Jack walked around the Manor and every time a servant or guard saw him, they immediately dropped what they were doing and saluted him. Jack returned the salute and continued his wandering. Inside the Manor, what was left of it, were various rooms for entertaining guests, bedrooms, a study and a library. The entrance to the Treasury was at the study, so Jack didn’t have to break his head over finding it.

Treasury’s were the lifeblood of every Clan or Sect, so they had very strict security. A record was kept of every thing put into the Treasury and withdrawn from the Treasury. This was also why Shu knew that the father son pair had taken things from the Treasury, he had just checked the records and saw the list of withdrawn items.

After walking a few laps around the Manor, Jack memorized the layout and after doing so, he went to the study.

Inside the study there were various Ancient Books that were written in a language no one understood. That was also why no one had any interest in the books, there was no way to decipher them. It didn’t matter what Heaven Defying knowledge it had, if you can’t understand even a word of it, what is the use of it? That applied to everyone else in the Cosmos but not Jack.

When Jack first picked up a book at random, he frowned because the letters were familiar. As he tried to remember where he had seen these words before, Shadya appeared next to him and said, “These books are all written in the language of Ashan.”

Jack’s eyes opened wide as he asked, “Ashan?” Shadya picked another book from the bookshelf and said with a nostalgic gaze, “Each of these books were collected or personally written by Master Raelag. The language he used was the language of his home Cosmos, Ashan.” After hearing this explanation from Shadya, Jack looked at the book again, this time trying to remember the language passed down to him by Raelag.

You had to give Raelag credit for not leaving anything up to chance. Jack had felt that this place was specifically made by Raelag to nurture his successor. He put down the book and asked Shadya, “This place…. Raelag didn’t create it on a whim did he?” Shadya showed a hint of smile to the question and answered, “You are right. When Master Raelag was young, he got a prophecy from a Seer. It wasn’t until the Sage Realm he remembered that prophecy given to him.” Jack’s interest was piqued by this.

From the knowledge he had about cultivation and the basic knowledge left behind Raelag, Jack knew that Fate was something intangible. It had millions upon millions of different outcomes and every little thing changed Fate to the unpredictable. Seer’s had the power to look into the future to find the most probable outcome.

The best example of the unpredictability of Fate was this: You are at a cross roads and in front of you lay three paths. If you take the rightmost path, you will find a peerless Art that will help you make you the strongest in the Cosmos.

If you take the leftmost path, you run into a Demonic Expert that will absorb your Soul and refine your Blood. True death waits for you at this path.

However, if you take the middle path, everything remains the same. This was the best interpretation of Fate. One choice leads to another changing the fate of you and the people around you for the irreversible. To even see one of the outcomes of choices, it was something that went against Heavens.

Jack asked Shadya, “What was the prophecy?” Shadya put on a bitter smile as she said, “You shall never step past the Sage Realm in your life, however, the person that will inherit your Legacy shall stand at the pinnacle of the Plane. He shall wield Mana with one hand and Qi with the other hand.” Shadya took a breath as she looked at Jack with a complex gaze, “After he remembered this prophecy, he decided to leave behind several of these kinds of Cities. These cities all have another Treasury as well, this one is left behind by Master Raelag to aid you in your Path of Magic. Besides the Treasury, there are also the Protectors of this place.”

Jack looked at Shadya with an agape jaw as he said, “He truly did not leave anything up to chance, did he now?” Shadya nodded her head and said, “As a Mage, you never leave anything up to chance like cultivators. Cultivators rely on luck to progress on their way but Mages are different. While cultivators try to understand the world around them, Mages try to find out the reason of why it is like that.” Jack nodded his head.

This basic thing was the first thing that Jack was told about Mages by Raelag. Cultivators meditate on profound mysteries of Heavens and try to incorporate them to their techniques and cultivation. However, Mages try to understand why it works like that, for example why is a flame hot or why is ice cold. If they can understand the reason behind it, their spells will all incorporate the knowledge into themselves.

For example, if Jack could understand the principle behind [Ice Fire] all of his flames would turn icy blue and gain the additional effect of being able to freeze a person. However, if a cultivator learns the method of producing [Ice Fire] they would need to do a lot of trial and error practise to incorporate it into techniques.

However, Mages try to find the reason behind why it is [Ice Fire], how it works and on what principle it does that. After understanding the reason behind why it works like that, it is several times easier to incorporate it to various spells. “Wields Mana in one hand and Qi in the other, huh…. I guess the prophecy isn’t about me seeing as my dantian is shot.”

As Jack slowly shook his head, Shadya however gave a slight smirk as she said, “That may not be true. Seer’s never spoke things clearly but in riddles.” Jack looked at Shadya in interest. From his knowledge, Shadya was someone that passed even Zhi and the rest in the matters of the world. For her to say something like this, she had some reason for doing so.

Seeing Jack’s gaze, Shadya explained, “Mana, Qi are all names of the same Energy. How one perceives and uses it is the only difference. The Path of Magic is training the Soul to use Spells, however, the Path of Cultivation trains the body in close combat.”

She took a breath as she looked at Jack seriously, “Wields Magic in one hand, meaning that you follow the Path of Magic in training your Soul and have a large repertoire of Spells.” She raised one hand a small flame manifested on it. She then raised the other hand a whip appeared in it. The whip was covered in silver purple Energy.

She then continued, “Wields Qi in the other hand, meaning that you train your body according to the Path of Cultivation and are also strong in close combat.” After saying so, she lowered her hands and the flame and whip disappeared.

She then concluded, “Mages are innately weak in close combat because we do not have a way of training our bodies like Cultivators do. However, the strength of our Souls far exceeds that of Cultivators.” Jack fell into deep thought as he carefully thought over the words Shadya said.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized what Shadya was talking about: A completely new Path that combined the Path of Magic and Path of Cultivation. Jack felt his scalp numb thinking about it. Creating a completely new Path was easier said than done. If before he had been considered as a genius in the Path of Cultivation, now his Path had been broken. He can’t gather Energy in accordance to Cultivating Arts.

However, he now had the Path of Magic. In a longer distance, it was far stronger than the Path of Cultivation. However, once the cultivator closed in one him, he was toast since his body was much weaker than theirs. To combine the Path of Magic and Path of Cultivation truly was something that may end up as something extremely strong.

However, at the same time, it could end up the other way around. Since he divides his attention three ways by training in the Paths of Magic and Cultivation while at the same time trying to fuse them into one, he might end up with a mix mash that loses out even to those beneath his Realm. The reason a select few trained in the Offensive Arts and lets say Forging or Concocting was because it was very hard to be good at both, unless you were a genius in one or both.

Jack gave a wry smile as he said, “Creating a new Path is far, far too difficult. It may end up as something extraordinary but at the same time it may end up as a random mix mash that conflicts with one another.” As Jack said that, Shadya nodded her head as she said, “The difficulty truly is different from following a set Path but no one reaches the pinnacle walking a paved road there.” Jack was startled by Shadya’s words as he tried to discern whether she was trying to help him or not.

Shadya then said, “I’ll head back to the Mask now. It was Master Raelag’s order that if you don’t have the confidence in paving a new Path, we don’t need to force you. However, if you do try to pave the Path, we are to help you with all our might.” As she said that, the disappeared into the Mask before Jack could say anything else.

Jack stood there for a moment staring at the spot Shadya disappeared from. Finally, he let out a sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes. He took off the Mask and looked straight at it with a complex face. “A new Path….” He then put the Mask into the Spacial Ring he owned, something he had not done ever since he had obtained the Mask.

He then went outside to to sit in the courtyard. He had a servant bring some tea to him as he was currently truly thinking over the idea of the new Path. All the Path’s that had been discovered until now: Path of Cultivation, Path of Magic, Path of Buddhism, Path of Demonic Cultivation etc. None of the people that paved the Path knew what they were getting themselves into when they first started on the Path.

To step on a completely new Path and pave the way for the next generations was something that required three things: Extraordinary amount of Talent, Confidence and Luck. Countless other’s have tried to discover new Paths but how many have succeeded? Some died before reaching the end, some were eternally stuck because they took a wrong turn on their Path and some were still trying but not succeeding.

Talent, he had that. Confidence was also not a problem but Luck…. Luck was intangible and there was no way of saying whether someone had good luck or bad luck. Jack’s Luck can be considered good because he had survived many certain death situations and he also found the Mask, however looking at it from another point of view would be that his luck was extremely bad for getting himself mixed up in those situations in the first place.

As Jack was deep in thought about whether to try paving this new Path or not, the little Poro next to Jack was running around the little courtyard, chasing butterflies and other insects. When Jack fell into deep thought, a glint passed in Nalser’s eyes as he looked at Jack seriously.

Soon after, a brightly lit crown tattoo appeared on his forehead. After the tattoo appeared on Nalser’s forehead, it also appeared on Jack’s. After the Crown appeared, Jack’s frowning face returned to it’s usual calm one as a mysterious energy unknowingly enveloped him and calmed him down.

Seeing Jack clam down, the tattoo slowly disappeared and Nalser started running around like nothing had happened.