Paths of power initializ.., p.1
Paths of Power: Initialization Book 1, page 1
Paths of Power
Initialization Book 1
Sean Barber
Copyright © 2022 Sean Barber
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 9781234567890
ISBN-10: 1477123456
Cover design by: A-P-Graphics
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309
Printed in the United States of America
This work wouldn’t have been a reality if it wasn’t for the loving support of friends, family and all my readers on Royalroad. A special thanks to my wife, Jessica Barber for supporting this endeavor. And my brother from another mother, Jesse Huff for being a sounding board and asking invaluable questions that helped me develop the System, and my sister from another mister Brailly Langer, one of my oldest friends and my introduction into the wonderful world of tabletop roleplaying games.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Disclaimer
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Character Sheets
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Chapter 1
“Yeah, I know. I’ll be home in about a day and a half,” John told his wife over the phone
“Where you at now?” she asked.
“Just passed that sublet place in southern Idaho a bit ago, not too much further to Utah,” I told her.
“You’re making good time; well, I’ve got to get back to making salads for the beardies. Krom and Alma are giving me the stink eye.” she said with a chuckle. “Love you.”
“Love you too, babe, talk to you later.”
“Bye”
“Bye”
Finally, I can get back to The Land, I thought while reaching over to hit play on my truck’s stereo. I had recently started re-listening to the series in anticipation of the 9th book coming out. It was a lovely day, the wind behaving, and thirty-five thousand pounds in the trailer as I worked my way back to Colorado for home time.
“Walking forward, Richter did not answer but instead moved until he stood directly in front of Sion. With the flat of his hand, Richter slapped him across the face. The sprite fell to the ground, and Richter fell on top of him, prepared to strike him again.”
As my audiobook started playing with Nick’s superb narration, I heard my dog on the passenger seat begin to whine. “Chill, girl, we will be stopping in about half an hour to let you out for a walk,” I told her, not even looking over. Her whining got louder; I could smell dog pee in the air. “C’mon girl, we are almost there,” I said as I looked over.
The poor dog looked terrified, tail tucked, ears laid flat against her skull, and ice blue eyes wide as saucers. She was shaking from snoot to tail. “What is it Rukia, it’s ok” I tried to soothe her as I looked back to the road. She let out a yelp, and then everything seemed to start to slow down. I glanced at my speed, my eyes seeming to take forever to move. I was still going 61mph on this flat stretch; before my eyes could drag themselves back to the road, everything froze.
A strange blue, semi-transparent box appeared in my vision. No fucking way, this can’t be happening. My mind immediately jumped to the literal thousands of hours’ worth of gamelit or litrpg audiobooks I listen to while being an OTR trucker or the countless books I read on my tablet when home or when parked.
Essence Threshold reached
Beginning System Initialization…
…..
…..
…..
Analyzing…
…..
…..
…..
What is Essence Threshold? What system? This seriously can’t be real. This doesn’t happen for real; they are just stories, something to geek out over and keep me sane while on the road.
Essence Quality: Low
Essence Nature: Chaotic
Sapient Population Levels: Critical
Technology Compatibility: Low
Progression Compatibility: Varied
Population critical? Fuck, fuck fuck fuck, this isn’t just any litrpg; it’s a fucking system apocalypse. Technology compatibility? Yeah! This is a bloody apocalypse. Everything is going to shut down or blow the fuck up. Shit. I’m going to fucking die. I’m going over sixty miles per hour with over thirty-five tons behind me. Will the breaks still work? Gods, I hope the brakes still work.
Processing…
Processing…
Accessing cultural history…
Processing…
Processing…
Accessing Global Knowledge Database…
Processing…
Processing…
Divine entities selected
Arcane system selected
Personal Cultivation selected
Flora mutation initialized
Fauna mutation initialized
Monster spawn initialized
System Initialization Stage 1 Initialized
Congratulations!
Congratulations Sapients, after nearly 3.7 billion years, earth has finally reached the Essence threshold and Can now begin the System Initialization.
Due to the lower than expected Essence Density generated by the Sapients on this planet, your population had to reach a critical mass before triggering the Initialization. With a population density so high, a self-extinction event was barely averted. Do not worry, sapient. The System Initialization event will reduce your population sufficiently to avoid the extinction of your species.
After careful analysis, it has been determined that your species, with widely differing cultures, beliefs, and individual proclivities, will have a choice in the Path of Power available to you. Three Paths of Power have been selected; these paths have the highest chance for optimal growth for the most significant number of your populations.
CHOOSE YOUR PATH OF POWER
Path of Mana
Path of Ki
Path of Faith
Ok, ok, I need to think this through. Time seems frozen, though I’m able to think still…, focus. Ok, my truck is still moving; technically, I think it’s safe to assume that the world will come crashing back once I make my choice, possibly with my truck not running.
Fuck, I’m still seven hundred miles from home, my wife and son are there, and I need to be able to get back to them. Fuck what did the early message say? Flora and fauna mutations? Great mutant plants and animals probably all want to eat my ass, and not in a fun way. Monsters spawning, too, even better.
Ok. Think, think, Path of mana? Mana is tied to mages, casters. They are usually glass cannons, a lot of damage, but squishy. Without a group, it’s likely to get killed, might torch a few monsters, but if they have a pack, I’ll be toast. Of course, I might be toast regardless.
Path of Ki, it mentioned personal cultivation. I’ve read enough cultivation books; if it works like them, get many physical bonuses, Ki hits hard and can take a hit, but it takes forever to grow in power.
Faith… fuck faith, too many people pushing their bullshit beliefs on others, but it said divine entities selected… the gods will be real… still, nope if they are anything like the gods of old, they will be finicky bastards.
Glass cannons or slow grind… if I start with Ki, I might be able to walk away from a crash if I can’t get this truck stopped. How long would it take to get home on foot? If I can cover at least twenty miles a day… shit, it’s over a month. Maybe I can find a bike, might get there quicker.
If I can survive long enough and learn quickly enough, I might shorten that by quite a bit. I hope my son will be safe till I get home.
You have chosen the Path of Ki
A searing pain coursed through my body. I tried to cry out from the agony, but time still seemed to be frozen. First, a hot pool of molten searing pain appeared in my gut, then spread through my limbs, up my spine, and exploded in my brain.
For what seemed like an eternity, the searing agony coursed through my veins, leaving me begging in my mind to die or at least pass out.
Slowly, the pain seemed to ease away, leaving much gentler warmth in my gut.
Path of Ki has been implemented. Lower, Middle, and Upper Danti
Congratulations, the establishment of your starting cultivation has repaired any deformities, injuries, or physical flaws.
The initial deposit of Ki is consumed in the body restructuring process.
Congratulations, Sapients on your planet have been granted 1 minor perk. This addition has been determined as necessary for the optimum number of Sapient Survivors in your world. Use this Perk wisely.
Ugh, why did that have to hurt so damn much? Huh? I get a perk. Even a minor one should help me to survive.
Available perk choices are determined by analyzing the sapient receiving the perk, their surroundings, and the Path of Power chosen. Your available perk options are as follows.
Soul bound weapon: turn a weapon of your choice into a soul bound weapon. Soul-bound weapons cannon be lost or stolen unless the owner dies. Must choose a weapon on or near your person at the time of selecting this perk.
Convert beast to bonded spirit beast: change your pet or another nearby mundane animal into a spirit beast. Spirit beasts are animals capable of cultivating similarly, though not identical, as a sapient cultivator. This beast will be bonded to its master and will increase in size and strength as they grow its cultivation.
Random Minor Cultivation Artifact: will receive a cultivation artifact empowered with a minor Ki ability. This artifact is not soul-bound to you and may be lost or stolen. Minor Ki artifacts often require the user to imbue their own Ki into it to trigger its effect.
A soul-bound weapon sounds pretty cool. It’s Always good to be armed in one of these apocalypse stories. But I have to choose a weapon I have on me or nearby… what do I have that would count? I have my small food prep knife, a couple pocket knives, my tire thumper that’s basically just a foot and a half piece of wood, and my bolt cutters. None of those really call out to me as soul-bound weapon material.
Convert beast? Do they mean my dog? Shit Rukia, is she going to mutate? She was so scared before this window popped up. Will she survive without me, or even with me? It says I can turn her into a spirit beast; she would grow stronger like I will if we survive long enough.
Random artifact, minor? Could get something useful like a flask of unending water or a ring that shoots fire, or I could get something useless, like changing my hair color or paints my nails. Random just isn’t for me. I’d rather my dog get the best chance to survive than risk gambling.
You have chosen “Convert beast to bonded spirit beast” Target: Rukia Husky/American Eskimo dog. Conversion initialized. ..
…
Conversion Complete, you may view your bonded spirit beast’s Status under the companion tab on your interface.
Good luck, Sapient. You are going to need it.
Chapter 2
The world sped back up in a lurch. Rukia let out a whimper next to me as my engine shuddered. The board flashed red with just about every indicator it had, the auto shifter shifted to neutral, and all power was lost. Suddenly I felt every pound of the tractor and trailer in my steering wheel. I gripped the wheel firmly, checking my mirrors quickly as I tried to gradually steer the truck to the shoulder. I gently applied the brakes, hoping fervently that they would still work.
I heard the hiss of the air brakes as my speed started to reduce. I kept applying firm, but not too hard, pressure to the breaks as I continued to shed speed while I felt the rumble strips under my right tires. It took me about a mile to gradually come to a complete stop on the side of Highway 84 in the middle of nowhere Idaho.
After setting the air breaks, so we don’t roll, I took a deep released breath. I looked over at Rukia; seeing her in a sad state, I reached over and scratched her behind her ears. She scrambled over to me and started licking me to death, the fear and anxiety in her working itself out.
“It’s ok, girl, everything is going to be ok,” I said, trying to soothe her. Of course, I only hoped that it would be and that I wasn’t lying through my teeth.
I picked up my phone in the vain hope that it would be functional, but of course, it wasn’t. How could I be living through such a damned cliché like this? I checked my Qualcomm, but it was completely dead. No means to communicate whatsoever. Looking out the windows, everything still seemed normal. The highway is clear for miles before and behind me. Maybe landlines still work? I thought, though doubting it was accurate at the same time. It’s the same in every system apocalypse book I ever read, tech stops working; billions die, and somehow magic works.
I pulled down my atlas book, so glad I kept old school navigation tools on my truck, just in case my GPS went out, and I didn’t have a signal on my phone.
I flipped over to the Idaho page and started figuring out where the next closest town or rest stop was.
“Looks like we are about ten miles to the rest stop girl, about twenty-five miles to Snowville Utah… and almost seven hundred miles from home.” I sighed. I close my eyes for a moment, just trying to process everything and center myself.
As I took a deep breath, the air felt thicker than usual, kind of how in the Florida panhandle, the air is heavy with moisture. It’s like soup in your lungs when you breathe deeply, just without the sulfurous swamp smell to it. But I’m up in the higher elevations in dry as fuck Idaho air. So I continued drawing the heavy air deep into my lungs, exhaling slowly.
Congratulations Sapient
You have drawn in essence for the first time. A one-time tutorial will now begin on the nature and practice of cultivation
A video began playing in my mind of a crudely drawn person sat with its legs crossed, and a dull monotone voice spoke. “As a cultivator, you draw in essence from the air through your lungs,” the image of a man exaggeratedly inhaled with blue arrows going into his mouth and down into cartoonish-looking lungs.
“As you breathe in deeply, pulling the air deep to the bottom of your lungs, you send the essence past your lungs and pull it into your lower Dantian.” Tiny blue dots of light drifted past the lungs and into a circle drawn in the image’s lower belly.
“Once you have enough essence in your Lower Dantian. You can begin to compress and convert the essence into your Ki” all the little blue lights converged in the middle of the circle and flashed from blue to a golden yellow color; most of the lights were gone, only a couple golden lights remaining.
“Due to the poor quality of essence found in your world, it takes approximately ten points of essence to make one point of Ki. Your Ki is central to your abilities as a cultivator, and you must…Cultivate… your Ki to become stronger” I swear, even though the voice was emotionless, it tried to be funny when pausing before and after saying Cultivate.
“Once you have converted enough Ki, approximately fifty points worth, you will need to force your Ki into one of your eight body Meridians.” Then, the image changed, showing a mass of lines, twisting around themselves and throughout the whole body, all beginning and ending at the circle. Each light lit up quickly, one after the other, too soon for me to really understand which line went where.
“Each meridian opened will consume a large quantity of Ki, but do not worry, that Ki will go to cleansing your meridians of any toxins or impurities in the systems they are tied to, reinforcing and strengthening your body section by section. You will become stronger, faster, and more healthy as you progress, eventually leaving behind your previous limitations. Master yourself, and you can master the world around you.” The image faded to black, the voice drifting away as it finished.
Ok, that was a weird experience. They could have animated it with better graphics, though. So breathe in essence, compress it till you get Ki, then use Ki to open Meridians. Simple enough to understand, though it’s probably more complicated in practice. There is a reason it takes forever to progress through the ranks in some Xianxia novel unless you’re some Isekai protagonist that gets a cheat skill or item to boost his powers. So while I was still relatively safe in my truck, I decided to give the cultivation thing a shot and see what it’s all about.
