Paths

In the following days, Orion familiarized himself with the layout of the mansion as well as all the staff. The butlers and maids treated him very well, showing the same respect they showed to Eldric and Selene.

After a week, Orion went to find Eldric in his study.

Knock Knock

He knocked on the door, waiting.

"Come in." Eldric's authoritative voice came from the other side.

Orion opened the gate slowly. "Grandpa," he greeted in a soft voice.

"Ah, my boy Orion, why did you knock? You can just come in." Eldric's entire personality changed as he dotingly looked at Orion.

Orion smiled gently, "You will spoil me rotten at this rate."

"Haha, what nonsense, if I won't spoil my grandson then who will?" Eldric waved his hand and stood up from his chair.

"Come sit," he motioned for him to sit in front of him. "Why did you decide to visit this old man today?"

Orion sat down in front of the old man, taking a second to gather his thoughts, "I want to learn about the professions of this world. How do people use this…mana here?"

Eldric smiled in understanding, having already expected this question from the curious lad, "That's a good question, and about time I explain this stuff to you."

"Well then," Eldric sat back down with a relaxed expression, stroking his beard. "Let's start with the basics. There are three main paths humans can walk in this world: Mage, Warrior, and Hybrid. Each has its own sub-path and specializations."

He raised one finger, "Mages wield mana through spells. They imprint the spell runes in their Sea of Consciousness and manipulate the elements—or concepts—through incantations—"

He paused, seeing Orion raising a hand, asking for a question. Eldric nodded his head.

"How many spells can a human have?" he asked, despite having the Dragon Inheritance; he hadn't unlocked all of it due to his young age. The Dragon Gods had placed this restriction due to Young Dragons being naive. They don't want the young ones to give out the Classified information of dragons to other species.

"Good, you ask the main questions directly." Eldric smiled, pleased with Orion's sharp mind. "The number of spells a mage can learn depends on the size of their Sea of Consciousness, and it also stores the mana. Most basic mages can learn 3 spells at Tier 1, 6 spells for Tier 2, 9 spells for Tier 3, and so on until 27 spells for Tier 9."

"Is that the limit of mages?" Orion continued asking, clearly catching the word 'Basic Mages.'

Eldric chuckled and replied, "There are always geniuses in this world. Some are born with a large Sea of Consciousness, while others encounter some opportunity to increase the size of their Sea of Consciousness."

Orion nodded his head. He knew True Dragons had ten times the capacity humans had in their Sea of Consciousness. But it was also harder for them to open their Sea of Consciousness early, albeit most of them are able to open it naturally with their age.

But for those who want to open it early, they need to use a lot of resources to force it open, which is rather rare since Dragons are greedy by nature. Normally, no parent dragon will give up their treasures for their kids, while the Young Dragons can't exactly go out to gather the treasures.

Orion nodded in understanding, while Eldric continued.

"So where was I?…ah yeah, mages. So there are the most common battle mages who only learn offensive or defensive spells for combat. Then comes the good part," he chuckled, "There are more types of mages, support mages, summoners, and even the detestable curse casters."

He then raised the second finger, "Warriors, meanwhile, channel mana in their bodies directly and strengthen it over time from constant nourishment. They enhance their speed, strength, and durability, sometimes even fusing with weapons and their own bloodlines. Swordmaster, Spearmen, Fistfighter, Shield Bearers—you name a weapon and there will be a warrior for that."

A third finger joined the other two, his smile widening. "Then there are the hybrids. Extremely rare and powerful, but usually quite unstable. They are the best and worst of both paths. It takes an absurd level of control to manage both internal reinforcement and external spellcasting at the same time."

Orion's eyes flashed with interest; if he had to choose a path from the given options, he would definitely choose the hybrid path. After all, his body was strong enough to handle reinforcement.

"But," Eldric continued, his tone turning serious, "there are other paths too. More obscure ones. Beast Tamers, Runesmiths, Alchemists, Artificers, Spirit Contractors, Necromancers, and even Soulsmith. Most of these are taught in major academies or families in Empires, while some are unique enough that only a few inheritors of their legacy will appear in a generation."

He leaned forward, his eyes flashing with barely concealed excitement, "And then, there are the…monsters. The ones who follow no path, break all conventions, and forge their own. Usually born with great providence and shoulder a heavy fate."

Orion's eyes turned confused; he quickly scanned through the legacy and found no such beings. He asked, "What are these…monsters? And how many are there?"

Eldric suddenly laughed, "Haha, it's just a legend here. There is no solid proof they exist. This legend has existed since an old era here, and people have integrated it into their folklore. But from what I have heard, the monsters are greedy beyond compare. They want to learn all the paths and merge them all into a single ultimate path towards the apex. But none have succeeded yet."

Orion thoughtfully nodded his head. The path seemed absurd—impossible even—as most humans had a limited lifespan. How much can they learn in a single life?

'Maybe…' He began to have thoughts about this path. But he was not sure, as he needed to learn more about the world and its politics. Will he even have enough time to learn this stuff?

But something else came to his mind; he met Eldric's gaze and curiously asked, "What path did you follow, Grandpa?"