Path to Transcendence

Stephanie POV

She and her team were stunned as they watched things play out.

They all knew that things would be extremely risky considering the danger rating on this mission, but they could have never expected something quite like this.

A group of Tier 4s attacking the caravan like they did was not something you would think would happen, but it was a possibility. Being attacked by a Tier 5?

That was very unreasonable.

For what reason would a Tier 5 attack them? She doubted it was the materials they were transporting. At that tier, you don't care for Tier 3 materials anymore. Clearing a Tier 5 rift would make you very wealthy just with the cores alone.

So why would this man attack them? She knew she wasn't the only person thinking about this either.

She released the breath she was holding as she observed the conclusion of the whole situation.

A large number of the caravan had up and left. Most of them had been merchants who abandoned their belongings once they saw the Tier 5 show up. But there was a large number of the escort teams who ran away as well.

While she doubted that the guild would punish them too severely, the fact would remain that they ran away from their duties. It wasn't expected for adventurers to throw away their lives for the people they protect, but there was a kind of professional integrity that you didn't abandon your clients to the dangers they hired you to protect them from.

So although they wouldn't be removed from the guild, it would likely be a dark mark on their records for the rest of their careers.

She doubted many of them cared. At the end of the day, reputation could be mended, but you only had a single life.

But now everything was fine. The Tier 4s were all taken care of and the Tier 5 was captured by two random Tier 5s who had shown up out of the blue.

This whole mission had devolved into a huge complicated mess.

"What the fuck just happened?" Beck voiced out a question all of them had, just in more crude terms.

"I think we got very lucky," Matt said aloud, taking a look at all of them. "We could have all died, but we were fortunate that we didn't lose anyone today."

They all took a look around at the dead bodies that littered the plains. Most of them were enemies, but there were people from their side who had also been killed.

People she had seen or interacted with in previous days. People she would never see again.

This was the life of an adventurer. Death was commonplace and part of everyday life. One got used to it pretty quickly.

"I was talking about Julius fighting against a Tier 5. A Tier 5 that ripped through Rolus like nothing."

Speaking of Rolus, she was glad to see that Adrian had gone over along with a healer to help their caravan leader. The Tier 4, while hurt and unconscious, didn't seem to have any life-threatening injuries. It also helped that his affinity meant he had quite impressive healing skills.

The Tier 4, although missing both of his arms, should be okay. Treatment for limb regeneration was expensive for a Tier 4, but considering that the man had lost them due to his duties and responsibilities to House Easten, she expected that the man's treatment would be covered by the noble house.

She was more worried about any soul damage. Fighting against a Domain could be dangerous, it was what made fighting against a Tier 5 as a Tier 4 next to impossible. This made her even more confused because Julius had been able to resist the man's Domain.

"I told you that I had a weird feeling about him," George commented to her, the man still looking over at where the boy was talking with the Tier 5s.

"You said that he could have been a traitor. I don't know what you saw, but I can say with confidence that he wasn't with them in any way," she corrected him.

"No, but he was hiding something," he tried to still point out.

Matt interrupted her before she could speak.

"Wait? You two knew that there was something off about Julius and you didn't tell any of us?" The man didn't sound mad, but he did sound a little hurt that the two of them didn't share their suspicions.

Stephanie looked at their team leader with a shake of her head. "We had no idea that Julius was that strong. George found his weak aura kind of suspicious and I found his mana control to be too skilled to not be strong. But there was nothing that would indicate he could take on a Tier 4 by himself, nevertheless, hold his own against a Tier 5 and his Domain."

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"So his aura was just a ploy to lower people's guards?" Pamela asked quietly. "I thought he was just a weak Tier 3 who advanced too early. But that aura he showed tonight… I have never seen something quite like that, not on a human anyway."

Beck scoffed. "Weak? Are you serious? You really believed that Julius was weak? Even I was able to tell that he hiding his strength." Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire

"Sure you did, Beck," Matt said in an incredulous tone.

"Yeah, how did you know, huh?" George asked.

"I knew after the first day when he noticed the group of monsters approaching before you or Matt," he said to their scout with a scoff. "Admittedly that could have been luck, but when it kept happening time and time again, it was clear it wasn't."

"And how did you know he sensed them first?"

"Because I felt his bloodlust and intent spike just before they showed up. He also was never surprised by their arrival, it was almost like he knew that they were already there,' Beck explained to them.

That she did believe. If there was anything they could trust Beck on it was his expertise on bloodlust and murderous intent. Beck had an uncanny ability to control and sense bloodlust. It was why he was such an effective tank. He could use this ability to taunt enemies and heighten his own battle prowess. And her teammates knew that too.

"And you didn't say anything either?" Matt asked.

"Why would I? He's a good kid and I for one believe he is privileged to his own secrets," the big man said confusedly. "I admit I was very shocked to see him fight though. I don't think I have seen a person fight using his own body parts as expendable resources."

"Yeah, you're usually not supposed to do that."

She still had no idea how he managed to heal like that. Even a healer like herself, wouldn't be able to heal such extensive damage like that without some sort of powerful item or natural treasure to assist her. He must have regrown his limbs at least a dozen times over the course of a couple of minutes.

Regardless if he was Tier 3, which was easier to heal than a Tier 4, she didn't quite comprehend how it was possible.

Hell, she didn't even know how he managed to have enough mana to power such regeneration.

If she had to guess, she would say it was some kind of bloodline that focused on regeneration. She knew that there were a few families out there who had increased regeneration due to their bloodlines and it was possible that he was a member of one of those families.

That or some sort of powerful artifact that House Easten gave him. But she didn't know of anything that would allow him to do something like that.

"You think there's a chance he's a part of the House Verdant or something?" Pamela commented, thinking the same thing that Stephanie had been.

"What do you think he has House Verdant's powerful life bloodline which allows him to heal like that?" Matt asked.

Both Matt and Pamela were children of nobles. Although they weren't anything too prominent, the two of them would have a better idea of which families had what kind of bloodline that she would.

"I mean it's possible, but they are very protective of their family members. I don't think they would easily allow their son to just waltz into the plains on a mission like this," Pamela added.

"No, but it could be another family like the Natel Clan or some other one since it seemed more combat-focused than most of the bloodlines."

"But even that I can't understand. As far as I know, there aren't any bloodlines that heal with that level of intensity at Tier 3. It might be something else," Pamela said.

Matt sighed loudly. "We can talk about this later. First, we need to get everything gathered up and try to get some of the people who ran away back. I don't think we will be able to take all of the goods without more people to help."

"Good luck trying to track them down. I suspect they are halfway across the continent by now if the way they were running was any sign," Beck laughed boisterously.

"Let's sort things out first and then we can wait until Rolus wakes up to give up more directions. If he doesn't, then Adrian will let us know. Sound good?" Matt asked.

Everyone let out sounds of agreement and immediately got to work. But it was obvious that they all were distracted by something. She was sure that many of them were still thinking about the fights they had just witnessed and been a part of.@@novelbin@@

But for her, she couldn't help but recall the way she felt the mana move as it healed Julius. There was something there that she couldn't quite grasp yet. It was like something on the tip of her fingertips.

She believed that if she managed to understand a small piece of what she had witnessed, she would make an astronomical leap in her healing abilities.

Being able to heal like that would be something that would let her team stay alive. To be able to survive more battles like these. She didn't want to lose any one of them.

She also couldn't help but believe that if she managed to do so, she would get closer to gaining her third Concept, a mark of a true Tier 3.

This battle made her realize that her once proud strength wasn't anything to be actually proud of. B-rank didn't mean anything in the face of a Tier 4 or someone truly strong. She needed to get stronger and she didn't have the luxury of being shy. She wanted some answers to her questions. Answers that might let her reach the level she saw the boy she had previously believed was weak.

So as the rest of the people who were still around cleaned up and organized everything, she went over to where Julius and the Tier 5s were talking.

She didn't know if he would be willing. But it didn't hurt to try and ask. She just hoped that the Tier 5s didn't find her presence annoying and smite her for her impudence. You never knew with people that strong.

As she got closer, she couldn't help but start to feel even more nervous. The only times she had ever interacted with Tier 5s were when she saw them at the guild or during important events. Other than that, she had no real interaction with them.

However, she stopped feeling as anxious when she noticed Julius talking with these people with seeming familiarity. Perhaps, the boy did know who these people were and maybe they were a part of House Easten's backup plan.

Firming her resolve, she sped up and was about a dozen feet away from them when all of them disappeared from her sight.

It wasn't just them either, the enemy Tier 4s were gone as well. It was pretty apparent that one of the Tier 5s managed to use some sort of spatial magic to teleport them somewhere.

She frowned as she continued to look at the spot where they had just been. It was unfortunate because she was seriously interested in asking Julius some questions about his healing skill. She was also jealous that the boy was likely already back in Blumand or some other city while she would have to travel by foot for who knows how long.

With a saddened sigh, she turned back to her team and couldn't help but wonder if she would ever see Julius again.