Ares stood in the middle of the room, but his mind was not there.
He was standing at an unseen crossroads… a path not defined by footsteps, but by will.
Should he return to the clan office to obtain techniques like everyone else?
Or should he search for Elder Farin?
The question was not as simple as it seemed.
Because the first decision in a practitioner's life often shapes the form of their end.
He lowered his gaze slightly and sank into his thoughts.
Three paths.
Three mountains most people would not even dare to look toward their peaks.
He felt something inside him leaning toward danger… toward the road no one walks.
And at the moment he was about to settle his thoughts—
the air in front of him trembled.
No sound.
No ripple.
Someone was simply there, though they had not been a heartbeat earlier.
Elder Farin.
He stood as if he had always been part of the place, not a visitor who had just arrived.
He did not greet him.
He did not announce his presence.
He looked directly at Ares and said in a calm voice free of courtesy:
"Have you thought about which path you will choose?"
The words froze in Ares's throat.
The silence was not fear… but calculation.
He was weighing the sentence before releasing it, just as a fighter weighs his first strike.
Because he knew—
some decisions, once spoken… become destiny.
He finally raised his eyes and said:
"I will follow all three paths."
His voice did not tremble.
But something in the air felt as if it were waiting for an explosion.
Ares expected mockery.
Or reprimand.
Or that look the wise give to fools.
He expected resistance.
But Elder Farin said only one word:
"Good."
The word fell quietly… like a stone into a sea without waves.
Ares blinked slowly.
For a moment, he thought he had misheard.
He looked at the elder with surprise and met a strange indifference… the gaze of a man who had seen so much madness that nothing shocked him anymore.
The elder said:
"What? Did you think I would stop you?
Or scold you?"
Then he shifted his gaze slightly, as if speaking of something not worth pausing for.
"What you choose… is your path.
And yours alone."
He fell silent for a moment before adding in a deeper tone:
"What truly matters… is what you will become."
He stepped forward.
For a reason he could not understand, Ares felt the distance between them had not changed… even though he saw him move.
His words approached Ares slowly, yet carried a strange weight.
"Either another fool who fades into oblivion…
or a genius whose name echoes across worlds…
or perhaps—"
He stopped.
As if the last possibility was too great to be spoken easily.
"—something beyond that."
Ares's limbs grew cold without knowing why.
The elder continued calmly:
"The clan is only responsible for raising you.
Your paths… are yours to choose."
Then he looked at him with a brief, sharp gaze.
"But my only advice—
do not begin the Celestial Body path now."
Ares felt the words were not ordinary advice… but a silent red line.
"Wait until you reach seven.
When your genetic body fully adapts to spiritual energy."
He shrugged with apparent indifference.
"Of course… you can follow my advice.
Or consider it nonsense."
He turned slightly.
"Now… let us go get your techniques."
In the blink of an eye—
the room vanished.
Ares did not feel the transition. He did not pass through a door, nor step onto new ground.
The world simply changed.
He found himself in a vast hall that confused perception, as if the walls were not built to contain space… but to contain an entire universe.
He could not see the end.
Only a silent expanse that suggested greatness.
The elder asked without introduction:
"Your final decision?"
"A technique from the Path of Eternal Ascension… and another from the Elemental Path."
The elder nodded.
Then he asked:
"And which direction will you take in Eternal Ascension?
The natural path… or the demonic path?"
Ares opened his mouth… then closed it.
For the first time, he had no answer.
The elder noticed his silence.
"Well… it seems you have not yet discovered which road calls to you."
Before he could respond—
the elder's eyes ignited.
Not metaphorically.
A faint, deep light emerged from his pupils.
It passed through Ares's body… like wind across an open plain.
Ares's body stiffened.
That disturbing feeling returned—
the sense that all his secrets were being read without permission.
The elder said calmly:
"Do not be bothered… I am only seeing your composition.
Your nature.
And what suits you."
Then his gaze stopped.
Specifically… at the area below Ares's navel.
The dantian.
A short silence followed.
A thinking silence.
Then the elder said slowly:
"Interesting…"
Ares's pupils shrank.
"Your dantian… seems capable of handling different types of energy."
He fell silent again.
But this time, the silence was heavier.
As if a great idea had formed in his mind.
Then he suddenly said:
"I have the right technique for you."
A green jade tablet formed before Ares, appearing from nothing as stars are born in a sky without warning.
A soft light seeped from within it… a light not meant for decoration.
But for authority.
The elder said:
"Infinite Energy Transformations."
Even the name felt limitless.
"One of the clan's most important techniques.
It will grant you the ability to understand different energies and deal with them."
The tablet moved closer.
"Consider it… the balance that will help you discover the direction that suits you."
Before Ares could fully grasp the weight of what he had received—
a second tablet appeared.
"As for this, it is the training technique for the Elemental Path.
Elemental Foundation."
"It is a technique that allows you to perceive the elemental power within you and train it."
Ares hesitated before asking:
"Will you not give me a technique related to gravitational power?"
The elder smiled slightly.
A smile of someone who knew something… and had not yet said it.
"Unlike the Path of Eternal Ascension, where you can follow a specific technique…"
Then he looked directly into his eyes.
"In the Elemental Path — it is better for you to create your own method."
Ares froze for a moment.
"This technique will teach you how to train…
but the path of gravity?"
The elder stepped closer.
His voice lowered slightly.
"That is a path… you must discover yourself."
Then he added:
"Great powers are not inherited… they are invented."
Elder Farin did not speak many words.
But their impact felt like handing a child a map… without borders.
Finally, the elder said:
"When you reach seven… I will give you the Celestial Body technique."
In a quiet instant—
everything returned.
The room.
The stillness.
The familiar air.
Elder Farin disappeared… as if he had never been there.
But before Ares—
two green jade tablets rested.
Glowing silently.
He looked at them for a long time.
And felt a cold realization forming inside him:
From this moment on…
he was no longer walking a path made for him.
But a path… the world would one day be forced to acknowledge was born from him.
He stepped forward and closed his hand around the two tablets.
Deep within his dantian—
something moved.
Slowly.
As if dormant energies were beginning to open their eyes…
waiting for their first command.