Julius POV

When he was satisfied that he had everyone’s attention and they didn’t seem like they wanted to start a revolt or throw him off a bridge, he finally activated the enchantments placed around the courtyard. He wasn’t an expert at handling enchantments, but having good control over mana helped matters a lot.

Additionally, these enchantments were very simple to use. Whoever set them up ensured that you only needed to supply aura and manage the levels of the pressure the willpower course put out.

When the runes to the enchantments lit up, he was a bit disappointed. Not at the strength or complexity of the enchantments. No, they were very well made. But he didn’t sense his ruinous aspect bleed through the enchantments.

So while the disciples all dropped to their knees and groaned from the pressure, he scratched his head. He had been playing with the enchantments earlier to see if his ruinous aura would work through them, but apparently, it wouldn’t work like that.

While he thought of ways to add his ruinous aspect to the course, he was tapped on the shoulder. Sarei was looking at him with concern.

He glanced over at her. “Yes?”

“Do you think you should lighten up on them? I suspect many of them hadn’t felt something like this before.”

He frowned and looked over at the group of Tier 3s struggling to handle the pressure. He had made sure to set the pressure just below the level he had done for Maya. But perhaps they weren’t at the same baseline as the other girl.

On the bright side, the enchantments actually made it so much easier to adjust the pressure. He didn’t have to manually control it; once he set it up, the enchantments would handle the rest.

“You think this is too much?”

She nodded. “Not for all of them, but for the rest? Yes.”

He examined all of the disciples with a curious tilt of his head. She was right, there were several of them who were handling this better than the others. He spotted a group of two girls and a boy handling it well enough. They were grimacing, but not showing the exertion that others were. He also spotted an alarmingly large boy barely frowning at the pressure.

If Julius didn’t know any better, he would say this guy was Edgar’s larger and meaner older brother. A few others were handling the pressure well enough, but most of the group were struggling.

With a shake of his head, he deactivated the enchantments and watched as everyone stumbled at the sudden absence of pressure. A few fell on their faces and groaned loudly.

“Okay, this isn’t going to work as I planned. This is what we are going to do.” He pointed at one side of the courtyard. “We are going to split into two groups. One is going to try to resist the pressure from the training course. The others who can already withstand it will come with me. I will give you something else to try.”

He turned to Sarei. “Do you think you can help me with the group who need more practice?”

She nodded. “Sure, I can do that.”

“Perfect. You can lower the intensity, but I want them to be able to handle that kind of pressure before they come over to me,” he told her and turned back to the group of disciples who hadn’t moved, clapping his hands.

“Well, we don’t have all day. Start organizing yourselves into your groups. You should know where you belong,” he barked out and watched with satisfaction when they all quickly moved.

When they were all done, he was left with two groups. One was larger and contained the people who struggled with the initial pressure. The others were the ones who managed to hold on decently well. The only expectation was a young girl who stood stubbornly next to the massive boy he had spotted earlier.

He walked up to her, noticing her small and thin stature. “Why did you place yourself in this group? You were already struggling with the test from before,” he asked with a sharp glare.

She looked at him nervously, but there was a deviant look in her blue eyes. “I can do it.”

He frowned at her for a few long seconds, staring her right in the eyes before he let out a grin and shrugged. “Fine, just know when you need a break. This won’t be something you improve over the course of a day. I don’t want you to damage your soul.”

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She seemed surprised at his easy acceptance but nodded happily. “Yes, sir.”

He nodded. He had honestly hoped for more people to do what she did, but perhaps he was expecting something unreasonable. After all, he had told them to organize themselves based on their ability to handle the pressure.

He spotted that Sarei had already gotten started with the other group. The woman was smiling warmly at them and explaining to them how she was going to start. They seemed a lot more relieved for some reason.

Julius shrugged and looked at his group. “Okay, while they are working on that. Let’s get you guys started. Sit down and get into a relaxed position. I don’t need you falling on your face.”

Some of them looked at each other with concern, which confused Julius. He didn’t know why they were already acting nervous. He hadn’t even done anything yet.

Once he saw they were all ready, he started to slowly manipulate his aura, removing the shroud and enveloping them with it. Since the enchantments couldn’t properly use his ruinous aura, he would just have to do it manually. He would also be able to manually adjust the pressure. It would require a lot more effort on his part, but like with Maya, it would provide a good opportunity to improve his own aura control.

While they handled the pressure from before well, they clearly weren’t expecting something like this. He saw several of their faces widen with dread as his aura blanketed them. He could feel their willpower rising up to fight him, but he brushed them aside and enforced his will.

All of them, including the large boy, let out simultaneous groans of pain as his aura squeezed their own auras. He was using it much like how he would have when he immobilized people with his kinetic energy. Only without the kinetic aspect. But his aura had gotten strong enough that he didn’t need kinetic energy to hold them still. The sheer power of his aura was enough to do this.

They were all stiff as boards as he subjected them to his aura, and the young girl struggled the most. She fell to her hands as she strained to remain conscious. He had already held back quite a bit, but her perseverance was admirable at least.

“There are several ways to fight against an opponent’s aura. One is through complicated and skillful manipulation. The other is sheer will. Most people underestimate how much sheer willpower and stubbornness will help.”

He continued to pressure them for several more minutes before finally letting up and giving them a breather. He saw them all sag to the floor with relief.

He let them take some time to recover and looked over to the entrance of the courtyard. He had sensed someone arrive a few minutes earlier and smiled as he waved at the newcomer.

“What are you doing here?” He asked Maya warmly.

She didn’t smile back at him; she was looking at the stumbling disciples with a pitying expression. “Do you need to be so rough with them?”

He tilted his head. “Rough? I was worried I was going easy on them.”

He could have sworn he heard someone whimper in the background, but shook his head. He must have been hallucinating or something.

Maya let out a sigh. “Just don’t kill our future talents, okay?”

“It’s up to them. Anyways, you didn’t answer me. What are you doing here?”

“I heard you were teaching a willpower class, and so I asked if I could join. I thought it would be better than asking you to help me at a different time.”

“And they said it was okay?”

“They didn’t tell me it wasn’t.”

He shrugged. “Sure, the more the merrier. Maybe you can help me out with them while we’re at it.”

“Help them out?”

He nodded. “Yeah, they seem to be struggling with it. Maybe you could help give them some tips. They might be more responsive to someone like you.”

He looked over at the disciples and noticed that they had stopped what they were doing. Almost all of them were staring at Maya with weird looks on their faces.

“Hey, stop staring and focus on recovering. We are going back at it in a minute or so,” he said sharply.

They all listened to him and immediately got back to recovering. He pointedly ignored their terrified expressions.

“I see you have already frightened them.”

“They aren’t scared. They are just motivated.”

“Hmm. Sure.”

“You said you were joining us?”

She nodded and walked over. “Someone’s got to make sure you don’t start killing our sect’s disciples.”

He harumphed. “If they die, then it’s because they were too weak-willed to handle it. The only one I have seen with some grit is that skinny girl over there,” he said, pointing his finger at the girl who was bleeding slightly from her nose and slouched on her knees.

“Julius,” Maya said scoldingly and walked over to the girl.

“What? She insisted.”

Maya ignored him and helped the young girl up, even having her sip a potion. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Julius, on the other hand, didn’t know what the problem was. The girl was fine; his senses confirmed as much. Plus, he hadn’t even been going that hard.

He might have been expecting too much from a big sect like this, but he couldn't help but think that some of these disciples were too soft. Fortunately, it was his job to help them toughen up.

He walked over with a bright grin. "Okay, that's enough of a break, let's get back to it!"

He heard several of the disciples curse under their breath, and some of them even looked over at the exit. He didn't mind; he knew they would eventually come to appreciate this opportunity.