Chapter 393: Hit Me

“Why?” Julius asked, remaining outwardly calm.

The man stood up from his chair and walked toward the other end of the pavilion. “Why do humans do anything?” The man mused before turning back toward Julius. “Curiosity.”

“About me?”

“About how far I could push you before you call it quits.”

Julius hid another frown when he heard that. If he understood the man correctly, then it meant that he had purposefully chosen to increase the difficulty just for his own amusement. While he knew that powerful people often thought like this, it didn’t mean he enjoyed it. Especially from someone he didn’t know.

As if he could understand Julius’s thoughts on that matter, the man nodded his head sympathetically. “I realize how mean it might come off as, but rest assured, you wouldn’t have actually died. I would have stopped things before it got to that point.”

Julius couldn’t help himself and gave a slight, skeptical glare toward the blonde man.

The man, seeing this, winced and conceded slightly. “Okay, perhaps it was a bit more dangerous than I anticipated, but I thought you had a decent chance of winning and didn’t want to take that opportunity away from you.”

Julius pinched his lips together but was self-aware enough to realize that it had been better that he hadn’t interfered. Julius had gained a lot from that fight. There were already so many things he wanted to do because of that.

“What about the tenth floor?” He eventually asked, pushing aside the fact that this man had almost killed him to sate his own curiosity. He could think about it later. If what he said was true, then Julius’s life wasn’t at as much risk as he assumed, which made things better. Sort of.

More importantly, at the moment, he wanted to know what was going to happen to him and whether he was going to continue his attempt.

“Oh, this is the tenth floor,” The man stated with a smile.

Julius tilted his head in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“The tenth test is just an interview with me. The previous floors tested all of the things I was looking for in a Tier 3,” the man explained, still wearing a grin.

However, before Julius could ask another question, the man continued talking.

“Well, technically, if someone had ever gotten to this point before, they would have met a copy of me I installed in the rift on the chance I was too busy to come back. However, nobody had gotten past the eighth floor after all these years. Even the kid who had made it to that point mostly got there because of luck. He wasn’t what I was looking for and would have never passed this final examination. I had almost forgotten this place existed. So imagine my surprise when I sensed a bunch of talented children coming through the gate.”

Julius watched the man’s face brighten in glee as he explained, but Julius still had some questions of his own.

“Who are you?” He asked, first and foremost. He wanted to know who this man was, the man who almost killed him. Which he believed was a reasonable request.

“Oh, sorry about that. My name is Doren, and I am a researcher!” Doren exclaimed proudly.

Julius gave him a look that communicated his doubt. “Sure… a researcher.”

“What?” The man sounded genuinely confused.

“I don’t think I have met a researcher who is as strong as you,” he said, feeling like he could be honest now that he had been talking with the man for a little bit. From what he could discern, this powerful man didn’t seem to mind being talked to with casualness as long as it was respectful.

“On the contrary, it was my work as a researcher that helped me achieve my strength,” Doren stated matter-of-factly. “Plus, it can get boring without a hobby to fall back on. You should really consider one yourself, you’d be surprised at how much a hobby can round out your strengths.”

“I have hobbies,” Julius argued.

“What hobbies? Just so you know, risking your life to get a little bit stronger is not a hobby, it is just dangerous and can get boring after some time. Trust me.”

“I like reading and food,” Julius argued, suddenly feeling a little attacked and offended.

“Oh, those are good ones. But do you actually get to spend a lot of time doing those things? From what I have seen from you, you don’t particularly seem like the relaxing type,” the blonde man said in a knowing tone.

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Julius looked away guiltily. “I am trying to be better at it,” he admitted. What was with it, and people trying to get him to relax? It was because he relentlessly spent his time training that he managed to get this strong in the first place.

It wasn’t like he disagreed with them. There was a limit to how much effort alone would get him. He had already seen it in the slowing of his skill growth. It would only get harder from here on out.

Doren acknowledged him with a nod. “Well, you have to start somewhere.”

Julius pouted a little bit at the man’s tone but realized something. “Oh, how rude of me, I guess I haven’t introduced myself either.”

However, before he could continue, Doren interrupted him. “Don’t worry, I already know. It is nice to meet you, young Julius.”

“How do you know my name already?” Julius asked, a bit befuddled at how the man would have acquired that information.

“Oh, I overheard some of your discussion with Savath,” he said, placatingly placing his hands in the air when he saw Julius’s wariness.