Path to Transcendence

Chapter 679: No Faith

Cassandra POVShe wished she could say she was surprised by what she spotted Julius attempting. She really did. But alas, despite the absurd nature of what he was doing, she found herself amused, rather than shocked.

Although she was the only one who looked at it this way. Koenn and Avis were staring at Julius, both perplexed and vaguely impressed.

“This was the person I was worried about being a traitor?” Avis asked, almost as if disgusted with herself for even thinking that was a possibility.

“I know, do you still believe the same thing?” Cassandra asked with a flat expression.

All of them were watching Julius roam around the forest and kidnap various monsters, before forcibly shoving food down their mouths.

So far, this has had limited success, but the young boy was undeterred. He quickly found another wonderful test subject and mercilessly chased down the wolf. His kinetic energy clamped down on the wolf with the force and oppressiveness no Tier 4 should be able to wield. Then pried its decaying jaws open and started to ram fistfuls of food down its gullet.

If Julius had a plan, she had no clue what it was. But she found herself even more fascinated when she spotted Julius’s special blanket lying on top of the frozen wolf. The poor thing was frozen in fear or was just so full of food that it couldn’t move. He stuffed it until it admitted defeat.

She couldn’t say she had ever seen such a strategy to handle wild monsters in her life. But despite how crazy it sounded, it appeared to be working in some capacity.

After the wolf calmed down, Julius bent down and gently caressed the wolf with his hands. It wasn’t even able to snap at him if it wanted to. It was forced to stay there, immobilized until Julius released it.

However, unlike the previous wolves, this one was already reacting differently. The unnatural aggression and hatred in its eyes slowly faded as he continued to pet it. While definitely still a feral animal and not that intelligent, it seemed to understand that Julius wasn’t going to hurt it, at least not yet.

Julius, on the other hand, was whispering some words into its ear and was calmly stroking its back. He didn’t seem to care about the blood or anything. Actually, she could sense him sending small bits of life mana into the wolf, healing its wounds slowly.

Then, after a few minutes of this, Julius reached behind him and grabbed a large fruit, offering it to the wolf instead of force-feeding it. He even let go of his kinetic energy, no longer holding it down like before.

From the way it looked up at him, it was clear it was nervous and scared of what would happen to it. But Julius remained patient, and while it took almost ten minutes, the wolf finally made a move toward the offered fruit. It ate it in one bite, but after it was done, he could see the wolf salivating for more. The blanket must have already been doing its job.

The damn thing had to be a cursed item of some kind. There was no way it was that good without any downsides. She was even tempted to beat him up and take it from him after she used it for the first time. Unfortunately, the item was soul-bound, and there was no way for her to ever get her hands on it.

Such a shame.

“Is it actually working?” Avis asked, leaning forward in disbelief.

“What is he trying to do?” Huan asked with a frown.

“I think he’s trying to get a new Concept,” Koenn said and shook his head. Cassandra spotted the slightest hint of a grin on the man’s face.

“What kind of Concept? A Concept of Stuffing? A Concept of Animal Cruelty?” Avis muttered, then trailed off as they watched the wolf become completely calm. There wasn’t an ounce of aggression in its aura, nor was it scared of Julius. In fact, almost all of its attention was focused on the food Julius was feeding it.

It was like a kid discovering candy for the first time; it just wanted to keep eating, even though it was already stuffed. Perhaps the healing had made it hungry again. For all she knew, this was Julius’s idea in the first place.

But she, too, was curious what kind of Concept he was going for. Even though she could see everything he was doing, she had no idea what to expect.

“Does he even know that he hasn’t even reached the place where Concept enlightenment becomes easier?” Avis asked.

“I don’t think he particularly cares,” Huan noted.

Even after a whole hour of him snacking with the wolf, nothing happened. He simply stayed there, ignoring the place he needed to get to by the time the realm closed and forced him out. But she did notice the large smile on the young boy’s face. It was a smile full of peace and warmth. The same feeling of peace faintly emanated from his aura.

He was testing it, changing how it felt and its properties. A very difficult task for an aura that destructive, but somehow it was working. She didn't know how, but it was.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She laughed softly to herself.

She had no faith that this would work, but he’d proven that weirder things could happen at any moment, so she kept her expectations open.

***

Julius POV

He was so close, he could smell it. Or maybe that was just the smell of the wolf he had eating out of his palm?

Either way, he released a deep breath and allowed his [Calm Before Ruin] skill to help him keep his mind clear. It was a little challenging. The skill itself was powerful, no doubt about it. The ruinous part was extremely domineering, but there was something beneath the surface.

He noticed it the moment he gained the skill. There was a calmness and warmth that he believed he could tap into. That he could use to help find that balance within himself.

It took some modification to his other skills and deep meditation. He didn’t know how long he'd stayed there, but he eventually found that small crevice where it was tucked away, and man, was it breathtaking.

Even more amazing was that he didn’t even have to do anything. His soul opened up all on its own and sucked in this peaceful aura. It was like a dry desert finally getting rainfall after a long drought.

An indescribable sense of calm washed over him; it almost felt unnatural. But instead of pushing it away, he embraced it and began reinforcing his aura with it.

That was when things got even more challenging. The ruinous aura and this new sensation didn’t go together. They were polar opposites. One was driven by destruction and ruin, while the other was fueled by peace and tranquility.

Still, he compressed them, shoving them into the same vessel as if trying to fit as many snacks as possible into the same bag. The destructive aura fought back, and it fought back hard. But he wasn’t going to give it any other choice.

It was his aura that was the first to falter, and before it could fight back, he slammed all of his will into it while reinforcing this new, and more peaceful piece of his soul.

After he did this, his idea was simple. To shift the feeling of his aura completely.

Instead of the destructive and oppressive feeling it usually gave off, he wanted to take this new aspect and incorporate it. He didn’t want to totally get rid of the ruinous aura; that wasn’t his plan at all.

He simply wanted to establish a balance, one where his ruinous aura wasn’t only forced to destroy. During times when the opposite was needed, he wasn’t left with nothing.

That was easier said than done, and he needed something to test it on. To see how it interacted with something that wasn't him. Fortunately, he had a bunch of angry and vicious monsters to help him. The first several wolves he tried this new method with didn’t appreciate his efforts, but he didn’t give up. He needed to find a way to slip his aura into them without them having their guard up.

He needed to somehow pacify them long enough that he could infuse them with his aura unchallenged. Which wasn't something easy, especially considering how feral they were.

Then he thought about his new blanket and realized that everything, humans or monsters, did one thing. They ate.

Seeing that he didn’t have anything to lose, that’s exactly what he tried. And it might have been against their wishes in the beginning, but they eventually couldn’t resist the delectable allure of a fresh piece of fruit or a warm cookie.

The entire time he was doing this, he was channeling as much positive energy and thoughts into a wolf, carefully analyzing everything he could.

He was trying to get a new Concept, but he was quickly realizing that it wasn’t as easy as he had hoped it would be. Additionally, with each new one he got, it became harder for him to get another. Especially if they were very different.

He was still feeding the wolf, keeping it calm so it would accept his aura. But he knew that he wasn’t going to make any more progress at this point. He was close and had gotten some valuable information about how it affected other creatures, but he needed to do something else. Something that was more personal to him.

He also didn’t have the time to mess around anymore. He could feel the pressure at the back of his head getting stronger. Whatever was pushing him in this direction was becoming increasingly persistent. He knew he wouldn’t have much time left and needed to get there before it was too late.

And so he dusted his pants off, gave the wolf one last piece of fruit, and headed off toward his target. Giving one last wave toward his feral little helper.

***

Since he wasn’t messing around, he was able to get to his intended location really quickly. When he arrived, he noticed a weird opaque border surrounding a large opening. He carefully inspected the barrier, and after a few moments, he pushed his hand through it.

Feeling it was safe, he walked through and, to his surprise, was greeted by many other people. He hadn’t seen anyone on his way here, but there were plenty of people gathered in this clearing. There weren't as many as there were in the courtyard before, but there were still probably around a couple of hundred of them here.

He wondered if that first section was just the first trial or test they had to pass. His disguise was still on, so nobody recognized him, but he spotted a few recognizable faces. One of them was Maya, and it would appear that his disguise didn’t work as well as he thought, because she immediately looked over in his direction.

At first, he thought it was just because he was a new arrival, but once she started to make her way through the crowd toward his direction, he knew that she somehow it was him.

He looked for a place to retreat to, but he wasn’t able to get out of the barrier now that he’d entered. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to bother with that because he felt the space inside the barrier suddenly warp.

It was like the world was turned upside down, and he activated [Void Step] by pure instinct. He didn’t know if this was a good thing, though, because he found himself standing in the void, but unlike the usual void, there were a few things different.

For one, there was a gigantic red sun off in the distance. It was actually quite dim and looked almost dead. He would have thought it was dormant or asleep if not for the scorching heat rolling off it, even from all the way from here.

His skin felt like it was on fire. It took him too long to realize it was actually on fire. The heat was so intense that his flesh burst into flames.

His healing skill activated, doing its best to heal him, Drasil pitched in as well. But the heat was so intense that he might as well have been sitting directly in front of the sun. He immediately tried to cancel his skill, attempting to leave the void, but something stopped him.

It didn’t take him long to realize the sun in the distance was preventing him from leaving.

, he cursed to himself with a sigh.