A wave of unease rippled throughout his soul as [Spatial Crack] and [Barrier of Severance] collided. This impact reverberated throughout his soul and felt very different than his other skill combinations.

He quickly sat down to meditate and calm himself. The dim orbs that represented his unchosen skills were dragged closer to this mess and devoured before he could do anything.

As he felt this sensation, he was dimly aware of another person in the area. They weren't getting any closer, so he ignored them for the time being. The combination was rough, but he felt it slowly coming together. Bits and pieces of the skills condensed into a singular orb, and he could feel the quality difference already. He wasn't sure if the skill was precisely what he was looking for, but he knew that it was something quite powerful.

Eventually, the process finished up, and he finally let go of the breath he was holding.

Congratulations, you have learned [Void Strike] (Epic+)

The skill was actually very close to the skill he had been planning for. He had been hoping for a [Void Slash] or [Void Tear] skill, but he was happy with the way it ended up. He believed that it was a little more versatile as well.

Slashing and tearing seemed to go down the sharpness route a little too deeply for his liking. He believed that his Sharpness Concept wasn't something that Dante would consider "mediocre" anymore. However, it still wasn't his most powerful Concept. He didn't want it to become the main direction of his path. He had learned that it was about time for him to start having all of his abilities come together with a bit more synergy.

For example, he didn't know how well [Void Slash] would have worked with his current skill set.

After talking to Freya and Cain for some time, he had learned that establishing his Authority was the last step to becoming a Tier 4. Organizing his abilities into a cohesive arrangement would be the first step in achieving this.

And he felt like the skill would work well with his kinetic abilities as well as his mana constructs. He didn't know how well something like [Void Slash] would work with his spikes or punches. The slashing bit always felt like he needed some kind of edge or blade to make it work. [Void Strike], on the other hand, felt like he could use it for any of his attacks. It was potentially weaker when it came to how much damage it could maximally inflict, but he would be able to use it for almost every attack.

He didn't even know if it would be weaker. Perhaps it would be stronger.

The void description of the skill was something that he knew was scary. His [Void Step] was already quite powerful, and it was only because of his healing skill that he managed to stay alive long enough to learn it. Still, at the end of the day, [Void Step] was just a movement skill.

[Void Strike] was an offensive skill that would increase his all-around damage output. He had felt like he needed something like that if he continued to fight Tier 4s. During his previous battles against stronger opponents, they had shrugged off his punches and spikes with more ease than he was happy with.

His supportive skills were just fine. He was rarely caught off guard, and his focus skill allowed him to do more things than most other focus skills did. His aura control was also quite exceptional, especially for his age and tier. This provided more benefits than it initially appeared.

It was one of the backbones of his strength, as well as his willpower, that let him pull off insane ideas. Something that would only get stronger once he got his second soul evolution. Something that Doren stated he was already really close to.

He was hoping that this additional epic skill would drag him across that point. But it wasn't meant to be.

With all of that being said, despite these advantages he had, the only real way he was able to do damage to such strong people was to overclock his body or to pack so much power into a construct that it exploded. However, with his new skill, he might not have to resort to that. That made him very happy and even more excited to test it out.

However, he might have to wait on that. At the moment, he needed to get back to the tent where he had left behind the prisoners and the rest of the bandits. So with one last glance at the lone figure surveying the camp, he made his way toward the center.

When he arrived, he saw that the Tier 4 was already awake. However, he was so disoriented that it barely made a difference. The man's aura also felt utterly defeated, as if he had no more fight left in him.

That was fine with Julius. He wasn't even planning on killing this man either. He had other ideas.

The prisoners had slowly come to themselves and understood they were free while Julius was dealing with the rest of the bandits. There was more light in their eyes than before, and it was something he was glad for. He didn't know how he would get them all out of here when they were practically comatose.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Come on, let's get you guys out of here," he gestured toward them patiently.

They were hesitant at first, but when a few people started to move, the rest followed suit. There were a few of them who looked very angry at the unconscious bandits. Julius could sense their murderous intent from their aura and wasn't surprised when one of the men ran over and started to wail on one of the unconscious bandits.

The man was clearly exhausted and weak, but still summoned enough energy to get his revenge. Julius didn't know what they had gone through or if this bandit had killed someone important to the man, so he didn't step in.

Once the man had exerted all his energy, one of the women went over to comfort the now-crying man. Julius didn't want to seem coldhearted, but it was time to leave, and he couldn't let them waste their time crying. He would rather they get out of here just in case someone comes looking for these bandits.

"We don't have much time to waste," he said loudly enough for all of them to hear. "We need to get out of here now."

To his slight annoyance, these people didn't move a muscle. Perhaps they had finally realized that he was just a young boy, but they didn't seem to be listening to him. He didn't want to, but he didn't want to waste any more time. So he sent a small burst of his aura at these people and repeated himself.

Funnily enough, this seemed to do the trick. It was like magic. One moment they were shuffling their feet and crying, and the next they were leaping to their feet and running out of the tent.

There were only a few people who didn't outright run. One of them was the woman who had searched for one of the rings when he asked. She was beaten up a little bit, with minor cuts and smudges of blood all over her face, but there was a fierceness in her aura that most of the others had been lacking.

"What about them?" She asked him with intense eyes, pointing at the bandits.

"I have a plan for them," he said simply, not bothering to give her a deeper explanation.

It seemed like she wanted to argue with him, but something must have held her back. She just nodded and followed her people outside.

Before he exited as well, he went over to the Tier 4, who was staring at Julius with dazed eyes. It was almost as if he were concussed. Which, in a way, was exactly what had happened. Only it was to the soul.

Julius didn't bother speaking to the man and reached down to pull the spatial ring off the finger of the Tier 4. Unlike the rings from the other lackeys, this one had some extra protections and was clearly more expensive.

Julius tucked it inside his pocket for the time being and manipulated his mana carefully. He slowly seeped this mana into the man's skin, and taking some inspiration from the mark Savath left on him, he slowly imprinted a signature of sorts on the hand. He also incorporated some of his Space Concept into it, but he wasn't sure if it would work.

He had observed tracking skills from others and was attempting to replicate the process. He had dabbled a bit with his friends and such, but hadn't put in that much energy. This would be the first genuine attempt at making a tracking beacon.

He made some adjustments and fiddled with the mark. It was only when he was satisfied that he stepped away and admired his work. It wasn't perfect, but he could already feel the pinging sensation from the mark.

The tricky part was creating a signal that wasn't overtly obvious as a tracking beacon. It was why he had slowly adjusted the mark so it mimicked the Tier 4's own mana signature. It wasn't an exact match, but it was close enough for the time being.

He was also worried about how far it would be able to send a signal. He didn't know what the limit was, but he hoped it was enough to get a general location of the bandit's base.

Julius let out a sigh as he looked over at the rest of the bandits. At first, he wanted to put marks on all of the people, but he quickly realized that would take a lot of time. Matching the signature to their own would be tedious.

He thought about keeping them alive and just letting them be, but he also recalled the anguish he felt from the prisoners' auras. Leading him to believe that these bandits had done some heinous stuff.

He didn't enjoy it, but he used some of his aura to press down on their unconscious bodies. Since they were out of it already, it was even simpler to work through their defenses. Once he was through, he sent a brutal pulse of ruinous aura throughout their entire bodies.

The bodies spasmed for a few brief moments before going completely still.

Then, before he left for good, he walked over the middle of the tent and wrapped his hands around a metal pole that had been impaled in the ground. This was the origin of that barrier surrounding the camp and was likely a very valuable magical tool.

There were some protections on it which prevented him from pulling it out, but a quick use of his aura and the enchantments destabilized just long enough for him to rip it out of the ground.

He examined it, slowly turning it over in his palms. He grinned when he spotted some interesting enchantments engraved on the base of the pole. He placed the pole into the same pocket as the ring and gave one last look at the Tier 4, who was still quite out of it.

He looked at the dead bodies in the tent with one last wince and proceeded to exit to the outside, where the prisoners were waiting for him.

He saw their scared gazes land on him as they spotted all of the dead bandits around the camp. He didn't let their looks bother him too much and motioned for them to follow him. Something that they did right away without him having to repeat himself.

Now that he had removed the pole from the ground, the barrier had disappeared, allowing the snow, which had been blocked, to start falling on them once again. He held out his hand to watch as snowflakes melted on his skin before abruptly walking back out of the camp.

Julius didn't have to look around to know that the people he had saved were following behind them. As much as they were scared of him, they seemed to understand that they would be protected as long as they stayed close. He gave a quick glance at the person who was monitoring their movements and quickly decided how he would handle them.

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