*Chapter 5 — Two Roads*
Arin had always believed that the history he had inherited was incomplete. The more he thought about it, the more questions appeared.
How had humanity survived the Grand Calamity? How had ordinary humans suddenly gained the ability to fight creatures that could tear through buildings? And most importantly... What exactly was the power that allowed them to stand against those beasts?
The answer lay in the two paths humanity had eventually developed. The Spiritual Path and the Soul Path.
They were two different roads toward strength. Yet both had begun from the same source. The golden pillar.
After the Grand Calamity, the power left behind by the golden light gradually became something humanity could understand and cultivate. Children born into the new era were no longer completely ordinary.
By the age of fifteen, every child would undergo what humanity called the Awakening Ceremony.
The ceremony was simple. A child would place their hand against a special golden stone. If they possessed a Spiritual Trait, the stone would react.
Some awakened ordinary elements such as fire, ice, or lightning. Others possessed more unusual abilities.
There were three broad classifications of Spiritual Traits. Minor trait. Major trait. Unique trait.
The difference between them could determine how far a person could travel on the Spiritual Path.
But there was another possibility. One that was far rarer. The Soul Trait.
Unlike Spiritual Traits, Soul Traits could not be awakened through the golden stone. They were innate. A person's Soul Trait was already hidden within their soul from birth, waiting to be discovered.
Because it could not be detected by the golden awakening stone, humanity developed another method. A white sacred stone.
When a child placed their hand against it, the stone would react if a Soul Trait existed within their soul.
Most people possessed only one type of talent. Either a Spiritual Trait... Or a Soul Trait.
Those who possessed both were exceedingly rare. They were called Super Talented.
For humanity, such people were precious. Because they could walk both roads.
A Spiritual cultivator could manipulate spiritual qi through their awakened trait, strengthening their body and eventually developing terrifying abilities.
A Soul user had a different advantage. They could cultivate spiritual qi as well, but they did not naturally possess elemental abilities. Instead, their strength came from beasts.
This was where Beast Taming began.
Maslow Griffin had discovered that Soul users could form a connection with beasts and make their souls part of their own strength. The discovery changed humanity forever.
A beast was not simply a monster anymore. It could become a weapon. A companion. A source of power. And, for a talented enough Beast Tamer... A part of their own strength.
The process of taming a beast was far from simple. First, the beast had to die. Its body would then become part of a ritual involving blood and specially prepared runes.
The Beast Tamer would use their soul power to tear the beast's remaining soul from its body and refine it. The process was dangerous. A weak soul could fail to withstand the refinement.
But if successful, the refined soul would be braided into an essence that could be placed within the Beast Tamer's Beast Space. There, a connection would be established between human and beast. A chain.
The stronger the bond became, the more power could be drawn from it.
The lowest soul grade was Normal, which allowed a person to possess one beast slot. Medium-grade souls could possess two. Special-grade souls could possess three.
But possessing a beast did not immediately make someone powerful. The Beast Taming Path itself had stages.
The first was the Leash stage. At this level, the connection between the Beast Tamer and their contracted beast was still weak. The tamer could borrow certain characteristics from the beast. Its claws. Its eyes. Its instincts. But the connection was fragile. If the bond was damaged, the effects could be severe.
The next stage was the Iron Chain. The connection became much stronger. The beast could now obey its master more reliably, while some of its essence would begin to flow back into the Beast Tamer's body.
Strength. Reflexes. Endurance. All could be improved through the connection.
But the final stage was something else entirely. Fusion.
At that point, the boundary between human and beast could begin to disappear. The Beast Tamer could merge with their contracted beast, combining the strengths of both.
A powerful Soul user could therefore become far more dangerous than their original body suggested.
And a Super Talented individual? They possessed both paths. They could cultivate their Spiritual Trait while simultaneously commanding beasts. Such people were monsters among geniuses.
But even the most talented individual still needed a foundation. Humanity eventually divided the cultivation system into nine major ranks.
The first was Awakened. Awakened cultivators possessed spiritual qi and their awakened traits. Compared to ordinary humans, their bodies were already considerably stronger. But they remained at the lowest level of cultivation.
The second rank was Ascender. At this stage, spiritual qi could be used to reinforce the body and form a protective layer of qi around it. An Ascender could outrun ordinary cars. They could break through concrete with their bare hands. Their bodies had already surpassed the limits of ordinary humanity.
The third rank was Golden. At this stage, spiritual qi transformed into a golden form. The pressure released by a Golden cultivator could overwhelm weaker opponents. Their attacks could melt steel. They could even achieve short periods of flight.
The fourth rank was Lord. This was where cultivation began to change dramatically. A Lord could begin forming a Domain Seed. The initial domain extended only around five meters, but within that area, the cultivator's control over their surroundings became far greater. A Lord-level battle could split mountains.
The fifth rank was King. A King's Domain could extend to around fifty meters. At this level, cultivators could begin touching the laws of the world, even if their understanding remained limited. Their battles could destroy entire districts of a city.
The sixth rank was Emperor. Their domains could reach around five hundred meters. An Emperor-level Beast Tamer could combine the attacks of themselves and their contracted beasts, producing destructive power capable of threatening an entire nation.
Above them stood the Saint. A Saint's domain could extend for roughly five kilometers. At this level, the cultivator's connection with heaven and earth became frightening. The qi of the surrounding world could bend to their will. They could create law avatars. And Beast Tamers who reached this realm could achieve complete humanoid fusion with their contracted beasts.
Then came Legend. A Legend could spread their influence across roughly fifty kilometers. The laws themselves seemed to obey their words. Their power was enough to split apart continents.
And finally... The ninth rank. Myth.
At this level, cultivators no longer merely manipulated laws. They touched the source from which those laws originated. Reality itself could begin to distort around them. These were beings whose existence had long since surpassed what ordinary humans could comprehend.
Each rank was further divided into three stages. Early. Mid. Peak.
The distance between two stages could be enormous. The distance between two ranks could be even greater.
Arin slowly processed everything he had learned. The system was terrifying. Yet it also explained something.
Why humanity had survived. Why the beasts that once seemed impossible to defeat had eventually become part of civilization. And why the world outside the safe zones remained so dangerous.
Strength was no longer something humans could ignore. It was the foundation of survival.
Arin lowered his gaze. His mind returned to the memories of the original owner of this body.
Seventeen years old. No Spiritual Trait. No Soul Trait. No cultivation.
He had missed the Awakening Ceremony entirely. And in a world where strength determined whether someone lived or died... That was almost a death sentence.
Arin clenched his fists. The history he had inherited had shown him the past. The cultivation system had shown him the present. But neither answered the question that mattered most.
What was going to happen to him?
He was now living in a world where ordinary beasts could kill humans with ease. He had no awakened talent. No powerful family. No master. No friends capable of protecting him.
Only the strange ruby necklace around his neck. The same necklace that had somehow carried his soul across worlds.
Arin touched it unconsciously. Its surface remained cold. Whatever secret it contained, he still knew almost nothing about it.
But there was one thing he understood now. If he wanted to survive... He needed strength. And he needed it quickly.
Because the wilderness was only a few kilometers away. And somewhere beyond that boundary were creatures that humanity had spent centuries learning to fear.
Arin looked toward the window. For the first time since arriving in this world, his expression became completely serious.
He couldn't change the past. He couldn't save the countless people who had already died. But he could decide what happened next.
He would survive. No matter what road he had to take.