Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"We will negotiate with the planet that we are on. What do you say? Right now, you are completely unmatched against those enemies, but the current situation is a rare opportunity that you can use to decrease their forces. The other machine gods are busy, and this one fighting method is powerful, but it has some obvious exploitable weakness."

"How do you know that?" Rain furrowed his eyebrows.

"We became an experiment for them to transform an entire world into a weapon that could be controlled and used for their goals. While we were unable to fight against their orders, we were able to maintain some level of awareness to gather as much information as possible. The machine god Looks doesn't work with the others, and he rarely contacts the others as well.

We can't confirm that, but it seems that the machine gods are also competing against each other. They split up their functions and tasks necessary to achieve their goals, but nothing says that one day they won't try to man up each other in order to take control of all the other aspects."

Loks should be the name of the machine god of space… Rain wondered how the spirit of a planet would have discovered that when they basically can't do much besides staying in their territory, after all.

"What else can you tell me?" Rain asked. "Some more information will be enough as annoyance fees."

"There isn't much that we can tell, given that we only interacted with Loks. However, you should be able to tell some things at a glance after dealing with his powers and his nature."

From what Rain saw, Loks could use space magic at an unrivaled level, but he still had some preferences. For example, he couldn't use his aspect that well when he tried to compress more than one type of material at the same time… that probably made things a lot less efficient.

Aside from that… Now that Rain thought about it, hearing the spirit using the pronoun we seemed a bit weird. Was that because the spirit was essentially a gathering of the souls of that planet? Perhaps if Rain could access all the information about those souls, he would become insanely strong… he would get a nosebleed like no other, though, and this one might be way more serious than usual.

"Time is running out. While the flow of time is different here, it isn't completely standing still if compared to outside. You should know what we want. Revenge and the chance to start over at some point. Do you accept those terms?"

"I guess I don't have a choice… while I do have a secret technique against that asshole, I guess I need all the help I can get," Rain said after he crossed his arms. "Let's get this over with. I have the feeling that meeting others like you won't be easy and that they won't be that cooperative."

"We are thankful for your help. We will give you the power of our people and then give you the power of history when the time comes, and then the spirit of this planet will do the same. We are counting on you."

Frost Overlord's Path: The Frost Overlord's Path is a journey of absolute mastery over the frigid elements of ice and snow, granting the wielder unparalleled control over the frozen domain. Wisdom and Intelligence + 50 per level.

Level 1: Frost Mastery Harness the power of the frozen winds, increasing the potency of all ice-related abilities by 10% and decreasing their cost by ten points per level.. In snowy terrains, the mana cost of these abilities is halved further.

Level 5: Glacial Blade - Shape ice into a chilling blade, dealing additional damage to enemies and freezing them upon contact. Decreases the target's dexterity by fifty points per level. Cost: 100 mana.

Level 10: Frost Barrier - Summon a defensive shield crafted from ice, reducing incoming physical damage and bolstering resistance against magic attacks by fifty points per level. Cost: 100 mana.

In the next moment, Rain returned to the real world and his arm was messed up. After fighting with the machine god in that state, things remained the same until he went invisible and began to receive the power of the spirit of that planet, too.

Giant's Path: The Giant's Path is a journey of immense strength and endurance, focusing on the enhancement of health, mana, and stamina through formidable abilities that harness the power of giants. Strength and Vitality + 50 per level.

Level 1: Titan's Vigor - Draw upon the immense vitality of giants, gradually charging your health over time by a percentage according to the level of the skill and increasing your size, too.

Level 5: Mana Infusion - Channel the latent mana reserves within, replenishing and increasing maximum mana capacity. Increases your intelligence according to the amount of increased mana.

Level 10: Herculean Endurance - Forge unparalleled stamina, boosting maximum stamina and reducing fatigue. Increases your endurance according to the amount of increased stamina.

Thanks to the combination of those paths and all the mana of both spirits, Rain was able to harness a massive amount of power and become an ice giant. However, despite all that, he couldn't become as massive as the machine god who could slap planets to their oblivion with his hands. He had grown a lot, but a single finger of the enemy was still many times bigger than him.

"Is that it? With all the help that you received, is this all?"

Loks didn't look particularly amused by that… he even decided to wait and see what Rain would be able to do after transforming.

Rain ignored the machine god's words and then infused his mana on the ominous sword. The weapon began to expand while being covered by completely blue ice, and eventually, it became big enough for Rain to wield with his form.

"What is the look of using that much mana on me when the enemy isn't a dragon?" Elisabetha asked.

"You will see," Rain said.