Chapter 88: What Does the Future Hold

Only a few students were roaming the grounds at this time other than Julius. He didn’t see any first years yet, other than the couple of second years he spotted, all the people who were already up were upperclassmen.

It was a beautiful morning. The ocean created a soft mist in the morning, that paired very nicely with the sunrise cresting over the horizon. It made for a perfect time to just sit down and think.

Both [Mana Slash] and [Aura Slash] were two skills that could evolve in so many ways, that the main decision rested on where he wanted to specialize. He had seen Declan and Professor Youma, they were both great examples of people who had specialized in aura.

Julius found himself a nice bench in one of the little gardens and sat down on one. He also made sure to bring out little Drasil, cradling the little glutton while holding out a ball of life mana for him to suck on.

It was an adorable sight, the spirit was the size of his finger and acted like the cutest thing. Julius spent several minutes just relaxing with Drasil, watching as the spirit drained the orb of mana pretty quickly. For such a little guy, he could pound down life mana like no other.

I’m getting distracted, he gently reminded himself.

As Julius laid back and thought about his options, he opened his status sheet.

Name: Julius Von Hyperius

Tier: 2

Skills:

• [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal lvl 14] (Rare+)
• [Empowerment of Will lvl 10] (Rare+)

• [Spatial Perception lvl 19] (Rare)

• [Savage Dance lvl 18] (Rare)

• [Arcane Construct lvl 16] (Rare)

• [Pure Compression lvl 15] (Rare)

• [Kinetic Augmentation lvl 15] (Rare)

• [Mana Layering lvl 13] (Uncommon)

• [Swordsmanship lvl 10]

The change to his tier was a nice thing to see. If he was being honest with himself, he had expected a little more when he had reached Tier 2. He was hoping that with the power increase, he could easily beat Aubrey and maybe even Edgar, but that wasn’t possible, at least yet.

The more he fought them, the more he began to understand the value of skill levels and their rank. He knew he had a warped view of how power worked in this world due to his upbringing, but he was starting to get a better picture.

They never told him, but as he fought Aubrey and Edgar, he was confident that they each had at least one epic-ranked skill. For Edgar, Julius suspected it was some sort of physical enhancement skill.

In all honesty, Tier 2 wasn’t a tier that he would see a huge increase. It was simply a Tier that changed your body to better use mana, nothing too crazy. It was at Tier 3 that you saw a big difference.

However, there were still many things he could work on. He wasn’t using his advancement to its full potential. He wasn’t worried about the requirements for rare skills for Tier 3, he had almost every skill at or very close to rare rank. [Mana Layering] was very close to rare and he was hoping that once it was, he would see if some of his skills combined together. At least that was his plan.

If he went with [Aura Slash] he was thinking that he could acquire [Aura Strike] or something along the lines of it. He had been offered [Aura Strike] before but had chosen [Empowerment of Will].

Julius believed that [Empowerment of Will] would have good synergy with his other skills, but he didn’t want to risk it. He liked it as is, and still felt like there was much more he could explore with it. He believed that it was a skill that had more potential if he didn’t try to combine other skills with it. Still, who knew what might change in the future.

He was leaning toward [Mana Slash] because he thought it would have the best chance of combining with [Arcane Construct], [Pure Compression], and [Mana Layering]. The research he had done had shown that the skill made for some good combinations for mana-specific skills.

However, there was also a part of his head, that wanted both skills. He wondered what would happen if he got both of them. Would they combine together? Or would both of them work with his other skills?

He kind of liked the idea of having both skills, but he only had a single slot left and was planning to take [Quick Step] or something like it in the future.

He wanted something that would help him with his speed. That was something he felt like he was lacking the most. This was funny because he had not felt that way with the trolls, but against Edgar, he felt like he was moving through molasses.

After some thought, he decided not to rush it and take his time. He wanted to see the next evolution of [Mana Layering] when it made it to rare. If he combined with some of the other skills, he would have plenty of space for other skills.

That would also give him plenty of time to research other variations of skills in the library.

Julius picked up a small breakfast before heading off to his first class of the day. Where everyone had already gotten into their own routine. Professor Edwards wasn’t interacting with the students much at all. He would address the class for a few minutes at the beginning but then let the students go about their training by themselves.

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