Chapter 43: Sharing Information

Julius found Declan and Orus exactly where he left them. They were both sitting down on a bench watching Julius approach. Orus was looking at Julius with a large grin spread across his face while Declan was more reserved, a neutral expression on his face.

“Okay, I am all cleaned up now. What now?” Julius asked once he got within earshot of the other two.

Julius observed as Declan glanced at Orus before talking, “I want to talk about some personal things. But if you are not comfortable talking around Orus, he will understand and give us some space.”

Julius must’ve had a confused expression plastered over his face because Declan continued explaining. “I want to talk about some of your skills and it might digress into some of the things that we talked about earlier. I won’t share them with Orus, but I do think that he is very trustworthy, I am preparing him to take over as Vice-Captain once I vacate the position. He also knows more than most about kinetic affinities, he is from the Valsi Region and they have more experience than anyone with the northern warrior clans. He might have some useful insights.”

Julius thought about what Declan said. Truthfully, as long as he didn’t mention some of the more secretive stuff like the details regarding his house, he didn’t mind Orus participating in the conversation. He didn’t necessarily think his skills needed to be kept absolutely secret, he needed to learn about too many things to expect total secrecy. He would need to share some details about his skills if he wanted to know how to progress them.

Also, he knew that Orus went to Western Hills Academy, which now that he remembered, was near the Valsi Region and quite a renowned academy in the northwestern part of the Empire where many of its students were front liners and close combat fighters. The northern warrior clans were the same people Julius remembered Edwin discussing with him a while ago. He said that they were a brutal warrior culture that had many warriors with kinetic affinities.

He agreed with Declan that Orus might be able to give Julius some pointers about how these warriors use kinetic energy that he might not have thought of. It just came down to how much he wanted to share, even with Declan, as much as Julius was finding himself respecting and liking the man.

“I’m okay with Orus knowing some of my skills. I believe in your judgment and aura sense. I would just prefer if some of the more secretive things could be kept just between us,” Julius told Declan.

“Not a problem, Orus won’t press for anything you don’t feel comfortable talking about, he’s sometimes too timid for his own good,” Declan responded. Orus was nodding his head in agreement before hearing that last statement and stopped before looking at Declan, offended.

Julius smiled at that, before looking toward Declan with expectation, wanting to hear what he had to say.

“Okay, the good news is that I do not think you will have any problems getting into Goldencrest,” Declan told him.

It was nice to hear it confirmed but not that surprising. “And the bad news?” Julius asked.

“You might draw some unwanted attention along the way,” Declan said.

Just as Julius expected. “What sort of attention?”

Declan paused and scratched his head, “Are you aware how much kinetic energy you were using throughout your body during our spar?”

“Too much?” Julius asked.

“Way too much for anyone below Tier 2. Anyone at Tier 3 or with good perception will immediately see the ridiculous amounts of energy you are using at Tier 1, this will lead them to assume you have some sort of bloodline ability, like Orus here, or think you are purposefully hiding your Tier with some sort of expensive device.” Declan explained.

Julius hadn’t thought about that, and he also hadn’t heard of bloodline abilities before. “Bloodline ability?” He asked.

Orus was the one who answered. “Bloodline abilities are traits that are passed down from generation to generation, originating from a powerful ancestor. For example, the current Imperial Family has a unique bloodline ability that allows them to harness large amounts of light to increase their strength far beyond what their tier is. It is a trait that has been passed down for many generations.”

“So if people see me using kinetic energy like that they might assume I have some sort of bloodline and come from a prestigious lineage,” Julius stated.

Declan nodded, “Yes, they might think you have some sort of body-enhancing bloodline that allows your body to handle more energy than normal. There are a few bloodlines like that out there in the Empire but I am more worried that it will just draw unwanted attention to you.”

Julius thought that bloodline abilities sounded unfair. So if a child came from a family with a powerful ancestor thousands of years ago they could inherit a bloodline ability and will have a massive advantage over others.

Not that he could say anything about unfair advantages, but he could at least complain on behalf of the common people. That sounded rigged.

“So how much kinetic energy could I use and still stay under the radar?” Julius asked.

“Radar?” Declan asked confusingly.

“Sorry, I meant to say how much should I use to avoid that kind of attention,” Julius said forgetting that common Earth sayings didn’t make sense here.

“Around half of what you were pulling. You should still be able to pass the entrance exam but it won’t be as guaranteed. But there was another thing I wanted to ask you. Do you have other affinities?” Declan asked Julius.

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