Neo raised his eyebrow, surprised to hear the words.
“You are thinking about working together?”
“I’m not, but I’m not stupid enough to keep trying to fight alone when it’s clear I can’t complete the training myself.”
That was a surprisingly mature answer from Percival.
Neo sat down beside him.
He was tired from talking with Elementals, and this was a good chance to speak with Percival.
Moments like these were important.
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After all, he was planning to have Percival help him heal Elizabeth.
“Can’t you outspeed the ostriches with your blessing?”
“I’m trying, but it’s not really working. [Might] is geared towards strength, not agility. The blessing does increase speed, though it’s a side effect that appears due to an increase in muscle strength,” Percival replied, his tone slightly frustrated.
“How about using the light element?”
“That….”
Percival released a long sigh, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m using Light as much as I can for speed.”
He gave Neo a side glance, studying him carefully.
“That’s why it’s weird. How come you are faster than me without using the light element?”
“I have my own blessing.”
“What!?” Percival’s eyes widened in shock. “You are the son of Hades!?”
“Yeah. To be honest, I didn’t think you would know blessing holders are all direct children of Gods.”
“Of course, I know about it,” Percival said, trying to hide his surprise.
His fingers curled slightly against the dirt.
“I’m the son of a God myself. Well, my first reincarnation was.”
“Son of Apollo?”
“Yeah.”
Neo frowned.
He read Percival’s Intent, and sure enough, Percival really thought he was Apollo’s son.
It confirmed Neo’s doubt—Percival didn’t have any memory of his life as Apollo.
Deciding to change the topic after getting his answer, Neo leaned back slightly against the wooden fence.
“How about you use your Concept of Light element? Concepts are specialized powers, so you should be able to generate an overwhelming amount of speed with it.”
Percival suddenly burst into laughter.
“Do you know about my Concept, or was that a coincidence?” he asked, wiping away a tear.
“….?”
“My Concept of Light is [Overwhelming],” he said, then stood up with a smile. “I’ve been using [Overwhelming] to boost my strength. That’s what the Concept was made for, but I guess it’s time to change things.”
A Concept, once made, could not be changed.
Neo was an exception to this rule. He could do it only because of the technique a genius like Kane created.
Most people carried a single Concept for every element throughout their life.
Concepts were powerful but not versatile.
The method to circumvent such an issue was only one: [Implementation].
One could have multiple Implementations of a single Concept.
To explain it in simpler terms, Percival had gained [Overwhelming] as his Concept due to the overwhelmingly existence of the sun, which was the source of light.
He used it to boost his strength—Overwhelming Might.
This was his basic Implementation.
Now, he was trying to change the Implementation to Overwhelming Speed.
Needless to say, it was easier said than done.
Percival dashed toward a tree, his body a blur of motion.
“Fweeet! Fweeet!”
Dorothy swiftly stabbed him, and Momothy brought him back to life.
Neo sighed as he watched the cycle repeat.
“I thought you wanted help.”
“Yeah, I do. But let me try all my tricks until then,” Percival said, having already overcome his earlier gloom. “Besides, I can get stronger faster this way!”
He bolted ahead with renewed enthusiasm, his determination shining in his eyes.
Unlike him, Neo did not take a step forward.
“You aren’t going to start?” Kane questione.
“I will do it later.”
Instead of entering the farm, Neo remained outside.
He focused, trying to use Dimensional Shifting to enter Pseudo-Gap.
While it was dangerous, it was too useful of a technique to ignore.
He moved, recalling the movements of Air Elementals.
They were easy to copy—their grace, their flow—but that wasn’t enough.
‘I need to do it differently.’
‘The Air Elementals moved in the Gap. I need to move in Pseudo-Gap. It’s different.’
His mind flashed back to the slight movements he had seen from Kane.
It had only been for a short moment, but he had seen Kane access Pseudo-Gap.
He tried to mimic it.
It was far from enough.
Beads of sweat rolled down his back as he concentrated.
A moment of negligence, and he would fall.
He had to be careful.
Minutes, or maybe hours, passed.
Neo was immersed in his training, and he forgot about time.
He moved.
One step.
Two steps.
His body remained where it was.
Only someone who could see the Gap thanks to their Spatial Affinity would notice that Neo had moved.
For everyone else, he was still on the same spot.
Taking a deep breath, Neo took the third step.
His body blurred, and he instantly appeared a hundred meters away.
‘It worked,’ he thought while breathing heavily. ‘But it was only a coincidence. Let’s do it again.’
He took one step.
Then, another.
Although he covered a huge distance with both steps, it seemed as though he had not moved an inch.
The world around him remained unchanged.
It was only when he took the third—
‘Stop!’
The Darkness lurched.
It grabbed him and pulled him back.
Neo fell to the ground, his damp shirt clinging to his back.
His breath came in ragged gasps.
“Haaah! Haaah!”
Neo had almost fallen into the Gap.
He had only survived thanks to the Darkness Elementals intervening at the last moment.
‘StopstopstopthisisdangerousNeo.’
Darkness Elementals circled him anxiously, their whispering voices overlapping like a chorus of worried murmurs.
The mere thought of him being in danger made them tremble.
‘Traininglikethisisdangerous.’
‘UsethetreasureShadowSupremegaveyou.’
‘Usethetreasureonthosebirds.’
‘Youcanlearnitfromthebirds.’
Neo wanted to ask what the Darkness was talking about.
Treasure of Shadow Supreme?
Before he could say anything, a sharp pain tore through his mind.
He clutched his head, gritting his teeth as the pain seared through him.
Then, just as suddenly, it disappeared.
The moment the Darkness Elementals vanished, the oppressive weight lifted.
It left Neo drenched in sweat.
His limbs trembled slightly.
Mental Energy was spent depending on the number of Elementals he communicated with.
And unlike other Elementals, all Darkness Elementals were one and many at the same time.
Talking to a single Darkness Elemental was the same as talking to all Darkness Elementals at once, which caused an enormous consumption of mental energy.
Had the Darkness tried to speak longer, it would’ve been dangerous for Neo.
He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to focus.
“What did it mean, use the reward Shadow Supreme gave me?”
Neo clutched his head, feeling the lingering aftereffects of the pain.
His Intent vision weakened for a moment before clearing.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find an answer.
He decided to focus on the other point for now.
“Darkness told me to learn ‘it’ from the birds.
“If I believe what Darkness said, those ostriches are also using Pseudo-Gap.
“It would explain their instantaneous speed, even though they are not using teleportation.”
Neo looked toward the farm.
He understood—learning about Pseudo-Gap by himself was dangerous.
Darkness wanted him to observe.
Using a reference would decrease the difficulty.
“What is this…?”
Neo focused on the movement of the ostriches as they left Pseudo-Gap, causing them to become visible again.
His senses followed their transitions—how they entered and exited the space with seamless ease.
“I think… I can copy that if I try a bit.”
Neo was baffled by his own words.