Path to Transcendence

Chapter 759: Cookie?

Julius observed as Caiden stood there quietly. The red sparks of lightning lingered on the man’s fingers as he stared at Marcus. His focus was no longer on Julius, but rather on Marcus. To be honest, it was a relief.

“Why is House Violet interfering here?” Caiden finally asked, his voice soft but still echoing clearly across the field.

“I could ask you the same. Why is the Conclave interfering with Clan Yoshu?” Marcus shot back. Julius could see the tenseness in the one-armed man’s shoulders. Marcus clearly recognized the threat Caiden posed.

“If you know that much, then you should have an idea,” Caiden replied, and the red sword from before suddenly appeared back in his hands. He then leveled the sword at Marcus. “Leave the boy behind and get out of here.”

Marcus looked over at Julius. “What does he want with you?”

“I told you, he wants to kidnap me and harvest my organs.”

Marcus sighed. “This always happens with you. Why can’t you just fade into the background like a normal person?”

“You must really feel confident if you’re fine with joking around in front of me, Marcus.”

Marcus studied Caiden. “You know who I am?”

“Of course. Marcus Avery, House Violet’s most loyal dog and protector of their prized gem. Though if you’re here, what does that mean for her? Who’s protecting her now?”

Marcus wasn’t easy to taunt, but Julius could see that Caiden mentioning Lily had hit a nerve.

“Ironic, isn’t it? Calling someone a dog when you’re a pathetic lowlife loyal to a spiteful group like the Conclave,” Marcus shot back evenly.

Caiden’s sword shook slightly, indicating that Marcus’s words had also touched a nerve.

“Come on then. Aren’t you going to attack? Or are you too scared?” Marcus taunted.

Caiden clenched his sword. “Hand over the boy. I have need of him.”

“If you want him, you can come get him yourself,” Marcus said with a smirk.

Caiden actually seemed prepared to do just that. But before he could, Julius felt a figure appear out of nowhere next to Caiden. They were wearing a similar mask to Caiden's, but Julius recognized the form as female.

“We got out as many as we could. But we need to leave before more reinforcements show up. Clan Kaizen has deployed many of their members and are on their way,” the woman said, ignoring Marcus and Julius.

Caiden didn’t even glance at her and instead was staring at Marcus intensely.

“I’ll catch up in a moment,” he finally said to the woman.

“No, we need to leave now. You can fight another day; remember our mission.”

Caiden snapped his head at her. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“I’m not. I’m simply reiterating what you already know. You should know that you won’t be able to take down Avery before reinforcements arrive. He’s not someone we’re supposed to mess with right now. Let’s go before we make an even bigger mess of this,” the woman said calmly.

Caiden glared at Julius for what seemed like forever, and while he didn’t like it, he backed down. “Fine.”

Marcus, though, understood what was going to happen, and so before they could even make a move to leave, the man launched himself at the two Conclave agents. His form flickered with purple light as he tore across the yard.

Caiden wasn’t caught off guard like the previous exchange and managed to get his sword up in time. A flash of red lightning accompanied a swift sword slash, meeting Marcus head-on. The two attacks clashed together, canceling each other out, but Marcus was already moving in with his fists.

However, just before he could reach out to Caiden, Julius spotted a dense and complicated net of mana appear between him and Caiden. Marcus must have sensed it too, and just before he crashed headfirst into it, he sent out a blistering blast of telekinesis, as if to preemptively destroy this spell. But to Julius’s concern, he saw an attack that Julius personally had seen obliterate a Tier 5 stopped dead in its tracks.

He stared with a frown as he examined the hedge that suddenly appeared between Marcus and Caiden. It looked like it was made out of black and red thorns. Not only that, but it exuded such a unique mix of mana and aura that Julius couldn’t help but wonder if it was similar to what he did with his own mana and aura.

Then before Marcus could attack again, the hedge came alive. The black and red vines whipped forth. There were thousands of spikes lined over the surface of each vine, and they all shot out at Marcus. They must have had astonishing force behind them since they managed to push Marcus back a step.

A flash of red lightning came through a sudden opening of the hedge. Julius moved forward to help, but Marcus didn’t need it. A barrier was quickly erected, and the lightning fizzled out.

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Marcus waved his arm and slashed it across his body. Julius stood there in silence when he saw the world look like it was grabbed and torn from the pages of a book. Everything, including the hedge of vines, was ripped away violently.

However, when it was gone, so were the two Tier 5s. They had teleported away, leaving nothing but a faint trace of spatial energy, but it was already fading back into the world.

Marcus kicked the dirt in annoyance and went over to investigate the area where they had vanished. Julius walked over to him and took out a healing potion from his storage ring.

He wanted to check on something. He poured the potion down his throat; the familiar surges of life mana rippled through his body.

As he suspected, the healing potion didn’t do much. He’d already feared as much, but that red lighting had an effect that impeded healing. Thankfully, healing potions were not the only things he had available to him. In fact, Drasil was already working on it.

The little spirit had been holding back his healing due to Julius’s own request, but seeing that the healing potion, the little guy made his own decisions. A warm green light flowed over his body, and unlike the healing potion, his skin was actually healed. His nerves, which had been fried, were healed. Even his eye, which had been charred like an overcooked piece of steak, was healing up nicely.

He looked around and didn’t see anybody watching. Plus, this healing was different. Anyone with powerful senses would have been able to tell that he was being healed by something else other than his own skill. And if someone was avoiding his detection, they had to be pretty skilled in the first place.

“Thanks for showing up,” he said to Marcus, placing a grateful hand on the man’s back.

“No worries. I got a message from Kaito that there was a bit more trouble than anticipated, so I came over as fast as I could. How are you holding up?”

Julius shrugged. “About as good as expected. That Caiden guy was really quite dangerous. I was worried I would have to use my trump cards if he kept it up.”

“It’s amazing you even managed to hold out that long without using your healing skill. That man is quite dangerous. He’s definitely not your normal Tier 5. Neither was that woman," Marcus said before he snapped his gaze back to Julius.

“Wait, what did you say his name was?”

Julius took out his blanket and tucked it around himself. He’d used a lot of mana and wanted to recover some of it. But he also didn’t want to use any mana potions if possible. For one, they tasted like shit. And secondly, the mana he got from them left his mana channels feeling weird.

He didn’t expect another fight anytime soon, and if there was, then he’d drink one. He also took some snacks out of his storage ring. He needed some food in his stomach after getting the shit kicked out of him. Nothing cured a bruised pride and fried nerve endings better than a nice warm cookie.

“Umm, Julius?”

He looked up and stared at Marcus. “Oh, sorry. Did you want one too?” he asked, offering a warm chocolate chip cookie to Marcus.

“No, that’s not what I was asking,” Marcus said, but that being said, he still took the cookie.

“Oh, what were you asking?”

“You said his name was Caiden?” Marcus asked, taking a nibble of the cookie. It was from his lunchbox, and so it helped the man recover some of his mana and stamina.

“Yeah, I lasted longer than thirty seconds, so he told me his name. I don’t know if it’s his real one though. Why do you know him?” Julius asked curiously.

"I'm not sure. I'll have to look into it a bit more," Marcus said evasively, which led Julius to think the man knew more than he was willing to share.

Julius sighed, but he wasn't going to press it. He was sure that Marcus would tell him when he wanted to.

“He said he wanted to take you with him? Do you know why?” Marcus asked after a few moments.

“I told you, he wanted to kidnap me and—”

Marcus slapped the back of his head.

“Ouch.”

“I’m serious. Why was he insisting on taking you? He was pretty serious about it too.”

Julius shrugged. “He said something along the lines of ‘you’re impressive, let me take you with me,'" he said, mimicking the man's voice.

“That’s it?”

“Sort of. There could be another reason, but as far as I know, he just wanted to take me because he thought I was talented for a Tier 4. Which is crazy. I’m not that talented.”

Marcus, for some reason, stared at him incredulously. “Seriously?”

Julius frowned. “What?”

“You didn’t really just say that.”

“What? I’m not. You’ve seen Lily and Derek. Even Aubrey and, to some extent, Edgar. I bet they will have made greater progress than I’ve had with their Seeds of Authority if they have already advanced to Tier 4.”

“That’s not the only measure of talent.”

“No, but you can’t tell me that I will fall behind them. They have stronger affinities and, not to mention, I have three I am focusing on.”

“Yet, they will never be as strong as you at the same tier. The foundation you have built is so strong that I doubt there are any other people on the continent who can actually beat you within Tier 4. Only a small number might be able to give you a challenge. So if you call yourself untalented again, I’m going to throw you at that broken building over there.”

Julius shook his head woefully. Some people just didn’t understand the wretchedness of his situation. Imagine if he didn’t have such a powerful healing skill. He’d never been able to get this strong or to push himself this hard.

Of course, he was only somewhat joking. He was actually quite blessed. The only reason he’d gotten [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] in the first place was that he was reincarnated. If not for already completing the conditions for death, he would have gotten an advanced version of [Restoration] instead.

He also took this time to look over his notifications. As scary as that last fight had been, there were very few things that pushed his skills to newer heights than fighting someone stronger.

[Lord of the Dying Sun lvl 3 -> lvl 4]

[Primordial Armaments lvl 2 -> lvl 3]

[Void Step lvl 24 -> lvl 26]

[Void Strike lvl 22 -> lvl 23]

[Field of the Shattered Will lvl 22 -> lvl 23]

[Harmonic Balance lvl 9 -> lvl 10]

He probably could have gotten more levels if he’d gone out from the start and used his healing skill. But he didn’t think he made the wrong decision. Caiden had indeed gotten away, and Julius felt more reassured knowing the man didn’t have information about Julius’s healing skill.

That being said, he needed to prepare in case he met the man again. And considering how Julius’s luck usually went, he had a feeling that was going to be sooner rather than later.