Chapter 118
The Warrior is Dead
The Silver Crown Dragon, though a Pillar God of the Path of Authority, also possessed some of the power and characteristics of the Transcendent Path.
Or rather, in ancient times, before the existence of professional heritages, it was perfectly reasonable for any Extraordinary to wield powers from multiple Paths.
The nine Paths represented nine attitudes towards life, nine worldviews, nine personalities, and nine tendencies.
No single Path was absolutely correct, and few people could walk only one Path without deviation.
The professional system, born nearly two millennia ago, brought more stable heritages and ascension routes for the Extraordinary. This, in turn, caused people to subconsciously adhere to a single Path, gradually purifying their personalities.
However, advancing on one Path did not mean abandoning the characteristics of other Paths. Conversely, if someone did not fit the criteria of other Paths, it did not necessarily mean they could go far on their chosen Path.
The ultimate goal of “purifying one’s thoughts” was born from a lack of personal ability, compelling individuals to focus their energy on a single Path to progress faster and further.
But when some realized this allowed for quicker ascension, they began to pressure others to also purify their Paths, lest they fall behind at a young age. After all, one’s Path level at a young age directly determined their profession, income, and future life. Everyone desired a better life, willing to change themselves for it.
As Path ascension became utilitarian, the average age of Extraordinary at each energy level began to decrease year by year. Nevertheless, the number of individuals who could reach the Fourth Tier and beyond remained largely the same, as the difficulty increased with higher levels.
In less extreme circumstances, every Extraordinary should possess adaptability to multiple Paths. This was not about adapting oneself to a Path, but rather about gaining the powers of all Paths that adapted to them. Therefore, they should have low-level abilities from many Paths, but few Paths would likely reach higher levels – this was the natural talent of most people.
As a modern Extraordinary, Haina found this ancient concept of the Extraordinary incomprehensible.
Haina was so astonished that she could barely speak. “The Silver Crown Dragon, the Crowned Lord… is also a Transcendent?
“Can mortals… also become Pillar Gods?”
“Not a Transcendent, but possessing the characteristics of the Transcendent Path,” Eivass corrected calmly. “And becoming a Pillar God is not an insurmountable chasm. As everyone knows, mortals can become Heavenly Envoys, and any Heavenly Envoy theoretically has the potential to become a Pillar God. The reason they haven’t become Pillar Gods is simply that they are not strong enough, not having walked far enough on the nine Paths.
“The academy has reiterated many times that the Nine Pillar Gods are not administrators of the Paths, but merely pioneers of them. But clearly, Senior, you do not understand the true meaning of this statement. Ultimately, this World simply has nine unclaimed great powers and their corresponding nine supreme positions… Our seminary textbooks teach this knowledge.
“The reason they are Pillar Gods is that they have walked the furthest on their respective Paths, thus the Paths are named after their direction, and others must follow their principles.
“However, if another Heavenly Envoy can walk further than a Pillar God, that Path will change ownership and be renamed. This doesn’t even require killing a Pillar God. Since the era of written records, there have been three such instances of Pillar God succession: the Cicada Molting, the Forbidden Fruit, and Royal Power. Humanity’s experience, recorded in human history, was the third event, which occurred five hundred years ago. The first two were witnessed by Dragons and Elves.”
“… Eivass, where did you learn… all this secret knowledge?”
Haina couldn’t help but tremble all over.
She clearly struggled to process this forbidden knowledge.
She suddenly realized, “Grandfather Jacob used to tell us legends of the great warriors of ancient times… I always wondered why there were no more warriors in modern times…”
“Although the essence of Power and Authority is similar, their directions are different. Therefore, after the Silver Crown Dragon ascended, old professions like ‘Warrior,’ ‘Berserker,’ and ‘Fighter’ declined.”
Eivass did not answer her first question, instead skipping it to address the next one. “The power they already possessed did not disappear, but they could no longer strengthen themselves through their original professions. However, they could easily transition to the Path of Authority with minimal loss of power.
“Ultimately, ‘Berserkers’ became the Bound, ‘Warriors’ became Guardians, ‘Swordsmen’ became Supervisors, ‘Fighters’ became Arresters, and ‘Challengers’ became ‘Attendants.’ Law Masters were entirely new professions and thus had no advancement. Of the Power Path professions from five hundred years ago, only Light Cavalry remained unchanged, but their original advancement, ‘Knights,’ became ‘Aerial Cavalry.’ Knights themselves became a class in Avalon.”
Among these, Guardians, Bound, Arresters, and Attendants were not common professions in Avalon.
This was because if one studied Law and simultaneously practiced swordsmanship and horsemanship, they would invariably advance as Supervisors. If they did not study horsemanship, they would become Law Masters. If they did not study Law, they would become Light Cavalry.
This was what Eivass meant when he said thatMystical Art could corrupt a person. Many professional advancement requirements, in addition to possessing a certain Mystical Art, specifically demanded “not possessing a certain Mystical Art.”
Therefore, any Extraordinary who came from an official background could only become one of these three professions.
“What about advanced professions?”
Although Haina was frightened, her curiosity grew more intense, her body trembling incessantly. “What about Inspectors and Arbiters?”
“Do you really want to know?”
Eivass raised an eyebrow and casually replied, “If I recall correctly, Inspectors were once called ‘Legates,’ and Arbiters were called ‘Dictators.'”
Compared to lower-tier professions, the higher-tier professions, being closer to the Paths, underwent much more significant changes. It was like how Knights who rode horses became Aerial Cavalry who rode Griffins.
However, for vanished Extraordinary professions like “Legate” and “Dictator,” their abilities could still be found in Grimoires. This was a typical example of “lost arts.”
When Eivass first started playing this game, he had the same confusion as Haina.
Although he didn’t like playing Warriors, generally every game should have a “Warrior” profession.
The Path of Devotion had Priests, Monks, and Paladins; the Path of Wisdom had Mages; the Path of Adaptation had Assassins and Hunters; the Path of Authority had Knights; and the Transcendent Path had Sorcerers…
—But why was there no Warrior?
And according to various historical records and ancient legends, this World clearly had Warriors before.
At the time, Eivass could only assume it was due to the changing times.
Now, the Extraordinary on the Path of Balance had developed all sorts of new inventions and discoveries—steam engines, diesel engines, generators, electric lights, telephones, microorganisms, the periodic table of chemical elements, film, fountain pens, trains, bicycles, toilet paper…
In this vibrant era where everything was possible, the sword-wielding Warrior might have become obsolete. The existence of Extraordinary individuals led to excessively intense wars between nations of comparable strength, while the vast disparities between individual Extraordinary made battle outcomes uncontrollable, indirectly leading to the birth of an era of peace.
It was only much later that Eivass realized—it wasn’t that Warriors were eliminated, but rather that the Extraordinary profession of “Warrior” had vanished.
Just as “Power” could refer to brute strength or authority, the two were different.
—With the advent of the era of Authority, the Warrior is dead.
From this perspective, Jacob was truly admirable.
He might not have grasped the full picture, nor understood the essence of Paths and Pillar Gods, but he at least recognized the existence of Supreme Heaven. And in Avalon, the existence of old Pillar Gods was undoubtedly considered forbidden knowledge.
However, he escaped the Noble Red Society only after they gained control of the Serpent Hand.
Perhaps Jacob acquired these secrets from the Noble Red Society.
Although Eivass’s words spoke of the secrets of the Path of Authority, they contained knowledge of the Transcendent Path. He could inspire a high-ranking Extraordinary on the Path of Authority to directly transition to the Transcendent Path, potentially even driving them mad; or he could inspire someone who originally had no affinity for the Transcendent Path to enter it.
However, in Eivass’s opinion, it was better to speak of such matters sooner rather than later.
Jacob likely did the same, using fairy tales to explain these truths to children with an affinity for the Transcendent Path.
The longer and higher one walked on the Path of Authority, the more they treated it as the absolute principle of their lives, and the more they believed in its absolute correctness, the more likely their worldview was to collapse.
Who would have known that the Pillar God of the Path of Authority ascended as a Pillar God through the power of the Transcendent Path?
Walking alone on a single Path carried such risks. No Path was wrong, but no Path was absolutely correct either… Even the Path of Devotion had its dark aspects.
The secret knowledge Eivass possessed, these words, were his incredibly sharp weapons.
Finally, after a long period of daze, Haina recovered. She took Eivass’s letter to Sherlock and left his dormitory.
“… But Haina recovered so quickly.”
He was somewhat surprised.
Eivass had expected her to possibly lose control and faint, or lose consciousness and require a night’s stay in his dormitory. He had already prepared to have Lily prepare a guest room for Haina.
Did this indicate that her talent for the Transcendent Path was higher than for the Path of Authority?
She was only twenty-two years old and already past the midpoint of the Third Tier on the Path of Authority. This was undoubtedly considered genius.
But now, her talent for the Transcendent Path might even surpass that for the Path of Authority.
This sparked a bit of interest in Eivass.
Would such a genius truly perish so easily in a nation-destroying disaster?
Or perhaps she had appeared in the game before.
But she wasn’t called Haina then, nor did she walk the Path of Authority, which was why Eivass didn’t recognize her?
My sleep schedule is basically back to normal, and my Out-of-Circle level is at Rank 3! (Cheers!)
I slept at ten last night and woke up at five-thirty today—
This time I’m truly human (tears)
—Cat Detroit, Turned into a Human!
Now I can go out for a haircut. I suffer from severe spring pollen allergies and can’t go out. After releasing the book, my sleep schedule became chaotic again. I haven’t had a haircut in four months, and my current hairstyle is very much like Ishigami Yuu—very artistic…
