Chapter 152: Tier 3 Rift with Declan

Julius slipped Edgar’s jab with a jerk of the head. Then he used [Quick Step] to dash closer and threw a left hook into Edgar’s gut, but the large boy dropped his right hand, blocking his strike easily.

He made sure to detonate whatever kinetic energy he was able to build up into Edgar’s arm. He already knew that it wouldn’t do any damage to the fourth year, still, he needed to force Edgar to use up as much mana as he could.

Something that Julius had learned throughout their many spars, was that Edgar used two different physical enhancement skills. One was for his fire affinity and the other was for his earth affinity.

It was a large reason why Edgar had some outstanding physical defense and offense for a Tier 3. Julius was pretty certain that both of the skills were epic ranked, however, that left one weakness in the skill’s function.

It used up a lot of mana.

Well… A lot of mana for a physical enhancement skill if he was being completely transparent. It still didn’t mean that he was in any real danger of running out of mana. Not unless he fought for an extended duration.

Which was exactly what Julius was planning. However, there was a problem with that as well. Edgar had the stamina of an ox. Without Julius’s healing skill recovering his fatigue, he would have been totally worn out.

At first, Julius didn’t want to use his healing skill at all when he sparred with Edgar, but Edgar made some really good points. For one, the more often he could heal his fatigue, the more often he would be able to fight and improve.

The other reason was that since Julius had already chosen to forgo using his mana constructs, he needed something to balance the scales. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a fight.

Still, he didn’t want to rely on it too much, hence he only used the healing skill whenever he absolutely needed it.

Additionally, it wasn’t just Julius who wasn’t wearing his bracelets. Edgar had also chosen not to wear them. He told Julius that it was good practice to fight without such limiters and aids. The others didn’t necessarily agree with him, but Julius did.

He also believed that was the main reason why Edgar was so different from the others. The way he fought was more brutalistic. He was strong, fast, perceptive, and had zero hesitation in his movements.

He could see why he was considered one of the strongest students at Goldencrest. Although Julius wasn’t using mana-based constructs, he didn’t have any illusion that he would win in a fight against Edgar even if he was.

If anything, the best shot he had of beating Edgar was like this. Fist against fist.

Edgar just had too many potent defensive skills that worked effectively against anything mana-based. That was mainly the reason why Julius had taken this opportunity to learn firsthand from one of the best hand-to-hand combat prodigies at Goldencrest.

Gabriel’s class only did so much. He learned techniques and striking forms, but it was only with Edgar that he was able to put them to the test.

Julius had recently been trying a new tactic against Edgar. This plan relied on using his smaller size and explosiveness, a benefit from his kinetic energy, to get in close and cause chaos.

He sent a surge of power through [Sage of Savagery] and felt his entire focus narrow down until it was just the two of them. His new epic skill was quite good in his personal opinion. It didn’t have the flashiness as [Armaments of the Arcane], but it was very effective.

Immediately, Edgar’s movements were noticeably slower than before. It was as if Julius’s perception of time was affected. A previously lightning-fast punch was now just merely fast.

Unfortunately, it seemed that it was no longer possible to enhance his concentration skill with [Empowerment of Will]. That was one downside of upgrading the skill to epic. Still, it wasn’t that big of a loss when compared to what he had gained.

Although he had to take a step or two backward, he also was able to progress by three or four steps. It was a net positive and it was also nice that he no longer needed to use so much mental focus on empowering [Savage Dance].

Another unexpected benefit of the skill was its ability to tame the chaotic style of Julius’s fighting. It was as if the skill had been made for it.

Edgar was still undoubtedly more skilled when it came to pure technical prowess. However, Julius was an unrelenting beast. He reveled in the chaos and it was like he was a fish in water. He blitzed Edgar with everything he had. Throwing in as many strikes and feints as he could safely manage, trying to overload Edgar’s ability to manage the flow of the fight.

And it was working. He felt like he was a Sage of Savagery. He didn’t care about taking a brutal strike to the stomach, not if he was able to land a single strike in return. He instinctually understood which attacks he could take and which ones he needed to avoid. He had a healing skill, and while he didn’t overuse it, he still made sure to use it effectively and during the right moments.

Unfortunately, Edgar was a fighter with unbelievable physical strength. Julius suspected that he was already well into the level of Tier 4 when it came to sheer physical abilities. Which made it very difficult for Julius to handle him, despite having a skill that helped slow his perception of time. While he knew what he had to do, his body simply wasn’t able to keep up with his mind. Likely an effect of having an epic-ranked concentration skill at Tier 2.

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Eventually, even with the untold aggression from Julius, Edgar was able to take advantage of his superior physicality and end the fight. He managed to wrap Julius up in a clinch and began to brutalize him with elbows and even a headbutt.

Julius tried his best to escape the hold, but Edgar was like a steel clamp. There was no escaping his grasp. Therefore, Julius made the best of it and began trading elbows and headbutts of his own.

He could confidently say that he came out worse of the exchange, but he was proud that he got Edgar with a few good shots in at the end.

The large boy was sporting several large bruises over his face as well. Granted, it took Julius practically fracturing his brain to do so, but he still considered it a win.