Julius wiped the sweat from his eyes and took a look at the notification he just received.

[Kinetic Energy Refinement lvl 6 -> lvl 7]

Over the past couple of weeks, he has managed to gain a whopping seven levels in the new skill. He would have gotten more, but the skill wasn't like a normal manipulation skill. It was more of a passive skill, and he found it a little slower to level.

He hadn't even paid much attention to his other skills during these past couple of weeks. He just wanted to improve his kinetic energy. He hated feeling like he didn't have control over it.

Fortunately, his work showed its merit, and he had only self-combusted twice in the past day. While that still sounded like a lot, they were because he was deliberately pushing himself and his kinetic energy. The fact that he had only combusted twice, considering how intense he had been going, was quite an accomplishment.

"What do you think I should be working on next?" He asked Cain, who was reviewing some documents as Julius rested. Even though the man was a bit of a blockhead, Julius found that Cain was very thorough and diligent. He made sure to do all of his work for the school and never slacked when it came to teaching others.

Cain occasionally made an appearance at the advanced classes, but, as promised, he didn't show Julius any favor or give him any special treatment. He primarily provided general advice to the entire class and demonstrated some simple exercises that they could practice.

Cain looked up from his document. "You should probably start preparing for your advancement," he said to Julius.

"Is there something specific that I need to do?" Julius questioned.

"Not really. That treasure that Doren gave you seems to be working very well. Your Emblem is filling up nicely, and with a little more preparation, you could likely advance soon," Cain said to him.

"When do you think I should advance?" Julius was curious to hear Cain's opinion.

"You should, honestly, advance sooner rather than later. I know you want to participate in the tournament, which means you can't just yet. But you should plan to advance after it is finished. Any more time in Tier 3 would be a waste and make your advancement all the harder," Cain explained.

Julius looked at Cain with quizzical eyes. "Why would it be harder?"

Cain looked a little confused. "Hasn't anyone told you about the advancement to Tier 4?"

"Yes, but I haven't heard anything about it being harder the longer I wait." Julius didn't know what Cain was talking about. From what he understood, the advancement to Tier 4 was relatively straightforward.

First, he needed an Emblem, which he already had a special version of when he advanced to Tier 3, so that wasn't an issue. Secondly, he needed to cultivate his Emblem. There were many ways to do this. The most reliable option involved fighting monsters that appropriately challenged him and gave him "experience" to pack into his Emblem.

Since he had a Special Emblem and other powerful aspects of his soul, this meant he had a more difficult time doing this. However, with the grape from Doren, this sped up the process dramatically.

His Emblem, which was previously dull and quiet, had slowly turned into a bright and powerful symbol of his soul. It was also for this reason that he had a hard time when he acquired [Kinetic Energy Refinement]. This was because the refinement process integrated his powerful Emblem, and his kinetic control at the time wasn't enough to handle it.

Thankfully, much of that issue was resolved due to the past couple of tiring weeks he had put himself through, along with the help of Cain and other people in the advanced class.

Once he satisfied these requirements, the final steps of advancing to Tier 4 were quite simple. When his Emblem was fully cultivated and ready, he needed to thoroughly combine it with his body, soul, and mind. Not just the partial combination achieved when he used his Emblem while fighting.

This process would result in his Emblem transforming into his Authority. Once he gained his Authority, he would finally advance to Tier 4. This would involve some body modifications and the typical improvements expected from advancing.

That was what he knew, but it sounded like Cain knew some additional information.

"In most cases, I doubt it matters, but your case isn't an ordinary one," Cain said with a slight roll of his eyes and a grin.

"What do I have to worry about?" Julius asked with a frown.

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"The odds are high that your Authority is going to be really strong," Cain said while chewing on his lip.

"Is that a bad thing?" Julius believed that having a strong Authority was a significant advantage and would help him advance to Tier 5 later on.

"Not at all. At least normally. But with something that strong, your body and soul might likely have a hard time handling the influx of power," Cain finally explained.

"I have a healing skill, wouldn't that help?" Julius offered. He understood what Cain was worrying about, but he felt like his healing skill would be able to help him survive the transformation, no matter how volatile the advancement was.

However, he saw Cain wince, which immediately had him on guard. "What was that face for?" Julius asked tentatively.

"Your healing skill might make things worse," Cain said bluntly.

"How so?" Julius asked with confusion.

"Well, those with self-healing abilities always seem to trigger a stronger transformation process. For example, I went through something similar, and it was an extremely hard and painful transformation," Cain admitted. "It is usually because your body changes as it attempts to make future healing more efficient. This also means that it dramatically alters a lot of your body."

"And since I have such a powerful healing skill…" Julius trailed off.

Cain nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, I don't think it is going to be pretty for you," he said to Julius, before walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "But you can do it. I believe. Just remember, do not stall or stop the process. That is how a lot of people fail their advancement."

Julius chuckled partly in appreciation for Cain trying to reassure him and partly because he was already dreading the transformation just from hearing what he might have to go through. Luckily, that was a problem for future Julius, and current Julius was going to forget about it.

"Have you or Freya decided if either of you is going to come with me?" He asked, wanting to change the subject.

Cain's hand, which was still placed on his shoulder, gave him an excited smack, sending Julius tumbling to the ground. The man didn't even blink when he saw Julius drop; he just kept talking. "Yep. I think we are both going to come with you. We actually have some stuff to take care of in the Empire, and it would be nice to take a little vacation."

Julius picked himself off the ground and sent a powerful rebuttal blast of kinetic energy at Cain. He tried to infuse some of his Chaotic Space Concept into the energy, seeing if this would allow Julius to break through the man's defenses.

He grumbled when it didn't, but on the other hand, he was happy that his little experiment worked. If it were a few weeks ago, he would not have been able to pull it off. It was only because of his new skill and hard training that he was able to accomplish it.

He dusted himself off. "Like publicly or secretly?" He asked the man.

"That depends."

Julius scrunched his nose. "On what?"

"On whether or not you accept to become my apprentice," Cain said with a hopeful grin.

"Does it really matter that much to you? Isn't it just a formality at this point? You are already training me like an apprentice," Julius pointed out.

"I told you, it's to make it official," Cain explained before suddenly looking a little sad. "But if you feel embarrassed for someone like me to be your master, then I understand completely."

Julius rolled his eyes at the sight of such a large man acting like a pouting toddler. "Sure, I will become your apprentice. Just stop sulking like a little girl."

Cain's smile was bright enough to light all of Heston. "Wonderful! I gotta tell Freya that you accepted. She thought the odds were high that you would reject me," Cain said with glee. "I gotta rub it in her face to get her back for doubting me."

"Is that it? Do I have to do anything to make it official?" Julius asked.

Cain nodded. "There is a small ceremony that we have to do. But Freya will handle that. But we can also start being seen together more often and not have to hide it."

"That's fine. I was honestly getting a little tired of people gossiping about what I am doing here," Julius admitted.

"They asked you if you were my apprentice?" Cain asked curiously.

Julius waved his hand. "Not directly, but I have heard more than one group talk about it. They weren't that subtle and suspected that I was Freya's apprentice."

"Freya's?!" Cain sounded very offended for some reason.

"Yeah."

"Hm, I guess I might have to correct some people's suspicions," Cain said. He looked concerned, rubbing his chin in distress.

Julius held up both hands. "You don't need to do that. I would rather not spend my last days being hounded by others. If you could keep my apprenticeship quiet until then, that would be much appreciated."

"But I want to show off my new talented apprentice," Cain said sadly and looked a little downcast. But Julius wasn't going to be tricked this time around.

"You can show off after I leave," he said firmly.

Cain looked up. "Promise?"

"Sure."

Cain perked up, and Julius immediately felt like something was wrong, but couldn't quite figure out why.

He wanted to ask Cain, but the man quickly got up and ran off. Julius suspected that Freya was going to hear all about Julius's apprenticeship before he got to tell her. He just hoped that Cain didn't taunt her too much; otherwise, he might be subjected to a harsh healing lesson.

She could be relentless when it came to training. Absolutely relentless to the point that it made Cain seem like an angel.

He froze suddenly and kicked himself in the butt. On second thought, he should know better. Cain would absolutely go too far and piss her off, just for kicks and giggles.

He let out a sigh full of anxiety as he sprinted out of the room, following Cain's path and hopefully stopping the man before it was too late. He didn't even care that he used a little too much kinetic energy, and a small combustion blasted outward. After all, he couldn't be too concerned with that when he was chasing after someone as strong as Cain.

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