Chapter 158
A QUESTION (2)
"A question?" she repeated, pausing for a moment as if weighing him up. "Of what nature, exactly?"
"It's to do with my Path—the Path of—" IAM began, but was quickly interrupted.
"Blessed or Cursed Speech," she said, cutting him off with a small nod. "I am aware of your chosen Path. Now, what exactly do you want to know?"
"Well… I know it's considered a dead Path, but I want to learn everything I can about it. It'll help me decide on my concept," IAM replied, slipping into the most helpless, student expression he could muster.
Vanessa tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her sharp eyes softening just slightly. "Alright. But it's awkward to discuss this here. Come to my office."
...
IAM found himself seated behind a polished desk in a spacious, well-appointed office nestled inside the main hall.
The interior was minimalist, almost austere, but there was an unmistakable a careful balance of simplicity and comfort, exactly what one might expect from someone like Vanessa.
The walls were a muted charcoal grey, softened by warm lighting that spilled from geometric sconces shaped like inverted pyramids. A tall bookcase stretched along one side, filled sparsely with thick, well-worn manuals. There was a single framed photo of the academy crest on the wall behind her, and below it, a glass-topped desk so spotless it looked unused.
There was a single sculpture that resembled a broken ring sitting on a narrow pedestal near the door. Whatever meaning it had, IAM couldn't guess. It looked expensive.
IAM sat on a cushioned chair that threatened to swallow him, the armrests cold metal beneath his fingers.
He sank into the chair, feeling the softness of the seat, and glanced across at Vanessa. She motioned for him to wait, tapping away at her computer. After a few moments, she adjusted her glasses and turned her full attention to him.
"It's… very interesting that you came to me to discuss your Path," she said, her tone neutral. "Providing information about the Paths of our students is part of the curriculum, but you came early, on your own initiative."
"Sorry to disturb you…" IAM offered.
"No. As a teacher, it's good when a student seeks us out to satisfy their curiosity," she replied, her words flat, almost dispassionate. One might almost think she didn't mean it at all.
IAM nodded slightly, a small, reserved smile brushing his lips.
Vanessa's expression shifted, turning serious. She leaned forward, resting her chin lightly on her knuckles as her gaze fixed on him. "The first thing you need to understand about your Path is its origin. It emerged shortly after the blackout. The pioneer who first forged your Path remains unknown, but initially it gained a significant number of ascenders, drawn by the immense potential it offered."
"To activate any of the Path methods, one needed only to speak a very simple phrase or requirement. Its versatility was unparalleled; the range of possible applications was effectively unlimited."
She paused, letting the words sink in, then continued. "It was a heavily invested Path, but a problem eventually arose. The pioneer was never formally identified, and they never documented their own methods or philosophy for their creation. As I explained in our first class, the simplicity of understanding the Path allowed others to develop their own interpretations and unique applications. But that same simplicity meant that there was no standardized guide or definitive approach. Each user was left to carve their own way, for better or worse."
IAM responded, "So, without the pioneer writing down or personally explaining how they understood the Path as its creator, there's no clear structure on how to use it?" He spoke cautiously, testing his understanding.
"Good guess," Vanessa said, a faint nod acknowledging his insight. "The potential of this Path lies in its generality—you can speak anything you wish and even replicate aspects of other Paths with relative ease." She paused for emphasis. "But that very generality, as it turns out, is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness."
"How so?" IAM asked, leaning forward.
"The Path of Blessed and Cursed Speech's greatest strength is its freedom—there are no inherent limitations. You act simply by speaking. But that same freedom makes it limited. Take, for example, a Rule Path ascender: their Path revolves tightly around the concept of rules. That concentrated focus allows them to execute methods with more concentrated power and efficiency. In contrast, someone on the Path of Blessed and Cursed Speech must expend far more mana to achieve the same or similar effect, because their power is spread across countless potential methods, rather than concentrated in a single, focused concept."
IAM nodded slowly, thinking through the explanation. "So basically… the advantage of my Path is that I can use a wide variety of methods, with ultimate flexibility. But the disadvantage is that, because it's so general and lacks a clear, defined concept, it consumes far more mana to accomplish the same thing that a specialized Path user could do with less effort. And since there are so many ways to develop the Path, and the pioneer never passed on their own personal understanding, anyone on this Path is left in a loop—forced to figure out their own way forward, creating their own concepts and methods as they go."
"You're a clever boy, IAM," Vanessa said quietly, her eyes never leaving his. "But very few Ascenders willingly walk this path anymore. In all of Hope, there are only sixty-six others who follow it. Most of them were tricked into it—led by false promises or a lack of proper education about dead paths. And the rest... " She paused, her voice tightening. "The rest are idealists. The kind who believe they can be the one to break through the deadlock."
She tilted her head slightly. "I assume that's why you chose it."
"I guess... yeah," IAM muttered, not quite meeting her eyes.
Vanessa exhaled through her nose, unimpressed. "That wasn't a smart decision, IAM."