Chapter 5: Ascension

The next day Lorian woke up during the evening; he had slept for around 18 hours to recuperate. 

Today was the day Lorian was going to ascend from a mortal to a Path Master; once he ascended, he would gain better opportunities and finally could start his progression. 

Lorina stood up; the pale moonlight shone through the entrance of the cave, faintly lighting up the room. 

"I should start soon; this process might take a while." Lorain had a calm expression on his face as he looked around the room. 

The process of ascent was an interesting concept. When people ascend, they would often get knowledge and advice from their mentor or master of the same Path; other than that, it relied on your experience and your talent. 

If a person were to fail in their ascension, the Path progress accumulated would be used up, and they would have to reaccumulate what they lost and would suffer a calamity. 

This calamity would increase in strength the higher your Rank; often a single one could cause a person's death. 

Lorian had personally witnessed the strength of these calamities; they were on a whole other scale. 

But unlike others, Lorian had hundreds of years of experience and had experienced hundreds of calamities. Lorian knew the time Path better than anybody in history. 

Lorian had a deep gaze as he looked at the horizon; judging off the leaves on the tree, he estimated he had around a month until winter arrived. 

"The recruitment must've started by now; after I ascend, I should head over to the city and apply. Once I do, I can finally start working on my goal." 

Lorian thought deeply; his plans were set in motion, but he still had to be cautious of them; he couldn't let his guard down for even a second. 

Lorian sat down; he had a concentrated face as he focused on the time Path running within his body. 

The runes within his body had reached their peak state, all filled with mana. He focused deeply, slowly splitting the runs into smaller ones. 

Once runs were split, after refining them, they would become bigger and bigger until they reached their peak state. The runes themselves also need a greater amount of mana in order to reach their peak state. 

This is where aptitude would also affect a Path Master's strength; the higher aptitude you have, the more innate talent you have over your Path. That allowed people of higher aptitude to split their runes into more runes to be refined. 

The more ruins a person had, the stronger their overall strength would be. Fate was unfair; people with lower aptitude would have a very low chance of progressing to a higher Rank. 

But for Lorian, he had something completely different; he had experience that no other Path Master had. The only reason that most people of higher aptitude were good at spitting runes was purely based on instinct. 

Because they had never done it before, they could only do it off their instincts. But this was different for Lorian. He had done this countless times; there were times where he failed and almost got killed; there were also times where he had succeeded. 

Everything added up created this experience that he had in ascending, allowing him to do what only people with an aptitude of S could do. 

Timed Path refinement's progression to a higher Rank is quite the weird one. Often other Ranks had certain requirements. 

Lorian focused deeply; every second of his mind was spent on splitting the runs. Once all the runes were split, one could finally be added to the next Rank. 

Time trickled away as Lorian focused deeply, the runes on his body increasing in number every minute. 

3 hours later, Lorian finally opened his eyes. He had succeeded! In the next second, he saw a blue screen appear in front of his eyes. 

[Congratulations for reaching Rank 1!] 

[Your lifespan has increased by 25%!] 

[Your stats have increased! ] 

Race: Human 

Strength: 2—> 6 

Speed: 1—> 8 

Stamina: 1—> 8 

Intelligence: 100 [MAX] 

Path: Time 

Aptitude: D 

Mana: 0 

Path Rank: 0—> 1 

Path Progress 100/100—> 0/450 

Skills: [Heavenly Hourglass (EX)] 

Path Attributes: [Perception of Time (SSS)] 

Blessings: [Blessed by Fate] 

Curses: [Cured by Fate] [Curse of Chaos] 

Artifacts: --- 

As the runes in a person's body increase, naturally the strength of the body would increase, leading to an exponential increase in strength. 

However, there was one crucial stat that wouldn't change no matter how much one person's Path Rank would increase: intelligence. 

All the other stats relate directly to the body; runes were naturally found on the human body, but they were not found in the human mind. 

The human mind was the most important part of a human. Everything that was useful was recorded on it. Lorian's intelligence was currently maxed out due to numerous reasons. 

Unlike others, the intelligence stat held great importance. The intelligence stat was special; unlike other stats, which would increase through ascension, the intelligence stat would only increase through a person's accumulated wisdom. 

The intelligence stat covered everything from a person's information to cognitive speed. It held great importance to every single person. This was also why kids would often be sent to academies to learn instead of refining their Paths. 

The intelligence played a crucial role in a Path Master's journey; the majority of people would even consider it to be the single most important thing. 

Lorian had reached the absolute peak that his brain could handle. It did not mean that he was perfect in any way; it was just that he had reached what was possible for his brain. 

Lorian would often make mistakes; that was inevitable. All humans were fated to make mistakes, even people that had reached the limit of their minds. 

Next, Lorian glanced at the message about his lifespan; he could feel newfound energy coursing through him. 

Humans wanted to live longer; for whatever reason that may be, people wanted to live longer in order to fulfill their desires. 

This is why everybody wanted to be a Path Master. Even if one person wanted wealth or revenge, they first had to make sure they were alive in order to obtain it. Every time a person's Rank increases, their lifespan also increases more and more. 

That's why people would willingly cultivate, why people would risk their lives trying to reach the next Rank because their lives would depend on it. 

People will try and ascend the same Rank over and over again just for the small chance that they will finally gain more lifespan. It created this ideal within this world that you had to progress higher and higher because it was the only way for a person to live longer. 

Of course this was difficult. The higher you progress, the more dangerous it becomes. The stronger you become, the higher your chances of dying from calamities or even perhaps your enemies. Being a Path Master was a difficult journey; you would hang between the threads of life and death. Any moment you could die, but you will also gain immeasurable rewards if you succeed. 

Lorian gazed at the horizon; the sun had started to rise, marking the rise of dawn. He stood up from where he sat, feeling a newfound strength that was incomparable to mortals. 

He left out a breath of cold air as he looked around the cave. He felt a sense of longing after years of being in this place. He took a final look at the Darkshine plants and the clear pond. 

"This will most likely be the last time I'll ever be here again. 

"..." 

Slowly, he walked outside of the cave, looking at the beautiful sunrise. Streaks of yellow and orange dyed the sky, the forest slowly being illuminated by it. He took a final look back at the cave. It was a place where he could call home in this world, a place that protected him in the past. 

For most of his early regression rounds, he would stay here. Most of his journey always started here, he had found this place to be consoling and a place for him to lean on during his weakest times. 

He glanced once more at the cave. The vines that covered this place to camouflage it. The small pond that kept him alive. The rocks that kept him from outside harm. Everything here made up to be his home. 

Lorian looked down as he gave a faint smile, as two words escaped his mouth. 

"Thank you." 

Saying this, Lorian turned around as he left. His eyes were filled with determination and excitement for the impending future. Eventually leaving his one and only home behind, a memento of a place where he could be at rest.