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Confidence. Confidence in her Path and the choices she had made to get where she was. Many had this happen to them as all they saw were worse or maybe equal outcomes from making different choices. They experienced newfound belief in their own decision-making and Paths, which would no doubt help move them forward. To some extent, Jake was also in this camp.

Then there were the ones who saw only utterly negative options. One such person was the former King of the Forest. All of his choices included him not becoming the Fallen King. He had three options. One where he stayed on his old planet and nothing of particular interest happened for the entire period until Realtime, one where he killed Jake during the Tutorial and returned to Earth only to overconfidently try and take over the planet, resulting in death by humanity. Finally, a third choice of fleeing the fight with Jake during the Tutorial, resulting in him still getting hunted down just a year or so later back on Earth. All choices meant a far worse outcome, and the Fallen King despaired at seeing how fortunate it was for him to get killed.

A whole other segment saw Paths that were just… meaningless. Ones where no choice was made truly had any major impact at all. All the examples were of faintly similar scenes with only slight variation unless some just led to early unfortunate deaths.

And then… then there was one person who got three options of so little consequence the system should have been embarrassed for even offering them. Sylphie had been given these minimum three, and none of them had any impact whatsoever. Even the one where she rejected getting Stormild’s Blessing ended up with Sylphie accepting it the next day after getting a minor bribe from Jake to at least consider it.

Second-to-last, there was one more person with just outstanding choices. One person who was offered six choices, but all had only minor variations of their Path. It was the Sword Saint who, no matter what choices he made, would end up with a sword in hand and one of the strongest on Earth.

Finally… there was an anomaly. A person that stood out from the get-go. The thing is, the Path of Myriad Choices event was based on, well, choices. Singular events with huge impact. So, what happens if said person had never made a choice without considering everything about it first and rapidly evaluating the outcome and course-correcting? You would get a person who kept re-aligning his Path again and again.

You would get Arnold.

He and others also appeared within the Administrator’s Garden. Soon enough, he was joined by the Sword Saint and a lot of individuals from other worlds. All-in-all, around two hundred people ended up in the Administrator’s Garden, making them Candidates.

“Hm?” the Sword saint suddenly said as he looked towards the far end of the hemisphere garden and saw two people already there. Talking as they gazed out into the vastness of space, both of them were clearly in an excellent and friendly mood as they chatted away heartily.

--

Before anyone else made it to the garden, Jake and the man sized each other up after the other party greeted him, as Jake finally replied. “It does indeed appear I am the second to arrive. I assume you also did the system event?”

“I did. Quite an interesting experience, wouldn’t you agree? Did you find it enlightening? I personally found much inspiration from seeing how much impact a simple choice can have on one’s entire Path,” the alien man answered in a friendly tone.

“Definitely an experience,” Jake agreed as he began walking over. The other party gladly took a step to the side and invited Jake to join him at the edge of the hemisphere.

“I have to ask, is nahoom the name of your race or something else?” Jake asked. It was probably a bit rude of a question, but Jake had never encountered the race mentioned anywhere before.

“We are a rare breed, it seems. I have not found any mention of my race in any records either, so perhaps we are native to the ninety-third universe. From what I have gathered, we seem to share most of our traits with elves and the starborne. Naturally, we are not born as powerful entities like the starborne, but we seem to share some affinities with them,” he explained. Jake was amazed at the man’s willingness to share information and found it only proper to respond in kind.

“I assume you already guessed I am human?” Jake asked.

“That one isn’t hard. You humans are quite widespread across the multiverse, so not knowing about you would be a challenge,” the man smiled and chuckled. “But rather than races, how about names? Ah, I mean no offense if your culture does not use such things.”

Jake shook his head at the overly polite nahoom and answered. “Jake Thayne, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ell’Hakan. And the honor is all mine,” he bowed, and Jake returned the bow politely. “Now, do tell, what kind of world do you hail from? What exists in the cosmos has already interested me greatly.”

“I come from somewhere named Earth,” Jake answered. “A quaint little place that got quite a bit larger after the initiation.”

“Sounds pleasant. Is it a blue or a red planet? What I mean is if it is a world of greenery and vast oceans or one of dust and rock,” Ell’Hakan asked further.

“Definitely on the blue side, even after the changes,” Jake answered. “Plenty of greenery too. Heck, I live within a city placed in a forest called Haven. Well, I live there sometimes. I am more the traveling kind and don’t really have a set home, I guess?”

“Having a home is important,” Ell’Hakan disagreed slightly. “I hail from a planet that is more on the red side. Most of our water is found underground, but we made it work, and I live in a beautiful city myself. One that I also rule, just as you do. Of course, without my companions and friends, I would not be able to handle such responsibility, and it pains me to stand here without them by my side.”

“Definitely essential to have good help. I have a friend called Miranda who handles most, if not all, city-related things for me and have several good friends that I made mainly through fighting. At least I consider them friends. Shit, I even killed one, and we are now kind of on friendly terms?” Jake explained with a bit of a chuckle.

“Having friends, especially those that one can trust, is more important than anything. I myself try to be as trustworthy and genuine as possible. Though I do have to admit that when I look back, most of my greatest allies right now are there due to our shared Patron. Do tell, are you also blessed?” Ell’Hakan asked in his continued friendly tone. Jake definitely got the feeling that the guy was trustworthy just from their brief conversation. He was like a capybara: friend-shaped.

“I do happen to have a Blessing,” Jake answered. He considered if he should share more, but it wasn’t like he usually bothered hiding it, and Ell’Hakan seemed like a good dude, so why not? “I am blessed by the Malefic Viper. Ah, but don’t misunderstand, while he does have quite a bad reputation, we get along very well.”

“Judging others solely based on the accounts of their detractors is never wise. Better to meet them and reach your own conclusions. My Patron also has unsightly rumors, but I shall not base my own judgment on that but rather how the relationship we formed ourselves shape up,” Ell’Hakan said understandingly.

He truly didn’t seem to care about Jake’s identity at all and didn’t view him badly due to it. Yet he also clearly knew of the Viper, which would only make sense if he was blessed by another god. The twelve Primordials were pretty hot topics as far as Jake knew.

The entire conversation was interesting, and Ell’Hakan was undoubtedly a character worth knowing. Jake definitely got a good feeling from him all-around, like he was making an ally for life. He didn’t even bother when other individuals appeared on the other end of the Administrator’s Garden, and the man in front of him set up a quick isolation barrier. It was a nice gesture.

“Sometimes I wonder why our Patrons chose us,” Ell’Hakan muttered out loud after the barrier was formed to give them some more privacy. “Is it our power or our persons? Tell me, how powerful are you? Truly?”

Jake shrugged as he felt like bragging a bit, especially as the barrier was now there and no one untrustworthy could listen in. “Eh, I am actually 169 in both race, class, and profession level, so that is pretty damn nice. I also got my own fair share of titles adding up further.”

“Impressive!” the man complimented Jake. “Now… this may be presumptuous of me, and please do forgive me if I am wrong, but you are the Chosen of the Malefic One, are you not? I heard from my Patron he chose a mortal from this new universe, and with how impressive you are, I cannot help but wonder if it isn’t you?”

Grinning, Jake confirmed. “I am his Chosen, yeah.”

Ell’Hakan smiled in return. “Another thing we have in common, it seems. My Patron also chose me to make his Chosen. He has helped me a lot, but I also know it is because of one of our other… commonalities. I have never met anyone else with one, so I may be wrong, but you have a Bloodline, right?”

There was really no reason to hide it. They could both detect it due to how Bloodlines worked, so Jake naturally confirmed. “Sure do.”

“As one would expect of the Chosen of a Primordial. I cannot say my own Bloodline is one that offers a lot of power, but I do wonder if yours does. Tell me, what does this Bloodline of yours do?”

“Oh, it is called Bloodline of-“

*THUMP!*

A pulse went through Jake as he felt his own heartbeat. It stopped him before he could answer further, and with the heartbeat came another feeling. Clarity.

Ell’Hakan looked at Jake expectedly, and his smile only deepened when Jake stopped himself. “Impressive indeed, Malefic’s Chosen. Few, if any, manage to regain themselves.”

Jake stared at the guy as all of his previous feelings began dispersing. Feelings that now seemed odd and ungenuine to him.

“What the fuck was that?” Jake asked as he clenched his fists. His danger sense flared as he was about to charge forward to attack, not necessarily due to Ell’Hakan but the rules of the Seat. He stopped, but he still stared as his fingers dug into his palms.

“A greeting, Jake Thayne. Our first exchange. One made under the stars as we both get to know the other and begin our shared story. It was truly an enlightening encounter, and I must say I look forward to meeting you again under less… let us say regulated circumstances,” Ell’Hakan said, his smile never changing.

Jake was more focused on analyzing what had happened internally. The question of “what the fuck was that?” was as much to Jake himself as the man before him. A conclusion was swiftly reached: Bloodline. The guy had some weird Bloodline that had affected Jake.

Addressing the words of Ell’Hakan, Jake grit his teeth. “Sure you want that?”

“I am most certain I do,” he confirmed. “Our next meeting shall be far more enlightening and eventful than this one, that I promise. And do not worry… it will come earlier than you think.”

“If you ever-“

“Jake, do not misunderstand,” Ell’Hakan interrupted him. “You are not the one who decides anything here. I do. Your role is already written, and so far, I must say you are a brilliant actor. And with that, my part here is done. Goodbye. For now.”

Before Jake could say anything else, the figure of Ell’Hakan disappeared like it had never been there. Jake clenched his fists even harder and punched the ground where the alien fuck had just disappeared from. His level of anger was intense as he just stared at the now broken ground ignoring the gazes of others directed at him.

What the fuck is that Bloodline? Jake asked himself as he considered what had just happened. His emotions had been affected somehow? Was it mind magic? A mind magic Bloodline? Was it something else? Emotion-control of some sort, which would probably also be considered mind magic?

Jake was only happy that he had caught himself in the very last moment before he revealed his Bloodline or any details. However, before that, he had already overshared way too much. He had no idea what he had thought when he just blurted out his damn levels and information on Earth like it was nothing. Okay, he kind of knew… he did it because he truly felt in that moment that there was nothing wrong with it and that he was talking to someone genuinely trustworthy.

Well, that was a fucking lie. Jake cursed inwardly as he kept considering the nature of the other person’s Bloodline. The only truly good thing was that at least Ell’Hakan didn’t know Jake’s either. One thing was also for sure: he would have his revenge the next time they met.

Jake shook his head and looked upwards with frustration. He just stood there for a while staring into the cosmos within a massive space station among the stars - the stars themselves, uncaringly staring back at him.