Hours passed and the sun was handing low in the sky, casting a more dull orange glow in the sky when Omnikia and myself stood up from our spots in the stone circle back in the clearing. After I had ordered my clothes and got signed up for the tournament we had returned here for some study on Ki pathways so I would be ready to make my first three, hopefully before my first fight.

It had gone as well as it could have, pathways were actually quite easy to memorize once you got the theory of what it all meant down, which was pretty easy with Omnikia as my teacher. He was a great teacher, and that really helped. I was practically ready to form the first versions of my pathways, but I felt like more time to try to solidify the plans in my head would help. But I needed a break first, and Omnikia agreed.

“I believe that this would be a good time to head back to the village to get your new clothes.” Omnikia told me when I had mentioned needing a small break from the memorization exercises. “You think that they are done already?” I asked astonished, but Omnikia seemed unaware of my thoughts and just gave a nod, letting my thoughts turn to how it could be possible that six sets of clothes, along with a backpack and the armour that Omnikia had ordered, could be made in an afternoon without modern machines.

I mean… It's possible I guess? I think that it could potentially be possible with a good team I guess… Plus, magic apparently exists so maybe that's more of a common thing then I thought? It would make sense, magic didn't seem particularly difficult to use when I was learning to control it with Omnikia

We walked back along the path through the trees and then through the road into the village for the second time today, and we walked into Hasitin Tailor’s once more.

It looked like it had this morning, the furs and clothes on racks and stands around the wooden room and Scarlet sitting behind the counter with a smile as she saw us walk inside.

“You here to get your order?” Scarlet asked us when we walked over to the counter. “Yes, the order is done?” Omnikia asked her with a smile and a glance to the rack that was probably in front of the entrance to the back of the store. “Dad! Omnikia and his Apprentice are here for their order!” She called out, turning her back to us for a moment, and causing the older shop owner to walk out and over to us with a smile as he saw us, clearly pleased about something.

“Ah, yes! I had just finished the last of the order when you arrived.” Mr. Hasitin told us with a smile, “Good timing as always.” He said to Omnikia in particular. “I must say, it was a treat to work with such rare materials.” He said, looking between Omnikia and me and beaming, “It was a rather nice experience to work with them after so long working on ordinary furs. I did go a little overboard with the backpack, as you called it Arnold, it was quite an interesting design and I couldn't help but add a little spatial enhancement. Just think of it as a little gift to you.”

Now that made my mouth open in shock. “Little spatial enhancement?” I asked bewildered, wondering if he had actually enchanted my backpack as a gift with shock. Omnikia hadn't told me anything about enchantments at all, or even mentioned it.

The old Tailor gave me a smile, “Yes, it's not very powerful or complex. It just expands the inside by about two feet or so.” He explained as if it was the most simple thing in the world and leaving me nodding with an odd smile, overwhelmed by the implications.

“I will just get your order for you, and then we can see if they all fit alright before you go.” He told me with a grin and he walked to the back of the store where he was before he walked out, presumably to get the clothes that he had made and leaving me to consider some things while he was gone.

‘This was definitely enlightening… Enchanting is apparently a thing. Clearly magic is apparently actually used when making things… It does make me wonder what else I don't know about this world.’ I thought to myself in the few seconds before the older man walked back to the counter with a pile of leathers and furs bundled in his arms. “Right! This is everything. Oh! I forgot your master's gift.” He told me then once again walked away out of sight. I looked over to Omnikia, having actually almost forgotten about the armour style clothes from a special material that he didn't let me see.

I looked back behind the counter just in time to see the Tailor walk back around with his arms holding up the thing that Omnikia had ordered. The design of the armour looked close to a half plate armor, but looking thinner and made entirely of leather and fur, while also having a clear robe design as well, though definitely made to be worn over other clothes. As for the fur it was made of… it was golden. I recognized it immediately. It was Nemean Lion fur. Probably the one that is now my summon as well. The old man must have processed the body without my noticing somehow…

I stared at it in surprise, watching as the metallic fur reflected the natural light of the room in a mesmerizing flowing pattern. “Wow.” I said after a second of admiring it.

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After I had been shown my newly made clothes, the old Tailor and Omnikia insisted that I went to change into the fur clothes and out of my rags. I was of course happy to, and then I spent half an hour trying on the different clothes that I had now, to the amusement of Mr. Hasitin and Scarlet along with an appraising eye from Omnikia, ending with me wearing the clothes made from Alphas fur and the Nemean Lion over armour and Omnikia telling us that he and I should head back.

I honestly was impressed by my new set of clothes, they fit great, they looked great, and most of all they were extremely comfortable.

Omnikia and I walked down the dirt road and through the little forest pathway into the clearing during what felt like half an hour that we spent in silence as we walked back from the village.

By the time that we both walked inside the old man's hut to eat, I was very tired from all the walking and as the sun went down in the sky and the two moons started to rise into the sky, I was getting ready to sleep. I decided that I would just wear my new fur clothes to sleep, they were very nice and warm and after I had slept using the materials they were made from as blankets and padding that was very clearly way less than before.

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It wasn't too bad now, but it was definitely noticeable and slightly uncomfortable. But I was honestly tired enough that I could sleep on a large rock just fine. As I turned onto my side and watched the bright sky, so full of the pinpricks of light that were the stars, and the huge mirrors that were the two moons that were rising into the darker sky, I just let my thoughts fall away as I tried and succeeded to fall asleep. I would need the rest for tomorrow I knew, because my first fight was tomorrow and I needed to be up early.

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I wasn't sure what time it was when I opened my eyes, not really having anything to tell the time with, but it was still dark out. The sky looked almost darker than when I went to sleep in fact, though the moons were nowhere to be seen. It was probably very early in the morning just going by that, the moons probably having moved to behind my back and becoming invisible to me through the trees.

I should probably still be asleep, but the cool morning breeze was hitting my face and starting my body back up for the day, wiping away the warm thought of sleep. Though now that I was awake for good, it was time to start the day. While breakfast would probably still be hours away and Omnikia most likely asleep in his cottage, there were things that I needed to get done this morning. The three pathways that I had memorized over the course of yesterday and some of the day before would probably be easier in the quiet of the night as well.

I sat up from my tree platform of a bed and leaned against the trunk of the tree, I crossed my legs and put my hands on my knees to start meditating and going over the designs of my first pathways in my mind before I started.

When I was ready, I started. I started to sense the Ki in my mind, body Ki spicificly. I had to separate the Ki into those two types first, then for this first pathway use a carefully controlled and combined bob of both types of mana. I was going to be carving out what amounted to a magic circuit into my actual soul, so being careful was definitely the natural thing to do here.

According to Omnikia, there was basically no risk to making a pathway unless somehow someone triggers a magic effect during the process or they are making a sixth pathway. He told me specifically that making a pathway shouldn't feel bad, and any damage made from a failed pathway would be repaired naturally over the course of a day without any actual harm done. But still…

I braced my mind as I started to control the ball of Ki to move to my body and then… it entered my soul slowly.

After a moment I gave a sigh of relief, letting out a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding and I relaxed mussels that had clenched until I was fully relaxed and ready to continue. When the Ki entered my soul, it didn't actually really feel like anything. At most it felt like a light tingle, but it was hard to describe. I could feel it inside myself, feeling as if it was almost moving through a slime like substance and leaving a path behind it. It was forming a pathway as I controlled it.

I was definitely relieved by the lack of climax in the form of pain that I had for some reason thought would happen, but I made my mind focus back on what I was doing here and now. It would take a while to finish my first pathway, but I needed to be careful.

My first pathway was probably the hardest to actually make, as I actually needed to put a lot of thought into how it should be formed, unlike the other two that Omnikia had basically handed over for me to memorize. It made sense though, because of what it was and what it was supposed to do. Omnikia called this type of pathway a Summon Form Pathway, which really made what it does clear. Like when I instinctively channeled the power of my summons to change my body into what was basically a werewolf, this type of pathway made a predefined form to channel The Pack into to change my form. Supposedly it was better than the instinctive transformation I had done before.

It wasn't limited to only one summon at a time though, as Omnikia had told me how to make this pathway into something that could be very flexible about that. It was supposed to act as a guide for when I tried to channel any summons to turn myself into a Summon Form. What the pathway I had made did, was that it would take the best parts of my summons and add them to my body.

Specifically, this pathway was supposed to add the flame of Alpha along with the wolf's senses, the metallic quality of the Nemean Lions fur, the endurance, toughness and strength of the bear, the speed of the deer and the energy its horns could be coated with, the dexterity of the gorilla and finally the venom attack and resistance of the lizard.

It was all a bit technical as to how exactly it worked, while also being the extremely simple ‘it just sort of works naturally’ sort of thing at the same time, letting me basically be able to choose which of my summons I could channel while all the benefits would sort of be added to my Summon Form.

I shaped the pathway over the course of an hour, not missing a single line in the process, and not forgetting to add all the intent infused processor things that I was supposed to place along the pathway. It was honestly not bad work, and it was only a little tiresome because of the needed slowness of the task. It seemed to work as far as I could tell, and it seemed to almost click once I had finished, filling a section of my soul with a hum of energy.

Onto the next one then…

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Omnikia P.O.V.

It was in the early hours of the morning that I sat up in my bed and got dressed for the day, feeling the dredges of sleep cling onto my body. Oh how I miss my younger body… I could wake up hours before dawn and stay awake so easily…

I sighed as I walked out the front door of my little hut and I walked to where my young apprentice was staying. I couldn't understand what went through his head when he decided that he was going to sleep in the treetops of his own free will. He didn't ask for anything really, though I couldn't tell if it was simple pride on his part or simply not seeing the need. He was an odd boy.

I walked out on the cool grassy yard around my hut and I walked around towards the side of my house, looking to the tree where Arnold had been sleeping and preparing to go and wake him, only to realize that it was unnecessary. The boy was sitting up straight in a meditative position that he seemed to find the most natural for him, though I had never seen it quite like he did it. Only another odd detail about a weird boy.

I could see what he was doing clearly, even from where I was standing. The day that I couldn't see someone forming a Ki pathway from across a field is the day that I start to dig my own grave…

I smiled at his actions. It seemed to me like this was a bit early to even attempt to form a pathway, no matter what I told him to give him a sense of urgency. He had only just started to learn how Ki worked apparently, and apart from his quickly progressing Ki control, it was simply unlikely that he would actually make a working pathway for another week at the earliest. Only true geniuses could form a pathway that quickly after designing or being given one. It had taken me five days for my very first after all, and I was considered to be a once a generation meracle by some.

I have a light chuckle at the thought. We would see how badly he messed up after he came for breakfast.