He dusted himself off with a click of his tongue. He should have expected that. The implosion was just like the last time he collapsed a spatial crack. Only this time, the damage was many times more violent.

Apparently, it was bad enough that Cain must have heard the noise and come to check. Julius sensed the man's approach with his perception skill and then felt a gentle blanket of aura envelop the room. Upon entering, Cain saw that Julius was alright and looked at the exact location where the explosion had happened.

Julius noticed that Cain was wearing a set of pajamas and a soft pair of slippers. Despite the unthreatening clothing, the man still managed to look very intimidating.

Cain didn't even bother to speak to Julius. The man simply looked back at Julius, who was covered in some blood but had already healed his injuries, and without a word, turned around and exited the room. It was like the man didn't think Julius blowing himself up was a big deal and went back to bed.

Before Cain closed the door, Julius sensed a small barrier getting thrown up. At first, he believed it was some kind of barrier that would monitor Julius. However, upon closer inspection, he realized it was a barrier very similar to one Lily used to block out sound. The man hadn't even bothered to create a barrier to protect Julius. He had just done it to prevent Julius from interrupting his sleep.

Julius decided to refocus his attention on the skill combination. Even though the outcome of the first attempt was definitely not a success. There was a lot he had learned off the bat.

For one, he couldn't just flood the crack with the sharpened mana. He needed to be more gentle. That was the first priority. The second was that he required a lot more focus and willpower to keep the crack open.

Furthermore, the most important thing was that he wanted to prioritize the skills evolution path to a skill that could be used swiftly. The main issue with [Spatial Crack] was that it took a long time to activate. By the time he had created one, the enemy would have already attacked him or, at the very least, moved locations.

Thus, he wanted to see if it was possible to influence the skill in that direction somehow. He had learned that intent mattered a lot in acquiring skills.

Julius cracked his neck to the side and got back to work. He wanted to see if he could complete this task before morning. With the tournament coming up soon and not having a lot of time, he was going to break a few of the healthy habits he had created for himself.

He would lean on his healing skill to keep himself awake so that he could improve as much as possible in this short period. He also reminded himself that he should never tell his friends about this either. They would only get mad at him.

Of course, he would sleep from time to time, but he hoped only to need a couple of nights a week, maybe less if he pushed himself.

He removed Drasil from his soul space as well. The green glutton already knew what Julius had planned the moment he exited the space and looked at him with a disappointed frown.

"What? With your help, I am hoping that we can limit the soul stress this time around. Plus, I have never done it with [Phoenix Renewal] at my back," he reasoned toward Drasil.

Drasil released a small whistle, arguing with him.

"Hey, if it can heal my soul damage, then it should help prevent the damage from getting too bad as long as we are careful."

Another chirp from Drasil caused Julius to pick up the adorable spirit in his hands.

"I promise. The moment you say to sleep, I will go to sleep," he swore to his demanding little spirit.

This luckily appeased Drasil enough that he accepted what Julius was doing, despite his reservations.

Now that it was settled, Julius had some work to do. He was also probably going to collapse a few more spatial distortions while he was at it.

***

He was awoken to the presence of someone walking into the room. To his surprise, it wasn't Cain like he assumed it was. Instead, it was Freya. The woman had clearly woken up recently herself and was wearing a matching set of pajamas that Julius had spotted Cain wearing the night before.

He had probably only gotten an hour of sleep, but he believed that it was enough. After a quick little zing from his healing skill, his tiredness washed away. He made sure to keep it as gentle as possible. His training with Freya had helped him realize that his life mana was so much more efficient when he took his time.

The amount of life mana he expended was almost cut in half. Part of it was that he had a knack for mana manipulation, but he was also able to be a little more mindful now.

"Good morning," Freya called out to him.

He realized that she hadn't come into the room empty-handed. She had come bearing a gift, one that smelled absolutely delicious. The scent from the tray she had set down on the table was already wafting toward him.

The savory smell of grilled meat danced in harmony with the scent of freshly baked bread, creating a wonderful combination that had him salivating.

He got up right away. "Mornin'," he called back to her with a grin. "You didn't have to bring me breakfast," he said gratefully.

She waved him off. "I didn't make it. I just asked the chefs for an extra portion," she told him as she nibbled on some of the food.

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"I appreciate it anyway," he told her as he used a bit of kinetic energy to dash toward the food. Something that Cain had told him to do last night was to try to use kinetic energy for all of his movements throughout the day.

Even walking, he wanted Julius to control his body like a marionette. This almost ended up ruining everything, because he nearly overshot his dash and slammed into the food. Thankfully, Freya had sensed his movement immediately and covered the food in a protective layer of mana.

Once he was at the platter of food, he leaned forward to take in the smells. The platter was huge and had everything one would ever want for breakfast. There were several kinds of cured meats grilled to perfection.

Several different varieties of pastries looked so flaky that they would fall apart just from picking them up. There was also a smattering of eggs, potatoes, and other dishes lined up.

He didn't know where to start, so he grabbed a tasty-looking pastry and took a big bite.

"What were you doing all last night anyway? Trying to get a new concept or skill?" She asked.

He wiped the crumbs from his mouth and held in a groan as the layers melted on his tongue and he was hit with the richness of butter and the silkiness of whatever filling was inside.

"Sorry, what did you say?" He asked her, not having heard what she had said, because he was busy having a life-changing moment.

"What were you doing last night?" She repeated herself.

"I was trying to merge two skills," he told her truthfully. He didn't hide it from her; it wasn't like she hadn't just guessed it moments earlier.

"A skill that requires you to collapse and explode multiple points in space?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't able to get it right. They only collapsed because I failed," he explained.

It was true. He hadn't been able to figure out the trick. Nothing he did worked, and he tried a bunch of stuff. Toward the end, it was bordering on stupidity. He had tried to make an entire sword out of a [Spatial Crack]. That was how desperate he was to find an answer.

The only good news was that he gained a couple of levels for his commitment and stubbornness.

[Spatial Crack lvl 12 - lvl 15]

It was quite a lot of levels, even if the skill was only rare. But he also had to consider that he had already earned a Space Concept and made some significant progress in [Void Step], a skill that was much more difficult to use. It likely helped him a lot when it came to [Spatial Crack].

"What kind of skill are you going for?" Freya asked as she sat down in one of the chairs, a plate full of food in front of her.

"I was hoping to get some kind of attack skill that would make use of my Sharpness Concept a little better. I feel that, for a concept widely used in offense, I often find myself using it in supportive roles. I also want to open one skill slot," he explained as best as he could.

"You should ask for help from Cain. He has some experience that may be helpful to you. I am not much of a space mage. I have the bare minimum knowledge a Tier 6 needs, but that's about it."

This was the first time that he heard her confirm her tier. He had suspected that she was Tier 6 at the very least, but it was hard to know for certain. Her aura shroud was so perfectly controlled that he wasn't able to sense anything beyond a Tier 3.

"He has spatial skills?" He asked curiously.

"Yes, he has a powerful movement skill that has some spatial aspects and also an attack that utilizes unique spatial properties," she said to him.

"Good to know, thanks," he smiled at her.

"He told me that he offered you to become his disciple," she suddenly stated. "Are you going to accept?"

"I don't see a reason not to, but I also am not going to be staying around very long. I feel like I would be a bad disciple if I only stay around for a month or two before leaving," he pointed out.

She smirked. "He can come with you to the capital too, you know? I bet it won't take him much convincing to attend. He loves watching tournaments," she said fondly.

"You think so?"

She nodded confidently. "Oh yeah. Plus, he can help you train during the tournament. There will likely be a few breaks that you can use to train before the next round begins."

His brows lifted upon hearing this. That was definitely a possibility. One that he wasn't going to ignore.

Drasil must have smelled the delicious food as well because the glutton flailed around on the pillow that he had been sleeping on and ran over to Julius. Drasil had his mouth open and was staring at Julius with an adorable begging expression. The small leaves on his crown were shivering as Drasil pleaded for some mana.

Julius, the weak man that he was, crumpled right away and passed over an orb of highly compressed mana. Drasil had been enjoying the Sharpness Concept variety lately, and that was even more so in the cold mountains, like they were staying in.

"You are quite lucky that you formed a contract with little Drasil. Most people don't appreciate the use of a life spirit for combat purposes. They also failed to recognize the practically limitless path for growth spirits have," Freya commented.

"Yeah, limitless hunger for mana in his case," Julius mumbled, which got him a slap from the green spirit.

Freya chuckled when she saw this, and the three of them all tucked in and stuffed themselves with food or mana. However, as they ate, he felt Freya gently extend her domain to him. It was almost like she was asking permission, and so he allowed her access to touch his aura.

Her domain was cold, but it was a nice cold. It was like a cold, refreshing breeze on a hot summer day. He felt her use her healing skill on him. It was the first time that she had done this, but he knew right away that his skill paled in comparison to her Ice Phoenix skill.

There was such a profound depth to hers that his skill looked like a cheap mockery in comparison. At first, he was confused about what she was doing, but eventually he realized that she was alleviating his tiredness and soreness from the night before.

While he believed he had healed everything, she proved him wrong. His mind felt suddenly more awake and coherent. His soul also felt rejuvenated, despite not being pushed too harshly recently.

He also realized that the little healing session was likely very valuable. He suspected that many wealthy people would pay a substantial amount of money to receive the kind of treatment he had just received.

"Thank you," he said to her with gratitude.

"You can thank me by being careful. I will ensure you are healthy, but please don't make this a habit. I understand why, but it is not good for you," she explained sternly to him.

He let loose a small laugh. "Oh, trust me. I have already learned that lesson a while ago," he said to her.

She didn't do anything except shake her head, as if she had expected such a response and didn't have the energy to act shocked.

"I know. Your soul displays that quite loudly on its own," she scoffed.

He chose to ignore this and focus his attention on the plate of food he had organized for himself. He had a long night, and a hearty breakfast sounded just like the thing he needed. He had learned that sometimes food was a better healing tool than life mana.

This was a perfect example of that.