Neo’s eyes wandered to other sections in the status.
The sub-ranks of mastery were: Lowest, Low, Mid, High, and Peak.
He was able to see them after the interface update, and it made things easier.
“I should check my Spells and Incantations too.”
[Necrotic Touch]
Element: Death
Rank: Tremor
Mastery: Apprentice (Peak)
[Ocean’s Embrace]
Element: Water
Rank: Tremor
Mastery: Apprentice (High)
“It’s as I expected.
“My mastery in
Ocean’s Embrace
is lower than
Necrotic Touch
mastery, even though I use
Ocean’s Embrace
more.
“This makes it clear. Elemental mastery affects the growth of Spell Mastery too.”
Neo’s mood became better when he saw his
Necrotic Touch
mastery.
The terror-ranked spell he received from Barbatos was about to rank up.
[Essence Breath]
Element: None
Rank: Tremor
Mastery: Apprentice (Peak)
“…”
He wanted to sigh.
Essence Breath
Spell was only a bit away from ranking up.
However, he couldn’t use the Spell inside the Shadow World since there was no pure Divine Energy.
It meant he couldn’t rank up the Spell unless he left the Shadow World.
“Well, any good news is better than bad news. I should be happy the Spell is near rank up.”
The gap between each mastery rank for Spells was determined by their Spell rank.
A Whisper-ranked Spell, after reaching Adept mastery, would grow 20% stronger.
An Echo-ranked Spell, after reaching Adept mastery, would grow 40% stronger.
Similarly, a Tremor-ranked Spell would grow 100% stronger.
The increase in strength was both quantitative and qualitative.
[Rewind Enchantment]
Element: Time
Rank: Resonance
Mastery: Apprentice (Low)
“This is as expected,” he muttered and picked a piece of rock.
He crushed the rock into fine dust with ease.
Moments later, a green glow covered his hand.
A magic circle appeared above his palm.
Neo watched with interest as the time was rewound, and dust glued back to form the rock.
“This simple Spell took fucking seven months, dammit.”
His low talent was a reason behind his slow learning speed.
But there was another reason it took him months to learn a Resonance-ranked Spell.
Time Manifestation.
He had learned about it in the Academy from taking extra classes.
There were different manifestations of Time:
[River], [Sand], [Clock], [Lightning], [Wheel], and his [Caterpillar].
Each manifestation had a drawback and an advantage.
Someone with the River manifestation would find it easier to learn Spells that sent them to the past or to the future.
However, they would have difficulty in learning Spells that stopped Time or did something similar.
After checking his Spells, Neo read the details of his Incantations.
[O Death, Be My Hands, Crush My Enemies]
Element: Death
Harmony: Peak (Sealed) → Mid
[O Death, Be My Blade]
Element: Death
Harmony: Peak (Sealed) → Mid
“Mhm, the Incantations are also affected by my elemental mastery of Death.”
The first Incantation came from the Necromancer he defeated in the Window, while he learned the second one for the final exam of the first semester in the Academy.
“Peak Harmony, but it’s sealed.”
Incantations were more difficult to learn than Spells.
What determined the strength of an Incantation were two factors:
How much Divine Energy one poured into the Incantation.
And how much harmony one had with a certain element.
Harmony could not be increased or trained.
It remained fixed since birth.
Since Neo was the son of Hades, Great God of Death, his harmony with the Death element was at Peak.
“The five ranks of Harmony are: Lowest, Low, Mid, High, and Peak.
“I’m now Mid harmony in both Incantations.”
Again, Neo realized how useful the new status screen was.
[Bloodline Trait: Monarch of Death]
﹂Death
﹂Immortal
﹂Eternal
Since Neo knew the details of his other Unique Skills, he checked only Eternal.
[Eternal, Grade 5 Mythic]
Progress: 30%
Effect: Become Ageless and gain resistance against status ailments (+10%).
“10% resistance….”
Neo pursed his lips.
There was something he had noticed about Eternal only a few months ago.
Status ailment included everything that hurt him.
Not just poison, mental corruption, and debuffs.
It included physical attacks, spells, and incantations too.
“I seriously chose an overpowered trait.”
Of course, a part of him still wondered if he should’ve chosen the Transcendence Trait, but he was satisfied with what he had.
[Mind Invasion, Grade 5 Awakened]
Progress: 60%
Effect: Allow you to enter the mind of your targets, look into their memories, and converse with their inner self.
While Neo was going through his status screen, Kane called out to him.
“Neo, the Anomaly #79 is about to reach our city. Should I deal with it if you are feeling unwell?”
His words snapped Neo out of his thoughts.
Neo shook his head.
“It’s fine. I’ll deal with it.”
Dark clouds rumbled in the sky.
Neo’s Death element-infused Divine Energy seeped into the surroundings.
Soon, red lightning crackled through the clouds, and gigantic swords descended.
Your adventure continues at
Kane sucked in a sharp breath.
The sight sent shivers down his spine even after seeing it for months.
The Death element swords slammed into the ground and erupted.
The earth trembled violently and a deafening roar echoed through the area. Dust and shattered stone shot into the air.
Blinding red light covered the area.
When the light disappeared, only one-third of the statue monsters were left.
Neo’s face hardened, and Kane’s brows creased.
The statue monsters had become strong after six months, true.
However, Neo should’ve been able to wipe them out with his attack.
‘My decreasing elemental mastery is starting to affect my attacks.’
The problem would be solved when Neo completed his Concept.
Until then, he was stuck with lowered performance of his Death element.
“Neo….” Kane muttered in a low voice. “Should I deal with those monsters?”
“I told you. It’s fine.”
The shadows stretched, and the Darkness hidden within them bloomed.
The Darkness spread far and wide, transforming into a gigantic maw, and it gulped down the remaining statue monsters.
[+4 Vision]
Neo chewed, feeling the citric taste in his mouth.
“They taste like pickles today.”
After everything ended, Neo stared at the destruction his attacks had left.