Once a hunter reaches Level 5.
Sometimes Level 6.
The system rewards them.
---
A Path Symbol.
Some call it a Mana Path.
Strange archaic ruins appearing in the Stat Window when it opens.
Ancient looking.
Like something that predates the system itself.
Like the system borrowed them from somewhere older.
---
Not much is known about how the system works.
Not much is known about most of it.
But this much has been documented.
---
Once a hunter receives their symbol the system grants an ability.
Supernatural in nature.
Outside the range of what the body alone produces.
---
These abilities carry ranks.
The stronger the rank the more impossible the ability becomes to use.
To sustain.
Without cost.
Without death.
Without permanent injury to the hunter or to others in proximity.
---
The lower the rank the more workable the ability.
The more it can grow alongside the hunter.
The more it forgives the learning process.
---
The fuel for all of it is mana.
That unknown radioactive energy.
Still not fully understood.
Still not fully mappable.
Just present.
Just powering things that shouldn't be possible and asking nothing in return except everything the hunter has.
---
These abilities follow paths.
---
The information gathered from the hunter known as Tears continues to suggest there are nine.
---
*Destruction.*
*Creation.*
*Purification.*
*Abyss.*
*The Hunt.*
*Presence.*
*Ascension.*
*Connection.*
*Order.*
---
The system assigns abilities that fall into these categories.
One path per hunter.
The ability matching the path.
---
If a hunter carries the path of Destruction their abilities manifest as destruction.
If a hunter carries the path of Connection their abilities reach outward.
Bind things.
Link things.
Make channels where there were none.
---
There are reported overlaps.
Tears has told us this much.
Someone on the path of Connection can sometimes produce an ability that resembles Destruction.
Not because they crossed paths.
Because connection can be used to connect with destruction.
To make that destruction occur through someone else.
Through something else.
The paths don't always stay in their lanes.
They are categories.
Not cages.
---
A face appeared on the screen.
---
The Minister of Defense.
Kang Byung-chul.
Small face.", "Timid around the eyes.", "Short lips.", "A patch of hair growing near each ear.", "Making a broken ring that connected at the back and left the top of his head entirely bare.", "The kind of face that belonged to a man who understood information but had never been asked to act on it physically.",
---
He was speaking.
The cameras on him.
The press around him.
---
The screen pulling back slowly.
Finding a different room entirely.
---
A nice apartment.
Clean lines.
A white couch.", "Strong.", "Well chosen.", "The kind of furniture that announced something about the person who bought it.",
---
A man on the couch.
Watching.
Round face.", "Black hair cut short.", "A body that carried its size without apology.",
---
Kim Tae-soo.
Leader of the Endless Storm Guild.
---
His eyes were on the screen.
But not on the Minister.
Not on the press around him.
Not on the questions being asked or the answers being given.
---
On one man.
---
Gun-woo.
Standing beside the Minister.
Slightly back.
Giving the Minister the frame.
Giving the Minister the camera.
---
But still there.
---
That smile on his face.
Bright.", "Easy.", "Reflecting the light the way things reflect light when they know they're being watched and have made peace with it.",
---
Kim Tae-soo watched him.
His eyes not moving.
Not blinking much.
Not reading the room.
Just reading one man in it.
---
The smile on the screen.
---
The reflection of it in Kim Tae-soo's eyes.