Chapter 120: Severing Will

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Julius had a proclivity for explosions. Whatever may happen, you could count on Julius to find a way to blow something up.

The whole explosion thing happened entirely by accident. But he was proud to say it was a happy accident. The explosion was way more effective than he could have possibly hoped for. It was like a hand grenade but all of the fragments cut through the stone of the golem with ease.

There was no fire, blast of air, or big boom. But the damage was undeniable. The sharpened mana that the barrier was made up of was a potent weapon regardless of the form it took.

Therefore, Julius forgot about the rest of the pebbles in his hands for now. He quickly dropped them back to the ground and focused on the pebbles that were already lodged inside the golem’s body. He tried to control the barrier of a pebble that had found its way inside one of the golem’s arms.

While he was doing that the golem wasn’t just standing by and letting Julius attack it. The big chunk of rock was continuously staggering toward him while throwing beams of mana and big stones at him. Some did get pretty close, but Julius was able to avoid any real damage so far.

He did spot Declan off to the side who was looking on with a very excited expression. The man had a big grin on his face that didn’t seem close to coming off of his face. Julius felt like he was some entertainment match in the gladiator days in ancient Rome and Declan was like the spectators who happily watched.

Julius didn’t know if Declan was more amused to see Julius trying to take down a golem with only small pebbles or if he was more amused to see that the skill was showing some use already.

The first explosion had been an accident and he didn’t know exactly how to recreate it. However, he had plenty of time to experiment with different methods.

It took longer than he had expected, but he finally managed to recreate the explosion after ruining over a dozen barrier-covered pebbles. Sometimes instead of an explosion, he ended up with an ineffective barrier that just dissipated like steam. Other times he ended up with a barrier that shattered like glass.

The trick was to simultaneously hold together the barrier with his will for as long as he could, while also adding more sharpened mana to the pebble. Then once it was about to blow, he just needed to concentrate on making sure the sharpened mana was as explosive as he could possibly manage, shredding everything in its path.

The first purposeful explosion of the [Barrier of Severance] was much more effective than the last one. Instead of taking out a small chunk of stone, Julius managed to tear out almost the thing’s entire limb.

He got a notification for his troubles.

[Barrier of Severance lvl 1 -> lvl 3]

Not only that but he managed to feel something. It was different from his usual mana manipulations. This was something different. It was more ethereal. More like catching a whiff of something in the air but not quite putting a finger on it.

He swiftly paused from what he was doing and sat down to meditate. He tried to chase down what he had perceived and see if he could grab ahold of it in order to decipher its purpose.

It took some fumbling around in the dark, but he thought he felt something.

This might be it, Julius thought excitedly.

Away from Julius’s daydreaming, the golem didn’t seem to understand that Julius was no longer interested in it and continued its assault on him. Julius looked on as the big lump of rock ran at him. He took a brief second away from his focus, concentrated on the pebbles that were nearest to the golem’s core, and ignited them. Using them as mediums to send rippling explosions of sharp mana. The golem was torn apart and destroyed within the blink of an eye.

Don’t interrupt me. I’m busy, Julius said, a little annoyed at the disruption, and gave one last glance at the now falling mundane mound of rock.

After that was taken care of, he got back to his revelation. He was deep in concentration, using an empowered [Savage Dance] to get deeper and deeper. Until all that was before him was sharpness.

What is sharpness?

No, that’s not quite it. What is sharpness to me? What do I want out of it? Julius thought to himself.

He had been going on about sharpness from the wrong angle. He had been so focused on the logical side of things and the science behind sharpness that he could remember from his old world that he had forgotten that he was in a world of magic.

Science didn’t hold as much importance as it did back in his old world. The most important part he realized the longer he lived here, was that intent often mattered more than simple science. One’s emotions, hopes, dreams, and intent play a significant factor in magic.

Learning a Concept didn’t just revolve around how sharpness worked.

Sure, knowing about cells getting cut apart and scientific principles of sharpness was good to know. But what he really needed to do was to realize what he wanted to use the Concept for. What was the purpose of learning the Concept and what was his intent in acquiring it?

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Once he understood that difference. It all became crystal clear.

That was all he needed, it felt so simple. After hours on hours of constant meditation, it all seemed so easy. He felt the world spin around him and then stop, before flooding him with energy and power he hadn’t quite felt before. He felt connected to a deeper plane and realization than ever before.

He wanted sharpness to cut through all of his enemies who would dare to harm him or the ones he cared about. He wanted sharpness to tear through the chains that would attempt to bind him and restrict his freedom. He wanted sharpness to sever the binds of his mortality.

Congratulations. You have acquired the Concept of Sharpness: Severing Will.