Standing in the Armoury, Alex was still admiring his new acquisitions when Elder Bellum spoke to him.

“You’ll have enough time later to gaze on your new belongings. Right now, we have to outfit you with what you need to survive for what is looming on the horizon,” he spoke as he started walking back to the centre of the Armoury from the now-empty shelf. As the Elder made the first step, Alex didn’t dawdle for long before he started following him.

After a short moment of a leisurely walk, both of them were back where they started; in front of the giant black sphere.

“Now, just as I assisted you with picking out a weapon, the Grand Keeper is going to assist you in picking out a Cultivation Method.” the Elder said, pointing at the sphere settled on an altar in front of them.

“So, I just have to touch it?” Alex asked, seeing no other way to interact with the inert sphere.

“I do enjoy not having to explain everything to recruits. Yes, you touch it. The sphere is the Librarium, or at least, part of it.” the Elder explained.

“As I said, I have pressing matters to attend to, so listen carefully. After you’re done here, you will have roughly a month to prepare yourself. For the duration of this month, your task will be to complete an extermination request from the outpost’s administration daily. Am I clear?” the Elder added.

“Absolutely,” Alex replied.

“Not even going to ask me why?” the Elder asked.

“I have this vague idea that if I cannot do something as simple as this, I won’t make it out alive when the outpost decides to issue special requests to us,” Alex replied in a cheeky tone.

“I did mention that I like quick-witted recruits, didn’t I? Now I’m going to be sad if you die, so try not to. See you in a month.” the Elder said in the same cheeky tone as Alex as he turned and walked out of the armoury while waving good-bye with his hand.

Left alone, Alex took a moment to appreciate the silence around himself. Usually, he would be content to take it slow and would take a leisurely walk around the armoury while admiring each and every exquisite weapon stored in it before returning to his task at hand. Now though, he had a literal deadline hanging over his head, which influenced his decision-making process. Taking a deep breath, followed by an audible sigh, he started moving towards the sphere, or rather, the Librarium, as Elder Bellum seemed to call it.

Standing in front of it, Alex quickly took notice of its true size, which easily towered over two meters in diameter. Taking one final look at the sphere, he extended his gauntlet-clad hand towards it and touched it.

As soon as contact was made, the world went white for Alex.

Immediately, Alex found himself in a gigantic white space, filled to the absolute brim with bookshelves the height of skyscrapers. In every direction he looked towards, the only thing he could see was bookshelves stretching into this space’s horizon, and perhaps beyond it. As he looked around, he wondered how exactly he was supposed to pick out something from this ocean of books without help.

“The Elder mentioned something about a Grand Keeper, didn’t he?” Alex thought to himself.

As the thought crossed his mind, the bookshelves close to him started moving. Like a giant, interconnected mechanism, the bookshelves started to part in such a way as to create a circle around the space where Alex was located. Seeing these titanic bookshelves move by themselves captured his attention for a short while. As soon as the bookshelves stopped moving, a simple oaken desk appeared right in front of Alex. Seated at the desk was an elderly matron with a dignified expression on her face.

“Greetings. I am Sophia, the Grand Keeper of the Librarium, tasked by our Queen to assist any Legionnaire who might seek the wisdom hidden in this place.” the elderly woman, Sophia, spoke.

“Your name, Legionnaire?” Keeper Sophia asked Alex.

“Alex, ma'am,” he replied.

“Not your mortal name, Legionnaire. I meant the one you earned,” she added with a smirk.

“Farwalker.” Alex quickly corrected himself.

“Well then, Legionnaire Farwalker, how may I help you today?” Keeper Sophia asked expectantly.

“Elder Bellum said you would help me pick out a cultivation technique,” Alex replied in a hurry.

“Very well, any preference?” Keeper Sophia asked, and as soon as she did a giant tome appeared seemingly out of nowhere in front of her.

“I don’t know?” Alex replied hesitantly.

Previously, he at least had a nebulous idea about weapons and what each of them could and could not do. The matter of Cultivation Techniques was absolutely alien to him, and while he could have easily asked for something along the lines of the ‘the best’ or ‘the strongest’ when Keeper Sophia asked him about preferences, he was afraid of coming across as foolish or ignorant, which in this case, he was.

“Ah. You must be a recruit from the newly uplifted world; I see,” replied Keeper Sophia.

“Well then, what’s going to be your Focus?” Keeper Sophia asked.

As soon as the question hit Alex, confusion made its way onto his face and settled there. Seeing this, Keeper Sophia let a small sigh escape her before she spoke again.

“I swear, I’m going to have words with Bellum when I see him. Always dumping this on me,” she muttered under her breath before turning back to Alex.

“Listen carefully, because I don’t have a habit of repeating myself. While cultivation is vast beyond understanding, and the paths to power are plenty, all Cultivation Methods fall under three categories, or Focuses as most call them; Body Cultivation, Mind Cultivation, and Soul Cultivation,” she explained.

“I’m sure you can surmise what they mean by their names, as they aren’t all that cryptic,” she added.

“So you can only pick one Focus and have to specialize in it?” Alex asked.

“I see where you’re going with this. Picking a Focus doesn’t mean you don’t cultivate the other two aspects. It simply means your Primary Focus is going to be the cornerstone of your cultivation. Besides, it’s not like the three aspects are isolated from each other, quite the contrary; they’re intertwined.” the Keeper explained.

“Take a Body Cultivation Method for example; It may focus primarily on strengthening your fleshly body, but as a secondary effect, it will strengthen your Mind, while leaving your Soul slightly underdeveloped. Mind Cultivation focuses on improving your Mind with a secondary focus on your Soul, leaving your flesh slightly better than that of a mortal. And finally, Soul Cultivation’s main goal is to strengthen the Soul with a minor focus on the Bodily aspect at the cost of not cultivating your Mind faculties. It’s pretty easy to understand if you think about it like this; The soul begets the body, the body begets the mind, and the mind begets the soul. This way, depending on which cultivation technique you choose, you’re going to have a primary focus, which, in turn, will decide on your secondary and tertiary focuses.” she added.

Hearing the torrent of new information, Alex fell deep in thought. He could see himself picking any Focus, which is why before deciding, he decided to find out as much as he could.

“Are there no Cultivation Methods that develop more than one focus at once?” he asked with genuine interest.

As he voiced the question, the Keeper pursed her lips before answering Alex.

“There are, but they are extremely rare. Any faction with such a technique is generally considered a Greater Faction; any Clan or Guild would safeguard such a technique as the apple of their eye,” she answered Alex, seemingly implying something.

Deciding to prod her some more, Alex spoke again.

“I received the general impression that we were a Greater Faction. At least from Elder Bellum’s words.” Alex said expectantly.

As Alex spoke, a small smile covered the Keeper’s face as she replied.

“Indeed, we are,” she said with the same smile on her face.

“Does that mean-?” Alex was about to ask as the Keeper interrupted him.

“Yes,” she said curtly.

“How many?” asked Alex with an audible gulp.

“Four.” the Keeper replied, enjoying Alex’s amazement.

“Four Cultivation Methods that focus on more than one aspect. If what the Keeper said is true and they are as rare as she says, this is amazing.” Alex thought to himself before asking.

“Then what about all this? Why would you need so many normal Cultivation Methods when you have those other ones?” he asked waving his hand at the countless bookshelves towering over them.

“Oh, these are all various Cultivation Methods and other types of techniques the Legion pilfered over millennia of conflicts. Some of them have very unique properties and so we keep them just in case. At times someone from the Legion might be interested in studying them to advance their path, while sometimes we trade or sell them to other factions. But generally speaking, you’re right. Most of the Legion is practising one of those four techniques.” the Keeper answered Alex.

As soon as the Keeper answered, she opened the thick tome in front of her and wrote something with her finger, and as soon as she was done, closed it with a thud. As the tome closed, all the bookshelves around the two of them disappeared in an instant, leaving the oaken desk the only object left in the white space of the Librarium. After taking a moment to come to grips with the sudden change in surroundings, Alex took a look at the desk and noticed that now, four new manuals rested in front of the Keeper. Pointing at the new additions, the Keeper started to describe the Cultivation Methods in front of Alex.

“First we have the [Mandate of the Soul-Devouring Titan]. It is a peak Cultivation Technique with a Focus on the Body and Soul. It works by devouring the souls of your vanquished enemies to strengthen yourself, though it has a major drawback; The more you practice it, the more souls you will need to devour to advance, leading you to a pretty dark path. Practitioners of this technique are usually killed off pretty early since they have to slaughter ungodly amounts of cultivators to advance.” the Keeper said while pointing at the right-most manual.

“Then we have the [Majestic Duality of Life Sutra]. This one focuses on the absolute improvement of both Body and Mind. The ones who practice this method are an absolute powerhouse in any situation concerning combat. The indomitable body they cultivate allows them unimaginable feats of strength while their minds operate on a higher magnitude giving them an absolute edge in any conflict. The con for this one is the susceptibility to Soul based attacks, thus forcing the practitioner to have at least one soul-protecting treasure, though the Nightmare Companion somewhat mitigates this drawback. The majority of the Legion is cultivating this method.” she added, slowly pointing towards the next tome.

“Finally, we have the [Scriptures of the Omnissiah]; a Cultivation Method which entirely discards the bodily aspect of cultivation, focusing only on the Mind and Soul. The ones who practise this method have to discard their body by slowly replacing it with inorganic matter; usually in the form of artefacts, relics, and various other precious materials. In return, by focusing all their efforts on the Mind and Soul, they gain near prescient abilities of foresight and analysis. This method has one major drawback, or two if you mind losing your organic body. It takes an insane amount of divine stones to cultivate this method. The Legion acquired it from an old sage in dire need of divine stones that he needed to continue cultivating this technique.” she explained.

“Now, take your pick, and let’s get this over with,” she added.

Looking at the three manuals in front of him, Alex almost didn’t notice the fourth one on the left-most side from him. The last manual was visibly smaller and thinner than the rest, as well as having a damaged cover. Usually, he would choose one of the three methods the Keeper described; probably the [Majestic Duality of Life], but the way the Keeper glossed over the last manual irked something inside Alex’s consciousness as he asked.

“What about the last one?” he asked while pointing towards the shabby looking manual.

“I wouldn’t recommend it.” the Keeper replied curtly.

“With all due respect, Keeper, please let me be the one to decide that,” Alex added, starting to feel annoyance at the Keeper’s deflections.

“Ah, the idealism of youth, how predictable.” the Keeper replied with a sigh.

“The last one is the [Intrinsic Unity Art]. It is a cultivation method that cultivates all three aspects in an equal manner,” she explained.

“I assume it has major drawbacks if you were dissuading me even before explaining what it does,” Alex said.

“You assume correctly. First of all, because it combines all three aspects into one cultivation technique, the cultivation time increases respectively. It would take the most talented individuals about the same time to cultivate one stage of the [Intrinsic Unity Art] as the least talented individual practising one of the other three methods. Secondly, it stays true to its name; An intrinsic unity is a unity within a being itself. It controls all its actions from a single centre of activity. The parts act from a centre of unity rather than as related to one another, thus, the method melds the practitioner's Body, Mind, and Soul into, well, a unity. Why is this a drawback you might ask? That’s easy. Imagine that someone stabs your body; for anyone else, it would simply mean a physical wound. For you? A stab would wound your Body, Mind, and Soul all at once. Not only would it take a lot more time for you to recover from such a wound, but you would also have to do it alone, with no Healer’s Guild to assist you, since the intrinsic unity created inside you would reject any extrinsic force trying to change you in any way, shape, or form. And lastly, the greatest drawback of this method; the version the Legion possesses is incomplete, containing only instructions for advancing through the Mortal Step and Divine Initiation Stages. We stumbled on it a short while ago on an expedition to a pocket dimension belonging to a long-gone Ancient Faction.” the Keeper explained.

“Now you know, so make a wise choice,” she added curtly, seemingly tired from the previous interaction.

“She is right, there are many drawbacks. But there’s something about the last one that is so alluring it cannot be put into words.”

All his life, Alex settled. Settled for the beaten path, settled for conformity, settled for predictable, settled for mediocrity. But with this new chance given to him, he didn’t want to waste it by falling into the same bad habits he indulged in previously. This time, he would settle for nothing less than the best, even if that would make his path more arduous than that of the rest.

“I would like to pick the [Intrinsic Unity Art],” Alex said with confidence.

“You do realize what a gigantic mistake this is, don’t you? Your path will end at the peak of Divine Initiation unless you find the remaining tomes; that is if they even exist.” the Keeper tried to dissuade Alex again.

“I understand, but my decision remains unchanged,” Alex replied in a hurry, leaving himself no chance to change his mind at the last moment like he usually would.

With a sigh, the Keeper waved her hand, and the other three Cultivation Methods disappeared as if they were never there in the first place, leaving only the shabby manual containing the [Intrinsic Unity Art] inside.

Raising her head to look at Alex, the Keeper spoke.

“If that is your final decision, take out the Cultivation Method Token you received upon passing the Legion’s Trial,” she said.

After using his Weapon Token in exchange for the gauntlets he was wearing now, Alex still had two tokens left; one with the image of a scroll on it, and one with the humanoid silhouette. Not knowing which exactly was the Cultivation Method Token, he took out both of them.

Seeing the two tokens, the Keeper whistled slightly before speaking.

“Haha, standard issue for recruits is a Weapon Token and a Cultivation Method token. It seems you’ve made that old miser cough up an additional token somehow.” the Keeper said with a mischievous smile on her face while pointing at the token with a scroll inscribed on it.

Then she pointed to the token with the silhouette on it and with a flick of her finger forced it to travel from Alex’s hand into hers.

“Are you sure? Once I crush the token, there’s no going back,” she asked with finality.

“I am sure,” Alex instantly replied.

Then the Keeper crushed the black stone token into dark powder with her hand. The dust settled around the tome on the oaken desk, and the Keeper spoke.

“You know the drill, drop some blood,” she said.

As soon she spoke, Alex pressed the tip of the finger that already had a small wound from the bonding of the gauntlets and dropped some blood on the slightly charred cover of the manual.

Once his blood was thoroughly soaked into the paperlike material of the manual, Alex expected the dark dust to enter into it as it did to the gauntlets. What happened this time was slightly different; the dust seemed to disintegrate the tome wherever it touched its yellowed pages.

After the dust completely destroyed any physical remnant of the tome, it softly flew towards Alex’s head and entered it. Immediately, Alex could feel a torrent of new information being deposited into his very being. The whole process took no longer than a split second, but to Alex, it felt like hours on end. As he was done absorbing the contents of the manual, the Grand Keeper addressed him yet again while pointing at the token with a scroll engraved on it laying harmlessly on the table.

“Would you like to trade in that token while you’re at it?” she asked.

Taking a moment to gather himself, Alex replied with a question.

“What could I trade that token for?” Alex asked.

“That is a Technique Token. While all Cultivation Methods contain Techniques, not all Techniques are attached to a Cultivation Method.” the Keeper explained.

“Which technique could I exchange the token for?” he asked again.

“The tokens all recruits receive are issued by the Queen herself. The Queen’s tokens can be traded for absolutely any resource owned by the Legion; be it weapons, cultivation methods, or techniques. For example, if you did not have the Cultivation Method Token, it would take you two million contribution points to trade for one of the four multi-focus cultivation methods, which could take you hundreds of years to gather.” she explained.

Hearing the Keeper’s explanation, understanding dawned on Alex on just what an additional Queen’s token meant for him. He wondered if the extra token had something to do with the reward Elder Bellum was scheduled to receive from the 3rd Legion Commander.

Slightly more apprehensive after hearing of the great value of the token, he addressed the Keeper.

“I would like to defer to the wise Keeper’s judgment on what I should trade the last token for,” Alex said.

“Starry Sky above, now he decides to defer to my opinion!” she shouted with a great laugh escaping her while she shook her head.

“Fine, there aren’t all that many techniques compatible with the [Intrinsic Unity Art], most of them being martial arts techniques. This has to do with the unity you’re going to create by practising the Art; there’s something inherent in it that conflicts with most Techniques,” she explained.

As soon as she finished her explanation, she opened her giant tome once again, and with a swift motion, once again wrote something with her finger. As she closed the giant tome with another thud, a new manual appeared on the table before Alex.

“Considering the Cultivation Method you chose, you won’t be lacking in the Body Aspect at all, and I couldn’t help but notice that you were wearing a pair of gauntlets, which is why I recommend you trade the token for this,” the Keeper said while pointing at the blood-red book in front of her.

“Usually I would recommend a Technique focusing on the external application of the Divine Breath, but considering your newfound limitations, I’m forced to advise this unarmed martial arts tome; [Musings of Destruction].” the Keeper added.

“Why this one?” Alex asked, even though he already knew he’d take this one.

“No one knows who wrote the Musings, except that whoever it was, they were insanely strong. At their core, the Musings are a series of movements that can be interlinked in a never-ending dance of absolute destruction. Theoretically, depending on your needs, there exist sequences of movements that can provide you with the right tool for any job; single combat, one-against-many, facing an opponent bigger than you or smaller than you, stealthy assassination, or flashy bouts of carnage. You name it, the Musings contain them all.” the Keeper explained.

“But their real value is hidden elsewhere; their creator drew his inspiration from the Path of Destruction during their creation. Using the Musings will not only infuse every one of your attacks with the Aspect of Destruction, but it may also allow you to get a glimpse at the Aspect in the future,” she added.

“I’ll graciously accept the Keeper’s suggestion,” Alex quickly replied, his decision made long ago.

Following Alex’s reply, the Keeper crushed the last token into the familiar dark dust. Seeing that, Alex immediately let a few blood drops fall onto the blood-red book. As soon as the blood soaked into the Musings, the dark dust inertly floating around the book started to voraciously devour it. After not even a trace of the book could be observed, the dust once again rushed into Alex’s head, bringing with it a wave of new information; images upon images of punches, kicks, elbow and knee strikes, head strikes, footwork, and so much more.

The assimilation process of the Musings took a lesser toll on Alex’s mind. Alex was unsure whether it was because he was already accustomed to the feeling, having assimilated the [Intrinsic Unity Art] moments earlier, or whether the Musings were simply easier to digest due to their contents. Taking a quick moment to gather his new thoughts, he thanked the Keeper for her assistance.

“It’s my job, Legionnaire. I sincerely hope that my assistance today will help you survive your oncoming trials,” the Grand Keeper spoke.

With that said, the Keeper waved her hand, and the white space seemed to obey her silent command, immediately starting to stretch. Alex found himself getting further and further away from where the Keeper was standing until the white space suddenly turned black, and Alex found himself back in the Armoury, facing the giant black sphere on the altar. After a moment of collecting himself, he used a finger to pet Nova’s forehead that was resting around his neck as he spoke to her.

“I know you’re hungry. Just be patient for a short while, and once we’re back outside the outpost I’ll let you feed all you want,” he said cheerfully.

Hearing a hiss full of content in reply, he once again stroked her forehead and exited the Armoury.