Path to Transcendence

Julius was still sitting in the same spot that he arrived at. Presently, he was holding a [Firebolt] over his palm and was slowly adding more kinetic energy to the flame. He was also trying to spin it as fast as he could, gaining more momentum that he could use to further empower the [Firebolt]. The skill already provided the projectile with a soft rotation when it was shot, but it was not enough to generate the amount of kinetic energy he needed.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, all that mattered was trying out his new idea. He wasn’t completely reckless though, he was still checking his surroundings with [Spatial Perception]. However, the majority of his concentration was being used to experiment with this potentially useful application of kinetic energy and fire.

Julius knew he was originally trying to think of a defensive skill, but his mind always gravitated to offensive techniques. In his mind, the best defense is a good offense. He hadn’t quite figured out how to use kinetic energy to make his flames hotter, but he felt he was on the right track. He even got some skill levels already for his experimentation.

[Firebolt lvl 2 -> lvl 3]

[Kinetic Release lvl 4 -> lvl 5]

He believed that this was a sign that he was on the right track.

At the edge of his senses, he felt something approaching. It was a very large humanoid creature, probably one of the rift’s residents if he had to guess. It was slowly heading in his direction and seemed like it knew exactly where Julius was, even though he was slightly hidden by the tall grass.

Getting to his feet, Julius got ready for a fight. His [Firebolt] was still hovering over his palm, waiting to be released at the target. Normally, Julius would have had second thoughts, attacking a humanoid without saying a word to them, but a monster inside of a rift was a different story. He was going to have to shoot first and ask questions later.

The monster got closer and Julius could make out some of its details more clearly. It was a massive creature with stone-gray skin and chiseled muscles he could make out from here. It was probably standing over seven feet tall and resembled what he imagined an orc would look like. Compared to his five-and-a-half-foot frame, it was quite intimidating.

Julius had not seen any orcs in this world yet, but this one looked like what he would expect from one. Not waiting, for it to get any closer he released the condensed [Firebolt] and it was sent screaming toward the monster.

The attack came as a total surprise and smashed into its chest, detonating with a loud boom. It staggered the monster and left a large burn across its torso but the creature otherwise appeared fine. Julius had sent that attack out as a tester to compare it to the wolf he fought last night. So far, he determined that this monster was much more resilient than the wolf but also was slower.

It was still over fifty paces away and he couldn’t quite determine its aura from this distance, but it was at least at the level of strength as the wolf and most likely stronger based on the initial confrontation. Then to his astonishment, the wound on its chest was visibly going away even from far away. In mere seconds, the injury was nowhere to be seen.

There was another creature from his world’s stories that matched this monster's description, Trolls. Trolls were similar to orcs except they were known for their ridiculous ability to heal themselves.

This thing’s physical resilience and regeneration might put it at a Tier 3. Julius anxiously thought.

He would be able to tell for sure once it got closer, but Julius had no plans on letting this thing any closer to him. The troll now fully healed, roared, shaking Julius’s eardrums and sprinting directly at him.

It does not seem happy, he thought as the enraged monster stampeded at him. He activated his new skill [Savage Dance] and his worldview narrowed to a fine edge. It was like his entire being was honed to a sharp blade and the only thought in his mind was destroying this monster.

He immediately created another [Firebolt] but this time he crammed as much kinetic energy into it, changing its color to a violet hue, and then once it was ready he sent it with as much speed as he could. This time, the projectile actually screamed with a piercing whistle as it shot toward the troll. It hit the troll with immense force that blasted it off of its feet, leaving a gaping hole in its chest.

However, that wasn’t enough to put it down it seemed. Julius started to create another kinetically enhanced [Firebolt] as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, by the time he finished it, the troll was back on its feet looking angrier than ever, its red eyes displaying its rage. The chest wound was deeper than the last, but it was still rapidly healing. Julius sent out his attack as soon as it was ready, but the troll stuck out its hand to block it. The resulting explosion mangled the thing’s arm, pieces of bone and flesh flayed out in every direction. Despite this, the troll was not knocked off its feet and charged Julius with its crippled arm visibly healing at its side.

At this distance, Julius could tell it was definitely Tier 3. Two whole tiers above himself.

The troll reached within arm's length soon after. It swung at Julius’s head with surprising speed for something that size, and he just managed to duck beneath it, blasting himself away with a kinetic burst.

[Savage Dance] was keeping him deadly calm in this chaos and was informing Julius of the most vulnerable spots on the troll. It was highlighting the troll’s head and its feet. The head was self-explanatory, but the feet were odd. The skill, wanted Julius to target the feet so that it was unable to move properly, giving him time to charge a strike to damage it as much as he could.

The troll's strength was immense, he could feel the vibrations whenever its arm passed by him, and as he said, it was deceptively fast. Fortunately, it fought like an animal, there was no technique to its attacks, it was straight uncontrolled violence, and that made it easier to avoid its strikes.

Julius would occasionally, land a kinetic strike, which did nothing except disrupt its momentum. But his main focus, other than dodging, was creating another kinetically enhanced [Firebolt]. It was the most powerful attack he could create.

Creating the plain [Firebolt] was quick, it was condensing it while also adding kinetic energy that took time. This was why skills were so vital. A skill that did all these things would have been able to simultaneously combine all these separate aspects into a single moment. Whereas, Julius had to do it manually, much more slowly.

After a few more dodges, he tried to get as much distance between himself and the troll as he could, sending a lot of mana into his legs to dash behind it. Then he sent the [Firebolt] at the troll's left leg. It managed to hit it dead on the mark and butchered the troll’s entire leg from the knee down.

The troll, missing its leg, collapsed to the ground. Then Julius, creating another enhanced [Firebolt], jumped toward it. He proceeded to land a kick right on the downed troll’s head, loading it with a large amount of kinetic force.

The kick snapped the troll's head back but it also managed to bring its arm around and nick Julius with its arm. Although it barely hit him, he was sent flying backward. He miraculously managed to keep his construct intact but his shoulder was definitely broken. [Savage Dance] allowed him to maintain focus, and numbed the pain he should be feeling to a dull throb, but it still hurt.

If he had been hit directly, there was a chance that he would’ve had his chest crushed. Julius got up and saw that the troll’s leg was healing, but it seemed like healing bone took more time than just flesh. Therefore, it was still on the ground roaring in pain, not even paying attention to Julius anymore.

His enhanced [Firebolt] was ready and he swiftly sent it at the back of the troll’s skull. The violet-colored attack ruptured an entire third of the monster’s head, creating a massive spray of blood and brains.

To his horror, the troll was unmoving but he could see attempts to heal its brain, small bits of flesh were connecting via its regeneration skill. Julius promptly charged right where it was lying down

He started to throw strike after strike at the exposed flesh trying to put down this monster for good. However, no matter what he did, it was continuing to regenerate.

Whatever skill it had, must’ve been a higher rarity. Getting an idea, he continued to hit it and investigated how mana was interacting with this thing’s flesh.

He was trying to see how its skill worked and if he could maybe replicate some of its abilities. He had [Heal] himself, but there was a large difference between his healing skill and this thing’s. The sheer speed of its regeneration was impressive but its mana efficiency was also incredible.

Julius could have probably killed it with a couple more enhanced [Firebolts] but he didn’t want to give up this opportunity. So he continued to damage it enough so that it wouldn’t gain consciousness but also not too much, where he might kill it.

Julius was very aware of the moral quandary he was committing. If it wasn’t that this monster had just tried to kill him and that it was unconscious throughout the entire time, he would have stopped.

But if he could learn something from this monster’s skill, he might come out of this rift alive. There were undoubtedly more of these trolls roaming around and who knows what else. There might even be something stronger than this monster around.

And so Julius stayed there for a long time, just keeping it in a coma while learning about its skill. After some time, he figured out something. The troll’s skill was much more aggressive than Julius’s own. For his own skill, he concentrated on handling the mana delicately and with gentleness. The troll’s skill was practically the opposite. It was violently twisting and rotating mana in a loop around the injury.

It was fast and it somehow wasted practically no mana. It was completely wrong according to his earlier thoughts about how life mana worked. But it seemed that Julius still had much to learn about his own mana.

Feeling like he finally understood enough of the technique, Julius put the troll to rest. He unleashed a powerful violet [Firebolt] at the monster’s face and he felt its mana stop pumping into its skill.

The troll was finally dead… hopefully. He kept an eye on it for a few minutes just to make sure.

Once he was absolutely convinced, he let out a breath and felt [Savage Dance] deactivate. The skill’s effects started to wear off and he began to feel some of the emotions that were blocked rise up to the surface.

At first, he felt relief that he survived a fight against an opponent two tiers above him, but then he felt guilt at his actions afterward. At the time, when the skill was running, he was able to rationally understand why it was the correct choice. Despite that, he still felt like he was cruelly experimenting on the creature for a gain of power.

The skill was undoubtedly one of the strongest skills he currently had. It was able to hone his focus to a razor's edge in a fight, control his body with uncanny precision, allow him to effectively break down his opponent's weaknesses, and exponentially increase his proficiency with his skills when he was in combat. However, it seemed that he became a tad detached from reality and his humanity. It was a double-edged sword and something he was going to have to think twice about in the future.

With that being said, Julius took a deep calming breath to center himself. He managed to accrue some improvement to his skills during that fight as well.

[Firebolt lvl 3 -> lvl 5]

[Thermal Compression lvl 3 -> lvl 4]

[Savage Dance lvl 1 -> lvl 2]

[Kinetic Release lvl 5 -> lvl 8]

[Firebolt] had increased by two levels, [Savage Dance] by one, and [Kinetic Release] by a surprising three levels. However, these improvements made sense, he was using his skills in challenging ways while in life-threatening scenarios. It was why fighting monsters was the quickest way to advance one’s skills.

A small shift had Julius groaning in pain. There had been so much going on, that he completely forgot about his broken shoulder. [Savage Dance] had been dulling the pain from the injury, but now it was slightly painful. It didn’t hurt that much, it was more like he couldn’t feel his entire arm, and it only hurt when he moved it.

Still, this was a perfect time to try healing it using the methods he learned from the troll’s skill.