Past Life Hero, ch 22

When Max woke up on the first Thursday of his first semester at Summoner Academy, he started the day as he usually did–heading for the bathroom.  As he left his room, he heard weird noises coming from his roommate's room again.  At this point, he was relatively sure that he didn't have a roommate because he hadn't seen the bathroom used by anybody or any signs of it the entire time he'd been living there so far.

Now  he was actually a little bit more excited about classes than he had been earlier in the week. It seemed his two favorite classes were going to end up being on off days, Tuesdays and Thursdays. First, again, he had Challenger Paths class and then he would have Basic Group Combat. He wasn't quite sure exactly what to make of Professor Grave Call at Basic Group Combat class, nor was he quite sure what the man would teach. Max had a feeling that it would be worth learning, though.

It was kind of strange to think of it this way because in his prime, in his previous life, Max probably could have wiped out this entire Academy. Easily.  His conversation with Gantry had been illuminating. Even if the the best fighting students in the Academy were fairly low beneath the professors, Max was beginning to understand better why the other Paths looked down on Summoner Academy so much, why they had such a terrible reputation, and why there hadn't been any Quartet competition winners from Summoner Academy in a long time.

The Challenger Paths Lore class was interesting for Max, not only from an academic perspective, but from a practical one too. Like Professor Nongal had said, it was important to know your enemy.  But there was another reason why Max was interested too. He had received a Summoner Seed, whatever that was–the reason he was learning to be a Summoner now in the first place. However, he still remembered his life as a Blade Sorcerer and he was familiar with mana. He was actually getting close to reaching his first star mana body.

In fact, wouldn’t need to spend any time or energy regaining his power as a Blade Sorcerer other than building his mana body.  So despite the fact different Paths seemed to use mana differently–if they even used mana–Max suspected he might be able to learn yet another Path, too.  Summoner, Blade Sorcerer, and maybe something else…

Max had always been fascinated by True Sorcerers and other more spell-focused magical paths. During the time that Max had been reading in the Summoner Academy library before classes started, this had been an area of study he'd been pursuing.One of his goals was to become stronger than his past life. At first he wondered if getting another Path, a completely different third Path, would be a way to get stronger. His research had actually suggested otherwise.

Once he'd read about people who have tried, he understood.

The problem was two different Paths to power were already fairly difficult to juggle. Many times they required a different way of thinking and sometimes even different physiology to work. There was a high chance that the only reason Max was able to build his mana body and still learn to be a Summoner was because mana control was now an intrinsic part of his soul.

Most students that started on a Path in any of the Quartets, if they had prior training in other Paths, experienced a complete halt in their prior abilities or even sometimes even a regression. The very rare Challengers over thousands of years that had somehow been able to attempt three different paths had failed spectacularly. At least that’s what the books in the library said.

Max knew that he had some very unique advantages over others, but he wasn't so arrogant as to imagine he could juggle three completely different, unrelatedPaths at once. However, since he truly didn't need to learn any Blade Sorcerer skills, only build his mana body, he decided that if he researched another Path that used similar resources as a Blade Sorcerer…it might be worth a shot.

These thoughts were all on his mind as he went to breakfast.  He met Lance to have a quick meal before truly getting ready for the day.

As the week had progressed, fewer students had been taking the time to eat breakfast every morning in the cafeteria. So Lance and Max had a large table completely to themselves. They caught up on the previous day and the conversation eventually devolved into Lance complaining about his Beginner Combat class. Max thought it was pretty funny because as bad as Lance was trying to make it seem, Max thought it actually sounded gentle.  In fact, when students of the Beginner Combat class got bruises or blisters, there was a healer on hand from the nurse's office to take care of them.

Such a thing hadn't existed for Max in Albion or on Earth. And he told him as much, that Lance was lucky to be learning skills here where magic existed instead of a gym back in Canada. Lance grudgingly agreed. "Yeah, I guess you have a point, but sometimes it helps just to complain about stuff."

"I suppose you're right," laughed Max. "What do you have today again?"

Lance said, "Basic Survival and Community Defense. I'm actually looking forward to Community Defense."

"Good to hear it," said Max. "I'm looking forward to my classes today too."

The two new friends bumped fists after leaving the cafeteria and began their day.

Max got to arrive at Challenger Path Lore class early as he'd been doing for all of his classes so far. And the moment he came in the door, Professor Nongal scanned him with her tablet and nodded as she continued to take attendance. It turned out the other students had the same mindset as Max because at some point, Professor Nongal must have figured that everybody was there.

She said, “It’s a few minutes before class starts.  But since you're all here and we have a lot to cover, we're going to start early today.”

Everybody in the room got their tablets ready to take notes or check the reading material that had been assigned for the class.

Max was very curious about Professor Nongal's teaching style. She pointed at the wall behind her and a cube of light appeared with words that generated whenever she snapped her fingers. Max blinked and thought, It's a magical PowerPoint presentation.

The professor said, "As you all doubtlessly know by now, even if you are a first year, this Quartet has four schools. The Mystic Spear Academy, Summoner Academy, Replicator Academy, and Elemental Shifter Academy. Can anybody tell me what the standard Path archetypes are for every training Quartet in the universe?

Max knew the answer to this question but didn't raise his hand. Two desks in front of him, a middle-aged woman with graying red hair raised her hand and the professor pointed at her. The woman said, "Each Quartet usually has a martial Path, a pure magic Path, an internal or external power Path, and a transformational power Path."

"Very good textbook answer," said Professor Nongal. "Now can you explain that in your own words?"

So far, Max was a little bored with the lesson. They were just covering stuff that he'd heard several times already over the week. And apparently, he'd let it show too much on his face. Because when nobody in the class raised their hand to answer her question, Professor Nongal pointed at Max and said, "You, what's your name?"

Max blinked, wondering why she was asking his name when she could have very easily found it on her tablet. But he answered anyway. "Max Cunningham.”

“Very good, Max.  Now  why don't you tell us in your own words what the four standard Path styles are in each training quartet?"

Max scratched his cheek and decided to play along. He really didn't want to stand out in an academic way like this. However, he'd already made peace with the fact that after more people knew about his duel with the idiotic prince from the Mystic Spear Academy, more people in the Summoner Academy would know who he was. He’d thought his notoriety would rise over time, though.

But if he end up being well known, so be it.  Max had already decided to do the best he could in Summoner Academy for lots of reasons.  Among them was the fact that choosing to embark on this adventure, getting a new Path to power, being whisked away from Earth, and then not taking advantage of it all would be pretty stupid.  And although he didn’t generally enjoy the limelight for its own sake, he had experienced it in his first life.  It didn’t scare him.

With all of this running through his mind, he launched into his best explanation: “Martial paths are about physical perfection in combat or physical skills. Even though they use different powers, every martial path will probably have a physical focus. Whether it be using fists or swords or other weapon styles, martial Challengers will most likely be the warrior types.

“Magic Paths are for Challengers that use raw supernatural forces in some way, regardless of where they get it: whether cultivating it, taking it from somewhere, sacrificing something, or maybe channeling it from somewhere. They use this power to create unusual or unnatural effects in the world with nothing but this power and their will.

“Internal and external power Paths seems pretty broad, but based on my understanding, it's something like an innate ability that will grow stronger with training and originates either from the Challenger themself or something that's always around the challenger.  Perhaps something the Challenger needs to find.”

Max held his chin and said, "I think of external power as maybe somebody who can control a fire that already exists near them and turn it into a blazing weapon that they hold in their hand or maybe turn even build a spark into a wildfire.

“Transformation power Path challengers are people that can either transform themself or things around them. When I first started reading the book for this class, I assumed that it would always be a physical transformation, but it turns out it doesn't have to be. Like there was an example in the text about a transformative Path whose Challengers can actually absorb most magical energies thrown at them and use it for healing and strengthening effects. I thought that sounded kind of weird and situational though. Like for instance, if one of those Challengers were to fight a machine, or a Path that uses machinery, they'd be completely screwed.”

Max stopped talking and shrugged. Everybody in class was looking at him with various expressions. Some annoyed, some with an eyebrow cocked, some amused, and some impressed. Luckily, the professor was one of the latter.

Professor Nongal nodded and said, "That was a very good explanation, Max. I hope others have been studying their texts like you have, especially since this is only the first week. If everybody were being so studious, we would be off to an excellent start."

She turned around, grabbed a ruler from somewhere, and swung it through the air. “Also, Max, you also brought up another excellent point about the hypothetical transformational Challenger you mentioned being a bad matchup versus a Challenger using machinery of some kind.” She waved her ruler through the air, and with every wave, new words appeared in her magical presentation behind her on the board.

“Some Paths are very weak against certain other Paths, and some Paths are strong against those other Paths. Some paths are very difficult to use effectively one-on-one against monsters or other Challengers. And, as many of you know, the Summoner Path will be classified this way by most other academies in every quartet in the universe.” She muttered, "But that's debatable."

Then she said, "But some Paths, like our own Summoner Path, excel at support and are sought after by Challengers in real-world teams, especially if a dying world is in particularly dire straits." She waved her ruler again, and an image of stick figures facing each other, hitting a close fist against an open palm appeared. The professor said, "It might be called different things, even in different languages, on multiple worlds, but most worlds with bipedal humanoids have some game like ‘rock, paper, scissors.’ The idea that one thing beats another thing, while yet another thing beats that one, in turn, a circular chain, is a common concept among thinking beings in the universe, not least of which because it applies to the elements as well." Max nodded to this. It made complete sense and was something that he had inherently already known.

The professor continued, "There are thousands, if not millions of Paths in the universe, and you know of the four archetypes.  But most of them can also be classified into seven general power sources or types. All of you should be taking notes on this next two minutes.”

She paused.  The handful of people in the class who didn't have their tablets ready to take notes got them out with a sheepish look.

"The seven general powers are contracts, mana, inner strength, natural energy, channeling, bound objects, and bound energies. There are a tiny handful of exceptions in the universe, but most paths that might at first seem to be an exception are actually some combination of these basic seven powers. For instance, everybody in here has a Summoner seed and is on the Summoner Path. The Summoner Path is a mixture of contracts and bound energies. First years, you might not understand exactly what this means yet, but second year and third years should understand exactly what I'm talking about." A few heads in class nodded when the professor said this.

She waved her ruler vertically and a new line of text appeared in her magic PowerPoint. “Most Paths can be thought of as one or more of the seven general powers combined with something else, usually another general power. For instance, in our Quartet, we have the Mystic Spear Path as another competing school. Mystic Spear Path Challengers use inner strength and also follow the way of the spear. ‘Mystic,’ of course, does not usually note pure inner strength. Instead, it’s mostly inner strength with a smattering of natural energy. As such, every Mystic Spear Path warrior relies on physical weapons that they can carry or find in order to properly use their powers. And even though they may be able to use some of their abilities with other types of weapons, they are thematically and spiritually bound to the spear.  To be clear, they can only use their full power with a spear or something they think of as a spear.”

The professor held up a finger and said, "For every Path in the universe, the way Challengers use their path, intent, and individual viewpoint is extremely important. Now who can break this down?  Who can tell me what that means?"

A skinny man who looked about 30 with multiple earrings in both ears shyly raised his hand and the professor pointed at him. "What is your name?" she said.

"Uh, it's Tyler," said the man.

"Tyler, what do you think that means?  Go ahead."

"Well, it's like how you think about what you're doing matters, right?"

The professor smiled. "Exactly. And this is why sometimes the most powerful Challengers, the most powerful warriors in the universe are not necessarily those with the strongest muscle or the most mana or the biggest spirits or the flashiest contracts. No, the most powerful are often the most creative because they are the ones who learn how to bend or even break the rules in their own Path." The classroom was completely silent other than the sound of people tapping notes onto their tablet. "If you remember nothing else from today, I hope you remember that creativity is the key to true power and that sometimes rules are in place to be broken."

“Now then, since we've gone over the seven basic power sources of the various Paths, let's start reviewing the different secondary modifiers. We have already mentioned the Mystic Spear Path, so let's start with the spear, a physical variation of melee weapon.”

Max continued listening to the lecture and took furious notes. He was right. This was an extremely interesting class. And even though the concept of Paths hadn't existed back on Albion, he could see the connection.  Albion had been a world full of some extremely powerful warriors who all had very distinct abilities or powers. The longer Max heard Professor Nongal lecture on Path lore, the more he realized that he had already seen a handful of them in action.

Before this class, he hadn't been completely sure that the Blade Sorcerer he’d been was truly the same type of Blade Sorcerer that the angel had mentioned at the start of this strange journey. But now he was sure. And now that he had a better understanding of the Paths, he believed it was just a matter of time until he could find a Path that might be suitable as his third.  He would need one that could at least partially utilize the mana body he was building as a Blade Sorcerer and also complement his existing skills.

But one thing Max had learned a long time ago was to make every one of his goals achievable so he wouldn't be too focused on the potential ending and miss important steps. So for now, he was going to research.  If and when he found what other Path might be a good fit, after that actually finding instructional materials for it might be damn near impossible, especially in this particular training Quartet.