solemn and didn't talk crap in this important moment, which lead him to be more satisfied with them, even the talentless Vlad seemed to have a better chance than the eldest.

"Anyway, I'll give you a while to calm down, go have breakfast with your mothers or something, give them your farewells, you might not see them again."

All three of them left, with one being all smiles and the other two being worried about the future.

'This won't work, I have confidence to beat them all if there is no Rank 2s, but I don't know anything about the opponents, I can't detect their Paths, I could use All Existence to do the detection, but I can't risk exposing it to the Rank 5s that are going to watch over the elimination.'

'One sneak attack or trump card and I could die, they are princes after all, some of them might be practicing two Paths, this won't do.'

'I can't lose my life like this, it's stupid, I was even warned prior to the event, albeit not early enough.'

'Think... think...'

'Ok I got an idea.'

'It might be stupid and it has chances of being exposed, but the only ones who could expose it would be father and that Rank 5, how can I paint over their eyes. I'll need to talk my way out, Rank 0 is nothing much so it should be possible. And that is worst case scenario, best case they don't have a way to see through it. '

'The Unorthodox ones were not exposed but it's different from the orthodox, they belong solely to me, no interaction with anything, it's more of a constitution or a bloodline. Anyway I'll just think of something if they discover it, it will improve my survival chances by a lot, I can't go to the eliminations without doing it.'

'All Existence, tell me, what are the chances that a Rank 5 can see past my Darkness Path and discover other orthodox Paths.'

-100 existence points will be, information pertaining to Rank 5 is rare-

'Tell me.'

-If they practice Darkness Path, but don't practice that other path, chances are 0%, there is no chance they can interact with the Particles of another Path without practicing it-

-If they practice the other path but not Darkness, there is a 1% chance, it would mean that Rank 5 had to really pay attention to your state and focus on seeing through you.-

-The Darkness is the best cover, and the other Path has to be much weaker, otherwise the chance would rise-

-Even if they notice something, they wouldn't necessarily care, as a small amount of Particles mixed in the large amount of Darkness might seem like a natural occurrence-

'That is it, the risk is worth it.'

'Give me All Lower Paths at Rank 0.'

-7000 Existence points deducted-

The crimson light in the Crimson World split eight ways, with seven of them shooting towards the real body of Lucien and the larger one remaining in the world and dispersing back into fog.

-Fire Path Integrating-

-Water Path Integrating-

-Earth Path Integrating-

-Metal Path Integrating-

-Wind Path Integrating-

-Light Path Integrating-

-Lightning Path Integrating-

-Forcefully interacting with Particles from Paths-

-Interaction with Fire Path Successful-

-Interaction with Water Path Successful-

-Interaction with Earth Path Successful-

-Interaction with Wind Path Successful-

-Interaction with Light Path Successful-

-Interaction with Lightning Path Successful-

-Detecting a large change in Paths-

-Alert: NO change in stats, Rank of integrated Paths is too low to alter the current stats-

-Lucien BloodMoon-

-Age: 15 years-

-Race: Human-

-Orthodox Paths:

Darkness(Rank 1)

Fire(Rank 0)

Water(Rank 0)

Earth(Rank 0)

Metal(Rank 0)

Wind(Rank 0)

Light(Rank 0)

Lightning(Rank 0)

-All Lower Paths(Rank 0)-

-Unorthodox Paths:

Copper Ghoul(Rank 1)

Vampire Viscount(Rank 1)

10 Meter Soul (Soul Devour Rank 1)-

-Strength: 80.15-

-Agility: 62.75-

-Vitality: 80.50-

-Soul: 100.00-

-All Lower Paths(Rank 0): Understanding over all the Lower Paths, speeds up the process of comprehending Middle Paths tremendously. Can feel the Particles of All Lower Paths, thus feeling what Paths are other practitioners practicing-

-Control over internal body: 70%-

-Control over particles:

Inside the body: 100%

Outside the body: 0%-

-Control over Soul : 100 Points-

'Shit, now I really am a complete monster, I really have to make sure it's all covered by the Darkness Path. I really have to think how to explain where I got manuals for All the Paths, during my adventure?'

'It doesn't matter right now, I have to see my opponents first, once I'm sure I can survive, I'll think how to explain the whole situation, if it's exposed.'

'But it was a nice strategy to keep the large amount of existence points for emergencies.'