Path to Transcendence

The restaurant was indeed very exclusive. But it wasn't quite his cup of tea.

Like the Golden Wheel in Heston had been, it was a luxurious place with amazing food. However, unlike the Golden Wheel, there was this uncomfortable air surrounding the place.

It felt like a very posh and stuffy place meant for rich nobles. With that being said, it wasn't like they had an awful experience.

Matter of fact, Reinera fit in very well. She acted every bit like the royal member she was. Her manners and etiquette were on full display. Fitting in with such grace, that Julius was a bit envious of her.

He could barely hold his fork correctly. And although he wasn't technically a commoner, his lack of education in noble etiquette was easy to see. No matter how often Edwin had tried to instill in him some form of manners, he wasn't able.

Something he was wishing he had paid more attention to now.

Rebecca's husband and Cory's father, Richard was a wonderful man or at least that was the first impression he had of him. Unlike his wife, Richard was very exuberant and very alive. It was a stark contrast to how everyone in the restaurant acted but it was a welcome one.

It made Julius feel much more comfortable.

He believed that the man was very aware of the social environment and good with people, which would also explain his very affable personality.

Richard must have realized that he was feeling a bit uncomfortable because not long after they arrived, the man proposed for them to leave to somewhere else. Something Julius was grateful for.

Instead of staying there, they ended up eating some sort of warm custard dessert from a stall that Richard took them to. It was quite chilly out, much colder than Heston, thus the warm treat was a big welcome.

The real surprise came when they were walking back to the estate.

"So Rebecca told me that you are working on a fire enhancement skill," Richard said while playfully swinging Cory around in a circle.

"She did?" He asked. Julius vaguely recalled commenting on trying to work on a body enhancement skill to Rebecca earlier today when she asked about his plans for some of his physical aspected skills. He didn't remember saying anything about him getting a fire enhancement skill though.

However, he did believe that Rebecca had a good idea about him having a kinetic affinity. After all, she had seen him using his kinetic body skill all day so it wouldn't be that much of a surprise. But he realized after some thought, that she must have noticed his affinity from the construct he made for Cory.

Richard tossed Cory high up in the air much to the delight of the young boy before responding. "Yeah, she said that it might be a good idea for me to help you," he said to Julius.

He wants to help me learn a fire-related physical skill? Does he have a fire affinity of his own? He thought to himself wonderingly.

Before he could answer, he saw Rebecca smack her husband with her arm, her face a little red surprisingly. "You weren't supposed to tell him that I mentioned that," she pouted.

He turned to his wife with wide eyes. "I wasn't?" He sounded sincere, but Julius could spot the smirk on his face. It seemed like Richard knew exactly what he was doing.

I need to be careful around this man, Julius noted to himself, a little wary. Sneaky smart people were always the hardest to see through. The upfront and blunt types like Rebecca were actually easier to deal with.

"What do you have in mind?" Julius asked finally to Richard.

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I have a pretty good skill myself. I don't expect you to get the same skill, but I feel pretty confident in being able to show you some things that might make it easier for you to acquire something similar."

"Daddy is strong," Cory said proudly.

Julius smiled at Cory. "Stronger than your mother?"

At that question, Cory quieted. He looked at the man who was carrying him and back toward his mother with a worried glance before looking back toward Julius.

"No," he said with certainty.

"That's my boy," Rebecca snickered from where she was standing. Distinctly pleased with her son's answer.

"Oh, so he's your boy now? I recall you saying that he was my son whenever he got in trouble. However, it seems that whenever he does something amazing, he's all of a sudden your son, huh?" Richard asked with a sarcastic grumble.

"Don't pout dear, it's not proper," Rebecca said with a grin. Shamelessly ignoring that she had been the one pouting just a moment ago.

"What kind of skill do you have?" Julius asked curiously. He knew that there were various options for fire enhancement skills. For example, Edgar had told him that before he combined his earth and fire skills together into one skill, his fire skill leaned toward explosiveness.

However, he told Julius that there were versions that leaned toward stable output, even though that wasn't something fire was typically known for.

Julius was hoping for a nice blend of the two if that wasn't being too greedy. He already had kinetic energy to use for his body skill, but he wanted to take advantage of his other affinities as well.

Much like how Edgar had done, only with kinetic and potentially life mana if that was possible.

If Julius could somehow learn a Phoenix-based physical enhancement skill, kind of like how [Phoenix Body] sounded like it would have been, that would be wonderful.

Now that he was Tier 3, he would have much more space within his soul to increase his skills and learn new ones.

Ever since he advanced he has already felt the enlargement of his soul. It was quite relieving. It was like being clogged up for days and finally emptying the excess.

There was a lot of other stuff he wanted to do with this newfound space in his soul, such as learning a Space Concept and potentially one that would fit his kinetic affinity better than his current ones, but that might have to be put on hold again.
Enjoy new chapters from empire

His fight with Dustin showed him that his weakness right now was his physical strength and his body enhancement skill.

He also wanted to get it done before he tried to advance [Kinetic Augmentation] evolved to epic. He believed he would receive a much better skill if he utilized his fire affinity or Phoenix Concept into a new ability beforehand.

"My body skill leans toward being more dangerous," Richard admitted with a wince.

"How so?"

Richard paused as he tried to think of how to explain his skill, obviously contemplating how much he wanted to share.

Eventually, he just shrugged. "You saved my son, so I don't mind sharing this with you," he said with a small smile. His next words were quite forthcoming.

"The version I have is an epic ranked skill called [Blazing Embodiment]," Richard told Julius.

"[Blazing Embodiment]?" He asked.

"Yes, it is a very powerful skill that helps me use my advanced mana manipulations to great effects and with great synergy. I am primarily a mage, but I needed a better body skill, which led to me learning this particular skill with great effort," Richard explained.

"But it will work for me even if I am not primarily a mage?"

"Oh? You're not a mage?" Richard asked surprised.

"No, I like to fight up close," Julius clarified while holding up his two fists.

"My apologies. I thought with your mana control and the construct you made for Cory you were a mage."

Rebecca frowned as she heard this as well. "I was curious why you did so well on that training course today. Now it's making more sense," she muttered.

"That was someone doing well?" Reinera asked in disbelief.

Richard laughed at her. "Don't worry about it, Grace. My wife told me about the training she was helping you with and I was impressed when she told me that you almost did the entire second part of the course in a single day. It takes many of our Tier 3s weeks to complete the second section."

That comment seemed to cheer Reinera up a bit and she smiled at the man.

After successfully making her feel better, Richard turned his attention back to Julius.

"Even though you aren't a mage, I still believe that you might find my skill useful or good inspiration for your own," Richard said.

"How are the skill's close combat abilities?" Julius asked. He was interested in how dynamic the skill would be for his usage. The skill itself sounded very nice. If he had to choose a possible skill based on a name, it would be a top contender.

Richard wiggled his hand from side to side. "It's not the best for a pure warrior but it's a pretty advanced skill. My version of it also is influenced by my tendencies. Which means it is going to be more tailored for mage skill sets. However, with that being said, it is a very flexible skill and I could easily imagine the skill being modified into a more close combat style skill."

Julius didn't see a reason not to try it out. If he didn't like the options he got, he would simply not choose any of them. He also thought this would be the perfect opportunity to see another person's skill up close and personal.

Even if he didn't get a body skill out of it, it would be an educational experience for him.

"Okay, how would we do that?" Julius asked.

Richard went on to explain to him the general details of how he would teach Julius his skill.

It was pretty simple. After Rebecca helped him in the morning with their physical training, Richard would take some time to show Julius the ins and outs of his skill. He would show him the training methods that helped him acquire the skill in the first place.

The goal wasn't to get Julius the epic version right away. No, even Julius realized how crazy that sounded.

The goal would be to get Julius an uncommon version or hopefully a rare version. However, Richard mentioned that it might be better to try to get an uncommon skill first because how it will have more time to evolve to Julius's needs rather than being a more developed skill.

Julius agreed with him on this part. Although it would require more time and effort, he would rather grind out the skill and try to upgrade it than get a subpar skill that only partly suited his style.

Furthermore, he actually looked forward to the training. His soul wasn't in danger anytime soon, at least not anymore, so that wasn't an issue. But he was missing the days he was able to train all night.

He knew better than to try and do that now, but he still wanted to get back into grinding some skills. There was a lot he wanted to do now that he had some space in his soul to allow some more improvements.

First, he wanted to get an improved body skill that somehow utilized his other abilities. That was his most pressing and immediate goal.

The second was to evolve [Spatial Perception] and get a Space Concept for himself. However, that might have to be put on hold until he has Alice to help him out.

He was still struggling to even catch a whiff of a connection with a Space Concept. It might be smarter to just be patient and wait for someone like a Tier 6 space mage like Alice to help him. She already told him that she had some ideas for him, but things kind of... happened.

With that being said, he didn't really need to evolve [Spatial Perception]. The skill was still very powerful. He just really wanted to evolve, which was a big difference in his priorities.

Furthermore, he wanted to get settled in as a Tier 3 before he and Reinera attempted to challenge the Challenge Rift.

They would only get one shot and he wanted to be prepared. So even if it was ready in a couple of weeks, he was prepared to decline entering it until he was good and ready.

In the meantime, he had some things he needed to do.