Path of Myriad Choices

Entry into the Path of Myriad Choice event was limited to those who could access the Seat of the Exalted Prima. Access was granted to those who'd formed a Key of the Exalted Prima which was obtained by combining three Key Fragments of the Exalted Prima. These fragments appeared as loot drops after killing a Prima.^[2]

Key of the Exalted Prima (Unique)- A key to the Seat of the Exalted Prima. Allows entry to the Seat of the Exalted Prima. Use the key to open a portal only a Prima Key Holder can use, leading to the Seat of the Exalted Prima when it is available.^[3]

The Path of Myriad Choices was also open to Primas. The Primas were given a quest to survive long enough with their fragments to enter the Seat. In exchange for being targeted, the Primas were offered a unique opportunity, unspecified event, separate from that of the key holders.^[4]

• Haven (Independent of their factions): Jake Thayne, Miranda Wells, Neil and his party, Sultan, Arnold, Sylphie
• Valhal: Carmen, Sven
• Noboru Clan: The Sword Saint
• Court of Shadows: Caleb Thayne, Nadia, Matteo
• Risen: Casper, Priscilla
• No faction: Ell'Hakan

• All violence is strictly forbidden. Breaking this rule will lead to instant expulsion and a temporary ban from the Seat, along with the deactivation of the Holder's Key.
• All Seats are managed by the Exalted Prima. Events can only be entered if the user has permission and meets the requirements.
• The Seat of the Exalted Prima is only open for one week for the Myriad Choices phase.
• For safety and privacy concerns, all outside communication is limited or entirely cut off both ways while within the Seat.

The Path of Myriad Choices is a simulation of reality wherein a different path resulting from a choice not made earlier in life is shown.

System-tier event: Path of Myriad Choices

Simulation Description: The participant will be shown a minimum of two and a maximum of six choices made prior that significantly impacted their current Path. This simulation allows the participant to see a potential reality wherein that choice was not made. Dependent on the results of the simulation, the participant may be offered rewards related to the actions of the simulacrum of the participant during the simulation. The scope and length of all simulations vary but shall never simulate past current Realtime.

Note that no actions can be performed during the simulation outside of observing or ending the simulation. Only one choice can be selected.

Rewards may or may not be gained from this event. All participants are encouraged to take inspiration from the simulacrum and a potential Path other than that which they currently walk.^[5]

Each participant is presented with 2-6 simulation choices and the ability to preview the simulation. The following were presented to Jake:

• Choice 1: Turning back and never entering the tutorial Challenge Dungeon, resulting in you never meeting your Patron god or obtaining your current profession. Result: Jake joins the Court of Shadows and accepts the Blessing of Umbra. He serves along side his brother, Caleb, and is much closer to his family.
• Choice 2: Choosing to not fight the King of the Forest, but instead bowing out and leaving the tutorial there and then, thus not ending the reign of the King of the forest and allowing him to return to Earth for a rematch one day. Result: Choosing not to fight is a rejection of his bloodline. By not fighting, he does not become a Progenitor, misses out on a number of titles, gets lesser skill choices from the tutorial store, and is overall weaker.
• Choice 3: Choosing to not practice archery that day but instead staying home, thus never suffering any injury and allowing you to continue practicing. Result: Jake is sorted into the same Tutorial as Caleb. He meets Umbra and is named the Judge of the Court of Shadows on Earth. He eventually kills Bertram and forces Jacob off the planet before fighting and ultimately losing to the Sword Saint, when the older man discovers his Transcendence mid-fight. The two then team up to fight William and the King of the Forest.
• Choice 4: Obeying your parents and choosing to let them leave. Result: Jake's parents are killed in a car crash on the way to a pregnancy check-up for Jake's mom. Caleb is never born and Jake is sent to live with his grandmother who soon also pass away. He is then sent to a series of foster homes and he develops into a very different person than the Jake who grew up with a loving family.

Toddler Jake has a gut feeling that something bad will happen if his parents leave him, but ignores his instincts in favor of obeying his parents. Two hours later, a phone call came to notify Jake's grandmother that the pair had died in a major crash. Jake's brother Caleb is never born and Jake is sent to live with his grandmother. When he is five, she passes away. Having no other family available, he is now an orphan and sent to the foster system. Because of the rough and tumble environment, Jake has no reason to suppress his Bloodline. He instead embraces it.

Jake watches multiple scenes of the simulacrum that Jake eventually calls "Sim-Jake" as he passes from foster home to foster home. In each, when confronted violence, Sim-Jake responds in the extreme. By age 15, Sim-Jake has runaway from the foster system and is homeless. It is at this point that he first kills a man, in self-defense.^[6] This experience led to Sim-Jake becoming a very effective pre-system hitman.

After several scenes of watching Sim-Jake perform hits, Jake finds the simulacrum alone in a hotel room. It is at this point that the Sim-Jake first speaks to Jake who soon realizes that Sim-Jake can detect his presence and observation much in the same way that Jake can detect Villy.^[7] The two versions of Jake quickly devise a communication system to help Jake understand the choices and motivations of Sim-Jake.

A version of Jake that has fully embraced his bloodline, Sim-Jake has a general disdain for humanity, their weakness, their lack of motivation, and their inability to listen to their own instincts. He has such a strong dislike for pre-system humanity that he admits he was a bit disappointed when Jake confirmed that they were in fact human. Sim-Jake embraces the concept of being a superior human, at the apex or perhaps the next step in evolution.^[7]

Jake observes that having a bloodline based on superiority in an unintegrated universe has made Jake extremely apathetic. There are none of the challenges that exist in the multiverse. Additionally, Sim-Jake does not have his family to keep him tethered to his human side and to help him remain empathetic. Having no one he deemed worth of caring for, SIm-Jake disconnected from humanity early on.^[8] His biggest worry is that his life will remain utterly meaningless. He is thrilled when Jake promises that something is coming that will change everything.

In the tutorial, Sim-Jake is able to choose either a class or a profession (unlike Jake who was only offered a class). Sim-Jake choses to be a light warrior and begins with two daggers and a set of basic armor. He is sent to the tutorial Caleb would have attended. The organizer of the tutorial, an S-grade appears, and Sim-Jake is the only one who can stand in their presence. He later meets with Umbra, accepts a blessing, and receives the Legacy of Tenlucis.

Sim-Jake is distinctly less trusting than Jake. He doesn't even allow the constant contact of his Patron as Jake does for Villy, not trusting Umbra to observe him. Sim-Jake also declines to have a Profession and never intends to pick up one. He has no desire to split his attention and plans to eventually evolve to one of the enlightened races that only have a class or a profession. Unlike Jake, Sim-Jake seems to have an inborn hatred of being human.

Sim-Jake does not fight the King of the Forest, but rather a regular D-grade. In the final days of the Tutorial, Sim-Jake realizes that he's in a simulation. In the Tutorial Store, he uses his Tutorial Points to be able to actually see and hear Jake.

Not wanting the simulacrum to cease existing, Sim-Jake and Jake leverage their tutorial points and system event rewards to figure out away to preserve Sim-Jake's existence.^[9] They are granted an appropriate vessel to which to tie Sim-Jake's existence.

Bone of the Virtual Gap (Unique)- A bone created from a human rib belonging to a world that exists yet does not. Specifically made to house the simulacrum of Jake Thayne. Requirements: Soulbound.

Sim-Jake will be confined to Jake's Soulspace, unable to interact with the outside world.

• Miranda received five simulation choices. In one she died because she led the tutorial group in the opposite direction of Haven and never met Jake. Three more were tutorial-based, including one in which she saved Hank's wife. In the final choice, she attempted to take over Haven from Jake and was killed. She ultimately chose to the view the simulation in which she exited the tutorial and led her group to a small settlement ruled by the Holy Church.^[10]
• The King of the Forest received three choices, all three of which ended in him not becoming fallen. In one he remained on his home planet and nothing interesting happens. At all. In the second, he killed Jake in the tutorial and came to Earth determined to take over the planet, only to be destroyed by a united humanity. In the final, he fled the tutorial fight with Jake but was hunted down within a year of arriving on Earth.
• Sylphie received three choices, but none of them resulted in a significant deviation from her current path.
• The Sword Saint received the maximum six choices, but they were all minor variation that still led to him being a swordsman who stood at the apex of humanity on Earth. Miyamoto states that in all six choices, he and Jake end up in a duel.^[11]

For exceptional performance, Jake earned the following rewards:

Congratulations on fully experiencing the simulation of Choice 4!

Due to the exceptional performance of your simulacrum, you have earned the highest-level award. Not only did your simulacrum excel before the initiation, but it also managed to become Progenitor in the tutorial, similar to Origin, despite different prior choices that resulted in significant divergence. Finally, the simulacrum managed to realize its existence within a simulation and successfully partially remerged with Origin. Each Path you walk is truly unique and powerful, making you a true Progenitor of Myriad Paths.

Rewards Gained: 1x [Bone of the Virtual Gap (Unique)]. Title Earned: Progenitor of Myriad Paths.^[12]

For exceptional performance, Jake earned the following title:

Progenitor of Myriad Paths- A Progenitor through and through, you are born to walk unique and powerful Paths. You have earned the recognition of the Watcher attached to Earth and thus the Seat of the Exalted Prima. All bonuses gained are dependent on the simulacrum during the Path of Myriad Paths. +100 Agility, +100 Strength, +5% Agility, +5% Strength. Recognized as a potential Administrator Candidate for the Milky Way Seat of the Exalted Prima.^[12]

After exiting the simulation, Jake is given the choice of visiting the Administrator's Terrace. There he meets a humanoid being with orange skin and blue tattoo-like markings all over. His eyes have a faint red tint and no pupils. Jake is unable to Identify the man, but immediately notices that the person has a Bloodline.^[12]

This person is Ell'Hakan and he hails from Nahoom. He and Jake have a friendly chat in which Jake is unusually open, freely sharing his stats, titles, information about Earth and Haven. It goes on until Ell'Hakan asks for information about Jake's bloodline. Recognizing a severe threat, his bloodline triggers the signature thumping heartbeat of Moment of the Primal Hunter, snapping the influence of Ell'Hakan's bloodline over Jake.

Protected by the rules against violence, Ell'Hakan launches into a monologue about this being the beginning of their shared story and how Ell'Hakan is in full control of the narrative. He then exits dramatically. Jake is left shaken and frustrated by the idea of a bloodline that can control his emotions and perception.

• Approximately 200 people are invited to the Administrator's Garden, making them Candidates for Administrators of the Seat of the Exalted Prima.^[10]
• According to Villy, the simulation in Jake's Choice 4, was a 'Parallel World Simulation'. This means that Sim-Jake is a real person and had his own Truesoul while in his own universe.^[13]
• Villy admits that he cannot interact with Sim-Jake as he does not exist in the same Trueworld as the Viper. ^[13]