The Celestial Garden. That's how the envoy who invited me to their Divine World called their World.
There, the race was called Celestials. And as part of his introduction to their world, the envoy mentioned that their offspring would be born as an inherent Transcendent.
Right. There's no Mortal Rank in that Divine World. As to the veracity of that information, there's no reason for a Divine World to lie to a lone Divinity of a Sage World.
Because being a Divinity means one would've merged all five Pathways into one and five types of Source Energy into one, bypassing Mortal Pathway seemed to be… possible.
Back then, the Earth's young ones didn't have that kind of benefit. Everyone would still be born as a Rank 1 Mortal. The benefit that they would get was their ease at Absorption. Just like what was about to happen as soon as the Earthlings began to progress in their Mortal Pathways.
In the Celestial Garden, when a child Celestial reached adulthood at the age of 15, it was almost a guarantee that they would become a Sage.
That was the difference between a Divine World and a Sage World like Earth.
With just their Divinities' children, they could trample a normal Sage World.
If I was aiming to beat them or even prove ourselves to them, we had to make sure that Earth would stand a chance against their assault if ever it came to that point.
-
-
After that sparring with Longi, Neliza guided us to another room which showed the progress of the current top players of 'Pathways'.
Ever since it started, only an hour had passed or six hours in-game time.
One of the top players that Neliza zoomed in was someone from a third-world country. Or specifically, from Amry's country.
He spawned right inside a battlefield between two races. The Noxians and Luxians.
Equipped with nothing but rags and a wooden stick. He waded through that battlefield, looting dead soldiers.
He came into the face of death more than once but he always managed to survive.
That kind of survivability allowed him to eventually get his first kill.
While he was busy looting a dead Noxian, another Noxian who seemed to be a friend of the dead became enraged as a Dark Elemental Spell shot towards him.
In his defense, the player luckily turned to the side since he found another corpse to loot at.
If that wasn't extreme luck then I would have no way to explain what happened.
Amidst the Light and Darkness Elemental Spells that were flying around that battlefield, he miraculously stabbed that Noxian with his wooden stick.
"What kind of absurd luck does he have? It's like… he's the Main Character of a novel."
From behind us, someone appeared and commented with a tone that says how unbelievable the events that happened to the guy.
"Sister Hikari!" Avelin excitedly greeted the newcomer and as innocent as she was, she ran towards Hikari and hugged her.
"Welcome back. How did it go?" I smiled and greeted her.
It's been a week since she left for the World of Elements. To help her true master, Arland, rebuild the destroyed Academies of the Human Race, she returned there along with some of the students of the Hope Peak Academy.
Right. The School we were attending and was being managed by the Principal had another underlying secret. Every student accepted to it were all Hero Candidates.
Candidates because ultimately, they didn't make the cut or they failed some of the criteria the sly old man was looking for.
By sending them to the Worlds freed by the Dark World's influence, they were told to train there and reach Rank 5 Mortal in six months.
It sounded ridiculous when the real Heroes needed three years to reach the height they reached before I appeared at the Academy.
However, with the Earth's Source Energy existing again, most of them were early Adapters who already reached the Rank 2 Mortal right on the onset of the first Pocket Dimension's release of Earth Energy.
As for the reason why the Principal even thought of sending them to a lower world wherein they could progress easily here on Earth, he just mentioned that they all have their own set of destinies in those worlds.
Since Hikari was about to go there, the sly old man asked her to guide them through it.
And now that she has returned… she surely accomplished what she set out to do in that world.
"Master, I miss you." After returning Avelin's embrace, Hikari then nimbly moved towards me and mimicking the innocent girl, she put me in her embrace.
Obviously, Hikari is now one of my Companions. Three days after that alpha test we did for Pathways, she looked for me on the island and asked if she could still take the offer of becoming my Companion.
Although I wasn't the one who offered it, I found no reason to correct her anymore. Yuko already informed me that she's among the girls in her vision and to add to the fact that I didn't have any qualms about taking her as a Companion, I naturally added her.
I thought she would be like Lexie, Caila and Ophelia. But a day after she became one, Hikari looked for me and… brought me with her on a date.
We went to different parts of the world and my ability to open a Portal to any part of Earth was fully exploited by her.
From the seven wonders of the world to the lost cities discovered, we went there as if we were on a tour around the world.
Afterward, when I asked her why she did that, she casually answered that since she's a Companion I didn't really ask for, she wanted to create a memory with me.
True. She was somewhat infatuated with Boris but it didn't bloom into a flower of a relationship. Following that, she told me that even if the same happened with me, she's going to be my trusty disciple who would be learning from me.
Hikari decided to solely use her Skillmaster Ability to copy my Skills, Abilities or Spells.
I welcomed it, of course. But I advised her not to totally copy me and make her own path. With Flux Energy State also bestowed to her Hikari assimilated a new Pathway. System Pathway.
However, the System Pathway she assimilated wasn't from the World of System but another System-type Mortal World.
It didn't have the Specialization of the Systems from the World of Systems but it allowed her to properly organize her three Pathways and make it as if they were all from the same Pathway.
Well, even with her addition, the other girls warmly welcomed her and she already sparred against all of them. At the moment, because of the Skills she copied from me, she's at the level of Erin, Jayna and Zerina.
"Alright. I missed you too. And you also missed something. Don't you want to spar against a Rank 3 Transcendent?"
"No. Not anymore. I'd rather spar with you, master. Someone who easily defeated a Rank 3 Transcendent."
"It's not as easy as you think."
"But you still won," Hikari smirked and tightened her arms.
In the end, I gave up arguing with her and told her to give her observations about the emerging 'top players'.
Apart from that top player from the Philippines. There were other fast-growing players from every country. There was even one who brought his followers and founded a Guild.
Because it's a System that wasn't in the brochure but a hidden interface, his early discovery of that System allowed him to gather influence in the area they were spawned in.
As different types of Players emerged, the impending birth of the first Level 2 or the first Rank 2 Mortal was fast approaching.
To the Top 100 who would be able to reach that point, I prepared surprises for them that would make them the Wheelturner in the virtual world of 'Pathways'.
-
-
Another week later and I was once again embracing one of my Companions.
In front of me, Noelle's skin tone had already turned red from thorough embarrassment from our current position, however, she unfalteringly steeled herself for the completion of her Mortal Pathway.
As the touch of Holy Radiance shined upon her, the Earth Energy and her Flux Energy seemingly burst out of her body engulfing the immediate vicinity.
And naturally, that included me.
I could feel the slight sting in my skin but I continued to transfer more Energy to replenish what she was burning.
When the Radiance glowed in its brightest, Noelle's eyes opened as illusory wings and halo was formed from her own Transcendent Aura.
It was only brief but I instantly felt the tranquility the girl was exuding. It's like she became a true Holy Maiden after completing her Mortal Pathway.
As the surrounding calmed down, Noelle, teary-eyed and smiling happily, turned around and hugged me tight as she continuously whispered her gratitude to me.
"Thank you, Daisuke. If not for you… I… I…"
Since she couldn't actually complete her sentence, I patted her head and congratulated her.
"You don't need to thank me. You're my Companion. I was genuinely happy as well."
"But…"
She wanted to say something more but I stopped her by shaking my head.
In the end, the girl indignantly nodded in acceptance. But as if she gathered her resolve, Noelle slid her arms upwards and hooked it from below my shoulders. Soon afterward, she tiptoed and kissed me on my lips.
It was a simple peck but for Noelle, it was her first. As soon as she's done, she lowered her head in embarrassment.
I admit. What she did was unexpected. However, to erase the embarrassment she was feeling, I lifted her head and returned a kiss on her lips before saying 'Congratulations' one more time.
She's the last of my Companions here on Earth that completed her Mortal Pathways.
With the completion of her Mortal Pathway, I was the only one left who still hadn't finished.
Looking at my system interface, I could only bitterly smile inside my head.
[Legendary Support System (80%]
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l