Chapter 437: Kinetic Evolution

They had returned to the village after a long trek back. Emil already had plans to return to the bandits’ base tomorrow, but for the time being, they needed to organize some things. There were some very valuable things tucked away in that mountainside, and it would take time to recover all of it.

Julius wouldn’t be surprised if Emil repurposed the base for something else. There had to be a use for the already established base, and going off the advanced enchantments placed around the mountain, he assumed Emil would find a good use for it.

On the other hand, Julius let the others take care of the cleanup. He felt like he had done more than his fair share of work. Once he had regenerated more mana and healed the wounded, he relaxed.

As he relaxed, he finally took some time to review his skill options. There weren’t that many attractive choices to choose from. But that was to be expected from an uncommon skill. The more powerful skills would come once he evolved them to epic rank.

Skill [Kinetic Energy Control] is evolving… possible advancements: [Kinetic Energy Mastery], [Kinetic Force Adept], [Kinetic Energy Refinement], and [Kinetic Energy Amplification].

He had already discussed possible evolutions with Cain prior. The man had explained to Julius that it wasn’t a bad idea if he chose the general upgrade and waited until epic rank before deciding the path he wanted to go down.

Cain immediately admitted that he hadn’t done that when he was younger, but the man also didn’t have another affinity to specialize in. He had plenty of other skill slots for various kinetic skills, which gave him some flexibility to select niche skills.

From what he could tell. [Kinetic Energy Mastery] was the usual general upgrade, and it would give him the small boost he had become familiar with, only a smidgen more powerful. It wouldn’t be a bad skill to choose at all. He had many applications where that small boost made it very handy, especially with his limited skill slots.

[Kinetic Force Adept] was a bit of a surprising option to see. Adept made it seem like the next general skill would be something like “expert” or something similar. It also sounded more like a title than a genuine skill name. He hadn’t seen such a thing before, and it admittedly made him curious. A small piece of him wanted to choose it just for that reason, but refrained from doing so with a demonstration of immense willpower.

[Kinetic Energy Refinement] was next. It was a skill that seemed to enhance the quality of his kinetic energy. Truth be told, he had no idea how the skill would accomplish this. However, he was fairly certain that some students at the Shattered Winter School possessed a similar skill.

It had always felt like some of their kinetic energy had this sheen and quality that he wasn’t quite able to replicate, no matter how much he compressed it. This was a skill that intrigued him and would change his already powerful kinetic energy into a truly monstrous resource.

He had a feeling that this was close to the skill that Barath had that made the other kid’s kinetic energy feel the way it did.

The final skill was very similar to [Kinetic Energy Refinement]. [Kinetic Energy Amplification] sounded like the previous skill, only that it moved in a slightly different direction, instead of improving the sheer quality of kinetic energy. The skill seemed to increase the amount he could use at once.

A quality of its own in the right hands. However, it wasn’t like he was starving for more kinetic energy to use. He had more energy than most people, and definitely more than the other students his age. With that being said, he found himself wishing he could use more when fighting a Tier 5, as he had just done, or when battling Tier 4s.

Then again, his body could only handle so much at once. So even if he had more to use, would his body be able to handle it? That was the question.

There were other potential explanations for [Kinetic Energy Amplification]. Perhaps, it would be very much like [Kinetic Energy Refinement] and enhance the properties of the energy, just in a different way. It was hard to know for certain, and he would ask Cain before making any decisions.

In the meantime, he would think deeply about each one. But more importantly, he needed something to eat. He was absolutely starving. He didn’t know why, but almost dying had that effect on him.

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***

He didn’t stay in Kastila for long. He stayed long enough to help get things settled, but once that was done, he got the go-ahead from Emil to leave. The good news was that Emil told him that he could keep the Tier 5’s ring.

It was partly because Emil had taken a glance at the ring and was quite confident that he wouldn’t be able to break the enchantments, but it was also because Emil believed that Julius deserved a valuable reward. As such, a ring that contained the contents of a Tier 5’s belongings was only fitting, at least according to Emil.

Julius wasn’t able to complain either. He had been looking for a new ring since his current one didn’t have enough space anymore. He found himself constantly limited by the amount of food he could fit in there.

The moment he left the village, he found a small place in the middle of nowhere to begin his attempt to crack the ring open. He rolled the ring around in his palm a few times as he examined it with all of his senses.