Three Paths

CG Chapter 70: Three Paths

Through his reincarnations, Tom possessed the bodies of countless people, the young and the old, the weak and the strong.

Across all his lifetimes, he turned their bodies from nothing to the perfect human form. After doing it for so long, he understood that body metamorphosis didn't come simply from training itself but from destruction.

After searching through the library on the notes of people who reached the level of a knight before him, one pattern made itself clear to Tom: the breakthrough between major realms might have been a wall that thousands cursed, but it was also an opportunity. The stronger your body was before it, the bigger the transformation you will notice after the breakthrough.

His physique was forged in the flames of the Emberstorm style and then the freezing cold of the Snowstorm style. Those two created the Frostfire Knight's body, and now, in the depths of the frosty flames, a wicked hand added poison that would kill any man to this manual.

Three techniques, the least of which, would get labeled as demonic because of the agony they cause, yet they all are being practiced by one person.

Tom opened the bottle, not showing any hesitation as its contents quickly made their way down his throat and to his stomach. Now, the only thing he could do was wait, wait for the poison to take effect, and for him to go through one more trial of life and death.

"Three demonic paths, one body. This is a really fun path that I am walking on. I wonder if the next worlds will be as interesting. Well, it doesn't matter because my arrival will change the world whether they like it or not," Tom muttered to himself with a grin.

Tom's room was completely silent, with only the sound of his heartbeat playing as the sole piece of music to the dark background.

He stayed sitting on the bed without moving even an inch.

His senses, honed through many battles, gave him the ability to detect even the tiniest change in his body. This, of course, came with many advantages; however, it also wasn't all shine and rainbows since even the smallest amount of pain would get amplified a thousand times over.

Due to his experience, he could also just shut his pain receptors. Unfortunately, that would decrease his overall instinct. When he noticed this and understood that there was no other way, he started to use this pain as part of his training.

Tick-Tock

Tick-Tock

Tick-Tock

The atmosphere of the room quickly changed from complete silence. Suddenly, the sound of meat getting torn reverberated throughout the room.

Pain, agony, Tom's flesh was getting torn over and over again.

His strong hands and legs couldn't move from the damage caused by the poison.

His pale face became sunken as the muscles in his cheeks were no longer there.

His body, that sat on the bed, fell back.

And what was even worse, his heart, considered part of the flesh by the poison, was also getting torn into and cut by it.

He subjected himself to pain like no other, pain that would make even your worst enemy feel pity for you.

He stayed silent. This pain wasn't strange to Tom; he became familiar with it--too familiar, in fact.

No matter how strong the pain, it wouldn't amount to anything compared to what he suffered before. It would become just a small wound beside the giant scars that covered his body.

Perhaps it was because of the poison or because of the changes he was undergoing, but Tom began to remember some old memories.

He faced all of them with the same apathetic face he held for everyone.

A feeling of rot and decay spread from Tom. If anyone entered right then, they would think that they just found a corpse that had been dead for a long time.

However, most things don't come in absolutes, for under this decay, life was brewing--a stronger and more vigorous life force.

"The path of a knight is vigor; the path of men is death. The path of a demon is the three. The path of the three is the one. Ember, Frost, and poison as one. Transform the body, transform the soul. Discard the old as you bring in the new."

The two earrings that hung from each ear shone with two colored lights as they pumped more energy into Tom's body. It was as if the earrings were alive and they were finally recognizing Tom as their new master.

One sentence continued to play in Tom's mind as he was going through this transformation: "From decay comes life, and from life comes decay."

This sentence showed its truth in Tom's body as his body was currently in a state of equilibrium between life and death. One nudge in the wrong direction, and death would devour, and everything would have been for nothing.

And just like this, decay turned into life once more, going through another cycle that it went through since the beginning of time.

From his hands, black claws extended. These claws were dribbling out with an all-too-familiar substance--it was a diluted version of the 'Flesh Rot' poison that was being produced by his body.

Strong muscles began to grow in place of the old ones, and he started to look healthier and full of life.

His heart started to pump blood at a faster pace, and his veins began to widen, letting more blood reach every part of his body.

Even his blood gained a unique hue of cyan and gold at the same time

.

This transformation wasn't the normal path an apprentice knight would need to go through, because if it was, there would be no grand knights, let alone any formal knight in the world.

The principle of equal exchange held true, and due to the hellish method he used, Tom gained in his breakthrough more than anyone before him did.