Professor Daniel let out a sigh mixed with relief and frustration.
He had been teaching Neo because he had seen the unyielding will in Neo and…
Because he did not want Neo to suffer the same fate he suffered.
Professor Daniel could see himself in Neo.
A boy who thought Time was supreme and worked hard to awaken the power of Time.
There was no one to teach him about Time.
After awakening, the boy, drunk on his power of Time, abused it, and was cursed to suffer the consequences of his actions for all eternity.
“Why do you want to know about me? If you have any intentions of using my power for—”
“No need to worry about it. I have no such intentions.
“Besides, it’s clear you can barely control Time anymore.”
Charlotte continued.
It terrified Professor Daniel how accurate her guess was.
“How many times can you repeat the Time? Once or twice?
“After that, you probably won’t be able to control your Time Slipping and end up a few hundred years in the future.
“Isn’t that how you ended up living for 3,000 years?”
“You…. How do know all this?”
“As I said, I can guess. You might’ve unparalleled mastery of Time, but the world has been steadily advancing.
“We now know a lot more about elements, God Blood, and other mythical quantities than we did 3,000 years ago.
“With so much knowledge, it’s easy to hypothesize the limits of your powers.”
Charlotte’s words felt like the slap of cold reality to Daniel.
He had been alive for 3,000 years, but he had lived for less than quarter of that.
“So, who are you?”
“I can’t answer it unless I know the purpose of your question.”
Professor Daniel stopped acting oblivious.
“It’s curiosity.”
“Just that?”
“Yes.”
Professor Daniel thought about her words.
In the end, he decided to humor her.
“I’m the founder of the Academy.
“Though I doubt anyone remembers since I’ve reset the world too many times.”
“I see. Thank you for answering me.”
Charlotte stood up.
A portal appeared next to her.
She spoke to Professor Daniel as she stepped through it.
“Since I’ve troubled you, I’ll give you good news in exchange.
“Neo will soon manifest his Time element.”
…
Chamber of Minotaur, Labyrinth
Condensed red lightning bolts crackled around the chamber in a dance of destruction.
Not a single stone of the chamber had been left upturned.
The pillars were destroyed and the floor was smashed into pieces.
Neo and the Minotaur’s clash of exchanges created thunderous echoes and shockwaves.
They had been fighting for two days.
Neither of the two had fallen.
However, both had grown weaker over time.
Neo’s skin was cracked and the Minotaur’s movements were slow.
They were affected by the uncontrolled red lightning rampaging in the chamber.
Finally, something clicked in Neo’s mind.
It was the moment Neo had been waiting for.
He leapt and sliced off two arms of the Minotaur.
The monster, having faced the same situation countless times in the past two days, ignored the injury and dashed towards Neo.
For the first time, Neo used the Darkness to trap the Minotaur in the Coffin of Darkness.
The monster was confused when it saw Neo using a new attack.
Before it could get over the confusion, Neo picked its sliced off arms and devoured them.
The Minotaur froze.
Its eyes turned red and it let out a rage-filled roar.
However, Neo stabbed the sword into its heart before it could attack him.
Again, the Divine Energy of the Labyrinth churned and the monster was revived.
Nevertheless…
It was missing two arms.
“Seems like your Immortality can’t keep up anymore.”
He let out a cold smirk.
Truth be told, Neo’s own Immortality was at its limit.
The amount of death present in the chamber had slowed his process of revival.
The red lightning — Death — accumulated from the countless deaths of Minotaur and the Death elemental released by him were weakening Minotaur and him.
If not for it, Neo would not have been able to devour the Minotaur’s arm.
‘This is it.’
‘I can feel it.’
‘My Immortal skill is about to level up.’
Neo left behind red sparks as he ran towards the Minotaur.
The Minotaur, enraged, roared and charged forward.
Their weapons clashed.
But this time it wasn’t an equal exchange.
The Minotaur was pushed back.
Neo severed its legs before the Minotaur could regain its balance.
The monster fell and Neo kicked its torso hard enough to throw his giant body across the chamber.
He devoured its detached legs.
The Minotaur charged at him on all fours in.a mad fury.
However, it was no longer a match for Neo.
He finished the battle in a few minutes.
The last thing left of Minotaur was its heart.
Neo devoured it.
[Immortal +1]
[Unique Skill Immortal has been mastered.]
[Three skill evolutions have been unlocked.]
[Please choose carefully.]
[1. ….]
Before Neo could read the notifications, his body stiffened and he fell face first into the ground.
He could not move.
‘Dammit, I can’t fall here. I don’t have any charge of Immortal left.’
His heartbeats continued to weaken with each passing second.
Neo had used too much Death in the past two days.
‘Skill Evolution….’
His mind was muddy.
‘I need to choose something.’
‘I’ll be healed if I rank up.’
Despite his thoughts, Neo knew it was the end for him.
The Labyrinth was closing after the Minotaur’s death.
If he stayed there and tried to rank up, he could be crushed within the Labyrinth before his breakthrough completed.
And without ranking up, he could not move, let alone escape.
Neo was stuck between a hard place and a rock.
Sighing, he stared at the roof.
“Well, at least I killed an Immortal being before dying. That’s one thing off my to-do list.”
The ground trembled and the walls started to fall.
Just when he thought it was the end of road for him, he heard an unfamiliar voice.
“It’s rare to see you give up.”
“…How are you here?”