Julius stepped back, avoiding Cain's sweeping leg, and then was forced to absorb as much kinetic energy from the sudden blast as he could. He failed to siphon all of it and was staggered backwards.

Cain, like the ruthless sparring partner he was, didn't let Julius a second to breathe. He was already in front of Julius, swinging an open palm at his skull. Julius didn't have the balance to dodge, so he had to bring his arm up to parry it.

Unfortunately, Cain chose to be mean and slightly restrict his movements with kinetic energy. Much like Julius's own technique, Cain clamped down on his body. Thankfully, Cain was barely trying and gave him enough wiggle room to fight back.

Still, Julius was too slow and got walloped across the head, sending him crashing into the wall with a loud thump.

He groaned as he peeled himself from the floor. "I don't see how this is going to help me choose what skill I want," he grumbled to Cain, who tossed him a towel to wipe his sweat off.

"I want to see how much you have improved during your time away and see for myself if you should choose the general upgrade or if specializing might help you more," Cain explained.

"Well, what is your verdict?" Julius asked curiously.

"Undecided," Cain admitted he didn't know without any shame.

Julius sighed. "Why do I feel like this was just an opportunity to beat me up?"

"That as well," Cain said without hesitation. "Plus, it is not like you can choose the skill right now. With how your soul is at the moment, I don't think it would be the best idea to choose a skill. Let it recover, and then you can choose an option."

While neither Julius nor Freya told the man about the condition of his soul, it would appear that they didn't have to. Cain had grabbed Julius by the shoulders the moment he saw him and gave him a thorough inspection, where the nature of his soul's condition was revealed.

"Do you have a general idea about which skill you think might fit me slightly better, though?" He asked the large man. Julius at least wanted to narrow down some of his choices. He was mainly undecided between [Kinetic Energy Mastery] and [Kinetic Energy Refinement]. Those two seemed to be the better of the skills for his particular skillset, but he wanted Cain's opinion.

"Truth be told, every skill would do you some good. The only skill that might be a little useless would be [Kinetic Amplification]. You already have more than enough kinetic energy to use, and you have just barely started to control that vast amount. Even if it didn't increase the total amount you could use, it would definitely enhance the current amount by a decent factor. I don't think you should choose a skill like that until you get a better grasp on kinetic energy. We don't need you blowing yourself up over and over again," Cain said with a laugh.

"I was thinking the same thing," Julius admitted with a grin. "But you think that [Kinetic Force Adept] would be a good skill as well?"

"Oh, definitely. I had a similar skill when I was around your tier. It is similar to [Kinetic Energy Mastery], but it specializes a little more in direct combat. Think of [Kinetic Energy Mastery] as like [Fire Magic Mastery], whereas [Kinetic Force Adept] would be more similar to something like [Fire Blast Adept]. The latter focuses a little more on the explosive effect of the skill, rather than helping equally in all fire magic. So, for someone like you who likes to use powerful blasts of kinetic energy, it would go quite well. Not to mention you already have a Force Concept that would synergize well with it," Cain explained further.

Julius was immediately interested in what Cain had to say. He had almost written [Kinetic Force Adept] completely off because it had adept in its name. But truthfully, it sounded like it was a better fit for his combat style. He wasn't like some of the other students who used kinetic energy in more delicate ways.

His kinetic energy was used much like his overall fighting style—brute force.

If others used their kinetic energy like a Swiss army knife, then Julius was proud to say that he used his like a sledgehammer. Sure, he could still mimic some of the more delicate and finer workings of kinetic energy, but that wasn't where his true talents lay.

He still didn't know which skill he was going to choose, but luckily, he had plenty of time. His soul was still recovering, and with Freya's help, it was going much more smoothly than his previous experiences. With help from her extensive knowledge and advanced techniques, he had learned that there were still minor fractures and scars woven throughout his soul that had never been appropriately healed, primarily because of his lack of experience with healing souls, but also because his skill wasn't powerful enough to heal everything back to perfect health.

She told him that he shouldn't worry too much about it, though. In the long run, it wouldn't matter too much, and once he had evolved his healing skill to legendary rank, it would likely have fixed the issue for him and would have had minimal impact on his next soul evolution. Still, it was nice of her to take the time to make sure his soul was cleaned up. It truly felt like she cared about his well-being.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Something that he appreciated more than she could know.

***

A week went by very quickly. He mostly spent that time healing and relaxing when he wasn't testing out his new void skill. He took this time to experience some of the more leisurely activities around Auraulos and found some fantastic spots.

One of his favorite discoveries was a hydrothermal spa that Freya introduced him to. At first glance, the place looked very plain and simple. But upon entering, he changed his mind swiftly. It was absolutely breathtaking. The hydrathermal was built on the side of the mountain, surrounded by snowy peaks and pools of sparkling, clear water, which created dozens of stunning waterfalls that all funneled into this little paradise.

A large number of enchantments were arranged around the property as well, which only elevated the atmosphere. The water was charged with numerous types of mana, which all sang in harmony as they seeped into your skin. It actually helped him meditate better than he had ever achieved before. Julius found it somewhat ironic that the bathhouse was owned by the same people who managed the one Doren destroyed in the past.

Julius brought that up a single time to the people running the spa, but quickly realized that it was a bad decision. He didn't mention it for the rest of his time there. It would appear that Cain wasn't the only person who held a grudge against Doren.

Another notable change was that he was no longer in the beginner's course. He had graduated into the more advanced course where most of the students were Tier 4. There were several Tier 3s, and a couple of Tier 5s also attended some lessons.

While his usage of kinetic energy hadn't technically reached the level one would expect from the advanced course, there was only so much he could learn from the beginner's course.

And if he wanted to avoid stalling out his improvements, he needed to start learning to use his kinetic energy without restrictions. He couldn't do this in the beginner's course because Cain was worried he might accidentally kill or hurt the other students.

On the bright side, that also meant that Cain believed he had improved enough to be trusted to use more kinetic energy. The bad news was that he found himself once again completely out of his depth.

Yesterday had been his first day of the advanced class, but he had quickly realized that these people were on a whole different level. They molded their kinetic energy as if it were the most natural thing to them. And since they were Tier 4s, they didn't fall behind Julius when it came to raw power.

If anything, it was he who found himself falling behind.

Thankfully, these people were much more mature than the younger students and didn't give him a hard time. In fact, they were very nice to him, suspiciously so. On the first day, at least half a dozen people approached him, offering their help and advice whenever he needed it.

They sounded genuine, but he wasn't used to such things.

However, no matter how nice they were, that didn't stop them from absolutely obliterating him during the spars. According to them, one of the senior instructors had told them that they weren't allowed to take it easy on him. They were steadfast on that. Julius had a feeling that Cain was the reason behind this.

At least they were nice about it afterwards, helping him up to his feet and consoling him, which was precisely what they were doing at the moment.

"Sorry about that last one, I didn't mean to strike you so hard," Arthur apologized with a sympathetic wince as several of them all took a break and sat against the wall.

Arthur was one of the nicer ones in the group, and Julius found himself training against him more often than not. He was young, but had already reached Tier 4. He wasn't as big or intimidating as the other fighters either. In fact, he was shorter than average and had a very slim build with equally short black hair.

However, Julius reminded himself that he couldn't let that fool him. Arthur, despite his appearance and stature, was one of the strongest fighters in the class. Something that everyone mutually agreed upon.

The young man was a monster when it came to using kinetic energy. Calm, relentless, and absolutely brutal when it came to fighting.

Julius didn't even think he would be able to beat the young man if he went all out. His aura was so strong, and while he didn't have the control like Julius, there was a weight that only came with extreme power.

While Julius had proven he could beat some decent Tier 4s, Arthur demonstrated that there were many levels of strength. And Julius didn't think he had reached quite that level.

Not yet. But hopefully soon.

"So where are you from, Julius?" Einar, another person in the class, asked him. Einar was slightly older than Arthur, but not by much. If Arthur was one of the shortest people in the class, then Einar was among the tallest.

Julius thought about lying, but he didn't see a reason to. "I am from the Empire, really far away from here," he answered with a light laugh.

"Ah? The Luminous Empire?" Einar asked excitedly with bright eyes.

"Yeah."

"I have always wanted to visit. I heard that the cities there are absolutely enormous and full of fascinating things," Einar said with a wistful sigh.

"Honestly, I haven't been to many cities. The ones I have been to weren't the largest I know of," he replied.

Heston was a beautiful city, as was Blumand. But from what he could recall, some cities were many times larger than either of them. Most of them were closer to the Capital, and he hoped that he could see them one day.

Speaking of the capital, the tournament was fast approaching. He had already asked Freya to send a message to his friends a few weeks ago, letting them know what he had been doing up until now. He didn't know how long it would take since he was so far away, but he was itching to see them again in person. Lily had promised him that she would show him around the capital, and he was going to hold her to that.

In the meantime, he wanted to see just how much he could improve his kinetic energy, and with his new classmates, he believed that he might make some huge strides as long as he paid attention.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.