Two days had passed since the match between Miguel and Naoki, He has been training ever since in their garden.
*Huff* *Huff*
' I'm still weak.. I need to get stronger if I want to be an adventurer.'
A memory flashed before Naoki's mind. It was the battle between him and Miguel,the gap between their skills made Naoki realize how weak he is.
'If I truly want to beat him I need to pick a {Path}.'
In the land of Xeria after the Demon Lord had been killed and the heroes gave the people Insignia,some of the heroes created a system that is now known as Path. This helped the people carved their own journey and there are currently 6 paths that were created.
The Hero of Light:Hikari and The Mad Archmage:Gideon created a Path called {Path of Enlightenment}.
The Sword Emperor:Agnar created the {Path of Bravery}
The Saintess:Mizuki created the {Path of Faith}
"Between the 3 paths that's only available for normal people I think the Path of Bravery is for me." Naoki muttered
"I'll go asked father first since he picked that path" Naoki happily walked to his father's office and found his father working
"Hello father can you help me on something." Naoki asked
"Sorry son but I am very busy right now the festival is approaching and I have tons of work to do." His Father replied
"I'll just asked Dawn about it." Naoki goes around their home to look for Dawn and he finally found her
"Heya Dawn I have to as-"
"No..." Dawn cut off what Naoki is about to say
"But I didn't even say anything yet."
"I am sure you already asked the Baron about that and I'm also sure he already told you the reason." Dawn said
"I am also busy as the head maid of the mansion and the upcoming festival."
"Ugh"
Naoki goes to their library and looks for a book as a last resort to help him in the Path of Bravery. After looking around he finally found what he's looking for.
"Here we go [ The Path Guidebook] I just need the way on how to get this path."
After an hour of reading the book Naoki finally finished it
*Thud*
"I can't believe it....." Naoki hits his head on the table
"It said that to obtain you must prove yourself on that path to unlock the Insignia. But you need to have a plain Insignia first and by the looks of it my Insignia according to this book is the {Path of Enlightenment} which either has a book or magic circle shaped Insignia."
"The arranged duel will be in 3 days and I just realized my path. I need to find more books about my path."
After a few hours of training and reading the sun already fell. Naoki exhausted cleaned up all the mess he made and wash himself before sleeping.
*In the Morning*
"My body is so sore,but I it seems like I finally grasp my path. I have started on the 1st Path of Enlightenment which is understanding yourself. According to the guidebook reaching the different paths will get harder and harder." Naoki muttered
After a few minutes Naoki finally arrive at the school. He meets Angela and they walked together towards their classroom.
*At the classroom
"The Mad Archmage: Gideon theory on mana relatively is through the essence of cosmic energy that lead to the creation of mana within our body help the beings into manipulating the space and time in our world."
While the teacher is talking Angela whispered Naoki about something
"Hey Naoki, I don't know if it's just me but this few days the aura around your body is different especially when I healed you just a few days ago." Angela whispered
"Is it? Well i guess you're not wrong since I had unlock my path now." Naoki replied
"Really!!!" Angela shouted and accidentally stands up
"Ms. Angela lower your voice and don't disrupt me while I teach." The teacher said to Angela
"I'm very sorry about it ma'am" Angela answered and immediately sit down
"Anyways back to our topic there are 3 types of mana the normal,pure and corrupted mana." The teacher continued her lessons
"So which path did you choose?" Angela whispered
"I picked the Path of Enlightenment."Naoki whispered back
' it's not like I had a choice to begin with.' Naoki cried
"Oh I thought the Path of Bravery is the one you will picked because of you know mana thing."
"Yeah haha, I don't want to make my mana thing as a disadvantage, I mean look at me because of my low mana capacity I can efficiently manage the spells I'm gonna use." Naoki replied
*RIIIING*
"Alright students it's your turn to do it" The alchemist teacher said after showing them how to brew a low tier mana potion, the teacher gave them their ingredients: distilled water,Nightshade mushroom, Blue moon petals,Blue moon dust
The students did the potion individually Some students failed and made goo, some students potion exploded while boiling Miguel brew his and while adding his Blue moon dust it exploded
"Your temperature is just too high Miguel." Brick explained while he began making his potion
"First use a pestle and mortar to crush your Blue moon petals. Now cut the cap of the nightshade mushroom make sure to save the stem for later."
"Dice the cap of your mushroom and prepare your small cauldron. Put the distilled water in the cauldron with the diced mushroom cap, now use the spell [Ignite] to set the temperature."
"Set it up to 100°C (212°F) since mushroom are 85-90% water this is the right temperature for it to boil. Poke it with a stick and if the stick goes through easily grab the mushrooms and put the crushed blue moon petals."
"Now along with the stem from earlier used the mortar and pestle to crush the boiled cap and stem. After it's mostly liquid put it again in the cauldron."
"Gently stir the mixture while incorporating the 65 grams of Blue moon dust. Boil it for 2-3 minutes and there a low tier mana potion." Brick proudly said
The students clapped at Brick along with the teacher with his amazing explanation in the brewing a potion.
"Good job Brick seems like you have experience in making potions."
"Making potions is part of my hobby ma'am." Brick remarked
After the class Naoki and Angela walk through the hallway talking about the path Naoki picked until
*Sniff*
"Blegh, this smell...." Angela stated
"Naoki come with me quick!" Angela grab Naoki and they ran towards one of the staff's room
"I smelled an evil presence and it lead me to this room."
Angela as a candidate for the Saintess has a special ability to smell the presence of evil.
"Shouldn't we called a teacher?" Naoki asked
"No it's too late it's getting worse get ready." Angela answered and prepared to open the door
Little did they know behind a wall there's a shadow figure looking at the two.
[To be Continued]