Chapter 71: The Trickery Of Darkness

He stood up and folded the will he wrote before leaving.

"What is this?" Paimon asked.

"My will."

Neo placed it inside the drawer.

He turned to Paimon.

"Will you follow me with that appearance?"

"Indeed. But, worry not, hardly anyone can see me. Now, give me your hand."

He followed her words.

Paimon jumped on his palm and climbed his arm.

She sat on his shoulder.

"Let's go, my soldier!"

Neo smiled at her actions.

He grabbed the door's handle, opened it, and saw his homeroom teacher, Anna, and a short old woman, the principal probably, outside.

Anna carried a long bag on her back while Charlotte stood with a cane's support.

The two women stared at him.

Neo, surprised, quickly calmed down.

Charlotte opened her mouth before him.

"See, Eliz? He is alive. I told you it was a needless worry."

"..."

Anna — maybe Eliz was her nickname — did not reply to the principal.

She stared at Neo silently.

Her gaze shifted to his shoulder and she looked at Paimon.

…!

Neo froze.

"Now, now, young man, don't be surprised too much.

"Ask us to enter the room at least. You are making us stand at your doorsteps," Charlotte said.

"…Please come inside."

The two women entered.

Neo closed the door behind them and followed them into the hall.

Charlotte sat on the main sofa and Anna on the small one on her right.

Neo was on sofa next to the Anna and directly in front of Charlotte.

"Young man, can you release your Death Aura?" Charlotte asked.

"…?"

Confused, he asked cautiously,

"Why?"

"We sensed a thick aura of Death and Darkness on the campus a few hours ago.

"It took us time to find its source and the clues led us to you," Charlotte answered.

Neo noticed Anna's gaze was aimed at Paimon.

Could she see her?

Hopefully not.

"Young man?"

"Okay."

He unleashed his Death aura.

…!

A flicker of surprise passed through Anna's eyes.

Charlotte raised her hand to cover her mouth.

"Your mastery of Death is about to reach Adept rank. How did you do it?" Charlotte questioned.

She turned to Anna.

"You never told me his Immortality worked against Spiritual Death."

"…I did not know about it myself," Anna answered.

Seeing the confusion in Neo's eyes, Anna tapped her necklace.

Her figure blurred, and a woman with white hair and cold expression appeared in her place.

'Elizabeth? What is she doing here?'

'Wait, she is my homeroom teacher!?'

Neo, while outwardly calm, was surprised.

The principal and Elizabeth knew each other. This was clear at a glance.

'Did she hire Elizabeth and ask her to become our teacher in disguise?'

'Looks like Elizabeth told about my Immortality to her.'

Charlotte coughed to bring Neo out of his thoughts.

"The aura of Darkness you are releasing shows your mastery over it has reached Apprentice rank.

"I believe both of your masteries increased because of a similar reason?"

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He was releasing aura of Darkness?

Neo expanded his senses.

He failed to find any traces of Darkness on himself.

"Young man, please tell us, how did you manage to kill your Spirit(Mind)?

"If it was just a Physical death, we would've ignored it.

"But a method to harm the Spirit(Mind) is dangerous.

"We can't let someone capable of wielding such powers roam on the campus unsupervised."

Neo understood Charlotte's words.

However, he didn't understand the meaning behind them.

"I killed my Spirit(Mind)? Sorry, I don't think I know what you are talking about."

"Young man, there is no need to hide the truth from us.

"There is only one way your mastery of Death nearly reached Adept rank."

From Apprentice to Adept.

"You've experienced a Spiritual Death," Charlotte spoke with a strict tone.

Watching Neo's confused expression made them realize one thing.

He wasn't acting.

He didn't know what they were talking about.

"Physical Death is where your body dies, while Spiritual Death is where you Spirit (Mind) dies.

"The fastest and riskiest way to increase your mastery over Death element is to experience different deaths.

"Physical Deaths will help you reach Apprentice Mastery, and Spiritual Deaths will lead you to Adept Mastery."

"I see," Neo said.

He knew these things already.

However, he never went through a Spiritual Death….

"Huh?

"That… can't be possible…"

Neo died inside the illusions when he first attempted to climb the mountain during the second trial.

He woke up at the foot of the hill after the death.

He thought he had been lucky.

That he broke through the illusion of the Darkness through sheer luck.

Luck…?

He survived the assault of Darkness through luck?

'It's impossible. The Darkness would never make such a mistake.'

'Why didn't I realize this sooner?'

Goosebumps rose on Neo's arms.

'I didn't survive back then.'

'My mind was consumed by the Darkness even though I was physically alive at the base of the mountain.'

Neo's face hardened....

'I died at that moment.'

Immortal.

The skill revived him.

Neo's Spirit died and he was resurrected back to his physical body in the Underworld.

He did not survive through luck.

He never survived.

'No wait! If I was resurrected back then, why didn't the count of Immortal reduce?'

Neo opened the Status.

[Two stacks of Immortal left]

[Time until +1 stack: 16 hours and 15 minutes.]

Neo lost one stack after his fight with Great Gremlin. It was restacked after the midnight.

This left him with four stacks.

He lost one of them after he devoured all Gremlin corpses and another one when he returned with Paimon.

He should have 2 stacks left.

The status screen showed the same.

'So I never died inside the illusion?'

Neo felt confused.

If he didn't die spiritually, how did his mastery over Death improve?

He stared at the status screen.

There was something he was missing.

Something he couldn't understand.

….!

Suddenly, a sharp pain tore through Neo's head.

He clutched his temples and groaned.

"Neo?"

Anna moved next to him swiftly and looked at him with a concerned gaze.