Chapter 36 - Paths to Many Roads

Max sat on a tiny stone table eating food that had been promptly delivered after Durum had left. The king had gone over the Mana cycling technique to cultivate Max’s spirit and taught Max what to say in the trial against the High-King.

He had also gone over in scant details about the different cultivation paths Max would have to choose from.

“There will be a few paths available for a warrior such as yourself,” Durum had said and cast a glance at [The Maverick]. “I will not tell you what to choose. But I think it would be wise to choose a path that compliments this magnificent weapon of yours.”

That was all well and good and Max was eager to start cycling, but before doing that, he wanted to make an inventory. First of all, he had gained four levels in the ruins, which meant all kinds of free attribute points to distribute. He’d do that before starting the cycling.

Secondly, he had over 23000 Cosmic Coins. Not a paltry sum by any means. The next upgrade for [The Maverick] would cost 3200 coins. By that logic, the next one would be 6400. He had enough coins for a +7 upgrade on his trusty weapon.

You did promise to upgrade other gear you crazy min-maxer. This isn’t a game, as you well know. You’ve stumbled from mortal danger to another, and Lady Luck’s been there waiting. Don’t tempt fate.

Maybe one upgrade on [The Maverick] would be appropriate. The rest of his coins, or at least a part of them, he could use to upgrade the gear he would get from the lootboxes dropped by the Dungeon Boss. Max was pretty pleased with himself not having used any coins on the inferior gear he had acquired so far. Not that it wasn’t stupid, but you can’t help but to smile when you get away with something.

He could open the boxes now, but he wasn’t sure which would be a better play in terms of Joshua’s ability to grant quests. He could open all of the 10 boxes now and receive his lot. With luck it would be 4 items or even more. Then he would have Joshua give him a quest for six pieces of equipment.

But he could also have Joshua give him a quest for bringing 10 loot boxes and then take whatever stuff he could use for himself anyway. That should result in more experience for both Max and Joshua.

So save equipment boxes for later, check.

Max did open his [F-grade Cultivation Pack] and [D-grade supply box].

The supply box contained 5 [Mana Potions] for which Max was very pleased. Out of all the potions those were definitely the ones Max always ran out of first. He still had some of Durum’s Mana regeneration potions, but more would definitely not hurt.

Next he opened the cultivation pack. On his palm appeared a stack of pearl-white coins. A few of them spilled on the floor and rolled away. Max cursed to himself and retrieved the strays.

Then he settled back on his seat and inspected one.

[Lesser Spirit Coin]

Consumable: Contains a small amount of Spiritual Energy. Used for attempting to advance a Cultivation stage.

Another question to add to the pile I’ll shove in Durum’s face when he makes the mistake of admitting he has some time.

Max counted a total of 10 of the coins before he put them in his inventory. He thought this whole Cultivation business was very confusing, but the way Durum had described it made it seem extremely powerful, when built on top of the Framework. Not to mention him being a… Quartz-level Cultivator? Whatever that meant, it was a good thing. It had given him a boost of 5 for all attributes, which was nothing to scoff at. Max was especially pleased with getting some points in Toughness and Resistance.

Next Max decided to spend his free attribute points. He had six to spare, and decided on an even split between Intelligence and Wisdom. He had half a mind to just pour it all into Wisdom, but with the fat stack of potions in his possession, he figured it wasn’t needed for now. Besides having a higher Intelligence meant more potent damage and abilities, which would save Mana in its own way.

Constitution was definitely being left behind, but Max was still hoping he would find items to rectify the problem. He went over the math of how many shots of [The Maverick] he could take with his Healthpool. Four, tops five. Max did not like those numbers. His weapon was powerful, but who knew what the enemy had at this point.

Regardless of the many things needing improvement, Max smiled when he looked at his stat sheet. It was starting to look bulky.

Name: Max Cromwell

Cultivation stage: Quartz (lesser)

Class: Graviturgist
Level: 15

Health: 290/290

Stamina: 290/290

Mana: 540/540

Alliance: Joshua’s Group

Stats:

Strength: 9

Dexterity: 11

Constitution: 29
Intelligence: 54

Wisdom: 41

Charisma: 9
Precision: 15
Toughness: 11
Resistance: 9

Now all of the easy stuff was out of the way. There remained one more thing before he would start working on that cycling technique in conjunction with that big bag of pills Durum had gifted him when he had first arrived here. According to Durum, each [Celestial Illumination Pill] would increase the efficiency of his cycling by 50% for an hour. So that was a thousand hours of increased cycling speed. From how Durum had explained the cycling technique to work, Max was not looking forward to those thousand hours. Cycling of Spiritual Energy sounded a lot like meditation, something Max had started and given up a hundred times in his old life, in an attempt to unfunk his mind. Meditation was boring.

But before all that there was a choice to make. Max brought up his system messages. The annoying red blink had been going on for quite a while. Time to bite the bullet and make another choice based on very limited information, that will affect his own lifespan and by extension the people’s lives in Joshua’s camp. Totally no pressure. At least Durum had given him some pointers on what was to come.

[Cultivation path choice available]

You may choose a singular specialization in the way in which you choose to pursue the Heavenly Arts. This choice is permanent and will alter the fundamental structure of the Spiritual Energy of your body, mind and soul forever. None of the abilities from other paths are completely locked off to you. A Cultivator of Mind will still be able to Cultivate the Body. But the weight of the specialization is substantial. Choose carefully.

[Path of Spirit Pact Cultivation]

Choose a creature to form a Spirit Pact with. You will share Spiritual Energy with one another for life. See and sense with each other's bodies and accumulate a shared well of power one could not achieve alone.

[Path of Martial Body Cultivation]

Concentrate your Cultivation to enhance the capabilities of the corporeal body. Acquire enhanced strength, speed and endurance beyond natural limitations of the body.

[Path of Celestial Weapon Cultivation]

Focus on an exclusively martial path. Channel Spiritual Energy through your weapon and bind your lifeforce with them. This Path is a balance of Body and Soul Cultivation. Strong in neither, weak in neither.

[Path of Soul Essence Cultivation]

Enhance the pure Spiritual Energy produced by your soul. Acquire superior spellcasting abilities, by extending the reach and potency of your Spiritual Energy outside your physical body.

[Path of Heavenly Craftsman Cultivation]

Acquire peerless genius within creative pursuits. Infuse objects with spiritual energy to enhance their properties.

[Path of Ascended Mind Cultivation]

Gain insight into the hearts of men as well as beasts. Gain abilities regarding sensing emotions of others, flashes of foresight into the plans of your enemies and concentrate your Spiritual Energy to receive boons of luck from the Heavens.

Well, that’s a lot of choices, Max thought. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO MAKE A CHOICE BASED ON SUCH LIMITED DESCRIPTIONS?!

Max tried to inspect the choices further in an attempt to gleam into more details. None were given. Why the Framework of the Heavens or whatever the hell all this was wanting him to make such an important choice practically blind was a very good question. Max suspected it had something to do with boldness. It was bold to act decisively in the face of the unknown and there seemed to be a reward at the end of that… If one succeeded.

Max could sense a hint of emotion or something alike from [The Maverick] again. It was excitement and… fear?

It was basically a choice between [Path of Soul Essence Cultivation] and [Path of Celestial Weapon Cultivation]. While the Martial Body path would certainly have its uses, that wasn’t exactly how Max was built right now. Cultivating his Soul Essence would allow for more powerful manipulation of Mana, resulting in more potent spellcasting, as the description said. It felt like a no-brainer, and Max almost chose it, if it wasn’t for Durum’s advice.

It was a hard choice to make. Should he lean into the versatile gravity magic he had acquired, or the special weapon he possessed? The path of weapon specialization seemed to still have an affinity towards Cultivating magical ability. It also appeared to have some alignment towards physical abilities, which could be detrimental in terms of build efficiency. Although having a more durable body sounded appealing to Max. It was starting to be time to find and fight the other species, and Max would need defensive capabilities.

[The Maverick] almost physically vibrated with emotion. It was a strange sensation, an insistence. Like a dog barking at you and doing those little circles, clearly wanting to tell you something.

Both Durum and his weapon seemed to have a clear opinion on what should be chosen. Was that the right choice? What would be the implications?

I can’t just sit on a fence forever. I will never have enough information or rationalization. I just have to decide. Indecision is death in this new reality.

Max chose [Path of Celestial Weapon Cultivation].