The correct path
1398 Words
The days passed quietly on the mountain.
For most people, quiet meant uneventful.
For Kael, quiet meant progress.
His cultivation had advanced steadily during the months since he began seriously rebuilding his foundation. The strange mana vein beneath the mountain continued to provide an excellent environment for cultivation, but Kael never relied on it blindly. He refined every bit of energy that entered his body and continued testing the limits of his current path.
By now, his cultivation had reached the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
In the power system of his previous lives, that realm was already extraordinarily high. In the current continent's ranking system, Kael's raw cultivation was roughly equivalent to an Epic Rank warrior.
He was not satisfied.
He had once stood at the summit of entire worlds.
Epic Rank was impressive by the standards of this continent, but to Kael it was simply another step.
What interested him more was what he was building around himself.
Liora.
Mark.
The mountain.
And eventually, the sect.
He had spent three lives climbing toward the highest point alone.
Perhaps this life would be different.
***
Mark's training began the morning after Kael accepted him as his second disciple.
It was not gentle.
Kael did not punish Mark.
He simply refused to lower the standard.
The boy was weak physically, had poor mana sensitivity, and had spent years being told that he was useless.
Kael immediately recognized that none of those things meant Mark lacked potential.
The problem was that Mark was being measured using the wrong standard.
"Close your eyes," Kael said.
Mark obeyed.
"Do not search for mana."
Mark frowned.
"Then what am I searching for?"
"Whatever answers when you stop searching for what everyone else told you should be there."
Mark remained silent.
He breathed.
Once.
Twice.
Then again.
For several minutes, nothing happened.
Liora watched from a nearby tree.
"This is taking longer than mine."
Kael glanced at her.
"Your first attempt was worse."
Liora looked offended.
"I was talented."
"You were confused."
"Those aren't mutually exclusive."
Mark almost laughed.
Kael ignored them.
"Again."
Mark breathed.
This time, something changed.
The air around him seemed to become slightly darker.
Not because the sunlight disappeared.
The light simply seemed to bend away from him.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
The System appeared.
[Unknown Energy Detected.]
[Analyzing...]
[Analysis incomplete.]
[Energy characteristics identified.]
[Primary properties: Concealment, Absorption, Compression, Spatial Distortion.]
Kael smiled.
"Interesting."
Mark opened his eyes.
"What is it?"
Kael studied him for several seconds.
"Shadow Energy."
Mark stared at his hands.
"Is that bad?"
"No."
Kael's answer came immediately.
"You were never broken."
Mark looked up.
The boy had heard those words many times before.
Usually, they came from people trying to make him feel better.
This time was different.
Kael was not comforting him.
He was stating a fact.
"You simply have an energy system that your previous teachers did not understand."
Mark lowered his head.
Kael continued.
"Your path will not be ordinary."
***
Kael taught Mark the Shadow Breathing Technique.
The technique came from his third life.
The creator had once been a mortal.
He had not been born with overwhelming talent, nor had he possessed a powerful family or ancient inheritance.
He had simply been patient.
He studied shadows.
He studied movement.
He studied the spaces between movements.
He learned how to conceal his presence, absorb energy, compress it, and distort the space around himself.
Eventually, he created the Shadow Breathing Technique.
He cultivated it for years.
Then decades.
Then centuries.
He became an assassin whose name was spoken quietly even by powerful beings.
But he did not stop there.
He continued cultivating until he broke through the limits of mortality and ascended to the Immortal Realm.
Even after his ascension, stories of his exploits continued to spread across the realms.
By the time Kael had become the Sovereign of the Myriad Realms, those stories had reached him.
Kael eventually found the assassin.
And recruited him.
The assassin accepted willingly.
Serving Kael was considered an honor among the powerful beings beneath his authority.
The assassin was incredibly powerful, but Kael had never feared him.
He had never considered the man a threat.
He considered him a valuable subordinate.
A loyal one.
A respected one.
Kael remembered that assassin clearly.
He remembered the man's discipline.
His patience.
His ability to wait days for a single opening.
His understanding that an assassin did not need the strongest attack.
He only needed the correct attack at the correct moment.
That was why Kael chose the technique for Mark.
But he would not teach Mark to become a copy of the man.
"Do not imitate him," Kael said.
Mark looked confused.
"Then why are you teaching me his technique?"
"Because a technique is a road, not a destination."
Kael pointed toward the boy's chest.
"Your Shadow Energy is yours."
Mark nodded slowly.
"Understand?"
"Yes, Master."
"Good."
The training began.
***
Shadow Breathing was difficult.
Mark failed repeatedly.
His breathing rhythm broke.
His energy dispersed.
His concentration collapsed.
Sometimes he could not sense the Shadow Energy at all.
Kael never became impatient.
He simply corrected him.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The first breakthrough came after several days.
The second came after another week.
By the fifteenth day, Mark had successfully established his Foundation Establishment realm.
The System appeared.
[Breakthrough successful.]
[Current cultivation: Foundation Establishment.]
[Energy compatibility: Excellent.]
[Shadow Energy control: Increasing.]
Mark stared at the notification.
"I did it."
Liora smiled.
"You did."
Mark looked at Kael.
Kael nodded.
"Good."
That single word meant more to Mark than praise would have.
***
Another month passed.
Mark's growth accelerated.
Shadow Step became his most useful technique.
The skill allowed him to move through shadows with almost no sound.
At first, he could only move a few meters.
Then ten.
Then twenty.
Kael taught him that movement was not about distance.
It was about timing.
An assassin who moved ten meters at the correct moment was more dangerous than one who moved a hundred meters at the wrong time.
Mark also learned the Phantom Sword Technique.
The technique focused on misleading the opponent's perception.
A strike did not always need to come from where the opponent expected.
Sometimes the threat itself was the weapon.
Kael also taught him Sichuan Tang's Flying Dagger.
Mark struggled with it at first.
The technique demanded precision beyond normal throwing skills.
Angle.
Rotation.
Speed.
Distance.
Release timing.
Kael understood all of it.
His first life had taught him frame-perfect execution.
His second had taught him swordsmanship.
His third had taught him countless techniques from across the Myriad Realms.
Mark was combining all three influences without even realizing it.
Eventually, the System displayed another notification.
[Breakthrough successful.]
[Current cultivation: Core Formation.]
Mark had reached Core Formation.
He was still young.
Still inexperienced.
Still far from truly powerful.
But his foundation was no longer weak.
It was specialized.
Dangerously specialized.
***
Liora had not been idle.
Her progress was even more ridiculous.
The girl who had once been dismissed from the Royal Magic Academy for poor talent had become something the academy would have considered impossible.
She had learned to combine lightning and metal.
Lightning gave speed and destructive force.
Metal gave structure, stability, and cutting power.
Together, they produced spells that were difficult to defend against.
But the truly frightening part was her efficiency.
Kael had taught her to compress mana before releasing it.
Most mages used large quantities of mana to produce powerful spells.
Liora learned to produce similar effects using roughly one percent of the mana that ordinary mages might need to spend around ten percent for.
Her attacks were smaller.
More concentrated.
And much more destructive than their appearance suggested.
One month after reaching her previous breakthrough, Liora reached the Seventh Circle.
The current era considered a Seventh Circle mage an extraordinary existence.
The headmaster of the Royal Magic Academy was a Seventh Circle mage.
Most instructors were Fifth Circle.
The strongest known mages across the Arc Continent were Ninth Circle, and fewer than ten individuals were confirmed to have reached that level.
There had never been a publicly recognized Tenth Circle mage in the current era.
Yet Liora was already standing at the Seventh Circle.
She was not invincible.
She lacked experience.
She still had weaknesses.
But her potential was undeniable.
Kael watched her complete another compressed lightning spell.
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