Chapter 105: It’s All Good

Julius took a deep breath and let out a small groan. That was a tough one.

[Arcane Construct lvl 17 -> lvl 18]

[Pure Compression lvl 17 -> lvl 18]

[Kinetic Augmentation lvl 15 -> lvl 16]

[Empowerment of Will lvl 11 -> lvl 12]

Four skills leveled up which was nice, but many of them had been on the cusp for a while. He was a bit disappointed that [Mana Slash] hadn’t gotten there yet. He really thought that this new way of using it would give it that extra lift.

Using [Mana Slash] with his constructs such as his defensive layers of mana was not as easy as using them for his spikes. The only way he found it could work, was if he made himself believe that the constructs were attacking the incoming attack. It appeared that the way he interpreted the construct played a role in how he could use the skill. He had to envision the [Mana Slash] tearing apart whatever was going up against him. In a way, it was more akin to an offensive weapon than a shield or barrier, but either way, it served its purpose well.

However, that led to another question. How far could he take that interpretation? Could he eventually believe something absurd such as imagining that the air was attacking him and then the skill would be able to activate all around his body, slicing through the air? He didn’t believe so, he believed that there were certain limits to what the skill could extend to, even with a creative mind.

Then again, using [Mana Slash] with his own body wasn’t a bad idea necessarily. He probably could create an edge of mana around his hand that could cut through something if he tried. But why would he when he could just create a strong construct around his hand and then use [Mana Slash] around that?

Anyway, the fight wasn’t as easy as onlookers might have perceived it. Julius was really pushing himself as he used his new technique for the first time in a fight. He was certain it would get easier with practice and time, but for now, he was happy with his results. However, he imagined that once he got a skill revolving around this new technique, it would become much simpler and more seamless. Right now, it was a cobbled-together mess and he had to rely on too many steps to achieve it.

The main thing that helped him use that many skills in conjunction was his use of [Empowerment of Will] with [Savage Dance]. He was only able to use it in small irregular spurts, but that alone had enabled him to have to mental capacity to handle that many steps and skills.

Although, it was very difficult to do anything other than that when he was using it. He couldn’t really use kinetic energy or other techniques because he was so focused on it. He was really enjoying [Mana Slash] though. It was a skill that was a very nice addition to his repertoire.

After he had launched that last barrage of explosive spikes at Aubrey, the fight was over. She hadn’t moved from the spot but her eyes were open at least. He walked over to her and sat down next to her.

To her credit, she had gotten much stronger. Every ability was stronger than the first day he fought her. Even her [Diamond Skin] skill was almost twice as hard to get through. He had to sacrifice his arm to deliver a strong enough payload.

Not to mention that her switching was so much faster and more fluid. Julius had been unable to touch her as she darted in and started to lay into him. Every time he thought he got her with a punch or kick, she would switch with one of her many clones. It was frustrating, to say the least. If he didn’t have [Spatial Perception] he would find it very difficult to even last a minute.

She had calmed down at least. He could already tell that she wasn’t as stressed out as before. He wasn’t surprised by her words earlier, it was consistent with what Julius had seen from her so far. She was a stubborn and rash person, but at the core, she was kind and caring. He could tell that she had wanted to apologize to him, but her stubbornness hadn’t allowed her to and she ended up challenging him to a fight instead.

Julius leaned over to the still-prone figure next to him and injected her with a small dose of life mana, healing her exhaustion and fatigue. He heard her sigh in relief and her breathing was more calm.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized to him out of the blue. “I’m such an idiot. I hope you don’t hate me.”

He laughed lightly, “Hate you? Never.”

“You sure? Because I certainly hate myself right now,” she said morosely.

He looked down at her and gently shook his head before lying down beside her. He looked up at the ceiling. “You know, you weren’t exactly wrong about me not sleeping. I know it was partly a joke, but I don’t sleep. I spend most of my nights training from dusk to dawn. You’ve seen my healing skill, I figured out a while ago that I don’t need sleep like normal people.”

He heard Aubrey’s clothes rustle as she slowly shifted her head to look at Julius, who was still looking up at the ceiling. He imagined she had a disbelieving look on her face. He still didn’t look at her but continued on talking. “I don’t have your or the other’s talents or affinities, so I have to take advantage of what I do have. And that is how much time I can use to train. Look at you, you most likely spent less than half of the amount of time that I did training your skills, but look at your improvements. They were as good or really close to as good as mine were.”

There was a brief pause before Aubrey finally decided to speak. “You don’t sleep at all? Not even a couple of hours?”

Julius shook his head. “No. Though I admit that I do miss it sometimes. I miss the feeling of relaxation and serenity from sleeping,” he confessed to her. And it was true. Just like the pleasures of eating food, he didn’t need to eat anymore either as long as he had life mana. Similarly, there was a certain pleasure in sleeping that he missed.

“Why don’t you then? Even if it’s just a few times a week?” She asked curiously.

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“I would be wasting too much time and chances to train. Time I can’t afford to lose,” he said solemnly.

“Why’s that? What’s pushing you to get stronger this fast? I don’t get it.”

Julius sighed softly. “A lot of reasons. Revenge, freedom, the thrill of getting better, you name it. There are many reasons for me to get stronger.”

She didn’t say anything after that. She stopped looking at him and was looking at the ceiling just like he was. Julius knew that she understood, after all, she was very similar, and she wanted to get stronger as well.

“How did you heal that fast?” She asked suddenly.

Julius just shrugged his shoulders. “I told you guys that I had a really good healing skill.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think you quite explained how freakishly fast you were able to heal yourself,” Aubrey commented.