Ryn
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Chapter 219
🕑 Added 2024-12-02 19:00:06 +0000 UTC“Well now that is out of the way, I want to discuss the terms of your reward for saving Cory,” Marquis Easten said to them.
“There is no need to reward us, Marquis Easten,” Julius told the man, brushing him off.
“First off, call me Casidus you have earned that much at least. Also, there is no way I am going to let my grandson’s saviors walk away empty-handed.”
“No no, don’t worry about it.”
“Please, I insist.”
“Okay, I accept,” he said a tad too eagerly.
His gramps had always told him that you never accepted someone's invitation the first two times. Politeness demanded you had to reject the first two and only then you could accept it the third time.
“...”
The Marquis was baffled at the quick change of his attitude, giving him a weird look.
Even his daughter and Reinera were giving him odd looks as if they couldn’t decide whether to be amused or disappointed.
Julius shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, the Marquis insisted,” he explained, trying to defend himself.
“Yeah, but you aren’t supposed to be so shameless about it,” Reinera mildly scolded him.
“I wasn’t! I waited until he offered three times before accepting,” he argued.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Yes, but you can’t just shamelessly accept it just because he offered it three times. You should accept it with some grace and humility.”
She’s probably right about that.
“Sorry,” he said to her and to the Marquis.
The man waved his hand. “Don’t worry about it. I was going to reward you regardless, so I don’t mind.”
He turned to see Reinera, “See? He doesn’t mind?”
He watched as she looked down and muttered to herself.
“Name your price, I will do my best to make sure that it comes true,” the noble lord promised.
Julius thought about that for a moment. He hadn’t really come in thinking about getting a reward. He was more concerned about leaving the estate after dropping Cory off without anyone noticing he was there. This whole situation wasn’t something he had been planning on.
Which is why he stood up from the comfortable seat he was lounging in and paced around. He was racking his head about what kind of reward he wanted. His go-to was to just ask for a favor and a part of him was really tempted to do so.
However, he wanted to force himself to ask for something that could help him now. Almost all of his favors have been unused and just sitting in storage. Perhaps, it would be a good thing to get something real instead.
With this being said, there was one thing that he had been wanting for some time.
He stopped pacing around and looked at the Marquis. “I want to advance to Tier 3.”
Tier 3 had been a goal Julius wanted to reach for a while now. As nice as skills and Concepts were, tiers were still the backbone of strength in this world.
No matter, how many good skills he had, there were just some barriers that he couldn’t cross with skill alone. He had realized this after Dustin had wiped the floor with him. He needed to advance to Tier 3 if he wanted to get stronger.
There was only so much he could squeeze out of Tier 2. In fact, he had been outgrowing Tier 2 for a long time now. It felt like that even when he first advanced to Tier 2. At that time he was already pushing the limits of the tier, funnily enough.
Now, he was really struggling to make any progress. His skills were pretty much capped. His soul would only be able to handle so much more. It was a big reason he suspected he wasn’t getting any notices about acquiring any new skills.
Not any powerful skills at least. If he wanted to learn some lower-ranked skills he could probably fill out the rest of his slots. However, he wanted to save them for something more important.
He had been attempting to push his physical strength to the next level. It was something he had also realized when fighting Dustin. The skill that did the most damage was [Armaments of the Arcane]. There was no doubt about that.
Dustin had taken many attacks from him head-on, however, he always made sure to avoid his constructs.
It has been the same for a while too. In the troll rift, he had shown that his constructs were the most powerful of his attacks.
However, he was currently more of a close-range fighter. To be honest, this might have not been the best decision, logically thinking. With Julius’s mana control and epic ranked skill, he would have been an incredible long-range mage.
Yet, he found himself enjoying throwing himself into the frontlines much more than standing back chucking spikes of death. And in his opinion, enjoying his style was more important than what made the most sense.
He was a firm believer that if he loved a style he could take it much further than a style he chose for practicality.
It was why he respected people like Sarah who stubbornly insisted on training something people would consider silly, like [Mana Bolt].
Getting bashed up and duking it out with fists was what he enjoyed and he wasn’t planning to stop doing that.
At least not primarily.
That being said, he needed to find a way to get stronger in the close combat department. He had done some extensive comparing of his physical enhancement skill and Edgar’s while they sparred.
The big guy’s skill was much better than Julius’s [Kinetic Augmentation]. Even though kinetic energy was one of the best affinities to have when getting a physical enhancement skill, Julius felt like his was a bit… well, in Dante’s words ‘lacking’.
Edgar on the other hand had managed to create a skill that synergized both of his affinities into a single powerful skill. Earth and fire combined into a physical enhancement skill that put Edgar on top of the Goldencrest and Tier 3s in general.
So far, Julius had not come across anyone else who had such a robust body skill.
However, an epiphany came to Julius when he was offered the skill [Phoenix Body]. If he could somehow learn a body enhancement skill along those lines, it might be possible for him to find a way to combine said skills. That way he would be able to leverage all of his affinities.
He didn’t like the idea of just having a skill that used one affinity. Kinetic energy was potent, but if he could implement some of his other affinities aspects, he believed he would be able to leap in his strength.
At the moment, much of his strength came from the sheer amount of mana he had. He was able to pump so much mana into [Kinetic Augmentation] that it didn’t matter too much.
However, just as he had seen with Dustin, that was a limitation. He had run out of mana pretty quickly. Constructs alongside his other mana-intensive techniques, sucked him dry.
If he wanted to get better, he would need to clean up some of his skills.
Perhaps, the first skill he needed to figure out was his physical enhancement skill.
In order to do that, he would need to advance to Tier 3. He didn’t think he would be able to do it without having some more leeway in his soul.
Furthermore, he was already pretty close to Tier 3. He had been feeling it for a while. His soul has been sufficiently tempered and now he just needed to bring everything together.
A couple of months ago Professor Youma made an offhanded comment about the importance of insights if one wanted to trigger their advance to Tier 3. He mentioned that each person’s insight was different.
There were no real rules behind it, and it also was something that eventually happened by simply experiencing life. That was why most people reached Tier 3 by the time they died.
There were many times it happened after traumatic events like losing a loved one or surviving a tragedy. It was never the same for every person, but one fact remained the same… It had to do with the person’s aspirations.
That was what Julius was stuck on. He felt like he was there. He felt like he was looking across the other side of the fence, but he wasn’t able to get his leg over on the other side.
That was why he asked the Marquis for help. Perhaps the man had a way for Julius to advance quicker or more easily. He was a noble of a House with centuries of history behind it after all.
“That’s all?” The man had an expression that made it obvious that he was expecting something different than what Julius requested.
Reinera smoothly interjected. “That is just one request.” He noticed that her tone was still the tone of a princess. It was kind of impressive how quickly she was able to behave so differently when needed to.
He also was taken aback by her statement. Just one? I was pretty happy with just that. Although, it wouldn’t be a bad thing if Reinera was able to get some more out of this. I am not the best at negotiating, which is why I like accumulating favors, he reflected briefly.
“What else do you guys want?” The Marquis’s voice also went through a similar change. Instead of the casual tone he had been taking with them, he switched over to become a little more serious.
“We want access to your House’s Challenge Rift,” she stated directly.
When she mentioned that, he saw both father and daughter go rigid. There was no longer a comfortable atmosphere in the room. It was tense.
Julius on the other hand, had no idea what they were talking about. Challenge Rifts? He had never heard of them.
Were they some sort of secret rift that nobles had access to?
He liked the sound of that. He liked it very much so.
Good job Reinera! He praised her. He was just going to ask for help advancing to Tier 3, whether that was personal advice or a special natural treasure that would facilitate it. But he was glad that Reinera had interjected. He would not complain about getting more from this.
If they could manage to get access to something that sounded as cool as a Challenge Rift he would be more than happy. The only thing was that he didn’t know if these two were taking the request very well. They still hadn’t answered and were looking at Reinera with frowns.
“What do you know about our Challenge Rift?” The Marquis asked Reinera with cold eyes.
She shook her head. “Not much, but I do know your House has one. That is the other reward we are asking for. On top of procuring peak-quality Advancement Potions and isolated chambers for both of us to advance to Tier 3, we want access to the Challenge Rift. What do you say?” Reinera asked.
A brief silence washed over the room. It only lasted a few moments, but honestly, it felt much longer.
“The fact that you are so certain we have a Challenge Rift makes me slightly suspicious, but it is also not an unreasonable request. I will have to consult with some of my elders about it, but I don’t see it being a problem as long as some certain details can be agreed upon,” the Marquis finally stated.
Reinera gave Julius an excited smile. He had no idea what she had just asked for but it seemed like it was a good thing, so he returned her smile with a grin of his own.
Comments
PikaAndrew
Tftc
Steven
Upon reflection, this might be helpful. The reason I stated the inner dialogue is unneeded is that you spent 200+ chapters building your MC‘s personality. When you had him state the rewards, he wanted. it was in line with the personality you’ve built for him. Then you explained why he made that decision Which felt more like you were trying to defend the decision you made to your readers. People reading the story might not agree with the choice the MC makes and that’s OK. You don’t need to justify what your characters do.
Hamfist
There's also this info. The soul doesn't need to "grow" in size to reach t3 but it does need to "grow" in quality. Professor Youma also touched on some of the aspects of advancing to Tier 3. He mentioned that skills were an important factor for advancement. Advancement increased the size of one's soul, but in order to advance to Tier 3, one needed to improve the quality of their soul, and evolving skills was apparently a good way to do so. It was a general consensus that you needed to have at least three rare skills to advance to Tier 3. Without that, most find themselves unable to progress to Tier 3 or they might become stuck at Tier 3 for the rest of their lives. At Goldencrest, students were taught to get all or most of their skills up to rare rank before trying to advance. The higher the quality of your soul, the better your advancement will be. That wasn’t to say that skill evolutions were the only way to improve the quality of your soul. Things such as impactful experiences could also increase the quality of your soul. There were even treasures that were highly sought after that could significantly improve a soul.
Hamfist
I went back to find the descriptions and I was wrong about filling the core. You become tier 1 when you form a core, then spend tier 1 filling it. You become tier 2 when you fill the core completely and start pushing mana from your core into your body, then you spend tier 2 saturating your body with mana. You become tier 3 when you begin to merge your body with your core and by the time you reach peak tier 3 you should no longer have a separate core.
Read Isekai
I don't think your soul really grows while T2, it seems to me it's more like your trying to fill it to capacity with skills and possibly concepts while T2
Connor Hinrichs
Oh damn, I had actually forgotten about him having a space affinity, whoops 😅 perhaps a space affinity enhancement technique could be a good defensive only technique. Infuse the body with 'hardened' space making it difficult for his body to be altered through attacks (impact and slicing resistance essentially). Something like that?
Kyfe
Don't let people talking about "info dumps" deter you. In some instances, it's unavoidable to have info dumps, especially worlds that are so different than our own and need actual explanation. Exposition isn't bad, just if it's excessive, and that is NOT the case here. I've read some published books where there were info dumps dozens of pages long to explain ONE thing about a SIDE character that we barely saw in the text, lol.
Kyfe
Yeah, he only made it to 20 years old in his past life. 20 year age gap in Cultivation Land where people live centuries is nothing.
Kyfe
Yeah, but the point is Julius Speed Ran maximum Level of T2. Reinera is probably 3/4 of the way there, what with a concept and everything. I would bet most "geniuses" advance around 60% of total soul capacity based on context of how people speak about the subject.
Kyfe
What would a Space Affinity Body Enhancement Skill look like, I wonder?
Kyfe
Phoenix Drumstick omnomnomnom... oh, wait.
Chris
Or "Well, with that out of the way..." I love/hate ADHD.
Chris
Houston Texas to Northern Canada?: "Now that is out of the way." ;!)>
Chris
Fist line: "Now that is out of the way..." -> "Now that that's out of the way...".
Pickled Rick
You don't want to do it in record time. T2 is the last opportunity to really "grow" the soul before it merges with your body and mana core. If you don't stretch your soul enough before you transition then it's size is stuck and you won't have the necessary space to get concepts and high rank skills necessary for Tier 4 and beyond.
Daniel
😂
Pickled Rick
Nobility is achieved by reaching a high tier and showing strong support or loyalty to the Royal family so sect leaders can't get noble titles. The first Marquis of Julius' uncle's line was a Tier 5 who fought alongside the Emporer in a war to gain his title. I suspect Tier 4 is the earliest you could achieve a low rank Noble title because its the first rank you can't just get you need to show talent. Low T5 is probably Baron, High T5 for Marquis and T6 for Duke. The first emporer was probably the first or strongest T7. There also needs to be unclaimed land that needs a local Lord to rule it so if the Empire doesn't expand most Noble titles probably remain mostly hereditary right now.
William Johnson
Now he needs a whole line of Phoenix skills! Phoenix body, Phoenix chop, Phoenix uppercut, Phoenixdokken, Heavenly Phoenix Buster...
Hamfist
Seems like in other stories a challenge rift has been a training and/or competition tool where you face opponents with increasing difficulty and get rewards based on how long you can last.
Connor
Hey Ryn! I binged through all of your chapters this last week and just wanted to leave another encouraging message! You’ve made a great story and a great world, coming from someone who has read LitRPG’s for years now :) keep up the good work and take care of yourself
Connor
I actually agree with this! I don’t think it’s that overboard to go through the thoughts, but I think the asking to advance to tier 3 should probably happen after them.
Read Isekai
Agreed!
Connor Hinrichs
Oh, I'm excited for an enhancement skill that incorporates all his affinities! I've been thinking about it since he got offered Phoenix Body and was told all the benefits of a powerful skill like that, especially the fact it has a chance of increasing your affinities by a whole tier
Hamfist
Wait. You mean he should think before speaking?!? Next you'll say he should think before throwing a punch at somebody who is significantly stronger than he is.
ThoMiCroN
Aside from learning about the necessity for a body enhancement skill, we learned nothing from these ruminations. It’s sad since it cut off place for dialogs that can move the plot or expand the lore.
ThoMiCroN
« Yet, he found himself enjoying throwing himself into the frontlines much more than standing back chucking spikes of death. And in his opinion, enjoying his style was more important than what made the most sense. » And this here is why Tier 6 are crazy about him. He’s so young and already as insane as the old monsters.
Hamfist
From what his teacher said before, people can advance to T3 as soon as they have enough mana built up in their core but they run the risk of getting stuck at tier 3 if they haven't strengthened their soul enough. Having at least 3 rare skills was the recommended minimum amount of work on your soul to avoid crippling yourself so these two should be fine. It seems like there was something said a while back about it being rare for anybody to be T3 in their first year of school but I'm not sure if that was in story, in a reader comment, or just something I thought while reading.
Read Isekai
He'll probably do that next chapter on the way to the advancement room I would guess
Read Isekai
I don't think it has anything to do with that, but I could be wrong 🤷♂️
PatronTurtle
I'm just wondering if this is R setting up a way for Julius to be recognized because she still thinks he's a commoner
Read Isekai
I was just previously thinking that julius was miles ahead of all other T2's maybe going for shortest ever time spent at T2, but now it seems a bit more mundane... though I'm still excited to see him advance
Read Isekai
One would presume it's through some kind of feat that is recognized by the royal family. There are probably a few ways but it probably involves some kind of grand military accomplishment, defeating some kind of ultra dangerous rift, or acquiring enough economic power. There may also be the possibility of noble families being able to raise up commoners to the nobility in their region through appointing knights and/or baronets though those are probably only for a single generation and may only be considered nobles within a single domain. This challenge rift is probably some kind of testing ground that this family uses to test their children/retainers to see if they are worthy of being associated with the house. Though we're likely to get more details in the coming chapters
Hamfist
She's not at Julius' level but she has a concept and an epic skill so she's also well above average. She should be okay to advance even if her foundation is not as bedrock-stable as his.
PatronTurtle
...how do people unaffiliated with noble families become nobles? Are challenge rifts designated challenges that if you pass you become a noble?
Read Isekai
When do most other goldencrest students advance to T3? Seems like most first years only just recently advanced to T2, though some have been at it for a bit longer... it doesn't seem like anyone has been T2 for more than a year so far. It made sense that julius was about to advance.... but it kinda seems like a much more common timeframe if the princess is also planning on advancing
Zach
+10000 points to the princess! TFTC!
Hamfist
Do you really see anything "old fart" about his mental age so far?
Daniel
I kind of feel this works better with Julius going through all the ruminating then asking. 🤔 Also that it might have been a bit repetitive or overdone.
ZeroL
I honestly haven’t noticed it much in reading, but i only recently caught up so it could just be that this is how the whole book has been, and I didn’t notice it because there were more chapters to get to with plot progression. Might just be an unavoidable symptom of the serial-style book that some chapters will feel like this.
Profile Name
Tyftc
Steven
Thanks for the chapter. Don’t take this wrong. All the inner dialogue felt unneeded and kinda annoying. Would have been great to cut that out. Would have loved More progress in the story.
JC
It often does to me. He often goes off on long rambling tangents to himself, which is nothing like what people do in real life. It often seems to me a way to drag things out and only have a couple of sentences of dialogue/plot progression per chapter.
Sean
Fully expected him to pull a xianxia protagonist move and stage whisper "psst, what's a challenge rift?"
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. Good one.
Bakerbob
I feel more and more that Little Reinera, in a couple years, will want Julius either as a consort or a husband and poor Julius will be in a bit of a pickle since he'll have the mental age of an old fart being courted by a child
Zebrababies
I agree. The internal dialogue/info dump felt odd to me.
RedLeaf
Thanks for the chapter. Grace better be careful, I'm sure there's a (very) short list of people that n ow about that challenge rift. Her having that knowledge, without being on the list, could cause her "cover" to fail sooner than she wants.
ZeroL
Tftc! As a plot driven reader, the infodump on tier three and his thoughts on it felt a bit tiring. Feel like he has already considered most of that in the more recent chapters Edit: to the author since this seems to be an opinion held by more than just me - I don’t think this is a serious issue and still enjoyed the chapter. I think chapters like this work fine in a long form books, but with daily release it just doesn’t scratch the itch of feeling the story progress. As long as it is balanced with progression as we go forward, I am happy. Keep doing you, because I am greatly enjoying the story you are crafting so far.
Quentin Cozzi
Finally going for tier 3! Can’t wait to see the process and what goodies Julius will be coming out with!
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
