Chapter 274 - No Mistaking It

"So what do you think, guild leader? Am I still lacking when it comes to power?" Julius asked which actually had an effect on the guild leader as he had been so surprised by the fact that Julius was able to draw out such a large amount of power from his blade that he was capable of erasing half the forest out of existence. However the guild leader also knew that the majority of power or even nearly all the power that was outputted originated from the blade which Julius carried and did not in fact originate from Julius himself which proved that there were still areas which Julius needed to work on.

"Well actually you see Julius, there is nothing wrong with the technique you've developed. In fact I can say that you've excelled my expectations and you've even earned yourself the title of an S class member of my guild. By far, you're the first student that has shocked me this much. Even the current man known as King didn't shock me quite this much in his early days, however that's not to say that he's not leagues above you, however that also doesn't mean that you don't have the potential to surpass him as well as anyone else who you envy. However if you wish to achieve that goal in which you will supposedly surpass all those who you envy, you'll need to do a lot of strength training. You see, even if you're able to do this much damage, it's still shameful because the majority of that power comes from your blade and not yourself. Your goal should be to become a swordsman, not a sword wielder. You're not supposed to be holding a blade, you're supposed to be using it. To achieve that, you'll have to temporarily train without your blade. To make things make more sense to you, your blade is a sort of multiplier. Let's say that your power output which originates from yourself is 1 and the one that comes from your blade is 1 million. You see, you would in total have a power of one million. However if you were to simply increase the power in yourself by 1 you would have a power of 2 million. You see Julius, by not training your own body, you're making yourself miss out on possibly so much power that you could easily surpass King and make yourself the new SSS class member while you force him to be demoted to SS class. Wouldn't you like that to happen?" the guild leader asked as he painted a world in which Julius could one again stand at the top of the world. To surpass all which stood in his way. For one, Julius missed being king. He missed having complete control of his position. He missed when he could command others to do his bidding. He missed going into battle while knowing the outcome of it, that being that he would absolutely humiliate his opponent.

"Please guild leader, guide me and show me a way to surpass all those who dare stand in my way," said Julius with such conviction in his eyes which caused even the guild leader to be shocked as if Julius had just aged 10 years in the matter of seconds. He no longer looked like an arrogant teenager but now a skilled swordsman capable of making anyone kneel by his sheer presence alone.

"This does bring a smile to my face. You've matured so much already. I truly hope to be able to watch you surpass all those who stand in your way and claim your rightful place as king. I'm glad I was able to see the potential in you and take you under my wing," said the guild leader with a sincere smile.

...

...

...

The next couple of months that followed all consisted of Julius doing exercises which pushed his body to the limits and forced him to go past even that. He needed to surpass himself multiple times so that he could grow into the person he not only wanted to be but also needed to be. During this time, Lyla had been consumed by the world of the guild where she had grown accustomed to working inside there as an attendant which looked after the members there and took care of any formalities such as new members who wanted to join and qualified for that position.

"Wow, you've really grown into a fine young man Julius. The more I look at you, the more I realise you've already surpassed those who you wish to defeat. Your path has already been carved. It seems as if you're ready to set out on your journey once more and surpass all of those who are competing in the new heaven emperor contest. Yet at the same time, you seem like you wish to grow with every second for no reason. I can already sense it in you, you have the ability to gain levels so quickly that you would break records which have been set by anyone else. I'm rather glad I was able to witness your journey and I'm glad I'll be there to watch you show off the fruits of your labour," said the guild leader while talking to himself as he watched Julius fight off a giant bear which was at least twice the size of the tallest tree inside the forest or atleast what remained of it after Julius had burned half of the forest to the ground.

At first when Julius was starting to fight the beasts of the forest, his moments were more rigid even though he had learned so many techniques in his life in the human realm. This was because even though he kind knew all of those techniques, he couldn't perform them as his body had been regressed to a state where it wasn't ready to be so flexible that it could perform several attacks in a split second which was why it had taken Julius so long to return back to a position where he could move his body freely like he wished all in the hopes of demolishing his opponent which he was now able to do as he leapt off the ground which he was standing on and managed to dodge a punch by the bear he was fighting before leaping on top of that same bear's arm and climbing it.

Seeing this take place, the bear tried to bring its other hand to hit Julius and effectively kill him however Julius simply leapt off the bear's arm in the last moment before landing on the animal's nose which he also leapt off of just so attack the animal's eyes and cause it to lose its sense of vision.

"Good, now I can get to the real fun part," said Julius as he revealed a small piece of stick which he had kept hidden which he used as he leapt off the giant bear to only make nearly hundreds of cuts on the animal's body before once again landing atop the bear's forehead.

"Fall," said Julius in a menacing tone as he finished off with a light kick to the head of the bear which caused it to lose its balance and fall to the ground before shortly becoming unconscious.

"So how was that?" Julius asked to which the guild leader looked disappointed more than anything which was surprising as Julius had expected his teacher to be rather proud of him since he was able to quickly and effectively kill his enemy while making a mockery of them.

"Why do you look so disappointed? Aren't you proud of what I was able to accomplish? I mean it's not everyday that you're able to witness something as amazing as this," said Julius hoping to change the expression on his teacher's face and instead of having that effect, it did the exact opposite as his teacher looked to grown more infuriated by the second before finally letting out a sigh of disappointment.

"Perhaps I've overestimated you. Your task was to grow your body without using any weapons. That included all weapons no matter how big or small, sharp or dull. You're only allowed to use your own body to fight or else it will not be you who's growing but your weapon," said the guild leader while Julius himself looked rather angry as he wasn't getting congratulated on his actions but instead was being scolded by his teacher.

"Don't take it too harshly. It's alright. You still have time to grow. How about we head back to the guild and you'll even be able to say hello to that girl. What was her name again? ... Lyla right?" the guild leader said as the two began to walk back from the forest towards the guild before the two of them froze in fear before falling to their knees.

"It's him. I know who's aura this is. There's no mistaking it.. King is here," said the guild leader to himself.