Chapter 167: Yeah, He’ll Be Fine

Time honestly flew by in the blink of an eye. He honestly expected since he wasn’t training like he had, that time would pass by very slowly.

He thought he would have been more bored and restless by now. However, in the weeks since he started wearing the suppression device he had enjoyed his little break.

Additionally, it wasn’t like he had completely forgotten training. While he hadn’t gained any skill levels in this period of time, he did improve on many things unrelated to pure numbers and levels. For one, his control of mana had improved by leaps and bounds.

Who would have thought that handicapping his mana capacity and control would help him this much?

Even his kinetic energy made some nice improvements during this time. His performance in Applied Combat certainly showed his new proficiency with the affinity. He wasn’t at least struggling as much as he had been. Which was simultaneously encouraging and disappointing.

Alice was fine with him training at this level as well. She actually actively supported him when he told her about his activities. She said that it was a good thing as long as he didn’t train like he had been or gain any skill levels. The device would suppress any skill gains within reason, but if he pushed it, he would still gain more levels. She also ensured that he got proper rest.

Speaking of her. Julius made sure to get frequent check-ups with her. She would monitor his health and he would in return show her how he got his perception skill.

It was quite amusing to see her reaction when he explained how he got the skill. She was baffled that such a method worked for him. She couldn’t even begin to comprehend why a child who could barely talk would willingly blindfold himself for most of his childhood.

In the end, she swallowed her pride and asked him to show her the exercises he had done to accomplish it.

They spent hours as Julius had Alice jam pieces of clay into her orifices and cover her eyes. It was hilarious to see and he did his best not to make fun of the woman considering that he had done the same thing years earlier. He could start to see why people thought he was “special” when he was younger.

Eventually, they had to ask Dante to create something with a little more soundproofing. The natural sense of smell and hearing of a Tier 6 wasn’t something to underestimate.

She could still hear and smell pretty well through the clay, despite her best efforts. She attempted to dampen her own senses with her domain but apparently keeping the domain active ensured that she was always somewhat aware of her surroundings. Julius didn’t know how that quite worked, but instead of that Dante created a helmet that prevented any sensation from reaching the woman.

After she had that, everything went a lot smoother. Julius had her start with simple exercises while she wore the helmet and they slowly progressed to him throwing things at her.

Dante found it especially amusing when small pebbles smacked into her chest and face. The old man even begged Julius to allow him to try along with him. Alice, unsurprisingly adamantly refused his request. Much to Dante’s disappointment.

She also gave Julius more of the soul-healing concoction. The first time he drank it, he almost died from shock. What Alice had not told him, was that the concoction quite literally packed a punch. It felt like he hooked up his tongue to a car battery and got electrocuted by it.

This version she said was a newer version that her friend had made after Alice had gone to her immediately after giving Julius the first bottle. This new one was much better. It still didn’t taste very good, but at least it didn’t almost kill him when he drank it, which was a huge improvement.

He only looked forward to Drasil’s healing essence. His trusty little healer familiar was working himself to the bone. Drasil spent every possible minute either giving Julius more essence or cultivating more to heal Julius with.

Julius would make sure that the little guy was well rewarded after this. The little glutton deserved it. He just didn’t know what he would get him yet. Perhaps another treasure would be a good idea. Though, he wasn’t sure he would be able to afford something that nice yet.

He did have some leftover cores from the Tier 3 but he didn’t know how much he would get for him. He would have to do some brainstorming.

On another note, during these past couple of weeks, Julius also had to find some sort of activity to fill his time.

That inevitably led him to hang out with the others much more often. Which he had to admit, was very nice. It almost made him feel bad for not hanging out with them more often.

Most of the time it was him, Lily, and Aubrey. The guys were constantly busy with something but would frequently tag along with them, depending on what the activity was.

For example, Aubrey and Kyle had introduced him to shopping at second-hand stores and he learned that Kyle would always try to come along whenever he could, always on the hunt for something interesting.

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The items sold at these shops were simple items, one of his favorite items he found was a crystal decoration that activated whenever moonlight hit it. He had placed it in the window of his room and loved how it emitted a soft, comforting aura throughout the night.

He knew that Henry also loved the item as well. The other boy had tried to ignore it, but Julius had caught his smiling at the crystal in the window more than once.

The best part? It cost less than two silvers.

He also picked up other hobbies. The most recent one was gardening. Aubrey and Lily didn’t enjoy it, but surprisingly Edgar joined him. The big fourth-year had a green thumb and helped Julius set up a small patch for their own projects.

The gardens at Goldencrest didn’t have any owners or really any rules, so it should be fine that they were doing it. Edgar didn’t seem worried either.

Edgar had his own selection of plants that he wanted to grow. While Julius chose some unique looking flowers and a couple of various plants that grew berries, the other boy chose to go with tubulars.

He planted at least a dozen varieties of potatoes and other closely related plants. Julius should have honestly expected something like that. Even though Edgar denied it, he knew that the older boy just wanted to try the various potatoes for himself.