Paths and bonds follow a simple principle.

Bonds exist everywhere in the cosmos. They connect everything and create the Weave, a structure that holds the cosmos together. The Origin lies at the Weave’s core and spreads its Might across the rest of the cosmos, sharing the knowledge and Laws it has accumulated since the beginning of time.

Every encounter creates a new bond. It connects every lifeform and determines one’s fated relation. However, just like fate, a bond is malleable. One action is enough to alter the bond, and depending on the action’s severity, it may change the bond forever. After all, even the most malleable structures in the cosmos have their limits—and so does a bond.

But no matter how intriguing bonds are, only Ascendants can perceive and reach out to them. Doing so allows Ascendants to access the Weave, and therefore the Origin, using the bonds to siphon trickles of the Weave and the Origin to ascend to godhood. However, it is crucial to understand that only Path-specific bonds can be perceived and accessed through one’s Divine Seed.

The Path of Tyranny, a relatively rare Path as far as David understood, allows an Ascendant to acquire power by inflicting fear and terror. That does not mean the Ascendant is bad, per se, but it forces the Ascendant to inflict fear and terror if they desire to grow stronger.

Doing so—establishing a Path-specific bond—provides the Ascendant with a trickle of power as long as the bond remains intact. That being said, one Path-specific bond is more than enough to ascend to godhood—if one has enough time to spare. It would take millennia to ascend to true divinity with merely one Path-specific bond.

The Ascendant information package is fairly clear on certain points. For example, accumulating the strength of a Minor God would take millennia even with hundreds of Path-specific bonds. It requires hundreds of thousands, preferably millions, of bonds to move through the ranks of divinity and ascend the divine hierarchy to become a Minor God. But that doesn’t mean every bond is equally valuable.

The stronger the being connected to you through the Path-specific bond, the greater the benefits. At the same time, the stronger the bond, the greater the gains.

Then there are Sworn and Champions.

David grunted and sat up as he skimmed through the information about Sworn and Champions. They were… interesting, to say the least. The information package for Ascendants clarified many things he hadn’t understood before. The intel explained everything he needed to understand the Pantheon’s actions and the gods’ focus on Champions and Sanctuaries located in the Earthen Union. After all, just like Zachariah had mentioned several times, the Earthen Union was more valuable—crucial even—to the Origin.

The Earthen Union is closely tied to the Weave, isn’t it? It’s closer to the Weave than most other planets and provides more power to Ascendants… isn’t that the whole reason everyone is so obsessed with deploying their Champions and placing Sanctuaries in the Earthen Union?

He’d been putting the pieces together for a while now, but it felt like several important components had been missing. David’s understanding of the cosmos, the Origin, and everything it encompassed had been limited—it still was, to be fair—but he was fairly confident in his latest theory.

And the End is trying to consume the Weave, isn’t it? That’s why there’s ‘nothingness’ wherever the Voidlings pass through… That’s why no one knew about the Naughtrealm, even though it should have been located in the Weave. It was ripped out of the Weave and consumed by the End.

The System and the Host hadn’t even known about Fallen Xeros’ death—or that he’d been alive. His encounter with the Fallen had been the crucial piece they’d needed to locate Xeros.

David ran his hand through his hair and went back to the information about Sworn and Champions. After all, it looked like he already had a Champion. Given his status as a newly minted Ascendant, the number of Champions he had would only increase.

Both Sworn and Champions were given a portion of the Ascendant’s power. Precisely, they were granted part of the Might accumulated within the Divine Seed. Creating a Sworn didn’t require too much Might either, but the benefits provided by a Sworn’s bond were also not as extensive as those granted by a Champion’s.

The bond with a Sworn is indestructible. It clearly establishes a master-servant relationship between the Ascendant and the Sworn, drastically increasing the boons rewarded by the bond. In exchange for power, they swear fealty to the Ascendant, becoming loyal subjects.

On the other hand, Champions are more.

According to the information package, Champions require significantly more Might to be created. Their strength ought to be unparalleled compared to ordinary Classers, transforming them into powerhouses that represent their gods in every action.

Everything they do, and everyone they encounter, creates a bond with the Ascendants who created them rather than with the Champions themselves. As long as a Champion does a good job representing their Ascendant, having one—or multiple—Champions acting in their master’s name will generate countless bonds, which in turn empower the Ascendant.

However, what interested David the most was that Champions can’t ascend to godhood. They will never become Ascendants. After all, everything they do is in their Ascendant’s name. Or so the information package said. David wasn’t quite sure if there were loopholes, but he sure hoped so. If not, Electra would nag him tirelessly for more Might once they reunited.

Regardless of the situation and the intel provided by the information package, David remained confused. He was happy to have a Divine Seed in his heart, knowing it would empower Body, Mind, and Soul, even if he might have to take a detour and spend more time ascending to godhood. However, there was no explanation—his Transcendent stats had been far from reaching their full potential.

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“That was Xeros’ doing. The Fallen gave me a shortcut,” he muttered, nibbling on his lower lip as fragments of his talk with Xeros resurfaced. His Body, Mind, and Soul weren’t much stronger than they had been before, meaning the Fallen hadn’t forcefully increased his Transcendent stats. Instead, Xeros must have planted a Divine Seed in his heart as he melted the Corrupted Divine Heart into him.

“Is that where the ‘Starless’ comes from? Would I have been a 1-Star Ascendant if all of my stats had been at 100 percent at that time?” David wondered.

He shrugged and discarded the thought. The System did not answer that. However, it had answered something else in one of the notifications he received during the reboot.

“Vitae and Nihilum altered the Divine Seed permanently. Is that where the second Path comes from?”

The System’s information package was clear in that regard—it was normal to have only one Path. Surely, some prodigies were capable of creating complex Paths that encompassed the emotions and bonds which would normally require several simpler Paths, but David was none of that. He was just an ordinary guy.

Well, maybe not ordinary.

He snickered.

Regardless, Vitae and Nihilum, gathered in the Corrupted Divine Heart, must have altered the Divine Seed in a way that created two Paths. Once again, David didn’t have a say in this, but the Paths suited him. At least the Path of Conflict did. As for the Path of Favor… well, it had worked out given his encounter with Orhain’s people, but that was a one-time thing. He was not the right person to pursue a Path such as Favor.

Or could he?

At the end of the day, the Paths weren’t something he could change. He had to go with the flow and see where things led. In the worst case, he would embrace the Path of Conflict and accept some minor boons from a few hundred bonds connected to the Path of Favor.

“Only neutral bonds don’t affect me. Everyone else either likes or dislikes me; regardless, they open the gates to the Weave and provide me with power.” David snickered, feeling much better now that he understood some things a little bit better.

“The bonds mean that everyone I encounter will be connected to me in some way. And that means I know how they will feel toward me, don’t I?” he muttered as he went through the information once again.

Except for gods, Sworn, Champions, and other Ascendants, every encounter—from now on—would create a bond and reveal how others felt about him. That was scary in a way, but also quite useful.

The information package was a lot. It gave him a wealth of insight to think about for the next few weeks, maybe even months or years. It was not like time was of the essence… or a problem for him.

“I am immortal,” he whispered into the room, the corner of his lips twitching at the implication.

Sure, a Classer’s lifespan was longer than the norm and would extend as their Rank and stats increased, but… immortality? That was on a whole different level.

I thought about ascending to godhood. I considered going down that path, so why am I so confused now that I’ve taken the first step?

David grimaced and shook his head. Many things had changed, and he was certain many more would change in the future. Despite that, he’d finally found a mission. Precisely, he’d found a way to grow stronger now that his Transcendent stats and Classes were no longer present.

To grow stronger through Conflict or Favor.

Or both. David grinned.

Familiar voices reached his ears as he got up from the bed, casting [Radiant Expulsion] to clean himself. A moment later, he was back on the ground floor and opened the door to the first people he would intentionally guide under the guise of the Path of Favor.

“You’re back again,” David greeted the elderly women with a smile.

“If you weren’t so unreliable, we wouldn’t have to return every day!” one of the grannies waved her walking stick angrily at him. “You better help us today, or we will look even more desperate to our friends! Do you know that we’re the talk of the town because of you?!”

Two grannies chattered away, complaining quite a bit about his actions, whereas the third hag stared intently at him.

He waved them off after a good minute. “I had important matters to attend to.”

“More important matters than saving Orhain?” one of them remarked snarkily.

“You really think three more Classers will decide Orhain’s fate?” David snorted. “I’m sorry to crush your dream, but even if every resident were to select a Class, Orhain’s future would be as bleak as before.”

Even thousands of Iron Ranks wouldn’t be enough to deal with the monsters lurking in the adjacent regions. Their combined forces weren’t even fast enough to fight a fire-spewing monster at the Bronze Rank. Sure, as long as their enemies continued to be only hyenas and the horde he’d decimated before, they might survive and grow stronger—all while sacrificing hundreds of their strongest fighters.

But to Iron Ranks, a single enemy with a trait that encompasses a larger area would be a nightmare.

One way or another, David was willing to help. Not only for Orhain’s sake, but also for himself and the Divine Seed’s growth.

“Is everyone ready to leave?” he asked, ignoring their remarks about his attitude. “Do you want me to pick up someone else on the way out?”

“Let’s go. We are more than enough!” the first granny snapped at him once more.

David flashed her a toothy grin, irritating the old woman, and guided them outside Orhain. He deployed the nearby Echos to search for suitable prey as they weaved through the quieter streets in town, but it turned out that it was impossible to avoid the townspeople’s attention. Several men and women, mostly Classers, stopped them to talk to the grannies. Some Classers glanced at him, looking like they had something to say, but they remained silent. It was a good thing they didn’t need to speak for him to understand.

Most had a Favorable bond with him and hoped he knew what he was doing. Precisely, they were worried about the elderly people and what others would do once the oldest in town accepted their Basic Class. The desire to protect the grannies reached him through the bond alongside a wave of uncertainty that seemed to scream: ‘How are we supposed to protect them once everyone can throw around their supernatural abilities’