Chapter 170: World Core
Neo massaged the bridge of his nose.
In the fourth vision of the Sphinx, he wanted to die but couldn't.
He couldn't rest.
It was why he started to see Death as a form of rest.
"It's my form of Death, I shouldn't force it on others."
Despite his words, the act of revival was a turn-off for him.
If he was not 'Immortal', he would've felt reviving himself was disgusting.
"I guess I'll ask them if they want to be revived.
"If they do, I'll revive them. If they don't, I won't.
"I need to return to the Underworld for it, though."
The Well of Death and the pond filled with Holy and Life elements came into his mind.
He needed to complete Barbatos' training and get a holy affinity to survive the Well of Death.
"At least, now I have an idea of how to complete the fourth trial."
He stood up and was about to leave Professor Daniel's office when his caterpillar moved.
It stared at him and opened its mouth.
A powerful suction force started to devour the chaotic Time elementals around Neo.
The caterpillar returned to sleep after having its fill.
"It can do this?"
Neo looked at himself.
He had barely any chaotic Time elementals left around him.
"If someone sees me now, they won't be able to tell I've been regressing for years.
"Only those with time affinity will be able to tell I regressed, and they'll think I regressed a few minutes or hours at best."
Neo stared at the caterpillar.
It was powerful.
And he felt the current abilities it had shown were but a small part of its arsenal.
"If only this pig wasn't so lazy.
"It only wakes up, eats, and sleeps."
The caterpillar rolled around as if it didn't want to hear the scolding.
Shaking his head, Neo left the office.
He went to his class.
He noticed Arthur and Felix as soon as he entered.
A wave of reminiscence surged inside his mind.
He suppressed the nostalgia and sat in his seat.
"Where have you been since the morning?" Felix questioned.
"I was busy with Professor Daniel."
"Professor Daniel? The one in charge of the Meditation Hall?"
"Yes, him."
"Why?" Arthur asked.
"He helped me awaken my Time element."
"Ah, your Time element…" Felix stopped speaking.
Her eyes slowly grew wide as she understood the implications behind Neo's words.
"You had a Time element?"
"Yes."
"You have Death, Darkness, Shadow, Time. That's four elements already! Isn't that too much!?"
Neo shrugged.
Arthur opened his mouth.
"Isn't four elements normal?"
His words made Felix freeze.
She turned to him.
"Dear Sir Kingsley, pray tell how many elements do you have?"
"I haven't awakened all—"
"How many?"
Arthur started to sweat.
Maybe he should've kept his mouth shut.
"Sir Arthur?"
"…Twenty-five."
Felix stared at Arthur, returned her gaze to Neo, and stared back at Arthur.
"Do you two know there is something called a limit?"
"Hahaha."
Arthur gave a nervous chuckle.
He might have many elements, but awakening them was hard.
Mastering them was harder.
Inwardly, Arthur respected Neo.
Neo might have only four elements.
However, all four of his elements were among the most difficult elements to master.
It was to the point that if someone awakened Death, Darkness, Shadow, or Time, they would give up training them and focus on different elements.
While the three talked, the professor came into the class.
She picked up the chalk and wrote 'Elemental Resistance' on the board.
"Today we will discuss elemental resistance."
Professor Evelyn continued.
"It is an important topic for anyone who is thinking of becoming a Junior Templar.
"Since Junior Templars need to fight otherworldly monsters, demigods or mystical beasts, you should be aware of how elemental resistance works.
"For example, let's say…"
She scanned the class with her eyes.
Her gaze stopped at Neo.
"Neo Hargraves has Adept Mastery of the Death element, while I don't possess the Death element.
"Since I don't possess the Death element, I can't increase my resistance against it by training the element.
"Does this mean Neo Hargraves can kill me with a single attack if he uses his Death element on me?"
The students shook their heads and said no.
"Exactly. Even if I don't have the Death element, I possess resistance against the Death element."
"So do all of you.
"Every person has a degree of resistance against all elements.
"Today's class is to teach you how and why it we have the resistance against elements we do not possess."
She pushed up her glasses and asked,
"As many of you know, none of us have all elements, yet we can sense the elemental aura of our opponents no matter which element they use.
"Do you know why?"
Arthur raised his hand.
Professor Evelyn ignored him and shifted her gaze to Felix.
"Felix, can you answer the question?"
Felix's eyebrows twitched.
She glared at Arthur with a side-eye and stood up while grumbling.
"Because the opponents use a large amount of elementals to create an aura.
"It's why we can sense those elements without even having the elements ourselves."
Professor Evelyn nodded with a wrinkled nose.
She looked around.
"Anyone else knows the answer?"
When no one raised their hand, Professor Evelyn turned to Arthur.
"Arthur, please answer."
"It's because of our [Core], [World Core], and [Resonance]."
A smile appeared on Professor Evelyn's face.
She signaled Arthur to continue.
"The world is a living being like us, and similarly, it has a [Core].
"We call it the [World Core].
"The World has all elements, and since every person's root belongs to the World, it triggers a phenomenon known as [Resonance] between our [Core] and the [World Core].
"Resonance allows us to gain partial elemental affinity of all elements."
Arthur explained.
The smile on Professor Evelyn's face became brighter with each word he spoke.
"Thanks to it, although we still can't use the affinities other than the ones we are born with, we can sense all elementals."
"Perfect!"
Professor Evelyn clapped.
She was so excited it looked like she had watched a spectacular dance performance.