Chapter 159
A QUESTION (3)
"To revive a dead path without the guidance of a written manual or the personal insights of its pioneer is…" Vanessa paused, her eyes locking onto IAM's with clinical precision, "extremely difficult. Many have attempted it before you. All have failed."
Her words fell like weights onto the desk between them. Heavy. Final.
IAM tilted his head slightly. "Extremely difficult… not impossible," he said, lips curling into a subtle smirk.
Silence licked at the ears of those present.
This one crawled in slowly, through a cracked window like a beast. IAM was starting to feel his ears getting wet, not literally, but in that uncomfortable, creeping way — as if the silence itself had a tongue, and it was dragging it across the side of his face, letting him know that maybe, just maybe, his words hadn't landed the way he thought they would.
Vanessa eventually blinked, and the corners of her lips twitched upward—not quite a smile, more like trying to impersonate one. "Not impossible," she repeated slowly, like she was trying the words out for the first time. "Well. While it's true that there has never been a true breakthrough with the Path of Blessed and Cursed Speech… that doesn't mean it's remained completely unstructured."
IAM's expression sobered.
He leaned forward slightly, elbows on his knees, eyes locked on her face. "What kind of structure?"
Vanessa looked almost amused by his sudden seriousness. She folded her hands neatly and began.
"Back to the advantages of your path being versatile," Vanessa began, adjusting the way she sat, "to help improve your use of it in these weaker stages, you must first focus on what exactly your path is."
IAM frowned lightly, the crease in his brow showing his thoughts were turning inward. "Removing all the extra words," he said slowly, like he was filtering through everything he'd learned, "my path is actually focused on the speech aspect… the act of speaking to others, and influencing them."
Vanessa tilted her head, giving the barest nod of encouragement. "And what exactly are they influencing?"
IAM's gaze lowered for a moment, then returned to her face. His eyes seemed to darken—not out of malice or fear, but thought. He exhaled slowly, "...Emotions," he said. "The intent of speech is to influence the emotions of others… to make them feel something strong enough that they act. The 'something' being designated by the speaker."
"Good," Vanessa responded, without warmth. "On the level of novice, and even for some time into experienced, the primary focus for most who choose your path is exactly that: using speech to affect the emotions of your target. It has been found—repeatedly—that this approach uses the least amount of mana at your stage of development."
"Focus on emotions…" IAM repeated in a whisper, mostly to himself.
"To solidify a concept," Vanessa continued, "you must practice it. You must embody it again and again until it becomes part of your core, and your core becomes part of it. If you doubt your concept—or worse, fail to understand it fully—your path methods will weaken. And in the worst-case scenario… death."
IAM nodded slowly. "I read about this," he said. "The understanding in your core becomes twisted… it collapses in on itself, and it falls into disarray when your belief in the concept is proven wrong. And if that happens—if it truly collapses—it can cause the core to rupture, even explode… and that means your brain goes with it."
He touched his temple once, absently, as if the thought had made the danger feel more physical.
"So once someone follows a concept or path," he went on, quieter now, "it's important not to doubt. Or be proven… 'wrong.'"
"Exactly," Vanessa replied,"This also directly ties into the development of defensive path methods. There are two different ways to approach creating one."
IAM nodded again, signaling he was following.
"The first way is called the stable defensive path method," Vanessa began, her voice calm and unhurried, like she had given this explanation countless times before. "This is the type of defensive method created based entirely on your own path. As the name suggests, it is the most reliable and stable form of defense one can develop."
She adjusted her glasses, her gaze on IAM.
"While it may not always be able to counter extremely unique or unorthodox paths," she continued, "it is widely considered to be the safest and most dependable choice. It's not flashy, and it doesn't always win in unpredictable situations, but it's safer. That's why it's also the most popular method among ascenders. Stability, after all, is survival."
"So stable defensive methods are more commonly used because they're far less risky than the alternative?" IAM asked, making sure he was following the logic.
"Yes," she confirmed. "Because the second type—the one far fewer ascenders ever attempt—is called the risky defensive path method. And as the name clearly implies, it is far more dangerous."
She let that sit in the air for a moment before continuing.
"Risky defensive path methods are not based on your own path. Rather, they are based on your opponent's—specifically, your understanding of your opponent's path. If your comprehension of their path and its underlying concept is deep enough, you could weaken or even completely neutralize their path methods. In some cases, the effectiveness of their attacks can drop to zero, provided your understanding is high enough."
IAM's eyebrows lifted slightly. "That sounds… strong. But the risks?"
"Are obvious," Vanessa said, her tone flat. "If your understanding is even slightly off—if you make assumptions, or misunderstand their core concept—you won't just fail to defend. You could die. That's the price of using someone else's path against them. One wrong move, and youwon't be able to defense correctly."
She tapped her desk with a single nail. "This is one of the many reasons why most ascenders avoid ever revealing their path to others, let alone their actual concept. Sharing that kind of information is essentially arming your enemy. It takes an absurd amount of trust to tell someone the details of your path."
IAM crossed his arms slightly. "But the academy has our path information stored somewhere in the system, right? They already know who walks what path."
Vanessa offered a small, cool smile. "There's a difference between knowing someone's path and knowing their concept, IAM. That's what matters. A person's path is only the foundation—what they build on it, what they choose to understand and how they shape that understanding… that is their concept. And that information is tightly controlled. You won't find it floating around, and there will never be a situation where it's leaked."
Red flag, IAM thought to himself instinctively.
Vanessa didn't stop. "It's also well-known that meeting someone who shares your exact path can be the most dangerous fight of all. Someone who walks the same path is naturally far more likely to understand how your methods work—and worse, figure out your concept. They're capable of nullifying your every move, step by step. Of course," she added with a slight tilt of her head, "you'd be able to do the same to them. So they're the worst and best opponents you'll ever face."
She paused again before finishing the thought.
"This is why developing a unique understanding of your path is so important. Without it, you're easy to copy, easy to predict, easy to break."
"And the chance of me meeting such an opponent is very low," IAM said,"Since there are very few people even walking down that path at all."
"Low," Vanessa agreed with a single nod, "but not impossible."
"This is also why Deadline Creatures are considered so dangerous," she continued, "They don't follow this logic at all. The entire foundation of combat between ascenders—the rules of Paths, Concepts, Understanding—it all breaks down when you face them."
"Their abilities are strange," she said slowly. "Different. Some are so alien they appear nonsensical at first. Abilities that are impossible to understand—abilities that operate entirely outside of our system. They have no 'Path,' no core or concept to analyze. There is no structure to follow. And because of that, there's no predictable pattern to how they function. They are anomalies in a world that runs on structure. That's why they're so feared."
She tapped her nail softly on the desk. "You can't build a risky defensive method against something you can't understand. You can't even prepare a stable method properly if the nature of the attack defies all logic. So, when facing Deadline Creatures…"
She trailed off for a moment.
"…you can only hope that whatever defense you've built holds," she said finally. "Or that you're strong—and fast—enough to kill them before they ever get the chance to show you what they can do."
IAM nodded slowly, processing it all. There was a strange sort of quiet tension between the awareness of fragile the line between power and helplessness really was.
The Deadline.
Then, suddenly and without preamble, Vanessa said, "You are very enjoyable to talk to."
IAM blinked. The comment took him off-guard. Her tone hadn't changed—it was still as even and unreadable as always.
He glanced up, unsure how to respond. There was no visible smile or warmth in her expression.
She had simply… said it.
IAM was slightly taken by surprise.
"…Thank you," he said eventually, cautiously but sincerely.