The second it was over Julius released all his skills immediately and dropped to his knees. He hadn’t realized it as he was doing it, but his brain was literally burning away during that last test. He was bleeding profusely from every orifice and could barely even remember his name.

It was only because of his instincts that [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] activated. His brain felt like melted ice cream and it was almost as if someone had just taken a big old bite of his brain. He didn’t know if it was because he used [Empowerment of Will] on [Savage Dance] or if it was because he was doing so much.

It wasn’t just his mind that was injured, it was also his soul that was damaged. That might be why [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] was struggling to heal him. It had already been close to a minute since he began healing himself, but he still wasn’t fully healed. His head was still fuzzy but he was luckily getting better, he could feel it.

An entire arm took less than half a minute, but it seemed that healing his brain or soul was much more difficult to heal. There was a soft red glow from his skill, enveloping his entire body. It was the first time in a while that he had been worried for his own health. Ever since he had gotten [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] he had been very willy-nilly about his health.

But seeing the amazing skill struggle to heal him, was an eye-opener. He had to pay close attention to injuries that weren’t physical in nature. Maybe he would need to be a little more careful in the future

After what seemed like forever, the cloud in his head was starting to abate. He could finally take a deep breath again without feeling like he was swallowing his own tongue.

The only silver lining in his misery and pain was the fact that it wasn’t in vain.

[Savage Dance lvl 18 -> lvl 19]

[Empowerment of Will lvl 10 -> lvl 11]

[Mana Slash lvl 13 -> lvl 14]

[Mana Layering lvl 14 -> lvl 15]

[Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal lvl 14 -> lvl 15]

The last several levels of rare-ranked skills were very very difficult to achieve. So it felt very rewarding. However, he felt like he deserved it after putting himself through something like that.

He was still kind of out of it and he almost overlooked the notification of [Mana Layering]. It took him longer than it should have, but he eventually recognized that he had finally reached the end of uncommon. After all the time he had spent cooped up in here, he was finally done.

[Mana Layering] has reached level 15. Would you like to evolve the skill [Mana Layering]?

A part of his was a little nervous. He had been taking a chance when he chose [Mana Layering] over [Advanced Mana Manipulation]. He had been looking for a skill that would evolve well with his others, and also thought that [Mana Layering] was the better skill for him.

He would like to say that he hadn’t regretted choosing the skill so far. In fact, he was glad he made that choice. [Mana Layering] was an extremely good skill. There was no way Julius could incorporate so many complex and robust mana layers into his constructs without the skill. He had also learned much about the process via the skill.

He mentally selected yes, and waited for which options he would have.

Skill [Mana Layering] is evolving… possible advancements: [Complex Mana Layering], [Multi-Layer], [Compound Barrier], [Composite Mana], and [Compound Strike].

Julius was happy to see more options than he had been expecting. The books he had read about [Mana Layering] said that there were many evolutions documented. However, most people only received a couple of choices at most. The author hypothesized that the skill only offered advancements that fit the user well.

For example, a shield-using warrior would get a skill like [Compound Barrier] or other known variations such as [Multi-Barrier], [Layered Mana Shield], and other defensive-focused abilities. There were also people who had gotten some sort of mana resistance skill out of it.

Julius had seen firsthand how potent a good mana resistance skill was. Gabriel used his to great effect.

He did the usual thing and went down the list. First, there was [Complex Mana Layering]. Like normal, it was most likely the general upgrade path and did everything that [Mana Layering] did, just with some extra oomph to it. He definitely didn’t mind that option. After all, the skill was great and he would love to keep many aspects of it.

With that being said, he felt like he was reaching a plateau of how much he was able to learn from the skill. Before he got the skill, layering mana was not an easy task. It took way too much mental focus and time to prepare and was not always done effectively. However, now that he had been using it so much, he was much more comfortable with those aspects of mana manipulation.

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If he were to have the same choice of choosing a skill evolution for [Mana Manipulation], then he would not choose [Mana Layering] again, no matter how much he enjoyed the skill. He would most likely decide to choose [Mana Saturation] or [Mana Absorption]. That was because he would like to learn those skills in order to get a better grasp on those specific usages. He was beginning to comprehend that skills were not just great power boosts, but they were great teaching aids as well. Especially the mana-specific ones.

Even [Mana Slash] had shown Julius many aspects of mana manipulation that he would not have seen if not for the skill. That might be the reason why [Advanced Mana Manipulation] was not the best option.

The generalized version of the skill was seemingly more of a jack-of-all-trades type of skill. You become proficient in many aspects of mana manipulation, but end up not being great in any of them. At least, not without some sort of specialized training, and mana skills were in his opinion, some of the best training aids you could find.

He was even thinking about learning all those skills if he was able to clear enough skills slots. He wondered how far his mana manipulation skills would go if he tried to get all the skills he was offered after [Mana Manipulation]. Skills like [Mana Hardening], [Mana Overload], [Mana Weaving], [Mana Absorption], and [Mana Saturation].

Would they combine into an even more powerful skill, or would they just be great ways to refine his mana control? Okay, enough distraction, back to the skills, he reminded himself.

The next skill was [Multi-Layer], which was an odd skill in his opinion. Based on what he had read and heard about the skill, it was very versatile. Although many people throughout the years had gotten the skill, the way their version was meant to be used differed drastically.

There was a blacksmith who had the skill, who was able to use the skill to layer multiple layers of metal over one another easier. Another was a chef who was able to use the skill to layer flavor for their dishes. This didn’t mean that each skill was easily able to do that, only that the functions of the skill varied based on the individual.

In Julius’s case, he wasn’t expecting anything like that. He thought he was being offered more of a common variation for mana layers, which would allow him to create many layers with much more ease. He had a feeling that it would also extend not only to just mana but also to other sources like aura. It was definitely an option to consider.

The next skill was [Compound Barrier], which was for sure a defensive option he got because of his usage of mana layers to protect himself. He didn’t really look that much into the skill. He had been more focused on [Composite Mana] when he had done his research but it sounded like a good skill.

To be honest, he kind of needed a better defensive skill. He had been relying on his constructs and [Kinetic Augmentation] for his defense most of the time, but it was something he was realizing was an area that could use some improvement. Everyone else he had fought so far, had some sort of really hard defensive protection, or some sort of failsafe skill like Aubrey’s teleportation skill. So a skill like this one would serve many purposes. He did have [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] though, so there was that.

Continuing to go through the list, there was [Composite Mana]. This was one of the skills that he had seen when he had been looking through the evolutions of [Mana Manipulation]. There were a few reasons why he was really interested in a skill like this. For one, it was a skill with strict requirements to get, the person who wrote about had only gotten it after much trial and error. He didn’t say how exactly, but he was very generous with his praise of the skill and how it was able to synergize with some of his other skills.

Another reason was the fact that composite meant something made up of several elements or parts. This seemed like a perfect skill that would encapsulate the various skills he used to create his constructs as well as the affinities he used as well.

A part of him was still trying to use the kinetically enhanced flame and believed that [Composite Mana] would enable him to more freely combine two separate affinities. His whole goal for many of his constructs was based on combining many things into a single powerful construct, so the skill was high on his preferred list.

If he had [Arcane Construct], [Pure Compression], [Composite Mana], and maybe something else, he believed that they would have a really good chance of working off one another. He didn’t want to discount the other skills so quickly, but this one definitely one of the skills he had been looking out for specifically.

The other skill came more as a surprise. He was thinking that [Compound Strike] came because of what he had just done with [Mana Slash]. He had overloaded two separate edges of blue mana over one another before he shot out the disc. To be fair, he didn’t know if that even had any effect on the overall power of the technique, but it seemed like it was enough to get him another option to choose from.

Just going off the name alone, he was assuming that it was a similar skill to [Compound Barrier], but with an offensive specialization instead. He did wonder if one or the other was better, or if they were of similar quality.

It did sound very nice for a damage skill. But he had a feeling that he did not need another amplifier to his damage capabilities. Even without using some of his more explosive constructs, he was able to fold that pathetic noble the other week like a camping chair. He knew that the man wasn’t exactly the golden standard for a fighter, but he was still Tier 3 and was stronger than most of the population.

Not to mention, he already had [Mana Slash], which he was now able to use on his constructs. It had taken a lot of mental effort, but he had seen with his own two eyes, that it was possible. It would take more practice until he felt like it was a viable option for combat, but there was potential for sure.

Furthermore, [Mana Slash] was almost at the point of evolution as well. Who knew what type of options he would get? But he was pretty confident that they would mainly be offensive skills.

He was still pretty confident that [Composite Mana] was the skill he wanted, but just in case he wanted to see if there was any more research he could do regarding the other options. Taking several hours out of his day wouldn’t hurt him.

He got back to his feet and was getting ready to leave when someone knocked on the door of the training room.

I wonder who that could be. Julius asked himself.