Path to Transcendence

Julius awkwardly scratched his head. If he was being honest, he had a feeling that there were some pretty cool evolved skills for [Mana Manipulation]. For a while, he had stubbornly maintained his stance that [Mana Manipulation] was a crutch skill. However, as time went by and he was exposed to more skills he started to realize the fault in his thinking.

If that was the case then he could argue every skill was a crutch. They might not be as integral to magic as [Mana Manipulation], but they would still be a standardized application of mana or ability. He didn’t let [Firebolt] stop him from changing its shape although the skill fought him the entire, so why did it have to be the same with [Mana Manipulation]?

No doubt not having the skill enabled him to improve his mana control to this point. It forced him to put in thousands of hours experimenting with mana, time he might not have put into it if he had the skill to rely on. He was confident he had a better intrinsic feel for mana than most people his age.

However, now that he had improved his control without the skill he could see how much having the skill would increase his fighting prowess. Even after getting stronger, manipulating mana was still a difficult task. It took considerable concentration to precisely use it during a fight and the skill would help him with that.

He still believed that if he had the skill back then, it would have been a crutch. But he could confidently say that wasn't the case now.

Not having [Mana Manipulation] might have allowed Julius the freedom and opportunity to experiment with [Firebolt] and other skills in such unique ways and he believed that was the main reason why he was offered [Arcane Construct]. But he was seriously considering taking it now. He still had three open skill slots and could always remove it if it wasn’t worth it, but he wanted to at least see if it made a difference. Julius didn’t doubt Declan when he said there were some impressive evolutions at the rare rank.

Declan just observed Julius as he was silent for a while and Orus was looking at Julius as well. Finally, Orus laughed and asked, “What? Did you already evolve it to rare as well?” At this point, Orus wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the boy had also gotten a rare [Mana Manipulation] skill.

Julius shook his head, “I don’t have a rare [Mana Manipulation] skill.”

Smiling at him, Orus said reassuringly, “That’s okay, having even one is a mark of pride at Tier 1. So what’s the long face for?”

Julius didn’t have to answer because Declan interrupted them. “No. You did not,” Declan said in a disappointed and resigned tone.

I think he knows. Julius winced to himself.

“Maybe…” Julius said quietly.

Julius saw Declan put his face into his hands as if he couldn’t believe he had heard something so dumb. Declan lifted his head out of his palms and asked a simple question, “Why?”

“I thought it was a good idea at the time,” Julius explained. “Also in hindsight, I would make the same choice again.”

Orus was looking between the two of them in confusion. “Would you two like to let me know what you guys are talking about?”

“He doesn’t have a [Mana Manipulation] skill.”

“Say again?”

“You heard me,” Declan said.

“I don’t think I did. I must have not cleaned my ears this morning, could you repeat that?” Orus stubbornly asked.

“I don’t have [Mana Manipulation],” Julius finally said loudly.

He was barely able to get out the last word when Orus slapped Julius across the back of the head. “You idiot,” Orus insulted Julius.

Julius rubbed the back of his head. He was sure Orus only hit him that hard because he knew Julius had a healing skill.

“In my defense, it was a good decision at the time.”

“Do you know how many idiots forgo the skill thinking that they can either not be restricted by it or save themselves a slot by not choosing [Mana Manipulation]?” Orus asked Julius. “Too many and each time they just waste time practicing for many times longer for the same results than if they just took the damn skill. Most of them are idiots or fantasizing children. I didn’t think you were both.”

Julius turned red from embarrassment, Orus wasn’t exactly off the mark either. Orus didn’t stop scolding him, “How did any of the people raising or training you not tell you about this?” Julius thought Orus was a big softie, but it seemed that he also had a temper when it came to certain things.

“It’s not that big of a deal. I am telling you the truth when I say I would make the same choice again. Currently, I am pretty good at controlling mana without the support of a skill and if I get one now I feel like it would benefit me a lot,” Julius defended himself getting frustrated at their judgmental tones.

Orus gently whacked him again, “No shit, it would benefit you a lot.”

“Stop that! It kinda hurts” Julius told Orus.

“You know what hurts? Seeing such a talented kid like yourself literally cut your own hand off,” Orus threw back at him. “You have such potential, you were able to keep up with Declan of all people even if he was holding back, but then I hear that you don’t even have [Mana Manipulation].”

Julius was getting annoyed, it didn’t seem like they understood where he was coming from. But if they wouldn’t listen then maybe he could show them.

He tuned out Orus’s yapping and focused deeply, activating [Savage Dance] and [Fighter’s Will]. He wouldn’t create anything powerful or destructive, he wanted to display the sheer finesse he managed to achieve through his own efforts and without a skill.

He took a handful of fire mana and wove it into a thin cord that was completely smooth and was the same thickness throughout the entire length. Then he took ahold of it and started to mold it quickly and precisely. He had tried to make something similar before he entered the rift but the current him was incomparable to the previous version of himself. Within a few seconds, he had managed to create a beautiful web of fire, looking like a red prismatic dreamcatcher hovering over his palm.

Orus had stopped talking as Julius created the stunning construct, even Declan seemed surprised at how delicate and refined the mana construct was. Julius felt a wave of satisfaction as he watched their reactions. Any person who handled mana often should know how difficult it was to pull off what Julius just did, skill or not.

Now they might understand.

Declan was the first to respond, “How long did it take for you to become capable of doing that?” He asked with a somewhat awed expression.

“It took me a long time, honestly too much time looking back. I spent thousands of hours since I went through my baptism practicing just mana control. You were correct in saying that someone would spend much more time learning how to do this than if they had [Mana Manipulation]. Time that you could use on other things. I’m not saying it would work for everyone, but it was how I ended up doing it,” Julius told them.

“So if you got [Mana Manipulation] now…” Orus started.

“You would be able to create your constructs better and stronger, especially since you are already better than most without a skill.” Declan finished for Orus.

“That’s what I was thinking as well,” Julius said.

“Not only that, but you will probably rank up [Mana Manipulation] very quickly and reach uncommon in no time, maybe even rare if you are lucky,” Orus exclaimed.

Julius was hoping for the same thing. He also hoped that if he got [Mana Manipulation] that might strengthen his constructs and maybe, just maybe, he could get a nice evolved skill or use it to synergize with another skill. Furthermore, he wanted to be able to use his kinetically enhanced flame ability, he felt like with some additional help he would be able to use it safely one day.

How would he go about getting [Mana Manipulation] back though? He didn’t know if it was possible to regain a skill he had removed in the past. He knew it wasn’t possible to regain the same version of the skill he used to evolve, but he barely had [Mana Manipulation] for a couple of hours before getting rid of it.

Luckily, he had two knowledgeable people sitting in front of him and asked the two of them if they knew of a way.

“You should be able to receive a notification asking if you want to learn the skill. I know for a fact that there have been other cases where someone regrets removing a skill but was able to learn it again.” Declan informed Julius.

That was relieving for Julius to hear. His biggest worry was that it was impossible but now he had to figure out how to actually do it.

“So how do I go about it?” Julius asked.

“Typically, the Words of the World works off of intent so if you didn’t want [Mana Manipulation] then it wouldn’t offer it to you, but now that you want the skill, I will make a guess and say that it will offer you one as long as you go through some mana exercises,” Declan ventured.

So after some more questions and discussion, Julius spent the next couple of hours going through all of the exercises he could think of, even the old ones he hadn’t done in years. Orus and Declan went back inside after their discussion, allowing Julius to focus on his task.

He was glad he had opened up to them. He was able to receive answers to many of his questions. Deep inside, he was still nervous that they might both betray him but he didn’t think it was healthy to go about life constantly worried about someone backstabbing him. Also, he trusted Declan. That stunt with the aura had bonded the two of them within a very short period, and understanding the nature of Declan’s aura abilities he knew Declan wouldn’t just trust anyone he didn’t get a good vibe off of. He wondered what he did to deserve his luck. Any other day and he might not have run into them, it might have been some other guard that wasn’t as sympathetic as they were.

He now had three days until he had to take the entrance exam and a small part of him was anxious. Although he knew he would most likely get in, he couldn’t help but let some doubts creep in.

Julius shook the negative thoughts away and concentrated on learning [Mana Manipulation]. He tried to limit his use of any other skills other than [Savage Dance] and [Fighter’s Will]. He felt that using [Arcane Construct] and [Pure Compression] might hamper his ability to gain the skill.

He did learn something very interesting along the way though. He found out that he could use aura to enhance his mana control just a little bit. He found a way to stabilize his manipulations with aura. He still wanted to find how to use it to strengthen his body like the chieftain and Declan did during their spar, but it was progress.

Julius was many hours in and had been sitting out in the courtyard for the entire time, continuing to try. He used [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] to take away his exhaustion and also his bruises from before as well.

His skill’s ability to let him go without sleep was a massive advantage. He was tempted to say it was the most powerful part of the skill. While it wouldn’t save him during a fight, the long-term implications were insane. With the skill he wouldn’t need to sleep, which meant that he would be able to train for hours when everyone else was asleep. It would add up over time and the longer it went on the more improvement he would see.

---

It wasn’t until the sun was starting to rise that he finally succeeded.

Would you like to learn the skill [Mana Manipulation]?

He accepted immediately, feeling the skill ingrain itself into him.

Congratulations, you have learned the skill [Mana Manipulation]

He let out a sigh of relief. Several hours in he started to think he wouldn’t be able to do it. Hours of monotonous constant mana practice took a toll on a person mentally. He tried to spice it up and take breaks once in a while but those methods could only work so much.

Julius wanted to test it out immediately. He created one of his spikes just like he usually did and instantly felt the difference. [Mana Manipulation] activated automatically and he felt each step of the process of making the spike become streamlined. He didn’t even have to consciously think about it anymore, with [Arcane Construct] active as well, the spike formed within half the time.

It didn’t seem like a lot when it only took a second or two to form, but this was just a level 1 version of a general-ranked skill. He wondered how much it would improve when it got better. He was already glad he chose to get it. A prideful part of him had been reluctant to get the skill even though he understood why it would be smart.

Now he would experiment with it and see if taking it was worth it. He wasn’t too worried, because if it seemed like it was restricting him then he could always just remove it again.