Path to Transcendence-Chapter 349 - 347: A Nice Assassin

Acquiring a Space Concept had opened a lot of doors for Julius. Not only had he already evolved a skill he had been wanting to evolve for a long time, but he now had new opportunities for other skills.

Skills such as [Flash Step] and [Spatial Crack].

Which was why after he had split up from Lily and her family, he went straight to a training room.

Speaking of Lily and her family, he was still trying to figure out if things went well or not. He didn't feel like they hated him, which was good news. However, he found that it was hard to get an accurate feeling from either of her parents. Both of their auras were so well controlled that it was next to impossible.

Shrugging his shoulders, he put his attention toward his next skill on his list of upgrades. [Flash Step] was already at level 18 and had been stalled there for quite some time. But with a little bit of effort, he believed he could help move it along.

So, with an excited step, he went over to the training rooms. But imagine his disappointment when he saw that the entire area was closed down. For some reason, the doors to the training area were locked.

He knew the graduation ceremony was soon, but he would have thought they would leave the training areas open until then. Now he wasn't able to use them.

He sighed. Luckily, he had other spots he could use. So without harping on it for much longer, he went over to the trail and climbed down the rocks to the bottom of the beach. He saw that there were many students down there, already partying.

He assumed most of them were fourth years, but he was pretty sure he saw some younger students mixed in with them.

He actually spotted Darren dancing around a campfire like a buffoon. The big guy had two drinks in his hands and threw up large swaths of sand each time he spun around. Some girls were yelling at him to stop, but they didn't seem that serious since they were laughing as well.

He did end up spotting Irene and her friends as well. But it wasn't like he was the only person who was looking around at others. Irene spotted him and she gave him a small nod toward his direction. He smiled back at her but shook his head when she made a gesture to invite him over. He pointed down the beach, letting her know that he had other plans and she shrugged her shoulders, letting him go.

He walked by a lot of other students who were just having fun, though. Students were using their skills and mana to do a bunch of dumb stuff. One person was in the middle of creating a halo of mana underneath over a dozen people, trying to float them high over the ocean waves. He spotted two water users who were having a water fight. Huge waves of water were crashing against one another, making some of the other students complain and others laugh or cheer them on.

Shaking his head at their antics, he walked for a long time until he finally found a completely empty part of the beach. He could no longer hear the loud yells and screams from the students.

It was only then that he began to train [Flash Step]. However, he made sure to do his best to utilize his new and sparkly Concept when he used it.

***

He was throwing up large waves of sand each time he used his skill. Each time, he felt like he was getting closer to implementing his Space Concept with the skill. But like always with rare skills, it was hard for the skill to use the Concept properly.

However, for some reason he was having an easier time adjusting with his Space Concept. He would have thought that because it was a more advanced Concept compared to most of his other ones, he would have had a harder time, but perhaps that it already had good synergy with the movement skill helped matters.

Eventually, he felt something within the skill change. It was slight, but he noticed it.

The distance he was able to travel was usually heavily limited, but this time he had extended this distance by a foot or two more. However, he also felt a weird flow of energy wrap around him. It wasn't quite like being in the void, but it was close enough that it felt distinctly familiar.

Grinning widely, he kept on using [Flash Step], trying his best to capture that same feeling once more.

He dashed from one side of the beach to the other repeatedly. He managed to replicate the sensation a few more times, and he was slowly learning how it worked. It wasn't so much about infusing the skill with his Space Concept as it was about infusing his entire body with the Concept and then using the skill.

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He was just about to crank up how much of his Concept he was going to use when he noticed a weird mark of mana or space appear out of nowhere. His new [Absolute Spatial Perception] skill was pinging him, and he was certain that this mark didn't belong to him.

He didn't believe he had created one using [Spatial Crack] during his training. He also didn't think he could have created this mark. It was far more complicated than his own skill. That was the first warning that something was wrong.

The second warning was that a wide and discreet isolation barrier appeared around him. The barrier itself was quite a beautiful creation. The way it blended into the ambient mana was seamless, and honestly, he would not have been able to tell if he didn't just upgrade his perception skill.

It was only thanks to the improved functions of the skill that he could discern any difference.

It was why he wasn't that surprised when a black blade made of some weird energy tore at his head through this pocket of space. However, he was surprised at the speed at which it did. Even with half expecting it, he almost found his face getting cut in half. He barely managed to lean his head back and activate his skills in time.

He sensed another pocket of space appear behind him, and another blade was slicing towards his neck. He evaded this one as well, but what he was more curious about was the fact that he didn't sense another person yet. As far as he could tell, these blades were coming from nowhere. He couldn't tell who was throwing them at him.

He wished he could say that he was frustrated that someone was trying to kill him again, but honestly, he was pretty excited. Of course, he wouldn't tell Lily or the others this, but it helped him keep his edge. When he returned, he had been too relaxed and let his guard down.

It was why that woman had been able to stab him without him noticing in time. However, ever since then, he had been slowly regaining that edge. And he also remembered just how much he enjoyed it. He also wanted to fill the void of missing the end of the tournament, and this might do that.

It was why he could feel his cheeks twisting into a grin as he turned his head to avoid another blade. These blades were practically invisible to the naked eye, especially in the low light on the beach. Thankfully, he didn't rely on eyesight to fight.

The problem was that he couldn't figure out where these blades originated. The portals were easy to track when they appeared, but figuring out who was using them was a different problem.

He did his best to send his willpower into these portals, but they disappeared before he could.

Whoever this person was, they managed to create an isolation barrier that kept anyone from interfering, and they had a skillset that allowed them to bombard him with practically invisible blades of black mana. Not only that, but it wasn't like he could disregard these attacks either.

These blades were very dangerous, as he could feel some kind of Sharpness and Darkness Concept attached to them. Sadly, he still couldn't figure out who was attacking him. On the bright side, he wasn't feeling that pressured because he could predict where these blades were coming from, and he took this opportunity to train his movement skills.

While some would question his sanity about training during this situation, he would argue that this was the best time to do it. The stakes were high, and the person who was attacking him was surely Tier 4 at the very least.

The Authority mixed into the blades said as much. He was also pretty sure that this assassin was much better than the other three who had attacked him. This was because he couldn't even make a dent in whatever these blades were made of. His willpower washed over them, and he wasn't able to destabilize them. It wasn't like he was dealing with other Tier 3s like he had during the tournament.

And so he dodged. And then he dodged some more. Each blade got close, and sometimes he messed up [Flash Step] when he was training it. The extra foot or two of distance meant that he wasn't able to correctly judge the distance he needed to travel.

A few times, these dangerous blades nicked him because of his mistake. This is where he found out that these blades had some type of corrosive energy. It wasn't apparent at first glance, but he definitely took notice when a small cut started to enlarge on its own.

A small cut would tear open even more, and he had to focus on wiping out this energy. He chose not to use his healing skill yet. He learned that hiding this particular skill always gave him an advantage against people who were unaware of it.

With that being said, he was seriously contemplating when he had a pretty large gash from one of the blades across his stomach. He had to use some fire mana to scorch the injury and burn out the corrosive energy.

Funnily enough, it worked pretty well. Whatever this energy was, it wasn't death attuned magic, but it was weak against fire.

That wasn't the only good news either.

He didn't know it was because of the stressful environment or something else, but he found that he was adapting quickly. Then before he knew it, he had earned a level in the notoriously difficult skill to level up.

[Flash Step lvl 18 -> lvl 19]

He let out a joyful cheer but yelped when his enthusiasm almost got him cut in half. Still, he smiled happily and continued to use this chance to get this skill to level 20. He had a good feeling that whatever he would be offered would be much better than [Instantaneous Step].

Or rather, he really wished that it would be. Otherwise, his risk would have been for nought.

In the meantime, he took advantage of this nice assassin who was helping him improve his skills. Maybe he could finally reach level 20 in [Flash Step] with the man's help.