Path to Transcendence

The rift forming was an amazing sight to see and Julius tried to memorize every detail of what was happening and imprint it on his brain. It was much too complicated for him to figure out at the moment, but he hoped it would one day prove useful.

It only took a few moments and then a swirling blue mass was hovering a few feet above the ground. It took until it fully formed that Julius finally believed it was all over. The portal appearing was the ultimate confirmation that he had cleared the rift.

He was tempted to immediately walk through the portal but he held himself back. During his time in this rift, Julius learned the importance of taking the time to recover while he had the chance. He didn't think there would be trouble on the other side, but he did know there was little to no risk on this side for now.

For the first time in weeks, Julius was able to take a deep breath and completely relax. He just laid there on his back observing the rising sun over the mountains. The fractures in the sky were slowly dissipating, indicating that the rift was no longer at risk of overflowing.

He stayed there for close to an hour just lazing about and taking it in. When he first got trapped in here he didn't have high hopes for his chances of success, but the fact he did succeed gave him an immense sense of satisfaction. He was able to completely clear a Tier 3 rift all on his own. It was a very impressive feat for a Tier 1.

Once he felt like he basked in his glory for long enough, Julius sat up and opened up his notifications.

[Savage Dance lvl 14 -> lvl 16]

[Arcane Construct lvl 8 -> lvl 10]

[Pure Compression lvl 7 -> lvl 11]

[Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal lvl 9 -> lvl 10]

[Kinetic Augmentation lvl 5 -> lvl 8]

[Fighter's Will lvl 1 -> lvl 6]

All of his skills experienced nice growth, especially [Pure Compression] and [Fighter's Will]. [Pure Compression] had gained a total of 4 levels during that relatively short fight. Julius believed that it was because of his improvements to his constructs, which were able to withstand that aura skill from the chieftain and actually injure it. No matter how much he had compressed mana or how he wove it in the past, his constructs, albeit gaining tangible properties, still felt brittle in a way. Don't get him wrong, they were certainly capable of cutting through things with enough force behind them, but he realized that once the shell or structure was cracked, the entire construct fell apart quite easily.

Now, he could feel his constructs had some mass underneath the shell. If they were to crack, the construct would hold for a bit longer. Also, he was confident that as time passed he would constantly get better at it.

The thing that amazed Julius was his new skill [Fighter's Will]. On the surface, it seemed like it was a similar skill to [Savage Dance]. Both of them enhanced his focus and heightened his abilities with an influx of energy.

However, [Fighter's Will] was different on a qualitative level. If [Savage Dance] felt like it utilized his mana, skills, body, and mind all at once. Then [Fighter's Will] utilized his soul.

Julius didn't quite understand the properties of aura or how it works. He understood that every high-tiered individual ends up gaining an aura, but he assumed that was from the sheer power they accumulated as they got stronger. However, he believed that was a mistake on his part.

His new skill felt very similar to the chieftain's aura on a fundamental level. The best way he could describe it was by comparing them with a sword. Both skills felt and looked like a sword, but the difference was that Julius's sword was made of paper while the troll's was made of steel. However, they were still fundamentally a sword, just their effectiveness was completely different. Julius had an inkling that both made use of the soul, just that his skill was still too weak to do anything other than give him a nice little boost.

It was almost like aura was an extension of one's soul. Something not related to stamina or mana, but something integral to every living creature. The stronger the soul, the stronger the aura, which was usually why those with powerful auras were high-tiered.

With that new perspective in mind, Julius could look back at the fight in a different light. The chieftain had used its soul to strengthen its attacks and break down the enemy's magic. Initially, Julius didn't think the mage had an aura, but he was wrong. The mage just used it in a much more subtle way.

The mage was good at hiding things with its aura. There was a commonality between every attack the mage threw his way. Each attack was shrouded in a blurry cloak of aura, which made it more difficult to pick up on. In hindsight, Julius believed that was how it was able to shroud its attacks until it was almost too late to sense them. Without [Spatial Perception] and really good mana senses, Julius would have never been able to track its shrouded mana. That was also why it was hard to detect the mage as it hid underground, it had covered itself in aura.

Aura. It wasn't something that Julius originally believed to be important. However, after seeing the effects of it firsthand, he wanted to learn how to use it himself. There were endless possibilities.

The soul huh? I can't wait to see where that might lead me.

Julius got a manic look in his eyes as he fantasized about where aura training might lead him. But before he could begin training he would need to leave this rift. He stared hard at the swirling blue portal, listening to the soft humming noise that resonated from it. Then he sat up and walked towards it, entering its sphere of influence. With a final moment of hesitance, he reached out his hand and put his hand directly in the portal. The portal latched onto his arm and pulled him through, into its depths.

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When Julius opened his eyes he didn't see anything. It was nothing, just pure void, surrounding him. He was half expecting to see where he had previously entered the rift, but not this.

"Hello?" Julius asked to the void.

Nothing replied, other than the sound of his own breathing, it was silent. He wasn't even standing on anything, it was like he was floating in space. It was a surreal experience. He called out a few more times, seeing if there was any reaction but nothing changed.

It didn't feel like he was in danger and the void was honestly quite comforting. It was like being in a room with the perfect temperature. He had tried to call upon his mana, even if it was just to give him something to do, but nothing came out. He was able to still feel it within his core, but for some unexplainable reason, he wasn't able to draw any of it out. For the first time in a long time, Julius was cut off from his mana.

Realizing that there wasn't much he could do he put his arms behind his head and waited. He stayed like that for a while, it was hard to tell in this environment. He was getting bored and restless as he waited. Then he thought about aura and if he could use it although he couldn't use mana. He activated [Fighter's Will] and he felt the skill flow through his body. Now that he was looking for it, he could tell that the energy was being supplied by something deep inside of him. Something integral to his existence… his soul.

Recognizing that this space he was stuck in restricted mana use but not the soul, Julius began testing out the skill. He used the skill as a way to draw this soul energy out and started to play around with it.

It was similar to mana in some ways. It was malleable but was a bit more thick than mana. It didn't follow the same natural tendencies of mana but had its own. Aura seemed to be manifested by soul energy. If soul energy was the fuel, then aura was the fire when it burned.

[Fighter's Will] internally used aura to amplify Julius's mind, but he wanted to figure out how to manifest it externally like the chieftain had done. Julius tried to cover his arm with a layer of this aura, but [Fighter's Will] was struggling against him the entire time.

Julius understood that he was being too ambitious with his current attempts and forgot about creating a layer over his entire arm. Instead, he focused on covering just his pointer finger with aura.

Julius stayed in that concentrated mentality for a long while. He was so focused on his task that he hadn't even noticed the figure that was staring at him with inquisitive eyes.

The figure just stayed there and continued to observe Julius, waiting for him to notice their appearance. Julius still hadn't turned around, he was still completely dedicated to his task. Finally, the figure seemed to have exhausted its patience.

"What's your name?" The figure asked.

Julius was startled out of his concentrated state and spun around, taking a look at who had spoken to him. They didn't have any distinguishing features, just a black form that resembled a humanoid. However, its voice sounded distinctly masculine. It was deep, powerful, and reverberated throughout Julius's bones.

"What is this? Where am I?" Julius asked the mysterious man.

The man tilted his head and while Julius couldn't identify any eyes on them, he could feel their gaze pressing against him like a lead jacket.

"We are both currently between two separate dimensions. The one where you are from and the one where the rift was located." The man explained. "You didn't answer my original question. What's your name?"

"It's Julius." He thought about not answering but the man had answered his own question, so he thought it was only fair.

"Do you know why you are here?" The man asked.

Julius had no idea why he was there. But it seemed like a rhetorical question so he just shook his head.

"A few weeks ago, I felt a disturbance between the spatial boundaries of your dimension and went to investigate. Much to my surprise, I found you, floating between the chaotic waves of space. I want you to tell me how that happened."

Julius immediately understood that the man was talking about the teleportation incident that happened as Lukas, Edwin and he were trying to escape. However, he didn't exactly feel comfortable telling a stranger what had happened. On the other hand, he didn't see much harm in sharing his experiences with the mysterious man. He might even find out some answers to his own questions.

"We were trying to escape, hoping to use a teleportation circle to get to safety, but someone damaged the runes and interrupted the teleportation," Julius briefly explained.

Julius didn't feel any pressure from the man. It felt like he was looking at a normal low-tiered person. However, the fact that Julius and the man were literally talking between dimensions rang alarms in his head. It was very probable that this man was much more powerful than anyone he had ever met, including Lukas. That he could annihilate Julius with a blink of his eyes if wanted to. Yet, Julius didn't feel afraid of the man. He didn't feel like the man was there to hurt him.

After hearing Julius's answer, the man just stood there pondering what he had just heard.

"So it was just an accident. An improbable accident that was led up by a series of random events." The man continued mutturing to himself but Julius couldn't catch everything he said.

Julius just observed the mysterious man talking to himself. He could vaguely remember being stuck in the void after the incident, but he didn't remember how he ended up escaping. However, based on what the man had said, he had found Julius.

"Sorry, but when you said you found me, does that mean you helped me escape?" Julius interrupted the muttering man.

The man looked up at Julius. "Yes, somehow you were still alive and so I created a small entry point back into your dimension."

Julius was right, this mysterious man had saved him. Without his assistance, Julius might have died or still be stranded wherever he was.

"Thank you very much," Julius sincerely expressed his gratitude, lowering his head. But another question came up. "Why in the middle of the forest though?"

The man's head tilted again and paused for a moment. "I didn't have the time to pinpoint exactly where you would come out, I was only worried about making sure you didn't end up appearing in a mountain or the bottom of the ocean." The man explained.

"And the reason why I am here now?" Julius asked.

"I didn't have time to ask you before, but I still needed to find out how you managed to get yourself stuck. It never should have happened, even if your teleportation circle got damaged. You would usually only be transported off course or ripped apart by the spacial folds before you even left your dimension." The man said casually.

Only? He makes it sound like getting shredded apart by space isn't so bad.

However, something the man said stuck with Julius, he made it sound like he had purposefully brought Julius into this space to talk to him. That would mean the man knew about the rift. Suspicions were already being formed in Julius's head but he had to make sure.

"Wait. Does that mean you are the reason I got sucked into that rift?" Julius asked, a little heat creeping into his voice.