Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"Another instance in which the title makes sense is that despite his many positive attributes, Apollo could also be temperamental and vengeful, especially when his pride was wounded or when he felt disrespected. He could be swift to punish those who offended him or his followers. Hence Victor's sharp tongue." Sakaki said.

"No one cares," Rain said.

"Anyway, did you learn anything about the enemies that we can use, Victor?" Sakaki said. "You should know the basics, right?"

"Naturally, don't take me for a fool," Victor said. "I was moved around for quite a while, so I absorbed a lot of their actions… I was only used for fighting a couple of times and by different people, but that helped as well. While I didn't have access to their database, I met the machine gods of energy and information. The first was the one called Arel, and the other was Rais.

Both of them have abilities that are impossible for beings of flesh and blood to understand."

According to Victor, Rais was able to obtain all the information on anything he touched immediately; even if it was data of thousands of years, it didn't matter. He was also the one who created the junkyard of the machine gods.

While he could just take the information of the things that they captured from other species and civilizations, he liked to store as much as possible that he got in his hands… that was why the group didn't recover their stuff. In any case, if he could access information that easily, transferring it should be easy… it was also part of their system, after all.

"Hmm, I have a bad feeling about this," Rain said after thinking for a second about the nature of the aspects of the universe.

"What do you mean?" Sakaki asked.

"I would rather not say this out loud and jinx the group," Rain said. "Anyway, we have some extra help, but what can this moron do?"

"You should have a general idea given what Loar showed," Sakaki said. "He can make arrows out of anything. "He can also charge the arrows with as much energy as you can infuse, of course. That is the gist of it."

"Pretty simple and dull for someone who is so full of himself," Rain shrugged. "Anyway, he should have some uses… what about the other?"

"Marie is slowly awakening, but her circumstances were vastly different, so it will take a while," Sakaki explained. "A few weeks by my calculations."

Rain was counting on obtaining more information from her, but it was hard to imagine that it would be that useful or something that would depress them. It was better than nothing, though.

After the talk was over, Rain sat down to meditate and then increased his stamina as much as possible. Using his energy like that and thinning himself out was quite annoying, but he endured. Since he kept his mind busy with something else, he forgot about it.

"Instead of waiting for them to show their skills, I should try to guess and plan for their techniques before they show them," Rain thought. "Creating paths with those kinds of abilities should help. The only paths that should be impossible to create with our knowledge now should be the time path, the void path, the spiritual path, and the probability path.. the other four should be relatively easy."

Rain couldn't help but think that he already had all the main skills regarding space magic, but even if he didn't have it, it was better to start with the other aspects and then try to obtain them… perhaps the matter aspect should be easy… he already can transform mana into nutrients that this body needed after all.

"I guess this should be a variation of earth magic and transmutation," Rain thought. "Still, if this is true, why would they need to mine for resources… it should be less time-consuming than mining and reforging the materials to just use energy. Then again, that would only be simple with mana."

After thinking for a while, Rain realized that countering space magic,, in theory,, was only possible with more energy being used… the machine gods would have the upper hand there, so he needed to be smarter… in all the other aspects; the same thing was true as well.

"Together they must be invincible… but alone…" Rain thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "Anyway, time to work on this."

Matterweave Path: The Matterweave Path is an arcane journey of elemental manipulation, where adept practitioners harness the raw essence of mana to transmute it into various materials, both organic and inorganic. This path offers versatility in crafting and combat, enabling practitioners to shape mana into tangible substances for a myriad of purposes. Wisdom + 100 per level.

Lvl 1: Mana Forge - Initiates the ability to shape mana into basic elemental substances such as fire, water, earth, and air, allowing for foundational material creation.

Lvl 5: Mana Infusion - Enhances the quality and durability of conjured materials, imbuing them with magical properties for heightened efficacy.

Lvl 10: Mana Alchemy - Mastery over the transmutation of mana into metals, enabling the creation of enchanted alloys with unique properties and strengths.

"You should have asked Sakaki to help with this," Elisabetha said.

"This is something that I could do on my own," Rain said while checking the path. "As expected, this is truly useful. Organizing knowledge into skills is the way to go."

Rain wanted to continue with that, but soon, they had another meeting to decide the next mission. Around half of the wounded people had recovered already since they had prepared for that kind of situation, so it was about time to take the next step…

"While I was waiting for your return, I was thinking about our operations and the results that they were showing," Sealyn said when the group reunited. "While obtaining small victories at a time seems like the safest of the choices. I can't help but think that the machine gods will either soon do something to stop us for good."