Path to Transcendence

"That's not good," he muttered while examining his missing limb as if looking hard enough would magically make it reappear.

"What the hell was that?" Lily exclaimed.

"I think I might have lost my hand," he said amusingly.

"Not that, I meant, how did you just teleport? Was that because of the item?" She asked, surprisingly not that concerned about his missing limb, which came somewhat as a shock considering her usual attitude of him hurting himself.

"Hmm."

"What?"

"I thought you would react more to this," he said while waving the offending missing limb at her.

She rolled her eyes. "You'll survive. I know better than to freak out over injuries like that. I have seen you heal from worse."

"So how come you got mad about me about the other stuff?" He asked, confused at her words.

"I'm more mad about your decision-making than anything else. But I have accepted that you will get hurt regardless of what I do. So it's up to me to get used to it."

"Oh."

"So what is that item? How were you able to teleport?" She asked, changing the subject back to the item.

He nodded at her and at the same time, sent a quick burst of mana through [Phoenix Renewal] and regrew his hand in a matter of seconds.

However, he could not help but notice how much more difficult it was to heal the injury than a typical explosion. It was almost like something was blocking his skill. A part of him believed it had something to do with whatever spatial enchantments or magic the necklace had, but it was too hard to tell. He wasn't exactly an expert.

"Yeah, the necklace has some type of enchantment that allows me to charge it and activate a teleportation of my choice. Although it appears there is quite a long cooldown," he said with a frown.

The necklace, which had allowed him to accomplish something he had wanted to do for a very long time, was in a sleep mode. The inscriptions wouldn't accept any more of his mana, and any attempt to force it led to the enchantments shaking dangerously.

He believed that if he continued to try to push it, the result wouldn't be something he would like.

There was an unusual look on Lily's face, which was weird in itself. He would have suspected that she had seen similar items in her experience with her family's business.

"Why the long face?" He finally asked.

"I don't think I have seen an item quite like that in person," she told him with a frown.

"What do you mean? I thought your family was a merchant and a business House? Wouldn't you have seen a whole assortment of rare items?"

She shook her head. "First off, I don't take care of the day-to-day operations. We have specific managers and supervisors who handle the exchange of items. Secondly, I doubt I would have seen many items like that in person, even if I did. Teleportation items are scarce, and most of them are found in rifts. Or in rare cases from master crafters specialized in spatial magic enchantments."

"Yeah, but I am sure that someone like you has one," he said confidently.

"I have a spatial beacon that I can activate for my family's space mages to locate my position. But no, even I don't have an item that can let me teleport at will. The restrictions on using them are very high. I don't have the confidence to use one like you just did. Furthermore, an item like that would likely be a valuable tool for anyone who can use it, and I doubt they would let it go easily. I don't think many have even been sold at auction very often. Most likely, the Auction Houses will buy it at a premium for themselves."

"Why would House Easten give me such a valuable reward then? I admit, I did a lot for them, but this sounds like it is much more valuable than what I did for them," he noted.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I have no clue. However, I also know that any spatial travel skill or item requires a very powerful will to activate and even more to control it. Even those at Tier 4 might have a hard time with taming such a skill, which is why space magic is so revered. But they must have known that you could handle it. I don't think you quite understand how impressive it was that you were actually able to use it on your first try."

"I mean, I did lose a limb," he mentioned.

"Yeah, that seemed dangerous, but if they knew about your healing skill, then I bet they were a lot less worried about you injuring yourself too badly," she said before turning to Marcus. "What do you think about this item? Have you seen something like it before?"

"I have seen several items in the past that operate similarly. Although most of them that activate that quickly usually have a limited distance they can travel. Did you notice anything that limited you?" The man asked Julius.

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He inclined his head at Marcus. "Yeah, I don't think the distance is that great. I would say that it's effective around a hundred feet. But anything further than that, I don't think it would work."

Marcus nodded his head a few times as he listened. "That is in line with what I was expecting. It doesn't sound like it is going to be the most valuable tool in a fight, while it is relatively quick for an item like that, anybody with some skill would be able to attack before it activates. Plus, he can't use it more than once since it has a cooldown. At least not until it has time to reset."

"So what are you saying? That it's pointless unless he wants to use it as a way to save himself from walking from a to b?" Lily asked.

"No, no," Marcus quickly objected. "I believe they gave it to Julius more as a tool to help him acquire a space-related skill or Concept focused on movement rather than something like tearing space or stabilizing it, which is what Stella focuses on."

"I think it is going to help me, I already noticed some things that I haven't before, just in that first teleport," Julius added.

While he had teleported before, that had been under the control of skills used by other people or runes. This was the first time he felt like he was in somewhat control of the process, which meant he could get a better sense of what was required.

If he could reverse engineer the process, he would have a better grasp of space. Even if he wasn't able to learn a Space Concept, he believed he would at least be able to figure out a skill that utilized similar properties of the item.

After all, it was why he was trying to evolve [Flash Step] into [Instantaneous Step].

He knew he had been planning on getting the general skill upgrade, but perhaps he could create a version of a skill that improved its general functions without any side effects.

It seemed ambitious, but with this item, he felt like that option was becoming much more of a possibility.

"I am actually much more interested in the secondary effect," Marcus commented as he got closer to the necklace around Julius's neck.

"What secondary effect?" He asked interestingly, not knowing what the man was talking about. The information he got when he infused his aura into the device did not mention that detail.

"I think the item's main purpose is to escape from a spatial barrier. The item purposefully destabilized space as it teleports the user. You didn't notice it here since you teleported within the spatial barrier erected around the residence, but if you tried to teleport out of it, I think it would have been possible," Marcus explained.

"Wait, aren't space breakers usually one-time use items?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, which is why this item is quite curious. I don't know how strong the effect is, but as long as the barrier isn't too strong, it should be able to help you out if you ever find yourself trapped in a spatial barrier like the simple one Stella used on you."

Julius loved hearing that. He was already imagining the possibilities of such an item. One thing he had been very worried about regarding spatial movement skills was their restriction via enchantments or other skills. He often found that houses, properties, and other objects had various methods of inhibiting spatial movement.

Richard had even told him of scary situations in which people interfered with the process and splintered themselves. This was similar to what had just happened with his hand.

Most of the time it wasn't too bad. But in a battle, the loss of a hand could be devastating.

However, if he could learn a skill that helped prevent people from interfering with his spatial movements, that would be even better.

In the meantime, though, he wanted to test the item a couple more times before they returned. Perhaps, this next time, he wouldn't lose his hand.

***

On the bright side, he didn't lose his entire hand again. He only lost several fingers and toes.

It was clear that his accuracy with the item was not quite up to standard yet, but he was slowly getting more comfortable with it.

The cooldown for short distances was around ten minutes, but he realized that the longer the jump, the longer the cooldown seemed to be.

The three of them ended up staying there for much longer than planned, but it was a fruitful session. Marcus had his own spatial movement skills and helped Julius adapt as best he could. As for Lily, she was there to cheer him on and provide moral support.

After they were done, they decided to have dinner before heading back. They were in the middle of eating when Marcus suddenly turned to Julius.

"I almost forgot, but remember that favor you asked of me?"

Julius frowned at him. "What favor? What do you mean?"

"The one about if I heard about House Greyson and if something comes up in the investigation?"

Ah, yes, he remembered now. He had asked Marcus to let him know if anything pertaining to House Greyson popped up.

"Yes, did you find anything?"

"I won't lie to you and say we found a lot. But we did find out that they have been working behind the scenes in many cities where the Conclave had dipped their fingers in. Regions like Koana, Langus, and Valorbury have all shown signs of House Greyson or their partners working on something. We don't know what that is quite yet, but I wanted to let you know. It's not much, but I promised," Marcus said before shoving another piece of meat into his mouth.

Julius, on the other hand, slowly finished chewing his food and pensively looked at the stone walls of the room. He noticed that Lily looked at him with worried eyes. She knew the truth about him and recognized the region where he was from.

Valorbury Region was the region where House Hyperius held power. He still hadn't heard much from it and neither had the others. According to everything the others had found, there was nothing wrong with House Hyperius. At least nothing they heard from their sources.

Still, it was another piece of evidence that House Greyson was involved in what happened almost a year ago.

He sighed softly because he still didn't know what had happened and if he ever would find out the exact truth. In all honesty, he had given up on that front. It was better for his psyche if he didn't harp on the past for too long. He had many other things he had to worry about.

He knew they wouldn't want him to dwell on the past either. Edwin would have kicked him in the teeth if he had thought Julius was wasting his time on it. He would tell him that instead of pouting, he should use that time to train.

And train he shall. With this new item, he believed his goal of learning some spatial skills and maybe a Concept was closer than ever.

Tearing off a piece of food a little harder than necessary, he promised himself that he would be spending a lot of time figuring out the secrets of this new item. He also made sure to thank House Easten for their generosity. It was a gift more amazing than he could have ever hoped for.