Path to Transcendence

Chapter 599: Off On Another Adventure

“Are you really sure you have to go?” Aubrey asked while grabbing him by the shoulders.

“It’s too late for that, Aubrey,” Edgar said to her, pulling her back. “It’s already been decided.”

Julius smiled sadly as he prepared to leave. He had most of his things taken care of and made sure he had everything he needed with him.

The rumors of his death were already spreading amongst the populace thanks to House Violet.

He let out a sigh and looked over at where Cassandra was talking to Cain and Freya. Turns out that it would be easier for Julius to travel to Corvus with the woman, especially with the Empire still taking care of the Conclave’s mess.

The vice sect master was thrilled that Julius reached out to her. However, she was a bit disappointed when Julius made it clear that he had no plans to join the Burning Sun Sect, and he had a feeling that she wasn’t done with trying to convince him otherwise.

He just hoped the journey to Corvus wouldn’t consist of him rejecting her a thousand times. If that was the case, he might have to run away from her.

As he was thinking about all of this, Derek walked over and patted his shoulder reassuringly.

“And don’t worry, we will take care of Edwin until he wakes up.”

Julius looked up and grinned. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” While Julius might have grown a few inches, he was still shorter than Derek by a couple of inches and had to tilt his head upwards to look him in the eyes.

“Of course, it’s the least we can do. Just be careful out there, okay?” Derek said with a hint of worry.

“I will.”

Julius felt some of his anxiousness ebb away. With someone like House Zenith taking care of Edwin, he wouldn’t have to worry about his former teacher.

“Careful? He will probably be throwing himself into the nearest rift the second he leaves,” Aubrey said with a scoff.

Julius ignored her and glanced at the others. “I’m going to miss you guys.”

Edgar shoved him gently on the shoulder. “Don’t make it sound like itʼs a forever goodbye. We’ll see you again, just make sure it’s sooner rather than later. And don’t be a stranger, make sure you write or something. I know the Adventurers Guild has services that allow you to send messages or letters across the continent.”

“I will.”

“Youʼd better,” Aubrey said with a dark look.

Lily nudged Aubrey and looked at him. “Do you have everything?”

Julius checked his storage ring and his pockets. He made sure he had his identification documents and also the large sack of gold that Lily had given him. It wasn’t like he was struggling financially in the first place. In fact, the money he got from the Tier 5 was still sitting in his storage ring, practically untouched.

It wasn’t like he bought armor or stuff like that. He also didn’t buy potions, since most were gifts from others. Speaking of potions, he had an enormous stack of them. He didn’t think he would have any issues about shortage.

Lily also told him that he had an account at the Adventurers Guild, which should have some extra money in there if he ever needed it. Not that he would likely need to use it.

More importantly, he checked that he had the most important items and let out a sigh of relief when he saw the stack of food where he had left them in his storage ring. He didn’t know when the next time he would come to the capital, and so he made sure he had a lot of extras in his storage ring.

He also had the stuff that Reinera gave him. He still had to go through everything, but from what he could tell, they were all very expensive items. Two of them in particular felt very valuable. Even more so than the shard that he had given to Drasil.

He could check them out when he had more time.

“Yep, all good,” he said to Lily with a nod.

She smiled sadly at him. “Good, now may I ask you for one more favor?”

“What is it?”

“Don’t die.”

Julius grinned and laughed. “I’ll try my best.”

And with a tearful goodbye and lots of hugs, he finally left the capital.

***

It had already been a day since they left the capital. To Julius’s surprise, Cassandra had chosen not to use the teleportation circles to get to the edge of the Empireʼs borders. She had a few reasons for this.

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One reason was that the teleportation circles were heavily supervised. She didn’t expect any trouble if they used them, but other people might be watching who used them, and she didn’t want anyone to spot their group.

Another reason was that it offered Shin and Maya the perfect opportunity to experience the Empire. They had been brought to the Empire in order to experience new things, and traveling through teleportation circles wasnʼt the best way to do that.

Their group consisted of Cassandra, Shin, Maya, a young woman named Loreyn, and the old man whom Julius met before. He learned the old man’s name was Caldrus, and he had a feeling he wasn’t just an old man. His advancement to Tier 4 had also improved his overall senses, and while he hadn’t felt anything from Caldrus when he first met him, there was an unmistakable feeling of power from the old man.

Julius wouldn’t say that the old man was Tier 6 like Cassandra, but he was definitely Tier 5. And probably a strong one at that.

For the most part, Julius kept to himself. He used this time of travel to adapt to his advancement. He needed to work on a lot of things, and the boring time spent in the carriage was good for this.

The younger teens, Shin and Maya, were already aware of who he was from their last meeting. Cassandra had assured Julius that they would treat him as Julius Steelborn, and not Julius Snow. That was one less thing he had to worry about.

It was already unlikely that anyone would recognize his name when he arrived in Corvus, but it was a nice precaution.

On another note, he finally managed to get the Lightweave Necklace to work. It took some time since the item was quite tricky to use, but he finally managed to create an image that he was happy with.

He didn’t need a lot of changing; his features hadn’t been very remarkable in the first place. He didnʼt stand out much, unlike his friends. His face was already quite easy to blend in with.

However, he still made adjustments. He changed his hair color from its soft black to a deeper, silkier black. He thought about changing the color entirely, but in Corvus, black hair was more common, and he wanted to blend in as much as possible.

He also altered his features to look more like the countryʼs natives. He used Shin as a frame of reference. His face had already lost some of the roundness during his bodyʼs evolution, but he still added some sharpness to his cheekbones. He also raised his eyebrows slightly and elongated them. He thinned his nose and lips by just the tiniest bit as well.

It was quite amazing to see how effective these simple changes were. He could barely recognize himself.

He didnʼt change his eyes or their color. To be fair, they had already changed quite a lot during his advancement. There was now a permanent red hue around his irises. As if they were small rubies glimmering in the dark. He would never admit it out loud, but he liked the look of them, and so he didn’t change them.

The only real issue was his crown. It was quite eye-catching and would be hard to hide under normal circumstances. Luckily, his advancement had another benefit. All of his growth-type items had evolved alongside him.

That meant his crown was a little more powerful and a little more flexible. Still, it was a little surprising to see the piece of gray metal melt down into a plain blackened steel circlet. It was still very much a crown, but people wouldn’t recognize it if they had seen it before.

Even his lunchbox had evolved. Not by much, but he could tell that at least half of the dents were removed or repaired. He needed to try some of the food later. He smiled when he daydreamed of all the amazing food the lunchbox might be hiding within itself.

He was brought out of his exciting thoughts when he sensed a surge of mana off in the distance. He looked around and noticed that he wasn’t the only one to sense this either. Cassandra was already looking up from her book and staring out the window.

“Shin, Maya, go on and check it out,” she said with a gesture of her head, before going back to her reading.

Shin and Maya didn’t say anything and exited the carriage with sighs of exasperation. They infused their bodies with mana as they dashed toward the direction the surge of mana had come from.

This was the second time Cassandra had done this since they left the capital. Apparently, this was the experience she wanted to teach them. Julius doubted the threat was that dangerous if Cassandra was willing to let them handle it and closed his eyes to resume his meditation.

“Julius, do you mind going out with them? There are a few Tier 4s out there, but don’t feel like you need to interfere if they aren’t in danger,” she said to him.

He popped one eye open and looked at her. “Do you really need me to?” He didn’t want to sound rude or anything, but he was in the middle of trying out a new idea he had thought of and wanted to get back to it.

She chuckled and continued to read her book without looking up. “I get you might not want to babysit those two, but I thought you could use some fresh air. You have been trapped inside this carriage for an entire day after all.”

Julius looked around at the carriage in question and held back a laugh. She made it sound like it was a cramped carriage. But in fact, the carriage was an absurd show of luxury and comfort. It was spatially expanded and large enough to fit all of them and another dozen people.

The carriage was around the size of a small home, and with all of the special enchantments placed on it, it was far from unpleasant. In fact, Julius was going to ask her where she had gotten the carriage so that one day he could get one for himself.

“It would be a good way to test your new advancement. Also, I promise to help you with your new flames if you do,” she offered.

Julius immediately stood up and brushed the crumbs from his pants. “I will see what I can do.” And without any fanfare, he exited the carriage and followed the two Tier 3s without hesitation.

Upon his arrival, he was met with the sounds of an ongoing battle. From the looks of it, some bandits were attacking a caravan. Usually, this wouldn’t have happened since they were still relatively close to the capital. But the recent attack must have emboldened these bandits.

Julius watched as Shin and Maya were already engaging these bandits. The caravan was quite large, but they were at a numerical disadvantage when it came to fighters. Considering the situation, they were doing pretty well for themselves.

However, they were getting whittled down, and it was only a matter of time before the line collapsed. The introduction of Shin and Maya took some of the strain from the caravan guards, but the true fight was between the groupsʼ Tier 4s.

“That’s a lot more than a few,” he muttered as he made his way forward.

There were at least ten Tier 4s from the enemy’s side, and only half of them were on the caravans. He let some life mana infuse into his bones. He had some ideas about the life mana technique from Tezuko’s manual, and was going to test something out.

It was also a good time to test things out. If he wanted to stay somewhat incognito, he would have to change some of his fighting style or adopt a new one. If there were ever a time to experiment, now would be it.