Chapter 253: Prepping the Bait

The next couple of weeks were spent preparing for his mission as bait.

When he wasn’t practicing his new skill, he was training his aura control, which had become exponentially harder to tame after his new enhancement skill, especially when it was active.

He had gotten pretty comfortable with keeping his aura under wraps when he wasn’t using the skill actively, but once it was turned up, it became a whole other issue.

The first time, he really pumped his skill was during a spar with Richard. The resulting aura blast, shellshocked Reinera from where she was training with Rebecca. It was quite a debilitating effect, especially on those Tier 3 and lower.

But that was also a good thing. It gave him a very powerful weapon to use against his future opponents. All it required was for him to learn how to properly control it.

With that being said, he found his new epic skill to be absolutely delightful. Other than the destructive and ruinous aura, the skill was better than he could have imagined.

It took the best parts of [Kinetic Augmentation] and [Scorching Empowerment] in order to create a powerful skill. Fire and kinetic energy surged through his body enhancing beyond anything he had ever experienced.

It was actually so strong, that he still hadn’t been able to use it at full power. The one time he had tried, he almost tore his entire body and soul into two.

However, that wasn’t something he was worried about. The amount his body and soul could handle was plenty at the moment.

He estimated that his physical strength when the skill was active rivaled Dustin’s and Edgar’s strength. Which said a lot.

Richard and Rebecca were especially impressed with the power of his skill.

Since the man sparred with Julius almost every day, he saw firsthand how much of a difference [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] made on his abilities.

What had once been one of his weakest aspects, had now become one of the most powerful.

In fact, it actually made him feel like his long-range attacks had fallen behind now.

Despite, the sometimes negative nature of his aura because of his skill, he was glad for the evolution. There was so much potential within the skill and it was only just at the beginning of epic. Imagine what it could become later down the road.

Furthermore, the ruinous aura was not only successful as a debilitating effect, but it actually worked better when he made contact with his foe.

The few times he managed to land a strike on Richard, he found that the ruinous aura would seep through the blow and into the older man.

It didn’t matter what kind of aura defenses the man created, the ruinous aura was able to break down the man’s aura and in some applications, his mana.

Richard had a similar skill that allowed him to burn his opponent’s mana and stamina. Two very important resources during a fight. But Julius found himself with a very similar ability. When he focused on it, he could direct his aura through Richard’s body and effectively destroy his aura and mana.

It wasn’t quite burning the mana like the man’s skill did. But it was more like violently exploding his aura and mana, which in his opinion was much worse.

Richard’s skill only targeted mana and stamina, but he seemed to target the aura itself. Which had some very painful effects.

On top of that, the explosion would also disrupt Richard’s usage of any of his abilities if the man wasn’t using his domain or authority. It didn’t matter what resource they drew on. The man was still skilled though, and so Julius wasn’t able to capitalize on the man’s distraction.

However, on a weaker opponent, one that wasn’t Tier 5, he suspected that he would be doing a lot of damage. He would have to be careful about using such abilities on people in the future. It was a vicious and destructive ability, one that put a lot of responsibility on him using it correctly.

***

He dodged Reinera’s staff that was swung at his head and sent an open-palmed strike at the girl’s chest. However, she slapped his hand away before he could make contact and jumped back with a use of [Quick Step].

She had gotten the skill recently because Rebecca had decided that evolving [Quick Step] would be the best option for Reinera to get [Blink] or some other teleportation skill instead of continuing to try their previous plan. It was similar to what Julius was going for, but just a slightly different direction.

And it had helped immensely in regards to her abilities in close combat.

Not to mention, that her staff was an amazing addition as well. The staff gave her the reach and offensive support she dearly needed.

Unfortunately for her, it still didn’t mean she was able to close the gaps between the two of them, much to her annoyance and to his amusement.

It became a little game for them to see how often she was able to land a strike on him. So far, her record was five strikes in a single day. Something she liked to point out whenever she could.

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At first, he had been nervous about sparring with his friend but finally agreed to it after much pestering. In the end, it was decided it would be good practice to see how well he was able to control his aura.

And it was a smart decision too. He found himself making more progress than ever before when he risked hurting his friend. He was now able to use the skill without accidentally attacking others with his aura.

As a matter of fact, he just got another notification for the skill.

[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 1 -> lvl 3]

[Sage of Savagery lvl 9 -> lvl 11]

During these past weeks, he also managed to level up [Sage of Savagery] twice because of the sheer amount of focus it took to control his aura. Without the skill, he doubted he would have made as much progress as he did.

Reinera noticed that he had gotten distracted and stopped her next attack midway through. “Another level?” She asked.

He nodded happily. “Yep.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “You know I have a perfect affinity for light and I still seem to level my skills slower than you do. I don’t know how you are able to constantly level up your skills with only high affinities.”

He cocked his head at her. “What do you mean by that?”