He watched as Rowan took a deep drink, downing his mug in one gulp before filling it again. Smiling, he turned to look at him.

  “Alright, Hector, right? Where do you want to start? I am all yours. Ah, before we go any further. There is one thing I should mention. This location is outside the tutorial and has some special rules I was able to establish millennia ago. Time is still running in your tutorial, but it has been greatly slowed. One day here is maybe one hour of tutorial time. So, no need to worry, we can take our time.”

  Hector smiled faintly.

  “Honestly, I am not even sure where to start, I have so many questions that it is a bit overwhelming. Better question is where should we start?”

  “Haha, you are not the first and you will not be the last to feel that way when it comes to this subject. Like I said, this Pantheon System has a few well-defined quirks that we all have to deal with.”

  Hector closed his eyes, trying to organize the chaos in his head. There were too many threads pulling at once, too many things he did not understand. On a whim, one recent frustration pushed itself to the surface.

  “What is a Paragon? That term never came up before. The system never explained any of that. It just dropped the title and moved on like it expected me to already understand.”

  Rowan chuckled, leaning back in his chair.

  “Yeah, that sounds about right. Paragons are what happens when someone survives long enough, climbs high enough, and still refuses to fit into the shape the Pantheon expects. We are not gods or some superior being meant to rule over the multiverse. Simply put we are individuals who pushed passed the limits of the system. We are proof that the system does not always get the final say.”

  Hector frowned slightly, absorbing that.

  “So you are like a top-tier existence, but still part of the system.”

  Rowan tilted his head.

  “Part of it, adjacent to it, sometimes even tolerated by it. A Paragon is a title given to deviants who go beyond what the system deems the end of ones path. We can surpass the power limits set upon us by the Pantheon. You should learn that limits placed on you by the Pantheon are not concrete, they are merely just part of the equation calculated by the Pantheon. It has been around awhile but even it cannot explain every phenomena in the universes.”

  “That sounds...awesome, but a little confusing.”

  Rowan laughed again. Hector exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair.

  “Ok, so what about deviants, because that has popped up more times than I can count. The Pantheon has made it very clear that I fall into that category, but I am not sure what that exactly means for me.”

  Rowan’s smile softened, just a little.

  “Deviation is not about power; it is about an individuals who core and power set do not align with the preset expectations set for by the Pantheon, at its core a deviation is refusal of those expectations. One must have the potential for unusual power and refuse all the paths set before them under the Pantheon. The system offers paths, and most people take these pre-determined paths, they are safe, turns out most folks and the Pantheon like safe. Deviants may start on that path, but they always forge a new one; it is neither safe nor tested. The outcome will never be certain, the only thing you are promised if that if you succeed, you will have greater power than anyone. The Pantheon hates that. It would prefer everyone fall into its pre-determined set ups. Not really the most creative being out there.”

  Hector snorted quietly. “Figures.”

  Rowan studied him for a moment, eyes sharp but friendly.

  “You are doing better than most, you are still alive for one. Plus, you have an inquisitive mind, don’t change that, always question what you don’t understand. That is usually how it starts.”

  Hector raised his own mug in response.

  “Then I guess I am in the right place.”

  Rowan grinned as he took another sip, thinking about how to approach the rest of the conversation so he could get the most out of it.

  “So, you told me a little about deviations. I suppose the pre-set paths make sense, not sure why the Pantheon would care so much though, but I guess understand the different path's part a bit. I mean, I use something meant to restore to destroy, but why does it care so much? I guess I just do not understand what I refused and why it is frowned upon. I know I am going to have to fight the Order once I go back. It would be nice to know why I am fighting them though, and why does the system seem to dislike deviants? A lot of things just are not making sense to me at this point. I can't even make coherent thoughts at this point, there is just to much I have yet to learn.”

  Rowan did not answer immediately. He leaned back in his chair, swirling the amber liquid in his mug, watching it catch the light. When he finally spoke, his voice had lost some of its humor, though the warmth remained.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “That is because refusals are not always loud. Most of the time, it is quiet. So quiet you do not even realize you have done it.”

  Hector frowned. “I did not refuse the system. I use it, I level, and I most certainly have never seen a set of rules I am suppose to follow.”

  Rowan nodded. “Exactly!”

  He set the mug down with a soft thud.

  “The Pantheon System does not dislike deviants because they break rules; it dislikes them because they ignore proven conclusions. In fact, it doesn’t truly dislike us, it just can’t comprehend the path we are taking so it tries to correct it. The system has been running for a very long time. Long enough to observe patterns across countless worlds, civilizations and species. Over time, it discovered something important.”

  Rowan lifted one finger.

  “There are paths that work.”

  He lifted a second.

  “And there are paths that fail.”

  “The system does not care why a path works. It cares that it produces results. After eons of iteration, the Pantheon found sets of progression that are statistically reliable. They produce powerful individuals with predictable trajectories.”

  Hector slowly nodded. “Classes, roles and builds?”

  “Exactly! Healers heal. Tanks absorb. Mages cast. The system rewards that clarity. The more closely you align with a proven structure, the more efficiently it feeds you growth.”

  “And deviants don’t follow those paths...” Hector said quietly.

  Rowan smiled faintly. “No, deviants ask a different question. Instead of asking how to grow, deviants ask why they should grow that way at all. You did not refuse a skill. You refused a calculation. Restoration is meant to mend. It closes wounds as well as stabilizing life. That is what the system expects when it offers that power. You refused that expectation. You decided healing could be weaponized. Not because the system told you it could be, but because it made sense to you. Your were presented with a threat and your body and spirit created a way for you to survive. Of course there are several other factors involved but I don't want to overload you more than you already are.”

  Hector felt a strange tightness in his chest.

  “I was just trying to survive,” he said.

  Rowan nodded again. “All deviants say that. The system tolerates deviation early. It observes and records, hell sometimes it even assists, but here is the problem. Deviant paths are untested and unstable. They cannot be reliably reproduced across individuals, and the system exists to scale power, not gamble on it. History shows the Pantheon is seeking to create reliable power houses in mass quantity, and that is something even I do not have an answer for. Perhaps it is preparing us for some unseen threat, or perhaps its just programming, at the end of the day though it doesn't matter because it is our reality regardless of the reason.”

  “So it weeds us out?” Hector said.

  “Yes, Not out of malice, but out of efficiency.”

  Hector stared into his mug.

  “Okay, that explains the system. What about the universe? Why does everyone else hate deviants too?”

  Rowan’s smile faded just a little more.

  “Because deviants do something far more dangerous than break systems. They break narratives. Empires, orders, pantheons, entire cosmic hierarchies. They are built on expectations. Predictable power and growth. As well as predictable threats. A deviant cannot be predicted. When someone climbs using a standard path, everyone understands what they are. How they fight, how they can be countered, but most importantly... how they can be controlled. You have the ability to heal, but that same power is also capable of great destruction. You are basically a walking contradiction, and once your power is discovered people will either hate you or be amazed. Ha your powers really do not make much sense, but so far you are owning it. To the greater universe, that is not innovation. That is instability.”

  Hector let out a slow breath.

  “And the Order?”

  Rowan snorted. “Fanatics hate uncertainty most of all.”

  He waved his hand dismissively.

  “The Order of the True Path believes deviation is corruption. That there is one correct way to grow, one correct way to serve whatever higher truth they cling to. You and I are proof that they are wrong.”

  Silence stretched between them.

  “So,” Hector said finally, voice quiet, “the system dislikes me because I am inefficient. The universe dislikes me because I am unpredictable, and the Order wants me dead because I make them uncomfortable?”

  Rowan’s grin returned, wide and unapologetic.

  “Now you are getting it!”

  Hector laughed softly, shaking his head.

  “That is a lot.”

  Rowan raised his mug.

  “Welcome to deviation, it does not make life easier. It just makes it honest.” He said with a smile

  He clinked his mug lightly against Hector’s.

  “If it helps, you are doing a hell of a job for someone who had no idea what he was refusing.”

  Hector took a long drink.

  “Yeah, guess I am committed now.”

  Rowan chuckled.

  “Oh, you passed that point the moment you decided healing could hurt.”

  Rowan’s grin faded as he stared into his mug.

  “Let me tell you a story,” he said quietly.

  Hector did not interrupt.

  “A long time ago, long before the system had refined its paths the way it has now, there was a woman named Ilyra. She was brilliant. Smarter than most mages I have ever met. She discovered that sound could shape mana. Not spells, but chants empowered by resonance and mana. She could hum and reality would answer.”

  Hector blinked. “That sounds incredible.”

  “It was, for a while...Ilyra refused casting forms and spells. She refused the systems attempts at efficiency. She believed power should flow freely, like music, and for years, she proved everyone wrong. She shattered battlefields with a whisper. By wielding sound and music she became an apex existence within the multiverse, but resonance does not like being controlled forever, it amplifies intent and can be highly unstable.”

  He met Hector’s eyes.

  “She stopped sleeping. Started hearing echoes where none existed. Her power kept growing, but her ability to guide it did not, she began to lose control her power.”

  Hector felt a chill settle in his chest.

  “When the system tried to correct her, she refused again. When the universe tried to contain her, she just sang louder. She did not explode or fall in battle. She simply just unraveled. She became her own feedback loop. F Finally the very power the she treasured caused her to unravel completely. She went on a rampage across the stars until finally she exhausted her resources and by that time, she was just a husk of her former self. Her power emptied her, turning her into a mindless being of destruction.”

  “What happened to her?” Hector asked quietly.

  Rowan’s gaze drifted toward the fire.

  “The system sealed the region she existed in. The universe wrote her out of history. Even her name is barely remembered. That is the risk of deviation, sometimes it fails. Not because it is wrong, but because it demands restraint that most people never learn. Power that contradicts itself will eventually ask what part of you it gets to keep.”

  Rowan drank.

  “Most people do not like the answer.”