Alex leaned against the edge of his window, watching the bustling Lunar City pass beneath the cloudy dusk. It had been a couple hours since he'd chosen his first Supreme Path — Karma. And despite the surreal shift his life had taken, it felt oddly… manageable. No System, no divine cheat codes, no quests popping into his vision. Just the Soul Decree, and his own grit.
"Guess it's just me and the world now," he muttered, pulling up his Soul Decree.
[Soul Decree]
Name: Alex Edwards
Class: None
Path: Unrecognized
Stats: Unregistered
Realm: Body Barrier Peak (Initial)
No flashy titles. No status boosts.
He recalled something Lexy had said off-handedly — about how natives used cultivation manuals and mystical body techniques to guide their understanding of Paths. For example, the Stone Vein Technique helped warriors align their breath with the strength of the earth, nudging them toward the Destruction Path. Likewise, healers used the Vital Bloom Art, a technique that circulated spiritual energy to accelerate healing, often fostering their link to the Life Path.
So, contrary to what he'd thought at first, even the natives did comprehend Paths — they just didn't know it by that name. They weren't some lesser species of mortals destined to be background characters while Players with cheat codes hogged the spotlight. No, they were just playing a different game. The Players — or Travelers as the natives sometimes called them — harvested power from monsters and loot, which led to occasional breakthroughs. But true understanding? That required more than farming slimes.
He had no techniques, no cultivation method, no System. But that didn't mean he couldn't make progress.
He picked up a book on his desk, graciously gifted to him by Lexy, "Sages Words: A Cultivators Stage", no as much as it sounded like a sages inheritance, it wasn't, just some information about realms, which was still better than whatever he was working with.
1. Body Barrier Realm
The foundational stage of all cultivation. In this realm, one strengthens their body to endure the toll of spiritual progression. Bones are tempered, muscles refined, and organs hardened. Without completing this stage, one cannot hope to touch the deeper mysteries of the world. Whether through ancient tempering arts or blood-soaked combat, only those who surpass the Body Barrier may glimpse the first step onto their Path.
2. Path Genesis Realm (formerly Initial Path)
Here begins the journey into the unknown. Cultivators must choose a Path—be it Life, Death, Karma, or more—and begin to comprehend its truths. Understanding the concept forms the seed of that Path's unique Qi. Without comprehension, one cannot progress. It is less about control, more about perception. Only by aligning one's thoughts with the essence of the Path can they truly set foot upon it.
3. Minor Ascendance Realm (Changed)
Comprehension deepens. In this realm, the cultivator refines their Qi and expands their understanding, moving beyond the basics of their chosen Path. The connection between body and concept grows clearer, forming early techniques unique to the Path. Here, the cultivator begins to wield their power—not just feel it. The realm marks the first display of power beyond the mortal limit.
4. Path Refinement Realm
The body, soul, and Path begin to merge. In this realm, the cultivator actively polishes their understanding through trials, conflict, and meditation. Qi gains purity, and one's influence over the world becomes tangible. Manifestations of the Path can emerge, whether in vision or ability. This realm separates the dabblers from the dedicated, the wanderers from true cultivators.
5. Grand Embodiment Realm (Changed)
The cultivator no longer follows the Path—they embody it. Their Qi is potent, their understanding vast, and their presence alone can bend weaker wills. Each action carries the mark of their Path. They can shape their surroundings, manipulate energies, and forge personalized techniques. They do not walk the Path—they are it. Each step taken resonates with the laws of reality itself.
6. Sovereign Ascension Realm (Changed)
Only a handful reach this realm. Here, the cultivator becomes a Sovereign of their Path. Their will rivals fate, and their words may stir heaven and earth. Their Path is complete, yet always evolving. To fight them is to fight the concept they represent. They no longer cultivate—each moment lived deepens their dominion. These beings stand just below the gods, waiting to ascend further.
"Alright," Alex said to himself, tightening his worn boots. "Time to earn some karma."
He stepped into the city streets, coins jingling softly in his pouch. The first karmic bond was simple. A child no older than ten sat on the curb, holding a broken wooden toy in his hands and staring longingly at a food stall down the street.
Alex approached him and crouched beside him. "Hungry?"
The kid nodded, wide-eyed.
A few copper coins and a meat bun later, the boy's smile was worth it.
[+1 New Karmic Bond Formed]
"One down," Alex grinned.
The next few came easy. He donated to a small temple, helped a merchant haggle for better prices on spices, gave water to a thirsty guard, and stopped a runaway cart from colliding with a group of elderly women.
Each time:
[+1 New Karmic Bond Formed]
And each time, the faintest tug in his chest — like an invisible thread — reminded him this wasn't just a checklist. These were ties. Small connections he was weaving into the fabric of the world.
He was halfway through his goal when he turned a corner into an alley and saw a commotion. A group of thugs had surrounded a middle-aged man, clearly a merchant, judging by the fine embroidery on his sleeves and the overflowing pouch he clutched to his chest.
"C'mon, old man," one of them sneered. "Protection fee's overdue."
Alex sighed, rolling up his sleeves. "Seriously? You guys have clichés here too?"
They turned.
"Oh, another hero. Let's beat some sense into him first."
What followed was a brief, somewhat embarrassing scuffle in which Alex realized peak Body Barrier didn't mean 'invincible.' But a well-used Strength Clone, an accurate rock, and a comically placed banana peel later, the thugs were running.
[+1 Karmic Bond Formed]
[-1 Negative Karmic Bond Formed]
He blinked. "Wait, negative karma? They didn't even get my name."
Apparently, just having someone hate your guts also counted as a karmic tie. Which made sense. Karma wasn't about good or evil — it was about connection. Cause and effect. Action and consequence. A child he fed might dream of helping others. A thief he humiliated might one day seek revenge.
The more meaningful the interaction, the stronger the bond. Some karmic threads were weak, a flicker in the breeze. Others were thick, glowing cables, too intertwined to ignore. And sometimes, those threads changed the future.
He moved through the rest of the city, slowly stacking up his count. A beggar received a new cloak. A lost girl was guided home. A hungry dog shared his dried meat. Each one a thread.
It was near evening when he came across an elderly man struggling with a heavy cart loaded with grain sacks.
"Need a hand?"
The man looked up, sweat trickling down his temple. "You're not from here, are you?"
"New to the city," Alex admitted, grabbing one side of the cart.
They pushed it together up the slope toward the market.
"I used to be a Path Refiner once," the man said with a wheezy chuckle. "Back when my bones weren't made of glass."
"Cultivator?"
"Ha! Just a failed farmer who picked up some spirit crops. But I remember… the Paths speak in strange ways."
They set the cart down, and Alex stretched, cracking his back.
[+1 New Karmic Bond Formed]
And then —
His vision dimmed. Not darkness, but something behind the veil of the world.
When his sight returned, thousands of thin, glimmering threads stretched outward from him, crisscrossing the city. Some flickered faintly, others pulsed like veins of light. A few — just a few — shone bright red, thick as ropes.
[Supreme Path: Karma — Qi Manifestation Achieved]
[Supreme Path: Fate — Initiation Detected]
Alex's breath caught in his throat.
He could see it.
The web of Karma. The network of choices. The unseen weight everyone carried.
And Fate? That was something else.
Because as he gazed at the threads, some of them moved. Not pulled by him — but toward something else, some grand design he couldn't yet grasp.
He saw one thread — a thin silver one — twitch, then split. At the end of it, the child he had fed was now talking to a different merchant than before. And behind that merchant was a girl who caught his eye.
Connections. Ripples.
"So… that's Fate?" he whispered.
Not destiny. Not prophecy. But the echo of choice. The dance of cause and consequence. Fate wasn't a chain; it was a map. And now, he could read the first few lines.
"Why did the Soul Decree say Fate was initiated?" Alex muttered, brow furrowed. "I thought there was a one path limit for the first realm."
Perhaps, the reason his path wasn't unrecognizable wasn't because his Soul Decree was faulty, but that he wasn't even on the Invincible Path at all?
One path leads to another.
And sometimes, it chooses you before you choose it.
He exhaled, letting the glow of the strings fade from his vision.
"Why worry for nothing," he said, a crooked grin forming. "This is kinda cool."
Then he blinked at the alley he'd just walked through.
"…unless I just unlocked meta vision."
The alley was dim, bathed in the dusky gold of a sun too tired to shine brightly. Shadows clung to the broken crates and cracked walls like silent observers. Alex stepped forward cautiously, the crimson thread of karma leading him through the filth and silence like fate's personal leash.
His eyes landed on two figures—one standing tall, the other crouched down, arms clutched tightly around his stomach. The red thread pulsed, attached to the boy curled on the floor
Alex's breath hitched. "Liam?"
As he neared, the figure lifted his head. Watery brown eyes met Alex's. A single tear slid down his constipated looking face and struck the cobblestones with an almost deafening silence.
"Liam!" Alex called out, his voice sharp with alarm. Rage burned through his veins as he instinctively pivoted to the other figure—tall, unmoving, the assumed attacker.
He raised his hand to strike—
And stopped.
Cold blue eyes stared back at him, impassive and unreadable. A face like freshly carved jade, lips neither smirking nor scowling, simply… observing. Her presence was ice and silence, wrapped in beauty so surreal that even the air around her seemed to still. Her white hair draped smoothly down to her waist, cascading like a moonlit waterfall against the black, mage-like robe she wore—loose-fitting, elegant, and oddly suited to her still figure.
Alex froze mid-stride, blinking as if reality itself had just slapped him.
"Do you know nothing but to stare, fellow Daoist?" came the voice—soft, feminine, and as ethereal as wind chimes in a blizzard. Her lips hadn't moved, but the voice rang in his mind, cool and echoing.
He jerked back slightly, startled. "What—?!" he stammered, eyes darting between her and Liam.
Liam, still clutching his stomach,couldn't hold back anymore and burst into laughter . "Don't worry, she's always like this," he said with a laugh, forcing himself up. "She didn't do anything. I just… got light headed from laughing so much."
Alex gave him a deadpan look, then glanced once more at the girl—at Rose, as Liam introduced her.
"She's a wannabe poet," Liam said, grinning like an idiot, "and apparently really funny when she wants to be. Oh, and she's also an EX rank Talent."
The words echoed in Alex's ears like a divine hammer. EX Rank?
He straightened his posture instantly, suddenly hyper-aware of his wrinkled collar and the dirt on his sleeve. "Uh—I'm Alex," he said quickly, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Nice to meet you—formally, I guess." He extended a hand toward her.
She didn't take it.
Instead, her gaze sharpened, like frost forming over glass. Her arms remained by her side, sleeves flowing softly in the breeze.
Liam whispered from behind Alex, "She doesn't like touching people. Or being stared at."
Alex's extended hand retreated awkwardly. "Right. Sorry."
He stole a quick glance at her again. Her white hair practically glowed in the low light, and her porcelain skin seemed untouched by dust or dirt. Her black robe flowed like smoke, the folds resting against her frame in a way that made it hard not to look.
"…Not staring might be impossible," Alex muttered before he could stop himself.
The temperature seemed to drop by two degrees.
Liam jumped between them before a murder could be committed. "Okay! We're all friends here, let's not kill each other before dinner, alright?" He clapped both hands together. "Let's grab a bite. Talk, laugh, you know, not threaten each other with glacial eye contact."
Alex coughed, straightened up again, and nodded. "Food sounds good."
Rose didn't respond. She simply turned and walked ahead, leaving the two boys to follow in her silence.
"Why do all the EX Talents gotta be weird?" Alex muttered under his breath.
Liam shrugged with a grin. "Because being normal's boring."