Chapter 395 - Hit Me

"Why?" Julius asked, remaining outwardly calm.

The man stood up from his chair and walked toward the other end of the pavilion. "Why do humans do anything?" The man mused before turning back toward Julius. "Curiosity."

"About me?"

"About how far I could push you before you call it quits."

Julius hid another frown when he heard that. If he understood the man correctly, then it meant that he had purposefully chosen to increase the difficulty just for his own amusement. While he knew that powerful people often thought like this, it didn't mean he enjoyed it. Especially from someone he didn't know.

As if he could understand Julius's thoughts on that matter, the man nodded his head sympathetically. "I realize how mean it might come off as, but rest assured, you wouldn't have actually died. I would have stopped things before it got to that point."

Julius couldn't help himself and gave a slight, skeptical glare toward the blonde man.

The man, seeing this, winced and conceded slightly. "Okay, perhaps it was a bit more dangerous than I anticipated, but I thought you had a decent chance of winning and didn't want to take that opportunity away from you."

Julius pinched his lips together but was self-aware enough to realize that it had been better that he hadn't interfered. Julius had gained a lot from that fight. There were already so many things he wanted to do because of that.

"What about the tenth floor?" He eventually asked, pushing aside the fact that this man had almost killed him to sate his own curiosity. He could think about it later. If what he said was true, then Julius's life wasn't at as much risk as he assumed, which made things better. Sort of.

More importantly, at the moment, he wanted to know what was going to happen to him and whether he was going to continue his attempt.

"Oh, this is the tenth floor," The man stated with a smile.

Julius tilted his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"The tenth test is just an interview with me. The previous floors tested all of the things I was looking for in a Tier 3," the man explained, still wearing a grin.

However, before Julius could ask another question, the man continued talking.

"Well, technically, if someone had ever gotten to this point before, they would have met a copy of me I installed in the rift on the chance I was too busy to come back. However, nobody had gotten past the eighth floor after all these years. Even the kid who had made it to that point mostly got there because of luck. He wasn't what I was looking for and would have never passed this final examination. I had almost forgotten this place existed. So imagine my surprise when I sensed a bunch of talented children coming through the gate."

Julius watched the man's face brighten in glee as he explained, but Julius still had some questions of his own.

"Who are you?" He asked, first and foremost. He wanted to know who this man was, the man who almost killed him. Which he believed was a reasonable request.

"Oh, sorry about that. My name is Doren, and I am a researcher!" Doren exclaimed proudly.

Julius gave him a look that communicated his doubt. "Sure… a researcher."

"What?" The man sounded genuinely confused.

"I don't think I have met a researcher who is as strong as you," he said, feeling like he could be honest now that he had been talking with the man for a little bit. From what he could discern, this powerful man didn't seem to mind being talked to with casualness as long as it was respectful.

"On the contrary, it was my work as a researcher that helped me achieve my strength," Doren stated matter-of-factly. "Plus, it can get boring without a hobby to fall back on. You should really consider one yourself, you'd be surprised at how much a hobby can round out your strengths."

"I have hobbies," Julius argued.

"What hobbies? Just so you know, risking your life to get a little bit stronger is not a hobby, it is just dangerous and can get boring after some time. Trust me."

"I like reading and food," Julius argued, suddenly feeling a little attacked and offended.

"Oh, those are good ones. But do you actually get to spend a lot of time doing those things? From what I have seen from you, you don't particularly seem like the relaxing type," the blonde man said in a knowing tone.

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Julius looked away guiltily. "I am trying to be better at it," he admitted. What was with it, and people trying to get him to relax? It was because he relentlessly spent his time training that he managed to get this strong in the first place.

It wasn't like he disagreed with them. There was a limit to how much effort alone would get him. He had already seen it in the slowing of his skill growth. It would only get harder from here on out.

Doren acknowledged him with a nod. "Well, you have to start somewhere."

Julius pouted a little bit at the man's tone but realized something. "Oh, how rude of me, I guess I haven't introduced myself either."

However, before he could continue, Doren interrupted him. "Don't worry, I already know. It is nice to meet you, young Julius."

"How do you know my name already?" Julius asked, a bit befuddled at how the man would have acquired that information.

"Oh, I overheard some of your discussion with Savath," he said, placatingly placing his hands in the air when he saw Julius's wariness.

"Don't worry, though. I can't speak a word about what happens on that floor. Just like how participants can't share information with people who haven't attempted the rift, I can't share participants' details with anyone else."

"If you are the one in control of the rift, then shouldn't that rule not apply to you?" Julius pointed out.

"Control is a strong word. I merely influence and alter the rift to my needs. However, when I created the oath that governs the secrecy of the rift, I made sure to include everyone in the pact, including myself. I learned that it is one of the surest ways to prevent people from finding a way around it. The more absolute the restrictions are, the harder it is to find exceptions," Doren explained freely.

"Wait, so just to clarify things, you didn't create this rift?" Julius asked.

"Hm, create is a stretch, but I certainly changed enough aspects of the rift that it has become very different from its original form," Doren replied.

"For what reason?" Julius asked, beginning to understand that Doren enjoyed explaining things, and he should take advantage of this for his own benefit. After all, it was only fair after what the man had put Julius through. It was the least Doren could offer Julius in return.

"Naturally spawned rifts are often more robust than artificially created ones, and it is simpler to adjust a natural one to fit my needs."

Julius shook his head. "Sorry, that wasn't what I meant. I mean, why go through all of this work in the first place? What are you hoping to accomplish after testing all of these people?"

"Oh," the man said, contemplating with a hand, scratching his chin.

"Originally, this rift was a task given to me by a guild that wanted to test their Tier 3s, but it didn't work out as they wanted. Thus, I repurposed it to find talent for myself and, honestly, just for fun. Still, I work with a lot of guilds and organizations across the world. This means I meet a lot of people who want to find an apprentice or a retainer who can help them. They pay pretty well for such services, and I always find myself in need of help to fuel my projects."

Julius nodded as the man explained his reasoning. Despite being as strong as the man clearly was, it would appear that he still needed help to procure some of the resources needed to run his experiments. However, a thought popped into his head. "Doesn't that mean you have other rifts like this one around the world?" He asked the researcher.

"Of course, many of the other ones work far better than this failed experiment. Some of them only test for crafting paths as well. I made this one for combat-specialized people, but I quickly learned it was too challenging for most people. It's hard to expect a Tier 3 to have no weaknesses and be lucky enough that they stumble into this rift. At least, that was what I expected, but then you showed up," Doren said with a grin, looking very pleased.

"What if I don't wish for someone to become my master or boss?" Julius said with narrowed eyes.

"Then there is nothing I can do to force you. But I have found that others often take the offer. The people I send them to are often some of the best experts in their field," Doren assured him.

"So what about me? Did you already contact someone?" He asked with a narrowing of his brows.

"Technically not yet, but I think you will like him."

"Who?" Julius asked curiously.

"A man named Cain. I thought he would be a good fit because of your kinetic affinity," Doren stated.

Julius's eyes brightened. "He uses kinetic energy as well?"

"Yes, he is very good at it. I also noticed that your own usage is a bit rough. You obviously have some skill with the affinity, but it's quite wasteful."

"That's rude," Julius grumbled.

"Just telling you like I see it. I also recommended him to you because his wife is a healer, and she might be interested in showing you some tricks for that Phoenix Concept you have."

Julius froze. "You know about my Phoenix Concept?" He asked anxiously.

Doren waved his hand like it was no big deal. "Of course, it's very easy to detect it since you are currently using the skill without any mana shroud. Plus, I already heard you tell Savath that little piece of information."

Julius suddenly remembered what Savath had requested of him before he had died. He then glanced over at the researcher and looked at his face. However, to his shock, Doren was already shaking his head at Julius.

"Don't."

"What?" Julius asked, pretending to be ignorant.

"I heard what Savath requested of you."

Julius suddenly found the table where Doren had been sitting extremely interesting. Doren had mentioned that he had heard Julius's name and skill from that conversation, which made sense why he was aware of that specific little detail as well.

"I wasn't actually considering it," he muttered unconvincingly.

Doren laughed. "Actually, I don't mind if you want to try. I am curious to see how well you could do."

The man seemed oddly eager as well. It was like he really enjoyed the thought of that. Julius didn't need to sense the man's aura to see the blooming excitement on the man's face.

"Come on, just try it. Hit me."

"Hmm..." Julius murmured hesitantly.

"I know you want to. So just do it."

Julius looked at the man with a pained expression. He suddenly had a feeling that he wasn't the only weirdo between the two of them.