Celestra remained absorbed in her sketch.
By the time she was done, the copy percentage had reached 60.6%.
“It’s good,” Neo said.
“Thank you.” She smiled proudly.
Death Sword Firmament came zipping through the air, and took a peek at the sketch.
It’s… good… good…
Celestra thanked it.
Tyrant Firmament caressed her head instead of praising her since it still seemed to have trouble speaking.
Celestra was surprised, but she let her do it.
Neo saw the words ‘Zera’ in her mind before he quickly stopped reading her thoughts.
He had no intentions of carrying over sad thoughts.
“It’s good,” Velkaria chimed in. “What is its name?”
“Name?”
“Yeah, artists usually give their art a name.”
Celestra seemed to recall Zera telling her the same.
She looked at the sketch and after giving it a thought said,
“Grim Reaper.”
“…?”
“The Protector looks content even though he is about to die at the hands of the person in front of him,” she said. “It made me recall the stories we had about Grim Reapers, that’s why I named it as such.”
Neo was surprised at the coincidence.
He did not recall telling Celestra he was a Grim Reaper.
‘Or maybe I did tell her?’
‘It’s getting harder and harder to remember what I did in the past with madness destroying my memories.’
Celestra mistook his silence for bad mood and explained,
“I know Grim Reapers are equated to death, and seen as evil, but the people here in Tartarus look at them differently.
“We don’t have Grim Reapers.
“We can’t die easily.
“The only end here is living painfully for eternity, turning into a monster, or meeting other horrible end if you can’t bear the pain of living anymore.”
Her smile turned melancholic.
“That’s why we made the Grand Expedition. That’s why almost everyone who is somewhat strong participates willingly in Grand Expedition.
“We want this hell to end.
“Grim Reapers are a symbol of a grim reality, and inevitable end. They don’t show mercy. They don’t care about the cause.
“They just reap the lives, and harvest death.
“That’s how Grim Reapers are shown in our stories. Zera told me the Grim Reapers were feared and hated for what they symbolized.
“But for us? Grim Reapers are a symbol of hope. Of an end that we had been searching for centuries.”
Celestra realized she had been blabbering on her own, and laughed.
“Well, sorry about the weird lecture. You can just ignore it.”
She was about to store her sketchbook when Neo opened his mouth.
“You can draw more sketches. I have something to do, so until then I won’t devour this Zone.”
“Really?” she asked, expectant.
Neo nodded.
He had to copy the Eyes of Echoes.
At the same time, he focused on his body.
Now that he had three Consciousness, and he had taken rest, his mind was sharper than ever.
He moved away from others while keeping Celestra within his Intent Vision range to copy Eyes of Echoes.
Appearing in a deserted area, he churned his Will, and began generating World Energy.
“Here goes nothing.”
Neo wrapped his body in thick amount of condensed World Energy, and marked it as his territory.
He did this to push out the Time Elemental eroding his body.
He had tried to talk to them, but since they weren’t listening, this was the only way forward.
Clenching his teeth, he increased his focus.
The air and the ground began to tremble.
The sheer force of energy leaking from Neo bent space and created gravity.
He had successfully created three Consciousness, which according to Primogenitor was enough to solve his Time Erosion problem.
Slowly, the cracks on his body began to disappear.
He could see the Time Elementals not being happy with what he was doing. They could do nothing but leave.
[Enchantment for the question ‘How do I make my Consciousness stronger’ has been completed.]
[The occupied slot will be emptied.]
Neo used his Blessing and Life Element to heal himself. Combined with passive regeneration abilities he gained from devouring the Zones, he healed within seconds.
“Finally, I feel like myself.”
The cracks on his body had disappeared.
He moved, feeling his body respond to his commands.
Now, he wouldn’t need to hold back, or worry that he would shatter if he used too much strength.
Another notification soon appeared.
[Eyes of Echoes (Rank: Stage 3: Mastery: Supreme) total: 98.9% → 100%]
Neo had completed everything he wanted in this Zone. He could now devour it and move to the next Zone.
However, he could see Celestra too absorbed in the sketching.
It was a half-completed sketch of a blood-soaked battlefield.
“Since it will take her some time, I might as well create another Consciousness.
“I guess I will choose Eyes of Echoes this time.”
Eyes of Echoes allowed him to see past.
The more energy he used the farther he could see. The best part? It could be activated when you wished.
Combining it with All Shadow would make the Spell broken.
He closed his eyes and began to corrupt the energy supporting Eyes of Echoes.
It took him several dozen hours, which was a lot higher than what he took to create other Consciousness.
“With every Consciousness I create, it’s getting harder to create more of them. It’s like the bucket of water is being slowly filled, and when the bucket is full it can’t contain more water.”
He looked into his Cosmos.
There, a purplish-black wisp floated.
It looked at ‘sky’ when Neo revealed his presence.
“Do you want to come out?”
The new Consciousness nodded. Neo summoned it into Zone 4.
It was startled upon seeing the new environment that was quiet different from the previous one, and it swiftly dashed into the inner pocket of Neo’s coat.
Neo smiled.
A few seconds later, it peeked out.
It looked around nervously.
“There is nothing here that will hurt you. You can be at ease.”
It raised its head, and looked at Neo.
The wisp slowly floated into the air.
It circled the area, ready to return to Neo as soon as it detected danger.
When it realized there was no danger, it began to fly around. Slowly at first, then quickly.
It returned to Neo after having its fill and rubbed its head against his cheek.
“Your name will be Eyes of Echo Firmament.”
Eyes of Echo Firmament jumped in the air like a shocked cat. It had no eyes, but Neo felt as if it blinked and stared at him.
“Yes, you have a name now. Eyes of Echo Firmament.”
The Firmament began to dance around him in happiness.
Neo waited for it to calm down while watching it with a smile.
He used the Eyes of Echo Spell.
Magic circles began to be engraved on his eyes. It was a Spell that once activated would remain active permanently.
He frowned from the pain but remained quiet.
After the magic circles were engraved on his eyes, he asked the Eye of Echo Firmament to supply energy to him.
Purplish-black energy churned inside the magic circles laid on his eyes.
Immediately, his vision changed.
The new eyes allowed him to see the past.
He could see hundreds of thousands of unmoving images overlapping one another.