Path to Transcendence

Afterward, Julius was in a bit of a daze. There was a lot to unpack. His father's death didn't have much impact on him as he would've thought, even after the shock of it. What had astounded Julius more, was the casual ease at which the Patriarch had vaporized his brother. It wasn't like in movies, a big explosion. No. The calm effortlessness was what surprised Julius. It was the first time Julius had seen someone who was powerful seriously use magic and it was terrifying.

In the days that followed his baptism, Edwin remained close by. It was unusual, Julius was used to seeing Edwin once a week for many years. However, recently he has been spending much more time with him. Julius enjoyed his company. As irritating as Edwin could be at times, he was a comforting presence to be around. He didn't speak or ask unnecessary questions about how Julius was feeling, he would just sit there sipping his tea while reading a book.

They did end up discussing the prompt that showed up after his baptism. In all the drama that occurred, Julius almost completely forgot about the notifications he received. He ended up going to Edwin to answer some of his questions.

"Skills are considered a blessing from the Words of the World. It is the closest thing to a god that humanity knows of." Edwin described. "You will receive the opportunity to learn a skill through repeating an action over and over again. Skills are very important for many reasons, one of the most important ones is that by using a skill to say for example, light a fire, it would be more efficient mana-wise and faster to activate it than without a skill. However, there is a limit to how many skills you can learn at one time. Humans can learn ten skills before the capacity in their souls is reached. This means that it becomes incredibly important what skills you choose to learn. You will always have the choice to remove skills but that is an extremely painful process."

"Once you told me about your ability, I already expected you to receive a notice about learning some sort of skill after your awakening. But what did you end up getting?" Edwin asked him.

Julius thought about not telling Edwin, but in the end, Julius needed information more than he needed to keep secrets. It was an opportunity to learn something important and he couldn't afford to be tight-lipped about it.

"I got offered three separate skills. [Sixth Sense], [Life Detection], and [Awareness]. I didn't know there was a limit to how many skills I could have but I learned all of them." Julius admitted.

Edwin winced. "All three of those skills are useful, but honestly [Awareness] is probably the best out of the three. With time you could learn to do the effects of [Sixth Sense] and [Life Detection] with some time and practice. Luckily you have plenty of slots left. You will probably have to release them in time, but you can worry about that later."

Julius almost forgot to mention the other notice he got. "I also got a prompt telling me there was a synergy between the three skills and that I could combine them. I didn't say yes or no, but if I did, does this affect how many skills I can still hold?"

Edwin's eyes widened and his lips turned up into a grin. "No, you can hold nine more. Can you still pull up the notice?" Julian nodded. "Okay, I want you to read it to me word by word."

Julius pulled it up again and repeated exactly what was said for Edwin.

Synergy detected. Would you like to evolve [Sixth Sense], [Detect Life], and [Awareness] into a single skill? Notice: This will remove existing skills.

"You are something else, Julius. Being able to combine synergistic skills is everyone's goal. Being able to combine skills into a single one is a massive advantage at the later tiers." Edwin said in disbelief.

"Really, why is that?" Julius asked.

Edwin gave an example. "Imagine a fight between two fighters in the same tier, but one of them has a few combined skills while the other doesn't. Who do you think will win?"

"With the same experience, probably the one with the combined skills because he has effectively more skills than the other," Julian responded.

"Correct, but there is more to it. To evolve a skill you must reach a certain threshold of understanding. Meaning, you can't just learn a couple of skills and combine them. You would need to practice them extensively and then understand how these skills interact and synergize with each other on a fundamental level. It is not easy to achieve."

"So I should evolve them?" Julius was sure this was a no-brainer, but he wanted to double-check.

"Yes, the sooner the better," Edwin told him.

Now that Julius had a better understanding of skills, he mentally focused on the message and selected yes.

Skill evolution commencing…Congratulations, skill [Spatial Perception] (Rare) acquired.

"It says, I gained the skill [Spatial Perception] but it says it is rare," Julius said.

"Skills typically start at level one, and as you progress through use, you can evolve it down various paths. You could keep the same path and specialize, or combine skills with it, both have their advantages. This usually leads to a skill's improved grade. Most are general ranked, but it goes up from there. Next is uncommon, then rare, then epic, then legendary. The fact you already have a rare ranked skill is very impressive." Edwin patiently explained.

This was a familiar concept Julius had seen in video games. Which begged the question. Why was it so familiar? Even more questions.

"So if I understand it correctly, unless you combine skills, the only way to rank up skills is by increasing their level?" Julius asked.

"Level 10 is the minimum threshold one would need to get to, to qualify for a skill rank-up. It usually ends up being higher in reality." Edwin said.

"What's the best way to level up?" Julius was curious if there was a method that increased the rate of leveling up skills.

"After many centuries, nobles have found a method that works the best by far," Edwin said with a grin.

"Really?" Julius had an excited expression on his face. He was already fantasizing about all the things he would be able to do with the techniques of a noble family.

"Practice," Edwin said.

"Sorry?" Julius asked.

"Practice," Edwin repeated with a big smile

Shortly after his conversation with Edwin, the Patriarch summoned him to his study. After Edwin had shut the door, Julius realized it was just him and the man who had casually erased his father several days prior. Julius walked in with sweaty palms, anxiously thinking about what he wanted.

Nobody spoke for a while, it was just the two of them sitting in their respective chairs in silence. Until the Patriarch finally decided to break it.

"I first want to apologize for never coming to see you. As the family head, I have a responsibility and that responsibility made me unable to get close to you." Lukas explained. "I hope this doesn't mean we can't become closer, I lost my younger sister in the monster flood years ago and I never had children of my own."

"Edwin already explained some of the situation to me, Lord Hyperius. I don't hold much resentment towards you, I understand that my conditions could have been much worse. After all, I still had servants taking care of my needs. But I am curious about what will happen now." Julius said.

Julius could see on Lukas's face that he was having a difficult time accepting Julius's ease in forgiving him. He probably thought it would be more difficult.

"First off, you can call me uncle when we are in private. As for what happens now, it is to begin your formal training. Because of your circumstances, you have never been given the same opportunity as the other sons and daughters of House Hyperius. The original plan was to put you with the other children and to help you catch up. However, Edwin had another suggestion. He volunteered to be in charge of your training. Honestly, I was a bit surprised. In the many years I have known Edwin, he has never volunteered to train anybody." Lukas said.

"So I will be his first?" Julius asked.

"Yes, you will be. I am confident you won't find a better teacher. Edwin is one of the best fighters at Tier 4 you can find in the Valorbury Region." Lukas explained. "He placed in the top 50 in the annual Inter-Academy Tournament as a commoner. A feat very few have achieved."

"Inter-Academy Tournament?" Julius hadn't heard anything about a tournament like this.

"Yes, it is a tournament held within the capital, Luminous, every year. Every academy across the Empire is invited to participate to decide who is strongest. Each school sends their best and brightest to compete. There are also other competitions for enchanting, smithing, alchemy and other sections. But by far the most popular is the martial competition. You might even have the option to join this tournament in a few years."

Julius wasn't expecting that. He had been so focused on his training, that he had completely forgotten what he would have to do as a noble born. Most noble-born are sent to academies once they turn fifteen or sometimes earlier if they reach Tier 1 before that.

This excited Julius. For years he had been stuck in the estate, not allowed to leave. The idea of exploring a new world and going to a school to learn magic sounded like a fantastic idea. Having to deal with school drama again was not so ideal, but it was worth it if it meant he could find some freedom.

After that, the two of them just talked. Like any plans or goals Julius had, or stories they had that they wanted to share. It was soon apparent that his uncle truly wanted to get to know him. Julius had to admit, that while it was awkward at first, it was nice that he was finally building a relationship with his new family.

They also discussed what his future training would be like. According to his uncle, the main thing he would be focusing on is condensing his core. On top of that, he would be doing physical training with Edwin every day, as well as some mana exercises. However, he was told he needed to limit how much mana he used. This was because, without a core, Julius wouldn't be able to regenerate mana on his own. He would have to absorb ambient mana and then use that to fuel his usage. However, that would also mean he would be taking mana away from his core, significantly increasing the time it would take to establish his core.

The mana exercises he would be learning to use would center on him recycling whatever was left back into himself without wasting it. This is also the reason why most join a school or academy once they reach Tier 1. Otherwise, it was just a waste of time.

However, now Julius had a goal set. For a while, he had been stuck training his perception skill with no real way forward.

Julius's first day of formal training arrived. He was told that Gwen would no longer be assigned to him, and Edwin would be taking up most of her duties on top of his training. Julius showed up at the training yard right after the sun rose. Edwin was already there waiting for him with his arms crossed.

Edwin didn't even take the time to greet Julius. He just stared at him and said, "Start running". Julius had a bad feeling about what was to come, but still started to run around the training yard regardless.

"Faster!" Edwin yelled.

Julius picked up his pace, but after a couple of minutes, started to flag. His pace started to slow down and Edwin didn't seem to appreciate that. Julius felt a painful zap go right into his back. That on top of the exhaustion, caused him to trip over his feet and fall right onto his face, tearing up his hands and knees on the stone floor.

"Where is all that bravado? Giving up already?" Edwin taunted him.

Not in a million years, and definitely not to a sadistic wanna-be butler. I know if I give up you would hold it against me forever. Julius told himself. He crawled his way back to his feet and started back into a run.

For what seemed like hours, Julius ran around the yard. The only thing that kept him going was sheer stubbornness and the fact that if he did stop, Edwin would zap him and then insult him while he was face down on the ground. Then would continue to zap him until he got back up.

Julius was already aware that Edwin was a petty old bastard but during training, he became a ruthless taskmaster.

"Why are you stopping? Did your legs fall off or are you just that pathetic? Stop breathing so hard, I can smell your nasty fumes from here." Edwin continually berated Julius.

Julius knew that Edwin was trying to beat him up physically and mentally toughen him up. But just because Julius knew what Edwin was doing, didn't mean he wasn't getting angry.

With that being said, he could see why militaries back in his old world used methods like this. It was very effective. The fact that Edwin was able to use healing magic on Julius whenever he could not physically move anymore, made the training even more brutal. Instead of getting a break to recover, he would be given a painful jolt of healing mana that would increase his recovery.

Edwin claimed he wasn't very good at healing magic, and that was why it was slightly painful. But Julius knew he was full of shit. He had already felt Edwin's healing magic before, after his baptism. He was just doing it to hurt Julius, and because it seemed like he enjoyed it.

This went all the way until lunchtime when he was given time to eat. After that, Julius was forced to sit down and meditate. The orb that was used to awaken him was only useful for children who had not accumulated any mana whatsoever. Once, someone goes through their baptism, it falls to the individual to independently absorb mana.

That was where it got hard. Julius had to meditate and enter a trance-like state. Which was already hard enough as is, but Edwin decided to add an additional challenge on top of that. Julius was supposed to enter a trance while maintaining [Spatial Perception]. Edwin explained that any self-respecting practitioner should be able to cultivate his mana with distractions.

This might have been easier for others, but with Julius's skill, it was practically impossible. Since [Spatial Perception] had to process an insane amount of information while active, meditating when Julius was using it was like trying to ignore a child who was simultaneously screaming and slapping his face. It didn't help that Edwin just stood by reading a book while occasionally throwing random things or zapping him.

While Julius had no success in finding his inner peace. He was able to level up [Spatial Perception] quite nicely.

[Spatial Perception] has reached threshold. [Spatial Perception lvl 1 -> Spatial Perception lvl 2]

[Spatial Perception] has reached threshold. [Spatial Perception lvl 2 -> Spatial Perception lvl 3]

[Spatial Perception] has reached threshold. [Spatial Perception lvl 3 -> Spatial Perception lvl 4]

Edwin did mention that since he had prior experience with the skill, Julius would see a higher rate of leveling until he caught up. Afterward, it would slow down to normal.

Regardless, it still felt nice seeing numbers go up.