Path to Transcendence

"He said that he liked to fight strong people," Julius said.

Aubrey straight-up laughed at that but she saw that Julius was being serious and quickly stopped. "Sorry, what do you mean by that?"

"Obviously, not tier-wise, but he said he liked to fight people who were strong for their tier," Julius clarified.

"How strong exactly?" Kyle asked from behind Edgar. Julius was taken aback, this was the first time that Kyle had chosen to talk to him directly before.

Julius thought about how he wanted to answer. To be fair, he might have to start telling them the truth. It wasn\'t like he was trying to hide everything about himself like his life depended on it, but he thought that the more he shared the higher the likelihood that someone from Duke Greyson\'s camp or connected to the plan would take notice of Julius. He still didn\'t know if his details were shared amongst themselves.

The only person who knew most of the truth was Declan. Everyone else only knew small parts of his story and secrets. He had originally wanted to hide so much because he was worried about attracting the wrong sort of attention, but it was already becoming a nuisance. The constant need to focus on holding himself back was frustrating.

He has a life spirit on the way as well, so even if he didn\'t come out with a life affinity, he was sure that many people would just assume he had a life affinity. The only thing that he felt was the most important secret was about who he was, and what happened at the mansion.

Julius realized that after his spar with Gabriel. The feeling of being able to go all out, even though he got his ass kicked, was liberating. It made him understand how much he disliked having all of his secrets, he would much rather just be able to display his strength openly, but he wasn\'t strong enough yet.

He wanted to share his secrets with these new friends of his. Julius wanted to get closer to these amazing people and didn\'t think that keeping so many secrets was a good start to a healthy relationship.

He had even seriously considered asking them if they knew anything about the circumstances of House Hyperius. Derek was the grandson of Duke Zenith, Lily was the granddaughter of Count Violet, and Kyle was a Quincy. Between the three of them, the chances that they knew what happened to his family were pretty high.

Declan hadn\'t heard about anything regarding House Hyperius in the time he had gotten to Heston and Julius was getting impatient. Not knowing what happened to his family was killing him.

"Hello? You still there?" Aubrey bumped Julius on the shoulder, bringing him out of his own thoughts.

He nodded at her and turned to Lily, "How good is your barrier at sealing in sounds?"

"Oh, you can sense it? It\'s pretty good for my tier. I don\'t think anyone under Tier 4 could get through, and if they did, I would be able to notice that the barrier had been compromised."

Julius made up his mind. He would at least share some of his secrets.

So he did, he explained a lot, only leaving out the rift and his family. However, he told them about his real strength, that he was able to fight against weaker Tier 3\'s and his life affinity.

His reveal about his affinity didn\'t come as that much of a surprise, they were more confused about why he hid it and why he had chosen three affinities in the first place. Telling him that it would just split his attention too much, giving many of the same reasons that Edwin had told Julius after his affinity ritual. However, they had a much harder time accepting his claims of his strength.

They were kind about it and didn\'t outright call him out, but Julius felt their skepticism. He didn\'t blame them either, a Tier 1 fighting not just one tier up, but two was a bold claim. Fighting a Tier 3 was different than having firepower or defensive skills on par with a Tier 3.

Just like Gabriel had told Julius earlier, there were students in his own year who had unique talents when it came to pure firepower, rivaling his own. However, how many of those students also had the defensive skills, movement abilities, or general combat proficiency to hold up against a Tier 3? Probably not many, if any at all.

He didn\'t try to convince them, the only way to show them would be to fight them. The only person who didn\'t seem as skeptical was Lily. She appeared to have some sort of truthtelling ability and was able to tell that Julius was telling the truth. Or at least, she could see that Julius believed that he could fight a Tier 3.

Julius saw her look around at her group of friends, understanding that they wouldn\'t believe Julius unless they saw it for themselves.

"Why don\'t we see it for ourselves then?" She finally said loudly over the others who were talking amongst themselves. That got the attention of the others, interested that Lily was the one who recommended it.

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"That\'s a great idea. I want to see it myself. I don\'t doubt you are strong, but I admit I don\'t quite believe you can fight Tier 3\'s," Aubrey said enthusiastically.

"Are you okay with that Julius?" Lily asked him.

"Yeah, I don\'t blame you guys for being skeptical," he told them.

He didn\'t mind going for another spar even though he had just fought with Gabriel. However, Derek must\'ve realized the same thing because he said, "Right now? Julius just sparred not that long ago. We can do it tomorrow or later tonight."

Julius was quick to reassure Derek, "I am good as new, I healed myself after my spar with Gabriel so I am completely fresh."

"You have a rejuvenation skill?" Edgar asked excitedly, looking right into Julius\'s eyes.

"Yeah, why?" He asked a little wary.

"They are great for training, you can train for longer and harder without worrying about soreness or wearing yourself out. There are healers at the academy who offer their services, but you are limited to how many times you can use them. There are too many students who want to use them, but not enough healers," Edgar explained.

"Mine is a self-healing skill, but I could try to adapt it to use on others if you\'re interested," Julius offered.

"I will gladly take you up on that," Edgar said happily.

"Hey, what about me?" Aubrey interjected from the side.

"Sorry, but Julius said he could only heal me," Edgar told her in mock sincerity.

She whacked Edgar across the head. "He did not say that. I was literally sitting right here. He never mentioned it was just for you. Right, Julius?"

"Will you hit me too if I say no?" Julius asked, pretending to be scared.

"Yes," Aubrey said with a completely serious face that actually made Julius start believing that she might really hit him if he didn\'t share with her too.

"I will heal you," he assured her quickly.

"Thanks!" She told him with a big smile of her own.

"Okay, so you wanna head out now?" Edgar asked them all.

Everyone agreed and made their way back to the main training facility. There were plenty of rooms meant for individual and group training. Edgar said that certain times of the day were always really busy, so he recommended reserving a spot if he needed to. Luckily, they found an open room when they got there.

It was similar to the gymnasium they had used for Hand-to-Hand Combat earlier but smaller. However, there were sets of simulated combat devices hanging from a wall that students could use.

"So who wants to go first?" Derek asked everyone.

"Me!" Aubrey immediately.

Julius wasn\'t surprised, he had expected that either her or Edgar would be the ones who tested him. He saw glimpses of their spar during their class earlier and knew both were great fighters. Aubrey had a style similar to Edwin\'s. She avoided a head-to-head brawl while waiting for an opening to counterattack and when she did it was full of tricks of misdirection. Honestly, it was quite an annoying fighting style to fight against. However, Julius had fought with Edwin for years, which meant that it was a style he was very familiar with.

He knew that he didn\'t have great chances against a talented Tier 3 like Aubrey, but he knew he had a better chance than fighting against Gabriel. After the thrashing he got earlier, he was hoping for a win, or at least put up a good fight.

Julius walked to the other side of the room and activated his bracelets. He hadn\'t told them about his long-range abilities yet. But he hoped he could catch Aubrey off guard with it.

Derek was on one side of the room activating the barrier that was installed in the room before he asked, "Are you both ready?"

Both Julius and Aubrey nodded at him, letting him know that they were. Aubrey wasn\'t quite taking it seriously, her stance was loose and casual. Whereas Julius

"Okay on my mark. Three, two, one… fight."

Julius didn\'t waste any time. He immediately unleashed a wave of fire that blinded Aubrey\'s vision and dashed to the side while creating a dozen spikes to his side. Aubrey must\'ve had some sort of perception skill, but it wasn\'t that precise, because while she could track his general direction, she didn\'t look exactly where Julius was.

Once Julius finished his preparations, he activated [Kinetic Augmentation] and [Empowerment of Will] as much as he could safely do. He left behind half of the spikes as he dashed to the other side of the room. There was still a good amount of coverage from the fire, as Julius was still controlling it, but Aubrey still tracked him.

With his other spikes, he shot them right at Aubrey\'s chest. He saw her face widen in surprise and barely activated her own skill in time. Julius saw her body shimmy and then split into three separate copies. Each one was shining like a prismatic version of her. Julius quickly controlled two spikes to attack each copy. But all the spikes went straight through them. It appeared that all three were not real.

It was only due to [Spatial Perception] and his aura sense that he barely felt a presence barreling toward his back. Julius released a wall of flame that surrounded himself. However, he felt Aubrey continue to attack through the flames.

He waited for the last moment, trying to not tip her off that he knew where she was. It was only when she was committing to her strike that Julius pivoted and threw a leg that was full of kinetic energy.

It took Aubrey completely by surprise and Julius tried to capitalize on the opening. He blasted her from the back leg with a kinetic burst and slammed his leg into her arms that she put up to block.

However, it felt like he just shattered his own leg. Gabriel had felt like no matter how hard Julius hit him, Julius didn\'t feel like he ever did any damage. It was like hitting an indestructible pillow. Aubrey was not like that. Her skin was layered in a sparkling material, that felt like it was made of diamond, which would make sense considering she was a crystal affinity user. But it still hurt like a motherfucker, kind of like stubbing your toe but way worse.

The force behind the kick still blew her several dozen paces away, sending her toppling head over toe, so that made him feel better. Still, Julius felt his leg get locked as the bracelet must\'ve determined that he had a broken leg.

Julius didn\'t let Aubrey get back to her feet though. As she was still rolling away he created several more spikes and sent them right at her face at a breakneck speed. They slammed into her, but her skill was still active and didn\'t penetrate through her skin and exploded in her face.

She was blasted even further away, smacking against the barrier with a loud thunk. She got up quickly, still raring to go. However, unlike Gabriel who didn\'t show any damage, she had large dents and chips where the spikes landed.