Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

His name was Loar, and his tale showed another bleak picture of his species' struggle against the machine gods. He recounted how they had fought, refusing to yield to the forces that sought to subjugate them. Despite their best efforts, they were ultimately overwhelmed by the superior power of the machine gods.

Loar found himself as the lone survivor, his comrades fallen in battle or eradicated by the merciless onslaught of the machine gods. Or at least he assumed since he didn't find anyone else from his species in three thousand years.

Throughout his story, Loar expresses a deep sense of sorrow and regret for the loss of his kin. He mourned their deaths and lamented the futility of their resistance against such formidable adversaries. Despite his own survival, he harbored a sense of survivor's guilt, questioning why fate had spared him while condemning his brethren to oblivion.

Speaking of which, his black wings had turned white. So, it seemed that the machine gods corrupted him with their power to make him stronger.

"I didn't ask for your life story… I asked about the machine gods," Rain said.

"I never saw them; after being defeated, I lost consciousness, and then when I woke up, I slowly began to follow their orders," Loar said. "It was extremely hard at the beginning, but it became much harder after a while. I was summoned to fight some people like you when it was deemed necessary, and I defeated them. A few of them were spared when they caused a few problems against me."

"Even though they can produce the first dragons, they still look for other minions to use," Sakaki said. "That armored soldier and Loar are proof of that. While there are others like Hardt that become minions without being brainwashed."

Hardt was nearby, so he didn't like to hear that, but no one cared. Loar's explanation of the reason behind the machine gods' tactics sheds light on their strategic approach to recruitment and utilization of minions like himself.

While the first dragons served as formidable weapons of mass destruction, capable of decimating entire worlds and draining their resources, there existed a need for more specialized operatives to carry out specific tasks and missions.

Individuals like Loar, possessing unique abilities and skills, were deemed valuable assets by the machine gods. By keeping them alive and under their control, the machine gods could use their strengths and abilities to fulfill various roles and objectives as needed.

This approach allowed the machine gods to adapt to different situations and challenges, ensuring their continued dominance and power over the realms they sought to conquer.

Moreover, Loar emphasized that the process of keeping minions like himself alive and increasing their strength over time was a common strategy employed by those in positions of power.

By continuously bolstering the capabilities of their minions, the machine gods and other influential entities could maintain their control and influence, further solidifying their reign over the realms they wanted to subjugate.

"Where were you when you were fighting?" Rain asked.

"I don't know, I wasn't conscious. I was only awakened after being teleported right where the targets were," Loar explained.

That was bad… Rain was planning to attack the place where people like Loar were maintained; that would be a good step to decrease the power of the machine gods before they did anything too massive in scale.

"What are the chances of such a place having the other relics?" Elisabetha asked.

"Considering the data that we know of, the current location of the relics doesn't point them to have a large group of such guards… I guess we can call them the machine gods' champions," Sakaki said. "I suppose we can try to extract more data in the next attack, but we will have to make sure that the planet is destroyed and all of its mana is taken by us.

To be able to do that, we will have the power of the mana gems that Rain can produce."

"Forget about it," Rain said. "Everyone will have to learn how to produce their own. I won't make anything else on a large scale for everyone aside from the spectral weapons. I don't have time and energy for anything else."

The spectral weapons were the ones Rain was crafting for everyone, showing that he, indeed, didn't have time for additional tasks. Approximately one week had passed since their last mission, yet only around five thousand of these weapons had been produced.

This relatively low number was partly due to the limited time available for crafting, as well as the challenge of learning the skills required for such production.

The lords, acting as mana batteries, contributed to the creation of these spectral weapons, yet their assistance increased the rate of production by five hundred percent. Moreover, mastering the skills of the Gemini tribe, necessary for efficiently creating these gems, proved to be a formidable task.

Even Rain himself had not yet unlocked that particular path, showing the complexity and difficulty of acquiring these abilities or perhaps his lack of commitment to it…

"I guess there is only one thing to do…" Sakaki said. "To unlock that path, you need to craft perfect gems that will improve the power of all elements. You have to make each one of them in a short window of time and one after the other."

Gemini Path: The Gemini Path is a path exploration of gemcrafting and the manipulation of elemental energies. Those who explore this path become skilled Gemini artisans, wielding their mastery over gems with precision and finesse. Intelligence and wisdom +10 per level.

Level 1: Gemcraft Apprentice - Begin your journey into the art of gemcraft, gaining basic proficiency in shaping and enchanting gems. You gain a ten percent boost to craft gems with enhanced properties.

Level 5: Elemental Attunement - Develop an affinity for a particular element (Fire, Water, Earth, Air, or Lightning), enhancing the potency of gems imbued with that element by five percent per level.

…

"Hmm? Why did I unlock the path completely already?" Rain thought. "Is it because I used the gems a bunch of times already?"