"Why can I see you now?" Liam asked sharply. "Because she told you," Umbra said with a smirk. "Which means you're now part of the equation. So I had to update your perceptual permissions. You're welcome, by the way. Not everyone gets to admire this glorious visage." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢 Liam stepped closer, his gaze hardening. "And what exactly are you? What is your role in this so-called Eternal Path?" Umbra gave a long-suffering sigh. "Think of me as a guide. A mentor. A translator for the gibberish that is about to start rewriting your girlfriend's metaphysical blueprint. I help her survive the process… assuming she listens to me. Which, so far, she has not." Shen Yue winced slightly, but Liam gently took her hand. "Are you okay?" "I think so," she whispered, her voice steadier than before. "It's… overwhelming, but not painful. Just… strange. I don't feel weaker. If anything, I feel more. Like something inside me finally woke up." Liam studied her for a long moment, then nodded once. "Good. But if this thing—" he shot a glance at Umbra, "—so much as breathes wrong, I will find a way to remove it. "Oh, I like him," Umbra purred. "So protective. So paranoid. This is going to be fun." Liam didn't respond. He only pulled Shen Yue gently into a hug, murmuring into her hair, "Whatever this thing is… we'll deal with it together. Don't worry and don't keep anything bottled up inside." Umbra shrugged. "You have to now. The moment she included you, everything became different. Now the system expects more from her because it already assumed you would be helping her." "I will be helping her." Liam's voice was quiet, but it rang with that steel-core certainty. Umbra yawned, clearly unimpressed. "Touching. Now if the two of you are done making heart-shaped promises, we do have work to do. Eternal Paths aren't exactly cakewalks. There are trials. And no, I don't mean the usual 'kill ten dire wolves and bring me their tails' nonsense." Liam's eyes narrowed. "What kind of trials?" Umbra's amber eyes gleamed like twin moons. "The kind that test the soul. Her desires, her fears, the very foundation of her being. If she passes, she evolves. If she fails… well, let's try not to worry about that." Shen Yue took a deep breath. "When do we start?" "You already did," Umbra replied, curling its tail around her neck like a smug scarf. "The moment you accepted that fragment, your old path died. Now we see what kind of fire you're really made of." Liam looked at Shen Yue once more, silently reaffirming what he had just said aloud. "I had built up some dao of demonic summoning and a small seed of enchantment, both of which are now gone." "And for good reason. You did not like either of them now, did you?" Umbra casually asked. "The Eternal Path doesn't carry baggage. It burns away what doesn't serve your true self—even if you haven't figured out who that is yet. That's the fun part." Liam's jaw tightened. "She spent years building that. You should not have erased that progress just like that." Umbra rolled onto its back across Shen Yue's shoulder, paws in the air. "Oh, boo-hoo. Progress built on compromise is like stacking sandcastles in a storm. Your soul already chose something different. I didn't erase anything—she did. The Path just cleared the clutter." "Now what do I do?" Shen Yue asked in confusion. Umbra let out a delighted little trill. "See? Now that's the spirit. Let go of what you were to become what you might be." Shen Yue was about to open her mouth when Umbra interrupted her. "That's fine. If you already knew it, you would have started walking that path long ago. Let me enlighten you. What you really like to do is cook." Huh? Both Shen Yue and Liam looked shocked. Shen Yue blinked. "I… what?" Liam raised an eyebrow, clearly just as thrown off. "Cooking? That's your revelation?" Umbra, still draped dramatically across Shen Yue's shoulder, waved a paw with the air of an oracle revealing cosmic truths. "Not just cooking, girl. Creation. Nourishment. Alchemy in edible form. The act of transforming the mundane into magic. Your soul sings not when you destroy or fight, but when you create. When you nurture, when you infuse things with intention." Shen Yue looked down at her hands, her mind spiraling. She did like cooking—but it had always been something small. Something she did for the guild, for Liam, for Mei Mei. Not something she'd ever thought of as… her core. "I always thought that was just…," she whispered. Umbra's tail flicked smugly. "And you mortals always think your strength has to come from swinging swords or mastering spells. But there is strength in creation." Liam looked at her, something dawning in his eyes. "You never liked to fight from the beginning. It was my mistake shoving the pair of legendary daggers in your hand." Shen Yue shook her head. "No. It is not you. It is me. I made the wrong choice. You were always charging ahead, fighting monsters, building the guild. I didn't want to be left behind. So I told myself… if I learned to fight, maybe I could keep up. Maybe I could protect you too." Liam reached for her hand again, holding it firmly. Umbra gave an exaggerated sniffle from her perch. "Aww. So touching. Shall I start composing the ballad of the blade-turned-baker?" Shen Yue ignored the cat for once, her gaze still locked on Liam's. "But if what Umbra says is true… if there's really a path for me that's based on what I love, not just what I forced myself to become… then I want to try it. Really try." Liam's eyes softened, pride and quiet awe flickering behind the steady weight of his expression. "Then I will support you with everything I have." "Good job, Mr. Husband," the cat purred, his voice laced with teasing approval. "You better keep that promise because in a few years, this woman you're holding so dearly will be crafting elixirs so potent, so divine, that ancient beings from forgotten sectors will claw their way across dimensions just for a single drop. Realms will weep. Gods will beg. Culinary sects will build shrines in her name." He flicked his tail smugly and gave Liam a once-over. "So if you thought you were the powerhouse in this relationship, better start preparing yourself for the day she eclipses you." Liam opened his mouth to respond, but Umbra waved a paw dismissively. "Ah-ah. No protests. No more heart-shaped promises. We're on the clock now. The Eternal Path doesn't wait, and your girlfriend just got her soul blueprint rewritten into something deliciously unpredictable." Then the cat's tone shifted—playful, but commanding. "So off you go. Shoo. I've got a raw prodigy to whip into shape, and we're starting with essence-infused turnips." Shen Yue blinked. "Turnips?" "Yes, turnips. Deal with it." "Every legend begins with something humble," Umbra said, already leaping toward the center of the room and conjuring a kitchen space out of thin air. "Now, let's make some turnip soup. Show me what skills you got."