“They… are Devas.” Varian whispered.
“Devas.”
“Deva-”
More and more students reached the same conclusion.
Devas were the mythical civilization before humans. With the advent of aura resurgence, on the eight planets of solar system, independent small worlds, similar to Dungeons appeared.
They were called Ruins. These ruins were the enduring legacies of Devas and were filled with special beasts, magical herbs, heavenly elixirs, and rare resources. Any Ruin was a treasure trove filled with traps.
Humans initially thought Ruin was the same as Dungeon, but only later realized that they belonged to different sources.
Ruins weren’t explored until the last century due to their difficulty level. But that exploration saved humanity.
“You’re right. Devas are the ones who sealed the aura. We don’t know why or even how.” He nodded.
The hologram changed to pictures of ancient structures of old earth. The pyramids. Then it zoomed in and highlighted on the “ankh” symbol common across the pyramids.
Another hologram popped next to it. It showed an independent world with its own ecosystem. It looked similar to Dungeon or Abyss, but the skies were blue and the whole world was much pristine and richer.
Different magic beasts, mythical style buildings, and a tall tower piercing into the sky.
The only thing common across all these structures was the ankh symbol.
“This is just one of the proofs. Most of the deva legacies in the normal world were destroyed. So our ancestors didn’t know that there was another civilization before them.” The professor swiped away the holograms and continued, “We only knew this because Ruins appeared after Blink.”
“What’s the implication of this finding?” He asked.
Varian answered, “We’re not alone. There are more races, civilizations across the universe. They are more advanced than us, both in Divine Paths and in technology. If we survive the Abyssals, we’ll eventually clash with a foe far stronger. Since even Devas perished, we humans must be tread with caution.”
The students shuddered. But the professor nodded with a smile and was about to praise him.
Just then, he recalled the info shared by his colleagues yesterday and refrained. He nodded and signalled for Varian to sit.
Varian didn’t care about his reaction, but was fascinated by the newfound knowledge.
“So where did this ghost ship go?” A student raised his hand and asked.
“We don’t know. No one was able to catch it. It just appeared and disappeared many times at random places and random times. But there’s a theory that it is related to the Abyssals. That was how they found the solar system.” He expressed his opinions and continued on with the history101.
Varian’s mind was not on the boring analysis of the history following blink. He read all that for his written test.
The class passed, and the cadets had their breakfast in 10 minutes.
Then they were free to pick their specialization classes. A Space Awakener could sit in the class of a Fire Awakener. Apparently, the goal was to increase the exposure.
In that sense, it was less of a military style and more of universities of old earth where anyone could attend any lecture without being registered in the course.
Varian picked the Body path specialization and reached the class.
Surprisingly, it was in a garden near the block. There were few seats arranged under the sunlight.
Only about near about 50 students were present.
Varian sat down in the back. The same scene repeated and everyone distanced themselves from him.
“…”
“I’m Akiho, level 6 Controller in Body Path.” A young woman with short hair appeared seemingly out of nowhere and introduced herself. She looked younger than she sounded and was petite.
But no one dared to underestimate her.
A Level 6 Body path awakener, either Enhanced or Controller, could crush a mountain with a punch.
Body Awakener (Level 1-3) —> Enhanced (Level 4-6)
Body Awakener (level 1-3) —> Controller (Level 4-6)
Reaching the peak of Level 3, a body awakener could become either an Enhanced or a Controller.
Varian only knew the basics, but didn’t know the details. This class was perfect for him.
“Let’s start with the basics.” Akiho snapped her fingers point up. The shock waves from the strength blasted the air and shot high into the sky.
Despite the shock waves aiming upward, everyone felt a huge force slap them in the chest and were almost knocked out.
Even though they didn’t underestimate her strength, only then did they understand how strong she truly was.
The woman in front of them was on the same level as an Abyss Duke. A humanoid monster.
“Since you all are just low level, we’ll only talk about level 4-6. What’s the difference between an Enhanced awakener and a Controller Awakener?” She smirked and questioned.
Varian didn’t bother to answer.
“Enhanced awakener has all their stats equally increased with each level. A controller has lower stats compared to an enhanced but they can increase any stat they wish, albeit one at a time.” A student answered.
Akiho nodded and said “To put it more intuitively, the peak of Level 3 Body Awakener is 100% Greater Human.
The first three levels are compared on this metric. So from first level to third level, a Body Awakener grows from 3% to 100%.
But in Level 4-6, there are two paths. Enhanced and Controllers. Level 6 peak Enhanced is taken as the base and we compare the stats of all Level 4-6 body awakeners with 100% Enhanced Human.”
The students nodded.
100% Enhanced Human was rumored to be the strength to smash the largest mountains of earth to pieces.
“So if you’re an Enhanced Awakener in your 4-6 levels, you grow from 5% to 100%. Everything is like a normal body awakener in level 1-3, except you’d way more powerful. But,” she gave a small pause and continued.
“If you’re a controller, your overall stats will be lower than an enhanced of the same level. But you can boost one stat at any time and surpass the enhanced in that one stat.”
Some students were confused.
Akiho shook her head and explained, “A newbie Level 4 Enhanced has 5% Enhanced Human stats. So all their stats: strength, endurance, healing etc are 5% of a peak level 6 Enhanced.”
“But a newbie Level 4 Controller has only 3% Enhanced human stats. However, they can raise any one stat by 3%. So they will have all stats at 3% and one at 6% compared to their enhanced counterpart, who has all stats at 5%.”
The confusion was cleared, and everyone nodded. But everyone was a little dissatisfied with Controller path.
“At Level 6 peak, Enhanced have 100% stats. Controllers have 90% Enhanced stats. But… they can raise any of their stat by 20%.”
Varian too thought Controllers were the weaker bunch, but now he changed his opinion.
Controllers were more versatile.
At their level, 110% Enhanced strength was much stronger than 100% Enhanced Strength since 10% of Enhanced strength was a large number.
Controllers also had the edge of raising any single stat at a time.
So, while escaping, they can increase their speed. While defending, they can increase their defense. While attacking, they can raise their strength.
Of course, Controllers were not without problems. All of their other stats were lower than an Enhanced.
They could run faster, but they wouldn’t have as much stamina as an Enhanced.
They could defend more by increasing their defense, but their attacks while defending would be weaker than an Enhanced.
Varian decided ‘This will perfectly fit me.’
He questioned, “How do I control my path choices upon entering Level 4?”
