Path to Transcendence

Chapter 598: Lightweave

Julius watched as Reinera pinched her nose in irritation.

“Sorry about him. He can be really stubborn about who he gives his creations to. Something about finding the right person who deserves it. He doesn’t want to admit it, but he is just selfish and prideful.”

She turned back to her uncle. “Are you seriously not going to give him one? I know you have at least one on your person.”

Cassian turned away with a pout. “I don’t want to.”

Reinera rolled her eyes. “Fine, if you don’t want to, then he can just take mine,” she said, removing the necklace and handing it to Julius.

Cassian tried to stop her, but Cain took a step forward, stopping the man in his tracks.

“You don’t need to do that. I gave that to you as a gift. That’s yours to keep,” Cassian said, but must have seen her stubborn expression, he let out a sigh.

“Fine, if you really insist,” he said grumpily and removed a necklace that was very similar to Reinera’s from his storage space.

“Don’t lose it and don’t give it to anyone. I am going to bind it to your soul and your soul only. If anyone else tries to use it, I have programmed it to self-destruct, understood?”

Julius nodded and took the necklace from the man. Unlike Reinera’s necklace, this one was a lot simpler. It was basically a silver chain with a single eight-pointed star as the lone decoration.

Before Julius could say anything, Cassian walked up to him, and a bright light appeared on the man’s upheld palm. The light stretched out into a thin string, connecting the necklace to Julius. Julius felt something attach to him.

He felt the probing intent of the light, as if it were asking him for permission. He glanced at Freya, knowing that she had likely sensed this occurring, and she gave him a soft nod. He accepted the connection and received a notification.

Lightweave Necklace (Soul Bound)

A small necklace suspended on a silver chain, its surface catching and bending light to shroud its user. Created by a master craftsman, and although quite straightforward in its purpose, is very much a wonder of artisanship.

When worn, the Lightweave Necklace projects a refined illusion formed entirely from condensed light magic. The illusion subtly alters the wearer’s appearance—facial features, hair color, eye color, skin tone, and minor changes in height and build.

The illusion clings closely to the wearer, moving naturally with their expressions and gestures. It is indistinguishable from reality, though direct contact or anti-illusion effects from powerful individuals might cause the light to ripple and briefly reveal the truth beneath.

The necklace consumes only a small, steady flow of mana and can be adjusted or dismissed at will. It cannot alter mass or hide the userʼs tier of advancement, but it is best suited for casual disguises, social settings, or avoiding unwanted attention.

It is charged with a very minor enchantment to aid stealth and a minor enchantment that lessens the weight of its user’s presence, allowing them to move around the world unnoticed.

Although it’s a relatively simple item, it is extremely effective.

Julius was surprised at the description. He knew that Reinera’s necklace was powerful, but apparently it was more impressive than he first realized. Although it didn’t sound as special as other disguising items out there, he knew from Freya’s interested face that it was quite an effective item.

It would be of great help to him.

“Thank you. I owe you,” Julius said with a bow toward Cassian.

“No, you owe Reinera. She is the one who insisted,” Cassian said grumpily, clearly not happy about giving the necklace away.

Reinera shoved her uncle and looked over at Julius. “Don’t worry about him. He will be pouting for a couple of days, but will be okay. On another, more important note, I came over when I heard you were at the palace because I have something to tell you.”

“What’s that?”

Reinera looked guilty for a brief moment. “Wesley Greyson ran off.”

Julius blinked slowly and processed that information. He let out a hiss through his teeth and cursed to himself. That had been the main reason why he had come here. He wanted to find out where Wesley Greyson was. He didn’t know if the man had anything to do with the assassination attempt, but he wasn’t about to give the man the benefit of the doubt.

Julius reigned in his raging emotions. “What do you mean he ran off?”

“Immediately after the attacks, we sent men to search for Wesley Greyson, but they were unable to find him. His House’s retainers don’t know where he went, but apparently, Wesley has been transferring large amounts of money over the last several months. We think that he has been preparing for a while.”

“I knew we should have just destroyed House Greyson when he had the chance,” Cain said with a dark glare.

This narrative has been purloined without the authorʼs approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“We don’t know if the people in House Greyson had anything to do with it. Duke Greyson has been informed of our suspicions about his son helping the Conclave and other parties commit crimes against the Empire, but from what we can tell, Wesley had limited help,” Reinera explained, trying to calm the angry Tier 6.

Cain scoffed. “You really think that someone like Wesley Greyson didn’t have anyone in his house help him orchestrate this? Let me get my hands on them, I will pull the truth from their tongues myself.”

Julius placed a placating hand on Cain’s shoulder. “Calm down.”

“Calm down? Because of that useless Emperor, we lost our opportunity to get our hands on that little rat. For all we know, he could be halfway across the continent by now. Someone with that many connections will be able to hide forever if he wants to,” Cain said with a frown.

“It’s fine. It gives me more time to get stronger and hunt him down myself. As I told you before, I want to handle it myself.”

Cain clearly disagreed, but held back. Instead, he glared at Cassian as if the man were to blame for all of their woes.

***

In addition to getting the necklace from Cassian, Julius also received a pouch of goodies from Reinera. Apparently, most of the items were those he was supposed to receive from the tournament. A number of treasures were inside and Reinera said that she personally curated some items for him.

He was glad for that, because she had correctly assumed what he would like. She had gotten stuff for Drasil as well. It was very thoughtful.

“What do you think?” He asked Drasil, who was inspecting the little green shard in his hands with interest. The little glutton didn’t answer, instead choosing to put the shard into his mouth and gnawing on it like it was some kind of candy.

However, a disgusted expression appeared on Drasil’s tiny face, spitting the taste out of his mouth. He then flung the shard to the ground and ignored it. Julius rolled his eyes and picked up the shard with some aura, floating back to his hand.

“Not tasty enough for you?”

Drasil let out a whistle, confirming that it was indeed the case.

“Do you know that Reinera was the one who gave that to you?”

Drasil perked up upon hearing that little detail, and the small spirit poked Julius’s shoulder. Understanding what Drasil was asking for, Julius handed the shard back. Despite the grumpy look on his face, Drasil held onto the shard. Julius knew that Drasil liked Reinera, and knowing that it was a gift probably swayed his opinion on its usefulness.

Drasil shoved the shard into his new belt, and Julius stifled a laugh and looked over as Lily talked with Derek’s father about something.

They had all returned to House Zenith’s estate afterward. There was still some stuff that needed to be taken care of, and all his friends insisted he get some rest before he set off. They were resigned that he would be leaving and while they were still trying to convince him to stay, they knew it was a fruitless endeavor.

Cain settled down next to him. The large man was scarily quiet when he wanted to. There should be no way a man of his size was that stealthy.

“So, you mentioned that you finally combined those rare skills of yours?” Cain started off.

He nodded. “Yeah, they merged, and now I have something called [Field of the Shattered Will]. Do you think itʼs any good?”

Cain frowned. “Shattered Will?”

“Yep.”

“I’m guessing that it was influenced by your recent escapade.”

“Probably.”

“Have you used it yet?”

Julius nodded. “A few times. From what I can tell, the skill is very similar to what I have already been doing, but without having to maintain as much focus. It also feels like it incorporates some of that immobilization skill I got offered previously. It feels strong, like it has a lot of potential, but it also requires some time to build up.”

“That’s pretty normal for field-type skills. The Tier 4 user who used that array had a similar skill level. They sort of act like a pseudo-domain, except with more limitations and restrictions on what you can control. Still, they are really versatile. They typically are the skills that help one gain a domain of their own. As for the build-up, it will become less of a nuisance as you level up the skill,” Cain explained.

Julius nodded, and the two of them sat there, comfortable in the silence. Julius took this time to observe the thing Freya and Cain had given him. Apparently, it was something that Doren wanted him to have since Doren hadn’t been able to teach Julius how to deal with domains personally and had discreetly left it behind for him.

The item in question was a small journal the size of his fist. It was quite worn; the leather cover had seen better days. He did get the sense that something was unique about it, though. He got a similar sensation to the manual of Tezuko Willow.

However, he didn’t get sucked into a vision when he opened the journal. Instead, he was greeted by a few obscure drawings and paragraphs detailing a technique that shared similarities to the one he had used to break out of a domain.

Yet, this one didn’t have the unfortunate side effect of destroying his soul while he used it. He didn’t quite understand the nuances of the technique, but he could always take a closer look at it later.

He had a lot to work on anyway. Speaking of Tezuko Willow, he needed to work on that life technique he had learned. He still only had access to the first chapter, and until he got a better handle on this technique, he wouldn’t be allowed to learn the other techniques from the crazy man.

Now that he had a stronger body, he was pretty excited to test out how much he could do now. In fact, he was already infusing his body with life mana. There were a few issues, though. He wasn’t quite used to his new body yet. Like most of his other skills, his life mana control was difficult to get a handle on with his advancement. The increase in quality and quantity unbalanced him.

It didn’t help that his life mana technique was so brutal and demanding. During these next few weeks, he wanted to see if he could regain that same level of control.

He was thinking about how to achieve this when he noticed Lily walking toward him. She held an envelope and reached out to hand it to him.

“Here, these are some documents that will make your traveling a lot easier. There is an official badge saying that you are a part of the Adventurers Guild. Derek’s father knows the current Guildmaster in the capital, so itʼs completely genuine. That should be the only real documentation you should need to get into other countries. The Adventurers Guild is a very trusted organization.”

Julius smiled. It was unbelievable how fast Lily had gotten all of this. He couldn’t have been any more grateful. A new identity wasn’t something that he thought he would need, but now that she mentioned it, he was glad that she was already planning ahead for him.

He took a look at his new badge and identification card. It was similar to the one he had before, but this one was silver instead of bronze. He guessed that meant he was officially a silver rank adventurer.

“I also took the liberty of giving you a new last name. I didn’t think you would mind, but I gave you Cain’s and Freya’s,” Lily said as Julius examined the card and noticed that his name was indeed ‘Julius Steelborn’.

He looked up at her and smiled. “It’s perfect.”