Path to Transcendence

Chapter 593: A Gift

Lily POV

She gave one dark look at the man’s blubbering form as she left the room. It took all of her willpower to stop herself from spitting on his prone form. The man’s memories had revealed a disturbing amount of information and details of the man’s life that she was already locking away deep inside her psyche, right into the bin where she stored all of the memories she deemed disgusting and unnecessary.

This technique was one of the first ones her father had taught her when she was young. With her psychic abilities blossoming so early in life, she was forced to manage many memories and emotions. This technique allowed her to organize them without disrupting her emotional state or unduly influencing her.

Getting around the man’s contractual vows was a difficult task. Then there was the issue of getting past the safeguards placed around the man’s mind. She had encountered at least three different triggers that would have destroyed the man’s mind if anyone had interfered.

She had to resort to several other, more complex methods to decipher the memories. Of course, she wasn’t able to get a clear image of everything. But she was able to get a general gist of what was important.

The man had been a point of contact for multiple teams that had attacked the capital. She also confirmed that the Conclave had a major hand in this operation, as she and her father suspected.

What concerned her most was finding evidence that almost every country played some role in this attack. Mercenaries hired from Corvus, expensive items curated from the Alliance of the Morning Sun. There were even hints that the Kingdom of Valde might have been a part of it, too. She didn’t know how far or specifically who from these countries had been responsible, but it was clear that the Conclave had expanded its influence far beyond the Empire’s estimations.

She consumed a stamina replenishing potion as she left the room. It had already been a tiring day, and it still wasn’t over. She didn’t expect to get any rest for a good while. She thanked Ellisa, one of her family’s staff members, when she offered a wet towel to Lily so that she could clean her face.

“Emily, could you go notify my father that I need to speak with him about the information I had obtained from the man?”

“Of course, My Lady,” Emily said with a bow and quickly scurried off to find Lily’s father. Who was either at House Violet’s estate or out doing another task.

Lily needed to talk with her father immediately and had already sent him a message, but hadn’t received a response.

She hadn’t just been able to find out the man’s connections to various parties. But also found that there were still several operational bases within the capital where the Conclave and its agents might be hiding. The man hadn’t been told this information, but had done his own investigation. From what Lily could tell, the man had plans to sell the information to the right buyer if the opportunity arose.

As she was heading out to meet with her father, she was approached by a guard of House Zenith. The man handed her a message, and she quickly reviewed it. Before she had even read half of it, she enhanced her body with all of the psychic energy she could gather, shooting herself toward the front gates.

When she arrived outside, she noticed it was pitch-black. The entire capital was in lockdown mode. But there were blasts of mana and flashes of light. There were signs of ongoing operations throughout the city. House Violet wasn’t the only one that was trying to find the people responsible for this. This attack had many other influential powers pissed off and up in arms.

Terrorism and death were bad for business, especially for those who wanted to make money during the tournament. And the likelihood of the entire thing being cancelled was becoming higher and higher as the death count rose.

When she got close, she immediately pushed her way through the guards and spotted three familiar faces. Her face bloomed into a smile, and she grabbed Julius into a tight hug.

“Where have you been? I heard reports that you were attacked outside that cafe we went to,” she said with a worried furrowing of her brows.

Julius scratched his head awkwardly. “Yeah, about that… it’s been handled,” he said, clearly hiding something. She would have to press him about it later.

“Come on. The others are out helping the injured citizens and cleaning up. I will let them know that you have arrived,” she said, pulling him with her. Derek’s family had protested, but her friends had made it very clear that they would be doing their part to help the capital during this trying time.

Instead of arguing with their son, Derek’s mother had accompanied them to help people who were still in trouble.

One of the senior guards stepped forward and stopped her. “I apologize for the interruption, Lady Lily. But just to clarify, you confirm this is indeed Julius Snow?”

Lily realized that she didn’t know these guards. House Zenith must have brought in more hands to help out. That also meant these people likely didn’t know Julius.

She nodded, and just to be safe, she extended a tendril of psychic energy to Julius as well as to Cain and Freya. Julius immediately accepted the connection, and she was relieved to sense that it was indeed him. But she noticed that something else was there as well. A physical weight and presence that hadn’t been there before. As for the other two, she knew right away that they were indeed Cain and Freya. There was no copying or replicating the sheer strength of their presence.

“Yes, they are safe,” she confirmed.

“Understood,” the man said with a bow and proceeded to allow them inside.

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The entire estate was flooded with people rushing around. It was organized mayhem. Lily found an empty room and contacted their friends that Julius had returned. She suspected that they wouldn’t be too far away.

“Are you okay?” She asked him with a softened expression.

He grimaced. “I am now, but I won’t lie, it was pretty stressful.”

“Does it have anything to do with the fact that you are somehow Tier 4?” She hadn’t detected it upon first glance, but when he accepted the connection between them, she knew the telltale signs of a Tier 4 when they were there.

“Yeah,” Julius said with a nod, seemingly not at all surprised that she had noticed.

She let out a sigh, and it took her entire willpower to hold back from questioning him more. She knew that he would just have to repeat it when the others arrived.

“Okay, I’ll be patient, but at least tell us some things when the others arrive, okay?”

He nodded, and she smiled at him.

In the meantime, she started to compile reports for her father and other members of House Violet to review. There was still a lot of stuff for her to do, and her father hadn’t contacted her back, which meant he was very busy with something important. She tried not to worry about that.

While they waited, Julius worked with Cain and Freya. She knew the process of adapting to Tier 4 was difficult. The changes in oneʼs mind and body were difficult to adjust to and required time and practice.

She suspected that it would be even more difficult for him since it was such an unusual case.

Thankfully, her previous prediction was correct. Not too long after they had entered the room, their friends all streamed in.

Aubrey was the first to tackle Julius. She had questions and was shaking Julius by the shoulders. Edgar was there to pull her off Julius.

The first thing Lily sensed was relief from her friends, but there was also an undercurrent of confusion. Like her, their friends had already detected something off about Julius. When they all calmed down, she finally leveled a stare at Julius and began to question him about what had happened.

The story Julius gave was both concerning and aggravating. Concerning, because their friend had almost died again. But also aggravating because he had put himself in that situation. There was no need to sneak out of the estate on the day of the finals to buy pastries. His stomach and gluttony were bound to kill him one day. And Julius had the gall to complain about Drasil and his own gluttonous behavior. Unbelievable.

“You should have taken Marcus or Stella,” Aubrey said with a glare.

“I thought it would be safe. You guys told me that the Inner Districts were safe,” Julius argued.

“Yeah, safe for normal people,” Edgar muttered.

“Okay, we can discuss the wisdom of Julius sneaking out for food later. More importantly, is your soul safe? And if so, why do I get a feeling from you that you associate with those who recently advanced?” Derek asked with a pointed glare.

“Because I did.”

A cutting silence pervaded the room. They all stared at Julius like he was crazy.

“So you’re telling me that a group of Tier 4s and a Tier 5 almost assassinated you, ripped your soul to shreds, and not only did you survive, but you came out a Tier 4?” Aubrey asked, sounding almost disgusted by what she had just heard.

Lily couldn’t blame her either; it sounded ridiculous, even by Julius’s standards. Advancing wasn’t just something that happened because you felt like it. It took time and preparation. That was why the tournament’s prizes usually involved helping the person advance to Tier 4 and making the transition as seamless and solid as possible.

For goodness sake, Lily had been preparing for her advancement to Tier 4 for the past two years. Julius made it sound like he was talking about going for a walk.

Though Julius did almost get assassinated while going for a walk, so the two could be compared somewhat, she admitted to herself.

“You didn’t damage or have problems with your advancement, right?” Derek asked worriedly, throwing a glance at Cain and Freya, who were quietly observing their conversation. Derek was likely concerned that the question would offend them, since they oversaw Julius’s advancement.

“No, my advancement went well. I actually got more out of it than I expected. It will take time to go through everything and make sure nothing is wrong, but that is the other thing that I want to talk to you guys about,” Julius said to them with a weird look of sadness on his face.

“What is it?”

Julius hesitated. “I will be taking a leave of absence from the Empire.”

“Leave of absence?” Aubrey asked loudly. “What does that mean?”

“I will be leaving the Empire. Cain and Freya were the ones who recommended it. They said that I am too famous in the Empire now and that comes with certain risks.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Our families will protect you. You are not without allies,” Derek said with a deep frown.

“It’s not about that,” Julius said with a sad smile.

Lily didn’t say anything, because she already had a good idea what he was hinting at.

Before their friends could shout out their arguments of why that was a bad idea, Cain interrupted them.

“If Julius were to stay, then he would be limited by what he can do. Now that he is a Tier 4, he will need more experience and new challenges to advance to Tier 5 and beyond. He won’t be able to get that while hiding behind the shoulders of House Zenith and House Violet. He’s not like you guys. Most of you already have a bloodline. Once you advance to Tier 4, along with your already impressive talents, your advancement to Tier 5 is simply about cultivating and finding appropriate treasures. This isn’t the case for Julius. His new Authority is also an issue. It isn’t one that he can cultivate behind safe walls. He needs danger,” Cain explained firmly.

Derek clearly had something to say about this, but Lily held up her hand, holding him back. She looked over at Julius, who had a sad but resolute look on his face. She didn’t even need to read his emotions to know that he had already made up his mind.

“When?” She asked softly.

“Soon.”

She nodded regretfully. She recognized the wisdom in their words and understood that Julius’s path diverged from theirs. She had known this fact ever since she had met him. His progression was wildly different from hers and their friends. He was unique, and that required unique considerations. She had merely hoped that she wouldn’t be left behind.

Unfortunately, it would appear that it didn’t matter in the end. In less than a year, he had already surpassed all of them. That was only taking tiers into consideration, too. If it came to combat strength, he had already surpassed them long ago.

Still, he was here, and she had a gift for him before he left. A gift that she suspected he would love.

“I don’t know how soon ‘soon’ is. But I have some information about a hidden base of potential Conclave agents if you’re interested,” she said to Julius with a hidden grin.

She watched as Julius’s entire face lit up with excitement as soon as the words left her mouth, and nodded to herself, satisfied. She knew he would love hearing that.