"Tell me how one can create their own unique pathway."

Vaela's voice rang out, and Anthropologist couldn't help but pause, watching wide-eyed the cold, murderous eyes of the Seer.

"What?" He blurted out, his mind still processing the unexpected question.

"You heard me well, Anthropologist." Vaela said, wiping the blood from her nose with the back of her right hand. "A god is meddling with my — our — affair. I don't need to tell you the danger behind such a thing."

"I know." Anthropologist answered tightly, now calmer even though the frown on his rocky face deepened further. "I know well how the actions of gods can make a feast of crows on mortal lands. But, Seer, that doesn't mean it's a good choice to seek a divine pathway."

The Crimson Seer pressed her hands against the flat, cold ground and propelled herself up. The action caused some of her bones to crack audibly, due to the days she had spent without moving.

Stretching her body, she turned once more to face Anthropologist.

His face was like stone at that instant. Vaela was inwardly surprised, considering she had never seen such a serious expression on him.

"A good choice, you say," she said, a cold chuckle escaping her lips, "but sometimes, Anthropologist, there is no other choice except the bad ones. You know it better than I do. You are the knower of histories past. Not me."

"That's exactly why I am telling you," the man lightly shook his head, "that we can find another—!"

"There is no other solution." Vaela's voice was cold and carried a tone of finality.

The crimson stars in her eyes twinkled, shining so brightly the world around was tainted in shades of crimson.

"If not today," she began, "then tomorrow, or even the day after. I will not stay in the Epithet Realm forever, Anthropologist. Doing that, with the Harvester growing stronger so fast, his enemies multiplying, would mean only death for me and all of you."

Anthropologist slowly ducked his head, his jaw visibly clenching, knowing full well the truth behind her words.

Yet he couldn't accept Vaela's choice.

She didn't know, but he did. Oh, he unfortunately did.

Anyone who dared to create a Divinity Pathway without having at least a couple of gods behind their back had died while constantly worrying about how and where death would come.

The gods were merciless. And there was no one as relentless as they were.

Another pathway meant a new link in the structure of the worlds and beyond. A ladder, in a sense, to the Top.

And sometimes — if not most of the time — those ladders would encroach upon the Warrens of other gods, weakening their dominion over their own Divine Concepts.

No one would accept that.

And the path of the Seer, no matter its type or variance, already had a god standing over it.

"The Harvester," Anthropologist finally said, making Vaela stare more intently at him. "In a few years, the Harvester will need to create his own pathway."

"Wait for him." He said, his eyes resolute. "Wait for his path, so that you can follow it."

"And why?" Vaela asked, her eyes narrowing.

"The gods will hunt you, Seer. That is why." Anthropologist said firmly, his voice almost angry. "And believe me, more than anyone, I know your capabilities. But there is a far greater chance of you dying if you attempt such a thing than there is for The Harvester."

He paused, watching her.

"You know it better than I do." His voice lowered. "His Destiny is far stronger. Killing him is no easy feat. But I cannot say the same about you."

A tense, almost claustrophobic silence settled between the two of them. It was so chokingly quiet that one could hear the faint, distant steps of children.

Their eyes were locked together.

And if the words of Anthropologist hurt her in any way, Vaela let none of it show on her face.

Her gaze was as steady as an immovable mountain. And the longer Anthropologist looked into her eyes, the more his dread rose to a fever pitch.

"Please—!"

"An order." Vaela cut him off coldly. "Now, Anthropologist, I am ordering you. I demand an answer from you."

She paused, her eyes narrowing.

"Will you disobey me?"

Anthropologist fell immediately silent, his body subtly shaking. At that instant, Vaela had transmuted the nature of their relationship.

It was no longer two comrades who had come to appreciate and respect each other over time.

But a leader and a subordinate.

That cold relationship where nothing existed between them except the order and the acknowledgment of that order.

So Anthropologist hid his fears and all his apprehensions behind the stony wall of his chest, then parted his mouth:

"As you will." He said, his voice almost robotic.

Vaela said and did nothing. She only watched him, waiting for the answer to her question, her body spilling an intimidating aura.

Exhaling through his nose, Anthropologist began,

"At the Epithet rank, you obtain a title, and with it, an aspect." He said. "That is something you already know."

He paused briefly. Then continued,

"But after that, to step into the Elderling rank, you will need a Divinity Pathway to follow. For you will take a concept within that Divinity and reach an understanding of fifteen parts of it out of hundreds to become an Elderling."

Vaela subtly nodded, her eyes holding a faint, pensive light.

"Why is a pathway needed?" She asked, curious.

"A pathway is merely a way to reach the Top." He said. "It's a path already built by someone else, so the only thing you need is to walk upon it, drawing not only your own power, but also the power of the god governing it."

"But if the question is whether it's truly needed…" Anthropologist paused, then sighed as if resigned, "It's not. As I said, it's only a pathway. You can refuse to walk it and instead create your own, similar to them."

"And certain beings have their own Way to reach the Top."

"What kind of beings?"

"The Primordials. The Wonders…" He stopped there, unwilling to say more than necessary. "They are beings with their own unique Ways of transcendence."

The Seer listened calmly, yet intensely, to Anthropologist's words. She began to walk around the room, her footsteps soft, though the subtle restlessness in them was unmistakable.

"I understand." Vaela whispered. "And all of this leads us back to my first question."

Without stopping her steps, she asked it again:

"How can I create my own Divinity Pathway?"

Her question was met with a struggling silence. But Vaela did not rush him. She simply walked, waiting.

Anthropologist's reluctance to say anything more than he already had was evident in his body language. He wanted none of this, yet knew he could not go against Vaela's order.

If not for her, he didn't wish to invite any kind of trouble with The Harvester.

So, sighing softly, he answered while dragging a stressed hand down his face,

"A Divinity Pathway must be recognized by the world, and by everything inside and outside of it." He began. "You not only need to choose your own unique Concept to ascend into Divinity, but you also need the materials to do so."

Here, Vaela halted, pivoted, and stared at him.

"How?" She asked.

"There is only one way." Anthropologist said, his voice suddenly grave.

"And it is to reach the World Navel and take the test given once you arrive there. And before you ask, the World Navel can only be reached in one way."

He stopped, licked his dry lips briefly, then…

"And that is by succeeding in the Gambit. Meaning…"

He paused once more, then vomited out the rest of the sentence,

"By Death without Death."

—End of Chapter 396—

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