Path to Transcendence
Chapter 108: Quick and Efficient

Notice: Would you like to enter the rift?

Julius was a little surprised at the notification. In his previous rift experience he didn't have a choice, the troll rift had sucked him in like it was a Dyson vacuum and he was some sad cookie crumb on the floor. So now it felt weird that he could choose to enter it or not.

He was obviously going to say yes, but the opportunity to choose was more satisfying than he expected it to be. It kind of made him happy in a way, having the power to choose whether or not to enter.

He looked over at Declan who was also touching the rift and waiting for Julius's decision. Declan gave him a reassuring nod and smile. Julius let out the breath he was holding and mentally selected yes.

The moment he made that decision, he felt his entire body get wrapped up in whatever energy the portal was made of and was transported to an open grass field. It was a little disorienting, but he soon got a grip on himself. Declan soon appeared right next to him and gave Julius a hearty pat on the shoulder, as if congratulating him.

The grass field wasn't large, it was only a few dozen feet from one side to the other. At the end of the open space was a large tangle of trees and forestry. It was just like the information had said. If he was being honest, it was quite beautiful. Colorful flora and lush greenery were everywhere.

If Julius didn't know that he was in a rift, he would have thought that this was a nice peaceful forest. He could hear the soft rustle of the leaves and branches of the trees as the wind grazed them and he could distantly hear the subtle sounds of a stream of water nearby.

However, he knew that it was just a facade. This rift was supposedly filled to the brim with goblins who lived in the forest itching to rip you apart and eat your flesh. Julius immediately sent out a wide-casting pulse with [Spatial Perception] but didn't come up with anything. For the moment there were no goblins nearby. Or at least no goblins that he could sense. Who knew? Declan joked about a rare stealth variant, but Julius wouldn't put it past fate to give him a special goblin surprise in this rift.

He turned to Declan who was as relaxed as a cucumber. He didn't seem worried at all. That honestly made sense when considering that even if every single goblin were to attack Declan, they wouldn't be able to leave a scratch. The goblins were probably as scary to Declan as a bunch of beetles were to Julius.

"So what now?" He asked Declan.

Julius didn't really know what he needed to do in a rift. His only experience was the troll one and he didn't think that was a standard rift, so he didn't want to draw too many comparisons from that.

Declan shrugged his shoulders at Julius. "To be truthful, you don't have to do much. This rift is more of an elimination rift. The goblins will eventually replace you and your job is to stay alive and kill as many goblins. However, you don't want to kill every goblin either. That is one of the rift-clearing conditions and you will get in trouble if you do something like that."

"So how will I know if I am getting close to killing the last one?" Julius asked.

"Trust me, you will know," Declan vaguely responded to him. "Also, we won't be getting anywhere close to that point today. It is good etiquette to not push a rift to the limit and to leave some breathing room."

Julius nodded his head at Declan in acknowledgment. He understood where Declan was coming from. This rift's value wasn't just how many goblin cores one could retrieve in one delve, but how many they could retrieve over a very long period. It was like a farming system. You have to leave enough to plant the next year's crops.

Julius already had an idea of how he wanted to deal with the goblins. While he didn't want to come off as too arrogant to Declan, he did still want to use this opportunity to train some of his skills. But if he were to just start blasting explosive spikes at anything that moved, he didn't think that would get him very good results training-wise.

He wanted to upgrade some of his skills, specifically [Mana Slash]. He could feel how close it was and if he could level it up to level 15 by the end of today, he would consider everything a great success.

"So… should I wait here or should I go and hunt?" He asked Declan after neither moved from the spot for a while.

"Up to you. They will eventually replace you on their own, but it would go faster if you just decided to hunt them."

Julius thought about it for a minute. Honestly, it sounded simpler to just wait for the goblins to come and replace him. He wasn't worried about being overwhelmed but he also didn't think that would impress Declan enough.

He expected that Declan would judge him on how he used and leveraged his skills. Therefore, since he had a skill that was really good for scouting a dense forest, he might be expecting Julius to go and hunt on his own.

So Julius spun himself in a circle and when he stopped he went in that direction. Declan didn't say a word and just followed behind him. Though, Julius did notice that Declan had completely shrouded his presence, even with [Spatial Perception] he almost didn't notice him. It was like whatever Declan was doing it was like his aura was trying to convince him that Declan wasn't there. It was a very interesting technique. Perhaps, Julius would ask him how he did it after the rift was over.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Fortunately, it didn't take that long for Julius to replace a goblin. He spotted a group of five of them walking together through the forest. Julius had only read about goblins but seeing them in person was a bit of a surprise. They were much more human-like than what he had been expecting. They were a little shorter than the average height of a normal person and had the general body and facial structure of a person as well. The main standouts were the light green skin, the long-fanged teeth, and the sickly yellow eyes. But if you put a bag over their head and into a room with low lighting, Julius could see himself mistaking a goblin for a human.

They all had wooden spears in their hands as well. Julius spotted one of them swinging his spear at every piece of foliage he could reach, pretending it was some enemy. He kept observing them for a little longer, he wanted to see if there was any other information he could gain from them.

However, after a few minutes of following them, he decided that it was about time to take them out. Julius activated his skills and concentrated.

He used [Arcane Construct], [Pure Compression], and [Mana Layering] to create very thin needle-like projectiles. He thought that exploding spikes would be overkill so he went with the more subtle approach.

In his mind, he was tempted to set off a big explosion hoping that it would lure the other goblins to his location, but he suspected that Declan wouldn't approve of that so he held off.

Once he had five needles hovering over his shoulder he focused on shaving the points of the needles down to as thin and narrow as he could. Then he used [Mana Slash] and covered the constructs in the sharpened mana.

Julius focused on envisioning the idea of what sharpness was the entire time. He thought about the process of the thin needle point splitting apart the atoms on the goblin's skin.

Once he felt like he had a good visual and mental image in his head, he sent them tearing through the air at the goblins with a burst of kinetic energy. The needles released a thin hissing sound as they crossed the hundred or so feet to their targets.

The other benefit of using such small projectiles was that Julius was able to maintain much higher control over their flight. Sometimes when he shot a larger construct it was too difficult to change its trajectory at the speed it was traveling at.

However, these needles he had such fine control over them that it would be almost impossible for him to miss the goblins.

And he did not miss. The needles pierced right through the brains of all five goblins, not slowing down for a single moment. The goblins didn't even know what had happened to them. One moment they were walking and the other they were dead on the forest floor.

He was conscious of the fact that he didn't feel as bad about killing another living thing, unlike his first time. Perhaps, he was getting used to it.

Julius quickly controlled the needles to fly back to his position. Admittingly, he didn't need to do that. The mana used to create these constructs was quite negligible, especially for someone with as much mana as he did. Still, he thought it was good practice and would build healthy habits to not waste any mana.

He went over to the dead corpses and began the process of opening up their chests and removing their cores. He didn't need the money and the price of Tier 2 cores wasn't that great but he thought that Declan would appreciate the gesture.

Declan POV

Declan was genuinely curious about how Julius would go about taking down these goblins. He had chosen this particular rift because it was the perfect first rift for adventurers and other fighters.

A big reason was that goblins were humanoid-looking enough creatures that it gave pause to many people. He had seen numerous individuals over the years hesitate when fighting a goblin because they resembled humans. Those same people usually didn't have as much of a problem killing a bear or other monsters that didn't look human. However, not all monsters looked like monsters.

It was a good teaching practice to show adventures and younger people early that just because something looks like a human doesn't mean they are friendly.

That wasn't to say that all goblins were bad either. There were many enlightened monster species that were quite benevolent and had good relationships with humans.

With that being said, Declan was interested to see how Julius dealt with killing a humanoid creature like goblins. Would he hesitate or would something else happen? He also wanted to see how Julius would use his skills. Would he properly utilize them or would his overconfidence put him in danger?

Declan had to admit that the last option was what he was hoping for. He wasn't saying that he wanted Julius to get hurt, but he would rather be around now if Julius's overconfidence put him in a tight spot. Because then Declan would at least be around to help out while Julius would also learn his lesson.

But for now, Declan would just be a silent observer.

In the beginning, when Julius first found the goblins, Declan thought that maybe Julius was hesitant. He took his time stalking them, patiently waiting for something. However, he was proven wrong when Julius suddenly created breathtakingly strong but thin needles of mana, sending them at the goblins with a blistering pace.

It was a silent execution, with barely any noise and the littlest amount of mana possible. It was a cold-blooded killing and Declan grudgingly approved. It was clinical and precise. The goblins didn't get a single chance to attack or opportunity to prepare themselves. It was exactly what he wanted to see from an ambush. Furthermore, Julius's aura hadn't shown the slightest sign of lapse in concentration. If he was grading him like he would a normal recruit, he would give him full marks.

It was a little surprising to see how composed Julius was. If Declan didn't know better he would have thought that Julius was some sort of experienced delver.

He observed as the boy crouched down and used a sharpened knife made of mana to split open the chests of the goblins and remove their stones. As he watched over Julius he nodded his head in appreciation and acknowledgment of the boy's skills.

Declan didn't think he would have to worry about him as much as he thought he would.