Path to Transcendence

Chapter 518: Just Start Blasting

Julius could see Riven’s reluctance to accept defeat. He could understand the pride of not giving up, but after a few moments, Riven looked at his feet and nodded.

Julius nodded as well and lowered himself to the ground, his wings elegantly floating his body back down to the ground. Riven was right behind him, the mage’s wind magic gently cushioning his beaten-up body.

Julius could see the extensive damage he had done to Riven. Shattered ribcage, ruptured organs, and several other bad injuries were sprawled over the mage’s body. Julius felt bad and was about to help him, but before he could, he felt the remnants of life mana coming from something attached to the mage’s hip.

It was likely the healing item that Julius had sensed earlier in the battle. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“Are you okay? Do you need any healing?” He asked the dejected mage.

Riven still didn’t look at Julius, but he at least responded. “Just my pride, I hate losing,” he said bitterly, but sighed after a few seconds. “Plus, I don’t think my body can take much more healing without causing other issues.”

“It was a good fight,” Julius said, hoping to offer some solace in the loss. He knew that it probably wouldn’t make Riven feel any better, but he didn’t know what else to say.

Riven finally looked up at Julius and let out a reluctant smile. “Yeah... Yeah, it was.”

Several long seconds passed, and Julius was about to say something when Riven suddenly dropped to his knees and puked up more blood, groaning in pain and grabbing his deformed ribs in the process.

Julius scrunched his nose and let out a sigh. He felt bad and walked over to the mage. He couldn’t just let such a good opponent suffer like this and called out Drasil from his soul. The life spirit appeared on the center of his palm, letting out a confused coo and looking around at the devastation their fight had created.

The entire area was torn up. The ground was filled with large fissures, and there were dozens of massive boulders strewn across.

He spotted many people looking on from afar. Apparently, most of the monsters had already been taken care of, and they had decided to watch Julius’s and Riven’s fight. A lot of people had surprised looks on their faces and looked at Julius with a mixture of fear and respect.

Only a few people looked outright angry at the result. One of these people was Garrett Greyson. Julius could see the frustration on the other boy’s face plain as day. The other person who looked pissed off was the girl Riven had been with. She looked like she was ready to stab Julius in the face.

Julius decided he didn’t like so many people watching him, so he created a barrier around him and Riven, blocking the spectators’ view. It was only then that he leaned down and placed Drasil next to the gasping mage.

Drasil seemed to understand what Julius wanted and trotted over to Riven, placing his tiny arm on the mage.

Riven glanced to the side and saw Drasil touching him with a mixture of confusion and pain. “Wait, wait,” Riven tried to say to Drasil.

However, the life spirit didn’t bother listening to the mage. He was already sending soft, gentle pulses of life mana into Riven’s body. The mage’s protests were drowned out by the soft sighs of relief that came out of his mouth.

It took longer than it usually did, but Drasil was being extra careful, just like Julius was telling him to. Freya and Galten had told Julius that not everyone could heal as frequently as he was used to.

Apparently, it had something to do with a person’s affinity to life magic and, to a lesser extent, how much they were used to it. They called it something like someone’s healing threshold, or maybe it was something else.

Either way, there was only so much healing magic someone could withstand before it would cause terrible things to happen. It was also a reason why people couldn’t just drink healing potions like juice boxes.

A couple of them were fine, but any more than that and they would mutate or explode into a bloody mist.

It was a pretty common occurrence for adventurers to have this happen. If someone was delving and was injured, they might risk consuming another potion or getting healed one too many times.

This was a real problem for healers. That said, it only applied to normal healers. To someone like Freya and Galten, they had learned how to get around the healing threshold somewhat.

It required a lot more finesse and skill, but it was possible to ignore it. Julius clearly didn’t have the requisite skill or finesse, but he had another thing going for him.

That was his Phoenix healing skill. Because of his overpowered skill and Concept, he had a totally different kind of healing magic available to him. It afforded him many other options and was a big reason why he was able to heal himself so frequently, even with his high affinity for life mana.

Of course, this little ability extended to Drasil as well since the little guy was so interconnected with Julius’s soul. It was why Drasil’s healing magic was so potent and why Julius felt confident in letting Drasil heal Riven despite the mage’s protests.

At least he was hoping he was right. If he was wrong, then he really didn’t want to see what would happen.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the authorʼs consent. Report any sightings.

Julius waited for the screams to begin, but thankfully, even after a full minute, he didn’t hear anything.

Riven’s protests had already died down, and he was looking at Drasil like he was the biggest miracle on the face of the continent. His wounds had healed, and the only evidence left behind was the huge blood stains. Blood stains that were quickly fading away due to the self-cleaning enchantments on the robes of the mage.

These robes were really a unique treasure. They weren’t even scratched from Julius’s attacks. Not even a single torn thread. Whatever these robes were made of, it was likely costly.

Riven sat on his butt and continued to stare at Drasil with wide eyes. Drasil, on the other hand, looked confused by Riven’s intense stare and turned to Julius, whistling out with anxiousness.

“It’s okay, I think he is just grateful,” Julius said with a shrug.

This seemed to shake Riven out of his trance, and the mage nodded fiercely. “Yes, yes, absolutely. Thank you so much,” Riven said, standing up swiftly and bowing deeply to the six-inch spirit.

Drasil gave an adorable salute in reply. Julius didn’t know where Drasil had learnt that from, but it was cute as hell.

It was only then that Riven looked at Julius. “How?”

“How what?”

Riven glared at him. “You know what I mean.”

“Drasil is a special boy,” he said proudly, smiling when Drasil held his arms up, as if to say, “hell yeah, I am.”

“Fine, I have way more other questions I want to ask anyway.”

Julius shook his head firmly. “Nope. You lost, which means you don’t get to ask any questions. As per our deal, you now have to help us deal with Garrett’s little thuggy group.”

“They are not all thugs. They are people who have been offered a lot of money or other things to work together. It’s part of the advantages of having so many connections,” Riven explained.

Julius shrugged. “Either way, now they are your problem.”

“Seriously?” Riven asked flatly.

“What? Did you think I fought you just because I was curious about your skills and wanted to test some things?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I think.”

Julius nodded before he could catch himself. “Damn right I did,” he said with a grin, but quickly backed up and coughed into his hand. “But that is beside the point. I wanted you to deal with it since you are more familiar with them than we are.”

“Why don’t you just start slaughtering them? You are more than strong enough for that idea actually to have some merit,” Riven said with a roll of his eyes.

Julius pressed his lips together. When he thought about it, Riven had a good point. Why not just blast them?

“Will that actually work?” He asked.

Riven shrugged and tilted his head. “Maybe? There are only a few people actually to worry about. The rest are either too weak or will just run away if it gets bad enough.”

“Which ones should I worry about?”

“They have Eren, Louis, Casey, Garrett, and Eva, but Eva will probably come with me, so you won’t have to worry about her.”

“What do you know about Casey Vale?” Julius asked.

Riven looked at him, confused. “You’re asking about her, not Eren? I’m surprised.”

Julius frowned. “Eren seems to be a straightforward opponent, but from what I have heard, the Vale girl is more mysterious. Is it true that she uses soul magic?”

Riven nodded. “Yeah, she has a weird variation of it as well. Some of us believe it is a bloodline ability, but others think it is some kind of unique skill or maybe even a treasure soul bound to her.”

“And you think it is a bloodline ability? What does your master think?”

“My master has no clue, which is why there are so many eyes on her. That and my master has also told me that she has killed a Tier 5 all on her own, but he also thinks that is because of some special conditions.”

Julius widened his eyes in shock. This was news to him. Killing a Tier 5 was no small feat. It didn’t matter how you did it, either. Technically, Julius had helped kill a Tier 5, but that Tier 5 had a crafting-focused path, plus he had another Tier 5 that did most of the work.

“Do you know how? Or do you even know if it is true?”

“The details are not known, but numerous sources have confirmed it. The Tier 5 had been an elder to a noble house, causing a lot of drama, I hear,” Riven said with a chuckle.

“It doesn’t sound like you like nobles that much, which is surprising considering who you are working with.”

“Working with is a stretch. Like I said before, I am only doing this because it was a small part of the agreement my master made with House Greyson.”

“What did your master get from House Greyson anyway?” Julius pressed curiously.

Riven laughed. “Yeah, I am not telling you that. Anyway, I have already answered plenty of your questions. I only did so because you healed me, and I find you somewhat interesting.”

“Somewhat interesting, huh?” Julius asked with a blank look.

“Yeah.”

“You know I can always decide to finish what I started, right?”

Riven suddenly plastered on the fakest smile in the world. “I was just joking, haha.”

Julius was about to say something, but he felt his friends approach his barrier, knocking on the very edge of it. He created a small gap for them to enter through, then closed it the moment they entered.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked right away.

“Yeah, I’m good. I was just talking with Riven here. He said he was going to help us, right?” Julius said with a pointed look at the mage.

Riven gave Julius a resigned look but eventually nodded. “Yeah, a deal is a deal. But I don’t know how much help I will be. I used a little too much mana in our fight, and my body is still quite injured.”

“You’ll be fine. You can drink some mana potions, and as for your body, you shouldn’t be complaining. Drasil just healed you,” Julius stated, and Drasil, upon hearing his name, whistled in agreement.

“Yes, but just because I am healed doesn’t mean I can just fight again right away. I need some time to recover,” Riven said, like it was the most obvious thing.

Julius was about to tell him to man up when Derek intervened.

“That’s alright. I feel like we have some time anyway. The doors have just opened, and we haven’t been attacked by Garrett’s group just yet. He seems to be waiting for something.”

“That’s good for us. We can make a plan in the meantime,” Edgar added.

“Yeah, I have a plan. Just start blasting them,” Julius muttered loud enough for all of them to hear.

He didn’t appreciate the judgmental look he got from Riven, as well as the silent praying of his friends. He thought it was a pretty good idea. It was just unfortunate that they didn’t think the same thing.