Ryn
patreon
Chapter 289
🕑 Added 2025-02-22 19:00:08 +0000 UTC“Hey! What do you think you are doing?”
Julius turned his head to look at the dude with an innocent expression on his face. The guy was quite the handsome fellow, but it was marred by the severe frown on his face.
“Have some respect. You can’t treat her like that!” The guy berated him.
Julius confusingly looked toward Reinera and she just shrugged her shoulders, as if saying she didn’t know what to do either. Not knowing who this person was and since she apparently didn’t think to try to explain things to him, he decided to ignore him.
Julius gave him one last glance before pulling away with Reinera in tow.
Unfortunately, the other boy wasn’t just going to allow him to leave so easily. A hand latched itself onto his shoulders once more, this time, a little more strength went into it. Julius could feel the mana flowing through the guy’s body as his enhancement skill activated.
“I was talking to you,” the unknown boy said angrily enough that the people around them realized that something was going down and the chatter died down a little as they were curious what was happening.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Julius said with a soft bob of his head before whispering over to Reinera. “Do you know this person?”
She leaned forward and gave him a soft shake of her head. “Kind of, his name is Adam and he’s not really a bad guy. He’s just a bit…” She trailed off.
“A bit like a noble?” He finished for her.
“Yeah, like a noble” she admitted in a soft hush.
“What should I say to him?” He whispered back.
“I don’t know, it wasn’t like I was expecting you to come over here. I thought you wanted us to pretend like we didn’t know each other?” She mumbled with a quick look at all the people who were staring at them.
“I did, but then I thought about how annoying it would be to pretend to do all of that and that it would eventually come out anyway. Also, you looked pretty miserable over here, and thought you could use some help,” he said with a light laugh.
“Well, thank you. I thought when I gave you that look earlier you decided to ignore me,” she said to him with a grin.
“I thought about it,” he said with a matching grin.
She shook her head and kicked him in the shin for his teasing.
The boy who had obstructed them seemed pretty close to blowing his lid while they forgot about him as they talked.
However, Reinera thankfully turned over to this ‘Adam’ person. “It’s alright, Adam, I’ll see you and the others later,” she said gently.
“Who is this?” Adam asked with a derisive look toward Julius.
“This is Julius, the other student who was transported with me,” she explained before turning away, this time she was the one who began dragging Julius along by the wrist.
“Woah,” he said as she almost made him fall off his feet but luckily kept up with her. He also felt Adam reach out once again in an attempt to grab his shoulder, but this time he did something about it.
The first two times Adam grabbed his shoulder, he could accept. But after she had explained things to him, he didn’t think the guy had any need to touch him again. Which was why he used a brief pulse of kinetic energy to halt Adam’s movements.
It was surprisingly easy to do. Since he was only Tier 2, Julius didn’t even have to focus on overcoming his willpower, it felt like it was barely there in the first place.
He didn’t completely immobilize the boy either, he simply made sure that he wasn’t able to reach over and grab him. He released him quickly afterward and by that time they were already out of reach.
Thankfully, the boy didn’t come chasing after them and he followed along amusingly as Reinera dragged him off to the cafeteria.
However, he couldn’t help but notice the weird looks he was getting from the rest of the students as they all spotted the princess hauling him away.
***
“How have you been enjoying your first day back?” Lily asked him.
“Some stares but for the most part it has been pretty boring to be honest,” he said to her, looking around at the cafeteria.
Whereas the first years had swarmed Reinera, now that they were in the upperclassmen cafeteria, the other students didn’t really give them much attention. Of course, there were some stares but it wasn’t bad at all. Most of the older students didn’t seem to care all that much about the princess’s return, at least not enough to come storming towards their table to interupt.
Reinera who was sitting on his other side chuckled. “I suspect that things might change pretty soon,” she said with an empathetic shake of her head.
There is that, he thought to himself sadly.
“Yeah, I noticed that you aren’t exactly hiding that you know each other,” Edgar said with a mouth full of food.
“Chew before you talk, you are getting food everywhere,” Lily said to the big guy.
“No I’m not,” Edgar said while crumbs were falling off of his face.
Lily pinched her nose and turned back to Julius. “Anyhow, why did you decide to do that? I thought you were still trying to not attract attention?”
“I went over what we talked about last night and you guys were right. There is no way that I am going to be able to hide things for very long anymore. If it’s not my recent advancement to Tier 3 getting attention it will be something else like my relationship with Reinera. So I thought it was better to just get it over now.”
“See? I give some good advice,” Aubrey stated proudly.
He ignored her much to her displeasure.
“I am still wondering if it’s worth it to stay at Goldencrest. I feel like this place is limiting me,” he said to them.
“Where is this coming from? You said something like that last night.”
“Just something I was realizing when I was sitting in my classes. There isn’t much that I find useful in those classes. Physical Training is something I can do with or without school, Professor Stewart is not someone who teaches mana the way I use it, and while Professor Rowe and Professor Youma are great teachers, they were limited by what they can teach the rest of the class.”
“What would you do though? Leave and go adventuring?” Aubrey asked, sounding genuinely curious.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe, I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but it might be the better option to get stronger.”
Lily gave him a soft bump to get his attention. “You really think that’s the best option? Remember not everything is about getting stronger.”
He gave her a small unsure smile. “I'm not saying I have decided just yet.”
“Well before you start getting ideas about leaving, you should focus on how you two are going to deal with the mess you got yourselves into,” Aubrey said while chewing on her food.
“Yeah, don’t remind me,” he said tiredly, already knowing that after lunch was over they would be swarmed once again.
***
It was chaos. For the next week, he and Reinera found themselves getting nonstop attention from all of the other underclassmen, specifically first years.
It was so bad that Julius and Reinera had straight-up avoided going to class. However, after the first few days, it had died down a little and he was able to start getting back into a routine.
The only time he had to himself was when he was hanging out with the others or in a training room.
People were very suddenly very interested in finding out who he was. Previously he was a nobody. Most students didn’t even know his name and he was more well known by the older students who saw him with the others.
However, that had changed very quickly.
People tried to talk to him and ask him questions all the time. At first, it was questions about Reinera and how he had gotten close to her. But recently, the questions had become more about him rather than her.
A very funny development was that he was all of a sudden very popular with the girls in his year. It would seem that being ‘friends’ with a princess made girls want to befriend him as well.
During class, girls would frequently come up to him and try to initiate a conversation. Somehow they had found out things about him beforehand. Most of them already knew that he was friends with Joshua and that group.
A much bigger shock to him was that it had also come out that he was friends with Lily and the others. After some thought, he suspected that Henry’s friends had told some students who then told everyone else. He remembered that Aubrey had literally threatened Henry and his friends earlier in the year, so it would make sense for them to know about their relationship and they would only need to ask some older students to verify it.
The fact that he was friends with them, wasn’t exactly unknown for the upperclassmen, but for the first years, this was big news. News that garnered him a lot of attention regardless of his connection with Reinera.
This meant he had quickly become one of the most popular or rather most sought after guys in his year. He still didn’t know how he felt about that quite yet.
It certainly felt better than being ridiculed or looked down on, but the fact that everyone always looked at him when he passed by them didn’t feel quite comfortable.
“You are still using too much mana,” he commented offhandedly to Joshua who was in the middle of some training. The other boy had been asking for his help quite often after Pollux spilled that Julius was stronger than he pretended to be.
He didn’t mind it though. Joshua was surprisingly hard-working when he wanted to be. He had already tightened up a lot of his techniques. While nothing too impressive so far, it had only been around a week of training so far.
Julius was also in the middle of sparring with Pollux who was trying to get used to a new skill the boy had earned a little while ago.
It was a skill that used some properties of mana to enhance his attacks.
The boy had decided to get this skill because he had some trouble against enemies who had an aura based defense skill. They weren’t that common, but apparently, several students had one and it always gave Pollux a hard time whenever he sparred these people.
It wasn’t quite a body enhancement skill, the skill was more like a spontaneous burst of energy instead of a sustained flow of mana which was probably better for the wolfkin boy.
It was quite a simple skill that literally burst an amount of mana through his fist and at the moment, it was a little lacklaster and wasteful. However, Julius believed that there was potential for it to grow into a powerful skill one day.
A good old burst of mana never hurt anyone. It was actually similar to what he did for [Flash Step] but just for a fist.
With that being said, Pollux always had trouble with mana-specific skills so he was still having some difficulty adapting to it. Currently, he was trying to speed up its activation and asked for Julius’s help.
Julius was still upset at the boy and decided that this was a good time to get back at the other boy. It was basically a free chance to beat up on the tattletale.
Pollux stepped forward and activated the skill. Julius sensed the manipulation of mana and placed a barrier of aura in front of him, blocking the attack easily.
That was probably the biggest problem with the skill. It just took way too long to activate and by that time, he could create any number of barriers to block it and he could simply avoid it. However, Pollux already knew that and hence the reason they were practicing.
“Don’t even think about making it pretty,” he advised Pollux.
“What do you mean?” Pollux asked after taking a step back.
Julius looked over at Joshua, who was training his mana control, he was still making sure he was paying attention in case he had to give advice to the other boy too. After seeing that Joshua was trying to limit how much mana got wasted during the formation of the spell, he nodded his head approvingly and turned back to Pollux.
“The skill itself isn’t very complicated. At its core, it is pure mana exploding outward. Don’t worry about controlling every bit of it. We can worry about mana conservation later. Right now, just focus on throwing your mana as swiftly through your fist as possible.”
Pollux nodded his head firmly and closed his eyes before lashing out in another strike. This time Julius noticed that it was slightly quicker this time around and while it wasn’t elegant to watch, it was effective.
“Better, just focus on pure speed until you run out of mana okay? Try and actually land an actual strike if you can,” he said challengingly to the boy.
Pollux smiled and proceeded to try doing just that. Whether he was able to accomplish that, well… that was up for debate.
For the time being, he enjoyed himself and occasionally hit Pollux a bit harder than necessary. However, it didn’t feel as satisfying as it could have because the other boy seemingly enjoyed it more than he probably had any right to.
Comments
Rod
I concur with the sentiments about school, while he did learn some initially it stunted his growth a bit, and to me that became more evident once he had some freedom away, 2 more concepts an a tier as well as numerous skill advances, besides that the life and death struggles seem to be more beneficial to advancement than the mock battles
Thomas Grimshaw
still only Julius Snow in the college though so possibly not likely, we shall see!
Rust
Great chapter, thanks!
Paul Smith
I think Julius should stay at school, not to get stronger, but to continue building his foundations. Yes he’s strong, and will likely continue, I love that, and he doesn’t need the school for that. What he does need the school for is the fact that he still knows so little about cultivation and advancing. University is where he should be learning that, and it seems like he’s failed at that. He keeps finding out things that his peers know that he didn’t. This is the time he should be spending learning those things so he can build a better foundation for his future growth. Yes he maximized skills and fighting prowess before he reached tier 3, but how much did he miss out on because he didn’t know it existed? Like, how many things like the challenge rift are out there that he has already missed out on in earlier tiers, and how much more will he miss out on if he doesn’t take the time to figure out what this world had to offer? He knows science, but little about magic.
adam1
I am waiting for a teacher to push him and he absolutely wrecks the teacher.
adam1
He was playing at being weird when he met his cousin, except for the name there's really nothing to link him to Julius Hyperion as far as his cousin is concerned.
A B
Edit suggestion: get back at the other boy -> get back at him
Kbzzy
He was stronger than Edgar and derek as a tier 2 lol. Aubrey (or lily can’t remember) noted that he was holding back and pretending that Edgar was still stronger than him before he went missing with Reinera. There’s no chance they are capable of beating him now. And they were both top 10 in the year if I remember correctly so julius should be more than capable of dominating everyone in year 4 across the kingdom
TYRELL GRAY
Or he could train his friends to be monsters, because at this point, it feels like they haven’t got stronger, lily needs help with a concept, the crystal girl needs help, with whatever. After a teaching arc, he can more on, it could be a parting gift for right now, until the see able future
TYRELL GRAY
I do agree with you, but honestly I’m looking for an adventure, there’s a lot of land, race, culture we don’t know about. Or he check on his uncle and his house, and the butler.. or he can find his mother, if I’m not wrong I don’t think she’s dead, base on what I remember I think she a prostitute. Either way, school life wasn’t made for him, he barely attended class, academics graded are shit, he was good for months.. honestly out boy isn’t made for school
TYRELL GRAY
Interesting, you’re right. Or she just ashamed, that she couldn’t protect the princess, so she doesn’t want to face our MC
jumbosauce
Was thinking the exact same thing
ThoMiCroN
Julius to Pollux: « You’ve been a naughty naughty puppy. Come here, I’ll groom your fur with my flames. »
ThoMiCroN
With all the attention of him, perhaps Julius’ cousin will remember he exists.
Justin
Peak teenager: "I'm not getting value out of a 3(? or was it 4?) year school on the first year, I should just quit instead of asking for more challenging curriculum." His third year friends: "(stays silent on what he might gain out of staying another few years). Oh what do you want to do instead?"
Reid Thompson
Well, there's another problem with him leaving, and that's the school tournament(s). At this point, it's basically chekhov's gun, and it needs to be fired. So either he needs to stick around and watch his friends participate, or he himself needs to participate. He could do neither, yes, but at that point... well, there's a reason Chekhov said that if you lay a gun on the table, it needs to go off before the end of the play.
Ben
After seeing the state of the teachers who were in his interview I think we’ve already seen the best teacher which is Gabriel. Unless the t6’s were hiding away which I doubt there’s no reason to assume things will change as we’ve seen nothing to indicate that it will. Staying in school offers zero tension and plot development he would be much better off been mentored while he travels with Marcus for example and investigates the Conclave. Could meet up with Alice and learn from her as well as she definitely feels like she owes him after she literally got him killed. He’s made good connections. Only reason to stay would be for the tournament reward if it’s even worth it.
Ben
The school arc is boring it hasn’t offered him anything in the way of development. Look at how all the teachers behaved as if they’ll let him go up a year with all those nobles present. He’s made good connections which he’ll keep forever but there’s zero tension and no plot development while he stays in school. For the story to move forward unless it wants to be slice of life and lose readers due to lack of tension the author should expand the world with Julius leaving. He’s got a perfect opportunity to start investigating if he tags along with Marcus or Stella and he would learn so much more being mentored by them and Alice as well. Not to mention the amount of world building we would get there’s barely been any since he came to the academy.
Reid Thompson
Well, Alice could just take him on the road and they could hit up dungeons on the way. It still doesn't fix an easy access to information that he seems to write off too easily. I agree with him that his current classes are worthless, and it's possible all classes there would be worthless for him, but he very much still needs a tutor.
Hamfist
Amelia was upset for a while about Julius being able to see through her stealth skill but she must have really leveled it up. She been completely unseen since chapter 189...
Jayden Shannon
Anyone else agree we should see more Demi-human characters I forgot there was a wolf boy in his first year friend group
Finn
And then there is still the space training with the t6s that's planned to be done in the same city as the school and even b4 him reaching t3 He was running Dungeons outsidevthe school. So If for nothing else, he should stay in school for the free meals and the connections as long as possible.
Jayden Shannon
You mean all year 4 except the top 5 like Edgar and Dereck
Finn
Well, now that he stopped laying low his cousin will probably recognize him and at least part of his past will catch up with him. Looking forward how he will manage that.
Jayden Shannon
Agree to disagree we’ve seen a lot of what school has to offer besides the tournament, but Julios just learned the are a lot more options to explore like clans and other stuff which would be interesting to see like that kinetic warrior clan. As long as he comes back and destroys them in a tournament who cares if he skips a year
Reid Thompson
Yeah i mean, surely they would have some kind of advanced graduation system since it's a cultivation school. If he showed the he could wipe the floor with pretty much every professor, that would be enough i would think.
Luke Scheffe
He really should stay in school. Perhaps try to skip a year or two, but he certainly hasn’t outgrown the entire curriculum.
Conrad Manaugh
Graduates in year 1 after winning the tourny
ThoMiCroN
He could just try to graduate from the lower years earlier.
ThoMiCroN
There isn’t really a good reason for Julius to hide his story from Reinera anymore. She already knows about the Conclave and Julius already caught attention.
ThoMiCroN
He could just brush them with his aura and make them all faint while not moving a muscle.
Amanda
Thanks for the chapter!!
Kbzzy
He should dominate all the year 4s in the interschool tournament before leaving like the academy like a mysterious badass
Oskar
Lol yeah, I always get too absorbed enjoying the chapter so people who are faster readers get in before me
Hamfist
I was looking forward to a slap down on the noble kid but having him be ignored by J&R as they dismiss him as "just a bit of a noble " was good for a laugh. Happy to see them being friends in public and Julius not trying to hide any more. Now that he is attracting attention it is time for his cousin to notice him. I'm looking forward to people, especially Reinera, knowing more about who he is. Also hoping the cousin can give Julius (and we readers) some info about what's going in the house.
Reid Thompson
A little anticlimactic on the resolution of yesterday's cliff, but that's okay i guess. I somewhat disagree about him leaving school. It's true, it offers him very little *as a first year*. A year that's almost over. What he does still need is specialized tutoring, which i think could replace school. Maybe one of those t6s he's met. Someone will need to guide him to advancement through t4 and t5, since information is somewhat "hoarded".
Voral
I expected the Noble to make more of a scene but those kind of people are supposed to be rarer than what some stories make them out to be, so the tame development was fine as well. TFTC!
Paul Smith
I was too, but at tier two, he might have killed or crippled the poor kid. Look what he has done to multiple tier 3’s and that tier 4 with his aura. It would have been great though :)
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
Paul Smith
Ya mine said first as well, but I was too pre-occupied with reading to actual post lol. I don’t think I have ever gotten one of his first posts, and I’ve been here since day 1 I think? :p
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. A tad disappointed he didn’t use his aura on the kid trying to prevent him from leaving with Reinera…
Paul Smith
Loved it!! He’s finally starting to come out of hiding! :) Also, glad that he came out with the princess, I would have been disappointed if that relationship grew stagnant.
Hassan Sarwat
Thanks for the chapter
Oskar
Maybe not first lol just my patreon that didn't update the comments
brennon Petersen
Tftc!
Niclas Elmers
Tftc
Oskar
Wow first, thanks for the chapter 😁
Orthneil Kelley Jr.
TFTC!
