Chapter 7: Training Begins

Afterward, Julius was in a bit of a daze. There was a lot to unpack. His father’s death didn’t have much impact on him as he would’ve thought, even after the shock of it. What had astounded Julius more was the casual ease with which the Patriarch had vaporized his brother. It wasn’t like in movies, a big explosion, no. The calm effortlessness was what surprised Julius. It was the first time Julius had seen someone who was powerful seriously use magic, and it was terrifying.

In the days that followed his baptism, Edwin remained close by. It was unusual; Julius was used to seeing Edwin once a week for many years. However, recently he has been spending much more time with him. Julius enjoyed his company. As irritating as Edwin could be at times, he was a comforting presence to be around. He didn’t speak or ask unnecessary questions about how Julius was feeling; he would just sit there sipping his tea while reading a book.

They did end up discussing the prompt that showed up after his baptism. Amid all the drama, Julius almost completely forgot about the notifications he had received. He ended up going to Edwin to answer some of his questions.

“Skills are considered a blessing from the Words of the World. It is the closest thing to a god that humanity knows of.” Edwin described. “You will receive the opportunity to learn a skill through repeating an action over and over again. Skills are very important for many reasons. For example, lighting a fire would be more efficient mana-wise and faster to activate with a skill rather than manually. However, there is a limit to how many skills you can learn at one time. Humans can learn ten skills before the capacity in their souls is reached. This means that it becomes incredibly important what skills you choose to learn. You will always have the choice to remove skills, but that is an extremely painful process.”

“Once you told me about your ability, I already expected you to receive a notice about learning some sort of skill after your awakening. But what did you end up getting?” Edwin asked him.

Julius considered not telling Edwin, but in the end, he needed information more than he needed to keep secrets. It was an opportunity to learn something important, and he couldn’t afford to be tight-lipped about it.

“I got offered three separate skills. [Sixth Sense], [Life Detection], and [Awareness]. I didn’t know there was a limit to how many skills I have, but I learned all of them.” Julius admitted.

Edwin winced. “All three of those skills are useful, but honestly, [Awareness] is probably the best out of the three. With time, you could learn to do the effects of [Sixth Sense] and [Life Detection] with some time and practice. Luckily, you have plenty of slots left. You will probably have to release them in time, but you can worry about that later.”

Julius almost forgot to mention the other notice he got. “I also got a prompt telling me there was a synergy between the three skills and that I could combine them. I didn’t say yes or no, but if I did, does this affect how many skills I can still hold?”

Edwin’s eyes widened, and his lips curled into a grin. “No, you can hold nine more. Can you still pull up the notice?” Julian nodded. “Okay, I want you to read it to me word by word.”

Julius pulled it up again and repeated exactly what was said for Edwin.

Synergy detected. Would you like to evolve [Sixth Sense], [Detect Life], and [Awareness] into a single skill? Notice: This will remove existing skills.

“You are something else, Julius. Combining synergistic skills is everyone’s goal. Being able to combine skills into a single one is a massive advantage at the later tiers.” Edwin said in disbelief.

“Really, why is that?” Julius asked.

Edwin gave an example. “Imagine a fight between two fighters in the same tier, but one of them has a few combined skills while the other doesn’t. Who do you think will win?”

“With the same experience, probably the one with the combined skills because he has effectively more skills than the other,” Julian responded.

“Correct, but there is more to it. To evolve a skill, you must reach a certain threshold of understanding. Meaning, you can’t just learn a couple of skills and combine them. You would need to practice them extensively and then understand how these skills interact and synergize at a fundamental level. It is not easy to achieve.”

“So I should evolve them?” Julius was sure this was a no-brainer, but he wanted to double-check.

“Yes, the sooner the better,” Edwin told him.

Now that Julius had a better understanding of skills, he mentally focused on the message and selected yes.

Skill evolution commencing…Congratulations, skill [Spatial Perception] (Rare) acquired.

“It says, I gained the skill [Spatial Perception], but it says it is rare,” Julius said.

“Skills typically start at level one, and as you progress through use, you can evolve them down various paths. You could keep the same path and specialize, or combine skills with it; both have their advantages. This usually leads to a skill’s improved rank. Most are common ranked, but it goes up from there. Next is uncommon, then rare, then epic. The fact that you already have a rare-ranked skill is very impressive.” Edwin patiently explained, but Julius spotted a slight frown on Edwin’s face, which was quickly hidden.

This was a familiar concept Julius had seen in video games. Which begged the question. Why was it so familiar? Even more questions.

“So if I understand it correctly, unless you combine skills, the only way to rank up skills is by increasing their level?” Julius asked.

“Level 10 is the minimum threshold one would need to get in order to qualify for a skill rank-up. Usually ends up being higher in reality.” Edwin said.

“What’s the best way to level up?” Julius was curious whether there was a method to increase the rate of skill leveling.

“After many centuries, nobles have found a method that works the best by far,” Edwin said with a grin.

“Really?” Julius had an excited expression on his face. He was already fantasizing about all the things he would be able to do with the techniques of a noble family.

“Practice,” Edwin said.

“Sorry?” Julius asked.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Practice,” Edwin repeated with a big smile

***

Shortly after his conversation with Edwin, the Patriarch summoned him to his study. After Edwin had shut the door, Julius realized it was just him and the man who had casually erased his father several days prior. Not going to lie, it made Julius nervous.

Nobody spoke for a while; it was just the two of them sitting in their respective chairs in silence. Until the Patriarch finally decided to break it.

“I first want to apologize for never coming to see you. As the family head, I have a responsibility, and that responsibility made me unable to get close to you.” Lukas explained. “I hope this doesn’t mean we can’t become closer. I lost my younger sister in the monster flood years ago, and I never had children of my own.”