Path to Transcendence

Chapter 187: Still Not Strong Enough

Julius was impressed. Polux was much stronger than he thought he expected. He had even been forced to use his constructs. That wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Julius had been confident that he could handle all Tier 2s without using his fire affinity.

However, the beastkin boy had this amazing berserker skill that utilized aura. It was for sure a high-ranking rare skill. In fact, Julius was able to sense that Polux was getting close to reaching a Concept himself.

It wasn’t quite there, but the skill definitely touched on something that related to his own Will Concept. With that being said, instead of pure will, it was a little bit different. It almost felt angry or rageful. He knew that a Concept of Rage existed thanks to some of the reading he did, but he also knew that it was much more common in the northern tribes. The same tribes that used kinetic energy.

Maybe it’s a good idea for me to look into a Concept like that. I will have to ask the others or my new Tier 6 babysitters.

Julius gave Polux an assessing look. He was sure that the skill wouldn’t last for that much longer. Julius could sense the aura of Polux slowly weakening as the fight went on. He guessed that Polux had about a couple of minutes before he would no longer be able to keep the skill active.

Still, being able to double his physical abilities across the board would be a powerful skill to use against any of his opponents. It would certainly catch many by surprise, giving the boy an edge.

Julius was curious if there were any downsides of the skill other than the weakness period that was definitely going to come around once the skill ran out of steam. There was no way something that volatile and aggressive didn’t leave the user weaker after it ran out of juice.

A smart fighter would choose to keep their distance from Polux until the skill ran its course, but Julius didn’t believe that would be very sporting. The boy had this weird need to fight Julius. It was like he had something to prove, whether that was for himself or Julius, it was hard to tell.

Julius still wasn’t going all out, but he felt like the least he could do was to give Polux a good fight. So that’s what Julius did.

Since he had already been forced to use to use his constructs he might as well use them now. The only things he wanted to hold back on were using his Concepts, his healing skill, and the new technique that froze his opponents. Those abilities wouldn’t make the fight very fun for either of them if Julius started to use them.

Julius stepped forward with [Flash Step] and Polux met him in the middle, throwing a punch. Julius created a panel of mana in front of Polux’s fist, however instead of using it to block the fist, Julius softened it. It was like the fist was encapsulated in a blanket, and once Julius had control of Polux’s fist, he threw the construct straight to the ground. Polux’s arm going with it.

Even with his stance wildly out of place, Julius was impressed that Polux was able to present a semblance of a defense. Still, that didn’t matter too much to Julius. His leg shot out and slammed into Polux in the hip again. This time though, he had enforced his leg with a construct that had [Barrier of Severance] supporting it. This time he tore through the aura barrier of Polux and slammed the boy across the room.

Julius followed and before Polux could get back to his feet he grappled the boy’s back in a style not unlike Gabriel. The bald professor would have been proud to see Julius’s improved technique.

Julius wrapped his legs in between Polux’s preventing the boy from getting any leverage. He pressed his shoulder into the ribs of Polux, driving the beastkin boy deeper into the ground. Julius then managed to create a shackle to wrap around Polux’s legs, leaving his own free.

Polux put up one hell of a fight. His skill gave him the opportunity to fight back on relatively equal grounds. The boy was actually slightly stronger than Julius in pure physical abilities. That didn’t matter though. Once, he had the boy’s legs pinned down. It was already over.

Julius climbed up Polux’s chest and sent a few blasts of kinetic energy into the boy. Julius didn’t have to worry about holding back too much, the bracelet would handle whatever damage Julius could do.

Julius eventually got his arm underneath the other boy’s chin. With one arm pinning down the shoulder, he used his other to hook under Polux’s neck and started to squeeze.

The moment Polux felt how deep of a chokehold Julius had on him, he tapped Julius’s arm twice. Polux wouldn’t actually suffocate, but the bracelet would have activated the moment he was about to pass out so there was no reason to keep on fighting on.

Julius immediately let go and got off of Polux. He then reached down and offered a hand to his downed opponent. Luckily it didn’t seem like Polux was a sore loser and took his hand with a short chuckle.

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“I knew it,” Polux said with a shake of his head.

“You did well. That skill of yours is quite the powerful one,” Julius complimented him.

Polux shook his head. “You weren’t even trying,” he said disappointingly.

Julius was the one who shook his head this time. “No I was, your physical abilities are definitely a threat,” he reassured him.

“You’re saying that you went all out?” Polux said with a doubtful grin.

“Of course not. That wouldn’t be fun for me or you. There are certain things that you won’t be able to overcome with pure strength,” Julius told Polux, acting like a wise sage.

Polux gave him an unimpressed stare. “What do you mean by that?”

Julius shrugged and had a smirk on his face.

Polux had this thinking expression on his face and paused for a few moments.

Finally, he seemed to come to a realization. “Are you saying that you have a Concept? I thought it might be possible, but honestly, they are pretty unlikely at Tier 2 so I’m not sure.”

“Who knows,” Julius said vaguely.

Polux gave him an excited grin. “Can you teach me?” He asked quickly.

“Teach you what?”

“How to acquire a Concept. My family tried to teach me one, but I didn’t seem to have the talent.”

“So why do you think that I will be able to do something that they can’t?” Julius asked.

Polux gave him a ‘are you serious’ face. “Because you obviously have a talent for it. So maybe I might have a better chance if you help me.”

Julius just gave the other boy a cold glare.

“If you don’t I will tell the others,” Polux shamelessly threatened him with a shit eating grin.

Julius just looked up to the ceiling and sent a prayer. Please Gods, give me strength to not strangle this boy.

***

In the end, he managed the temptation. It was difficult but he didn’t have a Concept of Will for nothing.

He promised Polux that they would find some time to work on it because he didn’t make sure to clarify that there was no certainty. Polux didn’t seem to care about that and happily agreed.

After that, they went their own ways and the weekend was upon him when the sun rose the next morning.

His weekend started out pretty tame. He spent some time trying to figure out his Space Concept for a few hours doing the exercises that Alice showed him, but honestly he wasn’t getting anywhere.

Alice had told him beforehand to curb his expectations, even though he had gotten the difficult Phoenix Concept, didn’t mean the Space Concept would be any easier. The Concept was a notoriously difficult one that many never acquired.

After that he finished a few assignments he needed to do for some of his classes, but that took only an hour. The rest of the time he spent hanging out with the others and trying out some new hobbies.

He did get some good news though. While Lily still hadn’t found much of anything about what happened at the estate, she did manage to find out more information about what House Greyson was doing in Heston. According to Lily’s sources, the Ducal House was expanding its operations and influence. They were trying to establish themselves in the current Adventurer Association and other various industries in Heston. Buying out buildings and businesses within the city would allow them to put their fingers in the pie and hopefully influence some of the dealings that happened in Heston.

Lily thought it was quite a power-hungry play that could come back to bite House Greyson. Heston was considered a neutral territory for a good reason. The powers backing the city wouldn’t be very happy about such moves.

Lily also informed Julius about more details that he hadn’t known. For one thing, Heston didn’t have a ruling Governor or high-ranking noble that controlled the city like normal cities in the Luminous Empire but instead had a Council of Lords that controlled the city.

On the surface to the general citizens of the Empire, these lords were just relatively low-ranking nobles who ran the city. However, Lily explained to him that it was much more complicated than that. Just as the Golden Wheel restaurant was backed by powerful hermits, so was the rest of the city.

These powerful individuals held a solid grip over Heston. The Council of Lords were merely representatives of the true power behind Heston. People that not even the Emperor could easily offend.

On another funny note, he also finally found out that Duke Greyson’s first name was Dolan, which was weird because this entire time Julius hadn’t really been considering the Duke as a real person. To him, he had been just another obstacle in his way.

Anyway, Dolan Greyson had many sons and grandchildren. However, one in particular was quite ambitious. The second son Wesley Greyson was the main spearhead of many of House Greyson’s operations.

This also meant that the incident at the estate would likely be something that this Wesley planned. Instead of Duke Greyson, Julius gained another target in his sights.

A part of him was a little relieved. Duke Dolan Greyson earned the title of Duke for a good reason. His strength as a Tier 6 was a cornerstone of the Empire’s power. Going against him would mean he was going up against one of the premier individuals.

Wesley Greyson on the other hand was still a Tier 4. Granted, he was considered an immensely talented individual who could reach Tier 6. Which meant that many of the House’s members supported him in case he inherited the title of Duke. However, being Tier 6 and having the potential of reaching Tier 6 were two very different things. Julius could start to see a plan developing in his own head.

Still, he would patiently wait for his moment. He wasn’t even Tier 3 yet, he had some time before he was strong enough to face Wesley and his supporters.