“Neo and Elizabeth?” Ava’s voice echoed from the newly arrived figures.
“Yeah, it’s us.”
After confirming all of them were inside the Nightmare Tree, Neo swiftly used Artemis’ Blessing.
He had to hurry and get moving before they were sucked into the large black hole—which he assumed to be the collective nightmare.
‘The blessing works—’
His mind froze when multiple paths of silvery light appeared before him.
They were struggling to move in different directions, towards the smaller black holes in the distance.
However, the suction force of the giant black hole pulled all silvery paths into itself.
“Neo, does the blessing work?” Zera asked.
“It….”
His hanging words were a clear answer.
“It’s okay. Let’s enter a random individual nightmare,” Zera said. “We can’t stay here for longer, or the collective nightmare will suck us in.”
Neo nodded and followed them.
However, he couldn’t help but frown.
There were millions of individual nightmares.
Going through each one of them and hoping to find the World Core would waste too much time.
‘Hey, Artemis. Can’t you put your blessing on overload and make it stronger temporarily?’
It should be possible. Neo knew it since he could pass on his powers through Intent. While those powers wouldn’t be called a Blessing, the fundamental foundation of how they worked was the same.
‘Don’t ignore me,’ he called out again.
Neo clicked his tongue.
He knew exactly what he had to say for Artemis to say yes to his request.
‘Fine, I will pay for it.’
There was no response.
‘Fuck, I will show you a bed action scene. There, I said it! Happy?’
[You should’ve said it sooner. Too bad, the price has increased now.]
“What?”
Neo suddenly felt he was making a deal with a greedy businessman.
“Neo, is something wrong?” Elizabeth turned to him.
“No, everything is fine,” he told her, then talked to Artemis. ‘Fuck do you mean the price increased?’
[Nu-huh, I don’t like that tone. It feels like you are trying to negotiate.]
[Well, we can negotiate, but I doubt you have the time for it.]
Neo looked at the giant black hole that was sucking them in. They were resisting, however slowly but surely they were being pulled into it.
‘What’s the increased price?’
[The action scene should be yours, and do it within a month.]
‘Are you fucking crazy? Look where I am.’
[Not my problem to handle.]
Neo had to calm himself forcefully.
If Artemis had a physical body, or even a spiritual body, he would’ve dragged her out from himself and given her a good beating.
Should he just lie? Say yes now and refuse to pay later?
While that was a good idea, he would end up antagonizing Artemis, and she wouldn’t help him in the future again.
‘This crazy bitch.’
[Hehe, I have always heard dragons are beasts in the bed. I can finally see them in action,] she said as if she couldn’t hear him cursing.
Neo took a deep breath and relented.
‘Fine.’
The Blessing of Artemis within him started to churn.
It nudged Neo to stop using the Infinite Mana for a minute. Neo relented. The blessing looped the Infinite Mana into itself and used it to strengthen the Wayfarer subskill that was part of the Blessing.
The silvery motes of light started to grow in number. The giant black hole couldn’t suck them all.
Dozens of silver paths formed. They connected to the small black holes far into the distance.
“The blessing is working,” Neo said. “But…”
“But?” Zera questioned.
“It shows multiple locations as the destination.”
“That means either Tartarus can trick the blessing, or the World Core is present in multiple locations.”
“It can’t be present in multiple locations at once. While doing that is possible, it defeats the purpose of hiding. That just makes it easier to find.”
Existing in multiple locations at the same time was certainly within the realms of possibility.
But Tartarus was unlikey to do such thing.
Neo doubted the blessing could be tricked either.
The Blessing had strengthened itself just now, similar to how a computer overclocked itself. It should be able to ignore whatever ability Tartarus was using to hide itself from search-type abilities.
“We will know when we reach the location. Neo, lead the way.”
Neo nodded and moved, following the path of silvery motes.
He stopped before a smaller black hole and touched it.
His body was sucked in.
When his consciousness returned, he was sitting at a dining table inside a large castle room.
He turned to the side and noticed Elizabeth and others waking up.
Neo sat at the head of the table while others sat at the sides.
The door of the dining room suddenly opened, and a familiar face entered.
Tyr.
The Clan Leader of the Weapon Dragon Clan.
The youngest Dragon Clan leader in history.
“Greetings, Father,” Tyr gave a bow to Neo, then turned to the others. “Greetings, sisters.”
Confusion appeared in Elizabeth’s eyes.
Powerful dark-type element users were rare on Luminera. Hence, she didn’t know how the dark-type elements were used at higher levels.
It made sense she didn’t understand what was happening.
Neo grabbed her hand and spoke to Tyr before speaking to her,
“Come. Let’s eat.”
Tyr obeyed his command. While he started dining, Neo used his Intent to talk to Elizabeth.
‘We are inside Tyr’s subconscious mind that is currently experiencing a nightmare.’
‘From the looks of it, we have been assigned roles as people Tyr knew in the past.’
Elizabeth’s gaze asked why they weren’t revealing to Tyr that this was a nightmare.
If he became aware, it would be easier to break this nightmare.
Neo shook his head. Breaking the nightmare wasn’t the main goal.
Besides, breaking a Nightmare wasn’t easy either.
‘Look. I’m going to show it,’ Neo told Elizabeth, then turned to Tyr. “Tyr, this is a nightmare. We’ve come here to locate the World Core and destroy it.”
“What?”
“This isn’t a real place. It’s just a figment of imagination created by Tartarus to trap you. Currently, your physical body is caught by the Tree of Nightmare along with the other members of the Grand Expedition.”
“Nightmare…. Grand…. Expedition….”
Tyr’s eyes grew hazy.
“This place isn’t real,” Neo repeated himself again. “Nor am I your dad. I’m Neo Hargraves, one of the people who were brought to join the Grand Expedition by the Great Disaster, Kane Williams.
“Wake up, Tyr.”
“Great…. Disaster….”
…
Author’s Note:
Check the chapter comments for details on the March bonus chapter system. It’s too long to include here, and adding it would increase the chapter’s price.
Don’t miss out!