Upon his arrival, he found himself being welcomed by Freya right away. If he didn't know any better, he would have suspected that she had been keeping a close eye on him. However, even if she had been, he quickly forgave her because she had come bearing gifts.

Wrapped in some familiar parchment paper came a savory smell that tickled his nose. He could already feel his saliva dripping out of his mouth.

"Is that what I think it is?" He asked her with sparkling eyes.

"Of course, I got it specifically for you. No pickles," Freya said with a proud smile on her face as she watched Julius snatch it from her hands.

He tore through the sandwich with gusto. While the food at the village wasn't bad, it wasn't even close to as good as the food in Auraulos. He groaned in pleasure as the juices spilled over his tongue and down his throat.

"I told you that I wouldn't be longer than a week," he said with his mouth full.

"If you had, I would have gone and retrieved you myself," she said, taking out another sandwich for herself.

They found a little bench to sit on as they enjoyed their food together. She asked him some questions about his trip, and he answered them as truthfully as possible. When he mentioned that he had fought a Tier 5, she wasn't happy. He knew that, because despite how delicious the food was, she put it down to glare at him.

"I thought I told you to be careful," she scolded him.

"I was!" He argued before realizing what he said and amended his statement. "I mean, I tried to."

She pinched her nose in exasperation and wiped some of the juices from her lips. "Well, at least you are safe. I hope that the trip was worth it."

"Definitely, I managed to get a really nice new skill and got the option to evolve [Kinetic Energy Control]. Oh yeah! And can you make sure to remind me that I need to ask Cain about what skill I should choose?"

"You shouldn't need anyone to remind you," she said flatly.

"I forget sometimes," he shot back brightly, unashamed of his forgetfulness.

She sighed but picked up her sandwich and resumed eating alongside him. A few moments went by with just the sound of chewing when she eventually spoke again.

"I'm guessing that the other new skill was the one that you have been trying to create these past couple of weeks?"

He grunted through a full mouth of food.

"What kind of skill is it?" She asked.

He swallowed his food. "You remember my movement skill, right?"

She nodded. "Of course. It's still a shock that someone your age has developed such a skill. Wait… are you saying you got an offensive void skill?"

Instead of answering right away, he polished off the last bit of his sandwich and wiped the crumbs from his clothes before standing up. He focused on the skill, letting it activate to cover his hand, then extended it outward so she could see for herself.

Her eyes sparkled curiously as she bent forward to analyze the skill.

"Interesting," she murmured.

"What? Is something odd about it?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's odd that someone at Tier 3 has a skill this volatile and dangerous," she scoffed.

"But nothing else?"

She took another moment to look at it and leaned back, shaking her head. "It's a very powerful skill. I suspect that you are only able to use it because of the combined functions of all of your other skills and techniques. Your perception skill gives you the ability to sense the unique spatial properties of such a skill. Your focus skill gives you enough mental capacity to handle such a complex technique. Your mastery over mana and aura enables you to wield such a volatile energy without it going out of control. And finally, your willpower allows you to keep it all together."

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He smiled. "That's a good thing, right?"

She chuckled. "Yes, it is very good."

He preened under her praise and smiled widely.

However, before he could start getting too big a head, she gestured at him. "Now come on, Cain wanted to see you when you got back as well. He should just be finishing up some things."

He nodded and happily followed her as she started to talk to him about some of the things that he had missed while he was gone.

However, halfway through their journey, he felt Freya's aura suddenly wrap around him. She normally never did this, but something must have intrigued her. He could have resisted, but he didn't see a reason to. If she wanted to check him out, then she likely had a good reason.

He gave his permission and allowed her aura to do its thing. He had always been amazed at how good her aura control was. It never stood out, and if not for his recognizing her aura signature and the fact that she wanted him to, he doubted he would have noticed her probing.

The familiar sensation of cooling life mana and softness poked around his aura. However, he couldn't help but notice her aura flinch suddenly. It was slight and reactionary, but he definitely saw it.

And he had a feeling he knew exactly what she had just sensed. He had almost forgotten about it since it wasn't hurting as badly as before, but his soul still looked like a decade-old used dishrag that had been stabbed dozens of times with a spear.

She stopped to give him a disappointed stare. "Are you serious?"

He shrugged his shoulders and gave her an affronted look. "What? Was I supposed to let the Tier 5 beat me around with his domain?"

"No, but I don't see how that has anything to do with fighting a Tier 5, who, I might add, is not someone you should be fighting with in the first place," she said with a sigh.

"It's how I stop his domain from affecting me," Julius explained to her.

"What do you mean?" She looked very confused when he said that to her.

"My soul is in this condition because it is a backlash effect from the technique I use to prevent domains from restricting me," he went into more detail for her.

"Show me," she said with a deep frown before raising her brows, realizing what that would mean. "Never mind, don't show me. Not yet."

Julius stopped the explosion he had immediately readied and let the energy die out. He saw her eyelid twitch slightly when she noticed this.

"Please don't tell me you were already going to use the technique with your soul in that condition."

"I wasn't," he said to her while shaking his head.

"Good. That would be extremely st—"

"I was going to show you a smaller version of the technique," he interrupted her with a bright nod.

He was pretty proud that he could do something like that. When he used the technique for the first time, it hadn't been as controlled, and the damage took some time to heal fully. Now, he was fairly confident that he could limit the damage and the size of the explosion. It would still hurt, but it wouldn't cause as much scarring to his soul.

He was about to explain to Freya how his technique worked to show off and see if she would be impressed, but before he could, he found himself stuck in place. The reason for that was because Freya already had his head gripped in her palm.

Her grip was so tight that he could do nothing but swing his arms as he tried to yank her hand away. However, as he was struggling, he felt a sudden infusion of powerful mana rush through his body and into his soul.

His Phoenix healing skill always felt like a warm campfire raging in his soul when he healed himself. Her Ice Phoenix skill felt the opposite, yet it was still very comforting. Her skill was also much more potent.

It made his life mana feel like watered-down juice in comparison. However, the result was drastically different as well. Julius's soul, which was a mess, got injected with soul energy. The large holes were filled in and glistened as more energy flowed through them.

However, before it could heal him all the way, she stopped.

"Don't run off tonight. I'll have to heal you again once your soul can handle more. If you make me chase after you, I am going to strap you down to a bed and not let you leave until you are healed. Understood?"

He nodded dutifully. He knew that she wasn't bluffing. She would literally tie him down if she needed to.

He heard her mutter some words to herself. Julius wasn't able to catch what she was saying exactly, but he assumed it wasn't very nice things and he was somewhat glad that he didn't have to hear them.

Instead, he took out a drink and started to sip quietly as he waited for her to stop talking to herself. He didn't need to piss her off any more than he needed to, especially when she was supposed to heal him later on.

There was a general agreement among all fighters that it was a bad thing to piss off a healer, even more so when that healer was a Tier 6.

Eventually, it seemed like she calmed down, and Julius heard her let out a loud sigh.

"Okay, let's go find my husband. And don't tell him about your soul. The idiot might try to congratulate you on your dim-witted decisions. We don't need anything like that, right?"

Julius nodded again and did his best to hide the grin that came to his face as he chased after Freya.

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