THE GOD EATER

Chapter 16: The Pathways.

At this point, he cleaned his hands of chalk with a small hand towel. The towel was white, so it was difficult for Loki to tell if it was dirty because the chalk was also white.

Muni looked at Craig again and said, ”For those of you who awakened with an Innate Metac, you can use your Innate Metac as your Core Metac. Every Innate Metac can be used as a Core Metac. In fact, it is recommended that you use your Innate Metac as your Core Metac because it is the Metac most aligned to your nature.”

”However, if you pick the Sword Heart Metac as your Core Metac, you won’t be able to get much help from the Four Directions Sect. On the upside, it also means that no one in the sect will compete with you for the resources needed to elevate your Core Metac or fight for Branch Metacs with you.”

Then he said to everyone else, ”As for you lot, you are in luck. The Four Directions Sect has many Core Metacs for you to choose from. In fact, we have five Core Metac to choose from.”

He pointed to the image of the four-pointed star insignia on his uniform and said, ”The Four Directions Sect has five Branches. There is a Branch of enslavement in the center. As far as I know, the founder of the Four Directions Sect used the Enslavement path to prove the Dao. So this path belongs to the ancestor. This means that you can never achieve rank 9 with it.”

Then he laughed and said, ”Of course, that is for those who can achieve rank 9 to worry about. For us who find it difficult to achieve rank 5, it doesn’t matter who owns which pathway.”

After having his laugh, he became serious again and said, ”Anyways. There are four other available pathways for us to take in the Four Directions sect. There is a Forging Pathway, the pathway of the mind hunters, the Death Pathway, and the Money Pathway.”

”The Core Metac of the Enslavement Pathway is the Enslavement Seed Metac. The Core Metac of the Forging Pathway is the Telekinesis Metac. The Core Metac of the Mind Hunters Pathway is the Telepathy Metac.”

”The Core Metac of the Death Pathway is Corpse Control Metac. Finally, the Core Metac of the Money Pathway is the Contract Metac.”

”For the rest of the week, I will speak at length about the five pathways. I will also touch upon some of their Branch Metacs. At the end of the week, you will pick one Core Metac and a Branch Metac of that pathway. So prepare yourself and listen attentively.”

Then Muni coughed loudly to clear his throat. After he was ready, he began the main portion of the lecture.

He said, ”In the Four Directions Sect, our Core principle is controlling other things to fight for us and to gain power. Take the Enslavement Pathway, for example, it is clearly about controlling living things to fight for us, while the Death Pathway is about controlling dead things to fight for us.”

”The Forging Pathway is controlling non-living things and objects to fight, while the pathway of the mind hunter is controlling intangible things like emotions and memories as weapons to fight with. As for the Money Pathway, it uses something as conceptual as money to fight and control others.”

”In the Four Directions Sect, we rarely fight at the forefront. We usually use other things to fight for us, and we usually fight from a distance, never directly. That is the essence of the Four Directions Sect, so the choice of which Core Metac you will pick is actually the choice of which kind of tool you want to fight with and use to gain power.”

Then he began listing out specific examples of the tools and Metacs that each Branch uses so that they will get a better idea of what they want.

He said that the enslavement path enclaves beasts like birds and fish. They also control insects, plants, and even other humans. He also stated the Branch Metacs for each of these possible tools.

For the Forging Pathway, he mentioned puppets, golems, combat armors, and every other kind of weapon. He told them that this pathway was all about forging powerful tools and controlling them to fight.

Next, made mention of the tools of the three other pathways, too. He even spoke at length about all of them for one hour.

It was through his explanation that they were able to know that those on the Forging Pathway can turn themselves into machines, the way those on the Death Pathway can turn themselves into zombies. So his class was very enlightening.

By the time the class was over, Loki had gotten enough information to be able to decide which pathway he wanted to cultivate. He picked the Forging Pathway and the Mind Hunters Pathway.

He picked the Forging Pathway because it had mechs, guns, and he loved them. As for the pathway of mind hunting, he picked it because it required the same stat as the Forging Pathway, being the power of the mind, and it also complemented the Forging Pathway.

Muni had said that all pathways, except the Money Pathway, required a powerful mind. He said the Money Pathway required a lot of energy and a large energy well.

The Forging Pathway only needed a powerful mind. But some of them, like the Death Pathway, also required powerful souls, while the pathway of mind hunting and the Enslavement Pathway required powerful willpower, too.

So there is no inherent clash in the requirement of the Forging Pathway and the Mind Hunters Pathway. In fact, the pathway of Mind Hunter will also be able to take advantage of his powerful willpower.

However, the most important reason he picked the Mind Hunters Pathway is that they target the other four pathways and can prevent him from being enslaved and controlled by others.