Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Chapter 8: More conflict

When Leiah saw Rain standing for the first time, she spent the day making a ruckus… to the point that she took him to where Roan was working to show him standing by himself. For people who had kids for the first time to see that was quite exciting, but Rain felt troubled since he felt like he was being congratulated for knowing the multiplication table.

In any case, it took a few more months of Rain to be able to stand and walk by himself. He couldn't just have a strong body, the body had to be developed well enough to let him move without wobbling around. Still, it was fine, he had numerous ways to get experience.

"In a world where people can get stronger like this by learning new things, how do the authorities keep order?" Rain suddenly wondered.

The authorities would implement a structured education system to guide individuals in their learning journey. They would establish standards and regulations to ensure that knowledge acquisition is balanced, ethical, and responsible. This helps prevent misuse or abuse of newfound powers.

Authorities might require individuals to obtain licenses or certifications in specific areas of expertise or skills. This ensures that individuals are competent and responsible in utilizing their acquired abilities, minimizing the risk of harm to themselves or others.

Authorities might implement monitoring and surveillance systems to detect any potential misuse or threats posed by individuals with enhanced abilities. This could include advanced technologies, specialized personnel, or even a network of informants to gather intelligence on any illegal or dangerous activities.

It seemed that the most obvious answer was to keep weapons and knowledge only in the hands of a few or make the guards and people like them even stronger. Leveling up was easy now, but it shouldn't be easy forever. Also, if everyone have the same opportunities, they will have to sacrifice a few things to make good use of them and to stand above others in some fields. In that regard, those who are born in rich families can spend many more years trying to get stronger, while others will have to start working from an early age.

Nevertheless, those questions didn't matter that much. What did matter was how Rain could make most of the whole thing?

"Learning the easiest skills to level up and then making those paths level up until I am strong and old enough to choose a specific path should be the best option," Rain thought. "I can't train all day, so I should find the perfect balance."

While Rain learned the Running skill a lot earlier, he was only able to use it well around he one and half years old. His progress slowed down considerably in the last few months for some reason. Even though he worked hard daily… it was probably because the activities that he could do weren't that demanding anymore.

(The human path reached level fifteen)

(All Parameters increased by one.)

(You learned the skill of Mathematics.)

"Of all things…" Rain thought when he saw that notification. "I already know how to do math… I still remember the periodic table, you know."

Rain already knew that, but the human path truly only granted him very basic skills… they were all necessary, but they were too basic. At least he already confirmed that the next paths had more useful skills. Physical Conditioning was starting to make a real difference on his body.

When Rain couldn't hear people talking and he was too tired to walk around, he did some math in his head. It was a pretty easy trick to do in order to fall asleep fast. At the same time, the skill leveled up like crazy when he thought of some difficult mathematical equations and tried to solve them in his head.

?v/?t + (v ? ?)v = -1/ρ ?p + ν?2v ? ? v = 0 where v is the velocity vector, t is time, p is pressure, ρ is density, ν is the kinematic viscosity, and ? represents the gradient and Laplacian operators.

?V/?t + 1/2 σ2S2?2V/?S2 + rS?V/?S - rV = 0 where V represents the price of the option, t is time, S is the underlying asset price, σ is the volatility, and r is the risk-free interest rate.

"What a way to kill time… if on Earth, people could become stronger by doing math, everyone would have a big brain," Rain thought. "I wonder what will be the next path that will be unlocked… I can't tell, considering this first skill. In any case, it seems that mathematical equations became a group of emoticons at some point."

While Rain was thinking of such things and other ways to get stronger faster, his father showed up at home a bit earlier than usual. He had a particularly difficult expression on his face… It seemed that he had some bad news.

"What happened?" Leiah asked.

"Another conflict is fast approaching… the magic people are moving a lot closer to the border," Roan replied. "It seems that father is going to be the commander of the expedition to stop them, and we will go with him. I don't know for how long this will last."

"It can't be helped… I suppose we should be lucky that nothing happened in eighteen months," Leiah said while showing a difficult expression.

"Yes, but you are pregnant again, aren't you" Roan asked. "It isn't the best of times for me to leave and join a long war."