Path to Transcendence

Chapter 608: Replicating Skills

Julius purposefully let out a weakened aura from his shroud. He didn’t want to scare off all of his potential opponents.

Funnily enough, this worked really well. It was like the monsters in the area could sense his “weakness” and were already collapsing on his location. He didn’t sense any Tier 3s coming toward him. Just because he weakened his aura didn’t mean he showed that he was still in Tier 3, and no matter how “weak” he might have been for a Tier 4, it didn’t mean he was easy pickings for them.

The first of these Tier 4s was a sneaky little monster who was hiding in the tree tops. Julius pretended that he didn’t sense the creature and didn’t show any indicators that he sensed the monster creeping up behind him.

At the very last minute, just as the monster threw itself at his back, he turned around, kinetic energy wrapped around his fist. He was a little shocked at how fast the monster was. Not only that, but he sensed some kind of weird energy infused into its muscles and bones.

On another note, he almost flinched back in disgust at the ugly-looking creature that greeted him. Teeth that were stained yellow and pitch-black gums stared him right in the face. He could practically smell the monster’s breath from where he was standing.

It was some kind of mixture of a monkey and an eldritch horror. Long limbs and brown fur that was matted with blood. He didn’t give it a chance to grab hold of him and quickly sent a pulse of kinetic energy at the incoming monster.

This pulse slammed into the ugly beast and arrested its momentum, then he took a step forward and smashed his fist into its nasty teeth, shattering them upon impact. He didn’t chase after it, he was too busy plugging his nose and trying not to gag at the creature’s stench.

Is the foul smell a defensive ability of some kind? He thought with a shiver.

He wiped his hand down with his aura, removing the putrid-smelling oils from his fist. Then, making a decision out of self-preservation, he took a step back and began to create a spike of mana over his shoulder. He didn’t want to physically touch the monster again.

Still, he couldn’t help but snicker when he felt his mana flood through him. The responsiveness of his mana was incomparable to when he was Tier 3.

He hadn’t had many chances to use his fire mana since he advanced. While his life mana was a little more difficult to use, his constructs didn’t really have that issue. He was very comfortable with his fire mana, and it wove seamlessly together.

The only real issue that he noticed was the increased difficulty in using [Spirit Fortification]. Much like his life mana, he wasn’t able to fully control the increased quality of his aura. It made infusing his constructs with aura way more challenging.

Still, he sent out the spike, frowning when he accidentally flooded too much power into the construct and destabilized the balance of it. The spike still held its shape, but that was mainly due to his willpower keeping it together.

On the bright side, it was still quite effective in its own way. While the spike wasn’t as hard and fell apart upon making contact with the ugly monkey, the aura that was packed into it did some damage. The aura flooded into the pores of the beast’s skin and screamed in pain as the ruinous aura ran rampant.

Julius tried to take control of the aura and increase the effects, but he felt a skill from the monster wipe out the intruding aura before he had the chance. He prepared another spike, this time making sure to keep it together, and sent it blistering toward his opponent.

Unfortunately, the monkey was already prepared and dodged the spike. Julius watched as the spike slammed into the nearby tree. He was worried a fire would start, but was quite intrigued when he saw it snuffed out quickly. His ruinous flames were potent, but apparently, the trees were quite fire-resistant.

The monkey saw that he was distracted and chose to attack him, moving just as quickly as before. However, Julius had already set up his field of kinetic energy. The blue field tore outward and caught the incoming monster within its influence, freezing it in place.

Julius made sure to keep it away, and he was glad that he did, too. He got one waft of it and wove some mana into a mask of some sort, blocking the smell from assaulting him. While he did this, he watched the monsterʼs twitching muscles as it was held in place. It was desperately trying to escape Julius’s skill, but its willpower wasn’t enough to pull out of the iron grip he had over it. It also wasn’t strong enough to rip out of his kinetic energy with pure strength.

He examined the monster in closer detail, making sure that his mask was airtight. He was interested in something he sensed a little earlier. The monster was somehow using its authority to directly enforce and empower its body.

Julius didn’t know if he would be able to replicate it, but he didn’t think it would hurt to try something like that out. So despite having to look at the ugly creature and risk getting his nose tortured by its stench, he got closer and analysed how it used its skills.

While he was doing this, he sensed another monster slowly making its approach toward him. It must have thought he was preoccupied with the other Tier 4, so it tried to sneak-attack him. However, Julius pivoted around and slapped the shit out of the ambushing monster, sending it flying through the air and smacking against a tree with a dull thump.

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He didn’t even care to look at the creature. He was busy observing the monkey and didn’t stop the other Tier 4 from running away.

He continued to examine the monkey for ten minutes or so. At least that’s how long he thought it was. It could have been longer, he was so focused on his analysis that he lost track of time.

It was only when he sensed the other approach him that he stopped what he was doing and looked over at them. Shin looked much better, albeit a little tired and a little embarrassed that he had been almost killed by a random Tier 3 monster. Maya seemed fine. She also looked tired, but he suspected it was more due to her extending her senses over the past few hours than to the fight earlier.

However, he frowned when he saw her staring at him funny.

“What? Is there something on my face?” He asked with a tilt of his head.

***

Maya POV

She had already come to terms with the fact that Julius wasn’t a normal person. Or at least she believed she had. But as she looked at the terrifying monster suspended in the air and at Julius, who was wearing some kind of mask over his face, she started to doubt everything.

“What is that?” She asked slowly.

Julius looked back at the frozen monster, who was snarling at them all. “Oh, Stinky here? I’m not sure. I don’t recognize what kind of species he is.”

“Stinky?” She asked with a confused narrowing of her eyes.

“Yeah, he smells awful. It’s why I’m wearing this thing,” Julius said, pointing at his mask.

Unable to help her curiosity, she took a few steps forward and took a whiff. She gagged and staggered back, dry heaving off to the side.

“I know, fucking horrid, right?” Julius said with a disgusted look of his own.

“Why don’t you kill it then?” She asked in a nasally tone after taking a few moments to catch her breath and holding her nose.

“He uses an interesting skill, and I wanted to see if I could replicate it,” he explained as if it were totally normal.

“Replicate it? Wait, what do you mean by that?”

He looked at her with a confused expression. “Exactly that. I want to see if I can use my authority to empower my body or skills in a similar way that this creature does.”

Maya stood there, flabbergasted, not knowing whether or not he was being completely genuine. She knew that people used monsters as templates or inspiration for skills. There were even several signature skills of the Burning Sun Sect that originated from powerful monsters. They were obviously adapted to work with humans, but their origin remained the same.

However, this happened with powerful monsters. Mythical or rare creatures that have powerful bloodlines or natural abilities. Not some random, smelly, and ugly-looking monkey.

Even disregarding the decision to replicate a skill of such a gross monster, the process took a long time. Requiring deep examination and precise analysis of how the monsters use their mana. It wasn’t something you just did in the middle of a forest while holding said monster in the air with kinetic energy.

Then again, Julius didn’t look the least bit strained while he held this dangerous Tier 4 in his grasp. Even to her senses, she could tell that this monster wasn’t just a recently advanced Tier 4. It was decently strong for its tier and had a heavy aura that pressed down on her. The fact that he was able to immobilize it so easily scared her. Just imagine how easily he would be able to subdue either her or Shin?

She was so distracted by this situation that she was startled when a spike of glowing blue fire appeared over Julius’s shoulder. This spike tore through the air, and she ducked when it went right over her head. She looked at Julius with alarm, but then she saw the spike slam against an encroaching monster.

The spikes let out a small but violent explosion. When the dust faded, she spotted the monster standing there unmoving, with a hole in its chest, and dropped dead.

Julius made sure it wasn’t getting back up and turned back to the imprisoned monkey with an unfazed expression. As if taking out a Tier 4 was nothing of note.

His casualness was a little disturbing.

“Is it normal for this many Tier 4s to be around one area?” He asked Cassandra, keeping his eyes on the frozen monster.

“No, something likely scared them out of their own territories. My guess is a powerful Tier 5 or something,” Cassandra replied, not seeming to look surprised by Julius’s actions.

“Hmm. Can you sense it?”

Cassandra grinned. “What makes you ask that?”

“I’ve been around Cain and Freya long enough to know that your Tier 6 senses are scarily accurate.”

“It’s pretty far away,” she admitted with a nod.

“Are we heading in its direction?”

“Perhaps.”

“Anything good over there?” This time, Julius looked at her, and there was an excited look on his face.

“If it took over this area, then probably. I assume it’s near a source of some natural treasures.”

Julius grinned brightly. “Perfect, do you mind if I look for some stuff on our way?”

“Not at all. That’s what we are here for after all,” Cassandra answered with a similar smile.

Julius nodded happily and, without a second look at the monkey, started to walk away. Maya was about to ask what he planned to do with it when she felt a strange pressure in the air. Then, before she could grasp what happened, it was like someone squeezed the surrounding air around the monster. As if popping a grape, the beast exploded into a pulp of flesh.

Julius almost looked bored while he did this, but must have seen the look on her face because he stopped and tilted his head at her.

“What?”

She didn’t know what to say, so she said the first thing that popped into her mind.

“I thought you were going to examine it for its skill?”

He waved his hand. “Oh yeah, I already got what I needed from it. I think I can replicate it given enough time and practice.”

She froze mid-step. What did he say?

She stared at where he was walking away in complete disbelief. There was no way he had already replicated the monster’s skill. If so, then he was even more inconceivable than she could have thought.