Path to Transcendence

All it really accomplished was making his hands hurt. It was safe to say that punching metal things with fleshy fists was not the brightest idea.

Although he didn\'t have trouble with them it didn\'t mean he enjoyed tearing his fists apart. Luckily, he had the perfect monsters to vent his frustration on.

Furthermore, even with him not having his constructed armor on. It made him realize that the monsters by the ravine and tall grass were stronger than the ones he faced in the forest.

The wolves and fat owl had been quite the worthy foes. Even the jackal like monsters were better than most of the other ones he fought today. Only the raccoon monster provided a fun challenge.

However, there was something bigger that had been bugging him the entire time.

He was only able to level [Flash Step] once. Just once. Additionally, none of his other skills made any improvements either.

[Flash Step lvl 1 -> lvl 2]

The first few levels of a skill were always easy to level up, so he was confused why it wasn\'t already level 3 or 4. It\'s not like he wasn\'t using his skill well enough or often enough. He was practically spamming [Flash Step] at the end of it and only then did he get that elusive level.

It was weird, he felt like he had been pushing himself enough to gain some levels or something at least, but nothing really happened. No matter how hard and how many times he used [Flash Step] or any other skills for that matter, he only got a single level and an annoying throbbing pain in his soul. That seemed to increase once he got [Flash Step] to level 2.

However, he tried his best to ignore it and use [Sage of Savagery] to dull the pain. Which worked pretty well.

He left the rift soon after, feeling a bit weirded out by the experience and immediately went to the training rooms to see if he could figure out what was going on.

***

The next couple of weeks went by in a hazy blur. And soon enough the two-month timeline he had with Dante was upon him.

During those weeks, he had gone back to that same Tier 3 rift a few times. To his immense concern, he didn\'t experience any growth during that period other than his new [Flash Step] skill.

[Flash Step lvl 2 -> lvl 5]

However, even that was outrageously slow. For how much he was using it, he expected more for a low level skill.

It was the same for all of his other skills as well. Skills like [Barrier of Severance] and others that weren\'t at the level 20 barrier weren\'t growing at all.

One couldn\'t imagine his frustration with his current situation. No matter how many nights he spent or how hard he pushed himself in the rifts or training, he wasn\'t able to do anything.

It was like he had hit a brick wall and couldn\'t move past it. No matter what he did, it was like it didn\'t even matter.

It wasn\'t only that, but every level he gained with [Flash Step] didn\'t come with the usual satisfaction but came with a stinging pain that raced throughout his soul. Each one worse the last.

For someone like him, who had experienced such rapid growth during these past several months, it was a source of irritation. Every day he had pushed himself harder, but nothing seemed to make a difference.

In reality, it actually seemed to hurt him more than help. His soul felt like a dirty old rag. It was as if someone had beat him up, rolled him into a ball, and dragged him through shit-covered spikes.

The others noticed something wrong as well. They realized that he was looking more tired than usual. All of them, even Edgar, his fellow training fanatic had been more vocal than usual about him taking a break.

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In the past, Julius would have told them not to worry, but even he had enough self-awareness to realize that something was wrong.

He was fraying at the seams and understood that he wouldn\'t be able to keep it up.

That was why he had decided a few days ago to stop training altogether. It was something that he was very reluctant to do, but it was something he truly believed to be necessary.

Previously, he thought that he needed some normal time to heal his soul fatigue. That\'s how it had always been. He was always still able to train, it was just a little sore for a bit.

However, even with the frequent doses of essence from Drasil, he wasn\'t getting any better. In fact, the fatigue had gotten worse. And each level seemed to enlarge the crack in his soul.

Therefore, putting a halt to all of his training was the most obvious but most agonizing thing he could do. He decided to not do anything that revolved around him using his soul. No skill increases, no Concept training, or pretty much any training.

Why would he continue pushing himself harder and harder if he wasn\'t getting any results? At least that was his mindset when he made the decision to cut himself off.

He was proud to say that was exactly what he did.

It had only been a few days, but he was already grateful for his decision. The pain and fatigue didn\'t go away completely, but it wasn\'t as severe as it had been. During times like now, when he was reading a book in the gardens, he felt pretty good. The pain hid away as a dull throb, instead of a needling torture.

The others were utterly shocked to see him actually taking a break. Aubrey had even asked him if he was the same person, thinking that someone had somehow taken his place and stolen his identity.

He was only slightly offended by that implication. It also didn\'t help that the others had similar thoughts. He had even caught Lily snooping around in his head on a couple of occasions, making sure that Julius was indeed Julius.

He had just given her an \'are you serious\' look when he caught her. She at least had the grace to look embarrassed.

They were happy for him though, for taking the initiative to give himself a break.

Still, a part of him still hated it because he knew he wasn\'t making any progress. But the other part of him understood why it was essential for him, not only for his soul but for his mind. His training had begun to take a desperate tone. It was no longer about him enjoying the process, it was more about him being obsessed with getting more levels.

Only when he had stopped training so hard and had some time to think these past few days, did he realize how addicted he was to training. He was like a crack addict who couldn\'t go a few days without feeling the joy and getting a new notification or skill level.

It was a humbling reality check for him. He hadn\'t realized just how manic he was behaving until he took a step back and really reviewed his actions these past weeks.

Training before had felt natural. It felt like it was integral to his day. Twelve hours spent training was an easy day for him. But now he understood his folly.

He had been pushing himself too hard. The others had been right. It was difficult to admit the truth, but they were right. He wouldn\'t ever tell them that. Aubrey would not ever let him live it down if he did. But he knew deep inside that it was true.

The Concepts acquisition and his new epic skill had just been the final straw that broke the camel\'s back. Something went wrong during that process. Something pushed him over his limit and cracked something in his soul. Something that couldn\'t be healed with his healing skill or even with Drasil\'s improved abilities.

It was something that was preventing him from making any improvements to his skills.

In fact, if Lily hadn\'t gifted him that Sylvan Petal, he believed he would be in a much worse place at this point. If Drasil hadn\'t been constantly feeding Julius some of his life essence, he might have been in some serious trouble.

It wasn\'t like his healing skill was able to heal his soul. So far only Drasil\'s essence has been able to achieve that.

He was just thanking his lucky stars that he decided to raise the cute little guy.

The little guy in question was actually sitting on Julius\'s chest as they both laid down on the grass by their new spot. The adorable green spirit was sucking on a life mana orb that Julius had created for him, while Julius was reading a book and snacking on some cookies.

That had been their normal routine for these past few days. They went to class, ate food, and spent the rest of the time lazing about. He had even been getting much more sleep, which to his immense amusement made Henry very uncomfortable whenever he spotted Julius in their dorm.

It was a guilty pleasure he had partaken in.

On another note, he just needed to take a week or two in order to get his head back on straight and everything would be alright again. In the meantime, a break was good for him.

It honestly felt really nice. Too nice. He could see how people enjoyed spending their days lazing around and not doing training twenty-four-seven like he had been. He could see himself getting used to this kind of life. Eating delicious food and hanging out with his friends wasn\'t a bad way to enjoy life.

A silver lining to this break was that it was a good lesson that demonstrated to him that there was more to life than getting stronger. It was actually a lesson he already knew beforehand, but somewhere down the road, he had forgotten about it.

At some point, all that mattered was to get stronger.

And so as he enjoyed his book with the rising light of the sun, he made himself a promise that he would pay closer attention to his health. Or at the very least, make a better attempt than he had been.

He ignored the doubtful glance he got from Drasil who was staring at him from his spot on Julius\'s chest. It wasn\'t like the little guy could read his mind… right?

Anyway, he would be fine. Everything would work out in the end, his soul was just a little tired. Once he recovered he would be back to his usual shenanigans.