"You really want me to punch you?" Julius repeated with confusion.

"What? I am curious," Doren said with an excited grin.

Julius couldn't deny that he was curious as well. He wanted to see just how much stronger someone like Doren was. If Julius's instincts were right, and they usually were, then this man was beyond Tier 6. Meaning that, other than Jasper, this man was the strongest person Julius had come across.

However, when he had met Jasper, Julius hadn't even been Tier 2 yet. He wasn't able to appreciate or even begin to realize how powerful Jasper was.

This would be his chance to see just what made someone stronger than Tier 6 different. How vast was that gap? And how could he make that step himself?

"Okay," he said with a firm nod.

"Amazing! I won't even bother activating any of my skills. Just punch me as hard as you can, alright? Actually, you can use any attack you wish, prepare some of those little constructs if you wish. They might stand a better chance at hurting me than your physical attacks," Doren said with a teasing grin.

Julius knew that the man was much more powerful than he was, but for some reason, he was a little annoyed at how unserious he was. Although Julius fully understood that he wouldn't likely be able to break through, he didn't like being treated like a weakling. Not when he had put so much effort into getting stronger.

A tiny fire was lit in his stomach. His pride was challenged, and he was going to reply in the only way he knew.

Despite not being in the best shape, Julius went all out from the jump. If Doren was going to give Julius as much time as he wished, then Julius would gladly take the opportunity to build an attack.

During a real battle, he rarely had the chance to accumulate enough power for a large attack. Since he was usually on his own, he had to focus on quick and explosive attacks. Perhaps if he teamed up with his friends, he might have had time to gather mana like other mages were able to.

Speaking of mana, he took a quick look at his reserves and was surprised at how much he had regenerated since he had arrived on this floor. He had been so distracted by Doren and his arrival that he failed to realize just how much mana was present on the floor.

There was a far greater concentration of mana here than on any other floor. It barely took any effort for him to absorb this mana. However, this also meant that he had to make this mana his own, which was the real danger. Just because he could absorb it, didn't mean he could without risk of harming himself.

He had taken his own method of cycling mana for granted at times. Not everyone had a person like Edwin or Lukas helping them learn the basics. If someone without the proper skill of mana cycling came to this floor, they might have been overwhelmed by the sheer amount and intensity of mana.

Luckily, in his case, he was pretty skilled in it and was able to take advantage of the large amount of mana to regenerate his own stores. Since he had so much extra mana now, he decided to put a little more power into his healing skill.

The wounds, which weren't that severe and thus he had decided not to use [Phoenix Renewal] on them, were now fully healed over in a matter of seconds. Then he focused a lot of the energy into his soul, which was the most worrying damage he had received.

Soul damage was tricky to deal with. He couldn't brute force it like he did with his other injuries. He needed to slowly revitalize it, allowing his soul to do the brunt of the work while his healing skill simply aided the natural process.

However, as he was doing this, he suddenly felt a foreign mana weave itself into his own workings. There was nothing he could do as this mana supplanted itself. While he was surprised at first, he quickly understood that it was simply Doren's mana.

He had no idea what the man was doing, but he also knew it wasn't harming him. On the contrary, it was helping his skill heal his soul. The addition of Doren's help hastened his soul's otherwise slow healing process.

Something that would have taken at least a whole day was accomplished in a matter of a few minutes. There wasn't even any additional stress on his soul either. It was amazing.

While his soul wasn't in top shape, it was more than enough to let him release the fatigued breath he had been holding since he injured it.

"How did you do that?" He turned to ask Doren with wide eyes.

"Don't look so impressed. It wasn't anything special or hard. I merely aided your own skill to do what you would have done over a longer period. Even someone like me cannot fix someone's soul without specialized tools or skills. It was only possible because you have the unique ability to heal your own," Doren explained.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Still, thank you," Julius said gratefully.

"If you want to thank me, you can perhaps tell me how you managed to mangle your soul that badly in the first place? I don't think I have seen quite a unique soul like that in a while," Doren said with a look that seemed both curious and judgmental at the same time.

Julius sighed. "It's a long story. Like I said, I am trying to do better."

"I can't judge you too harshly since I used to be the same way. Still, let me know how that works out for you," Doren said with a shake of his head before gesturing at Julius.

"Come on. Let's see what you can do." The man was awfully eager for someone about to be hit in the face.

However, Julius wasn't one to back down from a challenge and immediately started to crank up his mana. Now that his soul was somewhat healed, it responded with much more vigor. His mind and soul no longer screamed in pain as he used his skills.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to focus as he gathered his mana. He rarely had the chance to take this time like this, so he was going to make the most of it.

His mana coalesced gently and smoothly as he wove his ruinous aura into each fiber. He made sure to add as many Concepts to the process as well. In most cases, he didn't have time to infuse his Concepts into each small step. In a real fight, there wasn't enough time to do so. It took a lot of effort, so he usually ended up infusing his constructs after they were created.

While doing this, he carefully created channels into the construct. He didn't bother creating several dozen spikes; he was going to put all of his energy into a single construct.

He needed more space, so he elongated the spike, ensuring that each small section was as strong as the last. He ensured that he added as much fire mana and kinetic energy as possible during this process. Eventually, it grew until it was more akin to a javelin as thick as his wrist.

The powerful pulsing coming from this construct was already far beyond his normal attacks. It was taking his entire concentration to keep all of this energy contained. One small slip and the construct would detonate in his face, likely killing or severely injuring him.

However, he pushed aside such negative thoughts. This was his mana, and it wouldn't go out of his control. That firm belief helped strengthen his hold over the energy coursing through the javelin.

Doren was quiet throughout this entire time. Julius could see the man patiently waiting, but each time Julius made another addition to the construct, the man's smile grew.

Julius eventually wove so much of his ruinous aura into the construct that he felt the space surrounding the construct tremble. It was almost like it was accidentally creating a [Spatial Crack] just by itself. As a matter of fact, his [Spatial Crack] skill was partially activating, evidence that this was at least somewhat correct.

However, he frowned when he felt the space resist the attempt. Unlike when he usually used [Spatial Crack], the space held firm. It was like it was running into a steel wall.

It didn't matter, though; he wasn't purposefully trying to break through space at the moment. It was just a byproduct of the devastatingly powerful construct he was barely holding on to. Once he felt like he couldn't jam any more mana or aura into the object, he started to surround it with his Concept and Emblem.

His willpower was already being stretched thin by the effort of keeping it together, and this action further strained it. He accidentally fumbled the construct and almost lost control.

Although it was a minor slip-up, in that brief moment, the energy released was enough to eviscerate the entire left half of his face. It was only due to [Sage of Savagery] that he was able to bear the pain well enough that he didn't lose control of the entire construct.

He didn't have enough spare focus to enhance his body beyond the small bit from the passive effect of his enhancement skill, which was why it had so easily pierced his defenses despite his natural resistance to fire.

He didn't even bother to heal his face for the time being. He was worried that using [Phoenix Renewal] would distract him.

As this was going on, he was notified about the level-ups from his skills. But he ignored it. He couldn't waste his focus on trivial matters at the moment.

He finally opened his eyes and grinned manically at Doren, who was still patiently waiting for the attack. A massively powerful javelin was hovering over his head, the pulsing energy it released each second threatened to destabilize the entire construct.

***

Doren POV

He was very confident about his body's strength. At his current stage, his body was barely human anymore. He was able to function without a head without issue, so he wasn't that worried about being attacked by this young boy.

With that being said, it was still very impressive to see such an amazing amount of power coming from a Tier 3. He doubted many Tier 4s could generate this much power, given twice the amount of time.

It wasn't even the technique or skill that was the most impressive. It was the sheer amount of willpower it took to control everything. He was only beginning to realize what the boy had done to his soul and how much it had strengthened his willpower to achieve such fortitude.

He must have forged his willpower over and over, threatening to kill himself many times to achieve such power.

Doren was more excited than ever. He wanted to see if the boy could break through.

He stared with bated breath as the boy calmly stared at him with a crazy grin on his face. Looking just like Doren did when he found something amazing during one of his experiments.

It was at this moment that he realized this boy would become someone great. Talent and willpower could only get one so far. Passion provided the last step to greatness.

Doren nodded his head in acknowledgement even as the javelin of mana rapidly approached his face. He even gave a smile of his own as it smashed into his forehead with the weight of a mountain.