Path to Transcendence

Chapter 67: Hand-to-Hand Combat

After Julius finished Professor Hashen's class, he was tired. He hadn't used [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] all day, he wanted to see how far he could push himself before he wore out. He was starting to feel the soreness from his Physical Training class and the last ten minutes of his sword-fighting class had been a struggle.

Now that he had stopped using [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] Julius realized that he had quite poor conditioning. It had only been due to [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] and his prior healing skill that he was able to keep up with the trolls, otherwise he might have collapsed from exhaustion within the first few days. It was something that he definitely wanted to work on. That was the reason why he hadn't healed himself back to full health.

However, now that he had reached close to his limit, he felt like he could heal himself. He took a deep breath and found himself in a secluded area where nobody was around and activated [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal]. Julius released a loud sigh of relief as he felt the life and fire mana flow through his body.

His skin was covered in a warm fiery glow as the skill healed his muscles, fatigue, and mental exhaustion from the day. Within a few seconds, he was already feeling completely better. He no longer had the stiffness and heaviness in his limbs that had made swinging a sword difficult. It made him appreciate his skill.

It was such a good skill, it was probably his most powerful one. However, that was also the reason why he wanted to stop over-relying on it. He felt himself building bad habits because he had an overpowered healing skill to fall back on. He would sometimes be careless or stupid because he knew if he lost an arm or got critically injured he could heal himself back to perfect health.

His poor conditioning was a perfect example of a weakness caused by his skill. He never had to push himself to the brink of exhaustion unless he didn't have any more life mana, and if it ever reached that point, he was already practically dead.

Even against the trolls, no matter how hard it had been at times, he didn't remember feeling too exhausted to continue. So he decided that he would need to work on his conditioning. Because he believed that the more endurance he had, the less life mana he would have to use to keep himself in fighting shape. He would be able to use that mana to heal himself of injuries or to save his own life. He had a lot of mana, so sometimes he didn't pay attention to how much he used. But looking back, he had been extraordinarily wasteful. Close to half of his life mana had been used to keep him from getting tired. Something that he could easily work on with just some time and patience.

Now that he was no longer dead tired, he was ready for his next class. Hand-to-hand with Gabriel might be the most anticipated class for him. He had already gotten a good idea of what Gabriel had to offer firsthand. Julius felt like he would be able to learn many crucial things from him.

Sword fighting was nice and all, but Julius didn't really use a sword. He might in the future, that was why he had training with one, but at the end of the day, Julius really liked the feeling of hitting something with his own two fists.

There was something very satisfying about smashing his knuckles into a monster's face or getting up close and personal, knowing that a single misstep could kill you. When you fought barehanded, there wasn't a sword or spear you could hide behind. There was no weapon that gave you a reach advantage, just you and your opponent.

The class would take place in the main training facility that most upperclassmen used. It was also where most of the larger classes took place. Julius didn't know how many spots were available for this class, but he wouldn't be surprised if there were more people in this one than any other of his classes.

When he entered the facility he was amazed at how different it looked than the other buildings he had gone to today. Everything was just bigger, the rooms, the space, the equipment, and even the doors were larger.

Julius noticed there were already close to fifty students there and it was still a good ten to fifteen minutes before class even started. Most of the students were older classmates. He only saw a handful of first-years standing in the large open room.

He did see the red-headed girl and tall guy who were in his Physical Training class. They stood out with their first-year uniform and Tier 2 aura. However, Julius also saw Edgar's large figure standing off the side. Next to him were Aubrey and surprisingly Lily. He knew that Aubrey had gone to sign up in the morning after Edgar and he did, but he didn't remember Lily mentioning signing up too.

He knew from some clues that Lily had a mental affinity but he didn't know she was interested in fighting barehanded. It hadn't just been Julius who noticed him, Lily also saw him and tapped the others on their shoulders, letting them know he was there.

Julius made his way to them, maneuvering around the crowd of students.

Edgar smiled while reaching over and giving Julius a heavy pat on his back when he got to them.

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"So how was your first day?" Lily asked excitedly.

Julius smiled at her enthusiasm. "It was a lot less eventful than I thought it would be."

"Yeah, most first day of classes consist of the professors talking for most of it. It can be really boring at times," Aubrey said to him.

"It was definitely not the kind of excitement I was expecting. Though I did like Professor Youma, Professor Rowe, and Professor Hashen," Julius informed them

"Not Professor Stewart and… who was your Physical Training professor again?" Aubrey asked.

"I think he said it was Professor Edwards, if I remember correctly he was an assistant professor last year," Edgar added.

"Yeah, that was it, Professor Edwards. Why didn't you like them?" Aubrey asked.

"Professor Edwards wasn't bad, but he didn't strike me as a professor who wanted to be there. Professor Stewart wasn't bad either, but I just didn't agree with her philosophy." Julius answered.

"What didn't you agree with?" Lily asked him.

"I didn't like how rigid and structured she explained mana control and I thought the exercises that she wanted the class to do were slightly boring," Julius told her.

"Oh, I thought you might have liked her. She helped me a lot with my own mana control. I don't have a lot of talent for [Mana Manipulation], but she helped me figure out a way how to consistently use it as long as I practiced." Edgar said.

"Yeah, I didn't think her methods were wrong or anything, but for someone like me who is more freeform, it doesn't seem like a good fit," Julius explained.

Julius understood that her methods had merit, but it felt so different than his own methods.

"Anyway, you said you have Professor Youma?" Edgar asked him.

"Yeah, you guys know him?" Julius inquired.

Lily jumped in all excited, "Of course! He is one of the longest-teaching professors at Goldencrest. He is also a really strong Tier 4, and the only reason why he hadn't gotten to Tier 5 decades ago was because he sustained an injury that prevented him from advancing. But most of everyone on campus agrees that he is one of the best professors. He almost exclusively teaches first years, but every year he teaches something different." Lily informed him.

"He is also very good at aura control and might be the one teaching your aura control class," Edgar told him.

Julius still hadn't found out who his aura control professor was, unlike his other classes, they only gave him a room location but not the person who taught it.

"I hope so," Julius said and then turned to Lily. "I expected the other two to be here, but I was surprised to see you here as well."

Lily looked down at that, "Yeah, Aubrey and I signed up together after she spent hours trying to convince me. I signed up but told her I hadn't decided if I was going to attend or not. It was only after the others told me that it would be a good idea to learn how to defend myself if someone gets close that finally convinced me."

It was a good idea in Julius's opinion. Mental affinity users were typically used in more of a support role or in rare cases, became offensive mind mages. That meant that they were usually weak in close combat but learning how to defend yourself might save Lily's life one day. She might not be able to defeat her enemies with her bare hands, but she might be able to survive long enough until someone saves her.

"Well if it means anything, I also think it is a great idea," Julius told her.

"I know right? Lily is really strong as long as she keeps her space, but once someone closes the distance she is more vulnerable than a cake left out in the common room," Aubrey said.

Edgar was about to add something else, but before he could Julius saw Gabriel or Professor Keller show up with a large group of assistant professors following him like little ducklings.

Julius hadn't been paying attention to how many students had come in after him because he had been busy talking with the others, but now that he had taken a look he was shocked to see close to a hundred students crammed into the large gymnasium.

Professor Keller looked just like Julius remembered. His large and imposing frame strode into the gym, looking around at the students. His gaze came across Julius's for a second, and Julius could have sworn the man had grinned his way, but it was hard to tell.

Professor Keller stood in front of the students, looming over them. "I want you guys to separate into three groups, the first group is for people who have little to no experience with hand-to-hand combat. The second group is for people who have some experience but are of the intermediate level. Then the final group is for those who think they are at an advanced level. Make your choices, wisely, we will be coming around to check and will change your group if we determine so."

His voice was just as deep and resounding as Julius remembered. It had a way of commanding people to do exactly what he said. This was why Julius was unsurprised to see every student hustle into the group they thought they should be in.

Edgar and Aubrey went over to the advanced group not shocking Lily or him. Lily and Julius on the other hand went over to the introduction group. Julius didn't think he actually belonged in this group, but he had several reasons for doing so.

The main one was that he wanted to stay with Lily. She was clearly uncomfortable being here and trying out barehanded fighting, she had done a lot for Julius already, so he believed that this was the least he could do for her.

Once everyone got into their groups, the assistants passed out silver bracelets to everyone. They would be sparring right off the bat. His other classes talked about slowly getting into a rhythm before they started sparring, but it wasn't that way with Professor Keller. He threw everyone, newbie or not, into the deep end.

Those who didn't have a partner had one chosen for them. The assistants were just going around making observations and writing things down on a piece of paper. They also helped the students who were openly having issues. Luckily, Lily and Julius were each other's partners and for the first few minutes just tested each other carefully, warming up.