Ryn
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Chapter 205
🕑 Added 2024-11-15 19:00:10 +0000 UTCSarah POV
When Elder Han said that they didn’t stand a chance, she and the others did not believe him. Although they respected the old man more than anyone else, it was hard to trust the opinion of someone who looked like they could keel over and die at any moment.
Still, when he had dismantled them so easily, it was impossible to ignore that Elder Han was right.
Thus, once they dusted themselves off they shamelessly asked for help. Even Ibram swallowed his pride and asked the boy for some pointers.
However, Sarah knew that Julius wasn’t just there to teach them new skills or techniques, he was here to show them that there was always someone better than you out there.
It was humbling and frustrating in equal measure.
However, then it was finally her turn to get his help.
“Why do you use [Mana Bolt]?” That was the first thing he asked her. It almost sounded like the idea of her using [Mana Bolt] offended him in some way.
“I wanted some more offensive powerful spell to use,” she explained like she had a thousand times to everyone who had the same question.
“Is that all? Because if so, that's a pretty poor reason.”
“How is me wanting to do more damage and contribute to a fight a poor reason?” She said offended by his tone.
“Because it is wasteful and your use of the skill is not very good. To be honest, your skill does more damage to my eyes than if I just let it hit me in the face,” he told her with a completely straight face.
She felt herself get riled up. “You keep talking like that you will find the answer to that pretty quickly.”
He raised his hands and laughed at her. “Sorry. But it’s true. Why don’t you use your water affinity instead? There’s plenty you could do with it to be useful. One of my friends uses their water affinity as a hybrid fighter. He has some pretty cool buffs as well.”
“Because I want to use [Mana Bolt],” she stated stubbornly.
He looked as if he was going to continue arguing, but must have decided against it. “Okay, then let’s work on that [Mana Bolt], because it is absolutely sad to see it as is.”
She sent a low-powered [Mana Bolt] at him for that, and she wasn’t that surprised that he avoided it without even looking at her.
“First, you have to learn how to compress it more.”
“Compress it?” She asked curiously.
“Yes, if you want to make [Mana Bolt] work you have to compress your mana, otherwise it will be too weak. Also, you are wasting a lot of mana as you create each [Mana Bolt]. Focus on making sure that all of the mana you use ends up in the [Mana Bolt], right now about half of your mana ends up dissipating in the air, mana that could be used to empower it even more,” he explained to her.
For the next while, he helped her work on her skill. He was surprisingly a good teacher. Sarah had learned most of her mana control from the workers of the orphanage, but Julius seemed to have a much higher standard when it came to control.
It was almost to the point of perfectionism and she would have complained if it wasn't for it working so well.
By the time he was done helping her, she had already gained two levels in [Mana Bolt].
She sent another fully empowered [Mana Bolt] at Julius with a smile, all the while inwardly thanking Elder Han for bringing this boy to them.
***
Julius POV
After he had beaten them up a little bit, he was surprised at how easily they set aside their pride. Even Ibram was being more respectful. Although, Scott, who had been knocked out, wasn’t being as cooperative.
He was doing his own thing to the side, as Julius was helping the others. Pouting as his friends gleefully took advice from Julius.
Once, he had taken the time to help every one of them, he left with Elder Han escorting him back.
“What was the true purpose of that?” Julius asked.
“You still don’t think it was to offer some help to some poor orphans?” Elder Han questioned.
“I think there’s another reason on top of that,” Julius stated confidently.
Elder Han smirked at that. “You know when I spotted you enter Stonewall with that girl I couldn’t believe my old weary eyes.”
Julius’s eyes narrowed. That ‘girl’? He thought to himself.
“Oh ho. So you do know who you’re traveling with. Hm, I would have expected you were just some ignorant boy.”
“What you are trying to say?”
“I’m just saying I am surprised a boy like you with your talents is traveling with a distinguished member of the royal family.” Elder Han said, Julius detecting a hint of scorn behind his words.
Julius halted mid-step. He knows that she’s the princess? How does he know?
If it wasn’t for the fact that he thought Elder Han wasn’t a bad guy, he would have attacked immediately at that moment, it didn't matter if he was vastly more powerful. He wouldn't allow a threat to his friend to continue to exist.
“Surprised you huh? I’m glad something finally did.” Elder Han chuckled.
“How did you know?”
“How could I not? Silly girl is wearing the same disguise as she did years ago,” the old man said but then paused. “Although, you are the one who brought my attention to her. If it wasn’t for spotting your brilliant aura, I would have overlooked her. It's the reason why I was paying attention to you and also know you took the money from those guards.”
Julius gritted his teeth. He had believed that his control over his aura was pretty good. But it seemed he was wrong. The old man had seen everything and that had led him to recognize the princess.
“What do you plan to do now?” Julius eventually asked.
Elder Han laughed. “Me? Nothing, nothing at all. I am an old man who wants nothing to do with drama involving the royal family. I couldn't care less why the princess is all the way out here. I am more interested in you, a person who has multiple Concepts at Tier 2 is quite the anomaly. How your soul is in one piece, is quite the mystery to me.”
Well, you would be surprised to learn that up until recently, it wasn't, he thought to himself.
“And what? This was all some sort of twisted test?”
“I just wanted to see what kind of person you were first. I found that introducing people to rude children tends to bring out a more genuine version of themselves.”
“I still don’t see the reason for all of this.”
Elder Han shrugged his shoulders. “Call it an old man’s whim.”
Julius didn’t bother trying to pry any further. He knew that he wouldn’t get anywhere. Instead, he and Elder Han walked quietly back to the front of the orphanage.
However, he was much more guarded against Elder Han. Everything in Julius’s instincts said he didn’t have to worry about the old man, but he would take some precautions.
Julius still didn’t know how he felt about Elder Han now, but he was still hoping that the old coot could help him find an easier way back to Heston, back to his friends, who were probably worried sick.
Leaving with more questions than answers, he walked away from the orphanage, through the town, and entered the inn. The moment he did, he reached out with [Spatial Perception].
However, to his confusion, he wasn’t able to sense Reinera anywhere. She wasn’t in her room, nor was she in the dining room. He didn’t even bother trying to go up to their rooms, he turned back around and left immediately.
He spent a few minutes looking around the inn, but he still wasn’t able to find her.
She probably just went out for some fresh air, he thought to himself, planning to just head back to his room and wait for her.
However, more cynical thoughts arose in his head. Thoughts that stemmed from his interaction with Elder Han. He didn’t think the old man would do anything, if anything he sounded like he couldn’t care less about the princess.
Maybe, I will just look for her and we can go back to our rooms together, he decided.
Luckily for him, just based on where the inn is situated there was only one real direction where she would go. It wasn’t that big compared to a city like Heston, so he would have a decent chance as long as he used his perception skill and his mana senses.
Several minutes into his search, he came across a square that was abandoned. However, the first thing that jumped out to him was the signs of destruction around the area. That wasn’t it either, there were lingering signs of mana from many people.
And one of them he was very familiar with. It was Reinera’s mana.
What happened here? Did she get attacked?
Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell where it went. He used [Kinetic Augmentation] to boost his speed as much as he could and ran around the square as fast as he could, but he wasn’t able to tell where she or the other people who were there had gone.
I might have to see that old codger sooner than expected, he grimly thought to himself.
***
“Well, I was hoping to see you soon, but I can’t say I expected to see you this soon,” Elder Han said while sipping on some tea.
Julius didn’t have time to entertain the old man at the moment, so he spoke bluntly. “I think someone kidnapped the princess.”
The old man sat up noticeably straighter, setting aside his tea. “You said you think someone kidnapped her?”
Julius explained everything that happened from the time he left Elder Han to when he found the square.
After he finished, Elder Han ran a wrinkly hand over his chin. “I think I know who took her.”
Julius stood up quickly. “Who?”
“The same group that those guards you robbed belonged to,” Elder Han said.
“Group?”
***
Apparently, the group has been quite active in Stonewall in recent years. Elder Han explained that the group used coercion, blackmail, kidnapping, and many other morally dubious things to expand their influence.
And kidnapping noble-born children was a normal thing for them. They would kidnap these children and then sell them back to their parents.
That was why Elder Han believed that they were planning to do the same for Reinera. Unfortunately, she wasn’t just a simple lord’s daughter. She was the Princess of the Empire.
“How can I find them?”
“Oh, I know exactly where they are and where they are probably holding her,” the old man stated like it was no big deal, but didn’t expand on where that might place was.
Julius tried to stay calm. “And where might that be?”
He got no response in return. Even after a minute of silence, Elder Han didn’t seem like he was going to be forthcoming about the information.
When Julius asked two more times, he finally got a reaction.
“Why would I help a person of royal blood?” Elder Han asked bitterly, surprising Julius with how much resentment was in that single sentence.
“I thought you said you knew her?” Julius asked carefully.
“Oh, I do. I know that family quite well. But that doesn’t mean I like them. I guess it would be accurate to say that I don’t have very kind feelings for the royal family,” Elder Han said waspishly, not sounding anything like the kind old man Julius had seen so far.
What occurred between him and the royal family to cause such bad blood? Julius thought to himself.
“Does that mean you won’t help me find her?”
“If they wanted her safe, then the royal family should have done a better job protecting her,” Elder Han said dismissively.
“She’s practically a child, I would think that someone who ran an orphanage would have more sympathy than that,” Julius argued in disbelief.
“I don’t know how you got caught up with her, but you should just let her go. Trust me, she’s not worth it.”
“You don’t know her.”
“No, but I know her family well. That says everything I need to know about her.”
Julius gave him a look of pure disappointment. “So you won’t help me?”
“No.”
“Not even if I use the favor to make you give me the location?” Julius asked.
“You would waste your favor on something like this?”
Julius looked Elder Han directly in his eyes. “I wouldn’t be wasting it,” he said calmly.
Elder Han stopped the retort that was about to come out of his mouth. Instead, he gave Julius a meaningful stare. “Is she so different?” Elder Han finally asked, a hint of hope appearing in his otherwise dreary tone.
“I don’t know,” Julius told him honestly. “I haven’t met any of the other royalty.”
Elder was silent for a while, fiddling with the handle of his teacup. “I hope for your sake, that you are right,” he said while looking out of the window with a lost gaze.
Comments
PikaAndrew
Tftc
PatronTurtle
Wait for the arc to finish. This is all still setup for many possible threads. They can easily lead to other places
Pete's Place Garage
If I we're going to use reasonable expectations of hormonal 15 year olds, then they should be fucking like bunnies, and STILL not have left the inn ... Just sayin'
adam1
I don't think he actually used the favor. He said he was willing to, and that convinced the Elder to help him for Reinera's sake.
Connor Hinrichs
You have unreasonably high expectations of 15 year old hormonal teenagers, who clearly lack impulse control, which is realistic characterisation
Connor Hinrichs
It wasn't the best choice, but they are both hormonal 15 year olds. Impulse control is just not realistic for characters at this age, which is why it makes sense for both of them to leave the inn
Talen Drake
That would make this arc ruin all the plot left in the setup, so sure why not?
Jayden Shannon
love this story :) its great. Can't wait for the next chapter.
Ethyria
Knew it was coming but I'm still pissed he's using the favour on this. If the old man hadn't wasted Julius' time on fighting the orphans, Reinara wouldn't have gotten kidnapped - whether he likes it or not, the old man's meddling caused this. Julius and Reinara are both dumb for leaving the inn though.
Ethyria
I think there's a difference between not noticing someone walk into the town, and not noticing a fight between multiple Tier 3s.
Pete's Place Garage
She specifically said (in her thoughts, at least) that they could be there in 5 minutes after she activated the beacon. And since she is currently "missing", I'd bet they have someone watching for that beacon constantly.
Thomas Corbin
Going to a town which is clearly not safe - corrupt guards, run down, etc. They would have been smart to only get one room and to STAY there. Have some common sense, some sense of operational security/safety. Use the buddy system if you *are* stupid enough to go out.
Mike
Any votes for Elder Han being the reclusive Duke Greyson?
Xhaare
I will write my grievances with this last 10-20 chapters here. There has been no plot. No stakes. Not for the MC, and not for the reader. We had a forced plot of the princess reveal through a teleportation into a Tier 3 rift. As readers, there is no suspense. It would make more sense from a writing standpoint for the Rift to be Quasi tier 4, to at least have a SMALL climax. The mimic interactions were humorous, but that was about 10 chapters of slog. Then, we get to a classic ‘corrupt guard’ stop when a simple aura flex from the MC would scare the guards. At least that way there would be reason for the conflict with this group. Instead we got a massively forced plot grandpa and another damsel in distress interaction. The very chapter she gets kidnapped, AGAIN, she says she has a beacon for people to rescue her. The SECOND she gets ambushed she should be setting that off. If the princess is meant as anything other than a forced plot machine, give her an iota of competence. Her character is so beyond reality it kills immersion.
Gimmebooks
Binged from RR to here and overall I’ve liked this story so far. This arc however I don’t care much for. The princess reasoning for not triggering the location beacon she has make no logical sense for someone who survived an assignation attempt. Her actions so far make her dumber for no justifiable reason. Also someone with a disguise that’s more advance than an illusion doesn’t have clothes that are less eye catching. Again no logical sense. And Julius just leaves her for an extended period of time to walk around, trust a random person and decide to teach instead of trying g to find a way back… I’m just gonna skim through these next couple of chapters.
Read Isekai
I like that introspection about his aura control, hopefully there's a solid bit of aura training in the near future
Read Isekai
That makes no sense as we already know the royal family can reach here with their space mages, and its seems unlikely they have someone above tier 6 on call. Next we don't know how far away they are from heston, it's doubtful that even a tier 6 can sense everyone across an entire nation
thialfi17
That still doesn't explain why he is so adamantly against helping her - a child - who is the same age as the children he clearly cares greatly for at the orphanage. He's old enough and high tier enough that he should know better than to let prejudices rule him. But how did he notice Julius' aura? It's not like he was announcing it when they approached so he must have a very good skill to sense them - which would make sense since he's so high tier. I could understand that maybe he wasn't paying attention, but he's clearly let these bandits stay in his area and isn't willing to track them down (probably take him minutes) or help rescue her due to a petty grudge. He also kinda forced Julius to go along and help him out for no good reason but then isn't willing to help Julius at all with a matter that would be trivial for him to resolve (especially if we're just talking about helping locate her). He's gone from being shown as a caring, secretive old man to suddenly being a inconsiderate, selfish old man who'd rather let a child die than potentially help some people he doesn't like. Please tell me how that adds up?
Kyfe
He specifically said he wouldn't have noticed the princess if not for her being next to Julius and his Aura. It's his Aura that he's able to sense, not the entire town.
Kyfe
From the context of Elder Han's character, he's resigned himself to only care about his orphanage. He's obviously a hermit, of a kind. It is in line with the characterization we've seen that he wouldn't bust up a criminal gang kidnapping nobles, especially if he holds a grudge against more than just the royal family. There was a clear distinction of not including murder in the list of crimes, so he probably feels it's harmless overall (You and I know that's not true, but they live in a different world, and there are places IRL that people feel that way). Elder Han seemed genuinely surprised that Reinera was kidnapped, and he even mentioned he wouldn't have noticed her if not for Julius. It doesn't seem like he's able to see everything that goes on in the town, but Julius's Aura stood out like a shining beacon to him. It makes sense he doesn't know considering Reinera doesn't have an Aura like that.
ThoMiCroN
She probably has but he’s faraway, so she can’t get there instantly.
Zenty
Disappointing. I don't like this arc one bit. Shouldn't Alice have been able to lock onto his location by now since he's no longer in the dungeon? I want him back at the academy asap so the royal family can bring the princess back now that the academy is no longer safe, then hopefully she won't be back on screen for a long time. Preferably never since she'd probably die in some other assassination attack where Julius and his plot armor wouldn't be around to save her. (I wish) Yeah, I no longer tolerate her presence now that she has become a damsel in distress.
Arhsnag
Man, I'm really loving the story so far, but the author rally needs to work on replacing names with pronouns. This sentence made my brain hurt: "Julius still didn’t know how he felt about Elder Han now, but Julius was still hoping that Elder Han could help Julius find an easier way back to Heston. Back to his friends, who were probably worried sick." Repeating Julius 3 times in the same sentence should be legally criminal somewhere. Just replace the 2nd Julius with "he", 3rd one with "him", and the 2nd Elder Han with "the old man"
Random Guy
You are right that there needs to be a reckoning too, but she is A: much younger B: a friend and C: there was no life on the line with the beacon the Handholding was already explained giving her a bit of leeway in my eyes.
Dog City
Yeah but holding her to the same standards, she pulled Julius along with her during the teleport and didn't tell him about her rescue beacon. So he should cut ties with her too haha.
ThoMiCroN
Julius: I know you are a princess and it’s your job to be kidnapped, but I have my standards. Get at least kidnapped by a dragon, that would make my day more fun. These losers were even more boring than training dummies.
ThoMiCroN
Julius, your princess is in another castle.
Kevin McKinney
Fun chapter, but I have some thoughts. First off, the first time a person attacks me from behind, and I teach them a lesson, fine. But when another persons shoots a bolt at me when I am not looking, that is another…. She sent a low-powered [Mana Bolt] at him for that, and she wasn’t that surprised that he avoided it without even looking at her. Second, the old man is a dick. He knows Julius enter with the princess. He sort of knows what kind of guy Julius is after all his tests. Not telling Julius about the kidnapping is a dick move. Actively not helping is damn near burn a bridge worthy after all the tests, the help he gives and his students trying to sucker punch him. Third, Julius could have told him that the reason they were even at the city was because of an assassination attempt. Fourth, while Julius may not know other royalty, isn’t his family nobles? He knows some nobles are good and some are bad. Fifth, wtf is the old man doing letting a band of kidnappers have free range? Is is a subplot to get more orphans or something?
Paul Smith
Loved this chapter
Zach
1) MANA BOLT FTW 2) ITS ASS KICKING TIME 3) JULIUS SAID F YOUR FEELINGS SHES MY PRINCESS 4) TYFTC
Sean
Good to see old people are assholes in every story. Every old person in stories is either an enlightened sage or a complete jackass who shouts at everyone.
Random Guy
I really hope Julius cuts ties with him for this fuck a strong ally he already proofed he cant be trusted in emergencys and cant seperate the crimes of the father from the son or daughter here.
CheeseGrater
I think it makes perfect sense. I can think of 2 scenarios. 1) He does know, he just doesn't care. 2) he didn't bother keeping tabs in her because, he doesn't care.
Thomas Corbin
finally!
Pete's Place Garage
*sigh* all of this could have been avoided by JUST STAYING IN THE INN. They were only going to be there for ONE NIGHT. None of this forced encounter with the Hidden Master trope would have had to happen, and they could been merrily on their way back to civilization in no time. None of this has any relevance to the plot! Unless it's to drag the Hidden Master back into service, in which case, the Plot Armor is strong with this arc.
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. Tend to agree with Josh, not too fond of the old timer, nor the fact he is using up his “favor”, although, if you intend to never return to this old-timer, you might as well wrap up that loose thread…
thialfi17
Well that was disappointing.Old man who is able to detect him walking in the town and track his every move was somehow completely unaware that Reneira was kidnapped? Then completely refuses to help her because of some biases against her family - I know you addressed this in the chapter but not in a way that actually makes sense. The old man runs an orphanage for crying out loud! I like your world building and your ideas for progression/power system but your handling of some of these events and characters really doesn't make sense to me sometimes.
Usernames_are_annoying
TFTC
Jason Martin
Oh man Julius about to wreck their whole day!
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
