Path to Transcendence

Chapter 775: Third Floor

The third floor was much more interesting than the previous floor. For one, the monsters were significantly stronger. They were still Tier 4s, but they actually posed a real threat to him. It also had to do with their use of kinetic energy, which was much more advanced than the undead on the second or first floor.

It meant they moved faster and hit harder.

Not only that, but they were unusually sturdy. He could see what Leander meant by “troublesome” opponents. The undead wouldn’t stop if he blasted their bodies apart. They would only “die” when he crushed their cores or smashed their heads apart.

Of course, while this wouldn’t be welcome news to most people, Julius wasn’t most people. Hence, he found this new development quite pleasant. For it gave him the perfect opportunity to train his newest skill.

In fact, he didn’t think he could have found better opponents than the monsters of the third floor.

[Pseudo Void Manipulation lvl 2 -> lvl 5]

In a few hours, he managed to level up his newest skill quickly. There were probably a lot of variables as to why he was able to do this. For one, it was a new skill, so it was quite easy to get the initial levels.

Secondly, his ability to manipulate void energy was already quite advanced. At least relative to the skill’s level. If anything, it would keep growing as it caught up with his own standard. It seemed his time experimenting and blowing himself up was actually quite fruitful.

Who would have thought?

He wasn’t about to complain, though. He kept working on the skill as he fought the undead on the third floor.

Unlike the second floor, there were a lot more monsters and more variations. That ugly little bunny that attacked him when he first appeared was simply one variation. However, he admitted that the bunny had been one of the more annoying ones to deal with.

He cursed internally as he remembered how the monster had bullied him for several minutes before he managed to put it down.

As he walked deeper into the third floor, he spotted a larger concentration of auras not far ahead. He took a few moments to examine the area and noticed at least half a dozen monsters prowling around a courtyard.

It was the largest group of undead he’d seen yet. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to be the rabbit variety. He wiped the sweat off his brow as he got closer.

These undead were humanoid. They weren’t like the skeletons he found on the first two floors, but rotten flesh dangled from their limbs. The density of death mana was also much higher. Half of them even carried weapons. They were stained, half-broken pieces of equipment, but it still raised their danger level in his mind.

That being said, he wasn’t too worried. He was just glad he'd found a good group to keep testing his new void skill on.

He released the stealth technique he’d been working on and watched as the undead simultaneously snapped their heads at him. It was a little eerie, but he held back the shivers and watched them slowly walk toward him.

Their initial movements were jerky, as if they were drunk and uncoordinated. But that was deceptive; once they crossed halfway, their movements became sharp and precise as kinetic energy flowed through their limbs.

The shift was unsettling, and he watched with slight admiration as they used kinetic energy. Unlike the previous floors, these undead were much better at utilizing their kinetic energy. Barely any of it was wasted, and he could sense that each step recycled some for its next movement.

Julius let his void energy flow over him. With [Pseudo Void Manipulation], he felt much more comfortable using the volatile, dangerous energy. In fact, his confidence in wielding it was increasing with each passing minute. It wasn’t on par with his fire mana or his other abilities, not even close, but he was starting to understand it bit by bit.

And perhaps that was even more important than anything else. Because by understanding it and the underlying principles of how it behaved and worked, he would be able to use his other void skills to a higher degree. Not only that, but also merge them together into a more powerful skill.

He wasn’t scared of it either. With Drasil and his healing skill at his back, he threw caution to the wind. He formed a layer of void energy around his body and began to try other things with it. This time, he was going to try to create actual constructs with it.

As for how that was going to go, well, he was going to figure that out real soon.

He ducked under the slashing blade as the monsters finally got within striking distance. The damaged blade flew past him, but thanks to some kinetic energy, it redirected its momentum at the drop of a hat and came back faster than it had any right to.

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Instead of stepping back and avoiding it, he stepped forward and danced in between the group of undead. He wasn’t empowering his body, so he relied on his pure physical abilities and perception to do it.

He pivoted and slapped the nearest monster in the chest, sending it staggering backward, only to find three more of its comrades right in his face. He slid his face out of the way of a vicious slash and lashed out with a kick, sending the skeleton careening into a wall.

His eyes weren’t even open at this point. He had closed them in exchange to get a better feel for his void energy. He leveraged his spatial perception skill to feel every fluctuation of space and void energy around him.

He even partially closed off his mana and aura senses. They were simply a distraction at this point, and he needed to focus. Of course, this only made it harder for him, but then again, he was more than willing to make that exchange.

The only skill he allowed himself to actively use was [Pseudo Void Manipulation]. He controlled the void energy around his body like armor, changing its density as he calculated the trajectories of the other incoming attacks.

However, even he couldn’t do everything at once, and he quickly found himself taking hits all over his body. Despite his sturdy body, he still felt the damage accumulating. These undead weren’t just any regular Tier 4s. Their blows carried serious force thanks to their kinetic energy.

Furthermore, the ones with weapons were the ones to watch out for. They had some kind of death-related Authority infused into their blades, which was able to break through his skin more easily than it should have. It made him shiver ever so slightly as he realized these creatures were dangerous and posed a serious threat if he wasn’t careful.

But that same sense of danger forced him to quickly improve his use of void energy.

Void energy wasn’t exactly physical, but if he used enough of it, he could mimic the feeling of a physical barrier. That being said, it was extremely wasteful, and he needed to do something about it. He tried a bunch of things. Most of them didn’t work and only made him more injured.

Still, that didn’t stop him. He healed his arm, which was dangling limply from his shoulder, and the dozen or so gashes on his skin.

His eyes suddenly blazed dark purple as something finally tipped over. He didn’t know what it was, but it was like a switch had flipped, and his void energy surged erratically.

His Authority, which had only partially infused into his void energy, suddenly flared with power. And the void energy, which had felt intangible and incorporeal, was suddenly there.

He could feel it around his skin as it thrummed through his flesh. It had a weight he hadn’t felt before, and with that weight came the ability to manipulate it.

He let his instincts take over and used his previous experience with his construct skill to weave the void energy together. He barely understood what he was doing; his mind was acting on its own.

But before long, a hexagonal panel of transparent white light floated in front of him. A slight tint of purple ran through it like small arcs of lightning. He lost himself in the beauty and complex construction of the void energy.

He didn’t even feel it when the monsters attacking him managed to cut off his arm and his leg. He stood there with a blissful grin as he ran his senses over the void energy panel. It was only when he felt a sword come tearing for his neck that he turned around.

The void energy panel met the intense strike head-on and didn’t so much as ripple; the sword clanged off it. He didn't even take a step back as all of the force behind the blow was ripped away as if it wasn’t there.

If he didn’t know any better, it was like the force behind the blow couldn’t cross the distance between him and the panel. Or rather, it was like the panel divided two points in space.

He grinned and let out a soft chuckle. He could see why Authority was so important for creating a domain and developing spatial abilities in general. Space magic had some strict requirements. And the difficulty of manifesting spatial techniques into reality seemed to be one of them.

Fortunately, Authority was one way to accomplish this. He could already feel how his Authority aided his understanding and ability to manifest spatial magic on a more complicated scale. It was quite a dramatic difference.

And when he compared his little barrier of void energy to his other two void skills, he almost laughed with derision. It wasn’t like they were weak. But he suddenly understood that they were truly blunt instruments.

If the little barrier he created in front of him was a finely crafted sword. Then [Void Strike] was like a crude sledgehammer. Sure, it was made of decent materials and was effective, but it had clear deficiencies.

It also became clear why he used so much mana to use [Void Strike]. He was simply being wasteful, brute-forcing it where it needed a more delicate, insightful touch.

He clenched his fist experimentally as he weathered several more powerful attacks from the monsters. The wounds healed as fast as he took them. Then he finally opened his eyes as the void energy around his body suddenly rushed to his arm.

It gathered and compressed into his fist. His spatial senses flared as he did this. As if space was warping chaotically around his hand. He didn’t stop, though, and kept feeding his fist.

Only when his hand was covered in white and arcs of purple light did he lash out. A [Void Strike] smashed directly into the nearest undead.

He only used this one skill, but it was more than enough.

The undead's entire chest seemed to warp in on itself. As if the void energy created a whirlpool of destruction. The core that was seated deep inside the chest of the undead was torn to shreds. The other undead, who had been mindlessly attacking him, suddenly halted, no longer trying to rip him apart.

He didn’t care, though; his eyes were on his notifications.

[Pseudo Void Manipulation lvl 5 -> lvl 8]

[Void Strike lvl 24 -> lvl 26]

He grinned when he saw that one punch had increased his [Void Strike] skill by two whole levels. He looked down at the body of the undead he’d just destroyed, and with a wave of his hand, the void energy circulating in its body floated up to him and wrapped around his hand once again. With a sharp laugh, he took control of his void energy once again and smiled at the other undead who were still looking at him, doing nothing.

His eyes sparkled with excitement as he wondered how much further he could push his void skills during his time in this rift.