Path to Transcendence

Chapter 148: Not What He Expected

Congratulations. You have acquired the Concept of Will: Inexorable Resolve.

The first feeling that Julius felt was overwhelming joy. It was the joy of achieving something after putting in so much effort. The culmination of his dedication.

However, the next immediate feeling he felt was confusion.

What the hell?! After all of that, it still didn’t work? He didn’t understand.

He hadn’t actually gotten a Fire Concept. He had gotten a Concept of Will instead, which was equal parts interesting and annoying. After all, he had been going for a Fire Concept and still didn’t get one in the end.

Although, he did wonder about what his new Concept was all about.

Inexorable Resolve sounded pretty cool and seemed like it would fit a couple of his skills well for when he upgraded them to epic. He was thinking about [Savage Dance] and [Empowerment of Will] specifically. Those two skills would probably be good selections for skills that could benefit from the new Concept.

A piece of him was still disappointed that he didn’t have a Fire Concept, but the other more rational part of him reassured himself that learning a single Concept was better than nothing. In fact, a Will Concept might have been a better Concept to learn anyway. A Fire Concept wouldn’t have gone well with some of his other skills that still needed to evolve to epic.

At least this way, he had at the minimum two possible skills that should easily advance with the Concept of Inexorable Resolve.

He hadn’t realized it until now, but he had already been setting himself on fire for a while at this point. He must have been so concentrated that he lost track of time.

While he hadn’t gotten exactly what he had been trying to get, he got something very nice instead. He thought that was a good way to leave things. He stood up and dusted off the remaining ashes from his skin, using aura to help cleanse all of the small flakes of it from his body.

It was actually a good way of training his aura. It required him to encapsulate his entire body. He would have to remember that for the next time, he got covered in grime.

Once he got cleaned up, he stood up and put on his clothing before he left the room. He didn’t need to scar some random student for life because he forgot to put on a set of clothes.

However, as he was just about to place his hand on the door, something stopped him. He looked over his shoulder to where he had been sitting on the floor. Small scorch marks still lightly singed the spot where he was setting himself on fire.

“...”

With a frustrated groan, Julius rubbed his face with both hands. He looked back and forth from the door to the spot on the ground with a conflicted expression.

He sighed in defeat and found himself walking away from the door and trudgin back to the exact spot where he had been torturing himself. He shrugged off the clothing that he had just put on and sat back down.

Sometimes he hated how stubborn he could be.

His plan had been for him to leave the room and go find a nice spot to eat the other cake he saved for himself. He had purposefully not eaten the cake and wanted to wait until he had learned a Fire Concept.

And while he had learned a Concept, it still wasn’t a Fire Concept. He felt like if he were to stop now after going so far as burning himself alive, it would be incomplete.

He still had several more hours until sunrise and he tried to convince himself that it was still possible that he could still get a Fire Concept. And the least he could do was try.

Before he could pull out or somehow dissuade himself, putting it off for another night. He ignited the fire mana and engulfed himself in violet flames.

The searing pain was familiar and after the brief respite, it felt way more intense. He was no longer in that state of mind where the pain faded in the background. He was no longer as desensitized to the pain. It was as if the break had made the pain worse.

He choked on his own tongue as he tried to prevent himself from screaming in agony. He was hating himself for being so hardheaded.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Julius repeatedly and angrily insulted himself.

[Savage Dance] was running on full power. He was pumping as much as he could to the skill. However, it wasn’t enough and he instinctually reached out to his new Concept.

It wasn’t that hard to get a grasp of. While the process wasn’t as similar as his Sharpness Concept, the way he could use it was.

His newly learned Concept of Will: Inexorable Resolve, flowed through Julius’s soul and gave it a jolt of energy. The power of the Concept surged throughout his soul, body, and mind. It was almost instantly that the pain went down a few tones.

Just touching upon his Concept of Inexorable Will tuned the sensation of burning flesh and nerve endings down a notch. It wasn’t enough to magically make the pain go away but when you were in as much pain as Julius was in, every bit helped.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

[Savage Dance] was working overtime, keeping his focus razor-sharp. However, Julius was able to sense that the skill latched onto something inside of Julius’s soul. It was almost like steel marble being drawn to a magnet.

Suddenly, [Savage Dance] grabbed ahold of his Concept of Inexorable Will and infused it within its structure. The effect was much more dramatic than just touching upon his Concept of Will. It wasn’t like the skill had evolved yet, but it was almost there. Julius could feel that it only needed a small push.

On the other hand, his concentration skill had suddenly elevated to a point beyond its normal strength. It changed enough that not even [Empowerment of Will] was able to keep up with it. It was as if the aura skill was no longer on the same level as [Savage Dance]. It still managed to help a bit, but there was a chasm between the two skills that hadn’t existed before.

It was like his mind and soul had been fortified and nothing could prevent him from his goals. And his goal at the moment was to try to get a Fire Concept before the night was over.

He didn’t know if it would happen, but he did know that it wouldn’t be because he gave up and chose to eat cake on a bench instead.

There was nothing else in his mind other than feeling the way the flames interacted with his body. He paid attention to how each inch of flame turned his skin to ash and also noticed how [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] reworked his flesh.

He could distinctly feel the life and fire mana within him weave into complex matrixes and regenerate his flesh. He got into another state of focus that rivaled the one he had just entered not too long ago when he learned the Concept of Inexorable Will.

[Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal lvl 17 -> lvl 18]

[Savage Dance lvl 19 -> lvl 20]

He was so in the zone that he didn’t even realize that he had leveled [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] or that he had finally gotten [Savage Dance] to level 20. He distantly sensed that he got a notification but he knew that it wasn’t what he was going for. His mind was entirely focused on something else. He was still trying to reach a Fire Concept and he was damn close to it.

He knew that something was missing though. He went through everything he experienced with the last two Concepts he acquired and tried to find similar commonalities.

He racked his brain and still couldn’t quite find what he was looking for.

Come on you son of a bitch! He yelled inwardly.

Julius knew why he wanted a Fire Concept. To him, a Fire Concept represented a big piece of himself. It was like the raging flame that was buried deep in his soul. A flame that was hungry for more power. A flame that would destroy and burn down everything in his path. A flame that would turn his foes to ash before they could take what was his.

However, something in him told him that wasn’t quite right. There was more to fire than just that.

Julius couldn’t explain why he did what he did next. There wasn’t a reason or thought in it. It was just pure instinct and going with the flow.

He released the shell he had created around himself. Fire wasn’t meant to be contained. It was meant to be free. Whether it was to burn everything down in its path or whether it was to warm the heart of the soul on one’s darkest day.

The shell he created to contain his fire was the antithesis of what Julius wanted his life to be.

The second he released his construct, the flames exploded outward, swallowing the entire room in violet flames. The heat was intense and the stone floors were turning red from the heat. Luckily, the enchantments in the room managed to withstand the power of his fire.

However, as soon as released the fire, it was like he had released the congestion that had been stuck in his soul. It was simultaneously relieving and exhilarating. An overwhelming sense of clarity hit him.

He knew exactly what had to be done, he just needed to reach out and take it.

The flames that billowed around the room were snuffed out and he took back as much fire mana that he had pushed as he could. He realized that he had been silly.

He hadn’t needed to burn himself alive like some idiotic animal. He just needed to come to a simple realization. He was the fire, his soul was the flame of life that would illuminate his way down the path to transcendence.

Congratulations. You have acquired the Concept of Fire: Blazing Ember.

Julius released a huge blast of fire that roared loudly throughout the room. His eyes were literally glittering with flames and excitement as he finally felt the final piece slide into place. He released an audible sigh and laid on his back.

Honestly, a small part of him had doubted his ability to gain a Fire Concept. Ironically, despite his Concept that was called Inexorable Resolve, he wasn’t one hundred percent confident.

However, it all worked out in the end and that was all that mattered. He was still a little frustrated that he hadn’t needed to set himself on fire, but on the other hand, setting himself on fire had enabled him to gain his Concept of Will, which directly led to him gaining his Concept of Fire.

So, he guessed it all worked out anyway.

He got up once more and put on his clothes again. This time for good.

He looked up at the time and noticed that a couple of hours had passed since he got Concept of Will. He hadn’t even realized how long he had been at it. Looking back on it, it felt more like a fever dream than anything else.

When he left the training facilities, he did see a few students wandering around. It wasn’t that surprising, many of the students were already Tier 3 and required much less sleep than Tier 1 or Tier 2s. Therefore, it wasn’t uncommon to see some people either stay up late or wake up early before the sun rose.

Julius navigated his way toward the edge of campus, to a spot that he had noticed the other week. It was a large cliff that overlooked the entire ocean. He created himself a small chair that he placed on the very edge of the cliff and sat down, enjoying the chilly breeze.

He was tired. More tired than he had felt in a long time. It was that same soul weariness that came from the last time he gained a Concept.

He felt Drasil slowly release a gentle trickle of energy to Julius’s soul from his spot in his core. It was much more potent than last time, but so was Julius’s soul. The effect lessened the soreness, but it was still clearly there.

He turned his attention back to the view. The moon was glowing brilliantly and illuminated the entire horizon, casting shadows on the waves down below. It was the perfect place to enjoy a piece of cake.

He brought out a slice of the cake he had been saving out of his spatial ring along with a plate and utensils to eat it with. This cake was different from the last cake. This one was a simple vanilla cream and strawberry cake. Admittedly, he didn’t really know if these particular fruits were strawberries, they only looked like them. Still, so far this world has shared some strikingly similar food items with his old one, so he wouldn’t be surprised if they were indeed strawberries.

As he was enjoying his well-deserved cake, he noticed that he had another notification waiting for him to see. One that he must have missed when he otherwise occupied.

[Savage Dance lvl 19 -> lvl 20]