Past Julius would have thought that the second he had healed his soul, he would be back to training like he had been.

However, the new Julius had different plans. New Julius was smarter than old Julius and had a good idea. Or at least an idea that he believed was good. He didn’t think the others quite agreed with him.

The idea consisted of continuing to use the suppression device that Dante made. He had learned that the bracelet had a wonderful ability to help his mana control. His mana control was at a comparable level as his previous control without the suppression bracelet.

Not just his mana control either. His skills all seemed to take another step when it came to familiarity and ease of use. While his levels didn’t show his increased proficiency, he could feel it.

Even his more recent skill [Flash Step] showed improvement. Julius’s comfort with the skill was much more impressive than the six levels would indicate.

At the moment he had two main goals he set for himself. One was to learn a Space Concept with the assistance of Alice. The woman had promised him that once he had healed his soul she would help him gain a Space Concept. A Concept according to her, that was ridiculously difficult to acquire.

However, he loved a challenge and this one wasn’t going to prevent him from evolving his perception skill.

His other goal was a bit counterproductive to the first one. He wanted to try to take things more easy. He didn’t want to start lazing around all day, but he wanted to find the right balance for training.

His soul injury had shown that there was a clear issue with him pushing himself as hard as he had been. Even though he had a skill that could heal his soul, he didn’t think that was a good reason to beat up his soul again.

After he acquired Ashen Rebirth, he realized the importance of keeping himself balanced.

That was why he was on his hands and knees by the little plot of dirt he and Edgar claimed for themselves. He wasn’t alone. Edgar was over at his patch of potatoes and Drasil was next to him trying to help Julius as much as the little guy could. Which wasn’t that much, but it was the thought that counted.

He gently covered the seed he just planted with the soft soil and gave it a nice pat. He then poured a little bit of water over the top of it. This particular seed would supposedly sprout a little plant that created a berry that reminded him of a mixture of grapes and raspberries.

He thought that such a berry would make a wonderful jelly or jam. Or that was what he hoped at least.

He got up from his knees and brushed off the dirt from his hands on his uniform. He noticed someone coming up from behind him. Edgar had similar dirt-stained hands but that was overshadowed by the grin on the big guy’s face.

“I’m glad you offered gardening to me,” Edgar commented once he got within arm’s reach.

“I should be the one thanking you. It’s much more enjoyable with someone else tagging along. Lily and Aubrey didn’t seem to be interested,” Julius said to him.

Edgar gave him a soft knock on his shoulder. “I’m serious. I haven’t had the chance to do something like this for a while. I didn’t realize just how much I missed helping out on my parent’s farm. Also, this helps me relax, something I haven’t been doing much of late.”

“Well, that makes two of us,” he said with a grin. “Anyway, how does your family deal with the farm while you’re here at Goldencrest?” He asked.

Edgar gave a hearty laugh. “They don’t need my help. My father and mother could easily handle the entire farm by themselves if they really needed to. They are both some of the best farmers in the region, I would probably just slow them down.”

“They can handle such a large piece of land all by themselves?” He asked curiously. He remembered that Edgar previously mentioned that his parents owned quite a large plot of land. However, Edgar seemed pretty confident that his parent could do all of the work by themselves.

Julius wondered if that was due to some specific farming-related skills.

“Yep, they are both Tier 3s with skills that work very well with each other. My father could till the entire farm within a couple of days if he wanted to. But instead, he hires some local folk to help around. My mother forced him to start taking it easier a couple of years back.”

Julius chuckled as he imagined a smaller woman berating an older version of Edgar. He went over to another patch of open dirt and planted another seed. “Doesn’t your sister and her husband live on the farm as well? Do they help as well?”

“No, my sister chose to become a seamstress. Like me, her skills don’t really help out with farm work. Her husband is a pretty strong hunter though, he helps keep most of the monsters from preying on the animals and the crops,” Edgar added.

He was about to ask more about hunters when he noticed someone else approach them. It was someone he was familiar with. It was Tia Wellence, the plant girl from his Applied Combat class. She often came around this area, but they had never talked before. Julius sometimes left her a packet of snacks or something but that was the extent of their relationship.

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This was the first time the girl approached them on her own accord.

“Hello,” she waved at the two of them. Her voice was surprisingly soft, like a light breeze whispering through the forest.

“Hello,” Julius greeted her. “You’re Tia right?”

She paused as if him knowing her name was unexpected. “You know who I am? I mean I know who you are, but I was just surprised that you knew my name,” She said hurriedly.

“Of course, we have Applied Combat together. You have some impressive magic,” Julius complimented her.

She gave him a warm grin at that. “Thanks! I actually wanted to come over to thank you for leaving me all of the snacks. Me and Sila really enjoy them.”

Julius gave her a confused look. “Sila?”

Her eyes widened a little bit. “Oh sorry. I guess you wouldn’t know about her,” she apologized. However, before Julius could assure her that it was alright, she closed her eyes and concentrated on something.

Suddenly a green light bloomed on her shoulder. In its place was an ethereal little green squirrel.

Oh, interesting. What is that? Kind of resembles Drasil, he thought to himself.

“This here is Sila. She is my familiar,” Tia announced proudly. The palm-sized squirrel let out a tiny squeak as if saying hello.

“Oh, is that a plant spirit?” Edgar had gotten a grin on his face when he saw the little squirrel.

“You can tell?” Tia asked surprised that he knew what it was.

“Kind of. It looks different than other plant spirits I have seen, but its aura feels distinctly similar,” Edgar said.

Oh, is that why it feels different than Drasil even though they look similar? Julius noticed that Sila had a much darker green hue to her, whereas Drasil had a lighter hue to him.

“You’re right. She’s a unique variant that my brother found,” Tia said excitedly.

Drasil must not have appreciated Julius not introducing him as Tia had done with Sila and gave him a poke on the face from his spot on Julius’s shoulder. “Oh sorry, this is Drasil, he’s not a plant spirit but a life spirit.”

Drasil gave a coo and waved his stubby arm at Tia and Sila. “He says hello,” Julius told them with an amused smirk.

Tia got a glowing smile and seemed to lose all of her hesitancy when she saw the cute little life spirit. She got with a couple of feet and reached out her finger to Drasil. “Hello, Drasil. I am Tia,” she then looked at the squirrel on her shoulder. “This is Sila, my familiar. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Drasil like the gentleman he was, took ahold of the Tia’s finger. However, to Julius’s embarrassment, the little green spirit didn’t shake it, no he popped the finger into his mouth, sucking on it like a popsicle. “Don’t do that!” Julius hurriedly reached up and pulled Tia’s finger out of Drasil’s mouth.

“Sorry about that. He is a little glutton,” he apologized to Tia who looked more confused than anything.

Drasil didn’t seem apologetic in the least. Instead of looking embarrassed at getting called a glutton the cute spirit was proudly puffing out his chest like it was some sort of compliment.

Fortunately, Tia seemed to find this more amusing than offensive and let out a cute giggle. “He has quite the personality it seems.”

“You have no idea,” Julius said meaningfully looking at the spirit in question.

He heard Edgar clear his throat from behind. “Excuse me, but aren’t you going to introduce me, Julius?”

“Oh!” Julius exclaimed quickly. “I’m sorry. Edgar this is Tia, she’s in my Applied Combat class as you might have heard. You also might have seen her around here at times, she’s a plant mage. Tia, this is Edgar. He’s a fourth-year and one of my closest friends. Don’t worry he looks scary but he has the heart of a sweetheart.”

Edgar gave Julius an annoyed glare and Julius felt a warning smack on the back. However, he ignored the other guy’s reaction, he was more interested in the reaction of Tia. He watched curiously as Tia’s previously smiling expression turned into a much more neutral one. “Edgar Crow?”

The large fourth-year just stoically nodded his head and reached out his hand. “Yeah, nice to meet you, Tia.”

Tia blankly reached out her hand and shook Edgar’s hand.

“I’m sorry, but we should really get going. I don’t want to bother you guys any more than I have,” Tia such a little nervously before backing away and leaving promptly.

Huh, that was fast. I wonder what made her do that.

Julius pouted a little bit. “That’s a shame. She’s a plant mage so I thought she might have some good tips about growing berries,” he said disapointedly.

“Yeah, maybe she could have helped me grow my potatoes,” Edgar stated.

“Speaking of that. Why did she react like that?” Julius asked questioningly.

“That’s a pretty normal reaction these days,” Edgar said simply.

Julius turned to look at the larger boy with an inquisitive gaze. “What do you mean by that?”

Edgar just gave Julius a baffled look. “I sometimes wish I had your ability to ignore things.”

Julius was the one who gave Edgar a smack on the shoulder. “Can you stop being purposefully vague and mysterious? Just tell me why she acted that way.”

“Our little group is a bit famous as you might remember. That means situations like this happen from time to time?” Edgar explained.

“Famous?” Julius asked with a tilt of his head. “Does that mean I am famous too?”

Edgar shrugged his shoulders. “Kind of. Most people think you’re some poor straggler we collected on the way.” Edgar then walked back over to his potato patch and continued to work on it.

However, Julius followed him. “Does that mean most people who know of my existence think of me in more of a negative connotation?”

Edgar gave him an uncaring shrug. “Sorta.”

Julius sat down next to him. “I don’t know how I feel about that,” he said with a frown.

It kind of reminded him of when he was younger at the estate. However, during that time he had been purposefully acting weird and crazy. This wasn’t the same case. He was trying to remain pretty lowkey, but instead of that, he was becoming known as the charity case of the group.

He tried to think of a silver lining.

At least people will probably underestimate me, he tried to convince himself of his new fate.