If there was one thing that Julius wished he could go back in time to fix. It would be the exact moment he arrogantly stated that learning a Fire Concept would be easier than learning the Sharpness Concept.
He quickly found out how very wrong he was about that. He initially believed that since he had already touched upon the realm of Concepts it would make his next one that much easier.
It was a claim only a person like him with little experience would have been able to make. He was glad that nobody had heard him say that out loud. If the others had heard it, he would not have heard the end of it for the rest of his days.
Though to be honest, he did feel like he was genuinely close to learning it. It was kind of like trying to thread a tiny piece of string into an even tinier needle and every time he was just about to get it through, he did something to fuck it up.
Without fail he would flinch or drop the string, ruining everything and making him go back to the start.
The first couple of days that he was unable to learn the Concept were frustrating, but he assured himself that it would just take some time and dedication. However, when over a week crept around, he started to feel like something wasn’t working.
While he hadn’t spent his entire time on his Concept training like he had done with other things in the past, he still spent a lot of time. Whenever he wasn’t going to class, eating, practicing his aura with Lily, or training his other skills, specifically [Quick Step], he was meditating like some monastery monk.
Yet, nothing.
The only good news was that during the past week or so, he had almost gotten [Quick Step] to level 15.
[Quick Step lvl 7 -> lvl 14]
That wasn’t all though. Some other skills made some impressive progress as well.
[Kinetic Augmentation lvl 17 -> lvl 18]
[Barrier of Severance lvl 11 -> lvl 12]
[Empowerment of Will lvl 15 -> lvl 16]
[Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal lvl 16 -> lvl 17]
He managed to level up [Barrier of Severance], [Empowerment of Will], [Kinetic Augmentation], and surprisingly [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal]. The first three were given, considering that he had been spending a lot of time using those three skills alongside his [Quick Step] training.
[Empowement of Will] had seen some great improvements from his practice sessions with Lily whenever they had a chance. He always enjoyed it when they trained together. He was actually surprised that the skill only leveled once. He felt like his aura had made way more improvements than a single level might indicate.
[Barrier of Severance] was the newest rare skill in his arsenal and he had found himself making excuses to use the skill whenever he could. Even if it was just for layering a barrier of sharpened mana over his utensils to cut through his food easier, he made sure he used it as much as he could. Thus, it was not a surprise that it leveled up during the past week.
Plus, it also worked well as willpower training if he infused it with his Concept of Severing Will.
Getting another level in [Kinetic Augmentation] wasn’t a surprise either. He had been using that skill the most with his [Quick Step] skill. The two of them worked well together. The kinetic body skill was able to reinforce his body well enough that he was able to push more mana through [Quick Step] than he normally would have without it.
One thing that he had learned about the difference between using kinetic energy and using [Quick Step] to move, was the fluidity of his movements. [Quick Step] was quite an impressive skill because of its ability to maintain a certain level of control of his movements while still being explosive. Whereas, blasting kinetic energy from his feet was just plain explosive and sheer acceleration.
The real interesting thing though, was when he used both in conjunction. This, by the way, was more difficult than one might think, using both manual applications of kinetic energy alongside [Quick Step] was challenging. They both functioned fundamentally the same, yet there were unique tendencies for each ability that made it not so easy to use together.
However, the final result was pretty funny. Not only was his movement faster once he used both of them, but they also produced an interesting byproduct. Whenever he would stop, a blast of mana and kinetic energy would explode from him, creating a loud boom and shockwave.
He didn’t see any practical reason for this technique yet, but he did think it would provide a very nice surprise to anyone he was looking to scare. He was going to keep it in mind for whenever Aubrey or someone else annoyed him.
His healing skill came as the most surprising level increase. However, when he thought about it, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t been using the skill often. In fact, it was the opposite. He had been using it almost constantly to heal his fatigue whenever he got tired from using [Quick Step] so many times in a row.
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Perhaps just the sheer amount of times it was used in succession caused it to level up. Usually, it required a more unique application of the skill to gain levels, so gaining a level from simple grinding was not expected, but very appreciated nonetheless.
Still, not getting a Fire Concept was a bit of a sore spot for him. He had been really hoping that he had some talent with Concepts. He had accepted that his affinities weren’t the best, but his large mana pool and his ability to train for endless hours were more important in his personal opinion.
That’s what was on his mind as he walked toward the training facilities with a purposeful gait.
He had just eaten dinner with the others like usual. They talked about their days and anything exciting that may have happened. Aubrey mentioned a little run-in she and Edgar had with Liam, but nothing too dramatic.
Julius didn’t have much to share either. The only thing that happened in his classes that stood out was Applied Combat. He was beginning to see why it was the most student's favorite class they took.
Today they had continued the same monster-fighting exercises, but this time Professor Rowe had introduced some small environmental factors. Nothing too drastic but they were things like uneven terrain and other objects that forced students to pay attention to where they placed their feet.
It was even good practice for Julius and his [Quick Step]. The loose gravel and protruding rocks were a great way to focus on the more delicate and precise applications of the skill. He noticed that many of the other students, specifically noble-born ones, had a difficult time adjusting to the new conditions.
He suspected that much of their training had taken place on flat stone surfaces. They simply weren’t used to fighting and moving around on rugged surfaces. It was a very good idea and a wise exercise to implement early on.
Edwin had drilled that into Julius quite often. He made sure that Julius was aware of where his feet were at all times. Edwin told him that he had seen many people take a sword to the face because of an unexpected slip on some mud or a loose stone.
It was better to learn now than later when they were fighting monsters for real. The worst thing that could happen would be a monster digging its claws into your chest because you tripped over your feet. They wouldn’t have simulated combat devices to help them in a rift.
However, that was all that stood out. The monsters weren’t difficult to defeat. He had only needed to use [Kinetic Augmentation] and [Quick Step] so far. Perhaps, that was why he was doing this. Maybe, he felt like he needed something more exciting to help him learn a Fire Concept.
He hadn’t told the others at dinner about his plans. They most likely believed that he was still going to his aura class. He had a slight feeling that they would disapprove of his idea. And they wouldn’t be wrong, Julius would agree with them that what he was about to do wasn’t something anyone else should attempt.
With that being said, he had his ridiculous healing skill that he loved to take advantage of. Which is the sole reason why he was even contemplating what he was about to do. But at the very least he felt pretty confident that he wouldn’t die, which was comforting in a weird sense.
He didn’t know if he was psychologically disturbed when he thought of these ideas. It was like someone was whispering in his ear about all the questionable things he could do all the time. Most of the time he has learned to ignore it, but sometimes he caved in to its alluring promises.
He was still shaking his head to himself as he passed several other older students who also were using the facilities and entered a room, closing it behind him.
He made sure all of the enchantments were activated before he took off all of his clothing, even his underwear. He then sat down in the middle of the floor and started to pull fire mana from his core.
He quickly controlled it so that it gathered about all around him, not allowing it to leave several feet from his body. He pumped a good amount, enough that it made a dent in his reserves.
Once he felt like he was all set, he closed his eyes and calmed himself. As soon as he calmed down, he ignited all of the fire mana around him. Like a spark in a chamber of gas, the fire mana soon became a raging inferno that surrounded his entire body.
There weren’t any explosions, thankfully. He had been intent on creating a fiery flame, not trying to explode himself into a million pieces. That wouldn’t be smart. For obvious reasons.
He didn’t want to test if [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] would be able to heal that much. He wasn't that confident yet.
The first thing he noticed wasn’t the heat. No, in fact the heat wasn’t all that bad. Although he was practically barbecuing himself alive, his skin only got seared a little bit. The pain was very manageable, especially with [Savage Dance].
No, the first thing that he realized was the fact that he could barely breathe. The fire was using all of the oxygen in the air to fuel itself, not leaving enough for Julius to breathe. It wasn’t something he was accounting for, but he quickly learned that it was a real issue.
He was able to go without air for much longer than a normal person, but since he was still Tier 2, he still had the biological requirements, such as necessity to breathe.
He immediately began pushing life mana into his healing skill. He didn’t know if life mana would save him from asphyxiation but if it could regrow his limb completely, he thought his chances were pretty good.
With that being said, he was very glad when the pressure to breathe began to alleviate. He didn’t know how life magic worked exactly, but he was very grateful that it did. Otherwise, he would have needed to stop this test or find another way.
Now that he had fixed that issue, he got back to the main problem at hand. He wanted to completely immerse himself in flames. His little test with blue fire wasn’t enough to get him a Concept, but he was hoping that something a little more extreme would give him that extra push.
He had actually gotten this idea from Derek, ironically enough. He had mentioned how his grandfather had put him inside of an artificial storm with lightning to help him learn a Lightning Concept.
That was sort of the idea that Julius was going with. He was hoping that enough exposure to fire would allow him a deeper connection with it.
Therefore, he settled his naked body down and let the flames engulf him like a human torch.