Path to Transcendence

"Is there a reason why you are so convinced I should take it?" Julius asked Alice.

"Several actually, but the main one is that your healing skill is already such a crucial part of your skill set that losing it could potentially hurt you more than you would want. Even though you can still learn another healing skill, possibly a Phoenix-related one, it is a huge risk. One I don't think you need to take."

He wasn't exactly disagreeing with her either. He was leaning toward keeping the general upgrade himself. [Phoenix Body] sounded like it might have some permanent consequences. Consequences that were too unknown and potentially too damaging.

[Rebirth of Ash] could save his life in the future. But considering that he had almost died, or in Alice's opinion, actually died, he couldn't trust himself that he was thinking clearly. He was still affected by the trauma of the event.

Although [Sage of Savagery] and Inexorable Will helped keep his emotions together, he understood the impact of the recent event might be influencing his preferences right now.

"I'm going to choose [Phoenix Renewal]," he told them, sounding much more confident than he felt. However, he still believed that it was the right choice. Alice was right, his current healing skill was his bread and butter. Losing it would drastically affect him and his abilities.

"Okay, go for it. Me and Dante are here if you need any help controlling the skill if your soul can't handle it," Alice assured him.

He nodded at her and then without any further ado, he selected [Phoenix Renewal].

Congratulations, skill [Phoenix Renewal] (Epic) acquired.

It went really smoothly. More smooth than any of his other epic skills. He didn't even feel like he had to do anything. Perhaps that was the advantage of a superior skill. It was also very nice to not feel any sort of pressure on his soul while he evolved it.

Smiling to himself, he immediately took a look at his status.

Name: Julius Von Hyperius

Tier: 2

Skills:

[Armaments of the Arcane lvl 5] (Epic)

[Sage of Savagery lvl 6] (Epic)

[Phoenix Renewal lvl 1] (Epic)

[Empowerment of Will lvl 17] (Rare+)

[Barrier of Severance lvl 14] (Rare+)

[Soul Tempering lvl 5] (Rare+)

[Spatial Perception lvl 19] (Rare)

[Kinetic Augmentation lvl 18] (Rare)

[Flash Step lvl 6] (Rare)

Current Skill Slots: 9/11

Concepts:

[Concept of Sharpness]

[Severing Will]

[Concept of Will]

[Inexorable Resolve]

[Concept of Phoenix]

[Ashen Rebirth]

A lot of his skills hadn't made that much progress in terms of levels since the last time he had looked at it. However, he had made some pretty large improvements during that time that weren't reflected in his status. For one his mana control had taken leaps and bounds. Then his willpower had completely transformed into a powerful tool of its own. It was no longer just a utility and support ability, but a certified threatening ability.

Not to mention his new Concept. Ashen Rebirth might be the most powerful Concept in his arsenal right now. The feeling he had when he used it for a moment was unlike his other Concepts, it felt deeper and more profound than the others.

"So I guess your soul was able to take the influx of gaining a new epic skill quite easily huh?" Alice mused.

Julius turned to her. "What? You didn't believe me?"

"I have learned that it's better not to trust your opinion when it comes to your own personal safety," she retorted quickly.

"Well, that's rude."

"But true," she pointed out.

"Yeah yeah," he grumbled out.

"Aren't you going to at least try it?" Dante interjected.

Oh yeah, that's a good idea. My soul is a lot better than it once was, but I can tell that there is still some soul damage left within it. I wonder if the new skill will be able to heal it completely.

He focused on the skill and slowly channeled some life and fire mana into the skill for the first time. He could notice the differences immediately. The pathways of the skill were much more streamlined and complex at the same time. He was also very interested to see that the skill required a higher ratio of fire mana than before.

It used to be mainly life mana with only a fraction of fire mana, but now while it was still mainly life mana, there was a much larger portion of fire mana involved. It made the skill seem much more explosive and fiery.

In other words, it felt really satisfying to use.

The first thing he focused the skill on was his soul. He calmly evaluated his own soul and detected the areas that needed some healing. Then he pushed the healing skill into these wounds with all of his strength.

His soul felt like it was on fire. But in a good way. It was a comforting fire that soothed the rigid scars of his soul like a miracle balm. However, he noticed something very interesting as the healing skill went to work. It was like his entire aura was engulfed in flames. Not only that, he looked down at his hands and saw circuits of red mana gently pulsing through his skin.

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He pulled out a mirror from his storage ring and gave himself a look over. It was the same with the rest of his body. Instead of the flames that used to engulf his injuries it seemed as if it was more subtle.

I mean if glowing red lines in my skin can be called subtle, he joked with himself.

His soul was quickly restored to its previous luster. Albeit there were still some signs of abuse, he was pretty confident that they wouldn't be going anywhere soon. He had a feeling that these little imperfections would stay with him for the rest of his life. These were little markers that showed the tribulations his soul went through.

He gave a little celebratory chuckle and looked over at Alice and Dante. Alice was giving a relieved smile at the success and Dante was giving him a grin with a curious glint in his old eyes.

"How does it compare," the old man asked.

Instead of responding Julius wanted to give the man a demonstration. He created a saw-like disk over his shoulder and without any hesitation slammed it through his arm. It took it off cleanly at the elbow, no blood came out as the heat of the disk cauterized the wound instantly. The sharpness of the disk made the pain almost nonexistent.

Alice flinched back in surprise and looked at his arm on the ground with furrowed eyebrows. Dante gave Julius an amused smirk. "I didn't mean for you to give a live example."

"I was curious too, so it was for me as much as it was for you," Julius told the old man, trying to ignore Alice's judgemental gaze.

He fed the healing skill into his injured arm with a quick thought. His missing limb took the mana like it was a sponge. His arm lit up with complex lines of mana and his flesh began to regenerate. Within moments, he had his entire arm back. The only sign of evidence that it had been injured was the detached limb lying on the ground palm up.

He swiftly incinerated his arm with a deft manipulation of mana and examined his newly healed arm. It was funny to still see the burnt scars on his arm from when he first started to play with fire. No matter, how many times he healed his arm, the scars remained there. It was kind of like the scars on his soul. While they didn't hurt him, they were signs of his past.

He actually didn't mind that he couldn't remove them. They weren't that ugly anyway, they were no more than a collection of craggy lines on his skin.

He turned his attention away from his arm and back to Dante and Alice. He also pulled out a cake from his storage ring. "Who wants to celebrate my new epic skill with me?" He asked excitedly.

***

Reinera POV

Julius was different today. It was the first thing she noticed when she saw him sitting at their usual table at the library. She had gotten used to the black-haired boy having this hefty weight over his shoulders, constantly looking tired and in pain.

But today Julius felt more lively.

Did he get better? It has been over a month at this point, it's already weird that it's lasted this long, she said to herself.

"Hey!" She greeted him when she got to the table.

He looked up from his book. "Good morning, Grace."

She tried not to flinch at that. She still hadn't told him about her real identity, and the longer she hid it the harder it seemed to be to tell him. It was as if she had more to lose now if he were to find out the truth. Amelia made sure she didn't expose herself, whether that was a good thing or not, Reinera didn't know yet.

Speaking of the woman, she hadn't joined Reinera this morning. While the hovering guard didn't want to admit it, she had become much more willing to allow Julius in Reinera's presence without supervision. She had some things she needed to attend to so she left Reinera to go to the library all alone.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Julius. The boy had taken something out of his storage ring and passed it over to her. "Here, I got you something when I was coming back to campus yesterday."

She was curious. The object he passed over was a plain white box. There were no embellishments or hints of what it was at first glance.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Just open it," he said with excited eyes. Just by his reaction, she could already guess what it was. One thing she learned about Julius was that he got excited about a few things. Food, magic, and books.

And considering the size of the box, she had a feeling what it was. With an anxious smile, she opened the lid of the box and saw a glorious sight. It was filled with carefully sectioned-off pieces of parchment paper and organized within were golden brown cookies of all varieties.

"This bakery had a bunch of tasty-looking cookies and I couldn't decide on one, so I got a bunch," he said adorably proud of his feat. He then took out a couple more items from his storage that included some mugs, a canteen filled with what she assumed was a hot beverage of some kind and surprisingly more cookies.

Though, it shouldn't be that surprising. He often brought food for them to eat in the morning.

"I even got some for Amelia, though I don't sense her anywhere. Did she improve her skill or is she just not here?" He asked.

She didn't answer him. After all, she wasn't listening to his question. She was too focused on the boy's skillful use of mana to heat up everything from the cookies to the drinks. She often found herself entranced with the way he manipulated mana. It was unlike the mana control she saw from other students.

People like her, who had exceptional or perfect affinities had a huge advantage when it came to controlling the mana of their associated affinities. However, that left a mark on their manipulations. A mark that Reinera and only a select few could spot. So seeing someone have such amazing control over mana with zero signs of these marks was breathtaking.

Amelia had done a little research on Julius against Reinera's wishes. What she had found out was that Julius's strongest affinity was merely high. An anomaly in a school is typically only meant for those with exceptional or perfect affinities.

She kept on observing Julius's mana control, trying to pick apart his methods and take them for herself to use.

Her [Radiant Mana Sight] was a powerful skill that gave her the ability to see mana everywhere, no matter the circumstances. It was a skill she learned because of her natural talent for mana sensing. She used to hate this talent when she was little. It used to give her the most excruciating headaches, headaches so bad that her family had to build her an isolated room where she could avoid such pain.

It was only now that she was older that she came to appreciate her gifts. It gave her such a monumental advantage over other people. It also helped her own mana control by looking at other's usage of mana.

The way Julius managed to delicately control fine threads of fire mana and wrap them around various items to heat them up was extraordinarily impressive. But the most impressive feat was that he didn't even look like it was challenging for him at all. In fact, she doubted that anyone other than her and a select few students their age would notice what he just did.

Still, the boy continued to display such elegant control while casually humming a tune. If she didn't like Julius so much she might have been jealous. Fortunately, she did and that meant she always had the opportunity to look at his deft manipulations.

"Hello? Is anyone home in there?" She got jolted out of her distraction by Julius who was waving his hand in front of her face.

She blushed a little bit from embarrassment. "Sorry, I was just lost in thought," she brushed off her lapse in attention and put those errant thoughts away for the moment. She could always look at his mana skills later. Currently, she has a more pressing issue.

She bit her nails anxiously. Which cookies was she going to choose first?