( Rocky's POV)
Rocky stood in the feathery room, his eyes fixed on the five scrolls before him. Each scroll represented a unique path, each with its own advantages and challenges.
While all five paths offered attractive choices, in the end he could only choose two of the five which was why he needed to choose very wisely.
After thinking for a while, Rocky decided to make his decision by the process of elimination, as he eliminated the scrolls least suitable for him first, so that he could focus on the ones he really wanted with a clear mind.
First, he considered the [Path of the Tempest Blade].
The ability to harness the power of the wind, to strike swiftly and almost invisibly, was incredibly appealing. However, he knew that while he had decent agility, it wasn't his strongest suit.
Relying on sheer speed and precision in combat wasn't his preferred style, if he had learnt anything after fighting Blackbeard it was the fact that agility wasn't everything in swordsmanship as while Blackbeard was nowhere near as fast as him nor as agile, he dominated him thoroughly through his superior understanding of the sword.
Rocky knew that he needed something that matched his more balanced approach, and hence with a sigh, he set aside the [Path of the Tempest Blade].
Next, he turned to the [Path of the Serpent's Dance].
The idea of striking swiftly and vanishing without a trace was intriguing, and the ultimate form, [Serpent's Fang], offered devastating power that could undoubtedly help in a decisive one vs one fight.
But Rocky knew that his strengths lay more in direct confrontation than stealth. He preferred to face his enemies head-on rather than from the shadows and hence this style did not align with his personality.
If he had the confidence to win, Rocky was the kind of fighter that would walk into an enemy fort alone with the goal of slaughtering everyone inside head on, rather than relying on sneaky attacks to just kill the king.
Hence, with a reluctant nod, he set aside the [Path of the Serpent's Dance].
That left him with three choices: [Path of the Grand Sage], [Path of the Titan's Fury], and [Path of the Dragon Slayers].
Each of these paths resonated with him in different ways, making his decision all the more difficult.
The [Path of the Grand Sage] offered to teach him strategic combat, allowing him to control the rhythm of battle and anticipate his opponent's moves.
The idea of integrating wisdom with swordsmanship appealed to his desire for a more refined and thoughtful approach to fighting as after fighting Blackbeard he felt like this approach to swordsmanship was much more superior to just increasing one's speed or explosive power.
From reading the note at the end, he knew that mastering this path would require patience and a deep understanding of the sword to master, however, both of them were qualities he was willing to cultivate and hence this scroll became one of his favorite choices.
"Aaaaaa—"
*Thud*
Rocky landed back outside the tier two test center, right outside the entrance of the ancient ruins that he had entered to reach the testing grounds.
There, Epita seemed to be waiting for him with her arms folded as she seemed to be mildly surprised to see Rocky make it back out alive once more.
"You made it alive.... Again?" She said, with the again sounding like a question rather than a statement, as Epita clearly looked stunned by this event.
"Oh I'm barely alive. I swear I could have died over a dozen times in the past 24 hours" Rocky said, sounding exhausted as Epita blinked in silence looking at him.
On one hand Epita felt extremely jealous of Rocky for somehow surviving the hardest tier two test and reaping maximum rewards that it provided as although Rocky did not realize it currently, he was building such a robust foundation as a warrior in his early days that later on peers in the same tier would not be able to compare.
On the other hand however, Epita suspected that Shakuni was heavily interfering with fate to keep Rocky alive as in her opinion it wasn't possible for Rocky to keep coming out of these life-death situations alive without his help.
'So this is the Champion's advantage', Epita thought as she finally understood why throughout her life she felt inferior to the Champion's Of Gods and now she finally knew why.
Gods invested heavily in the development of their puppets and ensured that they grew up to become strong and this phenomenon disgusted Epita to no end.
'Why wasn't I chosen as a Champion? What exactly did I lack that this fool has?' She wondered as she let out a deep sigh.
It was too late for her now to think about such things as she had already reached the realm of monarchs without the help of any gods, relying on no-one but herself, and although she felt jealous of Rocky, the probability of him ever reaching the same level of strength as herself was extremely low.
"Well congratulations on making it out alive, I'm going to send you back now alongside your pets, but we shall meet here again if you somehow survive and reach floor 30 of the tower
Farewell until then, Champion Of Gemini–" Epita said as she snapped her fingers and sent Rocky, Mama Chun and Baby Chun out of the Origin Realm 'Vorithra Slyithen', back to the tower of ascension.
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/// A/N - Rocky has chosen the [Path of the Grand Sage] and the [Path of the Dragon Slayers].
Thank you for voting and helping shape Rocky's journey! Stay tuned for more exciting developments. ///