Path to Transcendence

Chapter 514: Got Em

Julius didn’t want to worry about the constant attacks from the back. So he carved out a path further away from the temple, so that the enemy group couldn’t attack them so easily. The monsters were a bit worse, but it was better than dealing with a bunch of annoying humans. He could deal with them later. It’s not like they would be going anywhere, plus they seemed to decide not to attack them after Julius sent a spike their way.

It would appear his threat was well received.

He didn’t know about his friends, but he was having a wonderful time. These monsters provided an excellent opportunity for him to test out his Ruinflame Crown. However, he didn’t take it too far. He still had to be mindful of his friends around him.

He didn’t want to incinerate them because he couldn’t control himself accidentally. That would not be good for either of them. Still, he would say that limiting the amount of fire mana he could use was good practice as well.

The crown wanted to consume more and more of his fire mana, trying to grow in strength and power. It was a test of wills to ensure only the littlest bit of fire mana made it through, and it required immense control for him to put this small amount to good use.

However, while he was enjoying himself and making sure that nothing was going to happen to his friends, he felt something tingle in his spine. He immediately created several large barrier around his friends.

Mere seconds later, a massive explosion of mana ripped out, a storm of fire blazing all around them. To his surprise, the fire didn’t seem to be attacking them; instead, it was focused on the monsters.

Julius watched with intrigue as the fire continued to burn. The monsters were either burned to ash or scorched so severely that they were immobilized. It was almost like the flames were being fed by all of the ambient mana. However, what caught his attention more was recognizing these flames. In fact, he had experienced these flames firsthand several days ago.

Eventually, the flames died down, and the monsters were dealt with. The other monsters off in the distance didn’t bother to come any closer. The demonstration of fire and death was enough to dissuade them from attacking.

As the flames died down, Julius spotted the familiar robed mage flying down from the sky with a staff in hand.

“I thought that was you,” the mage called out and smiled at Julius brightly. “I have been looking for you ever since our fight was postponed. Where did you end up going? I suspected my spatial barrier and your skills caused you to teleport somewhere else.”

Julius grinned back at the mage. “Yeah, I got carried off to another part of the Secret Realm. Though I don’t know where I was in relation to you.”

“Well, I am delighted to see that you survived that. I was saddened when that happened. I had so many questions to ask you,” the mage said with a soft shake of his head.

Julius tilted his head. “Like what?”

“Like how you withstood my flames. It wasn’t like you created a barrier to protect yourself. You burned; your lack of clothes afterward demonstrated that.”

Julius looked away, embarrassed. He forgot that he had flashed the mage and the girl during that fight. He had a terrible habit of doing that.

“Was it a powerful fire resistance skill? Or was it some kind of general magic resistance skill?” The other guy asked with bright eyes before pinching his lips together. “Sorry, I am being so rude, asking for your skills before I have even introduced myself. Riven Briarwood, disciple of Archmage Valis,” he said while extending a hand to Julius.

Julius hadn’t been expecting something like this. But he wasn’t about to complain. He had been impressed by Riven’s mastery of magic. Still, he looked at the offered hand with hesitation but only took a few seconds to reach out and take it, giving it a firm little shake. “Julius.” He offered back.

“I know, I heard about you from Garrett and my master,” Riven noted.

He must have noticed Julius’s grimace upon mentioning Garrett. “Yeah, the arrogant sod seems to have something against your little group. Stupid nobles and their dumb politics.”

“You insult him, yet you are working with him,” Julius commented.

“My master and his House apparently have a deal or something. Still, it’s not like I have to do what he tells me to do. For example, he wanted me to take out your group for him, but I said no.”

Julius looked at him curiously. “Why?”

“Why, you ask? Why should I? He is weaker than I am and wants to use me. Of course, I said no,” Riven said with a scoff.

“You said your master told you about me?”

“Kind of, he made some comments after your fight during the first stage and wanted me to learn something from your constructs. He didn’t really explain it much, but just hearing those words told me that he thought you were pretty skilled at the very least.”

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Julius nodded as he processed Riven’s words and the situation.

“So what now?”

“Well, I rushed on over because I wanted to ask you how you survived both of my attacks from last time.”

“No offense, but telling you that information seems like a one-sided deal to me,” he said to the mage.

Riven tapped his staff against his thigh and nodded slowly. “You might be right about that. What do you want in exchange?”

“You really want to know so badly?”

Riven bobbed his head up and down fiercely. “Yes, nobody in Tier 3 has withstood my flames or my pillars of earth without so much as a scratch.”

Julius didn’t know what to do. He could have accepted the mage wanting to fight him again, or even if he ambushed him, but he sounded pretty cool. He had even extended his aura a little bit to show his genuineness.

Julius’s friends had now come over to him. They must have seen Riven fly down and start talking to Julius. Their interest was clear as day.

“What is going on here? Why did you help us? Aren’t you a part of House Greyson’s stupid group?” Aubrey said stiffly.

Riven glanced at her, and Julius could see that some of his “friendliness” didn’t extend to Julius’s friends. “Like I said to my friend Julius a couple of minutes ago, my master and House Greyson have some kind of agreement. That’s the reason why my master asked me to join the group, but I am still free to do what I want,” he explained and looked at Julius with an amused grin. “I also don’t like Garrett very much. He is pretty strong, definitely one of the top talents in the tournament but he is too much a scaredy cat for my liking. Eren thinks so as well.”

“Eren?” Aubrey repeated with confusion.

“Friend?” Julius asked with a frown.

“What? Does that offend you?” Riven looked worried.

“No, but your girlfriend was the one who attacked me several days ago for no reason, too,” Julius said with a sharp look at where the girl was at the moment. He could sense her gaze locked onto them from a distance, carefully watching what was going down. Garrett was staring, too, but Julius didn’t really care about that.

Riven rubbed his head embarrassingly. “Sorry about that. She has been trying to improve some of her assassination skills, which require attacking people. I’ll have her apologize to you right away. And by the way, she isn’t my girlfriend, we are just childhood friends.” The last part was said with a little bit of sadness. Julius could sense there was a story behind that.

“Oh,” he didn’t really know how else to respond.

“Yeah.”

An awkward stretch of silence, along with some shuffling, made Julius uncomfortable.

“If you are so sorry, why don’t you help us deal with Garrett and his little group of thugs?” Aubrey asked with a pointed look.

Riven pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes at Aubrey, obviously taking offense to her tone. “First off, I am technically part of that group, so I would prefer it if you don’t call me a thug. Secondly, I might not be all that willing to help Garrett and his House’s little plan, but that doesn’t mean I can just go against the agreement I made with them.”

Aubrey was about to say something, but Derek grabbed her shoulder. “So what are you looking for?”

Riven pointed at Julius. “Him.”

Derek frowned. “What do you mean?”

Riven shrugged casually. “I wanted to ask him how he managed to survive my attacks the last time we fought.”

“You fought each other?”

“Yeah, it was amazing. Too bad he was sent off in an explosion of spatial magic,” Riven said.

“Wait, what happened?”

Riven ignored him, though, and looked at Julius with an excited grin. “Oh! I got an idea.”

“What?” He asked carefully. Riven’s attitude toward him was drastically different from how he was talking to Aubrey and even Derek. Julius didn’t know how he felt about that. Should he be honored or should he be offended on behalf of his friends?

“Let’s have a bet.”

Julius was intrigued. “What kind of bet?”

“We fight, and whoever wins has to answer one question from the other person,” Riven stated with a grin.

“What if I don’t have any questions for you?” Julius asked.

Riven rubbed his chin. “Well, if you win, you can ask for a favor from me? Does that work?”

Julius shrugged. “I still don’t see the value in this proposition. Plus, we are a little busy right now,” he stated and looked at the chaos around them.

Hundreds of dead monsters were already piling up. The deaths of the other competitors were also rising as more time passed. Fighting for so long was making them tired. He didn’t think it was the time to be making a bet, plus he had to keep an eye out for his friends. With Garrett already making his intentions known, Julius wouldn’t put it past him to send a bunch of people over to try and take them out when he wasn’t paying attention.

With that being said, he felt tempted to accept the offer. That was for one simple reason.

He just really wanted to fight Riven.

“How about this? If I win, you help us deal with any issues that potentially come up if your group wants to fight us,” Julius offered.

Riven frowned upon hearing that. “I don’t know if I can do that,” he admitted.

“You don’t have to fight your group; all I am asking is that you help protect mine. I assume you have some pretty nice defensive skills tucked away in your belt,” Julius said with a grin.

Typically, Julius wouldn’t have made such an offer. But from what he had seen of Riven, the guy was strong and very skilled.

Julius felt pretty confident that he could keep his friends safe on his own, but there was always a chance that something would happen and keep him away. This was just a failsafe.

This addendum seemed to be more acceptable for Riven. Julius saw that he was right on the edge of saying yes. All he needed was one last push, and Julius knew exactly how to do that.

“Aren’t you curious?” He asked Riven.

“Curious about what exactly?” Riven said with a squint.

“Curious about who is stronger,” he said with a challenging smirk.

It was like a switch flipped. Riven’s friendly smile was replaced by an intense stare. His aura blasted outward.

Julius, on the other hand, grinned. He knew at that very moment that he had him.