The mass of energy grew larger and thicker.
Neo controlled it to enter Elizabeth’s body.
The amount of energy was high, and it was hard to control.
He had to do it slowly.
Minutes turned into hours while he continued.
Nothing changed.
When he started to wonder if he was doing something wrong, something astonishing happened.
The flow of essence into Elizabeth became automatic.
It was as if the essence realized who its master was and began to enter Elizabeth.
Neo should’ve been happy.
Unfortunately, things took a sudden turn for the worse.
Elizabeth’s body started to crumble and disintegrate.
Neo’s eyes widened, and he moved quickly to stop the flower.
But Zera stopped him first.
“That’s how the flower works. Don’t try to stop it.”
“It’s killing her. What do you mean that’s how the flower works? Her soul, body, and Seed of Existence are disappearing. It’s impossible to revive from that state.”
“Just watch.”
Neo listened to her after reading her intent.
It took only a few moments for Elizabeth’s soul, body, and Seed of Existence to completely disintegrate.
What was left behind was the purple energy she had absorbed.
It floated into the air and started to take shape.
The shape roughly resembled Elizabeth.
Then, under Neo’s astonished gaze, her Seed of Existence started to materialize.
“That’s bad news,” Zera suddenly said, narrowing her eyes. “I had heard using the Everwitch Flower makes you go through rebirth, but I didn’t expect this type of rebirth.”
“….?”
“Her connection to her world has been broken. And she can’t make the connection again since Tartarus blocks all types of connection to the outside.
“Everyone needs to have a connection to a World. If she can’t connect to her previous world, then….”
“She will connect to Tartarus.”
Neo completed her words.
He frowned.
It was indeed bad news.
He shifted his focus to Zera and contemplated. Should he try it?
As a Heavenbreaker, he was similar to a World.
Technically, he should be able to make a connection with others similar to how a World does with its inhabitants.
Neo had no idea how to do it, and he wondered if doing that in front of Zera was safe. It might reveal his identity as a Heavenbreaker.
There was no time to consider, though.
Elizabeth was starting to form a connection with Tartarus.
Neo activated his Crownless King Trait.
He felt a thread of energy flow out of his hands and enter the mass of energy that looked like Elizabeth.
It dissolved into her and became a part of her essence.
[Bond successfully formed.]
[Bond (Major): 1 → 2]
[Bond (Minor): 0]
[Skill: Resilience, Shared Growth, Imperial Decree]
[Resilience: You can survive in the harshest of environments, and your ability to adapt to foreign or hostile environments is boosted greatly. (Skill gained from Bond: Velkaria)]
[Shared Growth: You grow stronger as long as your Bond grows stronger. (Inherent skill of Crownless King. Works only on Bond (Major).)]
[Imperial Decree: Your allies are more likely to follow your orders, whether out of fear or out of respect. (Skill gained from Bond: Elizabeth de Beaufort).]
Neo could tell his bond with Elizabeth was on a deeper level than his bond with Velkaria.
It was as if Elizabeth’s existence now depended on him.
Elizabeth started to heal rapidly. Her Seed of Existence materialized completely, her soul reformed piece by piece, and her body regrew.
Neo frowned as he stared at her floating form.
Something was wrong.
He quickly realized the problem.
Elizabeth was unawakened.
‘She must have lost her rank after being corrupted by Void and being reborn.’
His surprise only increased when Elizabeth started to suck energy directly from him.
He winced.
It was as if Elizabeth would tap into his energy reserve.
He felt he could stop the flow of energy leaving him, but he didn’t do it. Getting sucked like this was a first for him, however, he knew he needed to do this to help Elizabeth.
She began to use the energy to make consecutive breakthroughs.
Grade 5 Awakened, Grade 4 Awakened, Grade 3 Awakened, Grade 2 Awakened, Grade 1 Awakened.
Mythic Rank.
Empyrean Rank.
Neo had trouble believing the scene before him. It was so astonishing that he forgot how he was rapidly losing energy to support Elizabeth’s breakthroughs.
To rank up, one needed to train their unique skill/Trait.
Depending on talent, your unique skill could rank up after one use or after 100 uses.
Was Elizabeth’s talent so high that she ranked up even without using her Unique Skills?
Or….
‘It’s Experience.’
‘She already has experience of using her skills, so they are leveling up quickly.’
It did not reduce his surprise.
Elizabeth’s skills and elemental masteries were rising at the same time.
Gaining understanding of skills and elements was like walking through a maze for most people.
Reaching the end of the maze meant mastering skills and elements.
Some people would get lost in the maze, some would get lucky and reach the end without stepping into wrong paths too many times.
The second type of people were those who ranked up. But it also meant their ranking up had been a mixture of hard work and luck.
Had they stepped into the wrong path in the maze, they wouldn’t have reached the end quickly.
Neo was different.
He had no luck or talent.
He would step into the wrong path countless times.
This was why his progress was slow.
However, it also meant that when he tried to clear the maze again, he would do so at an extremely fast pace.
Unlike him, others would take more time, since they had avoided detours last time by luck, and they didn’t know how to differentiate wrong paths from right paths.
This was why Neo regained his masteries quickly after giving them to Daniel.
Elizabeth was the same as Neo, yet different.
Like him, she had learned to differentiate between wrong and right paths, but unlike him, she had talent too.
Five minutes was all it took for Elizabeth’s Elemental masteries to reach Savant, and for her to become a peak Grade 5 Paragon.
Neo had no time to be shocked.
A swell of power surged within him.