Vaan was about to begin when he sensed someone outside the hall.
Opening his eyes, he found Diana peeking from behind the doors.
While she did her best to hide, the two strands of hair visible to Vaan rendered her efforts useless.
"What are you doing?" he questioned.
Silence.
"Diana. I know you are there."
She entered the hall with a fake cough.
"When are you coming to sleep?" She asked.
Was she worried that he was going to sleep on the throne? Even though she had to sleep here until recently?
He was thankful for her concern.
However, his current priority was becoming a Potential Adept in all three Paths.
"I—" Vaan opened his mouth to refuse but stopped.
This was exactly what he had done in his previous life and regretted it forever.
Why was he trying to become stronger?
To protect Diana. To be with her.
Realizing his priorities, he answered.
"I'll sleep now."
He followed Diana to the third-floor bedroom.
The room had a window on the east wall and a small bed in the center. If the two slept together, they would have hardly any space left on it.
"Um," Diana fidgeted. "Are you sure you want us to sleep together?"
Her flushed face was hard to notice in the dim light of the lamp.
Believing it was from tiredness, Vaan nodded.
"We only have one bed."
"But—"
"Let's sleep."
Her protests were drowned by Vaan's desire to sleep.
She probably wanted to ask what brought the change of mind – he had forced her to sleep elsewhere before, saying it was 'uncomfortable' to share the small bed – and since Vaan didn't have a good explanation for his changed demeanor yet, he decided to brute force his way through.
'I need to think of a believable reason to explain what changed me. I doubt she'll believe me if I say I'm from the future,' thought Vaan.
Sleeping together was awkward. Their backs touched each other, transmitting the body heat and slight movements of breathing.
It didn't affect Vaan.
He had slept in worse places.
But he was worried for Diana.
Judging from her terribly fast heartbeats, she must've been embarrassed to sleep in close proximity to someone else, even if that someone was Vaan.
No.
Maybe she was anxious.
His reputation wasn't the worst, but it was certainly close. Anyone would be tense if they had to sleep in a defenseless state near him.
Vaan's heart felt strangely heavy at the thought.
He didn't intend to harm her.
"Good night," he said, hoping that the words conveyed his intentions.
The reply didn't come immediately.
Just when Vaan thought she was acting to be asleep, her heartbeats became stable. She replied in a whisper.
"Good night."
Those two words eased the heaviness in his heart.
That's right.
He didn't need others' recognition. The only one whose trust he wanted was Diana.
The night deepened slowly.
Diana had fallen asleep before long, but sleep evaded Vaan.
After a few hours of fruitless attempts, he decided to give up on sleeping.
He stood slowly to not disturb Diana and sat in the corner of the room.
'I should open the Gates.'
His consciousness merged with his sub-consciousness.
When Vaan opened his eyes, he was floating in a pitch-black space with three giant gates in front of him.
The Gates had something written on top of them in ancient script.
Vaan read them from left to right.
Arcane Path Of Magic
Martial Path Of Conquest
Essence Path Of Cultivation
"Essence…" He guessed that it must be the name of the esoteric powers he had seen in his last life.
This space was the Beginning Of All Paths and it existed inside everyone's mind.
Vaan knew its existence from the ancient texts he had read.
To enter Beginning Of All Paths one must fulfill two conditions.
Their Enlightenment Stage must be no higher than Untouched and they must have perfect control over their mind.
These two conditions were almost impossible to achieve. Hence, why everyone believed that a person could follow only one Path.
Vaan floated towards Martial Gate.
He pushed them.
The gate creaked, opening ever so slightly, and he continued to push until they were completely open.
The difficulty of opening the Gate indicated that he had a below average Martial aptitude.
'And yet I was the first person to become a Martial Deity,' he thought.
Quite a few people believed that Vaan possessed a god given talent in Martial Arts.
But only he knew about the hard work and sacrifices he had to make to reach the apex.
The Paths weren't something that one could conquer through talent alone.
Moments later, the Martial Gate was opened completely.
[You have stepped on the Martial Path Of Conquest.]
[Martial Enlightenment Stage: Untouched → Potential Adept.]
[Multiple hidden stats have been opened.]
A gentle cold wind rushed through his body.
"Status," he spoke to confirm the changes.
Vaan Siegfried
Titles (Equipped): One Who Has Died
Titles (Unequipped): Celestial Renegade (New)
|| Arcane Path Of Magic ||
Enlightenment Stage: Untouched
Mana Points: 00
Mana Purity: 0%
Mana Density: 0.00
Primary Elementals: Fire(0), Wind(0), Water(0), Earth(0)
Secondary Elementals: None
Transcendent Elementals: None
Bloodline: ??? (Dormant)
|| Martial Path Of Conquest ||
Enlightenment Stage: Potential Adept
Force: 0.589
Nerves: 0.621
Vigor: 0.397
Technique: None
Rank: None
He ignored the Magic section and looked at his Martial arts stats.
Detailed information about the stats appeared when he focused on them.
Enlightenment Stage: It represents Vaan Siegfried's progress on the Martial Path Of Conquest.
Untouched: Someone who has yet to touch the Gate let alone open it. They have not chosen any Path.
Potential Adept: A newbie who has just stepped on their Path.
Force: Numerical representation of the maximum force generatable by Vaan Siegfried through muscle mass only. It mainly represents Strength and Speed.
Nerves: Numerical representation of the efficiency and effectiveness of the nervous system of Vaan Siegfried. It mainly represents Reflexes, Dexterity, and Coordination.
Vigor: Numerical representation of vitality and physical robustness of Vaan Siegfried. It mainly represents Stamina, Constitution, and Recovery Rate.
Note: For all stats '1' is the value of peak human male physique.
Technique: Name of the Martial Arts technique used by Vaan Siegfried to traverse the Martial Path Of Conquest.
Rank: Present rank of Vaan Siegfried in accordance with his Technique.
Vaan hummed in satisfaction.
Next, he moved towards the Essence Gate Of Cultivation.
He had to exert himself to open the Gate. It was easier than the Martial Gate but not by much.
[You have stepped on the Essence Path Of Cultivation.]
[Essence Enlightenment Stage: Untouched → Potential Adept.]
[Multiple hidden stats have been opened.]
He didn't check his status and instead moved towards Arcane Gate Of Magic.
It was best to hurry.
While he could theoretically stay in Path Of All Beginnings for weeks with his high mental strength, it still took a toll on his mind to keep his consciousness and subconsciousness merged to remain there.
"What is this?"
After arriving in front of the Magic Gate, he had to double-take to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"This must be why I couldn't use magic in my previous life."