Path to Transcendence

He must have fallen asleep. However, when he woke up he was still covered in ash. On the bright side, he had all of his limbs attached to his body.

That was something to be celebrated.

In fact, he felt really good. He didn't remember a time when he felt as refreshed as this. He was still naked and covered in ash, but he felt amazing. More importantly, his soul felt more complete and more healthy than it had in months. His Phoenix Concept was already hard at work. Even the stress he put it under from soul boosting his skill was already healed by the time he woke up.

He was a little taken aback at it first. He had believed that he would have to evolve his skill to epic before he was healed, but it seemed that he and Alice were wrong about that. Apparently he had only needed the Concept to do so.

The first thing he did was push the ash from his body away. It was a surprising amount one would almost mistake it for an actual burial. With great effort and exertion, he was able to free himself at last. Gasping for air once his lips touched above ground.

He took a look around. The surrounding area was a similar sight. Powdered black snow was floating everywhere. It truly put into perspective how destructive whatever that stupid ball of metal was.

It was far hotter than even his fully empowered blue flames were. Did it make him crazy for wanting to learn how to replicate that more than focusing on the fact that he almost died? For real this time.

The other times were not this close. He should have died here today. This was something far beyond his abilities to deal with.

It was also a good reminder to not get cocky just because someone was Tier 3 or lower. Something he had done with those two men.

As he moved to get to his feet, he felt something hard poke him in the back. When he inspected what it was, he was startled to see that it was his storage ring. It must have fell off during the blast. He was thankful that he didn't lose it or that it got destroyed in the blast. There were a lot of tasty goodies stored within it.

He dusted him off and finally found himself a spot that wasn't completely covered in soot. It was only then that he removed his shower tool and gave himself a good scrubbing. It was very surprising to learn that he wasn't even that dirty. Everything was ash, which meant that any dirt on him or in the vicinity was turned into plain ash.

It was kind of a good bath in itself. Perhaps if he wanted to start a spa one day, an ash body scrub would make the list of possible treatments.

After his shower, he needed to decompress. That meant he began to create a table and chair for him to relax in. He had been making progress on this part of his skill set during his "break" from training. That was why his new furniture constructs had detailed molding on the corners of the table and on the back of the chair.

It was good practice and while it wouldn't be that practical, it was very fun to do. It still was a work in progress but he had been improving. He had even gone to Dante for some tips, which the old man grudgingly gave to him

He finished rounding off the table bevels with a caring touch, using a separate panel of mana to act as sandpaper. It was only then that he took out his food. In the spirit of surviving being turned to ash, he was going to treat himself to some barbeque.

He had some leftovers from a place he and the others went to one weekend. There was still a full rack of ribs and various smoked meats.

However, before he began eating, he took out Drasil from his core. The little green guy immediately ran and jumped his face. His worry was obvious and touching. Julius didn't even mind when Drasil starfished on his face and whistled loudly at him, voicing his displeasure over Julius's decisions.

Julius took it as well. He deserved it after all and Drasil deserved to let off some steam. He was just very thankful that nothing happened to Drasil either. He knew that spirits didn't actually die like humans did, but he still didn't know what exactly would happen to him if he did.

After a few minutes of scolding him, Drasil peeled himself away and gave Julius an expectant look. Julius in return just chuckled and placed the adorable green guy on a mat he pulled from his storage.

While Julius had gotten better at softened mana constructs, he still wasn't close to what a crafter with specific skills could create with their own. And in his personal opinion, the best little healer in the world deserved the best sitting arrangement.

It didn't matter that it cost almost a platinum for a pillow the size of his hand. It was ridiculously comfy and something that Drasil made sure Julius took out at every moment he could.

Drasil got settled into his normal position laying on his back, the soft embraces of the pillow swallowing the guy up until all you saw was a slightly bulbous green tummy. Once the familiar got comfortable, he placed his hand in the air and left it palm up.

Julius didn't say anything but without pause, he created an enormously dense orb of life mana. This time he had added some of the Concept of Phoenix to it as well. He was curious how Drasil would like it.

It turned out that the spirit loved it.

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I think I have found out his favorite new snack.

A part of him was telling him to forget about food and look at his notifications, but he reminded himself to just be grateful he was alive. Level-ups and skills could wait, he deserved a good meal after that ordeal.

Once he made sure Drasil was all settled in, he tore into the meats like a starving wolf.

***

Alice POV

"You did what?" Dante asked her demandingly.

"It wasn't supposed to go down that way. I did not expect the guy to have such a dangerous thing on him," Alice explained once again.

"It doesn't matter. He should have never been in that position in the first place," Dante pointed out angrily.

"I know," Alice said regretfully.

"I don't think you do. I think you manipulated the poor boy to sate your own twisted curiosity," Dante gave a sarcastic chuckle. "For someone who was so against the boy pushing himself, you did an awfully good job of doing it for him."

Alice scrunched her eyes into a frown. "I don't know what you are even talking about," she refutted.

"Oh? So I am mistaken in saying that you could have just given the boy a natural soul treasure. Sure, it would be expensive but it wouldn't be that big of a deal for you. It woud have saved you a lot of time and effort. If you really wanted him to heal him as safely and thoroughly as possible, that was what you would have done," Dante said.

When Alice didn't argue that, he continued. "You just wanted to see how far you could push him. How far the boy was willing to go on his own. You only wanted to see how strong Julius's willpower would become if he went through that."

That wasn't the only reason why, she thought to herself ruefully.

Alice looked down, her lips pressed together. "You saw what I saw. We talked about it. This boy could have gone on to do incredible things. It would have been a waste to not take advantage of this opportunity."

Dante snorted. "Yeah, could have."

"When did you start to even care for the boy? I thought that's the reason you are out here. To avoid personal attachments," Alice poked back.

She felt Dante's control of his aura slip and the bloodthirsty intent that made him infamous for rolled over her. "My feelings for the boy have nothing to do with this. You made a mistake and you cost the boy his life," Dante pointed his finger at her accusingly. "And for what? To satisfy your curiosity, that's what."

Dante got to his feet. "Show me," he demanded to Alice. "Take me to where it happened."

Alice didn't respond right away but she extended out her will to Dante. The older man accepted her will and allowed her to whisk him away with her spatial skill.

When she and Dante appeared at the location, she felt the same surge of regret. The entire area was still covered in ash

I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake. If I could g-

"What the hell is that?" Dante said, interrupting her thoughts.

"Huh?" she said dumbly.

"I thought you said he was dead," Dante said deadpan, his anger no longer as evident.

"He is, I saw it myself. There wa-"

This time she stopped herself. She saw why Dante was confused. The boy in question, the boy who she believed had died was sitting not that far away from the crater. Very much alive. Not dead like she had thought.

How is this possible? I know what I felt, I couldn't sense a single piece of him with my spatial senses. There was nothing but ash.

However, what really confused her was the fact that Julius was not only alive, but he was currently sitting down on one of his mana-constructed tables, tearing into a rack of ribs with sauce all over his mouth. The boy was also completely naked.

"What's going on…" she murmured.

***

Julius POV

Julius was so focused on devouring every morsel of meat from each bone, that he almost missed the appearance of Alice and Dante.

He turned to greet them. "Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked with a smile after wiping the sauce from his face.

"How are you alive?" Alice asked slowly, she looked as if she had seen a ghost.

"What?" Julius asked baffled at the first question she had for him.

"You were dead," she said softly.

Why would she think that? Did she know something happened to me? He took a glance at the crater full of ash. Although, it's not very difficult to see that something happened here.

He stood up and gave a dramatic wave of his body, showing that he was very much not dead. However, when he did that he realized one very embarrassing fact. He was completely nude. As naked as the day he was born.

Red-faced with horror, he quickly turned around and as swiftly as he could, put on some clothes on. He cleared his throat awkwardly and gave them a shy grin. "Sorry about that."

Dante had a weird expression on his face. Julius felt creeped out by it just by looking at it. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought the old man was smiling. Is he secretly some pervert?

Alice on the other hand was looking at him with the same shocked look on her face. "I was here. I saw you get burned to ashes by that suicidal attack."

Say what again? Did she just say she was here when he was fighting the two guys?

"You were here?" He asked slowly.

She nodded at him. "I was. I also saw you die."

"Well, obviously I didn't. I almost did though. Some help would have been appreciated," Julius said with a slightly upset tone.

"There wasn't any time to intervene. Before I knew it the guy exploded himself and everything in the area, including you," Alice said to him.

"And afterward?" Julius asked.

"There was nothing to help. I am not exaggerating when I say I didn't sense a single piece of you surviving. All that was left was ash," Alice said a little more loudly, hoping that he understood the implications she was making.

Julius knew better than anyone how good Alice's perception was. He admitted that her perception was better than even his own. It wasn't a shame to admit that, but it did make him question what had really happened. If it was someone else, he would have thought they had made a mistake. However, if Alice was saying there was nothing left of him, then he was inclined to believe her.

"What are you trying to say then?" He asked her, taking her concern with much more seriousness than before.