The forest was quiet.
Kael opened his eyes, the weight of the relic's final words still heavy on his mind.
"You will not ascend as a man… but as all ten of your selves."
The relic now lay silent, its once-glowing veins dimmed and fractured. It had given him knowledge up to Tier 7—enough to shake the foundation of everything he once believed. But the truth about Tier 10, about the convergence of ten bodies into one immortal form, was still incomplete. The rest remained locked within the relic's damaged structure, waiting to be repaired.
And now, a new choice stood before him.
A clearing had formed around the altar where he had first found the relic. As if summoned by fate itself, three ancient stone gates had risen from the earth. Each was carved with runes and symbols too old to decipher, yet Kael understood them instinctively. He didn't need the relic to tell him.
They represented the three aspects: Body, Mind, and Spirit.
All cultivators had to begin somewhere. Most spent their entire lives mastering only one. A few rare geniuses managed to ascend in all three—one after the other, with time, hardship, and unimaginable risk. But only the strongest had ever walked the full path and united them at Tier 9 to break through into the mythical Tier 10.
Kael was different.
The immortal legacy he had inherited wasn't just powerful—it was complete, at least in design. It allowed the cultivation of all three aspects simultaneously. But the method was incomplete. To even attempt it would place him in constant danger of deviation or death. Still, the foundation had to begin somewhere. The order mattered.
Before him, the three gates pulsed with quiet energy.
One glowed with deep red patterns—strength, muscle, endurance. The Gate of the Body.
One shimmered with silent clarity—focus, logic, perception. The Gate of the Mind.
The last breathed gently, as if alive—intuition, emotion, soul. The Gate of the Spirit.
Each would shape his cultivation path, his first body. Once chosen, he could not shift until he reached its peak.
He took a breath. His hand hovered. But before he could choose, a presence stirred in the clearing.
From the shadows stepped a man wrapped in bark-like armor, his skin pale like old ash, his eyes a dull crimson. The man held no weapon, but power clung to him like mist. Not hostility—just presence.
"You feel it too," the stranger said. "The shifting. The threads pulling tighter. The convergence has begun."
Kael didn't speak.
"Don't worry," the man continued. "I'm not here to kill you. Not yet. I came to see who it was… the one the relic accepted. We've been watching. Someone like you appearing now? It's a sign."
Kael tensed.
"Choose your Gate carefully," the stranger said. "The order matters. Some paths open doors. Others close them forever."
"And when the Devourers arrive, you'll need every door open."
Kael's breath caught.
Devourers. Creatures of outer dark, things that consumed realms and left only fractured husks behind. He'd heard the name once in a ruined text, but nothing more.
"What do you know about the convergence?" Kael asked.
The man smiled, but there was no joy in it.
"Too much. Not enough. Your relic will fail you soon, unless you find a way to repair it. But you already knew that, didn't you?"
Kael didn't answer.
The man's eyes narrowed.
"You're not the only one bearing a legacy, Kael. But you may be the only one cursed with one that's incomplete."
He turned and began to walk away.
"You have a decision to make. When you step through one gate, the others will close for now. Choose your starting self."
Then he vanished.
Kael looked at the three gates again.
He had the legacy. He would one day cultivate all three. But the starting point mattered.
Body. Mind. Spirit.
Which one would become his First Body?