Path to Transcendence

It wasn’t like Julius had much of a choice. Gabriel might have been teasing him, but he was right. Learning techniques and sparring while handicapped was good and all, but he would need to push himself and go all out if he wanted to see actual results.

Julius didn’t say anything to Gabriel, he just walked over to a bench where a pile of silver bracelets was lying in a container and grabbed two pairs of them. He snapped a pair over his own wrists, feeling them resize and activate the enchantments inscribed on them. Then he tossed a pair to Gabriel, who also didn’t say anything but smiled like a maniac seeing Julius’s actions.

Julius walked a couple dozen paces away and turned around, staring at Gabriel with a smile of his own.

“Why are you so far away? Getting nervous?” Gabriel taunted.

“I thought you wanted to see me go all out?” Julius asked.

“And you need to be far away do that? You act like you’re a mage.”

“Who said I wasn’t?” He said.

Gabriel’s face was confused for a moment, wondering why Julius would say that.

Julius's smile got much wider as he saw the realization on Gabriel’s face. He hadn’t gone all out since the rift. It hadn’t even been a couple of weeks yet, but to Julius, it felt like an eternity and his blood was on fire at the thought of it.

Julius didn’t even go all out with Declan, he was too afraid of the collateral damage he might cause in the courtyard if he did. However, now that he was in a training facility that was able to handle Tier 4’s he wasn’t as nervous. If Gabriel wanted a fight, Julius would give him one.

Julius watched as a barrier much like the one during his practical exam dropped down, surrounding the area.

“On my count,” Gabriel said. “Three.”

Julius activated [Savage Dance].

“Two.”

Then he activated [Kinetic Augmentation] and [Empowerment of Will], letting the surge of energy rush through him.

“One.”

Finally, Julius grabbed ahold of a fuck ton of mana, getting ready to bombard Gabriel.

“Go!”

Gabriel didn’t allow Julius any time to create his constructs and tried to close the distance using his movement skill. Julius discharged a pulse of kinetic energy beneath his feet the second Gabriel said go, knowing that the man was going to bumrush him.

As he blasted himself across the gym, he used [Arcane Construct], [Pure Compression], and [Mana Layering] to create a dozen condensed spikes of fire and kinetic energy. They formed within a blink, his new skill making the process unbelievably quick. [Mana Layering] wasn’t that high-level yet, but Julius was able to create several hard layers of woven mana within the spikes. They were much stronger than the ones he had used to kill the trolls.

Gabriel was chasing after him and was right on top of Julius. His speed was ridiculous for a man his size. But he was still unable to close the gap in time before Julius slung half of the spikes right at Gabriel’s face and chest.

Julius saw the same mana defensive skill from last time activate. Gabriel didn’t try to even dodge, completely eating his constructs, thinking they were similar to last time, just a bit bigger. It was a mistake on his part.

The spikes didn’t penetrate through Gabriel’s defense, but they did crash into him with a ferocious bang, and then they exploded and blasted him off of his feet.

Julius was impressed that his new and improved spikes didn’t even leave a mark. If he had shot them at the chieftain, Julius suspected they would have skewered the troll even through its aura ability.

Tier 4’s were on a whole other level and Julius expected that Gabriel was still taking it easy on him.

Gabriel had already gotten back up and was wearing a toothy smile. “Damn! Those things pack a punch! Also, the speed of forming them was impressive. You might have one of the best offensive power in your year.”

“One of the best?” Julius asked with an interested expression. That would mean that there were students who could match his firepower and that was after Gabriel just saw one of his usual attacks.

“Yeah, don’t be too surprised. This is Goldencrest for a reason. I know for a fact there are several students with perfect affinities in your year who can throw around powerful attacks like that. They don’t have your close combat skills though.” Gabriel informed him.

Julius had really thought there wouldn’t be anyone who could stand with him when it came to sheer firepower, but it seemed that he was wrong.

“But you should work on creating a layer of disrupting mana so that they can break through my [Extreme Mana Resistance] and [Steel Fortress].”

“[Extreme Mana Resistance] and [Steel Fortress]?” Julius asked, forgetting about their fight for a moment

“Yeah, some of the better mages learn how to cover their attacks with disruptive mana or use other techniques that have the same result. People like me with defensive skills would otherwise easily handle your attacks. Don’t worry though, it is usually a Tier 3 technique when you can control ambient mana better,” Gabriel explained to him.

That was something to consider. He knew about the [Disrupt Mana] skill, so it would make sense that there was a skill or technique for disrupting someone's defenses.

“How does that work?” Julius curiously asked him.

“No idea, I’m not a mage,” Gabriel straight up told Julius.

At least he’s honest. But I guess I know what I am going to research in the library later, Julius thought to himself.

Gabriel interrupted his thoughts, “Okay, no more talking, more fighting.”

Julius answered Gabriel in the most polite way he could. He sent the remaining spikes at Gabriel’s face.

This time, Gabriel took the time to avoid or at least deflect the constructs. They may not have done any significant damage, but the knockback was a problem.

Julius knew that the spikes wouldn’t work, but they were just a distraction to give him time to form half a dozen discs or glowing red mana. The same ones that had cut apart the trolls, just much sharper and durable.

However, Julius was also attempting a new idea he had. It reminded him of the masses of kinetic energy he used to harm the wolf in the forest. He hadn’t felt the need to use them in a while, but now he thought of a good use for them. Gabriel might be able to shrug off most of the damage, but he was shown that he was still able to be knocked back by a big enough blast.

So what Julius did was send a wave of kinetic energy at Gabriel. It didn’t do much except for stumbling him for a second, but that wasn’t why he did it. Julius didn’t let the kinetic energy dissipate. He grabbed the energy and created small invisible masses of dense kinetic energy using [Pure Compression].

Gabriel was clearly able to see them because Julius saw him looking at the masses warily. Gabriel tried to swing a fist at one of them but missed due to Julius moving it out of the way at the last second.

Then Julius released the saw blades of mana right at Gabriel, planning to cut him in half. Gabriel tried to dodge, but Julius detonated the masses of kinetic energy right by Gabriel’s thigh, throwing him slightly off balance. Most discs missed, but two of them crashed right into Gabriel’s chest.

However, they still didn’t break through. The saw blades ricocheted off of his skin and went flying behind him. His defensive skills were too difficult to get through, even going all out, Julius was unable to leave a scratch.

Still, Julius had expected that, but a small part had hoped he would be able to damage a Tier 4. He quickly learned how delusional that hope was.

Gabriel must have felt that he had given Julius enough time to show some of his skills because Julius felt a huge surge of mana coming from the man, much more than he used for his enhancement skills. Then Gabriel’s aura was unleashed, pulsing with extreme power as it infused with his body.

The next thing Julius saw was the fist of Gabriel already crushing into his chest. He tried to siphon as much kinetic energy from the blow, but Gabriel’s fist was way too fast for it to matter. The punch obliterated Julius’s ribcage, luckily the bracelets were still active, so while Julius felt his ribcage and organs rupture, his body was completely fine.

Julius was sent flying either way. Crashing against the barrier, with an earthshaking boom.

I wasn’t even able to react, he thought to himself.

Julius didn’t get up right away and just laid on his back as the bracelets completely restricted his movements, determining that the damage broke his spine. He reflexively tried to heal himself but remembered that it wouldn’t work. The bracelets were quite an amazing feat of magic and runic engineering but they didn’t respond to healing magic. It was because there wasn’t any actual damage, therefore, for someone like Julius who had a self-healing skill, these bracelets wouldn’t allow him to use [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal].

Gabriel appeared next to his body and laughed at Julius’s prone form before deactivating the simulated combat. Gabriel extended a hand to Julius who was no longer stuck in a paralysis state. Julius took it and used it to lift himself back to his feet.

He wouldn’t even admit it, but getting humbled like that frustrated him more than he wanted to admit. Julius was really competitive and hated to lose, even if it was a fight he knew he would never win. However, he was taught to take a loss with dignity, and not to be a sore loser.

Gabriel must’ve understood what Julius was feeling though, because he laid a soft comforting hand on his shoulders. He didn’t say anything, but that did more than any words could.

“How did you move so fast? I didn’t even sense you move from your spot,” Julius finally asked aloud.

“I have a spatial movement skill called [Instantaenous Step]. It is one of the more commonly seen ones for users like me. It allows me to teleport across a distance with a single step.” Gabriel explained to Julius.

Julius knew that Gabriel didn’t need to tell Julius all about his skills, but he did anyway. Maybe it was his way of extending his own trust. Julius appreciated it nonetheless.

“How does a mage even stop something like that?” Julius asked.

“Well, typically, I would be fighting against another Tier 4. So in that case, they would’ve learned about Authority. That would make my teleportation less effective, but against anyone without Authority, it is almost impossible to predict. However, you are pretty close.” Gabriel said.

“Close? How am I close?” Julius was confused. He didn’t even have a chance to notice it before it was too late.

“During your practical exam, I noticed you had a really good perception skill. You were even able to follow [Instantaneous Step] even though it was at a much lower intensity. With some practice or with an evolution it might be able to.” Gabriel clarified to Julius.

Julius recalled their last fight during the practical and remembered what he was talking about. However, at that time, Julius didn’t feel like it was teleportation, it just felt like it was a really fast movement.

“You mentioned Authority. What is that?” Julius heard Gabriel say it earlier, and it sounded like it was important.

“Authority is something that you need to learn before you advance to Tier 4. It is one of the requirements. You don’t need to worry about it now, knowing too much can hurt your progress. But just know that the stronger your soul and aura are, the more likely you will develop Authority,” Gabriel told him.

That might explain why it is advised to advance to Tier 3 with as many powerful skills and a strong soul. If this “Authority” was related to having a strong soul, then it made sense why people who advance to Tier 3 with a few rare skills can’t make it to Tier 4 or higher.

It was something that Julius would keep in mind for the future. He had a feeling that it would be important.

Julius had been thinking to himself for a while and noticed Gabriel was fidgeting at Julius’s side. Like he was anxiously waiting to open his presents on Christmas morning. Finally, Julius turned to look at the bald professor and asked him, “What is it?”

Gabriel looked at Julius with a big grin. It was a look that didn’t fit the man’s stature, it was more fitting for a little boy, not a massive muscular man. It was honestly a little freaky. People always said Julius was a weird one, but he might have found someone who was even weirder.

“Are you ready to go again?” Gabriel asked Julius with excitement.

Julius just shook his head and activated his bracelets again, ready for round two.