Chapter 594: Kicking Down Doors

He listened to Lily explain what she knew about the Conclave’s hidden base of operations. She didn’t say it outright, but he suspected that her information had been discovered using her mind magic. Not that he had any issues with that.

His opinion on mind magic was very different from that of most people. The majority of the populace were afraid of mind magic and thought it was dangerous. Some even believed that it should be outright banned as a magical practice, much like necromancy and other taboo arts.

He could understand where they came from. In the wrong hands, mind magic could be a nasty magic, and he didn’t need to have much of an imagination to see what could happen if criminals were able to use mind magic at will.

Fortunately, it was quite a rare talent to have, and most of the time it required an enormous dedication to learn and practice it. Mind magic wasn’t something you picked up after a year of study. Specialized mind mages spent years honing their craft, and even then, there were plenty of risks. Lily had told him of many occasions when fledgling mind mages went insane or brain-dead because of their lack of control.

Stuff like that happened when you delved into someone else’s mind. Only special people like Lily could use it as naturally as she did. In a way, the world was very lucky that Lily’s talent had been born into someone like her.

Imagine what would happen if someone like Garrett Greyson had her abilities and innate talent for mind magic. Julius shivered at the thought of it.

When Lily was done explaining the details of what she had found, he had half expected Cain and Freya to immediately head out and take care of it for them. To Julius’s surprise, they simply looked at him expectantly. He knew what that look meant.

“Are you sure?” He asked them, pressing his lips together tightly.

Cain nodded and said to him, “Combat will be your best way to get used to your advancement. It will also be a good way to relieve some of the stress you built up over the last day.

“Plus, we will be right there to make sure that you won’t be in any actual danger,” Freya added.

Julius could tell that she wasn’t as much of a fan of this as Cain, but since she wasn’t arguing against it, she must have also thought it to be a good idea. Freya’s comment also put Lily at ease.

As for Julius, he didn’t need any more convincing. He was already grinning as he thought about testing his newfound strength.

***

They didn’t waste any time and headed out for the base. It took a little effort to convince Aliyah to allow Derek to come with them, but the presence of Cain and Freya made her a lot more willing. To be fair, being next to two Tier 6s was probably one of the safest places in the capital at the moment.

That didn’t mean that Aliyah was going to let Derek go alone, though. She had decided to tag along with them.

They traveled through the city and, with the help of Freya’s shroud, nobody noticed them. Not even the dozen or so patrols they passed on their way.

Julius had only been in the “nice” parts of the city so far. That meant that it was a bit surprising to see the rest of the capital. The district they were heading towards wasn’t like the inner districts where the rich and nobles lived.

These districts held the commonfolk and the poor. He wouldn’t call them slums, but they certainly weren’t as pretty or clean as what he had seen from the capital so far. The disparity was quite eye-opening, and he had to remind himself that not everyone lived such easy or luxurious lives. Most people in these districts were probably living from paycheck to paycheck.

It was quite late at night, so it was surprising to see so many people still out and about. He spotted several injured people on the side of the road. One of them was a young boy, not much younger than himself. He had a huge bleeding wound across his forehead as he tended to what looked like his sister. The girl was even younger than the boy and was covered in dust and blood. She was sobbing as her brother tore off his tattered shirt and wrapped it around the large gash on her forearm.

Julius’s heart clenched upon seeing this scene and quickly spotted the reason why these children were in such a shit condition. With his advancement, he was able to use his perception skill with more ease than before. This meant that he wasn’t as hesitant about extending [Absolute Spatial Perception] far out.

It was still a lot of information, but his improved mind could filter out the details more easily than ever before. He almost wished he hadn’t, though. He was able to see everything.

About a couple of blocks ahead, the entire block was leveled. There were so many dead bodies around the area that he felt a little sick. He was used to death, but those were deaths that occurred during actual fights.

The scene in front of him wasn’t a fight. It was a tragedy. People of all ages were lying dead, most of them crushed under the weight of fallen buildings. The ones who were unlucky enough to survive either suffocated as their lungs were crushed or bled out. He spotted dozens of people mourning over their loved ones and a team of guards going around helping whoever they could. He even spotted a small team of healers going around helping the injured.

“The entire capital is like this?” He asked quietly.

Lily must have sensed his emotions and gently infused some of her mana into him, calming him. “Yeah, they hit everywhere.”

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“What was the reason for attacking a place like this?”

“There could be a lot of reasons. It might have been a specific target or just collateral damage from a fight. It’s hard to tell,” Aliyah said solemnly.

Julius didn’t respond; he simply looked at the destruction, a disgusted expression on his face. He understood that death was a thing of life. But this felt… wasteful and unnecessary.

He glanced back at where the brother and sister were huddling together. He took control of his mana and was about to send a healing pulse toward them, but he stopped himself.

It had already been a struggle to control his healing abilities when he was Tier 3. He didn’t feel confident in controlling his mana and Phoenix Concept just yet. With a frustrated twitch of his nose, he let the mana settle.