Chapter 63: Coffin of Darkness
"Thanks you. You just saved my neck."
"It\'s no problem. I\'m happy to have a strong teammate."
While Christian didn\'t show it, Neo\'s amicable attitude surprised him.
He thought Neo would be a stuck up kid who was drunk on his strength.
\'His personality will take him far. I guess it\'s a good choice to let Miss join his team.\'
\'Sigh, it\'s not like Miss will listen to me if I tell her to not team up with him.\'
Neo\'s team became qualified for S-rank mission.
Now he just had to wait for the Team Form to be verified.
"We still have two spots left. Should I bring some people from my Clan to join us?" Christian asked.
Neo shook his head.
If four out of five people belonged to Poseidon Clan, his team would be branded as a member of their faction, and he would become their underling in others\' eyes.
"I will find the other two members by myself."
Neo exchanged contacts with Christian and left.
He could fill the remaining spots with random team members.
\'I need to train. I don\'t have much time left.\'
Just as he was about to step out of the mission hall, a boy with red flaming hair blocked his path.
"Let me join your team." Mars grinned.
He continued with fervor.
"I have decided you will be my rival—"
"Okay."
Neo exchanged contact with Mars, sent him the Team Form, and left before Mars could react.
\'There is no way I\'m waiting for that battle fanatic to talk. I bet he would ask for a spar.\'
Mars chose the 100th rank since his Clan ordered him to.
His actual combat ability was way higher.
Even if Mars had a few screws loose, he was worth teaming up with.
Neo entered his dorm room and locked it from inside.
He stepped into the training hall.
"Finally, I can train."
Neo used the Essence Breath Spell to recover his Divine Energy.
There was something Neo had to check before he trained his Water Element.
"Darkness…"
He formed the necessary hand sign.
"Come."
The Divine Energy rushed into his Core.
After being infused with Darkness element, it spread throughout his body.
The hand sign blocked the Magic Circuits on Neo\'s hands.
It acted like a valve, and the Divine Energy, with nowhere to go, rushed towards his feet.
His Magic Circuits on the sole of the feet were the most developed after the Magic Circuits on the palms.
The darkness spread out and formed a domain beneath his feet.
Neo opened his eyes.
He stared at the Darkness.
"So this is why I had to use the hand signs."
Spells were fascinating.
Neo had been using them without understanding how they worked.
Repeated usage of Necrotic Touch developed the Magic Circuits on his palms.
Ocean\'s Embrace did the same for all of his Magic Circuits.
It was why he could use Darkness in one go when he tried.
Because the Magic Circuits on his feet grew after he used Ocean\'s Embrace over and over again.
"I failed to trigger Necrotic Touch when I tried it for the first time as my Magic Circuits were completely dormant."
It was all interconnected.
Everything happened for a reason.
Neo couldn\'t contain his excitement.
He started training to grow stronger.
He didn\'t want to be mediocre.
But now he wanted to learn about Spells and Elemental affinities too.
The feeling of becoming stronger and the knowledge he gained along the way was intoxicating.
He couldn\'t get enough of it.
"Focus, I\'m getting sidetracked."
Neo switched his hand sign and boosted the infusion inside his Core.
The Darkness spread out endlessly.
It reached the walls, climbed and continued to cover the roof.
The entire room was shrouded in Darkness by the end.
Neo\'s expression twisted when he tried to maintain the Coffin of Darkness.
The technique could be used to trap enemies.
He used it against Morrigan in the ranking competition.
Unfortunately, she shattered his Coffin of Darkness effortlessly.
He had to increase the mastery of the technique if he did not want the situation to repeat.
After training for hours, he got the gist of it.
"This much should be enough for Darkness."
He let go of the hand signs and switched the infusion inside his Core.
From Darkness to Water.
The output of his Divine Energy shrunk instantly.
He had trouble maintaining a steady pace of conversion and the process was slow.
His brows creased.
Hours passed.
And finally…
Water droplets dripped from his palms.
The success broke Neo\'s focus and the conversion stopped.
He fell to his back, drained physically and out of Divine Energy.
A smile blossomed on his face.
"I did it!"
He stared at the Status Window to know the time.
[8 hours: 26 minutes left until the Quest is terminated.]
Eight hours…
It was enough time to brush up his Water creating skill to a usable level.
…
[0 hours: 10 minutes left until the Quest is terminated.]
Neo sat on the sofa.
The time was nearly up.
He would soon go to the Underworld and face enemies who could possibly kill him.
"I\'ve done everything I can."
Neo trained using his Darkness and Water.
He practiced his Spells and refilled his Divine Energy reserves.
There was just one thing he didn\'t do.
Practice Aura Blade.
It was a high-level technique and too draining on his Divine Energy pool.
He would\'ve practiced it if he had a week.
A day was too short.
Neo stared at the pen and paper on the table.
He picked them up to write his will.
"What should I leave?
"It needs to be something useful, since this time I might just die.
"But I don\'t feel it would be right for me to leave a heartfelt letter behind while posing as Neo Hargraves."
Despite his calm words, his arms were trembling.
He couldn\'t forget the brutal death.
The feeling of his flesh being torn apart as the Gremlins ate him alive was etched into his brain.
The only reason he could sleep was because he exhausted himself to the limit every day.
Otherwise, he would remember the scene of his death when he closed his eyes.
Neo took a deep breath.
He picked the pen and wrote...