Path to Transcendence

Today was an exciting day. At least for many of the students in his class.

Today was the day that they would finally be able to delve into a dungeon. After many repeated weeks of students fighting monsters and getting used to combat, Professor Rowe was taking them into a Tier 2 Rift.

This meant a couple of things. One this would be the first exercise where students could actually get hurt. There would no longer be any combat simulation bracelets to mitigate damage. If someone got hurt, it would be for real. With that being said, there would be a number of healers accompanying them for their first rift. Apparently, the first rift was normally the one where students got hurt the most often.

The second thing was that Julius would be going through the rift with the suppression bracelet on. It might have not been the smartest option, but he believed he would be fine. He had gotten to an acceptable level of strength even with the bracelet on. He was definitely at or above average for the class. Which was quite the achievement considering where he had been over a month ago.

Joshua and James had even offered him a spot on the team they had compiled which was a surprise to him. To the rest of his classmates, Julius was a simple close-combat fighter with nothing that was spectacular about him other than his often desperate fights.

However, Joshua seemed to think that Julius would be a good addition to his team, whether that was because they were already friends or because it was partly pity, Julius didn't know.

The entire Applied Combat class was standing around the field they normally used. Most students were split into groups of their own, likely with their own teammates as Julius was doing.

Apart from himself, Joshua, and James, there were two other people. One of them was someone who was quite well-known within their class. It was the beastkin, Polux.

Polux was widely regarded as one of the stronger students in their class. However, Joshua was also regarded as someone who was at a similar level, so perhaps Polux was interested in fighting alongside someone who knew what they were doing.

The other person was a girl. He didn't know her name but she was short and had black hair. She also had fine doll-like features, very pretty in a classical way. Julius reached out subtly with his aura to get a gauge of her. He didn't touch her aura just in case she had a good sensitivity, it was already considered kind of rude to be doing what he was doing with his aura in the first place and he would rather not offend a future teammate.

"So is this everyone?" Polux asked Joshua with an indifferent look at everyone within the group. However, Julius noticed that the boy's gaze lingered on Julius a touch longer than the others.

He seems slightly familiar. Though I can't quite remember from when.

Joshua turned to Polux with a nod. "Yes, this should be all of us. However, before we start I thought it would be a good idea to introduce ourselves to each other. Not everyone is familiar with one another and knowing what kind of fighter would be helpful before we enter the rift."

Joshua gave everyone a gauging look, making sure that nobody had any issues with that plan. When he didn't see anyone arguing against it he smiled. "Perfect. I guess I will go first. My name is Joshua and I am a hybrid fighter. I mainly use a sword but I also know some long-range attacks. I primarily use water but I can also give a small buff to stamina to our team," he explained to the group.

Oh, a team buff might be very handy, Julius thought to himself. He wasn't the only one, the others all gave acknowledging nods to Joshua as he explained his role.

The rest of the team introduced themselves afterward. James was a mage who had a fire affinity. He focused on large explosive attacks. But what caught Julius's attention was that James could also give a burn affliction to his opponents. He didn't explain it very well, but Julius suspected that it would prove to be a very annoying ability for their enemies.

Polux went next and explained his skillset. His was pretty straightforward. He was a frontline fighter who went headfirst into conflict. He had extraordinary physical abilities and enhanced his abilities mainly with aura, not mana like many typical warriors. Polux mentioned that he could act as a scout of some sort.

While he made sure to mention on multiple occasions that he didn't like the role, he grudgingly admitted that many of his skills made him a good person to hide their aura and find monsters by sensing theirs.

The girl, who Julius found out was named Nessandra, or Nessa for short. Was a support mage. She wasn't quite a healer, but she had some light healing capabilities along with some nice buffs she could pile on. She could also remotely activate barriers to help out someone who was in trouble.

She might be a very valuable person to have on the team, he inwardly thought. While her abilities might not be the flashiest or most powerful, she would be able to cover for the others when they were out of position or were being overwhelmed. The healing skills were just a cherry on top.

Finally, it was his turn. "My name is Julius and I am primarily a close-range fighter. I am pretty good at perception so I can also handle some of the scouting work," he offered. He didn't go into detail about his skills for obvious reasons but also shared his better-than-normal perception abilities.

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The reason for this was that he didn't think that he would be able to completely hide his perception skill from them. It was better to let them know that he had a decent perception skill rather than trying to hide it.

After everyone explained their general abilities, Polux started to speak. "I noticed that we don't really have anyone that specializes in crowd control," the boy said thoughtfully, his wolf-like ears twitching slightly as he bit his lip.

"No, we don't really have anyone to do that. James and Nessa can both help on that front, but that's not their specialty. On top of that, there are not that many people who fit that mold in this class, and the ones who do rejected my offer when I asked them to join," Joshua said with a frown.

Polux sighed. "I guess we will have to make do. On the bright side, this rift shouldn't be that difficult considering it's the first rift delve."

Hmm. Crowd control huh? There's someone who fits that bill. Someone who he had just had an awkward run in just the other day. Julius gave the room a quick look and found who he was searching for quickly.

Tia was standing by herself in the corner of the field. It didn't seem like she had found herself a group. So either she would get automatically grouped together with whoever Professor Rowe decided or would be delving alone.

Solo delving wasn't the most common choice. Considering that making friends and connections was kind of a huge point for Goldencrest students, most didn't take this route. The ones who did had to be approved by the professors. The staff weren't just going to allow an unprepared student to go off alone.

Still, Tia had proven herself to be strong enough to care for herself, she would most likely be given permission to solo delve as long as she had a supervisor with her at all times.

However, Julius had a better idea.

Not saying anything to the others, he left their huddled group and headed off toward where he had sensed her. He heard Joshua's voice calling out to him as he walked away, but Julius ignored him.

He bumped and maneuvered his way through the crowd of students until he finally reached Tia. She hadn't noticed him yet, but that was going to change soon. He snuck up on her and gave her a soft poke on the shoulder.

She was startled and swiftly turned around to see who had touched her. "Oh, Julius!" She exclaimed. She tucked her hand behind her ears and quickly tried to recompose herself. "I-I wanted to apologize for my rude exit yesterday," she stammered out.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that," Julius told her. He hadn't but he wanted to make her feel less awkward about it.

She visibly relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. "I don't know what came over me, but I panicked and just up and left so rudely. I must have looked like such a weirdo," she said with furrowed brows.

"Trust me, you're pretty far from a weirdo," he assured her. He didn't say it, but inwardly he was thinking of all of the weird things he had done in this and his last life. If anyone was a weirdo, it was him. It was actually a title he found himself taking more and more pride in lately, much to his amusement.

"Thanks," she said, not sounding like she believed him for a moment.

"Though, why did you run off like that? Did you know Edgar?" Julius asked with a tilted head.

Tia's eyes widened like saucers. "Know him? Of course, I know him!" She said excitedly. "I reviewed all of his matches last year. He is amazing!"

"Oh, so you weren't intimidated then? I thought you ran away because he scared you," Julius commented.

"Of course, I was intimidated! That was Edgar Crow!" She said aggressively. However, he noticed her frown and looked at him with curiosity. "Why were the two of you together?" She asked, changing subjects suddenly.

"We have a small area where we are growing some food," he said simply, not hiding the truth from her.

"Food?" His answer seemed to make her even more perplexed.

"Yeah, I am trying to grow various berries, fruits, and vegetables. Edgar is going more for the potato route," he said ignoring her growing look of confusion.

"Edgar Crow is growing potatoes?" She asked tentatively.

"Oh yeah, he loves them." Julius leaned forward and whispered to her. "I'll let you on a secret. If you want to get on his good side, I would recommend giving him some help with them. He would probably really appreciate it."

"What?" Tia asked nervously.

"Yeah, you're a plant mage right?" He asked questioningly.

She nodded her head slowly. As if it was a trick question.

"Well, I think you would be able to help his plants along, and in return, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to answer some of your questions whatever they are," Julius said casually. It sounded like Tia was a very big fan of Edgar. Which was kind of weird considering that she was very far from the type of fighter Edgar was. She was a mage who focused on crowd control, whereas Edgar was a juggernaut of destruction. Two polar opposites.

However, if he could get on her good side he was willing to feed Edgar to the wolves. Plus, he didn't think the older boy would mind that much. He was very likely to appreciate Tia's help with his potatoes more than one would think.

He saw Tia mentally processing what he had just said. Eventually what he said finally seemed to hit her. He watched as her face lit up in excitement. "You really think so?"

"I know so," he said confidently. "He loves his potatoes and if you can help them along, I bet he would be willing to reward you," he told her conspiratorially.

He saw her face get even more excited. A manic gleam entered her eyes and she stared at the empty air like a hungry lioness, as if she was imagining a tasty morsel right in front of her. However, she paused and looked at Julius with a skeptical look.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked cautiously.

Julius didn't hide his motive. "I want you to join our team. We need a good crowd controller and you are probably one of the best if not the best in our class," he told her honestly.

"Who's on your team?" She asked.

"Joshua, James, Polux, and a girl named Nessandra," he told her.

"Oh," she had an awkward look on her face. "I might have already declined Joshua's offer."

Julius waved his hand through the air. "That's not a problem. He will be more than happy to see you joining."

Tia contemplated his offer with a hand on her chin and the other twirling her hair. Finally, she looked at him and gave him a firm nod.

"Wonderful," he said with a grin. He then had her follow him back to the others. However, as they were walking he heard her speak up. "What else does Edgar like?" He didn't have to look back to know that she had a dreamy look on her face.