Chapter 60: New Friends

“Well, my father was a noble, but my mother was a commoner” Julius admitted to the group

Julius watched as the group all wore slightly uncomfortable faces, hearing the past tense he used to describe his parents. He didn’t mean to make them feel awkward and felt like he needed to put them at ease.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t know either of them. You don’t have to feel bad,” he reassured them.

Lily was the one who spoke up, “Of course, we would feel bad. That you didn’t know then at all makes it even worse.”

“So how did you learn manners like that then?” Derek asked, trying to change the topic.

“I had a teacher that taught me basic etiquette. He was a real sticker for things like manners,” Julius admitted.

Edwin was indeed a stickler for manners and rules alike. Especially when it came to his tea time. Julius remembered how Edwin would scold him for hours about how he wasn’t drinking tea properly. He also made sure Julius could brew a proper cup of tea, which led to many lessons about the intricacies of tea and the optimal way to brew leaves in order to maximize their aroma and flavor. It was silly at the time, but now that they might be gone, that was all he could remember about Edwin.

“Anyway, what did you guys have planned for today,” Julius shifted the conversation away from him and his family.

“Since today is the last day before the term starts tomorrow we were thinking about going down to the ocean. It will be the last day we can relax in peace for a while once the term starts.” Edgar said.

“Hey, why don’t you join us? We can show you some of the secret spots.” Lily offered Julius excitedly.

Julius was about to decline, saying that he had to train and research, but he stopped himself. He had been thinking about his crazy training schedule for a while. He was already training from dawn to dusk, and he didn’t think that would be healthy. He was in a whole new world, and was he planning to sit inside a training room for his entire life here?

He sure hoped not. He still had plans to explore many parts of this world. Training and getting stronger were simply means which would allow him more freedom. He had to constantly remind himself that it wouldn’t matter how strong he got if he couldn’t enjoy other aspects of life.

“You know, I think I would really enjoy that,” Julius said.

“We were planning to meet up and go there in a couple of hours, once it warms up, and then have lunch down at the beach. Does that work for you?” Derek asked him.

“Yeah, I have some stuff I wanted to do before I go,” Julius said.

With promises to meet back at the cafeteria, Julius left to head to the library. Now that he had evolved [Mana Manipulation] into [Mana Layering], he wanted to see if any more books specifically talked about training methods or applications he could get inspiration from.

When he walked in, he saw the same librarian he always saw in the morning and waved to her while scanning his badge. He headed for one of the many aisles and began searching for anything that related to [Mana Layering] or something that caught his attention.

He picked up whatever seemed interesting and took it to his nook. However, it was already taken by the third year he had seen on his first day here. It seemed that Julius was too slow and lost his spot.

Sighing, he found himself a spot just down a little way, it was just as nice. He was still amazed at how beautiful a place the library was. He made sure he didn’t lose track of time, sometimes he could get so wrapped up in whatever he was reading that he forgot he needed to do something.

Once it was getting close to ten o’clock he packed his bags up and returned his pile of books for another day. Then he walked out of the library, heading back to the cafeteria.

When he got there he saw that Kyle was already there before him. Julius hadn’t talked with Kyle yet, the guy didn’t talk and Julius sometimes forgot he was even there.

He walked up to Kyle and said, “Hey Kyle, you waiting for the others?”

Kyle looked at Julius for a while and just nodded not saying anything to him.

Julius didn’t mind, he didn’t feel that Kyle was being rude or anything. He thought that it was more because of shyness or that Kyle just didn’t like to talk.

So Julius didn’t say another word and stood next to Kyle as they both waited for the others. Derek was the next one to show up. He had a large pack across his shoulders and a bag in another. Derek waved at the two of them and began telling Julius all about the spot they were taking him to.

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“We found it in our second year, it is a little of a hike but there are usually very few people who go there. It is a place where only locals or other students hang out. I think you will enjoy it,” he told Julius.

Eventually, Edgar, Lily, and Aubrey all show up together afterward. Derek told him that fourth-years can get their own rooms, but also still choose to live with a friend if they want. Lily and Aubrey were roommates while the other boys all had their own rooms.