Chapter 70: The Difference Between Them

Round two didn’t go so well either. Neither did rounds three, four, or five. No matter what Julius tried, he wasn’t able to penetrate Gabriel’s defenses with his constructs. [Extreme Mana Resistance] was according to Gabriel, an epic-ranked skill that almost completely protected one from mana-based attacks. Furthermore, Gabriel had another epic-ranked skill called [Steel Fortress] that literally made his body a living fortress. Julius thought that since mana-based attacks didn’t work, he could use physical attacks.

While he did land a couple of shots, once Gabriel fully activated [Steel Fortress], it was like punching the Empire State Building. Even if he got through a single layer of defense, there were dozens more layered on top of each other behind it.

The only thing he didn’t try was his kinetically enhanced blue fire. Julius didn’t go that far, but he suspected that even if he did use it on Gabriel, it still wouldn’t work.

The biggest issue that Julius faced was Gabriel’s Authority. He didn’t keep it active the entire time, otherwise it wouldn’t even be a fight, but Gabriel showed it off at Julius’s request. Authority to Julius’s senses was like an advanced application of aura and mana, but also something else as well.

Julius’s constructs couldn’t even make it past a single inch of it. It wasn’t like the troll’s aura that had slowed down his constructs and gradually broke them down. Gabriel’s authority recognized the instant the constructs entered its sphere of influence, and then they just ceased to exist. Gabriel tried to explain it to Julius, but he was awful at it. All Julius got was that once his constructs entered the space Gabriel had complete control or “Authority” of the construct. This means that Julius could no longer control it, which is why it ceased to exist.

After Julius tested his constructs on it, he tried to see if getting up close was any better.

It wasn’t.

Julius found himself unable to even take a single step when he entered. Gabriel’s authority surrounded him and pressed him on all sides, immobilizing him completely. Gabriel told Julius that if he had created his constructs or infused his body with his own authority, he wouldn’t have been affected so drastically. It was why Tier 3 to Tier 4 was such a large increase in power.

Gabriel and Julius only sparred for an hour, Gabriel still had other duties he had to take care of, but he said they could resume sparring the day after tomorrow.

Although the sparring had only lasted an hour, Julius was happy to see that he had made more progress in the short time than the entire night he spent training.

[Arcane Construct lvl 14 -> lvl 15]

[Pure Compression lvl 13 -> lvl 14]

[Kinetic Augmentation lvl 13 -> lvl 14]

[Empowerment of Will lvl 4 -> lvl 6]

[Mana Layering lvl 4 -> lvl 7]

It was the largest increase in levels he had seen in a while. Fighting against someone who was much stronger than him and challenging himself worked. He was very glad he had taken Gabriel up on his offer.

After Julius and Gabriel finished, Julius hurried to the library. He knew he had stayed behind much longer than he or the others expected, but he hoped that they didn’t think he had forgotten about them.

He got to the library in record time, quickly scanning his badge at the entrance and waving at the librarian who smiled at him. Julius still hadn’t gotten her name yet but reminded himself to find it out sooner rather than later.

Julius went up to the second floor to the section where they told him they would be studying. There were several groups of students also sitting at the larger tables, quietly discussing things with each other. However, Julius hadn’t seen them yet.

It was only when he made his way to the back he sensed them. All five of them were still there, Kyle was in the middle of explaining something to Edgar. Talking more than Julius had seen the entire time he had been around them.

Julius quietly walked up to their table, not surprised to see that Lily had already noticed him. She must have an amazing perception skill or aura sense because she always knew when he was around.

Julius didn’t see an open chair, so he grabbed an extra chair from another table and brought it next to their table. The group had all finally noticed Julius’s arrival and looked at him. “Sorry, I was late, it took it much longer than I thought it would,” he apologized.

“Yeah, you took a really long time. Did you have to go do something beforehand?” Aubrey inquired.

“No, I was with Professor Keller the entire time,” Julius told her.

“Professor Keller needed to talk to you for an hour?” Derek asked, breaking his attention from the book in his hands.

Julius had been thinking about telling them the truth. It had been almost a week since he had known them, and he felt like he had a good idea of what kind of people they were. They had welcomed him into their group and he didn’t want to lie to them. So, he didn’t.

“He wanted to spar with me,” Julius admitted to them.

Julius observed the reactions of each of them. Derek acted like he didn’t quite hear what Julius had said. Aubrey thought he was joking. Edgar was looking at him with a very intense gaze. Kyle was looking at him with a blank expression. Then Lily was outright looking at him with an astonished look.

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“Haha. That’s very funny Julius,” Aubrey said.

“I’m serious,” he said.

She still didn’t look like she believed him and just shook her head with a smile.

“He’s not lying, Lily told her friend seriously. It wasn’t until Lily said that Aubrey took Julius’s word seriously.

“You’re telling me that Professor Gabriel Keller, one of the strongest Tier 4’s at Goldencrest and someone who is practically guaranteed to advance to Tier 5, wanted to spar with a first-year?” She asked skeptically.

“One of the strongest?” Julius was curious about how Gabriel stood up against other Tier 4’s.

Edgar was the one who answered him. He still had an intense look on his face as he looked at Julius, scrutinizing him. “Professor Keller is a Senior Professor of the Combat Department for a reason. He is an absolute beast. If he is the second strongest, I don’t think there would be many people willing to say they are first.”

“Hey don’t change the subject. Answer the question.” Aubrey said a little too loudly. It was surprisingly Kyle who gave her a slap across her shoulder, reminding her that they were in a library. Then looked at Lily with a pointed glare and Julius felt Lily’s aura and mana work together to create a bubble that surrounded the table completely.

It was a very elegant and skilled use of aura and mana. Julius had amazing control himself, but Lily’s control was different than Julius’s. He would describe his control as quick, firm, and, explosive. He would describe Lily’s control as soft, gentle, and subtle.