Path to Transcendence

Chapter 426: None of You Noticed

Julius had sensed their approach right away. They weren’t exactly the most sneaky people, but he had to give them some credit. There was some kind of skill or spell that hid their exact location. If not for [Absolute Spatial Perception], he didn’t know if he would have detected them as easily.

Thankfully, he did, and it could not have been at a better time. The group of prisoners he had rescued was quite large, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do with them. He had grabbed some supplies from the dead bandits as well as the item that created the isolation barrier, but other than that, he was at a loss.

“Why did you come out here?” One of the women asked him suspiciously.

He shrugged. “Same as you, I guess. I wanted to see if I could find these bandits and take care of them before they caused more problems,” he explained.

“Yeah, and took care of them so well that we can’t ask them where their base is. Just wonderfully convenient,” a man holding a staff scoffed offhandedly. There was obviously a hidden meaning behind these words.

Julius pursed his lips and stared at this mage with narrowed eyes. He didn’t appreciate the suggestion that this mage was making. He walked up to the mage slowly, not bothering to react when the man’s team all tensed up as he got closer.

He tilted his head upward to smile at the taller man. “Is there something you wanted to say?” He didn’t forcibly press his aura down on the man, but he did release some of the shroud. Letting the ruinous nature of the aura blanket the area around him freely.

He had only begun to notice it recently, but that grape that he ate must have actually been a real treasure. During the past few weeks, he had been feeling his Emblem slowly making progress, despite not hunting monsters or delving. Doren might have been a weirdo, but it would seem that he didn’t lie to Julius about the tasty grape. He might have to apologize to the researcher later.

With that being said, this increase in his Emblem meant that his aura had only gotten stronger. The ruinous effects were now quite potent and dangerous if he wasn’t actively reining in his aura. And the mage in front of him was being subjected to this effect at this very moment. As demonstrated by the slight rattling of the mage’s own aura when up against a destructive aura like Julius’s.

Julius felt someone approach his back as this was happening, and just before the meaty hand was able to grab his shoulder, Julius used a bit of his kinetic energy to freeze the person in place.

The physical strength of this man was on a totally different level than the Tier 4 bandit, but Julius simply cranked up his efforts. [Kinetic Energy Control] enhanced his already powerful manipulation, and he heard the man let out a groan as his hand was halted in mid-air before it could latch onto his shoulder.

The man’s physical strength was ridiculous, but that was the only thing that made it hard to keep him still. His aura control left much to be desired, and Julius was able to weave through his defenses and snuff out his willpower without much issue.

It was only then that Julius turned around to see the person who had tried to grab him. He was unaware that his eyes were fully red at this point, blazing with power as he glared at the team’s tank. However, there was a bit of satisfaction when he saw the rest of the team hesitate to make a move.

Julius was at the point where he was strong enough to defend himself. He didn’t care that these people were Tier 4; he had killed plenty of Tier 4s despite being Tier 3. However, he wasn’t going to let someone disrespect him with such a derisive tone like the mage had done. To suggest that he might be working with the bandits after saving all the prisoners was too far.

He also wasn’t going to allow someone to try to manhandle him like the tank had just attempted.

The air was brimming with tension. Julius could feel the simultaneous activation of multiple skills from the entire team, and for some reason, this only made him smile wider. His heart pounded with anticipation, and he didn’t let his focus skill deprive him of this feeling. He let it pulse throughout his body and used the feeling to power his own enhancement skills.

However, before things could get any worse, their leader, the man he had seen talking to the chief, slammed his spear into the ground. A loud shockwave blasted out, and his teammates all turned toward him.

“Let’s just all calm down,” the man said soothingly and gave Julius an apologetic bow. “Sorry about Patrick. He has a big mouth and sometimes doesn’t know when to keep it shut.” A furious glare at the mage in question emphasized the last part.

“But Jakob-” the mage tried to respond, but Jakob completely ignored him and turned to the tank, who was still struggling to get out of Julius’s restrictive technique.

“And Viggo, you should know better than to escalate things. You can’t just put your meaty paws on someone and expect them to be okay with it,” the man rebuked the tank, whom Julius suddenly decided to release, not feeling the need to keep him immobilized anymore.

“Yeah, but…”

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“No buts. Not only did he save those villagers, but he is also from the Shattered Winter School. You should be treating him with some respect and be more thankful that he was around to help those people,” Jakob said with some reproach.

“I’m sorry,” The tank said, sounding genuinely apologetic, before turning toward Julius. “I’m sorry for being rude.”

Julius nodded gratefully. “No worries.” Julius also knew that he had been a little heavy-handed with the mage, so he didn’t blame his teammate for defending him.

Before he could ask a question of his own, the woman mage stepped closer.

“So what do we do now? While Patrick was unnecessarily rude, he does have a point. We don’t have a lead on their Basecamp now. You kind of wiped all of them out,” she said hesitantly.

“Oh, I already have a plan. I didn’t kill all of them; I left one of them alive. As a matter of fact, they are already heading back to what I assume is their base,” Julius explained with a proud smile.

His little impromptu tracking beacon was working quite nicely. While he didn’t have a dedicated skill, the way he melded the beacon in their nature mana signature ensured that it was hard to detect. His Space Concept also helped him sense the beacon regardless of the distance.

It was more of a hopeful idea rather than an intentional effect. But he was glad that it worked out.

“What do you mean?”

“I put a tracking beacon on one of them and let them go with the hopes they would lead me to their base,” he told them.

“That’s… smart.”

“Right?” He said proudly. He didn’t only know how to use brute force. Sometimes he could also use his head. Contrary to what Aubrey liked to say about him.

“How many did you leave alive?” Jakob asked him curiously.

“Oh, just the Tier 4.”

“Just the Tier 4?”

He nodded firmly. “Yep.”

“Are you confident that he won’t be able to detect your skill?”

He shrugged. “I don’t have a skill for it, but he hasn’t removed it yet, so I assume it should be okay.” He was suddenly a little bit nervous that the Tier 4 had detected it and could use it to lure Julius into a trap. However, after some time thinking about it, he assured himself that it was unlikely.

Julius had made it so that he was barely able to discern the difference, and he had excellent mana senses. Along with his perception skill, he didn’t think many people below Tier 5 could rival him. It sounded arrogant, but he truly believed that.

This team of adventurers didn’t seem to share his confidence, and when they heard he didn’t have a skill, they all looked at him with doubt. As a little test to prove it to them, he started to manipulate his mana to create another mark carefully. He focused on the loud-mouthed mage.

It was partly to show them that they could trust his technique and partly because he was curious if they could detect it when he was doing it right in front of their faces.

He followed the exact same process he did before. Only this time, he tried to be as discreet as possible.

To his amusement, they didn’t appear to sense what he was doing. He was halfway done as they talked amongst each other. The only person who seemed aware that he was doing something was the same scout from before, and Julius didn’t think it was because he detected Julius’s mana. Most likely, it was because he sensed Julius’s attention on his teammate.

This scout was also the same person who had sent that weird, disruptive stream of mana at Julius when he had snuck up on them. The disruptive skill was much like Irene Graves, the girl he had fought during the tournament, but there were some noticeable differences.

For one, it was much more potent than anything the girl managed to blast at him. But then again, the man was Tier 4, and Irene had only been a Tier 3.

If the scout suspected something, he didn’t say anything to his friends. He let it play out.

He distractedly listened to their conversation. They were talking about what they wanted to do. His attention was only grabbed when they addressed him directly.

“What are you going to do?” Their leader asked him.

Julius jabbed his finger in the direction he had left the group of prisoners to come and confront the group who had been following them.

“Well, it would probably be for the best if we get these people to safety. Initially, I came over here to see if you guys could help me get them back to their village or take them back to Kastila.”

“That is probably a good idea.”

“But what about the bandits?” A girl wearing two shortswords on her hips asked.

“I think my tracking beacon will work fine. I’m already tracking him as we speak,” he said with a light nod.

“I don’t mean to make light of your skills, but Tier 4s have advanced senses. I would feel safer if we assumed that this bandit has already noticed the tracker and is planning to use it to his advantage,” Jakob said diplomatically.

“He wasn’t that impressive for a Tier 4. I don’t think he would be able to detect the mark even given a lot of time.”

“You’re underestimating the prowess of a Tier 4. No matter how poorly trained the man is, he would be able to sense the difference between his own mana signature and someone elseʼs. His Authority would automatically protect him and alert him of this,” the female mage stated confidently.

He tilted his head and frowned. “And that is why I adapted the mark so it melded with his mana signature,” he was confused why the woman would assume Julius wouldn’t even do something like that. He wasn’t born yesterday; it was common sense to do something like that if you want to attach something to a person’s body or mana.

“Sorry?” The woman asked with a weird look on her face.

Julius pointed directly at the mouthy mage from earlier. “I mean, I did the same to him and he didn’t notice a thing.”

The entire team’s attention swiveled to their teammate. “What did you say?” Jakob asked him.

“I made a mark while you guys were talking and attached it to him. None of you guys seemed to notice, so I assume the Tier 4 wouldn’t be able to either,” Julius explained to them.

Their faces flashed with realization at what he had just said. All of them shot shocked looks at their mage, who was in the middle of patting down his own body as if he would magically find a tracker attached to his clothes.

Julius did his best to hide the smug grin that threatened to creep up on his face.