Chapter 57: Testing Out [Empowerment of Will]

He didn’t know why he couldn’t seem to reabsorb his kinetic energy or his aura, it was almost like once they merged in his body, it became a chaotic mix. It was like a bunch of Skittles and gumballs had gotten mixed together in the same jar and he couldn’t separate them apart.

He tried to do both at the same time, but they had different sources, so that didn’t work. It just made the energy in his body that was tearing him apart even more frantic. He had an idea though. In his mind, he envisioned one of those industrial machines that separate potatoes based on size, filtering kinetic energy to one end and aura to another.

It took some time, but he could slowly feel it working. The energy in his body was becoming two separate sources again. Once, he was able to do that, releasing the energy became simple. He put both energies back where they came from and felt his body relax as it was no longer being torn apart.

He used [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] to heal himself, piecing him back together bit by bit. Originally, he didn’t see much use in Tier 2, he thought that Tier 2 would barely give him a power boost, but now he was rethinking that.

Now that he had [Empowerment of Will] on top of [Kinetic Augmentation] his body needed to get more resilient. He believed that he had finally reached the limits of his Tier 1 body. Only would getting to Tier 2 would solve that.

Luckily, he was close to the next tier. He believed he had a decent chance of advancing right now, at this very moment. His mana felt like it had infused with his body enough, and all he needed was that last push. However, he decided to hold off for a little, at least attend some classes first.

He wasn’t in that much of a rush. He felt like there was a lot more for him to do and now that he was relatively safe, he didn’t need to blindly rush into things, just to get a bit stronger.

Now, that he found out how much kinetic energy and aura he could use at the same time, he went again. This time, making sure to stay below the limit he had restricted himself to. For hours he just practiced letting the energy flow through, empowering him, and then letting it go.

He wanted to get used to filtering and releasing the energy. At the moment it was much too slow, and he definitely felt like it could be much faster. It was only a matter of getting used to it. Yes, it was boring, but he understood that it would be worth it in the end.

As long as he started to put in the work now, future Julius would be grateful for the headstart later down the road.

By the end, he had gotten much more comfortable with the process, it still took some time, much too long if he was fighting, but it was progress. He wasn’t having to think and dedicate so much of his mental capacity to handle it. His body was beginning to understand what he was trying to do and was helping him sort the different energy types.

It wasn’t until early morning that Julius got up to his feet. He was going to have to practice it a lot more in the future, but he felt good about the possibilities of this new technique.

Before he left though, he wanted to see if [Empowerment of Will] worked on his other skills, not just his body. The first one he wanted to experiment with was [Savage Dance]. His body might not be able to take more empowerment, but could he say the same for his mind?

[Savage Dance] might not be his most powerful skill, that would probably have to go to [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] and maybe [Empowerment of Will], but it was definitely a pillar of his strength. The skill didn’t have any fancy exploding spikes or enhance his physical body to superhuman levels, but it allowed his mind to keep up with everything. With [Savage Dance] and [Spatial Perception], he never felt like his mind wasn’t able to keep up. His body might not be able to react in time, but he was rarely caught completely off guard.

Honestly, boosting those skills might be completely unnecessary but there wasn’t anything wrong with improving something that already works. Julius called upon [Savage Dance], making sure to feel every nuance of the skill, from how it activated to how it affected him.

Once he felt he was ready, he began feeding the skill with [Empowerment of Will]. Nothing happened, it was like trying to find an opening in a completely sealed jar. [Empowerment of Will] could not find a way into [Savage Dance].

Still, Julius kept trying, he had a feeling that it should be possible. Aura came from the soul energy generated by the soul, and skills were an intrinsic part of one’s soul. It should be possible to affect his skills with his soul, and thus, his aura.

Julius lost track of time, but then something happened. Julius had been completely surrounding [Savage Dance] with his aura, smothering it like a mother swaddling her newborn baby and some aura slipped in.

He didn’t know what happened after that, because he blacked out instantly. But he had felt an influx of energy enter [Savage Dance].

When he awoke, he immediately started to run [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] but he didn’t feel the skill healing anything other than some fatigue and knots in his muscles from lying down in an awkward position.

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[Empowerment of Will lvl 1 -> lvl 3]

Julius had already leveled up [Empowerment of Will] to level 3. It must have been during his experiments that he leveled it up. It was nice to see that he was already seeing progress with his new skill and wondered what else he could do with the skill.

Okay, so it is possible. I for sure felt aura empower the skill, but the second it did I blacked out.