Dem’s thoughts raced as he tried to wrap his head around this new information. What beastshit nonsense was this? Domination? Only an idiot would pick such a Path. They would have to constantly ‘Dominate’, to move forward. It would be like picking ‘Winning’ as a Path, you would only advance when you won, but if you couldn’t ‘win’ you would never advance. Problematically, you needed your Path to win at most things against other people. This was a problem with no solution. You couldn’t win until you advanced, and you couldn’t advance until you won. Small ‘wins’, just based on luck might help you out of the hole over time, but you’d be at a disadvantage for rotations or sequences potentially.

How could he ‘dominate’, who could he ‘dominate’? Ina and he could kill greater beasts, as they had done before, but he had felt no great surge of power when battling the apes, especially since Ina was doing most of the work. He did feeling a little strange after killing some of the lesser apes. The spark he had felt was probably from a sense of domination he felt from killing such weak lesser beasts. He had dominated his tiny portion of the battlefield. It wasn’t enough though, and he wasn’t a Classed Warrior, swinging an axe around, challenging all-comers. He couldn’t ‘dominate’ based on arms alone. He was too poor to ‘dominate’ economically, or in any way that could be bought with money. He could probably get Ina to toy with beasts, slaughtering or torturing them only on his command, but the cruelty would twist his Path in some worse direction. His conscience wouldn’t let him cause undue harm to advance his Path, anyway. He would fight those who attacked him, and hunt for food and gain, but he wouldn’t hurt unnecessarily. He was no scholar that he could ‘dominate’ some field of study intellectually. He liked books, but wasn’t a match, in terms of education, for most of the baker’s apprentices in the settlement.

What were other ways to Dominate? His mind skirted around one particularly embarrassing option, before finally considering it out of desperation. Could he.. dominate.. that way? He gulped, a bit of color rising to his cheeks. What was he even considering? He was no ‘man of flowers’ as the people of the Wilds called it. He was a virgin for Divinity’s sake. This possibility, at least explained his feelings towards Ina. As one’s Intent shapes their Path, the Path shapes the person. He instinctively tried to find a means of dominating, of advancing down his Path. Ina would be a particularly powerful choice because of her personal physical abilities compared to his. Path’s advanced more quickly and more powerfully, with conflict. Surviving a deadly encounter using one’s Path was worth more than simply using one’s Path every cycle. Dominating a powerful being, would also be worth more.

He needed some sort of out, some sort of loophole here.

“Is there any other Path I can take that will satisfy my Class?”

No.

Well that was swift and to the point. Normally, one could power one’s Class with most any Path related to the Class. The more compatible they were though, the faster you advanced, the more spells you could use before you were tired and the greater your reservoir of power. The more advanced your Path, the more advanced your Class could be. Some powerful Classes drew so deeply, to cast certain spells, that not just any Path would do. Advancing your Path was important.

It was like a lake. An advnaced Path was a like wide lake. A wide but shallow lake could be dipped into many times, but a deeper lake could have much larger amounts taken all at once. A person with a very advanced Path and a weak Class, was a shallow wide lake, only able to take lots of small dips out, but a person with an advanced Path and a powerful Class, would have a deep lake, that could have huge portions taken from it to power amazing spells.

“Why can’t I use another Path for my Class?”

Your Class allows but one Path.

You have been made compatible with that Path.

You must follow that path.

All of this sounded ominous. Bizarre and ominous. A Class that required only one Path. He had never heard of such a thing. Clearly the ‘improvements’ that been made to him were to further his compatibility with his Path. How could one be ‘improved’ to dominate? How could one have a Path forced on them at all? Would he suddenly feel the urge to fight every powerful person he saw? Would he want to.. ‘dominate’.. every woman he saw? Even men? This was a crazy price to pay for living.

Compelling a person to follow a Path they didn’t want was.. actually not all that rare now that he thought about it. Settlement children often didn’t get much say in what their future Class would be, which meant their Paths were limited in scope. Their parents decided based on what they could afford or pass down to them. It was expensive to live in the settlement, to buy land was a huge sum, and so most people rented. Parents worked hard under the constant threat of getting kicked out the settlement and having to move to the hamlets. The settlement did not harbor the homeless. “Space is limited”, was a constant refrain from the governing body of the settlement.

He threw another question at the cryptic book, “How can I advanced my Path, what are the ways in which I can Dominate?”

Your Path is best advanced through strength and violence, intellect and creativity, or charisma and control. The Path of Domination requires truly overwhelming performance to advance.

The first part was actually something he understood pretty well. He was human and had to ‘dominate’ in a human way, which limited him to a few well worn paths. The latter statement was more confusing. Maybe it was just telling him he had to do a really good job at this domination thing for it to matter. The Path itself was overbearing, and thus required overbearing actions to advance. You couldn’t dominate in a small way and expect much. For example, he couldn’t just steal candy from children, or start a fight with an old man, or beat some drunks at cards, and expect to advance.

He shook his head sadly. He was already committing petty crimes in his head to advance, he was truly in an absurd situation. He couldn’t do this. He had to stop. There wasn’t a solution here. He could get by with his current spells, and just fake being a Tamer for the time being. The Tower had spells for testing one’s Class, and even quantifying the advancement of one’s Path, but those were for adventurers and cost gold to use. He didn’t have to worry about anyone finding out unless they found the grimoire. It still seemed ‘dead’ to him, but he would leave it outside the settlement in any case. His eyes shifted to the direction he had come from. He needed to get back to Ina and apologize.

***

When Dem returned back to the campsite, Ina was finished eating, leaving little left for later. He supposed her new form required a lot of sustenance. She sat, clearly waiting for him to return, her shoulders a bit slumped.

He sent through the bond, “Ina. I want to apologize. My thoughts have been disordered lately, but I’ve figured some things about what happened to us.”

He explained about the grimoire, and a little about his Path, but he found he didn’t have the words to describe the specifics, or that he was currently stuck. She had a stake in his growth, just like he had a stake in her growth. If he couldn’t advance, he would forever be stuck with nothing more than mid-tier Tamer spells and whatever little he could cast from his new Class. Previously, he could have eventually bought a better grimoire for his Tamer class, or found a Beastmaster to apprentice with, but all of that was denied him now. His new Class would override virtually anything he would be able to afford judging by its strangeness.

Ina had listened quietly and patiently as he had stumbled through everything he could explain.

Finally, she spoke. “Dem, I do not understand what is wrong. We beastfolk follow the Paths we are given through our bloodlines. You have been given a Path, and must follow it. I will help you however I can.”

The last part gave him the shivers. She didn’t know what she was saying of course, she didn’t know what it would entail. She didn’t know that she was also his most convenient step forward. Guilt twisted his guts.

“Ina we better get going. I just wanted to say I was sorry.” He had to keep them moving, stopping caused him to ruminate too much.

“I don’t understand what you’re sorry for, Dem, but moving on is fine.” She replied.

“I am sorry for my thoughts about.. you.” His embarrassment was palatable.

She eyed him, “Which thoughts, Dem?”

Beastshit, he needed to change the subject.

He coughed, and quickly said, “Ina, we need to get going. I want to get home in another couple cycles at least. After that I have some work setup, if you don’t mind helping with it?”

She shifted her weight slightly, blinking at him. Thankfully, she allowed him to change subject.

“Will we hunt more during this work?” Her thoughts clearly bubbling up from her stomach.

“Of course, we’ll find lots of tasty things to eat and we’ll have some help.” He tried to sound convincing.

Ina was her own person now, he couldn’t command her around, not that he had before really, but still he needed to offer her something for her help. Little was freely given in the Wilds.

“I will help, Dem.”

“Thank you, Ina”