Path to Transcendence

Chapter 74: Contractual Vow Ritual

For close to an hour, Julius and Aubrey took turns trying out their new techniques. Aubrey had made an interesting discovery herself. She found out that the same way she was able to infuse her clones with her aura could be used in another way as well. It took a lot more aura and concentration but she was able to give the clones a more realistic feeling to them.

Julius could still tell the difference thanks to [Spatial Perception], but it wasn’t as easy as before.

Julius on the other hand had been trying to find a way to make his constructs more tough. [Mana Layering] had helped a lot, but he still had trouble making them sturdy enough. It didn’t matter how many layers he had if each layer was easily broken apart. He felt like his layers were made of dried pasta when he smashed them into her arms.

He did see some progress with leveling his skills though.

[Empowerment of Will lvl 6 -> lvl 7]

[Mana Layering lvl 7 -> lvl 9]

However, seeing Aubrey use her aura to give her clones a weighty presence gave him an idea. His new skill [Empowerment of Will] had kind of worked on [Savage Dance] but he hadn’t had the time to try it on his other skills yet. He wondered how the skill would affect [Arcane Construct] and [Pure Compression].

“Hey Aubrey, I want to try something else if thatʼs alright,” Julius let her know beforehand.

Aubrey dissipated her clones and asked, “What are you thinking about?”

“I want to see if I can use my aura skill to enhance my constructs,” Julius said.

“I don’t know why you are trying to create constructs for close combat. Your long-range attacks are deadly enough, and fire mana is not known for its defensive properties. You might be better off focusing on mage skills. You certainly have the mana capacity and control for it,” Aubrey told him.

“You don’t think that I should be learning how to fight up close and instead specialize as a mage?”

“No, you should definitely learn how to fight in close combat. I have been trying to convince Lily for years and Derek is a perfect example of being a mage but not being limited to long-range combat.” Aubrey pointed to the other side of the room where Derek, Kyle, and Edgar were all training together. “He has a perfect lightning affinity that he uses primarily at range but he is also one of the better spear users in the school. However, stretching yourself too thin is not realistic.”

“What do you suggest?” Julius asked her.

“I think you need to figure out a better way to defend yourself. I would recommend a movement skill that doesn’t allow your opponent to hit you. Fire, kinetic, or life are not known for their defensive specialties,” Aubrey put out there.

“I usually use my healing skill, which kind of acts as a defensive skill. But it’s not as useful if I am wearing these bracelets,” Julius said.

“It doesn’t matter, having a movement skill is still very important, especially in the later stages,” she explained.

Julius didn’t know how he would go about learning a movement skill like she said. Aubrey could switch places with her clones and had a monstrous defense. Julius didn’t have either and would like to learn a skill like [Instantaneous Step] or something similar.

“Professor Keller said that he had a spatial movement skill called [Instantaneous Step], he said it was a popular skill. How would I go about getting a spatial skill like that?” Julius asked.

“It would require specialized training. It is an evolved form of the skill [Quick Step] but I am not sure what the requirements are after that. I would ask Professor Keller if you are interested.”

Julius would make sure that when he saw him next or the next time they sparred he would ask Gabriel for more details. He thought that a skill like that would be very useful because Aubrey was right, Julius needed to have a better movement skill. Blasting kinetic energy through his feet was only going to get him so far.

However, he still wanted to try out his idea with [Empowerment of Will], but before he could, Lily called out that she was finished with her preparations. Both of them dropped what they were doing and headed over to Lily. The other guys also must’ve heard Lily because they were also making their way over.

The ritual Lily had set up was a complicated design of runes and threads of mana, as well as something else. He didn’t know exactly what it was, but it was the same violet energy that Lily had used before at the cafeteria to prevent Aubrey from blabbering her secrets.

Julius was very impressed with how fast Lily was able to set it all up. When Derek said it was a complex ritual, Julius didn’t know what to expect. Now that he could see it, he was appreciating and realizing how difficult it really was. He was very glad Lily was able to do something like this because otherwise, Julius didn’t think he would share his secrets.

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However, he was also getting impatient. Declan hadn’t found anything about House Hyperius but he was hoping one of them knew something.

Lily had them all gathered around. “I need to connect everyone who is going to go through with the ritual. I installed an option that allows one party to have as many individuals as needed, and another party, which would be Julius.”

“What do you need us to do?” Edgar asked.

“Those who want to participate, stand in that circle,” she pointed at a runic circle off the side. “Then, just hold still for a few moments.”

Much to Julius’s surprise every one of them without hesitation went over to the circle. He didn’t think that they were so eager to go through with this.

Once Lily was all finished making sure they were keyed into the ritual she had Julius stand on one end and the rest of them on the other. She had all of them say a vow out loud. It was a generic vow that basically stated that they would not divulge any of Julius’s secrets to anyone or anywhere.

After that was done, Lily activated the runes making up the ritual.

It was a wonderful piece of magic. The runes were softly humming with white and violet energy, gently pulsing in a rhythmic pattern. Julius felt something attached to his mind and soul, but also felt a connection between the five of them.

Then all of a sudden, a sharp pain ripped through his head. Lily had warned them multiple times about the pain, but Julius didnʼt quite believe her. He thought she might have been exaggerating. He wished she had been because the pain was excruciating.

It was a totally different pain than what he was used to. He had accumulated many injuries in his time in this world and believed that he had a good tolerance for pain. But this pain was felt in his mind and soul. He felt like he was learning [Spatial Perception] all over again but many times worse. His soul felt like it was getting engraved with a rusted butter knife. If it wasn’t for [Savage Dance] he didn’t know what he would have done.

He took a look across from him at the others. All five of them were screwing their faces in agony. Julius only saw Edgar and Kyle taking the pain better than the others. The rest were groaning in pain and Julius was starting to feel awful about doing this to them.

Why did they feel like they needed to go through all of this just for him? It wasn’t like they knew him for very long. But they cared enough to want to know his secrets and understood that he couldn’t just tell them without any reassurance.

It touched his heart, it really did. He already believed that these five were good people but now he was convinced of it.

After what seemed like forever, the pain finally subsided and Julius could breathe normally again. The other five were also coming down from the pain, Lily dropping down to a knee, blood dripping out of her nose.

Julius wanted to go directly to her and see if she was alright, but he still felt the ritual finishing the last steps. As the energy from the ritual began to dwindle, he felt a little snap throughout his body, like a rubber band snapping against his wrist. Then it was all over.

The second Julius was confident that the ritual was finished he ran over to Lily. She was gasping for breath and was leaking blood from her orifices. Julius grabbed ahold of a bunch of mana and wove it into the same technique he used on Aubrey, this time though he focused on healing her entirely. Not just fatigue, but also any injuries she might have.

Julius could immediately see the color come back to her pale skin and she started to breathe normally again. Julius let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t know enough about rituals but he knew how challenging what Lily had done. She had made it look easy, but he had sensed how complex and how many different kinds of energy and moving pieces it took to achieve.

Once he made sure she was okay, he went around to all the others and gave them a little jolt of healing magic, making sure they were all in tip-top shape.

Everyone thanked him and sat down, trying to relax after their experience.

“Lily, I know you said it would hurt. But next time make sure you don’t under-exaggerate it. I thought I was dying,” Aubrey complained to Lily while she was lying on the ground with her hands over her face.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t have that much experience with it yet. I’m sure my father or grandfather would have been able to do it without causing a fraction of the pain,” Lily apologized to everyone.

“No, it’s my fault. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was so paranoid, you guys wouldn’t have to have gone through that,” Julius said guiltily.

Edgar had gotten up and placed a hand on Julius’s shoulder. “We all made the decision. We all consented, nobody forced us, it was our choice.” Edgar made sure that he knew that it wasn’t his fault.

Julius appreciated it, but he still felt bad.

Aubrey had sat up now. “Well, your secret better be worth it. Or else I am going to punch you so hard,” she said.

Julius saw Derek who was also on the ground, reach over and release a small shock of lightning at her. Aubrey jumped from the unexpected attack, “Hey what was that for?”

“Weren’t you the one who said you didn’t mind a little pain?” Derek teased her.

“Yeah, emphasis on little. I haven’t felt that kind of pain since my advancement to Tier 3,” Aubrey insisted.

“Yeah, I know. That certainly didn’t feel good. At least Kyle and Edgar have really good concentration skills that focus on pain resistance. I felt like a cattle getting branded on my soul,” Derek added.

“Forget branded, I felt like someone stole my soul, shoved it into their mouths, chewed it all up, and then spit it back out into my chest,” Aubrey said.

Julius listened as they all shared their collective misery with each other. It was funny, it was like they were trying to compete to see who felt the most pain. Then he took a moment to look at what the ritual had done. He could feel the geas connecting all of them. It was like small threads were attached to each of them to him.

After they were done complaining to each other, he all looked at Julius with expectant eyes.

“Well, I don’t know exactly where I should begin,” Julius admitted to them.

He hadn’t figured out how he wanted to explain it to them. How much did he want to share and how much was actually relevant?

He gave himself a few moments to think about how he wanted to explain everything to them. He did some mental organization and figured out what he wanted to say.

He looked at every one of them in the eyes, “How much do you guys know about House Hyperius?”