Neo kept his presence suppressed, which kept him hidden from the man.
The man looked to be in his late 40s.
His shoulders were slumped. He had dark circles beneath his eyes, and his tie was loosened, hanging awkwardly over a wrinkled shirt.
He walked back to his home, with his worn office bag in his hands.
His steps were heavy, dragging behind him.
Neo stopped his skill.
He pulled back the tide of emotions he had been ready to inject into the man.
'If I'm going to do it, might as well do it properly,' he thought.
He extended his hand subtly and activated Mind Invasion to look into the man's mind.
Flashes of a bright childhood surfaced in Neo's mind.
The man had once been a top-performing student. He turned from a genius into an average person as he grew older. No, as he grew up, he realized he wasn't a genius.
The face of hammered further as the man passed the age of 20 without awakening Godblood.
He would never become a demigod.
Awakening past the age of 20 was almost unheard of.
There were exceptions, of course—rare cases where individuals awakened after 20. These outliers were monstrous geniuses.
It was said their Godblood was so powerful that their bodies and souls couldn't handle the strain of their awakening until maturity.
Their dormant powers only awakened after their bodies and souls had reached their peak. That is a few years after the age of 20.
The man had hoped, once, that he might be one of those rare cases.
But deep down, he knew better.
It was normal for someone like him to remain unawakened.
Only one in 10,000 people awakened, and late awakenings were even rarer—a one-in-a-billion occurrence.
He graduated from a local university, earned a certification, and landed a job with an average income and a slightly toxic work environment.
He couldn't change jobs due to his limited skills.
Five years later, he got married.
Four years after that, he had a child.
The memory recollection ended.
The man continued his slow journey home.
He wanted to rest, but he never stopped moving, not because he had purpose but because stopping felt pointless.
He was exhausted, but he didn't complain.
His mind, dulled from years of exploitation, had no intentions of changing the flow of his life.
"An average life, in other words," Neo muttered.
He used Empathic Bond and transferred hope, passion, and optimism.
The man's feet came to a halt.
The bustling noises of the city seemed to quieten for a moment as he blinked, confused, and looked around.
The dullness in his eyes vanished, replaced by a faint sparkle.
He felt as if he had just woken from a long, dreamless sleep.
Neo observed him silently, suppressing his presence so thoroughly that the man remained unaware of his watcher.
"Yawn, when did I reach here?" the man muttered to himself.
He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced in the direction of his home.
The tired lines on his face eased slightly.
But instead of continuing his walk home, he returned to the main road.
His gaze lingered on a row of small food stalls.
"I remember Olivia and Ava saying they wanted to eat out today. I completely forgot about it."
He looked at his watch.
"The shops will be closed by the time I go home and return with them.
"I guess I'll take something good home today," he murmured with a faint smile, his voice tinged with affection.
The man reached into his pocket and pulled out his device.
His tired expression softened further.
He quickly typed a message to his wife, Olivia:
A reply came almost instantly:
The reply must've been sent by his daughter Ava,
"Well, takeout it is today."
Although tired, he headed toward the food stalls with a smile.
Neo remained motionless.
He watched the man's figure grow smaller as he disappeared into the lively crowd.
Neo stopped speaking and shook his head.
He focused on inwards in an attempt to distract himself.
His body was evolving even at this moment.
The rank-up from Grade 3 to Grade 1 in Emphatic Bond had triggered two breakthroughs.
Every cell in his body was being torn apart repeatedly. His mastery over his Life element allowed him to heal himself almost instantly.
At the same time, he absorbed the excess energy from the breakthrough with his Darkness element.
Thanks to his masterful control, Neo could go through the breakthrough right in the middle of the road without losing focus on his surroundings—or his task.
[Emphatic Bond, Grade 1]
﹂Progress: 98% → 98.01%
"I guess I need to use the skill on someone else for a better increase."
Neo muttered to himself.
He had never used the skill much, which was why he was unaware of such a basic rule until now.
"The man was an unawakened, so it was easy to influence his emotions.
"By that logic, I would find it difficult to influence the emotions of high-ranked demigods.
"They should give me good progress if I use the skill on them," he muttered.
The powerful demigods he could target for his skills were….
"Veldora can be a candidate," Neo thought, "but he returned to the Underworld quite a while back.
"Should I go meet him?"
As Neo drowned in his thoughts, a screen sprang before him.
[Use your skill on Elizabeth. With her strength, just one successful activation of your skill will help it reach its peak.]
"I'm not using my skill on—"
[She is having nightmares every day. You can help her with your skill, and it's beneficial to your progress too.]
[You are the reason why she is injured, Neo Hargraves. You used her, and now you don't want to take responsibility?]
The Sphinx's replies came fast, cutting Neo off mid-sentence.