Path to Transcendence

Something that Julius had learned throughout their many spars, was that Edgar used two different physical enhancement skills. One was for his fire affinity and the other was for his earth affinity.

It was a large reason why Edgar had some outstanding physical defense and offense for a Tier 3. Julius was pretty certain that both of the skills were epic ranked, however, that left one weakness in the skill\'s function.

It used up a lot of mana.

Well… A lot of mana for a physical enhancement skill if he was being completely transparent. It still didn\'t mean that he was in any real danger of running out of mana. Not unless he fought for an extended duration.

Which was exactly what Julius was planning. However, there was a problem with that as well. Edgar had the stamina of an ox. Without Julius\'s healing skill recovering his fatigue, he would have been totally worn out.

At first, Julius didn\'t want to use his healing skill at all when he sparred with Edgar, but Edgar made some really good points. For one, the more often he could heal his fatigue, the more often he would be able to fight and improve.

The other reason was that since Julius had already chosen to forgo using his mana constructs, he needed something to balance the scales. Otherwise, it wouldn\'t be a fight.

Still, he didn\'t want to rely on it too much, hence he only used the healing skill whenever he absolutely needed it.

Additionally, it wasn\'t just Julius who wasn\'t wearing his bracelets. Edgar had also chosen not to wear them. He told Julius that it was good practice to fight without such limiters and aids. The others didn\'t necessarily agree with him, but Julius did.

He also believed that was the main reason why Edgar was so different from the others. The way he fought was more brutalistic. He was strong, fast, perceptive, and had zero hesitation in his movements.

He could see why he was considered one of the strongest students at Goldencrest. Although Julius wasn\'t using mana-based constructs, he didn\'t have any illusion that he would win in a fight against Edgar even if he was.

If anything, the best shot he had of beating Edgar was like this. Fist against fist.

Edgar just had too many potent defensive skills that worked effectively against anything mana-based. That was mainly the reason why Julius had taken this opportunity to learn firsthand from one of the best hand-to-hand combat prodigies at Goldencrest.

Gabriel\'s class only did so much. He learned techniques and striking forms, but it was only with Edgar that he was able to put them to the test.

Julius had recently been trying a new tactic against Edgar. This plan relied on using his smaller size and explosiveness, a benefit from his kinetic energy, to get in close and cause chaos.

He sent a surge of power through [Sage of Savagery] and felt his entire focus narrow down until it was just the two of them. His new epic skill was quite good in his personal opinion. It didn\'t have the flashiness as [Armaments of the Arcane], but it was very effective.

Immediately, Edgar\'s movements were noticeably slower than before. It was as if Julius\'s perception of time was affected. A previously lightning-fast punch was now just merely fast.

Unfortunately, it seemed that it was no longer possible to enhance his concentration skill with [Empowerment of Will]. That was one downside of upgrading the skill to epic. Still, it wasn\'t that big of a loss when compared to what he had gained.

Although he had to take a step or two backward, he also was able to progress by three or four steps. It was a net positive and it was also nice that he no longer needed to use so much mental focus on empowering [Savage Dance].

Another unexpected benefit of the skill was its ability to tame the chaotic style of Julius\'s fighting. It was as if the skill had been made for it.

Edgar was still undoubtedly more skilled when it came to pure technical prowess. However, Julius was an unrelenting beast. He reveled in the chaos and it was like he was a fish in water. He blitzed Edgar with everything he had. Throwing in as many strikes and feints as he could safely manage, trying to overload Edgar\'s ability to manage the flow of the fight.

And it was working. He felt like he was a Sage of Savagery. He didn\'t care about taking a brutal strike to the stomach, not if he was able to land a single strike in return. He instinctually understood which attacks he could take and which ones he needed to avoid. He had a healing skill, and while he didn\'t overuse it, he still made sure to use it effectively and during the right moments.

Unfortunately, Edgar was a fighter with unbelievable physical strength. Julius suspected that he was already well into the level of Tier 4 when it came to sheer physical abilities. Which made it very difficult for Julius to handle him, despite having a skill that helped slow his perception of time. While he knew what he had to do, his body simply wasn\'t able to keep up with his mind. Likely an effect of having an epic-ranked concentration skill at Tier 2.

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Eventually, even with the untold aggression from Julius, Edgar was able to take advantage of his superior physicality and end the fight. He managed to wrap Julius up in a clinch and began to brutalize him with elbows and even a headbutt.

Julius tried his best to escape the hold, but Edgar was like a steel clamp. There was no escaping his grasp. Therefore, Julius made the best of it and began trading elbows and headbutts of his own.

He could confidently say that he came out worse of the exchange, but he was proud that he got Edgar with a few good shots in at the end.

The large boy was sporting several large bruises over his face as well. Granted, it took Julius practically fracturing his brain to do so, but he still considered it a win.

After he healed himself, he went over to Edgar and healed the boy\'s bruises as well, getting an appreciative nod in return.

Julius and Edgar both left the training facilities and headed off in different directions. Julius was going to go relax for a little bit before his nightly training, while Edgar had promised Aubrey that they would hang out.

While he was walking he checked out his notifications.

[Sage of Savagery lvl 1 -> lvl 2]

Julius was pretty excited for tomorrow. It was the weekend and he had plans to meet up with Declan. Last week they were supposed to go to the rift, but after Julius\'s Concept session, he was a little burned out in the soul department.

It wasn\'t anything too bad. His soul evolution helped offset the potential damage he might have gotten if it was before. Still, he understood that he needed a small break. However, tomorrow would be the day when he would finally delve into another Tier 3 rift.

A part of him was very excited and another part was very anxious. He was curious as to how he would do in a real Tier 3 rift. As far as he was able to find out, the troll rift wasn\'t exactly a normal rift experience.

I guess, I will find out pretty soon, Julius thought to himself.

***

He met Declan at the location of the Tier 3 rift. Unlike the Tier 2 rifts, the Tier 3 rift was located in an isolated area on the edge of the city. Julius could barely sense any people in the area.

The guards who were on duty were also very different than the ones from before. The one who approached them was high Tier 3. The one\'s from the Tier 2 rifts, felt a little empty in comparison.

"Authorization," the guard demanded.

Julius calmly passed over the access card to the guard who looked at Declan and Julius with calculating eyes. His gaze lingered on Julius for a moment longer than he did with Declan but quickly passed back the card when he confirmed its authenticity.

"Go on through," the guard told them, stepping to the side to allow them to pass.

When Julius walked into the building that held the rift, he noticed that the overall aesthetic was very similar to the ones from before. Large pillars supported the room around the swirling blue portal at the center of the room. However, one thing stood out.

Massive amounts of mana were being emitted by the enchantments that were active around the room. But what was interesting about it, was that Julius could somewhat sense the enchantments using the leaking mana from the rift to power the inscriptions.

It was quite a brilliant idea in his opinion. The Tier 3 rift had much more energy coming from it than a Tier 2 rift and the enchanters made sure that this structure took advantage of it.

Tier 3 rifts, unlike Tier 2 rifts, were more busy. That was the reason why Julius had to make a reservation, claiming the time for their delve. If he hadn\'t done that, they would have had to wait until there was an opening like the group of people he saw on the other side of the room were probably doing.

He gave them a quick glance and spotted that almost every one of them was wearing full gear. There was a large man, almost as large as Gabriel who was standing in front with his arms crossed over his thick armored chest. His gaze followed Julius\'s and Declan\'s movements across the room, it wasn\'t a threatening look but simply just observational.

The other members of his group included a tall man in sleek silver armor, carrying two swords on his waist. A pretty woman who wore light leather armor and a large black bow slung over her back stood next to him. Then there was a handsome shorter young man who carried a staff and wore a slim-fitting robe that was still practical to run. Finally, there was a man who only wore a black jacket and grey pants.

The man in the jacket piqued Julius\'s interest. While he wasn\'t directly looking at them like the larger man in thick armor was, Julius felt the man\'s aura calmly extending outward toward them, poking and prodding their aura.

He was sure that Declan managed to sense it, but it was only due to Lily\'s training that Julius had been able to catch it. He nodded his head to himself in acknowledgment. It was a skilled display of aura.

They all seemed very curious as to what a person Julius\'s age was doing at a Tier 3 rift. While Julius was wearing the black cloth that Dante made, his younger features couldn\'t be completely hidden with a piece of fabric.

The tall man with two swords, the lady in leathers, and the young man in robes were looking at Julius with frowns and looks of disgust. They most likely believed that Julius was some sort of noble son who was getting help from Declan. It was common enough that it wasn\'t surprising though.

The only people who didn\'t seem to look at Julius with looks of derision were the large man and the man with the jacket. The two of them had undecipherable looks on their faces, but it was more of curiosity than disdain.

Julius and Declan ignored their gazes and sat down on the bench in front of the rift, waiting for one group to leave the portal.

Declan had explained to Julius that this particular rift had several separate areas, which allowed multiple groups to delve without interfering with the other groups. However, they still needed to wait until another group left before they headed in.

Luckily, they didn\'t have to wait for long. In less than ten minutes, Julius spotted a group emerge from the portal. There were four of them. Two of them were young. One was a boy and the other was a girl. They couldn\'t have been much older than Julius. He wouldn\'t be surprised if he learned that they actually went to Goldencrest.

The other two were middle-aged and both Tier 4. Their auras were suppressed, but what leaked out was undeniable.

They had an Authority of their own. Julius subconsciously swallowed his saliva as he felt the heavy presence of these two people. While, they weren\'t as strong as Gabriel\'s or even Declan\'s, the two men did not hold their presence back nearly as well.