When Ares left the room of initial understanding…
He did not feel that he walked.
He did not feel that he passed through a door.
The room simply… disappeared.
And the void returned.
That void cannot be described as darkness, because darkness itself needs a prior light to be recognized.
But here…
There was no "before."
He stood still.
He did not move.
His instinct told him one thing —
Places you do not understand… observe them first.
Then it happened.
Without introduction.
Without vibration.
Without sound.
The runes appeared.
At first… one.
Then dozens.
Then thousands.
Then—
A number the mind could not count.
Golden runic inscriptions exploded into existence around him, above him, below him, even in spaces he was not sure existed at all.
They were not drawn.
They felt like laws written in the language of the universe itself.
They glowed.
And in the next moment—
Light engulfed him.
Not a warm light…
But a revealing light.
Ares felt something pass through his body. It did not harm him… but moved through him the way a gaze passes through transparent glass.
One feeling took control of him:
He was being read.
Not his body.
Not his energy.
But his history… even the part he had not lived yet.
Then—
Everything went dark.
The runes vanished.
The light vanished.
And the void returned… as if swallowing the trace of what had happened.
But Ares understood.
This place does not test you.
It classifies you.
Slowly… the three doors began to appear again.
Silent.
Imposing.
As if they had never disappeared at all.
At that moment—
He heard the voice.
It did not come from a direction.
The air did not tremble for it.
It existed directly inside his awareness.
Cold.
Neutral.
Closer to a final judgment.
Name: Ares
Affiliated family: Records forbidden
Classification: Anomaly
His eyes did not tremble…
But something inside him became alert.
The word "forbidden" was not a description.
It was a seal.
Talent:
High compatibility with spiritual power.
High compatibility with the Path of Immortal Ascension.
Gravity-related talent — high compatibility with the Path of Elements.
Path of the Celestial Body — current compatibility: unknown.
The voice paused for a fraction of a second…
Then spoke the sentence that seemed to reshape his fate:
You may enter the three doors and choose the path you wish to follow.
Then it vanished.
No echo.
No trace.
Even the void returned to its original silence.
Ares thought.
Not for long…
But deeply.
Paths are not roads you walk on.
They are things that walk inside you until they reshape you.
Then he moved.
Calm steps toward one door.
The Path of Immortal Ascension.
When he crossed it—
The universe expanded.
Literally.
He was no longer in a room…
Nor in a limited void.
But in a vast space filled with cold stars and silent planets orbiting without sound, as if time here had abandoned its habit of flowing.
Then…
The doors appeared.
Many.
More than he expected.
All without names.
Empty signs swung on heavy chains, as if the knowledge behind them had not yet been permitted to be spoken.
Except for one door.
Written on it:
The Human World.
He walked toward it.
The moment he touched the door—
The scene changed.
A library.
But the word library felt like an insult to what stood before him.
Endless rows of books.
Shelves rising as if trying to reach the sky.
Air saturated with the smell of old paper… and heavy knowledge.
At the entrance—
An old man sat.
His presence was not overwhelming.
But there was a calm around him like the calm of a deep sea… you know that beneath it lies something immeasurable.
The man lifted his gaze.
His eyes stopped on Ares.
Then he said simply:
"Your name?"
"Ares."
The old man waited.
One second passed.
Then another.
But the silence continued.
A wrinkle formed between his brows.
"Your title… and your family?"
In that moment, Ares understood the reason for the surprise.
A name alone… means nothing here.
He said calmly:
"I do not know my title or my family. All my records are classified within the forbidden list."
The old man's eyebrows lifted slightly.
A small surprise… but real.
Then he asked, driven by curiosity he did not try to hide:
"Do you not know the name of anyone from your family?"
He paused, then added in a lighter tone:
"It is fine if you do not wish to speak."
Ares was silent.
Something distant stirred in his memory…
Like a voice coming from the bottom of a well.
"I remember the name of one of my ancestors…
Majara."
In the next moment—
The old man's face changed.
Not much.
But enough for one who was watching.
His pupils shrank.
The line of his mouth tightened.
A fleeting shock… quickly hidden.
But Ares saw it.
After a moment, the old man asked:
"What is your classification?"
Ares hesitated.
The question felt strange.
So the old man said:
"You were supposed to be informed of it when you entered this place. Based on the classification… you are allowed to choose techniques."
Ares nodded slightly.
"Anomaly… potential."
This time—
The old man did not try to hide his reaction.
He looked at him sharply.
Then he pulled out a tablet made of a dark material that did not reflect light, and ran his fingers over it.
Faint symbols flickered.
He read.
Stopped.
Then read again.
He slowly lifted his gaze.
Now there was something clear in his eyes:
Strangeness… curiosity.
And perhaps… caution.
He finally said:
"You have high compatibility with the Path of Elements. It would be better for you to walk it."
But Ares shook his head slightly.
"I want to see the three paths first… then choose."
The old man tilted his head.
As if the answer pleased him.
Or confirmed a suspicion within him.
"Very well… I will give you three basic techniques. One technique for each path."
Ares's eyes widened slightly.
"Why basic? I can choose something better."
The old man smiled.
A small smile… but it carried the weight of long experience.
"Basic techniques are not weakness."
Then he added:
"They are the first trial…
The step where your body tells you which path you were created for."
"Try them.
Feel them.
Then come back and choose."
Before Ares could speak—
The air trembled.
Three wooden tablets formed from nothing in front of him.
They did not descend.
They did not appear gradually.
They were not there… then they were… then they became.
As if reality itself had no problem bending inside this place.
He reached out his hand—
The moment his fingers touched one of the tablets—
The world flipped.
No transition.
No light.
No sense of movement.
Only—
He opened his eyes.
And he was lying in his room…
On the first level of the clan.
The familiar ceiling above him.
Silent walls around him.
But one thing was different.
He no longer felt like a child who had entered the clan.
But like a being…
Placed just now on the first step of a ladder whose end he could not see.
And deep within his awareness…
A cold question moved:
Why were the old man's eyes shocked when he heard the name "Majara"?
A question Ares did not yet know…
Would chase him for a long time.