Path to Transcendence

With Lily currently being a dead end until she can find anything with her contacts, he started to entertain his other idea. He still had the favor from Lord Lagos in his back pocket. However, he didn't know how much he could ask for.

This wasn't a simple favor like gaining rift access, this was a favor that could potentially put Lord Lagos in a bad spot if anyone from House Greyson noticed the lord investigating their activities in Heston.

There was also still the important question of what he was going to do with whatever information he gained. So what if House Greyson was doing something in Heston? Was he planning to interfere with them just to spite them?

He didn't know the answer to that question. It was good to remind himself that by interfering he would be putting himself into the crosshairs of House Greyson. He had gotten lucky that the other two men he had killed hadn't alerted anyone of Julius. Or at least, he didn't think so. He didn't get that sort of feeling from them. Even if they did, it's not like they really had much to go off of.

At most, they would have a description of a young man with a black cloth mask who beat up their thugs.

Actually, now that I think about it, the piece of cloth burned up in the blast. I am going to have to ask Dante to make me a new one or a different version of it. He might groan and complain about it, but I think he will secretly be happy to do so, Julius thought to himself with a grin.

Still, it would be smart of him to be patient and not rush into things. For now, he was satisfied with just finding out what House Greyson was doing. He would make his decision of what he would do after he asked Declan.

Either way, he still had to go and tell Declan the good news. So he could discuss it with him while he did that. He also wanted to see if Declan would be willing to give him the rift access card back.

While he didn't necessarily need it right now considering his usage of the suppression bracelet. His rift craving was currently satisfied with the Tier 2 rifts he went on in Applied Combat. Although, he would rather have something like that on hand just in case he did have the urge to go delving into a Tier 3 rift. Life was unpredictable and perhaps he would find himself wanting to fight stronger monsters.

Look at me, I am talking about solo delving a Tier 3 rift like it is a Thursday afternoon. How cocky have I gotten? He joked to himself. While he was joking, he was very aware of the fact that some Tier 3 almost killed him not too long ago. He was going to be much more careful in the future.

Or at least attempt to. He was well aware of his bad habits and prideful behavior, so it wouldn't astonish him if he got himself into a similar situation down the line.

***

The week went by pretty smoothly. Julius and his team ended up delving several more times. Each one was more successful than the last. They had been grouped together with several other teams at that time. And he was pretty confident that their team was one of the better ones in their year.

It wasn't that astounding when he thought about it deeper. They had one of the best pure warrior fighters in their year in Polux, Joshua was considered one of the top elites of the class as well along with Tia, additionally, James and Nessa were no slouches either.

In fact, Julius was constantly impressed with their skill. Both of them had more supportive roles like Julius, but they did them very well. James was an unselfish teammate who never tried to kill or steal monsters from anyone, just using his fire magic as an effective disruptor in battle. Whereas Nessa had really good decision-making skills. She didn't take too much time either, she would give up a barrier if she knew she was just wasting mana and didn't buff Julius or Polux if she thought they didn't need it.

He was very happy with their team. Joshua did a good job configuring it together. Julius made sure to compliment the boy whenever he had the chance.

It was Friday and they had finished all of their dinner. However, Joshua had the idea that they should get together and do some training. Nobody had any arguments against it either. They all got along well and every one of them wanted to improve. So the fact that this would kill several birds with one stone.

Julius had just left his older friends and was on his way to the first-year training hall. When he got there, he was immediately reminded of the time that he blew a hole in the enchantments and promised himself not to do that again.

As he approached, everyone else was already there waiting for him. Nessa and Tia were both laughing with one another, the two of them had become quick friends as the only two girls on the team. Where James and Joshua were already good friends. Polux and Julius were more of the loners of the group.

Nessa saw him first. She waved at him. "Hey, we missed you at dinner. Where do you go off to?"

Joshua was the one who answered for him. "He eats at the upperclassmen cafeteria with his older friends. Though, I am still a little bit jealous that he gets to eat there as a first year."

Nessa's eyes widened. "Really? You eat at the upperclassmen cafeteria? You are so lucky, we got to deal with so much chaos in the first-year cafeteria that I often grab my food to go," she complained with a pout.

"I know. I wish I could eat there," James said enviously.

"There are no rules against it," Julius reminded the guy.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Speak for yourself. I tried to go for breakfast one morning and got bullied by some third-years the entire time. I don't know how you do it, but I am going to avoid that harassment, thank you very much," James said.

"Yeah and my cousin would beat me to a pulp if she saw me hanging out there," Joshua said solemnly.

Julius just shook his head amusedly and headed into an empty room. The others quickly followed him and they got started warming up.

Tia, Nessa, Joshua, and James were working on a new idea Joshua had come up with. It revolved around using Tia's vines and Nessa's barriers to create a suffocating containment. This would allow James and Joshua to unleash a much more powerful attack on their opponents. They each had a couple of skills that allowed them to output large blasts of damage, but it took a considerable amount of time to prepare and they needed for the enemies to be relatively still.

James had a ritual-type bombardment skill. It was very impressive for a Tier 2 when it came to sheer destruction. It just took him too long for it to be that practical in a fast-paced battle. Joshua had a similar skill that used water to erode and compress whatever was within its vicinity.

On the other hand, Polux and Julius were doing some light sparring with barely any physical enhancement on.

One of the first things Julius noticed while he practiced with Polux was that the boy was very talented, he never fell for the same trick twice in a row and he used whatever openings Julius left to great effect. It reminded Julius a bit of Edgar and how the large fourth-year fought.

Pure physical prowess, refined technique, and alarmingly good instincts. It was a simple skillset but one that continued to prove reliable and effective.

The most annoying thing about fighting Polux was the unpredictable reach of the beastkin boy. His aura strikes allowed the boy to extend his reach far beyond what his arms would be able to without compromising power or speed.

Julius blocked another high kick enforced with aura with an enforced arm of his own. He tried to grab the extended leg but a blast of aura and a twist of a leg allowed Polux to pull back safely.

"Why don't you use your fire affinity?" Polux asked out of nowhere.

Julius was taken so aback by the sudden question that he almost took a jab straight to the nose. "What was that?" He asked with a frown.

"I can sense that you have fire mana in your core. I have also seen you using fire mana on occasion, so I was just curious why you never use it," Polux said as he stopped his assault.

Julius turned to see if the others were listening in but was glad to see them fully distracted by their experiments. He then turned back to Polux. "I just don't really have that amazing of an affinity for fire," Julius told the boy, avoiding the real answer.

"Really?" Polux asked with a doubtful expression. "You know that most students here aren't stupid. Sure most of them don't pay attention, but if some of the more talented ones took the time to observe you they would see exactly what I see."

"And what do you see?" Julius asked with an intrigued grin.

Polux pointed toward the bracelet on Julius's wrist. "I know that you are holding back." Polux pointed toward his nose. "We beastkin are more sensitive than regular humans, and with my decent aura sense, that suppression bracelet stands out like a sore thumb to me. I just don't get why."

Julius shrugged. "Does it really matter?"

Polux looked at him deadly serious. "Yeah. It does. I have noticed you since my first week here. You were one of the few students who had an aura skill at Tier 1, not to mention that my instincts tell me that you are dangerous. So again, I want to ask why you do it. Why do you pretend to be weak when you are the strongest person on the team?"

Ah, I remember now. He's the same beastkin who I caught staring at me at the beginning of the year.

"Yeah, I don't think I am the strongest. I think that goes to you," Julius brushed off his comment.

Polux gave him a frustrated glare. "I told you that beastkin instincts are very good. It's how we survive and gauge how dangerous monsters are in the wild. And mine tell me that I wouldn't stand a chance against you," Polux spat out like the admission physically hurt him.

Julius gave the others another quick glance and sighed defeatedly. It doesn't seem like I will be able to fool Polux. He seems very convinced of his opinion. I will have to at least tell him something, otherwise, he is just going to continue to be more curious.

"You promise you won't tell the others?" He asked gravely.

Polux solemnly nodded. "I haven't said anything the entire year and don't plan to say anything for the rest of it either. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if the others find out later in the future. While they won't be able to sense the suppression device unless they have talents like mine or have a really good sense of aura, they might still observe your uncanny control of mana and other things. We are on the same team after all."

"Uncanny control?" Julius asked.

"I told you. I saw you using fire mana with such amazing control. I myself don't have a talent for mana manipulation, but I can sense it pretty well. And yours stands out from the others," Polux told him.

Huh. Does that mean more people have already noticed it? That might be troublesome.

Polux must have seen his concerned face. "Don't worry. Unless they have been staring at you like I have been, it would be hard to detect. Look at Joshua and James, you have known those two for a while but they haven't noticed anything yet and they aren't slouches either. Also, you shouldn't have to worry about students detecting the suppression bracelet. I was able to because of my aura talent and because my tribe uses similar items at times to hunt," he assured Julius.

Julius gave a relieved nod but was still curious as to why the boy was bringing this up now and not a while ago.

"So why do you do it? Why don't you use fire mana? And don't say it's because you don't have a good affinity for it," Polux pressed.

Julius shrugged. "Actually, I technically don't. My affinity for it is merely high. Though you are right about me being proficient with it."

"So why don't you use it? Wouldn't it be better for you to practice it as much as you can?" Polux asked.

Julius gave him an acknowledging nod. "It probably would be. But I don't want to attract too much attention. Plus, I use it quite often when I am not in class or around a lot of people."

"And you're okay with the rest of the class thinking of you as weak? You have to be aware of the looks you got when you fought those Tier 2 monsters. I don't think I would like that very much," Polux admitted. He also looked more distraught over this than Julius had been expecting. It was almost like the idea of people perceiving Polux as weak was deeply upsetting to the beastkin.

Hmm. I wonder if there is something else that is bothering him. Is my holding back going against some sort of beastkin code of honor or something? Julius thought to himself while giving Polux an inquisitive stare.