Divine Path System

"Focus, focus," Varian told himself and tried to condense water into a solid structure—a dagger.

While he could turn water and ice into various shapes as a level 3, these weren't solid shapes.

Once he stopped focusing on them, they'd collapse. Creating a structure that wouldn't collapse was a hallmark of level 4 water awakener.

And Varian had been trying to do that for a few hours already.

"Focus!" Sarah's cold voice reverberated in the desolate dungeon.

It was a cold desert filled with many ice monsters, well, used to be filled. Now, it's only filled with their corpses.

As a result of Varian's rather reckless fighting, he was quick to reach the peak of level 3 but also hit a tough bottleneck.

[Water Path Level 3: 400/400]

"Fight," Sarah said and waved her hand.

A blue light flashed and an ice dagger was condensed. It was a stable and exquisite structure.

But the real beauty was that it was made of only a level 3 mana.

Sarah gestured lightly with her hand and the dagger shot at Varian.

Varian's water sense was already focused on Sarah when she was condensing the dagger.

He tried to replicate her movements and channeled his water mana.

Shuaa!

A trembling ice dagger was formed. Unlike its counterpart, it was pale blue, shaky, and looked like it could collapse at any moment.

Cling!

The two daggers, made of roughly equal mana collided.

Kacha!

Like a stone meeting glass, Sarah's dagger easily destroyed Varian's and reached him.

If it was a normal level 3, the dagger would have frozen them silly.

Of course, due to his body path, it barely made a scratch on Varian.

But Varian seemed to be really frozen as he stood with a blank gaze. "Condense…"

They were both made of equal mana, but their strengths were vastly different.

Creating structures from ice was different from lightning. Lightning solidified differently. Lightning's stability coefficient was different. Lightning was explosive, fierce, and electrocuting.

Water was none of those.

So, he couldn't use his lightning path lessons to create stable items from water and ice.

"Varian, focus," Sarah said and waved her hand.

An ice phoenix condensed into existence. Flapping its wings, it streaked hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye.

Varian hurriedly set up an ice armor to block it.

"Screech."

With a sharp cry, it shrank to a small dagger and penetrated Varian's ice armor.

In front of the glowing ice dagger, Varian's armor was more fragile than glass. It broke upon contact and pierced into his body.

"Greghh."

Blood spilled on the ground as sweat poured down Varian's forehead. Unlike before, this was a level 6 ice dagger. While it wasn't Sarah's strongest attack, it wasn't so weak that his body defense could ignore it.

As the freezing coldness spread from his stomach to his lungs, liver, and heart, Varian closed his eyes and focused on the foreign object.

From the edges of the dagger, the water mana flooded his body, but the ice dagger was stable despite the mana outflux.

If Varian tried to replicate it, the dagger would've collapsed upon contact.

"Focus. Focus." As his face paled from the coldness, Varian focused on studying the water mana and the ice dagger.

As the blood gushing out of him started to freeze, Sarah bit her lip so hard that she started to bleed.

'I hate this.'

She thought bitterly but maintained her cold face. It was the persona she showed in front of the academy. Cold, distant, and aloof.

It was a method for her to escape the endless invitations from cadets.

Now, it was her coping method to help him.

Taking a deep breath, she said. "Focus on how the ice phoenix changed into a dagger.

When we create an object, be it a sword or club, we aren't just making an abrupt shape, but a perfect entity with all its properties.

A sword should be sharp, an arrow should be fast, a spear should be piercing. This quality can't be given by simply wishing for it. You need to understand, try and correct yourself."

The cold winds rustled the frozen leaves on the ground and Varian's mind slowly went into a deep focus.

*** *** ***

"I hope you can still keep laughing in a few days."

Irene Nial's face flashed in front of his eyes as her voice sounded with mockery and confidence.

"Haah!" Julius clenched his fists and wiped the sweat that unknowingly appeared on his forehead.

"Why…What's her confidence?" He muttered, having lost count of how many times he pondered over this question.

"…the only troublesome people she's associated with are Ares, and…Dreamer?" Julius' eyes narrowed.

"Ares can't help her. Even he is sending people from Neptune to take part in the expo. But Dreamer…"

As he uttered that name, Julius had an odd feeling.

Uncertainty.

Despite knowing the ghost ship's capabilities, he didn't know what Dreamer could do. And that irked him greatly.

"But he's still moving with Enigma. Unless he abandons ghost ship, he can't even attend the expo." Julius glanced at the tracker and hummed.

Even though the ghost ship's speed was slower than earlier, it was still faster than any patrol ship.

"Maybe ghost ship is also having effects from such a long chase. If it collapses…I can capture it and have its technology reverse-engineered." Julius supported his chin on his hand and smiled.

"If we can have a fleet of ghost ships, then while abyssals won't be solved immediately, they won't survive for more than a decade."

Clap! Clap!

Julius clapped lightly and a butler teleported in front of his study.

Bowing slightly, he asked. "Master?"

"Prepone the expo to four days earlier." Julius looked at the setting sun and muttered.

"Master! That's tomorrow!" The butler exclaimed in a terrified voice.

"Yes." Julius merely nodded. "It doesn't matter anyway. The important guests will come or watch it through VR. The only thing that matters is the scientists test, but they won't mind coming a few days early."

"…Yes, Sir." The butler bowed. "I will inform everyone and make the necessary preparations."

He raised his head and looked at Julius as if asking for permission.

Julius waved his hand and the butler teleported away. He knew that the butler won't be resting until the next day.

'But that much is to be expected. You can't be a Xander family butler and that too, the butler of the family head for nothing.'

Soon, the news of preponement sent tremors across the solar system.

All the major powers were dumbfounded and requested Julius to reconsider his abrupt decision.

They all had tight schedules and changing them at the last minute wasn't a good idea.

But Julius didn't budge. He simply told them it was an 'important' decision and that he held the 'right' to his own decision. They were guests of the expo and he was the host. Not the other way around.

Everyone could only compromise.

Thus, every participant who was to take the gamma potion got their message.

Shuaaa!

In an ice dungeon, an ice dagger collided with another ice dagger and they both broke into pieces.

Sarah's face had a bright smile as she hugged him lightly.

"Congratulations."

The joy in her voice couldn't be concealed and it really infected Varian who also smiled brightly.

Varian held her waist and stroked her hair as he whispered "Thanks."

[Water Path level 4: 0/1000]

"Now we just need to train you to reach level 5 in four days," Sarah muttered in a relaxed tone.

Right then, a message arrived and Varian frowned.

"It looks like we don't have any more time."