Path to Transcendence

Julius found himself leaving the special space inside the secret realm with an extra passenger he wasn’t expecting. As promised, Vailon gave him some other things as thanks.
He told Julius that there were other spirits and creatures who helped manage the secret realm. He even revealed some details about the creation of his space. Apparently, this realm was formed by a number of powerful individuals during the Empire’s formative years.
It had started as a way to cultivate materials and monsters, but their creation had grown so large that it expanded beyond their initial scope. It was now primarily used to train talents for the tournament, especially since there were already a large number of rifts under the Empire’s control.
Julius also learned that the Tier 3 restriction was only implemented as a safety measure and for sustainability. The Royal Family, who were in charge of this realm, decided to restrict the number of people who could enter. Unsurprisingly, this restriction didn’t apply to them or to the special people they allowed inside.
Julius tried to extract more information from Vailon about the locations of the other spirits and creatures, but failed to gain any valuable insights. He wasn’t even able to get anything about the guardians who would be protecting the tokens Julius needed.
In addition to this information, Julius was given a couple of interesting items. One of these items was a simple flask. At first glance, he thought it was just a regular old flask, but upon closer inspection, he spotted the signs of spatial enchantments. He didn’t even need to be told what it could be used for.
He was already itching to get back to the lake, but to his delight, he learned that Vailon had already filled it up for him. Saving Julius the time and effort it would take him otherwise.
The other thing he received was something he was very interested in. Vailon understood that travel was a tricky part of the secret realm, so he decided to give Julius a small disk. The disk itself was pretty small, only around the size of his palm. However, once injected with some mana, it would expand into a larger platform that he could either sit on or stand on.
While it sounded useless at first, it didn’t take into consideration that it was a movement instrument.
Don’t ask Julius how it worked, but according to Vailon, he would be able to travel at much faster speeds when using it. Julius hadn’t told either of them that he could fly, but he was also keeping that particular ability on the down low for the time being.
And while the disk didn’t allow him to fly, it was basically a hoverboard that would glide over the grounds at high speeds. It was perfect for Julius and, honestly, pretty comfortable despite its appearance. He had already tried it out before they left the space, and it worked pretty well.
The controls were a bit wonky, but he could practice with them later.
The final thing he received from Vailon was a small aquamarine gem, the size of his pinky finger. He wasn’t told the exact functions of the gem. No matter how much Julius pleaded with the man, it was useless. His lips were sealed shut, and Julius wasn’t able to pry them open.
The only real piece of information he was told was that it was a treasure whose requirements would only make sense when Julius was a Tier 4. That in itself was a hint to be honest. The main difference between Tier 3 and Tier 4 was an Authority after all.
He was broken out of his thoughts when he felt himself exit back through the portal. Water surrounded him, and he floundered for a few brief moments from the sudden shift in sensation, but he quickly oriented himself and swam upwards.
When he broke the water’s surface, he pulled himself to the shore and crawled out. To his surprise, the girl was still sitting on the edge of the water. She was very carefully filling small bottles with the water.
She made sure to be extra careful when filling them up. For some reason, she was wary of the water and had a bad reaction when she tried to drink it. Julius didn’t know the exact reason why.
When she heard him splash onto dry land, she stopped what she was doing and approached him.
“You were in the lake for a long time. I thought you might have died,” she said with an inquisitive glance at him.
He grinned. “Worried about me?” He teased her.
She stared at him flatly. “I barely know you.”
He looked at the ground, crestfallen. “Oh.”
She rolled her eyes at his dramatic behavior. “So did you find the token?” She asked him after a brief second.
He nodded and removed the token from his ring. The golden coin shimmered in the sunlight, and he fiddled with it, feeling the textured surface. He made sure to watch her reaction, part of the reason why he had admitted to having it so easily was for multiple reasons. For one, he wanted to see how she would react.
He was curious to see what type of person she was. Was she the type to try to steal the token from him right here and now? Or was she the person who would wait for her time? Considering that she was an archer and he had first seen her hiding in a tree, he suspected that if she tried to steal it from him, it would be the latter. However, he wanted to see if she showed any sign or hint that she might try to do something like that.
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The only reaction he spotted from her was a flash of envy and disappointment, but not much else. A fairly typical response, in his opinion. He didn’t sense any signs of hostility or aggression with his aura senses. While she had a good handle on her aura, he was still able to pick up small things.
He had slowly learned that his ability to pick apart the nuances of people’s aura wasn’t so common. Not everyone was able to decipher emotions and general thoughts from aura alone, at least not as simply as he found it to be. He suspected that this ability stemmed from his time with Lily and the techniques she had taught him.
He also believed that his time with Drasil helped with this as well. Understanding and translating his personal mana glutton was a taxing endeavor, but it turned out to have some nice benefits.
Another reason he showed off the token was to conceal his other finds. The bond with Seraphyne was a completely unexpected result, but he wasn’t upset at all. He could already tell that she was having a positive impact on Drasil. The little mana-hungry spirit was devouring all of the residual mana she released like a Dyson vacuum.
The little guy was certainly very happy about her appearance. However, he got the impression that she felt a bit scared of Drasil. Perhaps scared wasn’t the correct description. Uneasy was likely more appropriate.
The other rewards he got from Vailon were additional things he wanted to keep secret. Pretending that the token was the only find should be believable enough. If he said he came back with nothing, he didn’t think any reasonably intelligent person would believe him.
Well, he would also show off the flying disk, but that was a given. He had every intention of using that interesting item.
“How was the guardian?” She asked after her interest in the token waned.
He shrugged. “They were strong. The environment certainly didn’t help matters. But if most guardians are around that level of strength, I think most people in the tournament should have a chance to beat one.”
She looked at him like he was speaking nonsense. “Most people wouldn’t even be able to dip their finger in that water, let alone swim in it. How did you manage to stay down there for so long, not to mention fight a guardian and come back with a token?”
She seemed genuinely curious, but he wasn’t going to be revealing any of his secrets to her. “I have a couple of skills that made the swim doable,” he said cryptically.
She didn’t seem satisfied with his answer, but she also understood that he didn’t have a reason to tell her. He decided to change the topic.
“I don’t think I ever got your name,” he said with a good-natured smile.
She looked at him for a few seconds and eventually let out a sigh. “It’s Lyra,” she said to him.
“Nice to meet you, Lyra. My name is Julius,” he replied with a shallow bow.
“I know, I saw your match in the first round. Your constructs are very impressive,” she commented.
“Oh? You saw my match?” He asked, a little intrigued that she knew of him and his name. While many people watched him after his display, it still represented a relatively small percentage of all the participants. He believed it was more likely that the larger organizations had taken note of him.
“I must be getting famous,” he grumbled quietly to himself in a joking tone.
“Not as famous as some of the other big names,” she said, almost like she was purposefully popping his bubble and humbling him.
“Aw,” he said with a downcast expression.
“They might not recognize your face or your name, but people would probably recognize you from your constructs. They were very… memorable,” she finished after a momentary pause.
He nodded and was about to say something when he felt a very light pulse of mana off in the distance. He wasn’t the only one, either. Lyra had similarly sensed the mana and had already taken out her bow, shifting her body in the direction the mana had come from.
“Do you know what that was?” He asked her. His long-range senses weren’t that strong, but he had a feeling that as an archer, she might be different.
“Someone is fighting off in the distance. I think what we sensed was a powerful skill going off,” she noted. Her eyes were glowing with a pale green ring, and he could sense some profound Concepts rolling from the mana infused into her eyes.
“Should we be worried?”
She shook her head. “Probably not. They are far away.”
Julius nodded and started to put his clothes back on. He used a bit of fire mana to dry himself off and quickly shoved his feet back into his shoes.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Lyra. Maybe we will cross paths again,” he said with a smile, already heading off. He was excited to try his little flying disk and didn’t want to wait much longer.
However, before he could make it more than five feet, she called out to him. “Do you want to team up?” She asked.
He turned back around, running his fingers through his now dry hair. “Team up?”
“Yeah, I think most people will team up with others. So if we come across one of those teams, it might be nice to have someone backing you up,” she commented.
He thought about it for a brief moment before nodding his head. “I wouldn’t mind it, but with how the realm is set up, I would rather we don’t have to fight over treasures and tokens. It just sounds like a pain,” he responded to her.
“What if we split the treasures based on who benefits more, with you getting the treasures that don’t really suit either of us. I am also willing to forego the tokens, at least until you get all of your first five,” she offered.
He looked at her with a frown. Why was she willing to give up so much just to team with him? It didn’t make any sense. He told her as much.
“I’m not here to win the tournament. My father said that there would be some interesting opportunities for me here. I only want to gain an item that fits my path, that’s about it. Whether or not I advance to the final stage, I don’t really care all that much. I am not the only one who is thinking like this, either. That is why so many of the other participants are willing to team up,” she explained.
“But why me?” He asked.
She chuckled. “Remember, I watched you fight. You are one of the people who have a good chance at advancing to the final stage.”
“And you don’t?” He looked at her knowingly. While she might not be on his level, she was definitely one of the stronger people in the tournament.
She shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. But I don’t really have any ambitions either. I just want to get something nice while I am here. If I get the tokens along the way, then I will be satisfied.”
He chuckled when he sensed no deception in her aura. “Satisfied?”
“Yeah.”
He rubbed his nose and stared off at the pillar of light in the distance. “Fine, but I can’t promise you that we will team up. However, we can discuss it further as we delve deeper. How does that sound?”
She smiled and gestured at him. “Fine by me. Lead the way.”