Divine Path System

Aeromancers took random shapes, sometimes humanoid, sometimes insects and sometimes even dragons.

Their physical capabilities seemed weak at first glance given them being a literal gaseous lifeform. But Varian 'punched' an Aeromancer, he realized he was being naive.

Only at the moment of contact, the gaseous hand solidified into a material Varian never heard of, but was so tough that Varian's fist was crushed into paste.

"Argh, fuck!" He backed off, fusing his powers into Assimilator and regenerating his hand in the matter of seconds.

But the Aeromancers weren't letting him off for no reason.

As Varian wondered about their inaction, a thousand miles around him lit up with bright blue flames.

Even the space began to distort as loads of energy flooded the area and then, when his hand was about to close up the last injury, a spark shot into his flesh.

Varian tried to dodge but it was too late.

The spark got into his arm and then—

"Arghhh!"

Varian burned.

The fire blazed, all the energy in the thousand miles fueled it into a flame that devoured every inch of his being.

Varian tried to block the fire inside but the energy kept coming and pushing it further.

The tug of war between a dozen peak rank 5 Pyromancers and Varian hardly needed ten seconds to result in an outcome.

Being aware of the sizzling of his flesh and the boiling of his blood only aggravated his burdened senses. The pain from the immolation devoured his consciousness and pushed him to the brink of darkness.

Varian stopped using his powers Assimilator and Adept and decided to fight fire with fire.

His energy path was pushed from rank 3 to rank 5 and everything seemed to slow down.

Even though his bones incinerated into ashes and flesh turned into nothing, something changed.

The fire dwindled. The energy supply supporting its brilliance was cut off by half.

It still burned. It still inflicted tremendous pain.

But it could no longer turn him into ashes.

In this incredible face off, Varian's body which was nearly reduced into a skeleton regenerated. Like a ghost crawling back from hell by clinching onto the burning gates of the dead, he crawled back into life from the fires.

'It was dangerous.'

The belt of the brave tried to activate thrice. He had to stop it to prevent himself being transported back to the safezone.

The tower thought he'd die. He didn't think so.

"Pure energy bodies that use the power of flame, hm, how will you die?" Varian raised an arm and the fire field around him was covered by a black light.

The Pyromancers were also in the range and found themselves in a strange barrier the likes of which they'd never encountered.

They tried to blast a fireball through it. The fire ball passed through the black barrier but it was no longer under their control.

The Pyrmonancers trembled as a realization hit them. Even though they had no ideas and looked just like large humanoid flames, Varian could feel the fear and anger bubbling in them.

"The barrier will turn you into a mess and you'll lose any semblance you had. Maybe you'll die." Varian shrugged like he had no business in this.

The Pyromancers weren't taking it lying down and converged their energies again.

A brilliant white flame was reflected in Varian's eyes, its size growing at an incredible pace.

The sheer heat emanating from it, even a thousand miles away, was enough to melt his skin.

"I hate doing this, but I don't want to be a hell skeleton boy again," Varian cursed and equipped himself with the artifacts. The Crystal Armor came to his rescue and blocked off a good chunk of the heat, saving him from a literal meltdown.

Looking at the growing white flame, he realized that he couldn't afford to play fair with these bastards. Anyway, by ganging up at 12:1, they weren't fair in the first place.

"Sorry about this, but your little toy needs to wait." Varian snapped his fingers and eleven barriers trapped eleven pyromancers, leaving the one unlucky guy to keep up the maintenance of the white flame.

The unlucky creature felt a huge suction force draining away its energy. It couldn't stop the drain and watched on powerlessly.

Varian wasn't gentlemanly enough to not exploit his enemy's weak moments. He intercepted the energy sucked from the creature and began absorbing it for himself.

In contrast to the destructive energy that nearly killed him earlier, this was mild and even supportive.

Varian's body adapted to the power and the slivers acted in tandem to increase his insights into the energy path.

Since it was something within the Order-Chaos Avenue, it was much easier than other powers.

He progressed fast and already noticed a significant improvement.

The flame creature was drained to death.

The remaining pyromancers noticed Varian's sinister moves and cut off their connection with the white flame to prevent falling into the trap.

Varian grinned like a conman and pushed the white flame toward three of the creatures.

The pyromancers realized his agenda and desperately attacked the black barrier. It was mysterious, powerful but not omnipotent.

Under their reckless attack, the barrier broke apart.

"Just in time."

And Varian's voice as well as the white flame reached them.

The confrontation ended in a massive explosion that nearly broke down the large black barrier isolating the thousand miles they were in.

It also helped break the barriers of the surviving eight pyromancers.

They all looked at Varian with blazing hatred and attacked.

Of course, Varian didn't fight them honorably. He blocked off seven of them and fought one.

The pyromancers realized they couldn't allow another of their brethren to fall and began to quickly break down their barriers.

Varian had to focus on re-sealing them from time to time while he fought the pyromancer he overpowered slightly thanks to the artifacts boost.

The fight ended in a suicidal explosion of the pyromancer.

Varian took his time and healed himself while resealing the pyromancers. Inwardly, he thanked the slivers. If not for them, it'd have been a certain defeat.

"Next."

Due to continuously trying to break down the chaos barrier, the pyromancers weakened. So, the subsequent fights were easier than he imagined.

Six pyromancers were sealed and one fought.

Then four were sealed and two fought.

Then one was sealed and three fought.

At some point, he advanced and started progressing further.

The final fight was a bit special though.

Varian fed the final peak rank 5 pyromancer some fire and energy treasures and let it recuperate to its peak.

As a newbie in rank 4 energy, Varian couldn't fight the pyromancer purely on energy powers alone.

He tried and failed. But it was a very good learning experience.

Then, he fused his powers and pushed the energy rank further. This time, it reached the peak of rank 5 and put him on an equal footing with the creature.

Varian decided to take off his artifacts and fight without their help.

The battle ended exactly after thirty minutes, with Varian coming out on top thanks to his regeneration ability despite sustaining heavier injuries.

The Aeromancers, due to the nature of their bodies, couldn't intervene in a fight of Pyromancers.

So, they waited outside the opaque black barrier, waiting for their comrades to come out victorious.

But the one that came out was Varian who beckoned them in in a lazy tone. "Come in."

The Aeromancers looked at each other in fear and confusion but rushed in any way.

— — —

By the time Maria was done dealing with the star creatures, she realized she spent a significant amount of treasures to finish them off.

It didn't help that she had to fight over fifty beasts at once. Even though most of them were at peak rank 5, these creatures worked incredibly well as a group.

"Did that guy die? Or get teleported back to the safe zone?" Maria thought for a moment and shook her head. "Nah, he'll be fine. Good people die young but bad people live long. Bastards like him definitely survive for millennia."

"You know you're old enough to be my grandma's grandma?" Varian's voice came from behind, nearly scaring her into a jump and instinctual attack.

Maria turned around, glared at him, and then flew in the direction of the teleportation gate.

After entering the 35th floor, She stretched out her hand with an unwilling expression.

"What?"

"F-Fertilizer, give it."

"Beg for it."

"You!"

Maria gnashed her teeth at his cocky smile but took deep breaths and asked in a reluctant but polite tone. "Please give me the fertilizer."

"You have a promising future," Varian threw the container containing the fertilizer "As the front desk operator."

"Kids these days," Maria shook her head in a dismissive tone but the way she gripped the container told another story.

The seed from the volcano, the soil from the black hole, the water from the Evernight, and the fertilizer from the planet's core all gathered together.

Then, Varian witnessed a scene straight out of myth.

A sapling grew from the seed and space cracked open. The plant soared into the space crack and grew into a majestic tree whose heights quickly surpassed a thousand, no, ten thousand miles, and kept going.

"What the fuck is happening here?"

"This tree serves as a bridge to the world tree."

"This isn't the world tree?" Varian's jaw dropped. If this tree began at the sun, it could reach Earth! It's so fucking long!

"No. It's just a minor tree." Maria raised a brow. "You don't even know these but you say you're an expert who sealed himself. Very, very suspicious."

"Ahem, I have amnesia. You know, I've lived too long."

"But you called me an old lady. And something about me older than your gran—"

"I'm sorry I can't hear you. Maybe I'm also growing deaf with age. Ahahaha, let's go climb this world tree." Varian said and jumped into the space crack.

Maria followed and the two ran over the tree into the seemingly endless void. The darkness around them seemed to go on forever before a tunnel of light appeared and then—

"What the fuck!"