Chapitre 34: Choosing a Cultivation Path

Arthur was so immersed and focused on making his Astral Energy run through his Astral Veins that he didn't notice his body's reactions to his mother's touch until it was too late.

Aria's surprised scream wakes him up to reality, one in which he is showing such a dirty side to his sacred and beloved mother.

"Mom?!?!" He quickly tries to get up and calm his happiness by force.

But Aria acts first, due to the shock, making a bag of ice appear in her hand and then placing it on top of that tall tent.

'Damn!!!' Arthur feels the cold from those ices calming him down quickly. And he looks at Aria with a sorry expression.

She sighs with relief when the tent lowers and casts an embarrassed look at him. "You can't scare your Mommy like that, Arthur!"

Arthur feels guilty, but the embarrassed expression on his mother's face makes her look even more beautiful, and he ends up smiling.

"You shouldn't laugh at this!" She tries to look upset, but her smile is kind and loving.

"Hahahaha!" Arthur laughs so hard because he feels very happy getting stronger with his perfect mother.

"Oh my~" Aria's smile gets brighter and more radiant, and she ends up laughing too.

Arthur tries to focus again and stops laughing. "Ahem... sorry, Mom; I think I got too excited."

"I know, right?" She shakes her head and keeps the ice bag on the towel around his waist. "You better behave now."

"Yeah," He closes his eyes and focuses back on his Astral Energy.

Aria looks at the oil bottle in her hand and quickly puts it away. "I better leave this for later..."

So she puts her open hand on his stomach, just above his heart-shaped Nexus. "Push your Astral Energy as much as you can."

He does as she says and tries to force his internal energies, focusing on the Convergence point of his Astral Veins.

And after a few seconds, he starts to feel the energies running inside his body.

"That's it," Aria exclaims excitedly. "You're getting it; just keep focusing."

Arthur keeps following his mother's instructions while she keeps her hand on his stomach, her fingers glowing with magical blue light.

"Hmm..." Aria closes her eyes and uses her magic to feel the power of the Lineage within Arthur's blood as his Astral Energy runs through his Astral Veins.

"I can feel it... hmmm... how interesting!" She exclaims.

"What is it?" Arthur asks, curious.

"Keep focusing!" She tells him, and he does so.

"Hmm..." Aria continues to make curious sounds and comments that Arthur does not understand for several minutes until he gets exhausted.

"I can't do it anymore..." He says with a heavy breath, his whole body sweaty and tired.

Aria takes her hand off his stomach and looks at him with a proud expression. "You did great, my dear! Now take a shower; we'll continue afterward."

Arthur goes back to the shower, and Aria picks up a large book with an 'A' on the cover inside a heart-shaped circle.

She summons a magic feather and begins to write her thoughts in the book, which already has a lot of content.

After a few minutes, Arthur comes out of the bath and sees his mother writing in that book with an excited and curious glow in her eyes.

"Is this about me?" He asks.

"Mm!" She nods and looks at him with those big, bright eyes. "I've been writing here everything about your development since you were a little baby."

"I see," He also becomes curious. "You seem to have discovered something interesting; what is it?"

"It's about your Lineage," She responds and begins to explain.

She says that when a person has two parents with Lineages better than Common, they can be born with inheritances from both Lineages.

Such people are not born with those inheritances balanced; they always have one stronger inheritance in their bodies, whether it's from their mother or father.

Although there are cultivation techniques that allow people to refine any of their inheritances, the most efficient is to focus on just one to get stronger faster.

And it is these Lineage inheritances that determine people's potential; that is, an inheritance that favors magic is better for Mages, while an inheritance that brings benefits mainly to the Astral Veins and the physical is better for forming powerful Warriors.

But of course, there are also people who choose the more difficult path: using much rarer techniques to develop the power of both Lineages.

That's why there are the Mystic Warriors, people who strengthen both their Astral Veins and the ability to use magic.

Upon hearing that, Arthur couldn't help but become curious about his Lineages. "Was I born with Draven's Lineage stronger in my body?"

"Initially, yes," Aria responds and then flips through the book in her hands to the first pages. "You were born with a greater affinity with the Draven's Lineage; that's why I thought your potential to be a Warrior would be better than a Mage."

Aria also makes a sad and regretful expression. "Draven was so happy with his perfect little boy... I guess I wanted him to love you as much as I do, so it seemed right."

Arthur still can't hate his father, and he doesn't even want it; the feeling is more like pity because Draven had a perfect family, the most beautiful woman in the world, and screwed it all up.

And even though he's grateful for his father's powerful Lineage, now he's more interested in his mother's Lineage.

"Has anything changed since that time?" He asks.

Aria makes a thoughtful expression. "After you turned five, your affinity with Draven's Lineage inheritance increased; you seemed indeed destined to be a powerful Warrior with a light affinity..."

"But now, I think since last night, your affinity with that inheritance has dropped a lot, and the inheritance of my Lineage seems to rise inside you."

"Really?" Arthur is confused.

Aria also seems quite confused as she tries to find a rational explanation for that. "I don't understand... you didn't use any technique that involved either of these inheritances; you just trained your martial arts with your father..."

"What else can influence these lineages?" He asks.

"Magical items, treasures, techniques... emotions and even mentality... is that it?" She seems to have come to a conclusion and looks at him.

"I think I got it," Aria thinks out loud. "When you started to access Liam's memories, you tried to hide the shadows inside your heart, contain your nature... it gave power to Draven's inheritance since it has a light affinity..."

"Did I do that without realizing it?" Arthur asks and quickly becomes curious about something. "So does that mean your inheritance has a dark affinity?"

"In part, yes," Aria nods. "I also have two powerful inheritances; my mother's is arcane, which allowed me to reach the Great Mage rank without difficulties..."

She pauses, and Arthur can see anger and sadness in her eyes for a second.

"But my father's inheritance is completely dark," She explains. "I never did anything to increase my affinity with it, but such inheritance is within my Lineage, and probably it was passed on to you as well, along with my arcane inheritance."

Arthur needs a few seconds to think; reading about such things in Aria's books is very different from understanding and feeling it inside his body.

"So I always had more affinity with Draven's light inheritance, but now, my affinity with your... dark-arcane inheritance? It's increasing because..."

"You accepted your dark side to kill those bandits," Aria completes Arthur's thought. "Your mentality and emotions are powerful enough to directly affect your Lineage inheritances."

Arthur can see that his mother is impressed with him, but he still doesn't fully understand that. "Is this a good thing?"

"Yeah," Aria nods. "I've never seen anyone influence their inheritances so easily. If you can control it, you can balance your inheritances and take greater advantage of cultivation techniques than anyone else."

"Balance them?" When Arthur thinks about his father being a Warrior and his mother a Mage, no matter how much he loves her and feels only disappointment in relation to Draven, he still feels very comfortable wielding blades as Liam did and doesn't see himself casting spells in a battle.

"Well, if you want it," Aria says in a loving tone. "In the end, it's up to you to decide which path to follow; you can be a Warrior, a Mage, or..."

"A Mystic Warrior?" He asks, curious.

"Yep," Aria quickly explains. "Draven's Lineage gives you high physical potential, but since you weren't born with a golden Astral Beast like most of his family, you won't be so efficient in using light Astral Energy like your father..."

Arthur remembers his father using that light explosion to kill dozens of bandits in one move. 'That didn't seem like spells as Mom does, but rather a magic attack?"'

While he wonders about it, Aria continues her explanation. "That's not a problem. The inheritance of Draven's Lineage is still very beneficial for your body, and you can use it to strengthen your Astral Veins..."

"But if you can also use the inheritance of my Lineage, it can strengthen your Astral Energy and give you more control over it,"

"This path wouldn't be easy, and it would take you twice as long as someone who only cultivates one path since you would advance in both Warrior and Mage ranks,"

"But it would also make your power potential twice that of anyone who is only a Warrior or a Mage." Aria finishes explaining, making it clear that she thinks that path is the best, despite she herself not following it.

Arthur wonders about that; as a Mystic Warrior, he wouldn't need to abandon the use of blades and other weapons but could also use spells, which sounds nice.

"Alright," He looks at his mother with eyes full of expectations. "If you think that's the best path for me, I have no doubts about it."

Aria smiles lovingly. "Mommy wants the best for you, and it will certainly make you very powerful even though it takes time and a lot of effort."

Arthur can't help but remember how hard Liam trained to become an assassin, but now, even though he needs to put much more effort into cultivating both Warrior and Mage's path, doing it with his beautiful and loving mother is very enjoyable.

"Let's do it!" He can hardly wait for what comes next.

"Oh my~!" Aria giggles charmingly. "You're quite excited; that's great because we have a lot of work ahead."

"Where do we start?" He asks, eager.

Aria looks at the yellow oil bottle on a table next to them. "I want to clean your Astral Veins a few more times..."

She and Arthur go through the same situation, their bodies warming up just by thinking about that again…

"Do you mean more oil massage?" He asks.

"This oil is the best I have for it," She explains, and then a sad glow passes through her eyes in a second. "But I can summon magic hands to apply it to your body."

"No," Arthur instinctively denies it, and even feeling a little embarrassed and even guilty for wanting to feel the wonderful touch of Aria's soft hands, he still asks for it.

"I prefer that you do it, Mom." He speaks with an excited smile on his face.

"So it will be, my dear." Aria smiles lovingly and can't prevent an excited glow in her eyes as well.

From inside Arthur's Nexus, Nyx watches the whole scene attentively. She tries to stay quiet whenever Arthur is interacting with his family, only giving guidance when she feels he needs help.

But seeing him interacting with Aria in such loving ways makes her both happy for him and jealous.