Path to Transcendence

Chapter 567: Graveforce

Julius smiled as he peeled himself off the floor.

Would you like to learn the skill [Graveforce Impact]?

Finally. It had only taken several months for him to be offered an offensive kinetic skill. Or at least he hoped it was an offensive kinetic skill.

“I got it,” he said excitedly to Cain.

Cain appeared in front of Julius’s face. “You really got it?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I got it.”

“About damn time,” Cain said with a relieved tone. “What skill were you offered?”

“It’s called [Graveforce Impact],” Julius answered. He didn’t know if the skill was good or not, but he was hoping that Cain might know something.

“Oh, that’s actually pretty good,” Cain noted, which had Julius let out a sigh.

Thank god. He had been constantly breaking his body in half for the past several months, desperately trying to acquire an offensive kinetic skill that he could either evolve or combine with some of his other skills.

At first, he had some ideas to combine it with [Void Strike], but when Cain had described a possible synergistic combination between [Kinetic Shell], [Kinetic Energy Refinement], and whatever skill he ended up getting offered, he was more excited for that.

Now months later and countless broken bones afterward, he had finally gotten a skill that might work. And thank the lord for that. If he had to go through this process again, he would have smashed his forehead into the nearest wall.

“What does it do?” Julius asked excitedly.

“I don’t know,” Cain said with a shrug.

Julius flinched and threw a bolt of fire mana at the man’s face. “What do you mean you don’t know? You just said it was pretty good.”

“I mean, it sounds good. Doesn’t mean I know what the skill does exactly. I am not exactly a seer or a prophet.”

“I hate you.”

“Don’t yell at me because you took ten years to get your first offensive kinetic energy skill,” Cain said with a teasing smirk.

“Yeah, and look who’s my so-called teacher? You would think that a Tier 6 would help me get that skill a lot sooner, right?” Julius retorted.

“Sometimes people aren’t that talented,” Cain muttered and shrugged. “What can you do?”

Julius threw another burst of fire at the man. His crown seemed awfully willing to help as well. Before he even asked, the crown had already provided him with a nice amount of ruinous flames.

“Okay, seriously, is the skill good or not?” He asked.

“You know how skills work. Your variation could be totally different despite having the same name as another variation.”

“But you have heard of this skill, right?”

“I have heard of a skill called [Graveforce Strike] before. One of my older students got it when he was in Tier 3. So I suspect that [Graveforce Impact] is closely related to that skill,” Cain explained.

“What did [Graveforce Strike] do?” Julius wanted some information about the skill or what its purpose might be.

“The student had a minor talent for destruction. At the time, he was already developing a Destruction Concept, which likely influenced the skill into becoming what it eventually became. Since you have that ruinous aura of yours, I suspect your skill has at least some similarities to their skill,” Cain noted.

“Was it a good skill?” Honestly, that was all Julius really cared about.

Cain tilted his head. “Oh, it was certainly a dangerous skill if that’s what you wanted to know. But for you, I’m not so sure itʼs the most powerful skill or the most ideal for you unless you have a specific desire for it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, I mean, you already have [Void Strike]. To be honest, just that alone is a terrifying offensive skill that no Tier 3 should have at their disposal. If you were looking for a skill that has a higher output or higher potential, then you might not find it within [Graveforce Impact].”

Julius deflated upon hearing that. Well, back to the drawing board. How many more times did he have to get beaten up this time around before he got another skill offered?

“But…”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Julius jerked his head up to look at Cain, who had his finger in the air.

“... But if itʼs just a skill you want to combine with [Kinetic Shell] and [Kinetic Energy Refinement], then it should be more than acceptable. As a matter of fact, it will probably give you the chance to integrate your aura skills alongside it. Although I don’t know if that would be the best decision.”

“Why do you do this?” Julius asked, unamused.

Cain laughed. “Sorry, the truth is I don’t know what to tell you. Ultimately, it is your decision, and you havenʼt been doing a bad job of choosing your skills so far. Just go with your gut.”

Julius stared at Cain flatly before turning and walking away. “I’m going to go and talk with Freya.

He ignored Cain’s complaining as he exited the training room. At least with Freya, he would get a clear answer. Even if she didn’t know, she would help him as best as she could.

Julius didn’t even know why he was asking Cain. The man was an idiot ninety percent of the time.

***

Julius found Freya without too much issue. She had been treating Edwin as best as she could. Now that she had some time, she was able to examine him in much closer detail. To his relief, Edwin would be okay. That was her assessment, at least.

She still didn’t know how to wake him up, but she was confident that she had halted the deterioration of Edwin’s soul for the time being. He would be fine as long as someone kept watch over him.

That released a lot of stress from Julius’s shoulders.

He then informed Freya about his recent offer of the skill and Cain’s unhelpfulness. She promised Julius that she would scold her husband later.

Julius had already given her a few cookies as thanks.

“So you think I should take it?” He asked, munching on a cookie of his own.

She tapped one of her cookies against her chin. “I think it’s a good choice. You have been trying to get a skill like it for so long. I worry that if you don’t, you will fall behind.”

“What if it’s not the best skill?” He asked worriedly.

“So what if itʼs not the best skill? Do you know how many of my skills were suboptimal when I was Tier 3?” She asked with a laugh.

He shook his head.

“Too many. But that is the purpose of these lower tiers. You learn and improve. They are only rare skills; they can adapt and change as you grow. It is only when you start acquiring legendary skills that you have to be extremely selective about them. With how you train, most of your skills’ weaknesses will be addressed later on when you evolve or combine them,” she explained.

“Should I take it now?” He asked her.

“I don’t see why not. The whole reason you chose [Kinetic Shell] was to eventually combine it with this skill as well as [Kinetic Energy Refinement], right?”

He nodded. That had indeed been his plan, but he was always a little indecisive during these moments. There were just so many options to choose from.

“Additionally, we have already talked about removing skills from your soul. It won’t be ideal, but I can help you if you remove any skills you don’t want. With your improvement in your healing skill and evolved soul, you should be able to handle it.”

Julius pressed his lips together and nodded slowly. He knew what he wanted to do, and without further ado, he opened up the notification. He gave it one last review before he mentally confirmed it.

Congratulations, you have learned the skill [Graveforce Impact] (Rare+)

He felt all of the information from the skill integrate into his mind. Considering it was a rare skill, he was surprised by how intense the process felt in his mind. There was a lot of information, and he felt a headache creeping up on him.

He let some life mana flow through him, and the worst of the headache dissipated.

Then he quickly grabbed a hold of some kinetic energy and let it through into his skill. It was different from the usual way he used his kinetic energy. He also wasn’t used to relying on a skill when he used an offensive technique.

He typically had to rely on his manual control. Even [Void Strike] wasn’t something he was able to do automatically. That particular skill required a lot of mental effort to use. He couldn’t just flood it with mana to activate it, which would be nice sometimes.

However, this new skill was already quite different. He could tell right away that [Graveforce Impact] utilized his kinetic energy in a completely different manner. He had been expecting something a little more structured, but, to his fascination, the skill was completely wild and surprisingly brutal in how it used kinetic energy.

It didn’t even require him to channel anything into the skill. He was actually forced to stop it from pulling his kinetic energy. That was how tyrannical the skill was. He didn’t know whether this was necessarily a good thing.

He focused the skill on his fist, using all his senses to observe how it operated.

Dense swirls of blue energy warped around his hand. He could feel slight fluctuations from his Force Concept with each movement. He tried to restrict them, already knowing that Cain would have him work on limiting these fluctuations later on.

He had to admit, despite being a rare skill, he could feel that the skill only added more power to his kinetic techniques. It was a small bonus compared to his other abilities, but he already knew that his output would be impressive.

There was something he noticed, though. Something that would change everything.

He smiled with undisguised elation upon realizing what this could do for him. Freya must have noticed the expression on her face because she narrowed her eyes.

“What is it?” She asked him.

Julius smiled brightly. “I think my body can withstand even more kinetic energy than before,” he said to her.

One of the issues he always had to deal with was the limit his body imposed on him when channeling kinetic energy. It was why his limbs often blew apart. His weak Tier 3 body could not withstand the enormous kinetic energy he generated.

Thankfully, he had a healing skill, so he could somewhat ignore this issue. But even with immaculate control, he would still have to deal with this problem. However, this new skill seemed to address this issue.

While it wasn’t a significant difference. It was certainly large enough that he noticed it right away. He also suspected that it would get better as he leveled up the skill.

“So you won’t have to destroy your body anymore?” Freya asked him pointedly.

Julius looked away, not meeting her gaze. “I didn’t say that exactly,” he muttered quietly. It wasn’t like this meant he wasn’t going to try and shove as much kinetic energy as possible. He was still going to do that.

However, this meant he now had more leeway. He smiled and closed his eyes as he wondered just how powerful some of his attacks could eventually become. He was so distracted that he didn’t notice Freya’s disappointed look on her face.