Path to Transcendence

Chapter 117: Where Are They?

Julius spent the next week splitting his time between his classes, sparring with Gabriel and the others, as well as his own nighttime training. The addition of homework didn’t really affect him all that much. The assignments didn’t take that long and mostly relied on students doing the work on their own time. If they didn’t do it then the only repercussions were not knowing the topic for future exams or in the worst-case scenario, not knowing the answer when the professor called on you. Which might honestly be the biggest reason for most of the students.

After the first couple of days, the craze of the princessʼs attendance had settled down. Students quickly got used to the fact that she would be attending class with them. Not to anyone’s surprise, there were still some groups of students who were always looking to gain favor with her. Without fail, people tried to squeeze their way into her friend circle or be extra nice to her. It must’ve been exhausting for both her and them.

Julius stayed out of the way of the chaos, minding his own business. He didn’t care much about all of that drama. He had a lot on his plate that he needed to focus on. Most of his training had been Concept training and getting used to his [Composite Mana] skill.

Which he was able to get several skill levels in, as well as some levels in [Kinetic Augmentation] from the sparring with Gabriel.

[Composite Mana lvl 2 -> lvl 5]

[Kinetic Augmentation lvl 15 -> lvl 16]

Gabriel and the others tried to give him tips about how to learn a Concept of Sharpness, but since they didn’t have one themselves, it made it kind of difficult to give him any substantial advice.

They gave him meditation methods and other advice such as what aspects of sharpness he should be focusing on. They recommended that he pay closer attention to each individual step of how sharpness worked as well as its meaning to him.

He had been seriously considering whether or not to learn a Fire Concept instead. Ever since he had learned about Concepts and the fact that they were necessary to learn an epic skill, he had been thinking about getting a Fire Concept to fill that requirement.

The only thing that held him back was the fact that he felt like he was close to learning a Sharpness Concept. He spent hours meditating and thinking about what sharpness was. Hours upon hours of sitting on the mat deliberating on the Concept of Sharpness.

Luckily today was the weekend. Which meant that Julius would be going out with Declan again to a Tier 2 rift. He was still slightly disappointed with the fact that it still was a Tier 2 rift, but he played along. Declan had promised him that he would be free to delve on his own as long as Julius showed him he could handle it.

That was why Julius was on his way to meet Declan this morning. He made sure to stop at a cafe and got him and Declan a coffee and a selection of pastries. He promptly stored the still-hot items and quickly made his way to the location of the rift.

This rift was a bit different than their last one. This rift was populated with golem-like monsters. Golems were monsters made up of solid materials such as stone, metal, or even wood at times. These creatures were also very interesting because they spawned naturally like many other monsters, but they were also able to be artificially created through the efforts of people.

There were mages out there that focused directly on the creation and utilization of golems. There was a particularly infamous and nasty golem user who had also specialized in necromancy in the years past. This person was able to fuse the properties of necromancy and golem creation into a single magic.

This eventually led to this person to raising a golem army under their direct control. The main downside of golem creation is that the user has to manually direct and control the golem to some extent. This meant that they would only be able to control so many golems before they were overwhelmed.

That wasn’t the case for the necromancer. Through vile means of magic, he was able to offset the mental load that normally came with golems to the souls of his victims. Often placing soul constructs within the golem that resembled the functions of an operating system.

They had caused untold damage to an entire region before being taken care of by a large group of adventurers. A good number of them were Tier 5. However, that tragedy demonstrated one thing. Golems were uniquely hard to deal with.

Their hardened exteriors and lack of normal vital spots made them a much more difficult endeavor to take down.

Perhaps that was the reason why Declan had chosen this rift for Julius. He might be looking to test Julius on how he will deal with something that has a much harder defense than the goblins.

If the goblin rift had a danger level of around a D or C rank, then golem rifts were usually around B rank or sometimes higher depending on the type of golem and what materials they were made of.

Julius didn’t think that this rift would be any higher than B rank. Golem rifts that were A rank would also mean that the materials that the golems were made of would be of a much higher quality. This meant a much more valuable rift. Julius didn’t think for all of Lord Lagos’s generosity, he would allow Julius and Declan access to one of his most valuable rifts. Additionally, the rift was only Tier 2. Not Tier 3 or 4, where more valuable materials pop up.

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Unlike last time, the rift this time was located within the city limits of Heston. It was still on the outskirts, but Julius didn’t have to leave through the gates.

Julius walked up to the building that was supposedly where the rift was held. He looked around with [Spatial Perception], but he didn’t sense Declan anywhere nearby. Julius had come pretty early again, so he wasn’t surprised that he was the first one here.

However, that meant he had time to eat his food while he waited for Declan. He spotted a water fountain placed in the middle of a nearby square and walked toward it. There were a good number of people out and about already, but that wasn’t unusual for Heston.

Julius sat his rear down on the marble stone of the fountain and took out the things he bought from the cafe earlier. The smell of cinnamon and freshly baked wheat radiated from his items. He smiled as his mouth salivated at delicious-looking pastries.

He created a small layer of softened mana behind his back to lean against and as he enjoyed his breakfast on a brisk morning, he waited for Declan to arrive.

Turns out he didn’t have to wait for long. Declan showed up just as Julius was polishing off his food. Like always, Julius offered Declan what he had gotten him. To which Declan gratefully took with a smile from Julius.

“Have you been waiting long?” Declan asked through a mouthful of pastry.

Julius shook his head. “No, it was perfect timing really. I just finished my food before you arrived.”

“Perfect. You ready to go?” Declan asked.

Julius pointed at the food and coffee that was in Declan’s hands. “You don’t want to wait until you finish?”

“I’ll be fine. I don’t plan on fighting anyway,” Declan said casually.

“I mean if it’s fine with you,” he said while shrugging his shoulders.

The two of them walked up to the building. Julius had put the same black cloth over his face again before opening the doors. Inside looked like the entrance to an office building. There were chairs and couches spread out, while people dressed in nice suits and dresses talked with each other. It was a little weird seeing how similar it was to his old world.

There was a front desk where a young woman was sitting behind. Julius and Declan both approached her.

“Hi! Can I help you with anything?” She asked Declan. She also gave Julius a look, briefly noting his face covering, looking a bit confused.

“Hello, we are here for this,” Declan responded, holding up the rift access card in one hand.

The woman looked back at him and opened up her hand expectantly. Declan placed the card in it. She then proceeded to verify it with another black cube. Once she made sure that it was the real thing, she smiled at the two of them and handed the card back to Declan before saying, “If you will follow me please.”

She got up and led them down the hallway and took them downstairs to a sublevel floor before leaving them. Julius was a bit surprised to see something very similar to what he had seen at the goblin rift. There were large pillars surrounding the portal situated in the center of the room. Large ceilings and large lamps of soft yellow light shone throughout the spacious opening.

Julius spotted several guards who were all standing around the room. Two of them noticed their entrance and approached Declan and Julius. They went through the same procedures that the guards at the goblin rift had gone through, before letting Julius and Declan enter the rift.

When they entered the rift, Julius was a bit taken aback by the different environment. The rifts he had been to so far, had all been open-field environments. However, this time they were placed within a cave of some sort.

A massive cave at that. The ceilings were dozens of feet tall and at least that wide apart. Though not the same type of magical aesthetic as the goblin or troll rift, it had its own allure. The cave was lit up by a soft blue glow that was emitted by the countless blue crystals that decorated the walls.

The light from them made it possible to see enough. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it would have been if someone without a skill to see in the dark were to enter this rift and there wasn’t any source of lighting.

Once they had entered Julius watched as Declan pulled out the remainder of his pastry and the coffee from his spatial device, nonchalantly taking a bite and then sipping on his drink.

Julius chose to ignore the man and focused on the rift. He couldn’t sense anything yet, but they had just entered so it would be weird if he did. It didn’t appear like there was another direction he could head toward. Behind him was the portal and a big wall. It seemed like the rift was telling him that he only had a single direction he could choose from.

On the bright side, that made his job much easier. Since there was only a single direction, that meant he only had to make his way down the cave and not think about the route as cautiously.

Ever since he had found out what type of rift Declan was taking him to, he had some ideas about how he wanted to deal with the golems. It was common knowledge that using bladed weapons was not the most optimal choice for fighting such an opponent.

Most weapons would chip and shatter before much use. People have found that brute force attacks or weapons such as hammers or other things that did concussive damage did a very nice job dealing with golems. He was thinking about creating large constructs that would smash the golem apart. Maybe some liberal usage of kinetic energy and some explosions might help. It would certainly help expose the core of the golem.

To take down a golem, it was imperative to find the core. That was typically the most difficult thing about hunting golems. Their cores were never in the same place, but most people were able to find them after several attempts. Most of the time cores resided around the chest or head, those were the safest bets and the most well-defended parts of the golem’s body.

A good mana-sensing skill would be helpful to anyone who is trying to locate a core. The immense source of energy would be a good hint to people about the whereabouts of the core.

In Julius’s case, he didn’t know if [Spatial Perception] would be helpful in this matter. Although he didn’t have the [Mana Sense] skill, he did have a good grasp on sensing mana especially through [Spatial Perception]. That didn’t mean that he would be able to sense the golemʼs core though. He would have to wait until he found one first to see if it was possible.

Now where are they? Julius thought excitedly to himself. He couldn’t wait to begin.