"Man... Why did I say that name... I don't understand..."
Accompanied by the first rays of the moon, the path toward his home was an easy one. Indeed, the young man's mind was in a mess after the conversation with Grandma River.
The young man had come out of the shop a short time later, and his state was rather strange, for he was still mulling over that stupid name.
"Maybe... I gave her too much information... Damn, let's hope she doesn't do anything weird..."
He was truly worried because her personality was well known to him.
"Hmm... Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway..." Atlas shrugged his shoulders, forgetting the strange situation, and reached the house after a few minutes.
It was late at night, so Atlas found it bizarre that the lamps inside and outside were off.
"Hmm... How strange, they usually never turn off the lights..." Atlas approached the house and noticed that the lights facing Flare's enclosure were also off.
He did not understand what was going on, so he entered the house holding his faithful companion.
His steps were light, and no sound broke the silence lingering in the rooms.
Soon, Atlas entered the kitchen, where a letter and some Regenerating Potions were waiting for his arrival.
"So... they left again. What a scare. Let's see where they went this time..."
Atlas lit the lamps and then read the letter, but the contents were simple and did not indicate anything in particular.
There was only one simple sentence...
"Hmm... 'We'll be back soon...' Well, they could at least tell me their destination. Why do they always have to be so mysterious..."
It was not the first time the two gramps and Flare had disappeared, so Atlas did not worry too much and headed for his room.
The frenetic day in the city of the Inflamed Chalice had exhausted him quite a lot, so rather than look for the Cultivation Manual with a somewhat clouded mind, the young man collapsed on the bed and closed his eyes, falling asleep in a few moments.
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In the world, three Martial Cultivation paths existed, but two of them were accessible only to those who surpassed the so-called Mortal Realm. This was the norm, but there were many exceptions in the Universe where the other two paths were accessible since the beginning of the cultivation path.
All of them had manuals to increase the realms and techniques to use the internal energy generated by the cultivation for offensive, defensive, and many other usages.
Clearly, there were countless typologies of them and differed in so many ways that it was impossible to learn all of them.
The primary path was the Chaotical Primordial path. This was the fundamental way of using the Chaos Energy stored in the Chaotical Core.
Throughout a Martial Cultivation Manual for the Chaotical Primordial Path, a cultivator in the Mortal Realm, the first major Realm, could cleanse and refine the Chaotical Core into a purer form, the Chaotical Crystal.
Above the Mortal Realm existed many other major realms, like Saint Realm and Sage Realm.
Atlas had a long way in front of him before reaching those stages. Indeed, first of all, he had to absorb and refine enough Chaos Energy to evolve his core. To do that, he had to stabilize, cleanse, purify, remold, and create the final shape of his Chaotical Core.
Those five processes were, respectively, the objective of each minor Realm, and they were called Primordial Chaos, Descendant Chaos, Primordial Descendant Lord, Epoch Descendant Ruler, and Eon Redemption Overlord. Momentarily, Atlas was a weak Primordial Chaos martial cultivator, and he had to stabilize his new core.
Other than the primary path, the other two were the Tyrannical Titan Path and Everlasting Soul Path.
Usually, a martial cultivator could choose dual cultivation of Chaotical and Tyrannical paths or focus entirely on one of the two once he reached the Saint Realm.
That choice could happen on the bridge between the Mortal and Saint Realm, called the Pseudo-Saint Realm, which used the energy generated for the creation of the Chaotical Crystal to cleanse the body.
More specifically, this path used the Chaos Energy stored in the Chaotical Core to temper a cultivator's body, granting them exceptional bodily powers.
There were many processes like reinforcing veins and organs, hardening the bones, tempering the skin, and rebuilding body parts.
As for the Everlasting Soul Path, the story was similar to the second, but the first step toward that fathomable path was at the Sage Realm.
In the end, a martial cultivator could choose a single, dual, or a triple path. Clearly, the second and third choices were rarely seen because it was a matter of time, resources, and willpower.
Actually, Atlas had seen more than four of those people who had chosen the most challenging way, and they were the people who had stood at his side since he was only a little boy, his grandparents, and their friends.
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Flare had left with the two grandparents, so the sun's rays woke the young man, but it was already late morning when his eyes opened.
"Um, maybe I slept a little too much." Atlas got out of bed with his eyes still half-closed and walked to the window to let in the fresh-smelling morning air, as he used to do every time.
There was not much to do at home, so after a quick breakfast, Atlas started looking for an appropriate Cultivation Manual in the library.
"If I remember correctly, there should be several manuals somewhere..."
The room was a bit messy, with a large desk in the center and shelves filled with books on either side.
The number of books was alarming. Even in the corners of the room were stacks of books of all sizes.
There was no order about how the books were arranged. So, the young man started opening them one by one.
"Hmm... Mountain Flowing Saint is a manual for those who are affine to the earth element. Blazing Emerald Vicissitude is a manual affine to the fire element. Wavering Tempest..."