Path to Transcendence

Chapter 343: Somehow Worked Out

Lily noticed when he started to awaken because she helped him sit up.

“What am I doing here?” He asked her, confused at his situation. Truthfully, he had been half expecting to be somewhere in the middle of a forest because the teleportation went wrong. However, he never expected to be in Lily’s room.

“We were worried when you didn’t show up for the finals, so we had Professor Kellar help us find you,” she started to explain, but before she could continue, he interrupted her.

“What?! You’re saying that I have been unconscious for a whole day?” He couldn’t believe it. While he hadn’t been planning to show up, it didn’t mean he was expecting to be knocked out for a whole day.

It was certainly one hell of a way to finish the tournament. Though to be fair, he would consider this a pretty good way to end things. This way, he actually had an excuse for why he didn’t show up. Plus, the reward for winning would not have been anywhere close to as good as earning a Space Concept and evolving his skill.

“You were unconscious for almost a week,” she dropped a bomb on him.

“Almost an entire week?” He repeated in disbelief.

How had that happened? A whole week was a very long time and from his perspective it definitely didn’t seem that long. His time trapped in the void was less than an hour and while it was hard to estimate how long he was trapped in his soul space acquiring his Space Concept, it definitely didn’t feel like it was more than a few hours.

“What the hell happened? We were worried sick when you didn’t show, and we couldn’t find you. Then, when we finally did, you wouldn’t wake up no matter what we did. Even Professor Kellar told us that there was nothing we could do and that the best thing would be to leave you alone for you to figure it out for yourself,” she said to him.

“He said that? Did he have any idea what was happening to me?” Julius couldn’t help but question whether or not Gabriel knew what was happening to him.

“I don’t know. He seemed like he had a clue, but he said that if we wanted to know, then we would have to ask you when we got up,” she explained.

It was likely that the baldy indeed had some idea of what Julius was going through.

He puffed out his cheeks at that annoying possibility and looked around the room, noticing all of the decorations. Surprisingly, it was more girly than he had expected from either of them.

However, Lily must have seen him inspecting the room because she shook his shoulder. “No judging,” she rebuked him.

He held his hands up. “I’m not.”

She shook her head, knowing that he was. “So what happened? Did you learn a new skill that took you a long time to adapt to?”

“Do some skills take that long?” He asked interestedly.

She nodded. “I had one that took me several days to wake up from and another couple of months to actually learn how to use. I have heard of more extreme stories, too,” she said to him.

He shook his head at her. “I did get a new skill. But I don’t think that was the reason why I was unconscious.”

“Then what was the reason? You don’t seem injured, and except for you just vomiting, you have been perfectly fine health-wise.”

“I learned a new Concept,” he admitted. From what it sounded like, she had been taking care of him for the past week, and she deserved to know why.

“A new Concept?” She repeated, not sounding too shocked at his answer.

“Yeah. But it definitely didn’t seem like I was out for a whole week,” he said.

“What kind of Concept?” She asked.

He thought about how he wanted to answer for a moment and eventually decided that the truth usually worked out the best with Lily.

“A Space Concept,” he said softly.

She had been doing a very good job staying composed and calm this entire time, but when he said that, she visibly got agitated. She also immediately created a barrier that surrounded them.

“Are you serious?” She asked with wide eyes and a hushed tone.

“Yeah. I thought I told you previously that I have been working on acquiring one,” he said, confused at her reaction.

She looked at him in sheer disbelief before letting out a chuckle. “Working on one and actually acquiring one are two totally different things. How did you even do it?”

He shrugged. “I have been continuously meditating for a very long time, and with the new spatial skill I got, it made it much easier to experiment with.”

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It looked like she wanted to say something, but refrained. Instead, she just sighed. ‘I should know better by now,’ she muttered before looking at him with a soft smile. “Are you okay, though?”

He smiled back and nodded. “I am. Thanks for taking care of me,” he made sure to thank her.

“It wasn’t hard. Except for that,” she pointed at the small remnants of vomit. “You didn’t move an inch.”

He winced at the reminder of vomit on his chest. Realizing he also had a new pair of clothes on, which made sense because his old ones were destroyed. However, that also meant that they must have found him naked on the floor. He tried not to blush at that thought.

He quickly used some of his aura to carefully destroy the remaining vomit. The good thing about his ruinous aura was that if he was gentle enough, he could direct it to destroy small impurities like vomit and dirt.

When he was finally free of the stench of vomit, he looked at Lily.

“Do you think you could explain to me what happened during this past week?”

***

It turned out that Derek won. No surprise there. What was surprising was that the match for the winner went on regardless of his attendance. The school must have decided that they couldnʼt leave the spectators with nothing to watch, so with Julius’s forfeiture, they brought in Aubrey to fight Derek since she had been the last person to face Julius in the semifinals.

Aubrey faced Derek in the grand finals, and according to Lily, it had been quite the match. Aubrey had given Derek a good run for his money and earned the respect of everyone watching. Julius didnʼt even think the crowd was too upset that he didnʼt show. They were probably just glad they werenʼt left empty-handed.

What was amusing to hear was that Derek hadn’t been planning to show up for the finals either. Apparently, the boy must have suspected something amiss and decided to stay in his dorm. It took the combined effort of all four of them to drag the Zenith Scion to the stadium, only to find out that Julius was missing.

For some reason, he found that hilarious.

For the Tier 2 Tournament, Helen Cromweld had beaten out everyone. Polux had done well, but unfortunately, he came up short when he faced her. However, it was still an achievement he should be proud of. A first-year student winning against second-year students was still impressive. It was also one of the rare times when both grand finalists were first years. He would have to make sure that he congratulated Polux later.

Lily also explained to him that with the tournament over, the entire campus had quieted down significantly. The only thing really left for the fourth-year students was the end-of-year graduation ceremony.

There was some good news for him as well. His rewards for getting into the top four already distributed. Since he hadnʼt shown, he wouldnʼt get the second-place rewards like he would have, but that didnʼt bother him too much. Apparently, the difference was quite insignificant. Also, Gabriel had decided that it would be fine if Lily looked after it until he woke up from his slumber. To which she did.

However, the rewards were slightly disappointing. He knew that the Goldencrest Tournament wouldn’t have as many amazing rewards as the Inter-School one, but he was still hoping for something more unique.

He was given several potions. Some were to help him break through several bottlenecks in his skills. These ones didn’t have the nasty side effects of the cheaper versions either. They were all made by Tier 5 Alchemists and were pretty safe to consume. Which meant they were supposedly costly to make.

Of course, there was still some danger of over-relying on them to level up his skills, but he didn’t really plan to use them anyway unless he was having an extraordinarily challenging time.

In his opinion, if he wasn’t able to level them up then it was because he was lacking experience and creativity with the skill. That he merely needed to work harder.

He also received some mana and healing potions. This was a common reward because students often went on adventures after they graduated in order to advance to Tier 4. Sometimes, having a powerful mana or healing potion could make a huge impact on whether you live or die.

Other than the potions, he received special permission to delve into one of the school’s exclusive rifts. According to Lily, this rift was a bit special because it was known to increase one’s progress when cultivating their Emblem.

“Wait. How can you talk about Emblems? Doesn’t that mean…?” He trailed.

She smirked at him. “That I have an Emblem just like you? Yes.”

“Does everyone in the group have one?”

“Hmhmm. We are all at different stages, of course. Aubrey and Edgar were the last ones to gain an Emblem. But they managed to get one right before you got back,” she shared with him.

“And you?”

She gave him a proud grin. “Oh yeah, I got mine a while back when I advanced to Tier 3 with a Concept, which is why I had an Emblem pretty early. Derek was the same way. Although our Emblems were very weak at that time. We didn’t really know much about them yet. Our parents both agreed that learning about your Emblem on your own helps a lot later down the road.”

“That’s what everyone else keeps telling me,” he pouted.

She patted him sympathetically. “It’s the same thing for all young people who earn their Emblems.”

“I know it just sucks though.”

“You’ll survive,” she said with an amused shake of her head.

“I don’t know. Maybe, I won’t,” he said dramatically.

She slapped him before she continued to tell him some things that he missed. She was just about finished when Aubrey and the others walked in.

He was immediately bombarded with questions from everyone. Even Kyle seemed uncharacteristically chatty and asked Julius many questions about what had happened. He even managed to guess that Julius acquired a Space Concept, much to the surprise of Julius and everyone else.

However, he really should not have been. Kyle had always been a very good listener and could always tell what Julius was planning to do.

As the others asked him about his experience and made sure he was okay, he spotted Derek looking at him suspiciously. It was like the handsome fourth year suspected something.

Julius wasnʼt planning to tell Derek that he hadnʼt been planning to show up at all. His absence and unconsciousness actually helped him more than he could have known. Because at least this way, he hadnʼt technically lied to Derek.

Thankfully, his guilt faded when he learned that Derek had a similar idea. It made him feel better since the other boy had no foundation to point fingers when he also tried to forfeit.

Even if Julius wanted to show up, he wouldnʼt have been able to. Thus, Derek couldnʼt get mad at him. However, Julius still decided that he would never tell Derek the truth. It didnʼt matter that the guy likely already had a faint idea, he would take this secret to the grave.

Despite his rotten luck in a lot of things, it would seem Julius could have his own fortuitous moments.