Chapter 2: Into The Deep
Lorian walked into this deep cave, as he walked deeper and deeper, eventually he saw a dim light.
This light was illuminated by some plants growing in the dark. These plants were known as dark shine plants,
These plants required absolute darkness when growing and illuminated light after maturing.
Right next to the small plants was a small pond. There was a stream that steadily gave water to this pond. Under the shine of plant Lorian slowly made his way over.
Darkshine plants were quite uncommon, it required to be in absolute darkness when it grows, afterwards it will luminate light when it blooms.
Darkshine had a special attribute, it allowed the light to purify materials it touched. The affect was very vague and due to that this plant wasn't sought out much. But here in this cave it played quite big role
As Lorian approached the pond, he looked at his own reflections before slowly dropping to his knees and scoping up some water. The water had been purified by the Darkshine and was safe to drink.
Lorian felt the cold-water flow down his throat as he slowly started to drink more.
After he finished drinking more Lorian suddenly felt a sense of exhaustion wash over him.
He quickly washed his face before heading to a side of a cave.
As he sat by the cave, his eyelids became heavier and heavier,
and soon he slowly drifted off to sleep, failing deep into his dreams...
.
.
[You have been summoned to prevent the destruction of Fate!]
[Fate has given you gifts. Heavenly Hourglass (EX), Perception of Time (F)]
[Attempt 1/100]
"Wh-what is happening?"
I slowly opened my eyes, and I saw a bright screen.
Fate? Hourglass? I couldn't understand anything that was happening
I looked around and I saw a bunch of children lying around, as I looked down, I saw tattered clothes and a bruised body.
"Did I drink too much?"
it must've been me drinking too much, none of this made any sense. My entire body is sore, and I have this thirst that I've never felt before, and I'm in a random place that I've never been in.
I tried standing up but the moment I did I felt this wave of exhaustion wash over me. My legs hurt so much I collapsed on the floor.
"What the hell is going on?"
I was angry and frustrated; I couldn't understand what was going on. Nothing made sense, where was I? Why am I here?
Suddenly the same screen from earlier appeared once more
Name: Lorian Vale
Race: Human
Strength: 2
Speed: 1
Stamina: 1
Intelligence: 23
Path: Time
Aptitude: D
Mana: 0
Path Rank: 0
Path Progress 0/100
Skills: [Heavenly Hourglass (EX)]
Path Attributes: [Perception of Time (F)]
Blessings: [Blessed by Fate]
Curses: [Cured by Fate] [Curse of Chaos]
Artifacts: -----
"...."
I must've drunk too much.
"This has to be a dream, there's no other explanation for it."
Everything felt surreal, I felt like I was floating, I had a hard time focusing and I could barely think straight.
I closed my eyes trying to get this feeling out of my head, but suddenly a wave of exhaustion washed over me.
After closing my eyes, I started to drift further and further into the darkness, my body laid down on the floor as I fell deep asleep, hoping this was all a dream.
.
.
The sun rose above the horizons as the birds chirped.
Lorian slowly woke up from his slumber, sighing as he woke up.
"it's the same dream again."
Every single time he slept; the same dreams would appear.
His life from his previous rounds. The things he has done in his previous regressions would show up.
"I should hurry up and get going"
Saying this, Lorian slowly started to stand up.
His entire body was sore, and his legs were burning yet no emotions of pain could be seen on this face.
He walked outside, slowly observing the forest as he ventured within.
This forest was a simple forest, it was filled with lush vegetation and had very little beasts inside.
But even then, Lorian was cautious, Lorian currently had no ability to hunt for food. So, he resorted to the next best option,
Plants.
Lorian was quite familiar with plants. They were a stable source of food that he often ate back in his early regressions, although they did not taste the best, they got the job done.
Lorian did not care much for taste; he quickly had his share before grabbing some for later and putting it inside his pocket.
Afterwards slowly started to head back, making sure to be careful all the way back
Lorian quickly and carefully headed back inside the cave, finding a spot that he has used countless time in life.
He quickly sat down and closed his eyes, putting all his attention on this task, gathering mana.
In this world there was one main way to gather mana.
That way was the natural accumulation of mana within a body. The higher your mana rank, the more mana you would accumulate.
As time passes the body will accumulate more mana to use and store to be used for numerous reasons.
The speed and quality of the mana gathered would depend on the Path Maters rank, mana rank, and their aptitudes.
Usually speaking for any Path Master under the rank of 3, accumulating mana was a slow process that required long amounts of time.
But naturally Lorian had found another way to gather mana that was more effective for lower rank Path Masters.
This method was called Nature Refinement Method.
This allowed a person to gather mana from nature. Mana was the energy of life, it naturally existed in all life but by using this method, one could use the mana from nature to use as their own.
But naturally this had downsides as well.
The first downside was the effectiveness of the mana. Because the mana wasn't created from within your body, the power of the mana gathered was more than half of the normal method.
Even with that downside the speed in which it generates mana was at a much greater rate, but any skills used with mana would be greatly diminished in power, which was a serious problem.
The other main downside was the fact that the mana that was gathered could not be stored. Because the mana was gathered from nature; the mana would eventually return to back to where it came from.
The mana gathered would only last 10 minutes at most, thus making it very ineffective in fights.
The main use of this method was for mortals or lower rank Path Masters to refine their Path.
After gathering mana for a while, Lorian suddenly stopped. Lorian quickly re-focusses his mind and started to imbued mana into his Path and slowly refine it.
What does it mean to refine one's Path?
The same question has bothered humanity for centuries
What were Paths?
And why does imbedding mana into a Path work?
After thousands of years, humanity finally found truth behind it.
The truth was that the foundations of all Paths were made of "runes". Runes were the foundation of mystical properties in this world. Paths were merely a collection of the same type of Runes.
Mana is the essence of life; by using mana we can refine and sharpen the Runes within our body.
This allows us to progress in our Paths, as we sharpen the Runes to its peak, a change happens.
This was how a Path Master could reach the next rank. After refining all the Runes within your body to its peak, a change could be felt.
More Runes would appear and the new Runes that appear would be harder to refine, Path Masters would gain immense power, but the process of this advancement was dangerous."
This was the main use of the Nature Refinement Method; it was a way for low level Path Master's to refine their paths
Even though this method was an effective way, it was extremely hard to use and thus was rarely known to people.
Even Lorian himself had spent years learning this method.
------
Mortals could still refine their paths, but they could not generate mana within and use skills.
That was the main difference between a mortal and a Path Master.
A common option for a person to become a Path Master was through the help of other Path Masters, often giving support to mortals they deem worthy.
This is another way that aptitude played a role in the chances of a person becoming a Path Master
Lorian slowly switched between gathering mana and refining the runes in his path. As hours passed Lorian kept going on without stop
As the sun started to set, Lorian slowly came to a stop as well.
Opening his eyes Lorian felt his back drenched with sweat with his mind exhausted.
'This method sure is difficult to use for long periods of time'
Lorian had been doing this for almost half the day, he had to make use of every minute of his time.
This regression would be a lot more difficult than the rest
After all, "they" wouldn't just sit by and do nothing
He quickly checked his progress
Name: Lorian Vale
Race: Human
Strength: 2
Speed: 1
Stamina: 2
Intelligence: 100 [MAX]
Path: Time
Aptitude: D
Mana Rank: 0
Mana: 0
Path Rank: 0
Path Progress 17/100
Skills: [Heavenly Hourglass (EX)]
Path Attributes: [Perception of Time (SSS)]
Blessings: [Blessed by Fate]
Curses: [Cured by Fate] [Curse of Chaos]
He took a breath through his nose, exhaling it with a sigh
"My progress is going smoothly, but it's still not enough, at this rate I might run out of time."
Lorian had a troubled gaze as the sun slowly started to disappear from his sight, letting the darkness seep into the sky.