Chapter 415: Expected Result

He dusted himself off with a click of his tongue. He should have expected that. The implosion was just like the last time he collapsed a spatial crack. Only this time, the damage was many times more violent.

Apparently, it was bad enough that Cain must have heard the noise and come to check. Julius sensed the man’s approach with his perception skill and then felt a gentle blanket of aura envelop the room. Upon entering, Cain saw that Julius was alright and looked at the exact location where the explosion had happened.

Julius noticed that Cain was wearing a set of pajamas and a soft pair of slippers. Despite the unthreatening clothing, the man still managed to look very intimidating.

Cain didn’t even bother to speak to Julius. The man simply looked back at Julius, who was covered in some blood but had already healed his injuries, and without a word, turned around and exited the room. It was like the man didn’t think Julius blowing himself up was a big deal and went back to bed.

Before Cain closed the door, Julius sensed a small barrier getting thrown up. At first, he believed it was some kind of barrier that would monitor Julius. However, upon closer inspection, he realized it was a barrier very similar to one Lily used to block out sound. The man hadn’t even bothered to create a barrier to protect Julius. He had just done it to prevent Julius from interrupting his sleep.

Julius decided to refocus his attention on the skill combination. Even though the outcome of the first attempt was definitely not a success. There was a lot he had learned off the bat.

For one, he couldn’t just flood the crack with the sharpened mana. He needed to be more gentle. That was the first priority. The second was that he required a lot more focus and willpower to keep the crack open.

Furthermore, the most important thing was that he wanted to prioritize the skills evolution path to a skill that could be used swiftly. The main issue with [Spatial Crack] was that it took a long time to activate. By the time he had created one, the enemy would have already attacked him or, at the very least, moved locations.

Thus, he wanted to see if it was possible to influence the skill in that direction somehow. He had learned that intent mattered a lot in acquiring skills.

Julius cracked his neck to the side and got back to work. He wanted to see if he could complete this task before morning. With the tournament coming up soon and not having a lot of time, he was going to break a few of the healthy habits he had created for himself.

He would lean on his healing skill to keep himself awake so that he could improve as much as possible in this short period. He also reminded himself that he should never tell his friends about this either. They would only get mad at him.

Of course, he would sleep from time to time, but he hoped only to need a couple of nights a week, maybe less if he pushed himself.

He removed Drasil from his soul space as well. The green glutton already knew what Julius had planned the moment he exited the space and looked at him with a disappointed frown.

“What? With your help, I am hoping that we can limit the soul stress this time around. Plus, I have never done it with [Phoenix Renewal] at my back,” he reasoned toward Drasil.

Drasil released a small whistle, arguing with him.

“Hey, if it can heal my soul damage, then it should help prevent the damage from getting too bad as long as we are careful.”

Another chirp from Drasil caused Julius to pick up the adorable spirit in his hands.

“I promise. The moment you say to sleep, I will go to sleep,” he swore to his demanding little spirit.

This luckily appeased Drasil enough that he accepted what Julius was doing, despite his reservations.

Now that it was settled, Julius had some work to do. He was also probably going to collapse a few more spatial distortions while he was at it.

***

He was awoken to the presence of someone walking into the room. To his surprise, it wasn’t Cain like he assumed it was. Instead, it was Freya. The woman had clearly woken up recently herself and was wearing a matching set of pajamas that Julius had spotted Cain wearing the night before.

He had probably only gotten an hour of sleep, but he believed that it was enough. After a quick little zing from his healing skill, his tiredness washed away. He made sure to keep it as gentle as possible. His training with Freya had helped him realize that his life mana was so much more efficient when he took his time.

The amount of life mana he expended was almost cut in half. Part of it was that he had a knack for mana manipulation, but he was also able to be a little more mindful now.

“Good morning,” Freya called out to him.

He realized that she hadn’t come into the room empty-handed. She had come bearing a gift, one that smelled absolutely delicious. The scent from the tray she had set down on the table was already wafting toward him.

The savory smell of grilled meat danced in harmony with the scent of freshly baked bread, creating a wonderful combination that had him salivating.

He got up right away. “Mornin’,” he called back to her with a grin. “You didn’t have to bring me breakfast,” he said gratefully.

She waved him off. “I didn’t make it. I just asked the chefs for an extra portion,” she told him as she nibbled on some of the food.

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“I appreciate it anyway,” he told her as he used a bit of kinetic energy to dash toward the food. Something that Cain had told him to do last night was to try to use kinetic energy for all of his movements throughout the day.

Even walking, he wanted Julius to control his body like a marionette. This almost ended up ruining everything, because he nearly overshot his dash and slammed into the food. Thankfully, Freya had sensed his movement immediately and covered the food in a protective layer of mana.

Once he was at the platter of food, he leaned forward to take in the smells. The platter was huge and had everything one would ever want for breakfast. There were several kinds of cured meats grilled to perfection.

Several different varieties of pastries looked so flaky that they would fall apart just from picking them up. There was also a smattering of eggs, potatoes, and other dishes lined up.

He didn’t know where to start, so he grabbed a tasty-looking pastry and took a big bite.

“What were you doing all last night anyway? Trying to get a new concept or skill?” She asked.

He wiped the crumbs from his mouth and held in a groan as the layers melted on his tongue and he was hit with the richness of butter and the silkiness of whatever filling was inside.

“Sorry, what did you say?” He asked her, not having heard what she had said, because he was busy having a life-changing moment.