Of course, Adyr was completely bullshitting, since he had no way to cure them. He could not even understand what a curse meant in this world. But his curiosity about what could cause such a condition, powerful enough to bring Rank 4 Practitioners to this state, was intense.

"That…" Zephan hesitated for a moment, then looked to the other Rank 4 Practitioners, clearly seeking their opinion.

Eryndor kept his voice calm. "Lord Adyr is already here. I see no reason to hide anything from him."

The other Practitioner gave a single firm nod, indicating he had no objections.

Having decided, Zephan faced Adyr, met his eyes directly, and spoke in a heavy tone. "To answer that question, I must first tell you my… our entire race's biggest secret."

Adyr studied their faces. The tightness around Zephan's mouth, Eryndor's guarded shoulders, and the way other Rank 4 avoided looking at the chained figures all indicated that this secret was either too valuable to share or too shameful to reveal.

With his next words, it became clear which one it was. Zephan spoke heavily, his words forcing their way through clenched teeth. "We Lunari were not always free. We were born as slaves."

When Adyr heard that, he was really surprised, and his interest grew. From slaves to rulers, there had to be quite a story behind their rise.

He let Zephan continue. "We did not originate in the Outer Region. Our race first appeared in the Midlands. We were bred for the pleasures of nobles and to satisfy their desires."

As the tale went on, his face tightened with anger and disgust at the past he described. "A handmade race created by others as toys. Sold in markets and kept as personal playthings for the lustful."

As Zephan's hatred surfaced more and more, faint energy ripples seeped from his body, only to merge into the strange red-and-black aura around them and be immediately suppressed.

His anger was understandable. By his words, they had been treated like pet-shop dogs, crossbred for a single purpose, crafted to attract buyers and make money.

Looking at their striking features—silver hair, silver eyes, flawless skin—it was clear they had been bred for beauty, a look designed to catch the eye of slave traders.

Zephan continued. "For hundreds of years in the Midlands, we were continuously bred and sold, creating a cycle that persisted over time. We were used for anything a twisted mind could imagine. We did not even have the name Lunari at that time. We were simply the favorite toys people preferred to call for their pleasure."

He took a deep breath to suppress the anger and thirst for revenge inside him, then went on. "We lived like that until a person took pity on us. Or so we thought."

His eyes turned to the oldest of the five lying on the stone beds. "The father of my grandfather was sold to a powerful Adept household at that time and was used for experiments there. The family who bought my ancestor were followers of the Nether path, and they were also members of a secret cult seeking a way to follow two paths."

At that, Adyr raised a single eyebrow, fully intrigued.

So far, although he was technically a follower of one path named Primora, other humans like Selina, Victor, and Eren were all followers of two paths.

There had been a few three-path followers among the Players, but they died in the early stages of the game due to poor stat planning, since managing three different stats was harder than focusing on one.

Even Adyr would have faced a significant disadvantage in raising all his stats evenly if not for his bloodline talents and the advantages from his previous life that allowed him to register talents and gain stats more quickly than others.

In the end, having 40 stat points and splitting them as 10 into four different stats just to keep them balanced was a poor choice. It was much better to put all 40 into a single stat like [Physique] and build skills around Astra-path Sparks.

"You can already understand, I think, what experiments they performed on my ancestor," Zephan said with a pained smile.

Adyr looked at the five figures on the stone beds and finally understood the red-and-black haze radiating from their bodies that was clouding all vision.

His own Sanctuary's energy sea was transparent in color, whereas the energy seas of other Practitioners and Players were not. From what he had learned in the Beyond and from Player reports, each path had its own color for single-path followers.

Ivory for Astra, a yellowish white. Azure for Aether. Crimson for Ignis and shades of black for Nether.

For those who followed more than one path, like Eren, who walked the Astra and Nether paths, the energy color was a blend, a bright gray born of white and black.

So this reddish and blackish aura belongs to the Nether and Ignis paths. Adyr came to the conclusion.

The red and black that filled the cavern were not exactly a blend. It was as if the two colors refused to mix, existing side by side and pushing against one another, each trying to dominate, yet at the same time they seemed to be in a strange kind of synergy, making one's thoughts about them feel chaotic.

Adyr finally spoke, voicing his understanding of the curse's nature. "They tried to awaken your ancestor by forcing him to follow both Ignis and Nether, right?"

Zephan smiled grimly. "Yes, and they both succeeded and failed."

The success was evident to them, with two kinds of auras lingering around the five figures. The failure was just as clear. Their bodies could not endure such blasphemy. They lost their minds and all control, falling into an endless sleep.

"We Lunari, though born of crossbreeding, are natural followers of the Ignis path. The family who tried to awaken my ancestor's Nether side succeeded at first. Later they even helped him gain power and reach Rank 5."

Adyr focused again. He realized this was the point of the story, the part that would reveal how they ended up in the Outer Region and with this curse.

"But only when he reached Rank 5 did they realize they had actually failed. Their purpose was to create someone who followed two paths. What they later understood was that they had created a new path apart from the four main ones. A combination of Nether and Astra that was, in truth, something different altogether, born of the two yet distinct from both."

"An entirely different path?" Adyr did not hide his surprise this time.

So far, no one he had asked and no report or book he had searched had ever mentioned a path beyond the 4 main ones. His Primora path was also unknown to others in the Beyond, which had led him to believe he was the only one following a different path.

But now hearing Zephan speak of another was quite a shock to him. He wanted to know what the name of this path was. "What is this path called? Do you know the name?"

It was a question that would answer most of his questions about who he was.

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