“I won’t,” Nicolas said with a calm expression. “I’ve already settled the matters with Henry Hargraves. There is no need to punish Neo Hargraves anymore.”
“Sure you won’t punish him. Your ranked disciples must already be looking for a way to punish him.”
The young man rolled his eyes, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“If you know that, why are you asking it?”
“They won’t be enough. You need to use a stronger method to deal with him.”
“‘Deal with him’ is too strong of a phrase. My disciples will just scare him a bit,” Nicolas said.
“Sigh…. really?” The young man said. “He has the bloodline of Hades.”
“And? I had no intention of joining you in your slaughter of the bloodline of Hades,” Nicolas replied.
“You make it sound like I’m doing something wrong,” the young man retorted.
“You are doing something wrong.”
“I’m not,” the young man answered. “The last time we let a child of Hades run wild, he almost cost us everything.”
“His actions helped us advance our world to Stage-2.”
“Helped us? You are saying that?
“You lost your eye against him while trying to kill him.
“You, who were once called the Paragon of Justice, tried to kill him for he was chaos himself.
“We can’t let another one like him run wild,” the young man said.
“You are being too paranoid-“
“Hades’ bloodline is dangerous,” the young man said, cutting Nicolas mid-sentence, his smile gone. “We let ‘The One’ be since Hades’ bloodline has infinite potential and he….”
The young man sighed.
“Barely anyone with Hades’ bloodline can reach Awakened rank. It might be related to their initial skill, or there might be another reason for their low survival rate.
“But once they cross the initial hurdle, they unlock their infinite potential.
“The One is the best example, and all he did with his potential was create chaos and discord.”
The room fell silent.
Centuries ago, the Earth was a Stage-1 planet, and the gene limit was Paragon-rank.
This gene limit was the same for everyone.
Everyone except one bloodline.
The bloodline of Hades.
The One, a son of Hades, had reached Exalted rank while the Earth was a Stage-1 planet.
He became an unrivaled demigod, earning him the name ‘The One Above All’.
“His heinous actions are the reason why we erased the trace of all children of Hades from history, and now you are thinking we should let Neo Hargraves grow?” the young man said.
“Neo Hargraves might be different.”
“What if he isn’t different? What if he is worse than ‘The One’?”
“You are just angry about what happened in the past,” Nicolas said, standing up with a heavy sigh.
His shadow stretched across the room, wavering slightly from the firelight.
He turned around to leave the room.
“Think about my words carefully, Nicolas. He has already reached the level of Paragons.
“We still have time, but it won’t be long before he stands on par with us.
“Because, unlike us, he isn’t limited by our world’s gene limit.
“When that happens, we won’t be able to suppress him if he decides to follow in the footsteps of the previous son of Hades.”
Nicolas paid him no heed and kept walking.
“The tragedy might repeat itself,” the young man spoke his last words as Nicolas closed the door behind him.
…
Demigod Academy
“Are you sure my parents are in the present?” Neo asked.
“Yes, I am. You’ve met them already,” Sphinx answered.
“….are they newborns, right now?” he questioned cautiously.
“Who knows?”
The Sphinx chuckled, seeing Neo unable to hide his emotions anymore.
‘They might be kids.’
‘Or they might be adults.’
‘Although they died only a few years ago, they could’ve reincarnated into the past, and now might be as old or older than me and brother.’
Neo had stopped thinking logically.
Just the fact he could meet his parents turned his mind into a chaotic mess.
“Where are they right now?” Neo asked.
“Use your skill and find out.”
Neo frowned.
He was about to ask if the Sphinx was playing games with him until he recalled his skill.
“Mind Invasion.”
He used the skill on himself.
His consciousness drifted inward.
Neo’s soul manifestation appeared outside of a large palace—the place where he stored his memories.
The palace stood majestically under a starry sky.
He entered the palace.
It was a giant library from the inside.
Countless books, each depicting a specific memory, rested on the shelves.
“The Sphinx said mom and dad are in ‘present.’ I should look into those memories.”
Neo pulled a book and opened it.
The world around him changed, replaying the memory of when he first woke up as ‘Neo Hargraves,’ thinking he had come inside a novel.
His soul manifestation floated around the place.
It allowed him to see his memories in a third-person point of view.
He looked through the first day of memory.
“It’s not here. Let’s check another day.”
Neo flipped through the pages.
He was using his Intent Senses to scan everyone he had seen in the past.
Something like this was only possible for Neo, an Intent user who could read memories.
He looked through the memories of the mermaid country, his first fight in the Underworld against Gulwaks, the academy ranking tournament, him trying to destroy a camp of Gremlins, and him completing A~C rank missions.
“Where are they?”
Neo increased his memory-reading pace.
The burden over his mind multiplied by several folds.
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His physical body began to bleed through the nose.
He paid it no mind and kept his focus on memory reading.
The S-rank mission, the visions of the Sphinx, the labyrinth of the Minotaur, time element awakening, the Tiger-ranked Window that appeared above the labyrinth after Neo defeated the Minotaur—
“Found them.”
Neo paused the scene playing inside his memory.
In front of him, a man and woman were present inside the labyrinth.
Neo repeatedly scanned them using his Intent Senses.
Their Intent was the same as the Intent he found within his blessing.
“It’s them.”