He went to the Mission Hall and got all the details about the group mission he would be part of. It was composed of over a dozen Tier 4 inner disciples. But there were a small number of Tier 3s as well. Normally, this wouldn’t be the case, but these Tier 3s weren’t combatants.

The mission was to escort these Tier 3s to harvest a new plant species and explore a recently discovered area. The larger group was formed because it would be heading directly into a dangerous area where there had been several attacks.

However, the new plant must have been of high enough value to warrant this. He had no clue what it might do or what it might be worth, but he was more than happy with tagging along. Apparently, Cassandra thought it would be a good idea as well. He had gone over and talked to her after he left the Mission Hall.

She also mentioned having something for him to do when he returned. He didn’t know what it was, and she wasn’t being forthcoming either.

They weren’t going to leave right away, either. The mission was still a few days away, and he would have some time to prepare. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

In the meantime, he spent the majority of his time at the Medical Hall or was still attempting to combine his life mana with his ruinous aura. The latter was a lot more difficult. He had hit a sort of wall where nothing was working. It was more than a little frustrating and required his utmost patience to deal with it.

He delved back into the manual several more times as a reference. The way that death mana acted was different from his aura. The end results were a bit similar, but his aura had a lot more intricacies that Tezuko failed to explain. Though, to be fair, it wasn’t like he knew from his own experience. This was quite literally Julius piecing together his own technique, using Tezuko’s as a vague blueprint.

The way it affected his mind and emotions was the most annoying.

He was forced to meditate for longer periods than normal to emotionally recover. Even with [Sage of Savagery], he wasn’t able to keep everything under control. And each time was worse. His patience was fraying, and honestly, a break would do him a lot of good. He could only blow himself up and purposefully infuse his very being with such nasty energy for so long before he went crazy.

That was why he jumped at the opportunity to go on a mission. He would have accepted anything to be honest. He probably would have accepted a mission to clean the sewers at this point.

He sighed, and his thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone exclaim loudly. He looked up and noticed Mara had an excited expression. Noises were very typical in his lessons. However, most of the noises were those of pain and discomfort.

So when people heard someone sound happy for once, they all turned to the source. The small girl didn’t even notice the stares, and Julius suspected that she got a notification because she was staring into the void as she read it.

He was also pretty sure because he received a notification himself.

Would you like to learn the skill [Savage Instruction]?

He opened his mouth and quickly clamped it shut. He looked over at the disciples, who were distracted by Mara, and vowed that he would never tell them about this skill. They already complained enough as is, and hearing about his new skill offering would only feed the flames.

On the bright side, this meant that his teaching was good enough to earn him a skill. That was a good thing.

However, he didn’t know whether he was a fan of the "savage" descriptor for a teaching skill. It made him sound barbaric. Still, he was glad that Mara got something out of his instruction. She was the hardest-working one of his students by far. She continuously asked him to increase the intensity of his aura.

Then she snapped her head to him and grinned widely. She mouthed a ‘thank you’ at him, and he felt his heart tighten up. Somehow, this was all the gratitude he needed.

***

He felt a little awkward as he followed behind the group of inner disciples. He and the rest of the Medical Hall disciples were in their own group with the researchers who were coming to gather this plant.

He already knew Aaron and Nora. Aaron was slightly taller than average, with broad shoulders. Soft spoken but took things seriously.

Nora was tall for a girl and lithe. She had extremely long hair that almost reached her hips. Her robes were a little different from those of normal inner disciples as well. More flair and sparkles compared to everyone else’s robes. He didn’t know why this was or if it held any significance, but they looked really cool. It was only accentuated by her beautiful features.

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The two of them weren’t bad. Nora was a little stuck-up, but ultimately good at her job. Aaron was quite polite and worked well with people. In fact, both of them were very good at healing. They were some of the sect’s most promising healers. Not only that, but they were able to handle themselves in combat decently well, too. Julius knew that Nora had a powerful fire affinity of her own and used it to great effect.

Aaron used his life affinity more as a close combat fighter. He was pretty good at self-regeneration, and while his skill with weapons wasn’t the greatest, the guy could take a beating. Or that was what Nora and the other members of the Medical Hall liked to say.

However, there was one person he was surprised to see here. Mavis was twiddling her thumbs as she avoided him like the plague.

“I’m surprised to see you here. Are you with the team researching this new plant?” Julius decided to break the ice.

She jumped when he addressed her. He wasn’t that scary, was he?

She looked over and rubbed her head nervously. “Umm. Yeah, I am technically training as an alchemist, so my master gave me this mission. They said it would be a good practical experience for when I need to go out and grab herbs or other materials myself.”

“Sounds like a smart man.”

“My master is a beautiful woman,” Mavis corrected him sternly before looking immediately worried at the tone she used.

He chuckled. “Sorry, my bad. She seems like a smart woman. And don’t worry about talking to me so formally. This isn’t a lesson, and even there, I keep on telling you to be more relaxed.”

“Oh, so you’re the fascinating teacher who people are talking about,” a voice rang out from behind Mavis.

Julius watched with interest as a young man flamboyantly strolled up to him. He was dressed in the robes of the inner court, but he wore a lot of jewelry. There were even gold adornments in the man’s hair.

“Uh, maybe,” he answered slowly.

“What do you want, Albertus?” Mavis asked sharply, her careful tone suddenly nowhere to be found.

The young man brushed his hair from his eyes; the gold adornments jiggled as he did this. “I just wanted to get a look at the person who seems to be terrorizing the youth of our sect so terribly that they wake up with nightmares.”

“It’s not that bad,” he scoffed.

However, based on the look on Mavis’s face, the statement wasn’t exactly without credence.

The young man, Albertus, gazed at Julius with a smile. “What is your name?”

Not seeing a reason to be rude, Julius offered his hand. “My name is Julius.”

Albertus stared at the hand but didn’t make any moves to grab it.

“Don’t mind him. He is a bit of a germaphobe and a bit of a sleazeball,” Mavis said scaldingly. In the time he had known the girl, Julius hadn’t seen her talk so viciously. She was normally so warm and kind.

Albertus, on the other hand, didn’t seem upset at all. “Apologies, my junior sister is angry at me for ruining her experiment this morning.”

“You two are apprenticed to the same elder?”

“Oh yes. I have the great fortune of having Elder Avis as a master. Unfortunately for Mavis, she is but the youngest and most recent personal disciple. Still ignorant of the ways of a truly talented alchemist. She is truly jealous of someone like me.”

Mavis didn’t even argue the point, which led Julius to believe that Albertus, while weird and flamboyant, must have been quite a good alchemist.

“Ah! Nora, my beautiful! It is amazing to be in your angelic presence once again,” Albertus suddenly said with a beaming smile toward the tall girl.

“If I knew you were coming, I would not have accepted this mission,” the girl retorted.

“Ah! You wound me so! I have been eagerly anticipating our fated reunion with bated breath,“ he exclaimed with a dramatic gasp. “And Aaron, it is nice to see you again, too. Did that book help you with your issue?”

Aaron didn’t seem to be annoyed at all by the guy and nodded kindly. “Yes, it was a great recommendation. I was able to solve my dilemma thanks to you. I appreciate the help.”

Albertus slashes the air with his hand. “No worries. It was simply repayment for what you did for me all that time ago.”

Then the flippant guy turned to Julius; this time, the overly wide smile resembled a normal one. “Before I forget, I would like to thank you for helping out my sister. She might not want to admit it, but her willpower has seen some nice growth, and it’s been having a nice effect on her alchemy.”

Julius returned the smile with one of his own. “Of course. But it’s only been possible due to her own efforts.”

Albertus chuckled. “Oh, I doubt that. This lazy little birdie would have—”

The guy was cut off with a wheeze because Mavis had jammed her elbow into his gut.

Before anyone could do anything, Mavis began to drag the guy away by his collar, covering his mouth with her hand. The guy tried to flail out of her grasp, but surprisingly, the Tier 4 was helpless.

However, he couldn’t help himself and shouted out to her, “If you wish for extra lessons, come to me later, okay?”

He smiled when her body surged with mana and started to pull on Albertus even more fiercely to the point the guy was choking on his own robes.

“Well… that was interesting,” he mumbled with a laugh.

“Don’t mind him. He’s a good guy… most of the time,” Aaron added belatedly.

Nora scoffed. “Yeah, he’s a weirdo, but he is one of the best alchemists in the sect. They say they are already considering promoting him to a core disciple because of his alchemy contributions and various creations. The only thing holding him back is his terrible talent for fighting.”

“Why is he out here then?”

“He is probably the one who organized this mission in the first place. He likes to experiment with new things, and the sect helps him out with stuff like this. After all, they are the ones who benefit if it works out,” Aaron explained.

Julius looked at the desperate form of Albertus getting dragged away and smiled. He found the guy quite interesting.