C: Transfer - [Path of the Shadow]
Remember this whole part about no way to cheat? Well, I cheated. I only told you this to set the tone for the first two paths. We both know there is ALWAYS a way to cheat. You'd have to be blind to not see that this is true all around you in the modern world. And you are in luck - for humans are cheating experts when it comes to avoiding having to work on themselves. For as a species, at least lately, we did not evolve. In fact we involved the world around us to continue being apes. And with that we have conjured up enough edge-mana to cast a solid Level 3 "Thoughtcurse". Hope you skilled some SDEF, boy. It's usually not my style, but you gotta fit the tone of the board somehow, as an second-rate OP like myself I must cater to all audiences. And since hopefully all the hippies are off searching for themselves at this point, be it within or without, it's now just you and me. Welcome to the coolkid train. Destination: Hell.
Ok, alright, enough shitposting but seriously, we all know what's the third, missing link here. It's also the most known way to aquire energy: You simply transfer it from somewhere else. Somewhat present in our other physical metaphores already, as you still have to transfer the energy you "created" in order to make use of it, you can think of it as a geothermal reactor, for example - you take energy that already exists. But for this part we need a different metaphore - this example is too clean, too economically sensible. The best I can come up with is the fictional idea of the good old movie-triology "The Matrix", as it is also often used as a metaphore for many other spiritual topics and the inventer of the original red pill, which I am somewhat dealing out here, though these days it is green. In the movie, humans are being treated as cattle, the electricity and heat of their body used as batteries. And while yeah, I know, "Wouldn't pretty much anything make a better battery than a human body, like, for example, a battery?", in our case we have already established that the SOUL of the human actually makes a pretty good battery. And so, on this part, we think of it as such: A ressource.
Souls can be taken and given. Energy can be taken and given. The occultists of this board and their thoughtform-friends know this too well. So does history. So does its artwork. So do (((they))). So do you. The easiest and, in fictional works, most famous way to aquire power that somehow - unlike other ways which require montages to make them palateable - ages well well like an old wine. I am talking about the good old "Deal with the devil". While you might not be able to take you own energy and turn it into something else, some advanced spirit - maybe even with a physical body? - might. But if that spirit had aquired such abilities through path A or path B it would certainly prefer to help you aquire your own enlightenment, rather than helping you cheat and hinder your progress. So it is most likely they, just like you, used path C. It is not doing this for you, but for itself. Still, if win-win situations were impossible, capitalism would not work as well as it does. Though I am not naive enough to claim that it only and exclusively consists of such deals, optimism still is required, along caution, to strike those deals. All you need is to find a trade partner who has the same interests as you. Are you a scientist who ventured too deep down the rabbit hole, at the limits of your human brain at understanding the world clearly not made by such an organism? Call Bill, friendly neighborhood demon of knowledge ("and fear"? Pah, just rumors! Don't be so paranoid, what are you, some conspiracy-nutjob?!). He'll help you build a spherical science-thing that takes the world apart for you to check out whats within! Completely without rifts in the time-space continuum! Awesome. Oh, more hungry for practical power? Send an SMS with the keyword "Moloch" and a dead baby to 000-666-٦٦٦ in the next 10 minutes and you will not just recieve mind-control powers, but also two years additional lifespan-time! Or, you know, if you are low on dead babies you could always just take the soul of someone else, possibly also drink their blood if that is your thing.
Yeah, I won't go into details because certainly, I am no expert on the methods at all but you can find this method everywhere, be it in /fringe/-literature, fiction or conspiracies. So without doubt it deserves its fair share of mention. Though obviously personally I am not the biggest fan - I'm only human, after all - by no means do I want to imply that this path is not valid, or always "bad". "Good" and morally neutral spirits are out there, just be careful.
Pro: It doesn't take a fucking life-effort.
Con: Dangerous risk. (At becoming an Edgelord.