Chapter 543: Back to Training

The following week passed quickly. With how much of Julius’s time was focused on the new exercises, he barely found the time to enjoy the time off. Almost every walking moment of his day was spent either practicing these exercises or training with Cain.

Considering how the training with Cain was going, he might have preferred the self-mutilation exercises.

Cain was being extra brutal than usual. Apparently, he had been upset at how weak Julius’s blows were when he was just using kinetic energy. To Cain’s credit, Julius was well aware that his output in kinetic energy was lagging behind his other skills, especially considering how much kinetic energy he was able to use at once.

For example, he often relied on [Void Strike] when his kinetic energy couldn’t cut it. He didn’t really have many other options other than shoving a shit load of kinetic energy into his fist. That was Cain’s first objective for Julius to learn.

Cain forced Julius to attack him for hours upon hours without any breaks, constantly. Thankfully, Julius didn’t have to worry about hurting the big man. Cain was sturdier than a steel mountain, and Julius broke his fist more than a few times trying to punch a hole through his master’s sternum.

Cain wouldn’t even give Julius that much advice. According to him, Julius needed to learn on his own because of how many other abilities he had at his disposal. While Cain had a kinetic affinity as well, it didn’t mean his techniques were the most suited to Julius.

Julius was trying a lot of things, and he wouldn’t admit it, but having someone that sturdy and not having to worry about hurting them was nice. He could feel free to go all out against Cain.

The more he continued this training, the more he began to realize that his Force Concept wasn’t as powerful or suited to him as he thought it was. It was indeed powerful. There was no doubt about that. However, the way it interacted with Julius’s kinetic energy wasn’t what he wanted or really needed.

If he needed to penetrate someone’s defenses, [Void Strike] was a better option on all fronts. Resonating Force was like a more watered-down version of [Void Strike]. The main difference was that when he hit an opponent with [Void Strike], it went straight through their defenses like they weren’t even there.

As for Resonating Force, there would be an echo effect that would deliver several more weak blows. It would resonate his blows so that they would add up to a stronger overall strike. However, he realized that wasn’t what he needed.

Cain did the same and was trying to have Julius shift the focus to his Concept. Much like he had done with his Sharpness Concept, he needed to evolve his Force Concept. Of course, this was much easier said than done.

Despite Cain poking fun at Julius’s use of [Void Strike], he didn’t want Julius to stop using it. But he didn’t like how much Julius relied on it instead of a simple, but powerful strike with pure kinetic energy.

He wanted Julius to have a powerful strike with kinetic energy so that when he used [Void Strike], it would fuse into an exponentially stronger attack. No more adding smaller stacks of weaker resonating blows, but an overwhelming strike that destroyed anything in front of him.

However, when they weren’t working on this, Cain was helping Julius prepare for his [Kinetic Energy Refinement] evolution. Julius had already gotten the notification that he had leveled up to level 20. But Cain didn’t want him to open it. He was very insistent on that part.

He wanted Julius to acquire a particular skill, or at least a variant of it.

He wasn’t going to tell him what the skill was either. Apparently, Cain didn’t want Julius to know and somehow influence the process. Julius pestered Cain, but the man stayed stubborn and didn’t tell Julius what kind of skill he wanted him to get.

That was how Julius spent his week.

However, his friends weren’t idle either. They all earned something from the realm. All of them got something out of it. They had been in isolation for the past week.

Edgar had gotten some kind of volcanic natural treasure. From what Julius had learned, the treasure would likely help Edgar prepare his body for Tier 4. With his dual affinities for fire and earth, the treasure would hopefully help him build a body that took advantage of these affinities.

Derek got a lightning-based treasure, which was supposed to help him earn another Concept or a unique skill. Julius didn’t really know the details, but he trusted that Derek and his family would make sure the treasure would be put to good use.

Aubrey got several nice things. First, she got that willpower treasure from the Challenge Rift. She also got a lovely little gem-like stone from the final trial. Apparently, it was quite good for her. She certainly seemed happy with it.

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All of his friends also got massive jugs of the body purifying water. He was pretty surprised by Derek’s family’s reaction upon seeing it. They told him that the water was of really high quality and perfect for people preparing for Tier 4.

Lily also got a jug of water. He knew she was trying her best to improve her physique, and the water should help with that, as well as remove any impurities in her body.

“Are you ready to go again?” Cain asked him, rolling his shoulders and preparing to give Julius another “lesson”.

“Yeah, let’s go again,” Julius said with a sigh. He stood up and felt some of the life mana try to surge out of his control, but he gave it a good smack and gathered it back into his channels.

He was constantly using the exercises that the book had shown him as much as he could. He didn’t even know the exact purpose of these techniques. He knew that they had something to do with the body modifications and mana heart he was going to create when he was Tier 4.

However, they only gave him a little bit of strength. It was definitely not worth the trade-off. Firstly, it required a lot of effort to keep it under control. Secondly, it hurt like a son of a bitch.

Regardless, he still kept it up. He hated to admit it, but his control over life mana and over mana in general was already seeing massive improvements. Something about constantly trying to prevent his body from imploding from life mana helped his ability to manipulate mana. Who would have thought?

Julius walked over to their little arena, where they had been sparring. However, it was hard to call it much of an arena at this point. The entire section of the training hall was thrashed. It had more Julius-sized craters than flat ground.

Julius stood in the least destroyed area he could find. Then, before he could barely react, Cain was already in his face. A humongous fist the size of Julius’s head was already closing in.