Path to Transcendence

[Pure Compression lvl 17 -> lvl 18]

[Kinetic Augmentation lvl 15 -> lvl 16]

[Empowerment of Will lvl 11 -> lvl 12]

Four skills leveled up which was nice, but many of them had been on the cusp for a while. He was a bit disappointed that [Mana Slash] hadn\'t gotten there yet. He really thought that this new way of using it would give it that extra lift.

Using [Mana Slash] with his constructs such as his defensive layers of mana was not as easy as using them for his spikes. The only way he found it could work, was if he made himself believe that the constructs were attacking the incoming attack. It appeared that the way he interpreted the construct played a role in how he could use the skill. He had to envision the [Mana Slash] tearing apart whatever was going up against him. In a way, it was more akin to an offensive weapon than a shield or barrier, but either way, it served its purpose well.

However, that led to another question. How far could he take that interpretation? Could he eventually believe something absurd such as imagining that the air was attacking him and then the skill would be able to activate all around his body, slicing through the air? He didn\'t believe so, he believed that there were certain limits to what the skill could extend to, even with a creative mind.

Then again, using [Mana Slash] with his own body wasn\'t a bad idea necessarily. He probably could create an edge of mana around his hand that could cut through something if he tried. But why would he when he could just create a strong construct around his hand and then use [Mana Slash] around that?

Anyway, the fight wasn\'t as easy as onlookers might have perceived it. Julius was really pushing himself as he used his new technique for the first time in a fight. He was certain it would get easier with practice and time, but for now, he was happy with his results. However, he imagined that once he got a skill revolving around this new technique, it would become much simpler and more seamless. Right now, it was a cobbled-together mess and he had to rely on too many steps to achieve it.

The main thing that helped him use that many skills in conjunction was his use of [Empowerment of Will] with [Savage Dance]. He was only able to use it in small irregular spurts, but that alone had enabled him to have to mental capacity to handle that many steps and skills.

Although, it was very difficult to do anything other than that when he was using it. He couldn\'t really use kinetic energy or other techniques because he was so focused on it. He was really enjoying [Mana Slash] though. It was a skill that was a very nice addition to his repertoire.

After he had launched that last barrage of explosive spikes at Aubrey, the fight was over. She hadn\'t moved from the spot but her eyes were open at least. He walked over to her and sat down next to her.

To her credit, she had gotten much stronger. Every ability was stronger than the first day he fought her. Even her [Diamond Skin] skill was almost twice as hard to get through. He had to sacrifice his arm to deliver a strong enough payload.

Not to mention that her switching was so much faster and more fluid. Julius had been unable to touch her as she darted in and started to lay into him. Every time he thought he got her with a punch or kick, she would switch with one of her many clones. It was frustrating, to say the least. If he didn\'t have [Spatial Perception] he would find it very difficult to even last a minute.

She had calmed down at least. He could already tell that she wasn\'t as stressed out as before. He wasn\'t surprised by her words earlier, it was consistent with what Julius had seen from her so far. She was a stubborn and rash person, but at the core, she was kind and caring. He could tell that she had wanted to apologize to him, but her stubbornness hadn\'t allowed her to and she ended up challenging him to a fight instead.

Julius leaned over to the still-prone figure next to him and injected her with a small dose of life mana, healing her exhaustion and fatigue. He heard her sigh in relief and her breathing was more calm.

"I\'m sorry," she apologized to him out of the blue. "I\'m such an idiot. I hope you don\'t hate me."

He laughed lightly, "Hate you? Never."

"You sure? Because I certainly hate myself right now," she said morosely.

He looked down at her and gently shook his head before lying down beside her. He looked up at the ceiling. "You know, you weren\'t exactly wrong about me not sleeping. I know it was partly a joke, but I don\'t sleep. I spend most of my nights training from dusk to dawn. You\'ve seen my healing skill, I figured out a while ago that I don\'t need sleep like normal people."

He heard Aubrey\'s clothes rustle as she slowly shifted her head to look at Julius, who was still looking up at the ceiling. He imagined she had a disbelieving look on her face. He still didn\'t look at her but continued on talking. "I don\'t have your or the other\'s talents or affinities, so I have to take advantage of what I do have. And that is how much time I can use to train. Look at you, you most likely spent less than half of the amount of time that I did training your skills, but look at your improvements. They were as good or really close to as good as mine were."

There was a brief pause before Aubrey finally decided to speak. "You don\'t sleep at all? Not even a couple of hours?"

Julius shook his head. "No. Though I admit that I do miss it sometimes. I miss the feeling of relaxation and serenity from sleeping," he confessed to her. And it was true. Just like the pleasures of eating food, he didn\'t need to eat anymore either as long as he had life mana. Similarly, there was a certain pleasure in sleeping that he missed.

"Why don\'t you then? Even if it\'s just a few times a week?" She asked curiously.

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"I would be wasting too much time and chances to train. Time I can\'t afford to lose," he said solemnly.

"Why\'s that? What\'s pushing you to get stronger this fast? I don\'t get it."

Julius sighed softly. "A lot of reasons. Revenge, freedom, the thrill of getting better, you name it. There are many reasons for me to get stronger."

She didn\'t say anything after that. She stopped looking at him and was looking at the ceiling just like he was. Julius knew that she understood, after all, she was very similar, and she wanted to get stronger as well.

"How did you heal that fast?" She asked suddenly.

Julius just shrugged his shoulders. "I told you guys that I had a really good healing skill."

"Yeah, but I don\'t think you quite explained how freakishly fast you were able to heal yourself," Aubrey commented.

"It\'s how it\'s always been, at least ever since it hit rare. It\'s also primarily a self-healing skill, that\'s why it\'s much more potent. If I wanted to use it for healing other people, I have to manually control my life mana to do so," he explained to her.

Aubrey just chuckled incredulously. "You make it sound like something like that is easy."

Julius didn\'t say anything in response. It wasn\'t easy and she knew it better than anyone else. It was only because he had such a firm grasp on his mana control that he could do something like that.

They lay there for what seemed like forever. They didn\'t say anything else but were just content to be in each other\'s presence. To Julius\'s amusement, he felt both Lily and Edgar also make their way toward them.

They didn\'t know what to do after the fight ended. Neither said a word as Julius and Aubrey laid down and talked to one another, but now that the two of them hadn\'t said anything or done anything for a while, they came walking over.

Their steps were slightly trepidous and unsure of themselves. It felt like the two of them were slowly approaching a wild animal who at any moment could lash out and attack them.

Julius cranked his head to look at them and smiled, gesturing for them to come on over. That seemed to alleviate their concerns and they no longer were so hesitant to approach them. They didn\'t say anything, but they also laid down next to Julius and Aubrey.

He felt Aubrey shift, she must have noticed their presence finally and said, "I\'m fine now. We\'re good."

Lily turned to her side to look at her friend. "You sure?" She asked with concern.

Aubrey nodded her head. "Honestly, just more embarrassed than anything else."

The four of them stayed like that for a while longer. Julius even passed around some snacks and drinks he had lying around in his storage ring. Honestly, he was really enjoying this spatial device. He was sure that he wasn\'t even using it for how it was probably intended. Storage devices were highly sought after because of their ability for people to hold onto their valuables and large items on their person and not in some warehouse.

However, Julius found himself using his spatial ring kind of like a vending machine. He was finding the most use out of it for holding his snacks and other tasty foods. Additionally, because of its properties, the storage devices kept food in a nearly perfect and identical state to the one they were in when they were initially put in it. This meant that bread didn\'t get stale and food didn\'t spoil. By all accounts, it was a perfect food storage.

Soon the whole incident was forgotten like it had never happened. Aubrey and Lily were both enjoying a sweet pie-like pastry along with some tea Julius had stored. Edgar on the other hand was enjoying some thin shoelace potato strings that were deep-fried. They were very similar to french fries and Julius had seen Edgar getting them very often for his meals, which was why he had some stored away. You never knew when having someone\'s favorite food would come in handy.

They all sat down together and were enjoying their snacks and drinks. All of them quickly forgot about the day\'s earlier events.

However, Julius had something he wanted to ask them about. "So what is this whole thing regarding Princess… " His question tailed off. He actually forgot the name of the princess.

Luckily, Lily knew what he was asking about. "The Imperial Princess Reinera-," she stressed. "-is a delicate situation. According to my father, many groups believe that she is a threat to the tentative balance that is being maintained in the Empire. Which is the reason why she was sent all the way to Heston."

"Why would a young girl threaten the balance?" Julius asked curiously. He could understand if she was a Tier 6, but she was just a young girl around his age.

Lily shook her head, "It\'s exactly because of her age that presents such an issue. The Royal Family had been hiding the Imperial Princess\'s affinity and Bloodline for a while now. Yet, somehow or someone leaked the information to the other noble circles causing a ruckus."

"Is her affinity and Bloodline that important? I know perfect affinities are rare but there are probably many at Goldencrest alone. As for Bloodlines, I admit I don\'t know practically anything about them but they can\'t be that rare, I know that many houses have members with Bloodlines," Julius commented.

"You\'re right," Lily said.

See, I\'m not that uninformed, Julius proudly complimented himself.

"But-"

Oh, never mind. He sadly uncomplimented himself.

"-the fact that it is a Royal Family member is what makes it difficult. The light affinity and Luminous Bloodline are distinct markers of the Empire. The Royal Family will want the princess to sire as many lines as she can, hoping that she will have many talented children. This means that an arranged marriage is completely expected in the future and whoever marries within the Royal Family will gain significant influence."

"So what? Her family is just going to sell her like some broodmare?"

"A what?" Lily asked confused.

"A broodmare is a female horse that is sold for specifically breeding purposes," Edgar helpfully added from the side. Edgar himself knew what that was because he had grown up on a farm with many horses.

"Oh," Lily seemed to understand now. "Yes, but you shouldn\'t call the Imperial Princess such a vulgar thing. You could get in real trouble if someone else were to hear you," she scolded Julius.

"Got it, I won\'t compare the princess to a horse. So what\'s the big deal then? She gets married and then has some kids. Why is everyone freaking out?"

"At the moment, there are only a few Houses that she might be married to, and the other Houses don\'t exactly like that and want her dead," Lily explained to him.

"So the rumors that she was almost killed are true?"

"Yeah, there have been multiple attempts on her life in the past year. Unlike other many academies, Goldencrest and Heston do an admirable job of keeping politics out of the school and the region. Perhaps that is the reason why she is being sent here. I can\'t really say though, I fully expect that there will be other attempts during the year. So it would be best to keep on guard, otherwise, you might find yourself stuck in the crossfire," Lily advised him.

Julius took a moment to absorb all of that information. He spent several seconds praying to whatever god or whatever entity that had sent him to this world to leave him out of this drama. He had his own things to worry about and adding cliche princess politics to his life was not on his list of desirable things.