One's Path is a reflection of who they are. It is a representation of their personality, their affinity, and their ambition. Their comprehension of their Path is almost entirely unique to them.
Paths take form in the elements and concepts of the world. One can awaken a Path of Water or a Path of Fire and be able to utilize those elements how they can.
However, awakening your Path isn't a matter of choice. As stated before, Paths are a reflection of who you are. A hot-headed pyromaniac is unlikely to have anything to do with the Path of Water.
However, this doesn't mean it's impossible for him to awaken the Path of Water. His comprehension of water will match with his personality, affinity, and ambition. This is why one's Path comprehension cannot be truly replicated. No two people can be the exact same in all these regards.
This is also why Paths cannot be tested exactly. At best, only the general category a Path falls in, can be tested. For example, someone with the Path of Water would likely turn the orb some shade of blue. Even those with non-specific Paths like the Path of Mimic would still spark some sort of reaction.
Knowing this, Bachi and Lia's surprise was, in no way, exaggerated. While Lia was only an outer disciple and her knowledge was limited, Bachi's experience made this seem even stranger to him than it did to Lia.
No reaction? Wouldn't that mean he had no Path? But that's impossible, only someone completely mindless would have no Path. Even if he hadn't awakened his Path, it wouldn't matter. In order to measure the general range of one's Path, the orb must take a vague measurement of their personality. Because of this, even if one's Path had not been awakened, the most likely range of one's potential Path would be measured.For nothing to show up was unprecedented.
Bachi took a deep look at Sho himself, who was in a sort of trance. Staring down at the orb, his messy chin-length hair covering his eyes. He could feel everything.
It was a strange sensation; he could feel every bit of his hair rustling, his heart beating, his hand touching the orb, his shorts touching his skin. He could feel all of it, all at once. Such a thing would surely be overstimulating but somehow, Sho could handle it all.
Still, after a few seconds, he felt his entire body began to grow fatigued, so he pulled his hand away. Looking back up at Bachi, Sho only saw two wary eyes staring back at him. However, these eyes soon calmed down.
Briefly, the idea that Sho was mutated, had crossed his mind. However, from what Lia had told him while he was testing Sho, Sho had ample opportunity to kill her. Mutated humans had no real sense of fear and while they were intelligent, part of this was clouded by the hit to their rationality. If there had ever been a time where Sho would've killed her, it would've been when she was injecting him with the Micro-Regenerators. Still he hadn't, so it's unlikely he was mutated.
Bachi finally came to a conclusion. He'd talk to a core elder about this but accept Sho into the sect temporarily. There was nothing he could think of as an explanation for this but the core elders were far more powerful and experienced than he was. They'd probably come up with some explanation.
"Congratulations, you have been accepted as an outer disciple of the Southern Bosque Sect." Bachi didn't speak with much enthusiasm as before, though he handed Sho a token.
"Spit on it."
Sho looked up, a frown on his face. Even Lia who had done this, blushed, coughing a little at the phrasing.
Misunderstanding the meaning for his hesitancy, Bachi continued. "You can always just lick it or put it in your mouth instead. The most important thing is to get your saliva on it."
Sho took a hesitant look at Bachi and Lia, who decided to excuse herself for a minute. Then he spat on the token, his eyes growing surprised as he saw the saliva get absorbed by the token as the shape of it changed.
"That's your sect token. You'll need it for most activities here. Go find yourself an outer disciple room to live in." Bachi said, starting to walk out of the room. "The girl will help you."
Lia, who had gotten over her laugh-coughing fit, had walked back into the room, her eyes lighting up at Bachi's words.
After walking out of the building, Lia first walked Sho to a fairly large shop. After all, she couldn't be seen walking around with someone who was literally only wearing shorts.
After Sho donned the dark yellow of their sect, Lia briefly revealed a look of surprise before gesturing towards him to follow her to the residential district for the outer disciples.
While they walked, Lia explained how the sect worked to him. "You need sect points to get anything here. I don't know exactly how it works but when you earn sect points, they'll get automatically transferred to your token which is how I got you those clothes. Of course, I could've simply waited until you got to your room since there're clothes there anyways but.."
Sho nodded, understanding. While he didn't really care about being seen barely covered, he, himself, would rather be covered.
"You need to contribute to the sect in order to get sect points. For example, completing a sect mission or finding something rare to sell."
Sho's eyes lit up in understanding. "Is that why you seemed so eager to know that I'd be accepted? Do you get sect points for inviting sect members?"
Lia nodded. "Yes, if you manage to bring someone good enough to be accepted, you'll be awarded sect points."
"I'm assuming that the more talented the person you bring, the more sect points you get."
Lia nodded again before continuing. "There are a variety of ways to get sect points, you'll learn about it soon enough. Your talent is already really good, good enough to be a core disciple, honestly. The higher rank disciple you are, the more you're entitled to, anyways."
Sho nodded before randomly remembering something. "Will I ever get my bag back?"
"I can get you the bag back but I don't know about everything inside it. Some other disciples shared your stuff among themselves."
Just as she finished those words, she felt a sense of dangerous pressure heaped on her. However, before she even turned to look at Sho, it disappeared as Sho sighed. "If you can get everything back, that would be better but if you can't, it's fine."
That pressure reminded Lia she was speaking to someone with the strength of a core disciple. "I'll try my best." They walked in silence after that.
They stopped at the outer sect center. There, Lia was able to get her sect points for Sho. Though he was extremely talented, he was still an outer disciple so it wasn't as much as she expected. Still, it was a decent amount. Meanwhile, Sho got assigned to an empty room in one of the dormitories.
The two walked to the assigned dorm, and were about to say their goodbyes when a familiar voice hit their ears. Perhaps it was because Sho didn't have many memories but the memories he had were very clear. This was why he was able to recognize Lia although barely. He remembered this voice from back then. It was the one that advocated he was mutated and should be killed.
They turned to see a man about a year or two older than Sho and Lia, walking over with a couple of other guys.
"Did you finally get those sect points, Lia? You were so eager to protect this guy back then."
Lia frowned. "Yeah because he's human..? Getting him to join the sect is just a bonus. It's not like you would've had anything to gain from hurting him, Erim."
Erim shrugged before a look of surprise hit his face. "Oh, is he in our dorm?"
Lia only nodded before turning back to Sho. "I'll see you later, Sho."
Sho nodded, and started to walk inside his dormitory.
Erim's dark brown eyes flashed with a hint of annoyance. "Outer disciple, huh. What are his stats at? He doesn't seem too big or strong."
Lia continued walking away, her tone dismissive. "All of them are at least S grade."
Erim's group briefly fell into silence before chuckling a bit. Erim, himself, simply remained silent. Sho didn't pay attention to the brief look Erim gave him, as he walked into the dormitory.
Going up a couple flights of stairs, he walked into a specific room, room 100. Taking in the small room, he shrugged. For now, this would be where he lived.