Path to Transcendence

Julius tried to check the tag but it didn’t say anything that would indicate a price. Curious, he brought it to the half-elf at the counter. The shopkeeper looked up from the book he was reading as Julius approached.

“How much for this? I didn’t see a price on it,” Julius asked the man.

“Oh? The price for it is two gold and three silver,” the shopkeeper answered.

That much? For a tree branch?

“I’m sorry, but why is it so much? Is there something special about it?” Julius asked.

“Yeah, most people don’t know what they are, but that,” the man pointed at the branch, “is a life spirit seed.”

“Life spirit seed?” Julius had never heard of it before but it made sense considering the life affinity coming from it.

“Life spirits are naturally occurring spirits that are very useful for most life mana practitioners. Most get life spirits as familiars to supplement their life mana, allowing them to heal more often as they can use the mana from the familiar instead of their own. That one is only a seed, so it would require a lot more life mana before a spirit is born. That’s why it is only that much, otherwise, a newly born life spirit can cost up to a couple of platinum.” The man kindly informed Julius of this.

“That seems like a large increase for something that only requires mana,” Julius commented.

“Mana is only one requirement, time and care also matter a lot when raising a life spirit. It is not guaranteed for a seed to spawn a spirit, if the conditions aren’t met, the spirit fails to form,” the shopkeeper shrugged his shoulders.

Julius didn’t really need a life spirit and it was quite expensive, but he was drawn to it for some reason. He asked the man, “Could you do two gold?”

The shopkeeper thought about it for a second, looking at Julius and the seed with calculating eyes, “You can only grow it if you have life mana, you know.”

Julius nodded his head and gathered a small mass of life mana over his palm to show the shopkeeper he had the affinity.

The man had a look of approval on his face and smiled at Julius. “Sure you can have it for two gold. It’s been waiting for a good home for a while now,” he told Julius.

Julius happily paid the man and walked out the proud owner of a life spirit seed and two gold poorer. He didn’t mind the money. Money was meant to be spent and he had really liked the idea of raising his own spirit.

The shopkeeper had told Julius how he was supposed to take care of the seed. For one, he needed to feed it life mana twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. He also needed to make sure it was a comfortable environment, too much stress wasn’t good for the birth of a spirit.

Julius could handle it, in his old world he had a small plant he kept next to his bed for years. It wasn’t a spirit but he took good care of it for many years, even sometimes taking it with him on trips if he was going to be gone for extended periods.

He headed back to the guardhouse for the day, cradling the spirit seed with both hands. On his way back, he saw a stall that sold pretty-looking flowers and plants. He thought that the spirit might like being next to nature, so he bought several plants to put next to the seed.

When he got back to his room, he set up the plants on the table next to the bed before nestling the seed in the middle. Once he thought it looked nice, he took the glass lid off the case and admired the little branch.

It wasn’t quite night yet, but he thought a little life mana wouldn’t hurt the thing. So very gently he gathered some life mana and fed it to the branch. The seed instantly reacted to the influx of life mana and sucked it up through its leaves and branch. Julius observed as the seed pulsed softly with green mana. He kept feeding it mana until he felt it was no longer taking in any more.

He tickled the seed’s leaves and said to it, “All full little fella? I will check on you tonight to see if you are hungry again.”

He didn’t know if the seed could hear him, but he thought it wouldn’t hurt to start getting close to it now. If the seed birthed a spirit he was planning on taking it on as a familiar so building some goodwill was a good idea.

He left the room after making sure the seed was all comfy and well-fed. It was almost dinner time for him and he wanted to get a few hours of training before he ate.

Julius was laying into a practice dummy as if it owed him lunch money. Sweat was pouring down his back as his fists slaughtered the wooden figure. He didn’t take any breaks or use [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] to offset the exhaustion he was feeling. He just concentrated on covering his forearms in aura as he punched the dummy. Loud thumps rang out throughout the courtyard and his knuckles were getting shredded apart from his relentless attack.

Aura was an amazing thing, it was able to give his punches a heaviness to them that was hard to describe. It was like having massive lead gloves covering his fists but without any of the weight. Each strike should have shattered the wood if not for the runic inscriptions protecting the dummy.

However, he was approaching his limit. His form was becoming sloppy and his aura started to flicker around his forearms. He gave one last yell and uncorked a final punch that smashed into the dummy’s face.

Julius was out of breath and his arms were heavy beyond belief. His knuckles stung as the cold air hit the split skin. Many other guards who were training at this time of day were staring at Julius with bewildered looks. They were surprised to see a young boy Julius’s age attacking the dummy so brutally and were also surprised to see aura covering over the boy’s hands.

Julius noticed Declan was watching him from a window inside and Julius headed toward him.

“What did that dummy do to you?” Was Declan’s first question when he saw Julius.

“He owed me lunch money and I was showing him what happens when you don’t pay up,” Julius joked to him.

Declan just shook his head at Julius’s antics, “Remind me to never owe you money okay?”

Julius smiled at Declan, he had a feeling that even if Declan stood there in place of the dummy Julius would not be able to leave a mark on him without resorting to some of his more explosive methods. Julius still didn’t know exactly what tier Declan was and he didn’t ask. He wanted to find out himself. But his current prediction was a high Tier 4.

Orus was a Tier 3 on the cusp of Tier 4, so Julius was guessing that Declan was at least at Tier 4 if he was a vice-captain. Who knows, if Declan was high Tier 4 then maybe the captain of District 7 was Tier 5.

Declan talked to Julius for a while, asking about his day and what he did. Julius told him about the places he visited and mentioned the life spirit seed to him as well. Declan was supportive of Julius’s decision, he said that life spirits were always very useful and good familiars because of how difficult they are to destroy.

Apparently, some people stray away from familiars because of the risk of losing one in combat. However, spirits weren’t normal existences, part of them also existed within another plane, the Spiritual Plane. This made it hard for someone to completely destroy a spirit attached to someone as a familiar. It might take some time to reform and they have little to no direct combat power, but they were semi-immortal as a result. Julius didn’t know this when he bought the seed but was even more grateful for his spontaneous decision.

Declan and Julius talked about each other’s day more until Orus showed up around when dinner was being served. Declan excused himself, heading back to his home where his family was waiting on him for dinner.

After he left, Orus and Julius enjoyed a hearty meal together while talking about small things they did during the day. Orus was unexpectedly curious about the life spirit seed and wanted to see it after dinner. Orus hadn’t seen a life spirit up close before. Julius made sure to clarify that it wasn’t a spirit yet, that it was just a seed for now and would take some time before one would be born, but Orus wanted to see it nevertheless.

Julius didn’t mind, he was excited about the little spirit seed too and it might be hungry again so he could show Orus how he fed it. After filling their bellies, they headed up to Julius’s room.

When they opened his door Orus said to Julius, “You know there’s a lock and key to your door if you want some privacy at night or when you’re gone.”

Julius didn’t think that anyone would be dumb enough to steal at the city’s guardhouse but he did have the seed now and found himself already getting protective of it. Julius showed the little table where the seed was placed along with the extra plants he got on his way back home. Orus was more excited than Julius would expect, but it turned out that Orus wanted a blood spirit when he was younger but they were so rare that he never got the chance.

Blood spirits were very sought after by all blood users, this was because, unlike most spirits, blood spirits can be absorbed within one’s body and used to improve the quality of one’s blood. Having better quality blood makes a big difference to blood users. Unfortunately, there have only been a few confirmed sightings over the years.

Julius bent down to the table and gathered a small amount of life mana in front of the seed to find if it might be hungry again. It had only been a few hours, but who knows, maybe it had a big appetite.

It seemed like it did have a large appetite because it devoured the small amount of mana and Julius felt like it stretched out on its own like it was asking for more. However, Julius had an idea he wanted to see before he fed it more. He manipulated the mana in a similar way to how [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] worked. He wove an intricate braid of life mana and condensed it down with [Pure Compression] and presented it to the seed. The seed didn’t take it immediately, it was almost probing the life mana like it was curious as to what it was.

Finally, it seemed satisfied with its investigations and took in the mana. Unlike last time when he fed it, instead, the leaves were pulsing a brilliant green with more intensity. He could almost see the branch swaying back and forth. It was kind of cute in a way, like waving a hand. He knew the shopkeeper said the seed wouldn’t gain sentience until it was born, but Julius got the feeling that wasn’t the complete truth. The seed and the way it interacted with the mana, seemed intentional and alive.

He would make sure he kept an eye on the seed’s progress and note down any observations that might be out of the norm. However, he still had some training to do tonight, so he and Orus went down to the courtyard and Orus spent some more time going through some sword forms with Julius.

About an hour in Julius was offered a skill.

Would you like to learn the skill [Swordsmanship]?

He told Orus about the notice and he explained to Julius, “If you take the skill now, then you might not be offered any other skills relating to swords. That being said, [Sword Mastery] is a great skill and has many paths where it can branch out. It all depends on where you want to focus your fighting style.”

Julius liked the idea of learning how to use a weapon but he still wanted to primarily use his fists. He didn’t know what other skills might be offered instead later down the line, if any were offered at all. He also wondered what kind of skills he might be able to evolve [Swordsmanship] into in the future. He thought he might gain a skill similar to [Combat Trance] that had evolved from [Unarmed Combat], which eventually led to [Savage Dance] one of his most heavily used skills. Or maybe it would be specific to a sword. Something like a sword construct skill or something that used a blade as a medium to strike, like the more common skill [Mana Slash]. Though, he didn’t necessarily think he needed something like that.

There were just so many choices and so many decisions he had to make.