Path to Transcendence

Julius knew before going into it that he wasn\'t going to be having some thrilling fight. But he still thought it would have a little more excitement. So far he has hidden behind bushes and trees from a far distance and sniped the poor goblins before they even got a sniff of him.

His perception skill made it practically impossible for the goblins to get the drop on him. It would take Julius getting his face bashed in and knocked unconscious for him to not be aware of the goblin\'s movements.

On the bright side, he could say that Declan was definitely approving of Julius\'s success so far. However, Julius also knew that Declan was an archer and used similar methods to hunt monsters. It wasn\'t that Julius didn\'t appreciate that way of fighting. It was actually a little bit satisfying in many aspects. Being able to one-shot every target was more gratifying than Julius would have expected.

The ease with which he was clearing this rift was an indication of how much work he had been putting in lately. Although he didn\'t think the old Julius would have failed to clear the rift, he did not think would have been able to take out so many goblins with such casual ease. It was proof that he was getting stronger. Strong enough that Tier 2 opponents were nothing more than targets to shoot at. But was he getting stronger fast enough, that was the question.

There was a part of him that wanted to go right into the middle of the goblins and use his hands to beat them up. Unfortunately, Julius didn\'t think that Declan would approve of such a needless risk. As such, Julius had to keep on reminding himself that today was about convincing Declan to let him delve alone.

Not long after, Julius spotted another patrol of goblins. This time it was a large group of a dozen goblins. There was also a goblin who stood out from the others at the helm of the pack. This goblin was taller, broader, and had nice equipment on him. His spear actually seemed sharp and he had some metal armor pieces protecting his vitals.

He wondered if this was some sort of theme to monster species or rifts. Was there always some sort of hierarchy where there were the grunts, then there were the pack leaders, and then there were the big bosses?

He didn\'t take too much time to think about it any further. He created another four needles of razor-sharp mana. He already had eight by his side from his previous attacks that he was reusing, so he only needed several more. After he was done creating them, he sent them whistling at the pack, carefully controlling them, and speared the goblins right through their skulls.

They didn\'t stand a chance and neither did their pack leader. A soft slick was all that was heard before the sound of their bodies hitting the ground came after. Even that was softened. Julius had siphoned some kinetic energy from their falling bodies to reduce the noise they made upon dropping to the ground. He was sure he could have made it almost inaudible if he was closer, but at this distance, it was already admirable that he could even have the effect.

The worst part about hunting monsters was undoubtedly the removal of the cores. It was a gory and smelled like shit. It didn\'t help that he didn\'t really need these cores and was only removing them because of Declan and because he thought it was a good habit to get used to.

He tried his best to avoid using his bare hands to retrieve the cores but it was inevitable that he would need to get his hands dirty. He ended up using way too much fire mana to burn away any goblin remnants he had on his body. Previously, when he had read about adventurers having designated skills for monster core and material retrieval he thought it was an absolute waste of a precious skill slot. He had even inwardly insulted the people who had chosen to acquire such skills.

However, he would like to take the time to apologize to all those people. He now understood why many adventures chose to have a looting skill of some kind. He was seriously considering how beneficial a skill like that would be or at least having someone around with such a skill.

Julius and Declan eventually ran across several other large groups the further they went into the forest. Julius dealt with all of them with casual ease. The goblins were only Tier 2 and weren\'t even able to activate the limited amount of skills they had. Perhaps if they had more time to prepare they would put up more of a fight, but at the moment they weren\'t even able to retaliate.

The most challenging part was just creating the needles of mana. They were constructed of several skills and required a good amount of concentration. Not as much as they might have a few days ago, but still enough to force Julius not to lose focus.

Several hours passed by without any big occurrences. Most of the time was spent as the two of them walked around the forest, searching for goblins to hunt down. Well, at least Julius was. Declan was more of a passive observer and was following Julius around.

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Declan hadn\'t even talked that much, he said that he wanted Julius to pretend that he wasn\'t even there. It wasn\'t until it was getting pretty late that Declan finally spoke to Julius.

"Maybe one more group and then we should pack it up for the day. How does that sound?" Declan asked Julius.

Julius didn\'t turn back to look at Declan who was walking behind him, but he still shrugged and said, "Yeah, that sounds good to me."

Julius was fine with that result. He was getting a bit bored by now and he felt like he had succeeded in the original goal of this outing. He could tell after the first group that Declan wasn\'t as worried about him delving as he initially had been.

"Is this how it usually goes? Delving that is?" Julius asked Declan after a few moments.

"Yes and no. Most of the time when someone explores a new rift the main objective is to map it out and get as much information as possible. There are actually specific roles within the Adventurer\'s Guild and other groups that specialize in that sort of thing. It is important to know that just because the rift is one way today, doesn\'t mean it will stay that way tomorrow, rifts are dangerous because of how unpredictable they are," Declan explained.

"So what about the groups who regularly delve this rift?" Julius questioned him.

Declan stretched his arms and let out a big yawn. "If a group is familiar with the rift then they would be able to head directly into the area where they know the most goblins like to congregate. Since rift environments like to change, the boss area isn\'t always predicted but there are consistent signs that experienced delvers know to look out for. For example, the large groups always signify that the base camp is somewhere pretty close."

Julius finally turned back to Declan. "Will we come back to this rift anytime soon? Do you think I should?" He was curious as to Declan\'s answer. He eventually wanted to delve on his own, but he wanted Declan\'s opinion. Someone with as much experience as Declan would have invaluable advice.

Declan took the time to think about that. He was scratching his head in thought. "Truthfully, no I don\'t think either of us will be returning to this rift. It has become quite clear that this has not been even remotely dangerous or challenging to you. This was the easiest rift on this list and with your perception skill the dense environment isn\'t dangerous to you. I wanted to take you here because I wanted to get your toes wet more than anything else. Three other Tier 2 rifts on the list will suit your needs much better. I am thinking we go to one of the other rifts next week to see how you do there."

Julius nodded his head in understanding. "And after that? Will I be able to delve by myself?"

Declan shook his head. "If you do well I will allow you to delve into Tier 2 rifts by yourself, but Tier 3 is a big jump and I want to see how you do in one while I am there with you. If you can prove that you handle a Tier 3 with me by your side and I don\'t have to offer any assistance then yes."

Julius was a little tempted to just come out and tell Declan that he has already cleared a Tier 3 rift as a Tier 1. He just really wanted to go delving on his own without a babysitter. If Julius thought that might have persuaded him by mentioning that then he would have. But he genuinely believed that Declan would just be even less willing to let him once he squeezed out all of the details from Julius.

Julius came across one last small group of goblins on their way back to the rift entrance. He quickly despatched them with precision and collected their cores with a practiced ease. It was funny how good he got at removing goblin cores after the first couple of dozen attempts.

After that, he and Declan went straight back. Julius had been careful to remember where the entrance was. He used the sun in the sky to direct himself and had placed regular markings on trees they had passed to know when he was on the right path.

Speaking of the sun, he was still curious about the nature of it. Was it real or was it some artificial version created by mana? Luckily he had someone who might know right next to him. "Hey, Declan."

The man turned to face Julius. "Hm?"

"Are suns in rifts real? And if not what are they?" Julius asked curiously.

Declan smiled at him for the first time since they entered the rift. "That\'s a good question. Nobody really knows. It acts and behaves much like our sun but there is no way to find out. There is a spatial barrier of some sort that encapsulates a rift, past a certain point no matter how far you travel, the objects in the distance won\'t get any closer."

"What so if I were to fly all the way into the sky and at the sun, I would never be able to reach it no matter how fast or long I go?" Julius asked a little confused.

"Nope, some famous Tier 6 scholar tried hundreds of years ago but reported that no matter what he did, he wasn\'t able to reach past a certain point," Declan explained to him.

That was interesting. Did that have any relation to the spatial barrier that Jasper had talked about with him? Is that how worlds are isolated from each other? That would be something Julius would be interested in finding out the answers to.

After they reached the portal it was pretty uneventful. There were some other guards on duty but they must\'ve been told about their circumstances because nobody bothered them and they were able to leave easily. His "first" rift delve was wrapped up with no issues. It was both good and a little disappointing. He felt like he had proven himself to Declan but he also would have enjoyed a little more excitement.

It was only around mid-afternoon, but Declan still wanted Julius to show him the store where he had bought the mask. Funnily enough, the mask was so comfortable that Julius had forgotten that he was even wearing the thing.

The little town was much busier than it had been in the morning. Many people were out either shopping, eating, or just socializing with each other. It was quite lively and Julius enjoyed the atmosphere. He might have even enjoyed it more than the plazas in Heston.

Julius had Declan follow him as he retraced his steps back to the quaint little shop where he had bought all the clothes and the black mask. With a soft tingle, the bell of the door rang when they entered and the same younger woman he had seen earlier came out to greet them. She was a cute woman with black hair and soft features. She seemed to recognize Julius from earlier and smiled at him as she approached the two of them.