'What do you not understand? It's simply enough, really.'
For the last few minutes, Yoel was staring at the Devil in confusion.
In reality, he understood what he was saying.
And he was about to go over the process in his mind, but the Devil beat him to it.
'No more mind explanations, alright child?'
'I'll explain. First things first, poking holes at your own core is an obvious no-go, and it's the fastest path to self-destruction. So, since you can't connect your pathways to the core itself, you just need to first reinforce your core and only then will you be able to create strong enough pathways."
Yes… that's the conclusion I arrived to as well, but am I seriously supposed to just completely purify my core and then begin with the pathway creation?
'No no, it's not that arduous of a task, child. What you'll need to do is just reach the next state of purity. The mediocre purity state. The lesser purity state at your core's stage is simply too weak to withstand the evolution your core undergoes whenever you reach the next state of purity or the next stage of your core.'
Yoel blinked a few times and tilted his head.
Or at least what he thought was his head.
Uhm, evolution? What do you mean by that, Consequence?
Now, it was the Devil's turn to blink.
'Huh? You don't know what that is? Well, I shouldn't be too surprised about that. You don't even know about this simple trick, so its only natural for you to not know that your pathways undergo an evolution of the same type as your core.'
'However, compared to your core, that's dense and filled to the brim with avon, pathways only have a small trickle of that avon. And in your case, along with everyone else, that's awakened a core, the pathways cannot undergo a proper evolution due to their weak reinforcement, failing, and while not exactly exploding violently, they turn to the next best thing, which is to simply remain as they are, not growing weaker nor evolving.'
That… was a lot of information to take in.
Yoel was exposed to an entirely new perspective on the evolution and progression of cores, and pathways in this matter.
While he was able to adapt at almost inhuman speeds due to his grueling training thanks to the Silhouette Arts, it was still an entirely new, unknown concept to him and for the better part of humanity.
'Well, eventually even those weak pathways will evolve, but that would be way later on in your struggle towards ascension.'
This Devil was incredibly knowledgable, wasn't he? To have lived for so long, he must have observed many civilizations and how they progressed through the many stages of power.
But considering how all the organs in the human body worked together almost seamlessly, it brought up to well up in Yoel's mind.
Unlike his organs, the core and the pathways were imperfect.
Curiosity was a dangerous thing.
But Yoel decided to keep quiet this time around. He believed that asking this question would not only instill a terrible pain in his soul, but it is something that he might not have any business knowing.
As if waiting for that cue, the grey and lightless world began to change. Light began to seep in, threatening to color the grey and colorless expanse of nothingness.
'It seems that is as much as I can tell you for now, child. Prepare for the future, and make sure your puny soul grows… a bit less puny, I guess.'
Yoel simply nodded, or thought he was nodding, and said his goodbyes to Consequence.
As he did so, the world he was looking at shook, and his perception shifted.
As if going through some kind of portal, Yoel felt his body flying through a vast and impenetrable space at frightening speeds.
Only for that spacious darkness to unveil his body, and then his covers.
He had woken up.
But he was not yet ready to start the day.
He still had a few more questions to ponder.
Although they were a bit less important than the usual ones, he still believed them to be important.
Actually… they might be even more important than the ones he usually thought of.
The Devil of Consequence, a powerful deity who had lived for an unprecedented amount of time, was helping out a random mortal.
It was more than normal to start questioning what exactly his motives were.
I mean, why in the world would he be helping a hopeless person like me?
Yoel had a 0.2% chance of awakening, and even if he ended up awakening, he would have a hard time ascending through the states of purity and stages of the core.
The Devil of Consequence did not only help him out but also treated Yoel as if he really was his child.
And not to even mention the state Yoel had found him in.
Shackled by some weird and unknown energy, trying to persuade Yoel to form a contract with him.
The scene was quite ominous, whenever Yoel thought about it…
He always ended up trying to get his mind off things.
But these thoughts that he had tried to keep to the back of his mind kept popping up once a while, and he really couldn't help it.
But the reality was also quite harsh.
While he thought about this many times, he had never arrived to any conclusion.
He simply could not understand what the deity wanted.
I mean, what did I expect? I can't understand something that transcends strength itself…
Truly, it was something completely useless to think about. He shouldn't be spending his energy like this…
And yet, he couldn't help it.
Thankfully, his trusty cube device was right there to bring his head out of the gutters.
It shone with brilliant light, as it had every other time.
And its words came down like a hammer on Yoel's head.
[Urgent Reminder! Student Yoel Voldren, you have yet to pick any extracurricular classes! Classes officially begin tomorrow, and if you fail to pick any, you will be expelled.]
That's right! Extracurricular classes. Fuck!
Extracurricular classes were essential for all students to have. It was something to occupy them after class, and they were all useful in their own ways.
Many of them extended into interesting career paths for the Blessed, which was why it was so important to sign up for at least a few of them.
Yoel was so preoccupied with everything going on, that he had barely given these any thought!
It was an understatement to say that he was panicking right now.
He quickly picked up the cube and tried to search for the most popular classes.
After a few minutes of browsing, his shoulders slumped.
He didn't understand the value of any of these classes, but those that he did understand, he believed to be quite basic.
I should look at the mandatory classes first before I drown myself in despair.
With a few swipes and a few words, Yoel found himself staring at a screen detailing his classes, and their purposes.
[Planetary Politics]
[The debate of power between parties, the land they possess and so on. Due to the earth's situation, newly trained Blessed are to be taught about the different relations between earth and the planets that we have come in contact with. It is also important to learn our current standings with them and become capable of analyzing possible futures regarding those standings.]
[Space Knowledge]
[Humanity has set foot into space for a long time now, and Blessed are oftentimes granted extraordinary abilities capable of helping make their time in space comfortable. Therefore a generous amount of them decides to pursue fields related to outer space. Learn about the different types of phenomena that may happen in space, along with many other useful and basic information to increase survivability in outer space.]
[Avon Control Basics]
[In this class, you will be learning about the mystical energy of our bodies and abilities, called avon. Not only will you be learning about humanity's accumulated knowledge on it so far, but also how to control it efficiently and learn entirely new skills regarding it.]
[Enigma Basics]
[Enigmas are something Blessed are gifted with from the very start of their journey, like an additional limb they grow after awakening, they slowly learn the nature of their enigma, and live according to its capabilities. In this class, you will learn the nature of enigma and you will learn to how to efficiently use it, while also exploring and finding out any hidden sides your enigma may possess.]
All of the classes mentioned in the list possessed extraordinary value over the rest, with Yoel easily being able to figure out their uses and whatnot, he quickly labeled them as the limbs of his knowledge, entering this mystical world.
Each one covered a wide range of specialties regarding that specific aspect, allowing all Blessed to be armed with at least basic knowledge when officially leaving their cocoons to brave the world.
That was great and all, but that being said…
Yoel still had no idea what extracurricular classes to choose!