Path to Transcendence

Chapter 505: Rift Rewards

Julius had never heard of a feat before. But it sounded like it was something good. At least he hoped it was. He couldn’t imagine that it was something bad.

He reviewed the rest of his notifications while he was at it.

Congratulations, you have earned the Feat of Enduring Resolve.

[Sage of Savagery lvl 22 -> lvl 23]

[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 17 -> lvl 18]

[Inexorable Resolve of Ruin lvl 19 -> lvl 20]

[Kinetic Energy Refinement lvl 18 -> lvl 19]

Challenge Rift reward generating…

Surprisingly, it was his body enhancement skill that ended up gaining a level out of all things. He wasn’t shocked to see that he had gained a level in [Sage of Savagery], though. On the contrary, he was quite unsatisfied to see that he had only gained a single level. Although, to be fair, it was his highest-level skill at this point. So it made sense why its progress was slowing down.

He was one step closer to finally getting a legendary skill. Just seven more skill levels to go. He hoped the last few levels werenʼt a pain in the ass.

He also got the notification that his reward was being generated, but unlike the previous Challenge Rift he had done with Reinera, he didn’t get the reward right away. There was a pretty considerable delay, and he had to wonder what was happening.

Did the modification cause an error that was stalling his reward? He hoped that he at least got some kind of reward. It would suck if all he got were a pat on the back. At least he got this Feat. If he hadn’t, then he would have been more upset at the situation.

As his reward was being generated, he opted to wait and open up his status real quick to see what kind of changes occurred. The notification mentioned that the Feat was engraved on his soul. Thus, he suspected it would be reflected in his status.

Name: Julius Von Hyperius

Tier: 3

Skills:

[Armaments of the Arcane lvl 20] (Epic)[Sage of Savagery lvl 23] (Epic)[Phoenix Renewal lvl 17] (Epic)[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 18] (Epic+)[Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 20] (Epic)[Absolute Spatial Perception lvl 13] (Epic)[Void Step lvl 11] (Epic+)[Void Strike lvl 8] (Epic+)[Spirit Fortification lvl 8] (Epic)[Kinetic Energy Refinement lvl 19] (Rare+)
Current Skill Slots: 10/12

Concepts:

[Concept of Sharpness][Pure Severance][Concept of Will][Inexorable Resolve][Concept of Phoenix][Ashen Rebirth][Concept of Force][Resonating Burst][Concept of Space][Chaotic Space]
Feats:

[Feat of Enduring Resolve lvl 1]
Soul Bound Items:

Fledgling Phoenix’s Lunch Box (Growth Type)
It was just as he thought. The Feat was already in his status, and what was an even larger surprise was the level next to it. Apparently the Feat was level one, this made him excited because it hinted that there were more levels above it that he could get by improving the Feat.

As to how he would accomplish something like that, he had no clue. But it was to have something to work toward. He wondered how it would change if he gained a single level.

Hell, he didn’t even know how to level it in the first place. That was something he was going to have to ask Freya or Cain. They would probably know something about it.

He attempted to retrieve more information about his Feat, but there wasn’t a detailed explanation as there had been for his lunch box. Speaking of that, he was hungry. All of that torturing made a man’s stomach grumble.

So with a brief flash of intent, he summoned his lunch box from his soul and opened it up. However, before he could reach in and see what was inside, he was rudely yanked by the rift. He was forcibly transported and found himself standing before the iridescent portal once more.

He looked around and didn’t spot Aubrey anywhere. He frowned and was about to head over to a small rock when he felt an intricate twisting of spatial magic. Then, suddenly, Aubrey appeared in front of his eyes.

She stumbled from the teleportation, but he was already right next to her, supporting her by her back. He ran his senses over her right away and spotted damage throughout her body. She was breathing in sharp gasps, as if she had a hole in her lungs.

He pinched his brows in focus and quickly used his healing skill to get her back to perfect health. Letting his life mana gently run through her body, making sure he didn’t mess up and hurt her instead.

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She let out a sigh of relief when she felt his healing.

“Thanks,” she said gratefully.

He simply nodded and kept on infusing her with life mana, concentrating on her soul rather than her body. He hadn’t done much practicing with healing souls, but he wasn’t too worried about messing her soul up.

For one, souls were much more resistant to changes and sudden mutations than bodies were. Secondly, it was more like he was enhancing the soul’s natural healing process anyway. He drew some inspiration from Freyaʼs help. He wasn’t nearly as good or effective, but it worked a little bit. He could notice some of her soul fatigue start to wash away.

He relaxed when he sensed this. He had been worried that Aubrey had been hurt from the rift and was glad to see that she had come out relatively well. At the very least, she didn’t seem to have experienced the same kind of dangers he did.

He looked around to see if the group of people that had been around were still in the area. He didn’t spot them and thought it was likely that they were inside the rift at this very moment.

He prodded Aubrey in the shoulder. “Let’s get out of here before they get back. We can recover and see what he got afterward, okay?”

She nodded at him, still showing some weariness.

He grabbed a hold of her and shot them back toward the ground before the other group returned from the rift, if they did at all.

A couple of people noticed their descent, but they didn’t seem particularly interested in either of them. Just a few looks and they were off on their own business.

Julius pulled out his board and quickly had them moving, scanning the entire area to find somewhere safe to relax. He found a pretty decent area not too far away. It was a large forest with dense foliage, but it was perfect for him. The denseness wasn’t a problem with his perception skill.

He also liked it because its general atmosphere was really comfortable and cozy. Additionally, the trees in this forest had some unique properties. He didn’t know how they did it, but the trees did an excellent job of dampening mana from escaping from the forest. It kept it contained like a box.

Typically, this wasn’t something people would find attractive for a hideout or a place to relax. But for Julius, this was perfect. He wasn’t able to use his mana senses as well as he would have liked, but he was still able to rely on his aura. Furthermore, his [Absolute Spatial Perception] worked perfectly fine.

He found themselves a nice little nook where they finally let out a sigh of relief. They were away from any groups of people, and he only sensed a couple of monsters off in the distance. However, these monsters didn’t seem like they were looking for a fight, and the one who had sensed them had already gone the other direction.

Julius unpacked his supplies and made some furniture for them to relax on. In a matter of a few minutes, a nice, comfortable camp had been created, and Julius had taken out his lunchbox again. He had been so rudely interrupted before, but now that he had some time, he wanted to see what was on the menu.

He spotted some very nicely packaged sandwiches, filled to the brim with meat, vegetables, and some kind of sauce. His soul item didn’t provide the most gourmet food in the world, but each and every item was delicious, so he wasn’t about to complain.

Aubrey, despite her tiredness, perked up when she saw him take out his lunchbox. She had come to appreciate the item as much as he did in the past week or so. Sometimes she would forgo lunch so she could eat his food.

Drasil was taken out as well. Seraphyne continued to stay inside his soul space; he wasn’t going to rush her. He let her have as much time as she wanted.

Only after they had gotten some energy back and felt recovered did they address what had happened to them.

He listened as Aubrey explained what her Challenge had been. Apparently, it had been very similar to what Julius had experienced the first time around. She had been placed on top of a tall mountain and bombarded by the orange light.

She hadn’t been able to withstand the pressure as well as he had. But that was also to be expected. He had already gone through with his second soul evolution, and that wasn’t mentioning his already potent willpower.

In her case, she had been pushed to the very brink. Her willpower barely held out, and by the time she was finished, it had cracked from the duress it had been subjected to.

However, she had been rewarded quite nicely for surviving her Challenge. She proudly showed off the small pearl, the size of a marble, in her fingers. It had the same orange glow that the pillars had been made out of and radiated a warm energy.

“What does it do?” He asked curiously.

“It’s supposed to improve my willpower by a significant amount,” she said smugly.

“Oh?” Julius leaned closer to take a look at the orange pearl.

She grinned. “What did you get?” She asked him.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It says my reward is still being generated,” he said with a frown, also surprised that he hadn’t received his reward yet. He would have thought it would have been done by now and looked at the notifications again to see if anything had changed.

Challenge Rift reward generating…

Nope, nothing.

“What? Really? That is very odd,” she said while chewing on her lip.

He shrugged. “What can you do? At least it says that it is generating and not that I won’t get one,” he said optimistically.

She laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Still, what happened in your Challenge? Knowing you something went wrong and that is the reason why you aren’t getting your reward right away,” she stated jokingly.

When he didn’t laugh alongside her and stayed silent, she stopped chuckling and looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“Oh, come on,” she said lifelessly.

“It’s not my fault,” he insisted.

“It’s never your fault,” she said with a sigh. “Okay, tell me what happened.”

He took some time to think about how he wanted to explain it to her, and when he finally pieced stuff together, he told her most of the details. He had learned that it was better for everyone involved if he hid some of the more… unnecessary details. She didn’t need to know that he had chosen to go through with the modified challenge.

She also didn’t need to know that he had almost died if not for Drasil, since his healing skill had been interfered with.

Fortunately, she didn’t decide to berate him. That was usually Lily’s job. The rest of his friends had slowly come to terms with the fact that there was nothing they could do and were typically just happy that he came out alive.

Not long after he had explained things to Aubrey, he remembered that he had also gotten a Feat, something he wanted to talk to her about. However, before he could discuss it with her, he felt an alert. He looked inward and smiled when he finally received the notification he had been eagerly waiting for.

Challenge Rift reward generating… Successful.