Path to Transcendence

He didn't know why he couldn't seem to reabsorb his kinetic energy or his aura, it was almost like once they merged in his body, it became a chaotic mix. It was like a bunch of Skittles and gumballs had gotten mixed together in the same jar and he couldn't separate them apart.

He tried to do both at the same time, but they had different sources, so that didn't work. It just made the energy in his body that was tearing him apart even more frantic. He had an idea though. In his mind, he envisioned one of those industrial machines that separate potatoes based on size, filtering kinetic energy to one end and aura to another.

It took some time, but he could slowly feel it working. The energy in his body was becoming two separate sources again. Once, he was able to do that, releasing the energy became simple. He put both energies back where they came from and felt his body relax as it was no longer being torn apart.

He used [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] to heal himself, piecing him back together bit by bit. Originally, he didn't see much use in Tier 2, he thought that Tier 2 would barely give him a power boost, but now he was rethinking that.

Now that he had [Empowerment of Will] on top of [Kinetic Augmentation] his body needed to get more resilient. He believed that he had finally reached the limits of his Tier 1 body. Only would getting to Tier 2 would solve that.

Luckily, he was close to the next tier. He believed he had a decent chance of advancing right now, at this very moment. His mana felt like it had infused with his body enough, and all he needed was that last push. However, he decided to hold off for a little, at least attend some classes first.

He wasn't in that much of a rush. He felt like there was a lot more for him to do and now that he was relatively safe, he didn't need to blindly rush into things, just to get a bit stronger.

Now, that he found out how much kinetic energy and aura he could use at the same time, he went again. This time, making sure to stay below the limit he had restricted himself to. For hours he just practiced letting the energy flow through, empowering him, and then letting it go.

He wanted to get used to filtering and releasing the energy. At the moment it was much too slow, and he definitely felt like it could be much faster. It was only a matter of getting used to it. Yes, it was boring, but he understood that it would be worth it in the end.

As long as he started to put in the work now, future Julius would be grateful for the headstart later down the road.

By the end, he had gotten much more comfortable with the process, it still took some time, much too long if he was fighting, but it was progress. He wasn't having to think and dedicate so much of his mental capacity to handle it. His body was beginning to understand what he was trying to do and was helping him sort the different energy types.

It wasn't until early morning that Julius got up to his feet. He was going to have to practice it a lot more in the future, but he felt good about the possibilities of this new technique.

Before he left though, he wanted to see if [Empowerment of Will] worked on his other skills, not just his body. The first one he wanted to experiment with was [Savage Dance]. His body might not be able to take more empowerment, but could he say the same for his mind?

[Savage Dance] might not be his most powerful skill, that would probably have to go to [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] and maybe [Empowerment of Will], but it was definitely a pillar of his strength. The skill didn't have any fancy exploding spikes or enhance his physical body to superhuman levels, but it allowed his mind to keep up with everything. With [Savage Dance] and [Spatial Perception], he never felt like his mind wasn't able to keep up. His body might not be able to react in time, but he was rarely caught completely off guard.

Honestly, boosting those skills might be completely unnecessary but there wasn't anything wrong with improving something that already works. Julius called upon [Savage Dance], making sure to feel every nuance of the skill, from how it activated to how it affected him.

Once he felt he was ready, he began feeding the skill with [Empowerment of Will]. Nothing happened, it was like trying to find an opening in a completely sealed jar. [Empowerment of Will] could not find a way into [Savage Dance].

Still, Julius kept trying, he had a feeling that it should be possible. Aura came from the soul energy generated by the soul, and skills were an intrinsic part of one's soul. It should be possible to affect his skills with his soul, and thus, his aura.

Julius lost track of time, but then something happened. Julius had been completely surrounding [Savage Dance] with his aura, smothering it like a mother swaddling her newborn baby and some aura slipped in.

He didn't know what happened after that, because he blacked out instantly. But he had felt an influx of energy enter [Savage Dance].

When he awoke, he immediately started to run [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] but he didn't feel the skill healing anything other than some fatigue and knots in his muscles from lying down in an awkward position.

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[Empowerment of Will lvl 1 -> lvl 3]

Julius had already leveled up [Empowerment of Will] to level 3. It must have been during his experiments that he leveled it up. It was nice to see that he was already seeing progress with his new skill and wondered what else he could do with the skill.

Okay, so it is possible. I for sure felt aura empower the skill, but the second it did I blacked out.

Julius did not know why he passed out instantly, but a part of him wanted to try again. The only thing that was stopping him was the time. When he looked at the clock, it was almost time for the cafeteria to serve breakfast.

He might not have needed to eat anymore, not with [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] being able to sustain him with life mana, but he still could feel hungry. An empty stomach was not a pleasant thing, and after dealing with it during the rift, he didn't want to go through it again. He promised himself that he would make sure he would eat whenever he could.

He enjoyed food too much not to eat whenever he could. Julius went back to his room and grabbed little Drasil before leaving again. He wanted to bring the little fellow around campus, thinking that he would enjoy the scenery and would appreciate the fresh air.

It was a little nippy, being so early in the morning and so close to the ocean, but a little application of fire magic, and Julius heated himself and Drasil up. Even after years of coming to this world, Julius was still amazed by magic. With a casual use of fire mana, he was able to create a portable heater, being cold was no longer a problem for him.

He and Drasil found a bench by the garden and sat down. With Drasil in his lap, he opened up one of the other books he found in the library Practical Advancements of Mana Manipulation for Close Combatants by Michael Warring.

Julius had been curious about what the author might say of warriors or those who weren't mages and how they used [Mana Manipulation]. There seemed to be a number of paths that close combatants could take with [Mana Manipulation]. One of the more common ones was having a resistance skill for mana. Some choose to get a specific one such as [Lightning Mana Resistance] or [Fire Mana Resistance] but most of the time you would see a generalized version like [Advanced Mana Resistance] or [Extreme Mana Resistance], there was even an epic skill that was called [Mana Nullification], that pretty much made those invulnerable to regular mana attacks.

Those were highly desirable skills in tanks or those who were front liners. They could soak up damage and mana attacks while their teammates could focus on killing the enemies.

There were also other paths that focused on disrupting mana, instead of resisting it. Skills like [Disrupt Mana], [Breach], and [Mana Rupture], were commonly acquired skills that ripped apart mana. The path was somewhat similar to the resistance path as it could act as a good defensive skill, but it required a more manual application of skill.

What made it a wonderful path, was the offensive implications. A warrior could grab hold of a construct and break it down or disrupt the attack. It wasn't as effective defensively as a pure resistance skill but it did allow warriors to disrupt a mage's own barriers when attacking. Mages were typically weak in close combat, but they always had some protective skills just in case a warrior got the drop on them.

However, if they were up against a mana-disrupting warrior, they could find their barriers getting stripped away or at the very least, weakened enough for the warrior to break through. It was a popular route for those who were more offensive in nature. Many cowardly assassins used the skill to great effect, like those from Clan Genshen.

Julius recalled how the chieftain troll was able to do something similar. Except it had used its aura as a replacement. It was a very annoying ability and one that Julius might have to learn in the future.

However, there was already so much Julius had planned. He was starting to accumulate too many things he wanted to do already. He would need to create a list of what he wanted to achieve, otherwise he would get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things.

The first thing was deciding on what advancement for [Mana Manipulation] he was going to get. He was leaning toward [Mana Layering], just because he was aware of how much effort it took to do it manually, and having a skill for it would be very helpful. He would have liked an option like [Disrupt Mana] but unfortunately, he didn't get that choice.

He would just need to learn how to do it without a skill or to learn how to do it with aura like the troll had.

Julius and Drasil enjoyed the early morning, waiting for the cafeteria to open. Once he thought it was about time, he packed his stuff back into his bag and headed over to the cafeteria. He doubted the underclassmen cafeteria was open yet, and walked across campus to the main cafeteria.

There was a good amount of students who were already up. Almost all of them were upperclassmen, but it made sense considering that they were probably all high Tier 2 or Tier 3. The higher the tier you were, the less sleep and food you required.

Julius quickly got himself a hearty breakfast consisting of eggs, hash browns, toast, and an item that Julius was hoping to be chicken fried steak. He went over to the same spot he found yesterday, sitting down at the table.

He placed Drasil right next to him on the table. The little spirit seed was becoming a little large to carry around. It was a small tree at this point, he either needed to start leaving Drasil in his room or find another solution.

He was about halfway done with his tasty breakfast when he felt Edgar and the tall girl from yesterday approach him from behind.

What was her name again? Audrey? No, it was Aubrey Crysalia, right? Julius tried to recall her name.

Edgar sat down next to Julius, being careful not to bump into him with his beefy shoulders. Aubrey sat down in front of him on the other side of the table.

They each had a simple plate of food, a pretty light fare compared to what Julius had decided to get. They each had a fruit, some sort of yogurt, and a glass of some sort of green drink. Edgar had told him to choose Physical Training for the morning session yesterday, he expected that he must've done the same and was eating light so that he wouldn't be puking later.

That would make sense, but classes hadn't started yet. Maybe, they just used to eating light or didn't like breakfast. Julius shrugged his shoulders, it didn't matter that much he thought. He went back to his mission and continued to devour his meal with happy abandon.