Neo formed a Bond (Major) with Death Sword Firmament, Tyrant Firmament, and Eyes of Echo Firmament.
[You gained skill Death Sword]
[You gained skill Tyrant]
[You gained skill Eyes of Echo]
Neo stared at the notification.
He opened the Crownless King trait’s subskills and looked at the new skills.
[Death Sword: A Death Sword that has been amped up to Stage 3, and is powered by Death Sword Firmament. The injuries inflicted by it are near-impossible to heal.]
[Tyrant: A Water element Concept powered by Tyrant Firmament. It allows you to control external water bodies.]
[Eyes of Echo: It allows the user to look into the past. The amount of energy consumed grows exponentially according to how far you look. The energy is generated by Eyes of Echo Firmament. ]
The skills he gained were the same as the techniques he had.
If he had to say what changed, it would be that he didn’t need to activate a technique, then ask Firmaments to power it.
Normally he activated his techniques in two steps: Preparing the technique, and supplying energy to it.
The skills combined both steps into one.
“This is like using my trait skills. I don’t need to focus on creating a magic circle or controlling flow of energy. All I need to do is just think about it.
“The second benefit, and the major one, would be the Shared Growth.
“If the Firmaments grow stronger, I grow stronger too. I don’t need to develop the techniques now. As long as the Firmaments do it, I will get it as skill.”
Suddenly, Neo became curious about skills.
What exactly were skills?
He knew they came from Traits, but how? Why was it possible to use techniques – skills – that you had no knowledge about?
‘This isn’t the time to be thinking about these things. I should focus on the task at hand.’
After he made the bond, Death Sword Firmament grabbed Eyes of Echo Firmament, and started dancing.
Neo waited for Death Sword Firmament, and Eyes of Echo Firmament to calm down.
Where… are you… going from here? Tyrant Firmament questioned him.
“I’m thinking about it,” Neo answered.
He looked down.
With his current senses, he could see what was happening on Floor 3.
Tyr was fighting Vlad.
The leader of the Weapon Dragon Clan turned out to be a monstrous genius.
Not only was he able to maintain status quo, even if barely, he was learning and growing during the battle.
‘That’s not going to be enough,’ Neo thought. ‘He will lose at this rate.’
Senator Nicolas was helping Tyr. But even then, they were barely avoiding dying.
Neo used Eyes of Echo and looked into the past.
He saw how Vlad attacked everyone, how Nicolas stayed his ground, how Tyr appeared before he was killed, how Tyr managed to fight Vlad but barely—
How Veldora went berserk when he realized the Neo with them was fake, and attacked Vlad, because Vlad wanted to kill Neo, and how Veldora was killed by Vlad.
The countless thoughts churning inside Neo’s mind suddenly went quiet.
He looked at the past again repeatedly.
But it didn’t change.
Just then, Vlad raised his head, and stared at Neo.
Similar to how Neo could see beyond the dimensional borders, so could Vlad.
‘So this was why Kane was trusting Vlad so much.’
‘Because of them were Great Disasters.’
Neo almost wanted to attack Vlad right then, but he couldn’t.
He raised his head, and looked at Zone 2.
The Nyxtharions had realized something was wrong. They could not understand why Neo kept on devouring the Zones.
It was weakening the Layer 4, and if he continued the Layer 4 would be destroyed.
Neo should have stopped after eating two or three Zones. It should have been enough to fight Jack Hanma.
Nyxtharion #1 would soon make a move.
If Neo didn’t go there, Nyxtharion #2 would die.
Again, Neo looked at Zone 8 where Tyr and Vlad were fighting.
A smile appeared on Vlad’s face.
“What a surprise, you seem to have grown quite strong,” he spoke, “but your world-mates are already dead. The Blood Sea ate them. Even if you go back in time, they won’t return.”
Vlad was taunting him.
Since Vlad himself couldn’t chase Neo due to Tyr and Nicolas blocking him, he wanted Neo to come to him.
Neo noticed Tyr and Nicolas were confused. They couldn’t see who Vlad was talking to.
It was a clear sign they were weaker than Vlad, and soon, they would be defeated, and suffer the same fate as Olivia, and Veldora.
Tyrant Firmament approached Neo.
Neo… calm down… you shouldn’t—
“It’s okay. I am calm.”
Tyrant Firmament lowered its hand. Clearly, its words weren’t going through Neo’s head.
Neo… defeat and devour… the elder dragon… then fight that man…. if not…
Tyrant Firmament stopped speaking when Neo patted its head.
“You know, Veldora wasn’t born as a true blood Dragon.”
Neo spoke calmly.
“But to save me from my reincarnations, he went through countless trials, and did something everyone thought was impossible. He evolved his bloodline.
“He didn’t stop there.
“He kept evolving his bloodline until he became an ancient dragon. His foundation became as solid as it could be made.
“He could now grow into a terrifying entity.
“But…
“Doing all that took time. That was why even after living so long, he was only Exalted rank.”
Neo stopped for a second, finding it hard to say his feelings outright, but he continued.
“Maybe if he had focused on just ranking up, he might have been far stronger.
“But he didn’t do that.
“Because to break my curse, he had to reach a level no one ever had. He decided that he first needed a heavenly potential before he focused on ranking up, and it was why he tried to become an ancient dragon.”
Neo created an Intent Clone, gave it a few techniques and sent it to the Zone 2.
“So even if I’m the weaker one here, I can’t let that fucking bastard live.”
Neo’s aura exploded.
The dimensional barrier creaked, and groaned. Tiny cracks spread over its surface.
They came together to form a long giant crack that ran over the sky of Zone 7, Zone 8 and Zone 9.
The ceiling of the Zones collapsed.
The space elementals were thrown into chaos, and the gravity started to go haywire as the Zones were cracked open.
Tyr, Nicolas, and Vlad stopped.
They looked above.
Vlad had a faint smile while Tyr and Nicolas were shocked.