“I am Instructor Thalia Ourelion and I will be your teacher in your studies on this subject. We will begin with basic knowledge.” The Magister said.

She snapped her fingers and holographic images appeared around her in the front and center of the academic amphitheater. The projections depicted all twelve of the Paths from Servi to Militares.

“When it comes to discussing the anatomies and physiologies of the subspecies, there are three relevant permutations and modifications to the Unpathed base human genome that existed before the gift of the gods. Our Preawakening base genomes and characteristics, the alterations that come to all the Paths as a result of our advancement in Metallic Ranks altering our Foundations, and our progression in our Paths. Though it is impossible to discuss Pathed anatomies without touching on the spiritual and arcane elements, we will be focusing on organic physical organs and tissues. We’ll begin with Preawakened formed bodies.” Instructor Ourelion said.

The projected light pictures switched to depictions of the twelve examples as child version of the previous adult images.

“Prior to activation of cultivation at thirteen and the gaining of Copper, the majority of the racial groups strongly resemble each other. Partly this is due to the proper onset of adolescence and puberty not yet occurring, but also because of the fact that the Paths do not differ that greatly from each other in absence of the physiologically mutagenic effects of cultivation.” She said.

There was some murmuring from the class at that. The idea that Imperators might not be that different from lesser, more servile genelines was disconcerting for the students when so much of the Dominium’s propaganda was based in emphasizing the differences between the groups.

The Magister ignored this. “Of course, this is only a surface view of the matter, genetically the twelve are reproductively incompatible with one another as well as the baseline humans before the Thaekyrian Empire exterminated our predecessors.”

I raised my hand.

“Yes.” She said, pointing with me. “Mr…”

Holographic light appeared above my desk that stated my name in bold block letters: ADRIAS LUCION. From my perspective it read reversed, a mirror image, but it would be clear to the teacher at the front of the classroom, several terraced rows down below me.

“Yes, Mr. Lucion?” The Magister finished her question, having learned my name from the system.

“How do demigods function then if the gods could have children with ordinary human mortals as well as cultivators?” I asked.

“The divine nature of godly blood is beyond the scope of this introductory class and such discussion is frowned upon to say the least by the Scholarium, but in the interest of awarding curiosity, I would say that it is a mistake to view the inheritance of a divine lineage as a wholly physical phenomenon. The twelve Olympians alongside all the innumerable deities and minor divinities of the natural world and the underworld are more power itself and distilled legend rather than mundane matter. The nucleotides adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine cannot fully express the majesty of godly ichor. The gods could have children with any of the Paths or ordinary humans because their genetics are contradictory and esoteric by nature. Is that an answer enough for you, Mr. Lucion?” Instructor Ourelion said to me.

“Yes, ma’am.” I replied.

“Now then, to get back on track. Physically, the subspecies are all very similar with some divergent outliers. The Servi are the least modified from baseline Unpathed humanity, with the exception of a flawed but active healing factor and a rigorous natural endurance as well as a psychological hyperfixation towards intense focus during menial and repetitive tasks.” The Magister said.

A girl raised her hand, her name appearing above her desk more rapidly than it had for mine. Perhaps the system had taken a bit to wake up or something about the female Imperator’s body language had triggered the desk’s sensors quicker than mine had activated.

“Yes, Miss Azhavion?” The teacher said.

“How is a Servus’s healing factor flawed?” The girl asked.

“Their regeneration is quick, but incomplete. It alleviates exhaustion and muscle soreness as well as minor injuries such as skin abrasions but is ineffective at fully repairing major injuries such as broken bones. It will heal partially to completion but stall out before reaching a climactic stage of recovery and rejuvenation. It provides for the bare minimum for Slaves to return to work but not enough to make them whole. The rest of the way must either be healed in the fullness of time, or more likely, linger perpetually with a lack of proper healthcare and nutrition as a result of their general poverty and economic misfortune.” The instructor said.

Personally, it was fascinating to hear the explanations for truths I had known as a Servus on Lavinius but had never really dived in and dissected rationally. I had just accepted it as a truth of the universe that Slaves would heal just enough to get back to work for their masters and social betters and no more. My former Path’s genetics seemed almost deviously devised by the gods to encourage long, exploitative hours in mundane labor while also denying them a strong enough healing factor to make them dangerous to Imperator dominion.

“The others are less distinguishable, a prepubescent Hetaira is unlikely to display the conventional beauty that characterizes their adult stages and child Militares are mostly normal save for commonly experiencing hyperactivity and aggression. The real standouts are Campeadors and Imperators. At twelve years of age, a Champion will usually have surpassed six feet of height, well on their way to their customary eight feet. Their musculature is comparable to that of an adult taking anabolic androgenic substances or performance enhancing alchemical elixirs and their bones, given sufficient nutrients like calcium, will be remarkably dense. A broken bone in a young Campeador’s body is virtually unheard of outside of deliberate malicious training.” She said.

I noticed the other students had gotten screens to appear on their raised desks and that they were taking notes. I tapped on the wooden desk, wondering on how images were displayed on the material, and a surface level monitor appeared. Perhaps miniature pixel lights were embedded in the wood grain? Or maybe it was another hologram, one that projected a millimeter above the desk so that it appeared to be mostly flush with it. Whatever the case, it showed a design reminiscent of a fingerprint on it. I pressed my thumb to it and it logged on to the Scholarium’s internal system for me. I quickly identified a note taking program and opened it, switching it to dark mode immediately. I added short descriptions of what the teacher had already said, along with some brief elaborating thoughts on my understanding of the concepts.

“The other standout in Preawakened forms and functions, as I mentioned, are the Imperator lines. Though Imperator children will not gain their identifying violet irises until Copper Rank, the marble skin tone is present since three years of age, sometimes two and a half depending on individual hormonal load and genetic sensitivity to the change. Rather than being a lack of melanin pigment as how most lighter shades of skin is produced by humanity, the stark white color is produced by the development of a protein in the cell walls of dermal tissue. This gives the uniform albinized color that harkens strongly to marble and alabaster statuary as well as the stiffness and firmness that gives Imperator skin its stonelike qualities.” The Magister said.

I rolled my wrist and pressed two fingers to my skin. Though it moved easily like normal flesh when my muscles moved it internally, outside force was resisted and I had to use enhanced strength to get it to depress under my fingers’ touch.

“Additional irregularities for the Emperor’s Path are the strong senses present in them, especially hearing and sight. This is partially due to stronger receptors and more responsive nerves, but also because of more active and developed sensory processing centers in the brain.” Instructor Ourelion said.

A boy raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Urielion?” She said.

“I did not have strong eyesight or hearing until Copper. At least I don’t remember it as such. Neither did my siblings.” He said.

“Irregularities exist, especially with genetic modification in oneself or one’s parents or recent ancestors altering early development.” She said.

The instructor snapped her fingers, and her motions triggered the holographic presentation to move on from the twelve variations of children to four images of a Servus man aging from boyhood to adulthood and progressing in Metallic Rank from Copper to Bronze to Silver to Gold.

“Preceding onwards from Preawakened children, the next modifier on cultivator anatomy is the progression of one’s natural Foundation, rather than Path which we will get to shortly. This segment is shared amongst all the Paths and has similar features that only begin to vary between the Paths and drastically diverge with the addition of hybridized DNA. The model on screen shows a Servus because this is the least “noisy” version of the Paths. At Copper, nothing has changed to the Foundation and all specific alterations are due to the Path side of things. At Bronze, all of the subspecies develop a new type of muscle fibers. At Silver Rank, strength and speed are dramatically increased while durability and healing only fractionally improve. It is easy for the lesser Paths to injure themselves at Silver through overexertion and doing things like striking an opponent with their full physical might. At this stage, it is still possible to bleed out.” Thalia Ourelion said.

I thought of how on Lavinius when I first found Livia how her cultivator gang and their rivals had had many Silvers dead from gunshot wounds.

“Finally, Golden Foundations continue the trend of strength and agility improving, though at an exponential rate compared to the more linear rate of Copper to Bronze and Bronze to Silver, but unlike Silver, Gold narrows the gap between your power and your ability to recover and sustain damage. A lesser path’s Golden form is usually comparable to an Copper Imperator’s, the height of lower subspecies just barely making parity with the lowest form of the Emperor’s Path.” The instructor said.

She snapped her fingers again and a colored picture of a femur bone appeared and then zoomed in on the microscopic scale of focus, revealing minute details to the class.

“A notable trait of Gold Foundations is their bones’ surprising resistance to Keenblade swords, knives and other bladed weapons like spears and hatchets. Gold bones have the so-called Antaean matrixes that make monoatomic edges of Keenblades unable to cut them like the swords can slice through a Servi Gold’s skin and muscle without the aid of molecular disruption fields.” Ourelion said.

I remembered thinking as such in the Red Sands arena, the concept and teachings taught to me by Gaias and the gladiators of the Brazen Chains ludus school. I added to my notes my personal experiences with how it felt to try to cut my enemies bones during training without fully powered swords.

“Despite a similar trait being present in First Rank Imperators, Coppers lack these Antaean matrixes in their bones and actually achieve this effect via your Path’s telekinetic strengthening and subconsciously generated psychic forcefields defending your skeletal structure.” The instructor said.

She snapped her fingers again to change to the next slide and the helix of DNA appeared and then was swarmed with arcane symbols and Advancement lightning flickering around it.

“The third and last permutation is the Path isolated element, one that involves a spiritual component substantially compared to Preawakening physiologies and Foundation progression. It is the most dramatic and potent of transformations, more an eruption of augmentation than an evolution of the body. It is here that Magisters like myself have our intellects and memories expanded and Imperators initiate their psychic and physical capabilities and Venators gain their speed and dexterity. Many technological advancements gave been furthered by studying the gifts of the gods.” The teacher said.

She signaled the next slide and it changed to muscle fibers that warped like a fourth dimensional object.

“Our Dominium’s spatial warping, expansion and folding tech was engineered by studying the natural spatial manipulation of Campeador muscle and bone cells which use the compacting and stretching of the fabric of space to pack additional mass into their cells, achieving impossible densities and hoarding veritable dragon hoards’ worth of organic resources with them. Our gravitational control was devised by observing how Venator Hunters alter their apparent weight to move even on snow without leaving a footstep and to leap great heights in a single bound. And our interstellar travel was made by investigations into how levitation was achieved by Imperator auto-telekinesis.” Instructor Ourelion said.

I hurriedly continued to add all this to the notepad application open on my desk.