As they moved away from the sulfurous safety of Olin's cave, the Whispering Woods felt different—less like a prison and more like a gateway. Vincy turned the silver Guild token over in his hand, the cool metal a sharp contrast to the dormant heat in his dantian.
"Sera," Vincy said, his voice low as he navigated a patch of bioluminescent ferns. "Master Olin mentioned 'Big Cities' and Guild Halls. Back at the school, we only ever heard of the Border Provinces and the Kingdom of Solis. Is the world really that much bigger?"
Seraphina paused, her silver hair catching the fading twilight. She looked at him with a mixture of pity and realization. "The Myriad School is a fishbowl, Vincy. They keep us ignorant so we remain loyal. To the powers of the Central Plains, our entire Kingdom is just a rugged frontier, a source of raw materials and low-grade soldiers."
She knelt in a clearing and began drawing a rough map in the dirt with the tip of her rapier.
"We are here, in the Azure Fringe," she explained, pointing to a small corner. "But beyond the Neutral Territories lie the true masters of this era."
The Alchemist Union (Central Plains): "They aren't a nation, but they are more powerful than most. They control the flow of pills across the continent. If you have that token and the talent to back it up, you could walk into any royal court and be treated like a prince."
The Sword-Saint Hegemony: "In the West, they believe only in the blade. They don't use pills; they temper their bodies in elemental storms. To them, alchemists are just 'cooks'."
The Thousand-sect Federation: "A loose alliance of thousands of schools, ranging from holy temples to dark cults. This is where the real war for resources happens."
The Divine Imperial Court: "The center of the world. They claim to be the direct descendants of the Star-Emperors. They are the ones who set the laws of cultivation."
Vincy looked at the map, then at the heavy Void-Cutter strapped to his back. "Master Olin said my potential in alchemy is limitless... but Piet keeps talking about reclaiming thrones and fighting armies. Can you really be both? Or does one always hold the other back?"
Seraphina stood up, her expression turning uncharacteristically thoughtful. "That is the question every genius faces. Most choose. An alchemist spends his life over a cauldron; his power comes from his wealth and his influence. But a martial artist? Their power is their own. They don't need a guild to be respected—they only need their strength."
She looked at her own hands, still vibrating with the "Cold Truth" of her breakthrough. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm chasing the wrong thing. If I had spent the time I used for meditation on learning to forge or refine, would I be more useful? Or is the blade the only thing that truly matters when the Shadow-Stalkers come for your head?"
"She's thinking like a mortal," Piet's voice drifted through Vincy's mind, arrogant as ever. "In the Great Archive, we didn't see a difference. To refine a pill is to understand the laws of the universe; to swing a sword is to enforce them. They are two sides of the same coin. An alchemist without a blade is a target; a warrior without pills is a candle burning at both ends."
"Piet says you need both," Vincy whispered to her.
Seraphina gave a small, bitter smile. "Piet is a voice in your head, Vincy. In the real world, time is the one resource even a Star-Emperor can't refine. You have to choose where to burn yours."
They walked on in silence, the weight of their choices settling over them like the evening mist. Vincy felt the "Living Furnace" pulse in his gut, a reminder that whether he chose the cauldron or the sword, the fire within him was already beginning to change the map of his life.