Path to Transcendence

Lily POV

Word travels fast in a school like Goldencrest, especially if it pertains to a certain royal member. The disappearance of the princess was on everyone's lips as she hustled to the school's gates. However, Lily didn't really care about the princess given the situation.

While almost everybody was focused on the princess, they had forgotten that another person had disappeared alongside her.

"Wait up Lily!" She heard Aubrey call from behind her.

"I can't! The more time I waste the more likely it will be something happens to him," she yells back.

"You're really that worried for him? You know he can handle himself right?" Aubrey called out again.

"It doesn't matter if he can. It only matters that I should be trying to find him because he is our friend!"

Aubrey didn't have a response to that. Lily knew that out of everyone Aubrey might have cared about Julius the most. Other than her of course.

"By the time you get in contact with your family and explain the situation, it might be too late," Derek called out calmly.

It wasn't just Aubrey who was following her. Edgar, Kyle, and Derek had all come along as well.

"I realized that. That's why I am not going to my family," she told him.

"Then who?"

"There's someone who is quite close by who is very well suited to a problem like this."

Lily had already messaged Alice and tried to explain the situation. She didn't respond but Lily knew she would be waiting outside for her.

The moment she crossed the barriers set up around the school gates she saw Alice appear out of thin air. The beautiful brown haired woman was casually sipping on some sort of drink.

However, Lily knew that casualness was just an act. Alice's aura showed that she was ready to act whenever she needed to.

"Explain what happened," Alice said gently, but there was no mistaking the commanding air as she spoke to Lily.

Lily did her best to give as detailed of an explanation as she was able to, but the truth of the matter was that she didn't know enough to give a perfect picture. As she was explaining the rest of her friends had arrived and were looking at Alice with curious looks.

However, they maintained a respectful distance and kept their questions to themselves. They would be able to tell that whoever Alice was, she wasn't just some regular person.

"So that was what happened," Alice said thoughtfully.

"What? You knew something happened, Alice?" Lily asked.

"I couldn't sense him anymore. While there could have been several reasons for that. I was hoping it was because he figured out how to avoid spatial detection. This reason is a bit more tricky," Alice admitted with a frown.

"But there's still a way to find him, right?"

"I would need access to the teleportation circle to determine where it sent him, but you can already see the problem with that right?"

She frowned heavily. Indeed she saw the problem with that. The rift that had taken him was a Tier 2 rift. A rift of that quality would not be able to hold someone like Alice for more than several minutes before the rift collapsed.

Even someone as skilled as Alice in spatial magic couldn't change that.

Finally, it seemed that Aubrey's patience had run thin. "So what? You can't do anything to help him?"

Alice slowly turned to look at Aubrey. "Watch how you speak to me young Crysalia. Just because I know your mother doesn't mean you can speak to me however you wish," she softly warned the young woman.

Even though she didn't raise her voice or pressure them with her aura, every single one of them felt like the walls surrounding them tightly squeezing them.

"She didn't mean any disrespect," Lily quickly defended her best friend. "She is just as concerned about Julius as any of us."

That suffocating feeling slowly ebbed away, but there was an undeniable tension now. "Of course, it's understandable," Alice said.

Sometimes Lily envied Julius and his ability to ignore tier disparity like he did with Alice and Dante. He was completely unaware of certain social cues and lacked basic common sense a lot of the time, but if there was anything that was impressive about him, it was his ability to be completely at ease in front of powerful people such as Alice. He would even go as far as to joke or tease Alice, something even Alice's own family members would balk at.

With that being said, Lily knew that Alice secretly respected that about Julius, which was why the woman didn't wipe the boy from existence even though he acted so casually with her.

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Lily wasn't able to do the same. She was really good at hiding it and pretending it never bothered her, but it wasn't the same. She knew that it was similar with Derek and Kyle as well. They had all been trained and been in the presence of enough Tier 5 and Tier 6 individuals that they were sort of used to it. But that didn't mean they were comfortable being around them.

The only person she felt that way with was her grandfather.

Aubrey was a different story, Lily just believed that the other girl was too dumb and rash to care about things like that. Perhaps, that was her mother's influence on her.

Before Lily could ask Alice another question, Derek interjected with a polite bow. "Pardon the interruption, Lady Alice. But what does that mean for Julius?"

Alice gave Derek her attention. "You're Zenith's boy, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'm surprised you're showing this much concern for a boy like Julius," Alice said with a chuckle.

Derek's polite smile on his face remained, but there was now an edge that hadn't been there before. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, your father certainly wouldn't believe in showing so much care for someone without much status."

"I'm not my father," Derek said testily.

"No, I guess you're not. Though I suppose that's a good thing. I'm sure your grandfather is happy about that," Alice said with a nod of her head. "Anyway, I understand your concern with the boy, but I don't think you have to worry that much."

Lily gave her a confused look. "Why do you say that?"

"Because do you really think that there are many things at his tier or even at Tier 3 that pose a threat to him?"

"But what if it's something beyond that? That's what I am worried about."

"I doubt it," Alice said with much more confidence than expected. "I have played around with the teleportation circles in labyrinths before. Whoever messed with the school's rift was likely restricted in what they could do unless it would be too obvious when they did an inspection. That means that they would have to use a pre-existing connection, which is normally found in similar labyrinths."

"So that means they are in another rift?" Lily asked.

"No, there could be other connection points, but it is the most easily accessible connection to exploit. It wouldn't even take that much to do so. You would just need to have a Tier 4 with a decent understanding of space magic and some time to reconfigure the rift."

"Is that supposed to be reassuring?"

"Yeah, it should be. You're his friends, right? You really think that crazy kid is going to die in some random rift?"

"But what if it's a Tier 4 rift or higher?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "Well, then he is pretty much dead already and there isn't much we can do about that. Regardless, since he was taken from a Tier 2 rift, it is most likely they will find themselves in a Tier 2 rift, Tier 3 at the max."'

Lily and the others exchanged looks with one another.

Alice continued. "The main thing I am worried about is where exactly they are going to come out?"

"Come out?" Derek asked confused.

"It's possible that wherever they come out might be in a dangerous area that hasn't been explored yet."

That does sound like a problem.

Lily didn't doubt Julius's prowess and strength, she had learned to stop underestimating her young friend a while ago. But she still couldn't help but feel worried for his safety.

***

Julius POV

After gently removing the small spirit from her face, Reinera sat up, almost falling back down as she did.

"Thanks, Drasil," she gratefully said to the adorable spirit once she got her balance.

To which Drasil responded by giving her proud whistle and a suspiciously smug-looking grin toward Julius's direction.

What was that for? Is my darling Drasil going through a teenage phase? I didn't know that was possible for spirits.

"How do you feel?" He asked the girl while passing over a sandwich to her.

To Reinera's credit, she didn't even hesitate to take the food. She quickly removed the paper from the sandwich and started to devour it. Julius knew from experience that Drasil's healing made one pretty hungry after it was done doing its job.

"Tired, but much better now," she said through a mouthful of food, not really giving off the impression of a well-mannered princess anymore. He guessed that since his identity was revealed she didn't care talking with her mouth full with him.

"Hmm, delicious," she murmured through the food.

While she was doing that, Julius placed his attention back to what the knight was guarding. Just beyond where the monster came from there was a large room. Unlike other rooms, this room was in much better shape.

The stone walls weren't exactly polished, but there weren't ten layers of grime either. Many more mana lamps were decorating the room along with some broken down furniture.

He didn't know what to expect but it wasn't something like this.

He continued to look around the room, sending out pulses to see if there was anything hiding beyond his vision. While he didn't find any more monsters or threats, he was able to detect something different at the back of the room.

It was a black door. At first glance, it was nothing special, but upon closer inspection. He realized it wasn't just a black door. No, it wasn't a door at all. It was just a door frame that held a black void that looked like a door.

"Hey, Reinera!" He called out.

He felt her approach him from behind. "You know you can still call me Grace if it's easier for you."

"But isn't that your real name?"

"Yes, but Grace is the person you believed I was, so I wouldn't blame you if you keep calling me that."

He gave her a sincere smile. "I honestly don't care about the name too much. Like I said, I feel like I already got to know the real Reinera. With that said, don't be surprised if I sometimes call you Grace for the time being."

"That's fair," she said with a bright smile.

He grinned and turned back around. "Do you know what that is?" He asked while pointing at the void.

Reinera got an excited look on her face. "I think that's an exit!" She said happily.

"The exit? That easy?" He asked shocked at how simple it was. He thought they would be stuck here for much longer.

"Easy? Only you could say that with a straight face. You do realize I would have died here dozens of times if it wasn't for you right? I mean, I almost died just from the aura of that undead monstrosity. I'm not going to mention how many traps we avoided." Reinera said, exasperated at how he perceived their time in the labyrinth.

She does have a point there. I guess I have developed a unique sense of what's normal, he admitted to himself.

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