Chapter 496: Chapter 496

Julius felt the intense spatial energy wash over him like a crashing wave. Then he was shot out and tumbled to the ground with an excited grin on his face. But that slowly changed into a confused frown. He looked around and blasted out his sphere of perception.

Where in the hell was he?

He didn’t recognize where he was. Nor did he know what kind of skill or technique that guy had used, but it was pretty unique. From what he could tell, it was some kind of runic structure that used spatial energy as the primary focal point.

Not only that, but the circle did some very weird things to his mana. He didn’t know how it managed to do it, but his mana became almost entirely unresponsive. It was like being inside a Tier 5’s domain. There wasn’t the overwhelming pressure, but the way it managed to rip away his control was quite impressive.

It took everything in his power to focus on the skill structure for [Void Step]. Even then, something went very wrong. It was highly likely that the runic circle had done something to his skill. Instead of teleporting outside of the circle, he found himself inside the void for much longer than he should have been.

Thankfully, his healing skill ensured that he survived in the chaotic void for much longer than one usually should, at least long enough until he was able to return.

The runic circle had done everything in its power to nullify his skills and mana. It was something he wished he could have spent more time examining. It was one of the few times when he felt like he was unable to do something against another Tier 3’s skill.

The other skills he had seen were very special as well. The firestorm had been something to behold. He had purposefully let himself experience the flames just so that he could glean some information behind the skill.

From what he could tell, the guy didn’t have a Fire Concept, but had some other Concept that aided all of his mana-based abilities. There was also something else that seemed to help the older boy as well, but as for what it was, Julius had no idea.

Those massive pillars that attacked him were also quite beautiful to behold. There were several types of magic used to create the attack. While Julius didn’t believe he would be able to mimic the technique anytime soon, if ever, the sheer control on display was magnificent.

He couldn’t imagine the difficulty of controlling four various types of mana, not to mention keeping the barriers and flight magic active. Whoever the guy was, he was someone very impressive and very skilled.

Too bad Julius wasn’t able to prolong the experience. He had been enjoying every second of it, and it had ended so abruptly. Perhaps, he might be able to track down the guy again and convince him to show Julius more tricks. It wasn’t often he found someone in Tier 3 who could catch him off guard. He had a feeling that he would come across the mage again, and when that time came, he would be waiting.

“Now where in the hells am I?” He muttered to himself.

It was still dark out, and he wasn’t able to tell where he had teleported to.

At least he believed he had been teleported. It was hard to tell where, but at least he was still inside the Secret Realm. He would have been upset if he had accidentally left the realm before he could properly explore it.

He looked around and spotted the towering pillar of light. However, it looked like it was just as far away as before. Hopefully, that meant he was close to the same place he had been before.

He stretched out his arms and let out a yawn. It had been an eventful day, and with how late it was, he could use a little rest. He could find out where he had been transported to at a later date. For the time being, he wanted to eat some food.

He found a comfortable-looking area after a bit of searching. There was some natural shelter from several large boulders, and he set up camp. He took out all of his supplies that Lily had him buy and started to get comfortable.

A slight flick of his wrist created some furniture made of mana. He paid special care to make sure it was as soft as he could. He deserved it after such a tiring day.

As he slouched in the chair with his feet placed on top of an ottoman he constructed, he reviewed the fights he experienced during the past day. This realm had been a pleasant surprise. He had been tempering his expectations, but it was more challenging than expected.

In less than a day, he had fought several powerful creatures and people. He thought he had reached the peak of Tier 3, but he was quickly learning that there was no true peak. There were always people who were stronger and people who were better than he was at certain things.

That mage who had teleported him here was a great example. Julius still didn’t know what that runic circle was, nor how he was able to create it so swiftly and without Julius taking note of it. He couldn’t imagine that it was set up instantly; runic structures like that one typically took time to create. That meant one of two things.

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One, he was wrong about not being able to create something like that instantly. Or two, the mage had somehow been able to hide what he was doing from Julius’s senses.

He was leaning toward the latter being more likely. But that came with another problem. He had no clue how to remedy that. His mana senses were already excellent. Even Freya said so herself. So what could he do to make sure that didn’t happen again?

He racked his mind for half an hour as he recalled the most recent fight. He wasn’t able to come up with anything in the end, and so he decided to shift his focus to other things. His growling stomach certainly didn’t help matters.

He removed a bunch of food from his storage ring. He didn’t cook as much nowadays as he did when he was younger. There were just too many things to focus on and not enough time, but he had been getting the itch lately.

That was the reason he had snuck into House Zenith’s kitchen and did his best to sweet-talk the workers there. Thankfully, it didn’t take too much convincing on his end, and he was able to procure a large number of ingredients and spices. Apparently, being close friends with Derek had become common knowledge, and they practically threw stuff into his storage ring for him.

As expected from such a renowned house, they had the best of everything. He suspected that a lot of the stuff he had taken was quite valuable. Not that he was complaining.

He organized everything into neat piles as he decided what he wanted to make. Eventually, he picked up a nice slab of meat and started to prepare it. He did have a small expandable kitchen in his ring, so he had a good amount of equipment. Still, he wanted to keep it simple.

He set down a grill grate and created a small fire, warming it up. He wanted to test out his fire first before he actually cooked with it. He didn’t want to burn his food into ash after putting in all of the work.

His improvements with fire were quite potent, and it took a little bit of time to adjust the temperature of his flame. He almost melted the entire grill grate with his flames. Thankfully, he avoided that, and once he had things settled, he got to work. He prepared the meat, then used his aura to crush some herbs and spices, creating an herbaceous and fragrant marinade that he slathered all over the meat.

He took some inspiration from a meat skewer vendor he had been to in Heston. It had taken him several visits, but the man had finally given in and told Julius what he had used in the seasoning. Julius wasn’t sure if he got the ratios right, so he constantly tasted it until he felt like it was close to the original.

While he let the meat marinate, he got started on the other things. He grabbed some potatoes and peeled them with his aura. Cooking actually provided an excellent opportunity to hone the more delicate parts of his aura control, and he was able to use his Sharpness Concept to aid him as well. The Concept did a surprisingly great job at slicing the potatoes into a razor-thin sheet. He didn’t think he would have been able to do something like that if he had been using his hands. However, when he used his aura, it became possible.

He then carefully laid the sheets of potato into a tray, spreading butter and cheese between each layer. He also added some of the marinade to the mix. He hadn’t even cooked the potatoes yet, but the scent was already tantalizing.

He placed a cover on the tray and shoved it inside the oven that his fire mana had been preheating. He paid special care to keep his fire mana flowing at a constant rate, finding a nice balance that kept everything at an even and controlled temperature.

While he waited for that, he prepared some fresh vegetables. He wasn’t the biggest fan of vegetables, but Lily would have yelled at him if he didn’t at least have one vegetable.

He put a pot of extremely rich and savory broth on the grill. Then waited until it came up to a simmer before he dropped the vegetables in. These vegetables were quite hearty and took some time to cook, which was perfect for him. This would give them enough time to absorb some of the delicious broth.

Once he felt like they were done, he took them out of the water and sucked out all of the heat from them, effectively blanching them without the need for ice. Magic was amazing.

He still had time before the potatoes were finished, and he wouldn’t put the meat on the grill until they were finished, so while he waited, he sent his consciousness into his soul space. It had been oddly quiet in there, and he wanted to check up on his new resident.

When Julius entered his soul space, he was surprised at what he saw. His soul space was usually pretty barren. It was basically an empty space with many beautiful glowing orbs of light. However, that had changed quite dramatically.

The space looked more akin to the gardens at Goldencrest. Plants and foliage filled the entire area, and it was much brighter. There was even a small pond in the center of this garden. The glowing orbs in the sky remained, but his soul space felt more like an actual place than a spiritual representation of his soul.

He looked around, searching for his familiar, and smiled when he spotted the life spirit.

Drasil was doing what he normally did and was snoring away. The little guy had a blissful look on his face as he snuggled with a bundle of mana that looked like a piece of moss. Serahpyne was not far away, and she was in a similar situation. The turtle was knocked out and lying on the grass, next to the small pond. Her mouth was open as she snored, and her little flipper would twitch every once in a while.

Drasil must have sensed Julius’s attention because the little guy snorted and opened his eyes. He saw Julius and cooed excitedly, running over to him with a bright smile, flourishing his arm at the space proudly.

“I noticed! Looks fantastic!” Julius complimented Drasil. The life spirit preened under the praise.

“Has she woken up yet?” Julius asked, looking at Seraphyne.

Drasil didn’t reply and instead strolled over to her. To Julius’s surprise, the little spirit cocked back his foot and slammed it into the turtle. There was no reply, and Drasil kicked her again.

Still no reply. Drasil then proceeded to wail on the turtle’s shell with all of his might. Julius was about to stop his familiar, but he saw the shell wiggle slightly.

“I’m up! I’m up!” Seraphyne shouted drowsily, not seemingly too bothered by the brutal treatment.

Julius was about to say something, but thought better of it and instead decided to hold his tongue. He was too busy worrying about whether or not Drasil had picked up any of his habits. He really hoped not.