It took them a lot less time to get back to the camp. Since they had mapped out the area and made sure it was safe, they could move much faster. However, while he followed behind the others, he couldn’t help but glance backward.

He didn’t know what kind of thing caused such a large explosion of mana, but he could have sworn he sensed small fragments of something familiar and a vague pulling sensation toward this energy.

Not only that, but if he didn’t know any better, he would have guessed the explosion was purposeful. It was almost like someone or something wanted to destroy any traces of mana or aura.

He shook his head. He wouldn’t make any assumptions. At the moment, it was more of a feeling than anything of substantial evidence. He needed to find something concrete before he drew any conclusions.

When they arrived back, he was shocked at how much the area had changed. He had wondered why they had taken an airship rather than teleport to the barrier, but now he understood the reason for that. There was no way they could have transported all of this stuff with storage rings alone. He doubted even the largest rings could have stored some of these items.

In a short amount of time, the entire camp had been built and was filled with dozens of structures of various sizes and purposes. He even saw a large stone structure that looked like a forge off to the side of the camp. Additionally, massive pillars carved with runes were placed all around the campsite.

They were absorbing an enormous amount of ambient fire mana, but with so much fire mana in the atmosphere, it was barely noticeable. There were twelve pillars and each of them were at least three stories tall.

All of this mana was put to good use, too. A powerful barrier surrounded the camp, and he could tell there were several more enchantments woven into its construction. They must have been made to specifically handle the harsh environment of the wastelands, unlike the airship.

On another note, he wondered how much damage a barrier like this could handle. Considering the massive amounts of fire mana, he assumed it would be a lot.

The others didn’t seem as surprised by this development. They had likely seen similar sights during the previous missions. Disciples were running around the area in a rush, and he spotted what seemed to be a new group of people as well.

They were wearing deep red robes with a fancy geometric pentagonal design. Inside the pentagon, directly in the center, was a flame.

He assumed this was the Inferno Array Sect that Elder Huan said was going to come and help them out on this expedition.

Julius let Kora and the others report to Elder Huan. He didn’t have any obligations to do so since he wasn’t technically a part of their group. Instead, he went over and explored the camp. Everyone was really busy, but there were a few groups who were taking time to relax. He suspected that, like Kora’s group, they had only just arrived back from wherever they were sent.

He spotted a specific group that looked like they had just fought a group of monsters. They were battered and bruised. A few had a couple of bandages around their arms. One even had one around their throat.

Seeing that nobody else was around and with nothing to do, he headed over.

“Hello,” he waved to them with a warm smile.

“Did you guys need any healing?”

They looked up and saw him. He spotted recognition in their eyes.

“Yeah, we are just waiting for our turn. There were a lot of other groups who came back before us and are getting healed at the moment. Our injuries were relatively simple and not a priority,” a girl with brownish-red hair explained to him.

“Did you want me to heal you instead?”

He saw a few of them frown and shuffle slightly back.

“You are a healer?” The girl asked. He noticed that she didn't back away, though.

“Yeah, not an official one, but I can at least heal those injuries for you. I’m surprised that you haven’t used any healing potions for them,” he said.

“We have healing potions, but we would rather not waste them if they aren’t needed. We used one for Glen’s neck wound, but that’s about it.”

He nodded, respecting their decision. This expedition could last for some time, and it was smart to conserve potions while they could.

“So do you want me to heal you?”

“As long as you don’t mind,” the brown-haired girl said to him with a thankful smile.

He waved his hand and reached his hand out to Glen’s neck before the young man could back away. Julius might have used some aura to prevent him from moving. Just a little bit.

“Of course not. I have nothing better to do anyway.”

He let life mana slowly and softly infuse into the wound, allowing it to saturate every crevice. There was some kind of interference; whatever had injured him had likely had some kind of anti-healing skill, which was why the potion hadn’t healed it all the way. But a little bit of aura removed whatever it was, and the flesh healed over soon after.

Glen touched his throat, seemingly surprised that he was actually fine. “Thanks, it wasn’t fatal, but it was a little uncomfortable to breathe,” he said with a relieved laugh.

“No worries. Now, let me heal the rest of you,” he said to them and proceeded to heal all of their other ailments and injuries.

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Once he was done, they thanked him profusely.

“You’re not as bad as the rumors suggest,” Glen suddenly said.

He flinched back. “What?”

“Yeah, you are a lot nicer than I thought you would be. From what people are saying, you would think you were some kind of sadist or bully.”

Julius’s face twitched. “The rumors can’t be that bad, right?”

“Hmm. People are saying that you like to beat up and torture the outer court disciples. And that you laugh while doing so.”

“Yeah, and people are theorizing that is why those other inner disciples left you out in the wilderness.”

“That’s what people are saying?” He asked with a frown.

“Yep. But it can’t be true, right? I mean, you can’t be that bad of a person if you stopped and helped us.”

He was about to tell them that none of that was accurate, but suddenly remembered that there had been some days when a laugh or two came out. However, it wasn’t because he enjoyed torturing them, but because he was having fun improving his own aura control.

“Wait, so it is true?”

His shoulders sagged to the ground. He didn’t have the energy to deny it or try to convince them otherwise.

Just how bad was his reputation in the sect, and was it too late to salvage it?

***

They stayed at the camp for a couple of days before they were sent out again. But this time around, they were to escort a large group. Their mission was to establish a forward operating base for future missions and groups traveling through the area.

The people from the Inferno Array Sect were accompanying them, too. They weren’t all Tier 4s like Julius expected, either. Several of them were Tier 3s and were required to wear a worrying amount of gear and enchanted items just to survive the harsh environment. But they were necessary to establish the forward operating base.

They took the same route as they had before, but this time around, they came across a group of monsters. Fortunately, they were spotted from far away, and Kora’s group was able to handle them without much issue.

The monsters were bombarded from a distance to decrease their numbers, and Julius finally got to see the Inferno Array Sect in action. They fought very differently from the Burning Sun Sect disciples. They used a lot more consumables in the form of talismans and various other items. They also handled the monsters in a much more passive manner.

Much like their name suggested, they utilized arrays and traps, allowing the monsters to run into large explosions of fire. While most of the monsters of the wastelands had a powerful resistance to fire, it only held up so much against the concussive force of an explosion. Furthermore, with the dense ambient fire mana, the arrays were essentially supercharged with mana, which more than balanced out the poor matchup.

It was important to note that Kora’s team clearly stood out from the rest. They were ruthless and decimated whatever monsters they faced with an efficiency and speed that no one could match. There was obviously a good reason they had been chosen to scout the region alone. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It took them most of the day to reach their intended location, and the people they escorted set up camp so quickly that it startled him. Before the sun had set down the horizon, everyone was set up and wards were placed all around the camp.

They had sent a message to the team that was supposed to follow them once they established a foothold. They would need to hold the camp until they arrived.

In the meantime, Julius was on night watch duty. He didn’t have to, but he was quite uniquely suited for such a thing.

Plus, he wanted to explore on his own. He had been taking his time analyzing how the wastelands worked and had made some adjustments to his [Absolute Spatial Perception] skill. He wanted to see if his adjustments worked. He would rather not be surprised by another ambush by a creature hiding in the sand.

The sand acted as a very good insulator for everything. That included heat and mana. And unfortunately, it meant that his spatial senses had a hard time penetrating it.

But he realized one thing that the sand didn’t insulate well against. And that was movement. The sand reverberated every bit of movement and vibration. Which meant his kinetic affinity came in handy. If he extended his [Field of the Shattered Will] gently, he was able to detect the tiniest bit of movement as long as he combined it with his spatial skill.

He went out exploring the dark. He didn’t bother to hide his mana or aura; he let it breathe out of his body naturally. He wasn’t going to announce his presence, but he wouldn’t hide either.

It didn’t take long for something to take the bait. He felt something shift behind him in the sand, and he grinned. The sand exploded upwards as a scorpion’s stinger speared toward his face.

He used minimal movement to dodge to the side, and with his life technique reinforcing his body, he grabbed the stinger and used it to grab the scorpion. Then, with a sharp twist of his hips, he threw the scorpion up into the air. The large creature soared through the night sky, sending a burst of poisoned fire mana at him.

He didn’t even bother to block it with a barrier. He slapped it aside with his arm and watched as the fire tried to eat away at his flesh. But as it turned out, his life-and-ruin technique was more destructive than this fire, which meant he was easily able to handle it.

Although he continued to examine the flames while the monster attacked him again. He wasn’t even looking at it as it tried to stab him again. He ducked under the stinger and slapped it with the collected life and ruin energies.

He had quickly learned that while the life and ruin technique was good for general enhancement, there were a limited number of burst attack options. He was trying new things and was going to use the scorpion to help him.

The monster itself was quite strong for a Tier 4. It had a powerful authority that tried to oppress him, but against something like his own authority, it could do nothing but flail in futility.

Julius tried various ideas, and to his disappointment, nothing worked. The problem was that his technique relied too much on balance. That balance came at the cost of being a consistent output of power. If he tried to use more life or ruinous aura, the balance went out of whack, and the technique unraveled, threatening to blow him up.

After he wrestled control of the destabilized technique, he had an interesting idea. He looked at the scorpion, which was barely holding on. It had collected a bunch of injuries over the course of his experimenting. The dozens of blows it took had cracked it carapace and its stinger was barely hanging onto its body.

However, it was persistent and continued to attack him. And when it dashed forward, extending its stinger, he purposefully allowed his ruinous aura to run rampant. Sections of carefully diluted energy exploded outward, triggering a chain reaction of unstoppable destruction.

He took control of his willpower and directed this exploding energy to his right arm as he swung his hand at the incoming scorpion. He slipped the stinger and slammed his palm into the monster, releasing all of the stored energy.

The result was… extreme.

He didn’t know if the carapace was too damaged to take another attack or if the attack had been that powerful, but the scorpion exploded into a thousand pieces. The ruinous aura shredded the monster apart, and he found himself showered in the monster’s gore.

Then he held up his hand to see the result and frowned. As expected, there was nothing left but a thin piece of bone dangling from his forearm. The purposeful explosion had been too much for his body to handle.

He quickly channeled his healing skill and watched as his flesh and bones knit back together in mere seconds. He used his aura to remove the gore from his body, looking off in the distance.

That little test might have failed, but the night was still young, and he still had a lot more he wanted to test out.