It took a bit of walking before Julius and Den encountered a golem. Julius was able to pick it up before it was in sight. The golem was a big mound of rock that looked vaguely humanoid in shape. It had two legs and two arms, but that was where the simrities ended.


    It was around ten feet tall and the surface of its exterior had a rough and pebbly texture. Though there were no obvious seams other than some of the joints as far as Julius could tell. However, the most noticeable thing was therge concentration of mana, just to the right side of the golem''s chest.


    Julius would bet all of the food in his storage ring that this was where the core was located.


    He looked on excitedly at his next opponent. He had heard a lot of things about the defensive properties of these creatures. He was expecting that they would prove to be more challenging than the goblins had been.


    He gathered mana into a spike with familiar ease. [Composite Mana] had made his life so much easier. The speed at which he was able to create a spike was very satisfying. The added power caused by the interaction and synergy behind the various energies was wee too.


    With a mentalmand, the spike was sent sting toward the unsuspecting golem, aimed directly at the spot where he spotted the core. Much to his disappointment the spike absolutely shredded through the stone defenses of the golem. The core didn''t stand a chance. The spike didn''t even have to explode, it just sheered right through its chest and sted against the back wall.


    Julius just froze for a minute. He hadn''t been expecting something like that. Perhaps he should have, but with all the talk about the golem''s defensive abilities, he would have thought that it would be able to take at least a couple of attacks. Even at Tier 2.


    He turned back to look at Den who was equally as surprised. However for very different reasons. While Julius was disappointed at how easy it was, Den was surprised at how easily Julius dispatched it.


    Den knew how powerful Julius was for his Tier and how powerful his constructs were in particr, but he didn''t think that they were quite on this level. They certainly weren''t at this level when Den first met the boy.


    It was fair to mention that Den didn''t specialize in the same areas as Julius. This meant that he didn''t really have aprehensive understanding of Julius''s constructs and their destructive capabilities. But he knew what his eyes told him.


    He had seen how well Julius had fared against goblins. Julius had a really good perception skill and was able to ambush the goblins without them fighting back. Also, the goblins had very weak defenses. Their biggest advantage was their numbers and aggression. Something that Julius was able to neutralize. He could understand why Julius had such an easy time with the rift. It was a good fit.


    But this rift was the opposite in many aspects. It had singrrge and powerful enemies versus many weak ones.


    It was also worth mentioning that the constructs he used against them were much weaker than what he was showing now. The spike he used on the golem was brutal. Den didn''t know how he was able to create such a devastating attack, but it wasn''t something he should have been capable of.


    Julius continued to look at Den. Neither of them knew what to do. Both hadn''t expected Julius to just one-shot the golem.


    "What now?" Julius finally asked aloud.


    "I don''t know. I thought that this rift would be a little more difficult for you," Den confessed.


    "Yeah, so did I. You and other sources told me that golems were really hard to put down."


    "They are. Almost every single variant has some sort of [Mana Resistance] and other various resistance skills. If you add that on top of their natural physical defenses, it is normally very difficult to one-shot them. Even a Tier 3 would have to put in a lot of effort to one-shot a golem," Den said slowly.


    "So what does this mean? Do we continue or do we change something?" Julius asked.


    Den put a hand underneath his chin. "How many more of those spikes can you create before running out of mana?"


    Julius shrugged his shoulders and ced his palms face up in the air. "I don''t know. You know that of all things I am notcking in mana. I could most likely create dozens more without issue."


    Den''s mouth widened and hung open. "Dozens? Like a couple dozen or several dozen?"


    "Yeah, depends on how much I use on each one."


    Den didn''t say anything, he just turned away from Julius and took some time to think. While he was doing that, Julius felt another golem approach them. It must have felt the st from his spike and came to investigate. Golems weren''t very smart but they knew how to sense mana among other things, such as a big explosion.


    Julius quickly created another spike, but this time he didn''t create an explosive version. It was just a pointy spike. Much more boring but also much quieter.


    He shot it at the approaching golem and it tore through the thing''s chest where the core resided. He used less mana and force this time, but the sharpened mana still tore through the rock like butter.


    Den was still quiet but he took in Julius''s actions.


    This tale has been uwfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Finally, Julius spoke up. "You see why I want to test myself in Tier 3 rifts?"


    Den nodded. "Yeah, I''m starting to see where your confidence ising from. When you told me you wanted to enter Tier 3 rifts I thought you were just exaggerating your abilities. I know you are strong, but Tier 3 is very different from Tier 2."


    "And now?" Julius asked.


    "You certainly have the power to punch through a Tier 3 defense."


    "So does that mean we can head to a Tier 3 rift instead?" Julius asked hopefully.


    "No, we might as well get some use out of this one. Next time I will take you to a Tier 3 rift. But they are a little more busy than Tier 2 rifts so I will have to schedule it beforehand."


    Well, that was a bust, Julius sadly thought to himself. He had been looking forward to testing his new skill on actual monsters.


    "Do you have an idea what I can still get out of this rift then?" Julius asked Den.


    "Do you have something you want to work on? Any skills that you might want to level up?"


    "Not really. However, I have been working on my Concepttely. I haven''t had much luck and I was hoping to find a solution here," Julius admitted to Den. He hadn''t told Den about his ns for this epic skill and his intentions of learning a Sharpness Concept, it just hadn''te up until now.


    Den chuckled and shook his head. "Of course you are." He didn''t know why he was still getting surprised by the boy. "What Concept are you working on?"


    "Sharpness and maybe fire."


    Den smiled. "Sharpness huh? I might be able to help you there," Den said to Julius''s surprise.


    "Why''s that?" Julius curiously asked.


    Den looked at his fingernails casually. "I have a Concept of Pration and I might be able to share some advice." Julius watched as the man seemed awfully smug about it. But he didn''t borate any further.


    Julius waited for the man to say something after but he didn''t. "Well don''t feel pressured to say anything," Julius sarcastically told him.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Den justughed and bent down and picked up a handful of random pebbles. Then he turned and ced them in Julius''s hand.


    "What do you want me to do with these?" Julius asked.


    "I want you to use them to take down a golem," Den exined.


    That shouldn''t be too hard, Julius thought to himself. He took one random pebble and begin to create ayer of mana around the rock. Hepressed the mana and constructed it so that the pebble was harder than a piece of steel.


    Den put his hand on Julius''s shoulders and shook his head. "No skills other than the [Mana sh] skill you have.


    Julius looked up at the man. "How did you know I have [Mana sh]?


    "It''s kind of obvious. It is one of the moremon skills for a reason, though your usage of it is not something I have quite seen. You must have spent a lot of time adapting it."


    "Oh yeah, way too much time," Julius said while shaking his head. "So what''s the purpose of using only [Mana sh]?" Julius asked.


    "There are a couple of reasons. One is that I want you to focus on using sharpened mana. Only using the single skill will allow you to focus primarily on the Sharpness Concept. Another reason is that it will serve as a good opportunity to level up your skill to rare," Den exined.


    Den must have seen the weird look on Julius''s face because he asked Julius, "What''s wrong?"


    "I actually finished leveling up [Mana sh] to level 15 not too long ago. I just hadn''t chosen what skill I wanted to go with," Julius told Den about his circumstances.


    "Do you have any skills that you are leaning toward?"


    "I was going to go with [Mana Strike] because I think there is a good chance that it will fit well with my other skills," he told Den.


    "What other skills did you get offered?"


    Julius thought about telling him and thought that it was worth it if he somehow got some good advice. "I got offered [Mana Strike], [Razor Edge], [Rippling Slice], [Rendering sh], and [Barrier of Severance]," he told Den.


    "You said you want tobine several skills into an epic skill correct?" Den asked.


    "That''s the n at least. Why?" Den made it sound as if he had something in mind.


    "How many exactly?"


    "Four," Julius said hesitantly. He was getting more and more confused.


    "You should be able to create an epic skill without using [Mana sh] or without the evolved skill of [Mana sh]. Three should be enough to have a good mana construct skill," Den said eagerly.


    "Why? You make it sound like it would be better not to," Julius looked at Den with inquisitive eyes.


    "I think you should change your mind about adding [Mana Strike] to the skill and instead get the [Barrier of Severance] skill," Den said with a grin.


    "The reason being?"


    Den paused to get his thoughts together. "I have not heard of the skill [Barrier of Severance] before. However, I have heard of the skill [Barrier of Disruption]. It was used by an anti-mage fighter by the name of Riley, better known as the Ghostde. He was brutally effective in taking down mages and those who relied on activated skills. While the name is simr to a moremon skill, [Disruption Barrier] the effects were much more extreme than it. It was never recorded what his epic evolved skill was, but it was without a doubt the most impressive skill in his arsenal. He was able to disrupt not just mana, but everything," Den said excitedly.


    Julius looked at Den with a serious expression. "And you think that this [Barrier of Severance] skill will be just as good? I appreciate your advice, but I have been set onbining these skills for a while. I don''t really see the value in having a defensive skill like that rather than a potent addition to an offensive technique."


    Den chuckled. "He didn''t just use it as a defensive technique, its real value was how he was able to apply it to practically anything. Even his aura."


    "His aura?" Julius asked amazed.


    "Yeah, that was the real danger of that technique. Anybody who got within the influence of his aura was effectively handicapped and was able to use their mana or any other active skills. Mages couldn''t manipte mana and couldn''t teleport away to protect themselves. They were sitting ducks for him."


    "Where is he now?" Julius asked. He was impressed, this man sounded very skilled and very powerful.


    "Yeah about that…" Den trailed off.


    "What?" Julius pressed.


    "Well… he was hunted down and killed a while ago," Den said while scratching his head awkwardly.


    Julius froze and gave Den a deadpan stare. Really?


    "You want me to take a skill that belonged to a person who got himself killed?" Julius asked disbelievingly.