5 minutes earlier
Neo and his Shadow were locked in high-speed combat.
While the Shadow continued to press its advantage, Neo's mind was focused on sothing else.
'I still can't understand it. Why can we talk without having a mouth or a body?'
He tried to think hard for a solution.
Eventually, he noticed sothing.
'The Shadow's voice is the sa as mine.'
'How am I hearing it without having ears? How can I see without having eyes?'
His bloodline and elental affinities were bonded to his soul.
It made sense how he could use them without a body.
But his physical senses were different.
The answer was obvious when he thought about it.
'I can't see, or hear, or talk.'
'Then what is this right now? How am I perceiving my surroundings?'
Neo hadn't realized it, but he was entering a state of enlightennt.
It was true Neo had diocre talent.
For soone like him, enlightennt was sothing he could never hope to achieve even once.
But Neo had a unique advantage.
He had lived long.
Far longer than one could imagine.
The experience he gained from having thousands of years' worth of mory taught him a lot.
His enlightennt wasn't born out of overflowing talent.
It was the fruit of his wisdom and efforts.
'Let's think of it step by step. How do I talk without a mouth?'
His thoughts continued to churn.
Despite being locked in a death battle, Neo was focused entirely on his enlightennt.
'…Ah!'
The answer ca to him in a flash.
'Intent.'
Intent was the only field where he had talent. After all, he had overwhelmingly strong Willpower.
'I can talk to Elentals with Intent. I don't need to use my mouth for it.'
People spoke Incantations to talk with Elentals, but it was to strengthen their Intents.
Those with strong Intent, like Neo or Zeus, could use Incantations without saying them out loud.
This technique was called chantless incantations. It involved projecting one's Intent outward and communicating with Elentals.
'So my Shadow and I've been talking with Intent.'
'But what about my other senses? Why can I hear the clashes of our swords and see the Shadow take a stance?'
'Is it because of Intent too?'
It was as if Neo's body was on autopilot.
Neo continued to fight the Shadow while analyzing Intent.
He tried to delve deeper and focused on his surroundings.
And.
'….!?'
'What is this?'
The mont he understood he was talking thanks to Intent, he realized another fact.
All of his senses were working by perceiving Intent of his surroundings.
To Neo, it was as if a new world had opened up.
'Everything has Intent.'
'The sword, the ground, even sounds. They all have Intent.'
He had been short-sighted, thinking only living beings could have Intent.
'I thought the abilities born out of Intent manipulation were limited because I had a powerful Intent and there wasn't much I could do with it.'
He had wrong. Very wrong.
'There is more to Intent.'
A smile played on Neo's lips.
Finding the answers he had been searching for months made him happy.
Neo finally focused on the Shadow.
He could 'see' countless Intents the Shadow was emitting.
Its desperation, fear, anger.
All of its emotions were clear to Neo.
'This is what Intent can do.'
He tuned out the unnecessary Intent he was absorbing from the Shadow and focused on the Intent that contained the Shadow's thoughts about Neo.
Instantly, he saw countless lines originating from the Shadow and landing on different parts of his body.
'These are the attack paths the Shadow is thinking of using to attack .'
Intent allowed Neo to read the Shadow's thoughts.
He dodged the Shadow's attack and murmured,
So this is [Flow of Battle].
Neo realized one thing.
Flow of Battle was a small part of what Intent could do.
According to Kane, Flow of Battle allowed one to predict their opponent's attacks.
But Neo could also see his opponent's thoughts and emotions.
Unlike others who gained enlightennt due to their talent and didn't understand how their abilities worked, Neo's enlightennt ca from his experience.
He understood everything about the Flow of Battle technique because he had learned it from the scratch.
After talking a bit with the Shadow, Neo decided to end things.
Divine Swordsmanship, Eight Form—
Suddenly, Neo stopped.
He lowered his sword.
Never mind. It's a waste to make you the first person who would experience Kane's eighth technique, Neo said. I want it to be soone who deserves this technique, not low-level monsters I can defeat easily.
His words gave the Shadow a pause.
The monster's face contorted.
How dare you…. How dare you call a low-level monster!
The Shadow pounced on Neo, but he dodged the monster easily.
The ease with which Neo dodged the attacks made it seem as if he was predicting the Shadow's attack.
I am you! A Shadow knows the original better than themselves! If you can use that technique, then I can too!
The Shadow dug into its mories.
Due to having a high synchronization with Neo, it had a lot of Neo's experiences and mories.
'I can gain enlightennt if I use his mories and experiences!' the Shadow thought.
I wouldn't recomnd looking into my mories.
Hahaha, you are trying to stop from gaining enlightennt. Don't try to hide the good stuff, Neo—
The Shadow stopped speaking, and it froze.
Silence.
A few seconds later, the Shadow started to laugh.
Then it cried.
whataretheSEmorieswhyAREtheresoMANYmroiesIcannotbearSOmuch
The Shadow hit its head on the floor repeatedly, laughing, crying, and shouting.
It threw the sword away and started to claw at its throat.
That's why I told you to not peek into my mories, Neo said.
Your synchronization with isn't 100%. That ans your Willpower isn't as strong as mine.
There is no way you can stay sane after seeing all of my mories with weak Willpower.
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