Chapter 609: Abundance of Monsters

That little smelly monkey was really the intriguing subject. After close examination, he was able to identify the general process of how it was able to manipulate its authority into its body. The biggest key he needed to focus on was making sure his aura and his authority were essentially a single entity.

That was the first step he needed to get right. The next was a bit harder. He needed to take this aura-infused authority and curl it around his muscle fibers and his bones in a complex weave. As if he were knitting a sock around his body. While he was good at controlling his aura and using it to enforce his body, this was a totally different type of aura control he was unfamiliar with.

He suspected that the monster had been born with the ability, and it came naturally. However, he didn’t think many, if any, humans would be able to accomplish this without a lot of trial and error. Thankfully for him, he loved to experiment, and he had some time on his hands while he was heading toward Corvus.

He already had a lot on his plate, but he was sure he could squeeze some experimentation into his busy schedule. After all, this new technique would complement his current body-enforcement skill. It might even give him a new evolution option for [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin].

Speaking of his skills, he received some nice skill level increases over the past week. The most recent one came after he finished off that monkey.

[Absolute Spatial Perception lvl 17 -> lvl 18]

[Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 23 -> lvl 24]

[Spirit Fortification lvl 15 -> lvl 16]

[Field of the Shattered Will lvl 1 -> lvl 3]

He hadn’t really done that much or been challenged for the past couple of weeks. But he still saw several levels. His advancement felt like it helped his skills improve more quickly. He was starting to see why people decided to advance, despite the fact that having more high-level skills improved one’s foundation.

He was very curious about what kind of growth he might see if he actually pushed himself. He didn’t say it aloud, but he felt himself wanting to head deeper into the forest, and towards that powerful monster Cassandra mentioned.

He looked over at Shin and Maya, holding back a grin because he knew the odds that Cassandra would lead them over there were high. And while they wouldn’t like it, he wasn’t upset about that at all.

In fact, he was looking forward to it.

***

A couple of days passed by in the blink of an eye. At least for him. He suspected that Shin and Maya felt very differently. While Julius and the others were all relaxing and having a good time, they were fighting for their lives at every moment.

There was an abundance of monsters inside this forest; as such, there was no lack of enemies for the two of them. Julius suspected that Cassandra was deliberately allowing certain monsters to attack while deterring others. There were a number of Tier 4s who attacked the two of them, but almost every time, Julius had to step in and help out.

It was something that neither Shin nor Maya liked, but knew that it was necessary. Otherwise, they would have been dead a day into their adventure. It really showed that being Tier 3 wasn’t enough to survive the wilderness. If they were on their own, he didn’t know if they would still be alive.

He looked over at the two teens, who had just finished a fight against a group of Tier 3 monsters. They looked like shit. The monsters hadn’t been strong individually, but they were a nasty group that worked well together. Both of them had over a dozen small and medium wounds.

It didn’t help morale that they were forced to eat shitty rations and waste their time boiling and filtering water. Just like he feared, they hadn’t thought to bring a device with a water generation filter rune. He had offered his own for them to use, but Cassandra insisted they learn how to procure and clean their own water.

The only reason they were still standing up straight was that they were getting good sleep at the very least. Those defensive anchor points had been an excellent investment, and thanks to them, they were able to sleep without worry.

However, Julius was starting to notice a problem.

They were running out of potions fast. He didn’t think that they had a lot of potions left. After all, they had been consuming them like they were bottles of fruit juice.

In fact, he suspected that it was only going to get worse from here on out. He said that because his awareness picked up an incoming aura signature. And this signature wasn’t Tier 3, it was Tier 4. He saw Cassandra giving him a look from the side, as if telling Julius to stay silent.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He was starting to see why Maya had been so worried. The woman was a strict taskmaster and showed no remorse for the grueling training these two were experiencing.

If things weren’t already bad enough, she wanted these two to fight a Tier 4 while they were recovering.