He shook his head and erased the useless thoughts.
For now, he had to focus on the task at hand.
His energy started to surge like a tsunami.
It grew larger, denser, and stronger.
Neo kept the energy from leaking and forced it to stay within his body.
The energy rampaged inside him with nowhere to go.
However, Neo controlled it and used the energy to enhance his body and soul.
His bones became more robust, and his skin became fairer.
His energy reached the tipping point where it suddenly burst forth like an avalanche.
Shockwaves erupted from Neo, causing the world around him to shake.
[Empathic Transcendence, Grade 2 → Grade 1]
[Crownless King, Grade 2 → Grade 1]
Neo could sense the tremendous changes in his body.
But he didn’t stop and get up to confirm them.
He kept his eyes closed and started to call out to the energy stored within Obitus.
His World Energy resonated within the Essence stored inside the sword.
It floated before him.
As Neo condensed the Essence within it, white cracks started to appear on the sword.
The cracks grew denser with time.
Finally, there was no more space for the cracks, and the sword shattered.
The leftover energy created shockwaves that were far stronger than his breakthrough before.
Neo used his Intent Senses to see what had changed in Obitus, and…
“What?”
Obitus no longer had a physical body.
No, to be exact, the sword had transcended beyond the needs of a physical body.
There was nothing before Neo.
And yet, he could tell that ‘something’ was there.
It wasn’t visible, but he could feel it.
He stretched his hands and grabbed the hilt around the ’emptiness’. Obitus’ hilt fit snugly within his hand.
“A sword that has no physical body.”
Neo had read about such a sword when he was inside the Shadow Trial.
It was the sword that Uranus, the leader of the Awakener organization, and the first S-rank Awakener, was trying to make.
Unfortunately, all his attempts resulted in failure. The S-rank Awakener died before he could get any useful result.
“A Formless Sword.”
Neo slashed.
The sword’s blade extended beyond his Shadow Space and gouged out a deep chasm in the Abyss outside the Shadow Space.
“A sword that is no longer restrained by physical laws.
“It can attack anything within the range of my senses.”
Neo smiled faintly. The formless sword’s nature allowed it to make use of Dimensional Shift, which helped it to transcend space and dimensions.
“You’ve grown stronger.”
Responding to his thoughts, a faint figure of a woman appeared before him.
She had long black hair, blood-red eyes, supple lips, and a well-endowed figure that could rival the most beautiful women he had seen.
She had a mature and easygoing aura about her.
‘Neo.’
She floated around him with a smile.
‘Hehe, I knew you would like this appearance.’
“Let’s check your status,” Neo said before Obitus revealed more of his preferences.
The sword’s Spirit manifestation looked at him with a smile, believing her words had flustered him, even if only a bit.
Neo could only ignore her reaction. He knew she was taking her revenge for all the teasing he did in the past.
He focused on the sword’s upgraded status.
[Obitus]
[Type: Sacred Treasure]
[Rank: Stage 1]
[Ability: Harmonization (Awakened)]
“What does ‘Awakened’ mean?”
‘My ability became stronger. I can use Harmonization on others now,’ Obitus answered.
Neo was greatly surprised.
If what Obitus said was true, he could now use Holy and Life Elementals to heal Dark-type Element users.
‘I don’t think I’ve heard of someone capable of such a thing before. That means I’m the first person who can do something like this,’ Neo thought.
Neo knew the world was vast, and the cosmos was vaster.
But Obitus’ ability was unique to her.
It was highly likely only he had such an ability.
‘Are you happy?’
“Yes, very, very happy, your highness.” Neo chuckled when Obitus tried to get praise out of him.
Even if she had grown, she still had a childish side to her.
The sword spirit manifestation’s eye twitched after reading his thoughts.
She harrumphed and disappeared, promising that the next time it would be Neo who would be embarrassed, not her.
“It’s not a competition….”
He stopped speaking when he realized Obitus would not listen.
Shaking his head, he focused on the breakthrough.
He referred to the Primordial World Core Condensation technique.
Obitus, now completed, could be used as a central point of his World.
To create a Primordial World Core, Neo needed all Elementals he wanted to be in his world and use them to start building his World Core.
Neo only had a few Affinities. He couldn’t procure all Elemental types inside the Abyss.
Thankfully, the technique came with a small amount of Elementals of every element.
They were stored within Neo’s mind and could only be used to aid the creation of his World Core.
Neo gathered his thoughts.
He followed the instructions to create his World Core.
Large beads of sweat rolled out of his forehead. His body shivered under the strain of energy drain.
A thought occurred to Neo while he was creating the World Core.
Where was his World Core located?
His Divine Energy Core had been located inside his body and soul. It was a metaphysical object that could exist in two places at once.
What about the World Core?
Where was it?
Neo was already creating the World Core, so it had to be somewhere.
But where was that ‘somewhere’?
He felt like a human who could move arms and breathe but had no idea how he was doing such things.
Fortunately, his lack of understanding didn’t prove to be a hindrance to his breakthrough.
His World Energy underwent earth-shattering changes.
The Shadow Space around him began to crumble, and after days of focus, Neo completed his World Core.
The shockwave erupted from him.
It was not destruction like before. The shockwave transcended time and space, traveling far and wide.
Zera and Ava were alerted of Neo’s breakthrough.
“What was that?” Ava muttered. “That….”
“Neo’s breakthrough is completed,” Zera muttered.