Owen gave a slight nod in anticipation as he was quite curious to know more about Pathwalkers.  Needless to say he wasn’t jumping around, but a slight glint could be seen in his eyes.  At least Kovinth thought it wasn’t just the light from the Solar Eyes acting up.  He didn’t stretch it out any longer and continued.

“Just like beasts have five ranks so do humans.  These stages directly relate to the strength of the body.  As the first stage of Pathwalking requires one to strength their body.  They are Opal, Jade, Quartz, Topaz.  As for the last stage this is similar to the Devourer’s ranks.  As we directly use them as a catalyst to train it can be said that your body will develop in one of three ways.  Can you guess?”

Kovinth gave Owen a meaningful look, as if hoping he could answer it.  Seeing this expectation of him, Owen began to ponder while putting his hand on his chin much like his master usually would.  Although Kovinth didn’t usually do it while thinking, like student like Master as Owen had been getting closer to Kovinth he was developing habits like him as well.  Seeing this how could Kovinth not understand that this brat was becoming like him.  Although he thought that was a bad thing, he would never admit as it was coming from him afterall.  

Luckily for Kovinth after Owen thought for a few moments he came up with a sound explanation.

“Will the colours be presented by the Alpha Devourers?”

Kovinth continued to hold his smirk as he nodded and then continued.

“That’s right.  As you reach the final stage of the body refinement, you are required to chose a type of Devourer to consume.  If the body absorbs too many different types it will be unable to purify the 3 types of Essence.  As such the three stages become the Ruby for using Sky crystals, Sapphire for Ocean crystals and finally Emerald for Land crystals.  But maybe it’s because Land are much more numerous the strength of the Emerald stage is slightly less than that of Ruby and Sapphire.”

Kovinth inhaled deeply as he spoke that all out at once.  He knew that he was teaching Owen an incredible amount of information in the last few days, but what choice did he have?  Owen was required to know at least the very basic of information before he became a Pathwalker.  Although not knowing some of these details wouldn’t hurt him at the beginning it would become much more confusing in the future.  As such he swamped Owen’s brain with information every day.  At this Owen was lost in though as if coming to a sudden realisation putting everything together he asked Kovinth in a questioningly manner.

“Master, does that mean I should choose which Path I wish to take right now?”

“It does not require everyone too.  However, it makes it easier, and in fact I will require you to do so now.  Although you may use this Land Essence crystal to become a Low Opal Pathwalker, from now on you will find Sky Essence crystals for the remainder.  Although they are impure, they still will have more because that is their base Path.

Owen nodded in agreement.  He wasn’t sure why he was required to walk the Sky route but he figured that his Master had already planned the best route for him.  Naturally he would trust his master and follow through.  As soon as Kovinth saw his agreement on the subject he immediately handed the gem to Owen to get started.  Owen had already started absorbing Essence and already had a great deal stored up within his blood, it was time to use that stored up energy to create his Path.  

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Owen, as you absorb this gem, I want you to picture that you’re in the sky standing on the clouds.  When you make the first block of your Path, try and imagine it being as red as possible.  If your foundation is closer to the Sky route you will find it easier to train.  Remember, your Path has to be something you’re familiar with in life.”

“I will do my best Master.”

Owen closed his eyes as soon as he grabbed onto the Essence crystal.  The moment he closed his eyes, as if a pathway opened from the crystal it immediately started to channel into his body.  Seeing this fast reaction Owen was momentarily startled but as he was Kovinth spoke within his mind.

“Calm yourself.  Remember who you are, remember you every day life, and how you live.  Take all the Essence and treat it just you were watering those flowers.  Slowly, but perfectly control the flow of Essence as it travels into your blood, muscles, bones, and organs.  Don’t let a single drop go to waste.”

Owen didn’t nodd but deep inside he already acknowledged the words of his Master.  Just then the flow of the Essence from the crystal was slowed down immensely.  It was like a dam was forcefully put on the crystal and only allowed a tiny bit to be drawn out at a single time.  As the Essence flowed through his body Owen simentanously was in his subconscious dreaming of the sky.  The image at first was blurry but surely he was arriving to a giant endless blue sky and below him was a blanket of clouds as far as the eyes could see.  

He wanted to stop and just watch the scenery endlessly, but he knew he dind’t have an endless amount of Essence to absorb from the crystal and this image was the direct result of using the Essence to form an image within his subconscious.  When the image became crisp and sharp, Owen started to focus on the first block for his Path.  He wasn’t sure how the Path was suppose to look other than it being as close as possible to red.  But he did know tha the stronger his image of the Path, the stronger his Path would be from attacks.

Owen had already learnt that there was possible ways to attack the Path within one’s subconscious.  And like his Master said, the foundation was the starting place, it directly related to how one would walk from then on.  Even if one part of the Path was stronger than all the universes’ materials put together, if there was a weak link as weak as a blade of grass it could all fall apart with a simple strike.  But to image a substance that was incredibly strong was something Owen couldn’t picture. He had been blind his whole life, even if his teacher showed him many things, this kind of image had to be something he experience through his own life experiences.  It was after all a part of his own soul.

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Yikes it took me awhile to find the right stones from the Absolute Hardness Scale D:  *Scurries back to studying*