Path to Transcendence

Casidus POV

Spying wasn't the most noble of things he had done in his life, but he was known for his curiosity, even as a young boy. Just ask his mother.

He knew that it wasn't proper and that his parents would have disapproved of his actions. But he couldn't help himself. The fact that the boy had been inside the chamber for a really long time made it even more tempting.

His friend was already done and officially Tier 3. She was currently impatient for Julius to be done as well. During her wait, she had been spending a lot of time with Cory to his young grandson's delight. However, it also seemed like she wasn't that surprised that Julius was taking so long. In fact, it appeared like she had been expecting something like this.

Speaking of Grace, he did not doubt that she was some daughter of some highly ranked noble or powerful family. Her demeanor was well-practiced and her knowledge about the Challenge Rift was a big indicator.

However, he didn't feel like she or Julius would be a problem for them. His instincts were telling him that cultivating a relationship with these two would only bring his House benefits.

Old Man Han thought so as well, otherwise there wasn't a reason why he would send them his way.

Casidus believed that he was supposed to help these two in some way.

This was the reason he had already made the executive decision to give them access to the rift.

While some of the elders might have problems with that, he was hoping that after some time they would come to understand his decision. Furthermore, he was able to do this because of one simple reason.

He was the Patriarch. Which meant his words held quite a lot of weight.

It was almost three weeks after Julius entered the chamber, which was already a very long time by anyone's standards.

Although Casidus has personally seen an advancement from a friend reaching Tier 4, that had taken longer than a year to complete. However, their case was a bit of a special one. They had a Time Concept which made things much more complicated.

Julius's was only to Tier 3, so anything over a week was an anomaly.

But he wanted to see the boy's advancement with his own eyes. Well, not exactly with his eyes, but since he managed many of the enchantments of the estate, he was able to use them to get a good idea of what was happening inside the chamber.

At first, he was nervous because, around the two-week mark, the boy went silent. If he didn't sense the tiniest sliver of life from the boy, he would have thought he had died.

But it was still worrisome when several days went by like that. Despite this, he made sure to keep an eye out for any new developments.

It wasn't until around the three-week mark that he felt something change.

He had been in the middle of a meeting but had allocated some of his attention to paying attention to the chamber where the boy was just in case.

Casidus had felt a powerful surge of mana come from the boy's previously innate body. Moments later a massive wave of flames flooded the room and turned the furniture to ash. Leaving only the boy in the center of the room, completely naked.

He had no idea what had happened and had never seen an advancement that explosive before. The one thing that really caught his eye was the wave of Concepts that were released in that explosion. He already knew the boy had more than one Concept, but he had no idea how strong each Concept was.

It wasn't unusual to see people with many Concepts, but many times they weren't that extraordinary.

His were.

Casidus was beginning to see why Old Han was interested.

He also made sure to remind himself that he needed to give Julius something a little extra for his indiscretion and for spying on his advancement. Maybe some personal training or some other type of reward would be enough to rectify his discretion.

***

Julius POV

He awkwardly looked around at the destruction and put on a new set of clothes. His previous plain black clothes were gone, never to be seen or worn again.

However, he was a bit confused at the fact that he didn't have any impurities around him. He had been expecting some sort of discharge of his built-up impurities since that was normal after advancing to Tier 3.

Of course, it was possible that he had and the explosion which had turned the furniture and comfortable chair to dust had also turned the impurities to dust.

The first thing he did was take out Drasil from his core.

Actually, I don't have a core anymore. So where does Drasil go now? He realized something important.

Fortunately, he was able to follow the connection that was still there between them and found the little life spirit tucked away in his soul space.

The little guy was seemingly napping happily, but Julius removed Drasil and gently held him in his palm.

The green fellow didn't wake up but he rolled over and yawned before scratching his stomach.

Julius put the spirit up close to his eyes and tried to investigate if anything was different about the little guy, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

He seemed like the same spirit he had been just the other day.

Instead of placing Drasil back, he took out his cushion and placed the spirit on top of it, allowing Drasil to continue his nap in peace.

He also created a table and chair where the two of them could relax for a moment. Julius even took out a massive sub-style sandwich from his storage ring to eat.

He had no idea how long he had been in the chamber for, but he was positively starving. He also left a dense orb of Phoenix-infused mana right next to Drasil for when he woke up.

Just when he had created the orb, he had immediately felt the difference in how his mana responded to him. It was so much quicker and more receptive to Julius's will. A huge improvement even at first glance.

While he was enjoying the sandwich he noticed the notification he had received and opened it up.

Congratulations, you have earned an Achievement. Read the latest on empire

For advancing to Tier 3 with three previously acquired Concepts, you have obtained a Special Emblem on your soul for your rare accomplishment.

Your Emblem is something wholly unique to you and will grow alongside you as you progress through the ranks. In time it will be a pillar of your strength and a testament to your dedication to your path.

Notice: You will not be able to share this information with anyone who doesn't have an Emblem themselves.

Julius had to reread the notification multiple times to begin to understand what had just happened.

He had never heard of such a thing before and didn't know what it meant.

It wasn't the first time that he had earned a reward from the Words of the World. The last time he did was when he managed to gain another skill slot. He had been half hoping that this notification had been another similar reward.

However, it seemed he had come across something entirely new.

What caught his eye was that it mentioned that this 'Special Emblem' would grow alongside him as he progressed through the tiers. Did that mean it would get stronger along with him? If so then was it pretty weak at the moment and its value would only come to fruition after some time?

He also was interested as it explained that it would become a pillar of his strength. It didn't say it would be 'the' pillar of his strength, but it heavily implied that it would be important for him.

He was confused about the importance of it being a testament to his dedication to his path as well. What kind of significance did that mean? Was it like some sort of badge of honor that others could see or was it some kind of requirement for future developments?

He had more questions than ever.

The fact that he couldn't share any of this information with anyone who didn't have an Emblem was a bit of a problem too. That was probably why he had never heard of it before, but it was still annoying. He wanted to know more.

However, he realized something after he read it a seventh time.

It said that he couldn't share it with anyone who didn't have an 'Emblem', but was that any different from the Special Emblem that he got?

A regular Emblem might have required only a single Concept when advancing while his Special Emblem was because he had three.

Hehe, I might be special, he smirked to himself jokingly.

Perhaps, Reinera would get a similar Emblem because she had a Concept of her own. That would mean he might be able to ask her about it.

Though, if the notice was anything to go by, she probably didn't know much about it either. Since she didn't have one beforehand, people wouldn't have been able to share it with her.

He did wonder how the Words of the World managed that though. Like how would it be able to prevent him from telling people about his Emblem or about how to get one? He was sure many people had tried to skirt around the warning.

He did make the quick decision and decided not to tell anyone about his Special Emblem though. Even if he found someone who he could talk to, he would simply state that he had a regular Emblem. He didn't see the need to make himself out as more interesting than he already was.

With that being said, he was enjoying the fact that he got a special reward more than he was expecting. It felt good to be recognized by the world for his hard work.

He just had zero idea what that would mean for him and what kind of benefit he could get from it.

However, that was an issue for another time. His current issue at the moment was getting more food out of his storage ring because his previous one was already gone and it felt like he hadn't eaten in weeks.