" As for the other half of your Question",Aster said smirkingly," I expect that in the near future each,and every one of you will have a basic understanding of this topic when it comes up in your curriculum,I do regret repeating myself you know".
"But ofcourse,I wont be explaining everything,As your combat instructor first ,and foremost,I'll be explaining the most common combat orientated paths first".
After saying this Asters face put on a serious expression showing his professionalism in this matter, he then raised his hand, summoning a dark wooden cane,having a steel handle, adorned with the carving of a black dragons head carved in a curved manner giving the user a better grip.
Then in that same motion of summoning the staff, he slammed it vertically to the ground,causing an uprupt,"bam!",sound to reverberate across the classroom,while placing both his hands on the grip.
Removing his right hand from the handle,with conservative swiftness he took out a gold plated pocket watch,skillfully flipping it open,then sighed.
His previous actions were a demonstration of his inner character,how he was a true performer,who knew how to get his audiences attention.
And now the entire classes attention had been fully occupied by him,as they focused their gazes Towards the front desk.
" Its unfortunate that I will not be able to list everything out,due to us only having 20minutes of remaining time till this period ends".
" So pay attention".
"As promised,in the entire Country the most popular paths to use for Combat,are the Hunter path,Barbarian Path,Combat path, Knight Path,and War path".
"The Hunter path,is known for its detective skills it can sniff out lies,and weak points in the target,It has the greatest long range attack,and sight,its accuracy in battle is impeccable its said the farther away an opponent is the better,its specializes in all sorts of magical traps,and its power to create random explosions".
"Those of this path are known for their camoflauge abilities,they can turn invisible,hide in the shadows,delete their sent,and blend into the environment tricking the senses,their control over mana is immense,they also have strong defenses to mental attacks".
Darians eyes twitched upon hearing this," I didn't expect it to be so strong",its name sounded mundane to him at first but its practical abilities in combat was what impressed Darian the Most.
"The Barbarian Path are savage beasts they have the most stamina out of any,while their physical enhancement spells are second to none allowing them to have muscle control,and bone manipulation,They are also the Masters of blood Manipulation allowing them to heal rapidly,they gain the skill called physical mimicry",
" Also possessing tactile telekinesis,the ability to create illusions,turn others mad or into a frenzy state,they can feed off their own negative emotions,and those of others to increase their strength".
Asters face put on quite an Ominous look as he said," this path is willing to sacrifice everything for a win,even their own bodies".
This info while making others smile out of interest,left Darian perplexed at how advantageous,and versatile these listed abilities were,but its downsides were too great,and that was that,he could smell madness coming from that path.
"Combat path is very popular",Aster said quickly shifting his demeanor," it allows anyone almost instantaneous Supreme mastery of any weapon one comes into contact with,and the best way to use it due to ones mental Capacity also increasing becoming almost machine like,but it's skill with weapons are still not as good as Hunter path interms of projectile weaponary such as bows,and arrows,throwing knives,firearms,Spears and so on.
Although a Combat path user could out skill a Hunter path user in using a spear in close courters Combat for example,but if they possess equal skill in their path,they would always lose to a Hunter path user interms of accurate throws.
"It possesses the best Defensive abilities out of any Path,arguably the greatest Durability,and it wins first place interms of raw standard strength,but can be beat by Barbarian Path due to its constant growth,it allows increases to all senses,and natural speed".
"But what its Most known for is its abilities to create barriers,and physical psychic constructs,allowing to create weapons or anything they desire,their will power gives them resistance to mental attacks".
"Knight Path is the most technical of these paths,they can multiply their abilities for a few seconds".
"And have the strongest mental fortitude,can rearrang their stats, uplift others, and raise their emotional state by speaking or by their actions".
"This path allows them to gain trust easier than most people,if desired flight is possible,they are the second best interms of analytical skill surpassing even Combat path,and are arguably the best analysts in close caurters combat,this is to the point future sight is available to them,they can absorb surrounding mana,without much consequence,their natural skill with most weapons is only surpassed by Combat,and Hunter paths".
"They are most known for the fact that the more they are believed,in or praised as a source of hope by the populace,and those around them the stronger they get".
To Darian flight stood out as it reminded him of heroes written about in his old world,but this world had many limitations for one the airspace was greatly controled so knights could not continously fly without permission,and why fly when winged creatures were available.
And finally the war path,This path gives its users a tactical mind,and is the best at split second Combat analysis, reason being it has the best senses that can span miles like a radar,and picks up on microscopic details meaning they also have powerful minds.
They can bring out the deepest most brutal warrior part of a person,and themselves,this does not only help them mentally but this transforms those effected by this ability physically.
Their Charisma encourages Obedience,and loyalty, and allows them to enthrawl others,they can summon manipulate weapons,Copy the exact skill level of any opponent in combat.
Attacks from this path Naturally attack beings on almost all levels,they gain foreknowledge of anybattle,and precognition,the ability to take over,and bring weapons to life,Manipulate an eternal fire thats heat is based solely on the users will,create disorder,cause panic,and fear.
But these are not the abilities they are most feared for,what they most feared for is the Astral reminants tecnique,this ability lets the user amalgamat the feelings emotions of anyone during Combat,and create an Astral self sustaining replicah,they can also do this with with weapons,not only that they can store this army within themselves aswell.
Their trump card is arguably their strongest ability,what truly makes them powerful is they are the Masters of Bad luck,allowing them to bring down the luck of their opponents in huge sweeps.
To Darian this path was Nothing but ups,in his Mind he believed if his father was alive he would be in the War or Combat paths,while uncle Jeff,the knight or Combat paths.
After he fisnished the five he had promised to do first,Aster continued,"The refinement path represents the connection to the devine,its spells hold power over,purification,Magical negation,healing,and energy.
"They are feared by masters of the dark arts".
In Darians thoughts an image of clergy leaders came to mind,adorned with hallows of light,and white robes,he wondered to himself if Gilga was a user.
"As for the demon path,they are one of,if not the most versatile paths,their abilities vary depending on the contracts they make,and have the power to communicate with underworld beings depending on their contract they gain unique features,and transformations,Their standard spells also give them power over,Distortion,Deception,corruption,and underworld fire".
"And oh, I almost forgot",Aster laughed," its also an illegal path to use".
This time the image Darians mind drew were images of hunted rogues,locked up prisoners,with charasmatic appearances devilish smiles tatoed bodies,and sharpened teeth,beastial claws,a mouth litered with alluring words combined with jet black eyes filled with psychotic,apathetic malice.
"Next is... ", Aster said casually as if each one of his words were not a nuke of information being dropped on his student's small,young, impressionable minds.
"The Darkness Path,is a path whos standard spells give the user the ability to induce sleep,forgetfullness,and stagnation".
"Including the power to create,and Manipulate Darkness,and shadow,those who have it are able to induce blind stupidity on their opponent,by clouding their judgment,and creating gaps in their knowledge or memories".
"They can remove sight from the battle field and enter the dreams of others,or cause others to fall asleep,on the other hand they have no innate ability to manipulate the dream scape".
"This path is not innately good or evil but represents a neutral innevitable force".
Darian thought back,to the conversation he had with Matilda about his attackers,and their abilities," that explains it",Darian had some experience with these hooligans so there was no need to imagine.
"The creation path is next in order,its known for its abilities to materialise the thoughts of the user,and its ability to artificial recreate almost anything,including spacial,and temporal phenomina,its only weakness is that it cannot recreate personality or memories,its users can only take".
"Because of its Nature ,and long history this path to this day is mostly used by the dwarves".
Darians imagination drew a clear picture once more,of rugged small dwarves their faces covered with ash,and sut razing a glowing hammer while on a glowing anvil,layed a shining golden material as if the very concept of light was being forged.
"For the last two,the element path is very common,in its history it was originally seperated into four different paths,the fire path,Earth path,Water path,and Wind path".
"Then a conundrum came into being,the fact was the only differences between them were the forms they took that of solid,liquid,and Gas,other than that all four had weapon Series type spells,healing spells,similar attack spells,and they genuinely worked well together so it was later decided,it would become one path,making it the only path with 400 standard spells".
"A sister path to this is the Nuclear Path it uses the fundamental building blocks that makeup these elements to create in essense fusion spells,There strength are much greater than the former in general but its unpredictability,and volatility is what causes its downfall interms of utility".
In all honesty the naming of this path sent Darian for a loop he was a bit intrigued,on the naming of this path, he could not help but think of a nuclear warhead,he even wondered if similar things had been made in this world not that he knew of any.
But then he thought to himself that even if similar weapons were to exist, it was an assured guarantee that more likely than not,it would be more magically reliant then his original worlds version.
At this point Darians mind collapsed he was tired of thinking,time ticked by and at this moment writing this information down was just better.
"The Primordial Earth path,its known for being one of the most dangerous,and weird paths to fight against,it represents the theoretical state between the creation of biological life,known as the Primordial soup".
"It manipulates desires,has the most powerful control over flesh,life,fertility,and biological adaptation those who can use it can enthrawl others with their meer presence mutate living ,and non living things,its power over the desires is so great the elements,and probability shifts to protect them,they also have power over all plantlife".
Aster flipped open his pocket watch once more ,and said lastly," There's the Calamity path which is the most sympal one,it represents the extinction of life,this path is also illegal,or restricted to a degree".
"It allows the User the power to create Calamitys,and the ability to manipulate their own bodies to survive any Calamity,out of any Path they have the highest survivability,and the best adaptation,if not restricted it is one of the easiest ways concieved that may lead to an extinction".
"All of these paths have been around for a thousand plus years,over that period each yas gained its own fighting style that maximises its benefits or certain fighting styles apply these paths,in varying degrees".
Aster sighed as he looked towards the girl who had asked him originally,and spoke with a somber tone," If it were up to me I would hope that none of you choose any of these,and instead act like normal beginner mages simply manipulateing creating normal elements that help you,in minial tasks or if thats too much stay at your current levels,not knowing that your taking bits,and pieces from each path,then mashing them together".
"Each path connects to different information sources,and the more one is used with a clear structure,and sychronicity it will innevitably assimilate you,changing your mind towards it,this observed by studies from this institution,showing changes across the board linked to different paths".
"But even then if you decide to stick to how you are now,that does not mean your enemies will stop,that they wont he desperate enough or that you still wont die at a younger age,even though you could have soldiers who will take the risk as your instructor my job is to increase your chances of survival,and giving you the choice is apart of that".
"Even more so on your behalf picking the correct path is essential,if your body mind rejects the changes corruption is the most plausible saine outcome,its been observed that when ones path correlates to their innate ability".
"Thats when stability,and sychronicity occurs,this is why my warning to you is to wait think things through,and do not rush".
Just then the bell rang ending the period.