Path of Transcendence
Brian McGoldrick
Mark McGuinness spent eleven years living as Talon inside Taereun: Battleground of the Damned — a game that was secretly a testing ground where the Nameless God harvested minds and souls into real bodies. Murdered just as the Gate to Haven opened, Mark wakes in his scarred original body on Earth, discovers he can channel the Power called ki, and returns to Taereun as Brand to settle debts with mortals and gods alike. Across five volumes he fights through gladiatorial slave pits, serves and defies gods (Woden, Boran Second Father, the Dragon Gods), and walks the Path of Transcendence from mortal fighter toward godhood as multiverse-spanning war erupts over the dimensional drives of Yggdrasil.
Progression: Ki-based cultivation (the Power) on an explicit Path to Power / Path of Transcendence: protagonist Mark McGuinness learns to channel ki in his human body, trains under a master (the Smith), and climbs from mortal fighter toward godhood across god-tier ranks (Nameless God/Woden, Jotun Lords, True Dragons, Transcendent Dragon, Avatars of Death, High Men bloodline). Combines cultivation advancement with lite LitRPG/game-world elements (Taereun began as a testing-ground game).
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