Chapter 106: Heading off to a Rift
Chapter 108 of "Path to Transcendence" opens presenting twists: The next morning came with a lot of excitement for Julius. He was supposed to... Keep following!
The next morning came with a lot of excitement for Julius. He was supposed to meet Declan right outside of town where one of the rifts was. Declan had specifically chosen this rift for Julius. It was only Tier 2, which was slightly disappointing to Julius, he had tried to argue with Declan that he could handle more.
However, Declan didn't budge and insisted that Julius take it easy at first and that there wasn't any rush. Julius eventually agreed, he had to remind himself that Declan knew more than him and had to remind himself that as long as he proved that he could handle himself, he would be allowed more leeway.
The rift itself was quite simple. It was a generic goblin one where one had to survive a small horde of them alongside their chief. It was actually very similar to the one he had done with the trolls, except it wasn't as dangerous and the goblins didn't have any ridiculous regeneration skills.
This particular rift's main value was that it was a relatively straightforward rift with many monsters with cores. Goblins didn't have any extraordinary abilities or intelligence, which made them usually a C-rating or lower on the difficulty side of things.
The rift was used as a place for Lord Lagos and the others with rights to the rift to send in their less experienced fighters. It was good practice and there were enough Tier 2s in the rift to make the effort worthwhile. While Tier 2 cores were not very valuable by themselves, when you add hundreds of them it can be quite profitable, especially for alchemists or other crafting professions. It was also important to note that many of the goblin cores had no affinity which made them great for almost every general usage.
Thankfully, the streets today weren't that busy. They were actually quite empty, even compared to normal standards. If he hadn't seen the massive crowds of people the day before, he would have never believed that there were thousands of people waiting outside of the school's gates.
The thing that most impressed him though was how clean the streets were. He had seen the states of places after festivals in his old world. There was always trash and other random items that got left behind after the wave of people left. However, this wasn't the case for Heston.
It shocked Julius how spotless the paved stones were. Even the alleys were squeaky clean. If he was being honest, it was more clean after the parade than it was before. He thought he could lick the street with his own tongue and it would still be cleaner than the table at a random restaurant. The roads were literally sparkling as he walked down the street.
The rift was located on the other side of the city from where Julius had first entered. It was actually closer than the guardhouse was to Goldencrest. This meant Julius got there with plenty of time to spare.
When he had exited the city gates the guards on duty had given him a weird look. Perhaps they were wondering why a boy like him was leaving the city so early in the morning. He wasn't wearing his uniform. He had changed into a regular pair of black pants and a black shirt. He was also wearing a scarf that was covering his face. It didn't look that out of place either, some might have assumed that covering one's face was suspicious but that was not the case in Heston.
The morning air by the ocean meant that it was always quite chilly in the early hours of the day. Many people chose to wear some sort of face covering when they went out at this time, so seeing someone wearing a scarf like him didn't warrant any extra attention. They were most likely more curious about where he was going.
The reason why he was taking the time to hide his features was that he didn't want anyone to know that he was a student and would rather that his face remain mostly unseen. He didn't know if it really mattered if he took these kinds of precautions. But he thought that it wouldn't hurt if he did.
He remembered that Declan had told him that Lord Lagos promised that he and his retainers would keep a tight lip about their comings and goings, but Julius didn't know the man at all. For all he knew, the man was lying.
It did come across Julius's mind that Lord Lagos was lying about the whole thing and was trying to get rid of Julius quietly. However, Declan assured him that the man had signed a pretty restrictive contract. Also, Declan had personally used his aura skills on Lord Lagos and promised Julius that it was safe.
That was the only reason why Julius felt comfortable enough to come all the way out here alone. Declan had wanted Julius to wait for him to arrive so that the two of them could head off together, but Julius decided otherwise.
Declan obviously didn't like that, but Julius wanted to check out the area by himself beforehand. He didn't think anything would happen to him, but he still made sure to activate to cover his surroundings.
It was worth mentioning that he had tried to use on in the past. He had hoped that the skill would see an increase in potency if he were to empower it, but unfortunately, it hadn't worked. He didn't know what made it different than his other skills that he was able to use with, but he wanted to find out.
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For the moment, he was stuck with his usual skill. Which was more than enough to make Julius feel more secure. The distance he could reach out already was too wide as is and he didn't even see how would affect the perception skill beyond how far and how detailed he could sense.
Perhaps that was a reason why his aura skill didn't work on , he might need to do some brainstorming later and test some of them out. He made a mental note to test out different ideas after he was done with the rift.
He had almost arrived at the location the map had described. It was still well within walking distance of Heston and unlike the route he had taken entering the city for the first time a month ago, there were many buildings and infrastructure around.
While it wasn't technically within the city, Julius could see plenty of establishments along the well-kept path. It was a little town on its own. There were a lot of places for travelers on the main road. He spotted a shop where you could buy general traveling supplies and goods. It was a quaint little store with a number of people shopping in there even though it was early.
There was also a place where you could purchase a ride that would take you either into the city or to a place outside the city. The closer he looked the more he noticed that this place was more homey compared to Heston. Julius was surprised by how many people he could feel living in homes off in the distance. The roads weren't as clean or as shiny, but it felt more real in a way if that made any sense.
He predicted that many people who chose to live out here could not afford to live within the city or would rather have a place outside the city for cheaper.
It was funny. When he first arrived at Heston, he had naively thought that the city was a good representation of the rest of the world. It was only after he had spent some time there and learned about other people's experiences and where they came from did he rethink his initial assumptions. If he had to compare Heston to somewhere from his old world, he would compare it to a city like Geneva.
Most of its citizens were wealthy and better off than the general populace. The seemingly neutral political landscape was another similarity. It certainly wasn't a good thing to compare the rest of the world too. He wondered how bad some of the other cities might be and how lucky he was to find one like Heston.
If the rest of the world was like chaotic cities such as Chicago or Paris, he could see why the Emperor decided to send his daughter to Heston. The city was shaping up to be a bipartisan territory of some sort and perhaps he thought that would prevent most of the other parties from taking action if she attended school at Goldencrest.
Julius hoped that was true, he would rather not have to deal with royal assassination attempts all year long. That would be a miserable way to spend his year.
The map took him to a small field just outside the small little town. It reminded him of a cemetery and there were two large pillars standing in front of a metal gate. He almost missed it, he didn't know how he did, but it took him three times of walking back and forth to see it.
He couldn't detect anything, but he speculated that there were some sort of enchantments that made it more difficult to find. If he didn't have the map and was actively searching for it, he most likely would have walked right by it, none the wiser.
In front of the gate were two men sitting in chairs. One was an older man reading a book while drinking something hot out of a mug, while the other one was younger and whittling away at a piece of wood with a very nice-looking knife.
Julius didn't approach them yet, he would wait for Declan to arrive first. For now, he wanted to explore some of the other parts of the town now that he had found where he was supposed to go.
He stayed by the main road where he had walked through, but he also headed into some of the shops while he waited for Declan. He ended up getting himself a "couple" spare changes of clothes and shoes just in case. He had the money now, more than enough to pay for anything he would really want.
He remembered the days when he was stuck in the troll rift with nothing but disgusting gunked-up pants and no shirt. He didn't want to ever have to deal with something like that again. That was a totally different type of pain.
I would have gladly traded a limb for a clean pair of clothes while I was in there.
He wasn't joking either. To him, losing a hand was not a significant thing to him anymore. But having clean clothes was now a higher priority. The others might think he was crazy for thinking that, but they also haven't been subjected to something that awful.
He bought much more than he needed and he was sure that the lady who owned the store thought he was a weirdo for buying so many of the same clothes. He also threw in a plain-looking black face covering she had on a random shelf as well. It was a soft and velvety bandana type of cloth that covered two-thirds of his face, only leaving the eyes open. He didn't think it would be a bad thing to hide his face when he approached the guards at the rift.
It had nothing to do with the fact that he thought it looked cool or that it was the most comfortable thing he had put on his face ever.
Okay, maybe a little bit, Julius admitted to himself.
He could sense some enchantments placed onto the item itself. He didn't know what they did, but it felt like someone was permanently placing a hot towel over his face after a bath. It was luxurious and almost cost as much as all of the clothes.
He also got a few other items from various stores. He got a really cool item that expanded into a miniature shower. There wasn't a tub or anything and it was just a tall rod that shot out water, but it was just what Julius was looking for. If he was ever stuck alone in the wilderness, having a shower on hand would be a lifesaver.
He also got a complete cooking kit with a stove that he fit inside of his storage ring. He was sure he paid too much money for all of it, but then again. He was rich.
Haha! The pleasures of being wealthy. I'm starting to see why nobles flaunt their money around so often, it is addicting. Also, the feeling of being able to buy anything is strangely liberating. Julius thought to himself.
He had a brilliant smile on his face as he explored the little town and went around on a spending spree.