Path to Transcendence

Stephanie POV

She let the fake smile slide from her face as they finished up celebrating and were getting ready to hit the sack.

She was angry. More angry than she has been at one of her teammates in a while. It took her using her focus skill to calm her emotions.

They were on a mission, so it would not be proper if she freaked out in front of everyone. But she was still going to get some answers and depending on his response, she would decide what to do next.

Luckily, she knew exactly his routine and knew that they would have some space to talk without any interruptions.

She walked with firm steps toward his back, where he was watching the stars with a calm gaze before deploying a sound barrier around them.

"What the fuck was that, George?" She asked softly, her anger simmering just below the surface.

"What was what?"

"Don't play dumb. I am too pissed off to play these games with you right now," she gritted through her teeth.

He must have realized she was one second away from blowing up and gave her an ashamed look. "It was a stupid mistake," he admitted.

"Mistake?! You could have gotten him killed," she said furiously.

"I know."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because I had to see what he would do," he said, raising his voice slightly, letting some of his frustrations leak out.

"What do you mean by 'you had to'?" She asked.

"Are you telling me you have not been at least the littlest curious about him?" He responded with a knowing look in his eyes.

She knew exactly what he was talking about but she couldn't support his actions. "That doesn't mean I'm going to risk his life like that. You know how dangerous one of those blasts can be."

"I was pretty certain that even if it connected, it wouldn't have hurt him that badly," he said too assured in his assumption for her liking.

She had a disbelieving expression on her face and had to restrain herself from punching the man.

"And what gave you that confidence, huh?"

"His body enhancement is powerful," he explained with no hesitation.

"Yes, powerful for someone his age. But not against a dangerous monster like that."

George laughed at that. "You really think that? You really think Julius was using his body skill at full power?"

She paused at that.

No, I actually do not know that, she admitted to herself.
Continue your adventure with My Virtual Library Empire

"That still doesn't make what you did right. Even if he wouldn't be too badly hurt, he would have still been injured deliberately by you."

"I know, I messed up big time. I wasn't thinking properly. I am just… I don't trust him."

"What? Why?"

George sighed. "You know about the attacks on House Easten's operations, you're telling me that you don't think there is something fishy about them?"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Oh, so you're saying that Julius is working with the people who have been robbing and attacking these transports?" She asked sarcastically. However, when he didn't immediately respond and just looked downward she let out a choking laugh.

"You do! You really think that! He's a kid George!"

"You've sensed his aura, Steph! You're telling me that someone with that weak of an aura is capable of taking out two Null Fiends, without any help?"

"So he has an item that artificially restricts his aura, so what? That doesn't mean he's a spy for a bunch of criminals," she said dismissively. She already knew that the boy was stronger than his weak aura would indicate. His mana control was too elegant not to be, so she wasn't surprised.

"He has no item. He's doing it manually," George said meaningfully.

Stephanie froze at that. She knew exactly what George meant by that. Being able to restrict your aura was impressive, it was a sign of a skilled practitioner. But something along the lines of what Julius was doing was absurd. The boy hadn't just been restricting his aura for a few hours, he had been doing it for several days.

"You're sure it's not an item?" She asked slowly.

"Not entirely, but there are too many signs of natural fluctuation within his aura to be an item. I have been watching for the past few days. The only way it could be possible is if the item is extremely powerful and thus expensive," George said assuredly.

That is something a bit more worrisome. Skilled people, especially assassins could hide their aura for hours, but to restrict one's aura for that long would already be massively uncomfortable and practically impossible without an Authority or Domain to help do so.

"Would you be able to do something like that?" She asked a question she already knew the answer to.

George shook his head. "Not a chance. Maybe several hours or a day if I was under a lot of pressure, but a few days? No way."

She pressed her lips together. That would mean that Julius had been keeping his aura under heavy restriction for days without letting anything slip out.

What if George is right? What if there is a nefarious reason why Julius came along with the caravan? It is weird that such a young boy was given permission to come along with them, she tried to process everything.

However, she gave herself a mental jolt and reminded herself to not make assumptions. This was still a boy at the end of the day and she wasn't going to write him off just because he was hiding some secrets.

"He was assigned by House Easten directly, so it would make sense if they gave him something that could shroud his aura. They have the means," she pointed out.

"That is a good point, but still, why is he hiding so much? I just don't get it."

"It doesn't matter," she finally said to him.

"It doesn't matter?"

"No, what you did was wrong. Plus, we have no actual proof that Julius is with this organization attacking transports. He has every right to hide his secrets, we barely know him after all. But if you do something like that again, I promise I will report this to the guild and House Easten," she said sternly.

George didn't look very happy with her answer but held his tongue seeing that she was serious about it. "Got it. But don't blame me if something happens."

"Remember, he got permission from House Easten and Rolus even verified it. And you still think he's a traitor or our enemy?"

"You know that doesn't prove anything. How do you think all of the other transports have been attacked? There must have been someone from the inside feeding information to them. I am just trying to ensure that you and our friends aren't killed on this mission," he intensely exclaimed.

She gave George a sympathetic look. "If we get attacked by the organization attacking these transports, I think we are going to have bigger issues than Julius."

When she didn't get a response, she nodded and began to walk away. She wanted some sleep, today was tiring enough as is.

But as she was walking away she heard George mutter something behind her.

"I think he might be a bigger issue than you give him credit for."

***

Julius POV

After they finished the small party and everyone got ready to go to sleep, he smiled to himself.

Finally.

He had been waiting to check his notifications all night and so with a jolly jump in his step, he collected some leftovers onto a mana-created plate and walked over to an empty rock to sit down.

The stars were quite beautiful all the way out here. The skies were perfectly clear, which let him get a totally undisturbed view of the night sky. He took a few moments to take in the fresh night air and pick at his food before eventually opening up his notifications.

[Empowerment of Will] has advanced to level 20. Would you like to evolve the skill?

He accepted the notification and waited patiently.

Appraising requirements…

Congratulations. Skills requirement met.

Congratulations. Concept requirement met.

Congratulations. Soul requirement met.

Skill [Empowerment of Will] is evolving… possible advancements: [Ruler's Will], [Willpower of the Resolute], [Unrelenting Will of Resolve], and [Inexorable Aura of Ruin]

He quickly looked over his options while chewing on some piece of bread.

Truthfully, he was a bit bewildered to see so many options that were obviously influenced by his Concept of Will. Three of the four of them had direct connections to the Concept.

But he didn't have a problem with this. He was actually glad for the most part. His Concept of Will has been so important to him so far, and it was partly the reason he had gotten to this level in the first place.

First, he took a look at [Ruler's Will]. If that was the general upgrade then it sounded quite… domineering.

It would probably be a skill that would allow him to more easily impose his will onto others. Something that would make using his kinetic restriction technique to better effect as well as perhaps imposing his Concepts on top of it. Definitely not a bad skill to choose.

The next was a skill called [Willpower of the Resolute]. He didn't know if this was an upgrade, but he liked the sound of resolute.

He didn't know what the difference between 'Will' and 'Willpower' though. He assumed they were similar, but he was just confused where they differed.

If he had to guess, he would think that [Willpower of the Resolute] focused more on the overall strength of his willpower, making it harder for someone else to impose their will onto him.

Which would make it the other side of the same coin when comparing it with [Ruler's Will]. One was for imposing his own will onto others while the next was to prevent others will from imposing their wills onto him.

In other words, one was for offense while the other was for defense.

At least that was the feeling he got when he focused on the notification, something he was beginning to realize was a feature of whatever system this world used.

The next two skills were the ones that he was more interested in. [Unrelenting Will of Resolve] just sounded like a better skill than either [Ruler's Will] or [Willpower of the Resolute].

The last skill [Inexorable Aura of Ruin] though was what his eyes were ultimately drawn toward. For one, it was the only skill that used 'aura' within its' name. Furthermore, it was undoubtedly a skill that was offered because of his recent development and problem with his aura.

It was highly likely that this skill would make controlling the ruinous effect of his aura a bit easier and less burdensome.

As of now, he wouldn't be able to use his abilities to their full potential if he was worried about controlling his aura.

Not to mention, it sounded really cool and could have some dangerous if not powerful effects.

And while he would love to have someone like Alice or Dante give him some advice, he was feeling pretty confident in what skill he would be choosing.

So without giving him too much time to overthink it, he chose something that would make his life extraordinarily easier as well as potentially giving him a new shiny weapon.

Congratulations, skill [Inexorable Aura of Ruin] (Epic) acquired.