Path to Transcendence

Chapter 329: Approaching Match

People in the stands were surprised when they saw Edgar lose. After all, Edgar was one of the favorites to win. In contrast, Aubrey was a strong but considered a weaker contestant.

Julius wasn’t surprised, though. Neither were the others. They were cheering just as loudly, if not more so, than if Edgar won. All of them knew how much effort Aubrey had put in this past year. She had put in more time and sweat training than anyone else. If anyone deserved this win, it was her.

However, when Julius clapped loudly and yelled out to Aubrey, he noticed someone was looking at him. Still cheering, he turned around to see who the person was, but wasn’t surprised at who he saw. Off to the side of the student section was Liam, his next opponent.

The blue-eyed boy stood out from the rest as he wasn’t clapping. He was simply staring at Julius with an icy stare. Julius didn’t know if the fourth-year was trying to intimidate him or something, but he casually threw Liam a small, challenging grin. Something that the other boy seemed confused by, and had him frowning back at Julius.

Beside Liam were his friends, and Julius noticed Darren, his previous opponent, also looking toward Julius as he had seen Liam’s concentrated stare. Smiling a bit more widely, he gave a small acknowledging nod toward the large fourth-year.

Darren grinned lightly when he saw this and reciprocated with a small nod of his own. Liam saw this and jostled his friend’s shoulder with an accusatory stare. To which Darren shrugged his shoulders in response.

Julius chuckled lightly and turned away to join the others in cheering once again.

***

His match approached quickly, and before he knew it, he was getting ready to leave the others to head over.

Aubrey and Edgar joined them after their match just in time to watch Derek’s fight. Edgar didn’t seem that down about his loss; he wasn’t a sore loser, and Julius knew that this would only motivate the guy even further. Julius didn’t think Edgar would lose their next fight in that manner again. Aubrey was going to have to find another way to beat Edgar.

When Julius beat Edgar with his aura and willpower, Edgar spent almost his entire free time training his aura. It got to the point that Julius was no longer able just to overwhelm Edgar, making the fight much more complicated since Julius actually had to break down Edgar’s defenses, much like Aubrey had done not too long ago.

It was quite an impressive feat considering Edgar had made such vast changes in only a few weeks. Thus, he couldn’t imagine that Edgar wouldn’t be doing the same thing with Aubrey.

Speaking of the girl, she was surprisingly graceful in her victory, at least for her standards. A lot of the time, she won during a spar or a simple competition, she would prance around and tease whoever she beat. This time though, she held back and simply had a gloating smile whenever she looked over at Edgar.

To which he ignored her with practiced ease.

Derek had fought a pretty decent opponent. Julius put him on the level just below Edgar, but Derek was just that good. Julius was almost certain that the Zenith Scion had an Emblem of his own, but since he hadn’t fought Derek yet, he didn’t know for certain.

But something was telling Julius that Derek had one, and he was simply hiding its existence until he was forced to reveal it.

“You got this. You are going to slaughter that arrogant prick,” Aubrey said passionately as he got up to leave and prepare for his match.

“Thanks, Aubrey,” he said with a grateful grin.

“Remember to be careful of his icy mist, it’s how he deals with warriors so easily. Try to avoid it if you can, and use your fire mana to fight it off. But if you get caught by it, remember that he will try and smother you with attacks, okay?” Edgar advised him.

Julius nodded gratefully. He had seen a couple of Liam’s previous fights, and as arrogant as the other boy was, Julius had to admit that Liam was skilled. There was a good reason why he was in the conversation as the strongest fourth-year. Julius shouldn’t underestimate him just because he can beat Tier 4s.

Those Tier 4s weren’t elite fighters like Derek or Edgar. While their tier was higher, their skill was still far behind. He knew better than anyone that there was always a chance to win, and he really didn’t want to give Liam that chance.

If there was any fight he wanted to win, it was this one. Liam had never been a very nice person to him ever since his first days at Goldencrest, and Julius really wanted to get him back for it.

***

Lily POV

“Are you worried?” She asked Aubrey. Although her friend wasn’t showing any outward signs of nervousness, Lily could sense a small fluttering of anxiety rolling off her.

Aubrey gave her a reassuring pat on the hand. “I’m okay. Just some silly thoughts.”

“He’s going to be fine.”

Lily turned around to see Derek sitting down beside them. Fresh off his victory, he was smiling brightly.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“What held you up? Too many girls clamoring for your autograph?” Aubrey teased.

“Jealous it’s not you?” Derek shot back.

“A little bit,” Aubrey shamelessly admitted with a firm nod.

This took the wind out of Derek’s sails and instead of saying whatever he had loaded up, he sighed. “I was busy talking with Lord Holten,” he said in a whisper to them, simultaneously looking at Lily meaningfully.

She understood the request and quickly set up an isolated barrier to prevent other people from overhearing their conversation.

“Lord Holten? You mean that asshole whose apprentice let the assassin get away?” Aubrey asked once the barrier was up and running.

“He’s not an asshole, Aubrey, he’s a family friend who happens to have a young brash apprentice,” Derek rebuked her. However, Lily could tell that Derek was still a little frustrated at that fact as well.

Furthermore, neither Lily nor Julius had told the others about their late-night adventure yet. They both decided to let them focus on their matches and not distract them with it. Plus, her family was already handling the interrogation of the woman, although she didn’t know how well that was going to go.

It would all depend on how rigorous her contracts were. According to Julius, she might have been from Clan Genshen, which might be difficult because they had some very solid soul contracts. They would just have to wait and see.

“What’s going to happen now?” Edgar asked.

“What do you mean?” Aubrey tilted her head and looked at him.

“Like, what is Julius going to do? Someone clearly wants him dead, so is he going to leave or is he going to stay in Heston? I can’t see him staying exactly where they know he is, as a good idea.”

“Well, he has to stay for the rest of the tournament, right?” Aubrey pointed out.

“He already has the slot for the Interschool Tournament. He doesn’t really need to stay if he doesn’t want to,” Edgar argued.

Lily nodded her head in agreement. There was no real need for Julius to stay. Whoever was trying to kill him had enough information to know when to attack and had the ability to hire three Tier 4s to do so. In the middle of Heston, no less.

“But I was looking forward to beating him during the finals,” Aubrey complained.

“You already know that you are not going to beat him,” Kyle muttered out of the blue, fumbling around with some kind of new tool in his hands.

Aubrey stared at him as if she couldn’t grasp what he had just said, or rather, in disbelief that he had the gall to say that.

“Why would you say that?” She asked with a pointed look.

Kyle, likely only now understanding how mean his words could have been interpreted, looked up at her. He saw her face and winced apologetically.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. But we all know Julius perfectly counters your skillset. His perception skill is just too good and your clones won’t fool him,” he explained.

“I realize that, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a chance,” Aubrey grumbled, looking for support among the rest. Support she wasn’t finding anywhere on their faces.

“What? Oh, come on? Nobody thinks I can win?” She asked in utter disbelief.

“He has always been a really bad matchup against you,” Derek said hesitantly, afraid of hurting her feelings even more.

“Well, yeah. Of course. But that doesn’t mean a girl can’t hope,” she said, depressed, pouting off to the side.

They ignored her, knowing that she would recover in a couple of minutes.

“So what were you talking to him about?” Edgar asked,

“He was discussing what I was going to do after the year ended,” Derek said.

“Have you decided? I thought you were still on the fence,” Lily commented.

“I am, but he offered an interesting idea.”

“What was it?” Edgar asked, equally as curious as Lily.

“He was approached by a friend who runs a guild here in Heston and was offered a chance to delve rifts around the Endless Forest. He offered me, as well as you guys, the same opportunity,” Derek explained.

“Wouldn’t that be kind of dangerous?”

Derek nodded. “Of course. But that same danger will help push us toward Tier 4 faster. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to spend the next five years slowly working my way through Tier 3.”

Edgar nodded. “You already know that I don’t plan to do that.”

“So would you guys be interested?” Derek asked curiously.

Aubrey seemed to take this moment to stop pouting and stood up excitedly. “I am! I actually already talked to my mother about it, but she said it was too volatile to delve there by myself. But if I mention that you guys are coming too, she might say yes.”

Edgar also nodded. “I wouldn’t mind at all. I know we had some plans already, but this sounds even better.”

“I can’t. I am going to start an apprenticeship with my uncle after the school year ends. I don’t think I am going to have the time to do so. Also, fighting isn’t my sort of thing. I don’t mind taking several years to advance. I am not in a rush,” Kyle said to them.

They all nodded understandingly. They knew that Kyle had no genuine interest in fighting. He had his own passions and dreams, and they weren’t about to stop him from trying to achieve them.

Derek looked over at Lily. “What about you?”

She looked off toward the distance as she thought about how to answer. She wasn’t a fighter like the three of them, and she hadn’t planned to rush her way to Tier 4. She had plenty of time and was going to be handling a lot of work for her family.

However, a voice in her head told her that it would be a mistake to give up this opportunity. It has already been over ten years since the last monster flood, and the next one is expected to happen pretty soon. She would like it if she were strong enough that she didn’t have to worry about her safety as much during this time.

Advancing to Tier 4 would help a lot with this. She also felt a bit pressured. In the past, she never felt the need to become the strongest in the group and was always quite confident in her strength.

Her psychic abilities made her a scary threat, and while she wasn’t going to be winning any tournaments, she wasn’t to be messed with. With that being said, she was also kind of influenced by Julius’s own power. She had a feeling that if she didn’t take this chance, he was going to leave them far behind, with nobody there to support him.

She didn’t want that. Not at all. She could already imagine the mess he would create if nobody was there to tell him to stop blowing things up. His own limbs included.

She looked over at them as they waited for her answer. ”Iʼm in,” she said with more confidence than she was actually feeling.

However, Aubreyʼs subsequent cheer and hug helped alleviate some of her anxiety.