Chapter 58: An Invitation

"Did I interrupt anything?"

Kotil asked as he sat down with them.

"No. No. No."

Mia was quick to answer.

This was their benefactor, after all.

There was no need for her to make the man feel uncomfortable.

"I am glad of that then."

Kotil said to her.

Then he turned to Neo.

"I thank you for saving my life. I don’t think I would have survived being surrounded by two powerful strange creatures, if not for you."

Neo smiled at that.

At least, the man was grateful enough to say it out loud.

"It was nothing. I gathered that you saved my friends too."

Derek coughed.

He couldn’t hold back.

Friends?

He almost laughed hard at that.

Neo looked at him, but didn’t say anything.

The others at the table weren’t too pleased with Derek too.

There was no way Kotil couldn’t feel the tension among them.

He knew he had really came at a bad time.

But since he had been invited to sit, and everyone still remained civil.

He decided to go ahead with the business he came to discuss with Neo.

"I was only answering a help request. It was only pure coincidence that I happened to save them."

Neo didn’t know the man could be this humble.

It blew his mind.

"Indeed, it was all coincidence."

Neo wondered how everything could have lined up so perfectly.

But maybe, coincidence was just the right word to explain it all.

"It could also have been fated to happen."

Kotil said, as he cleared his throat.

Neo raised a brow.

He wondered what the man was onto now, but he let him speak his mind.

"That time we entered into the special domain, I never thought I would meet you again in the final round of the legacy."

What now?

Neo thought, was the man going to begin spouting how all this was some fated nonsense.

The impatience in Neo’s gaze must have been very strong.

Kotil seemed to have picked up on it.

His pace increased, and he stopped being wishy-washy.

At least he tried.

"At that time, I had been surprised by your use of that special technique to calm those people in the tunnel."

He shook his head. Wistful.

"But now, after you saved my life, I know why you are a combat genius. Your knowledge of techniques and their application surpass mine by miles. I don’t even dare compare."

Kotil was laying the flattery thick.

Neo stared at him.

The man did know how to flatter.

But hopefully, he got to the main point soon.

"You even reached the very top of the combat legacy, while having a lower cultivation than everyone else."

This seemed to be something that had weighed on his mind, since like forever.

"In so little time, you have surpassed everyone that participated in that legacy by so much."

The man was really full of nonsense this night.

Neo no longer saw the steady cultivator he had once seen, when the man had led the bloodline bearers into the special domain.

Maybe this was the effect of seeing something beyond his comprehension.

It had shaken the man.

"How has it been cultivating after breaking the limit? My aim is the second limit, but it has been hard."

He sighed.

"Even exchanging insights with others, has not been yielding much. I mostly have to rely on myself, and my meager understanding."

Neo was still waiting for the main point, but the man couldn’t seem to stop dragging his feet.

He couldn’t be expecting any cultivation insights from him, could he?

"I don’t know what it is like. I just broke the limit."

Kotil stared at him, eyes wide.

He had been shocked silly.

He was not the only one.

Even the team, who might only have some superficial knowledge of what it meant to break the limit, were shocked.

Their eyes drifted between the two people.

One seemed to have broken the limit for a while now, and the other seemed to be new to the whole thing.

Yet, the newbie had effortlessly handled a situation that had almost ended the old timer.

"How is that even possible."

Lancelot who had been quiet, observing everything in his usual calm manner, couldn’t hold still.

He blurted the question on everyone’s mind.

It couldn’t be helped.

He didn’t think Neo was lying.

There was no point, and he knew Neo well enough to confidently say he wasn’t.

At that moment, Mia had a rethink of her whole life.

Why were they so different from each other?

The two of them both came from the same Immortal World, but their life trajectories couldn’t have been more different.

What was going on here?

Neo felt the thick surprise that held everyone spellbound.

The others might not be able to understand the impact of what he just said, but not Kotil. And maybe to some extent Mia.

But Kotil understood it.

He understood it thoroughly.

He had broken the limit, after all.

He could tell how complicated it was, what Neo had done.

He had killed those strange creatures with just a single move.

This wasn’t as simple as just using an overwhelming technique.

Two of those strange creatures had also broken the limit, after all.

He had thought Neo was some powerful cultivator at a higher limit break.

But to hear that he had only just broken the first limit.

He was so shocked, he could do nothing else, but sit with his eyes wide open.

He deflated in his seat.

He seemed to have accepted the fact that some were just better than others.

With a monster like this, even if he had reached the finals of that legacy, he had no chance of winning.

Combining multiple techniques at just the first limit break.

He forced his mind off it.

It was best he focused on what he actually came for.

Inviting Neo for an exploration.

"I came here, because I wanted to invite you for an exploration into a special domain."

Now, this was something Neo could appreciate.

The man had finally caught his interest.

He paid attention to the man’s next words.

Kotil continued.

"There would be a lot of us from different powers. Most of us bloodline bearers. If you are interested, I will take you to our gathering point."

He looked at the team members that were with Neo.

"The minimum cultivation required to explore that place is the 8th level."

Neo understood what he was hinting at.

It was the same with the team too.

They understood.

With their current cultivation level, they weren’t qualified.

It didn’t matter though, they had been growing steadily over the years.

They had encountered their own opportunities too.

This changed world brought with it a lot of dangers, but it also came with equally wonderful opportunities.

Sofia became quiet.

Not so soon again, she thought.

She was about to speak up, when Neo spoke first.

"Are you guys still in Decan? Where are we even now in the first place."

He recieved no answer.

He looked at everyone in the team, their faces were cast with gloom.

"Decan has been destroyed."

Lancelot answered at last.

He was calm, but it was one of acceptance of a fact that could not be changed.

"Destroyed? How? What do you mean destroyed?"

Neo couldn’t fathom what he meant.

"A portal opened directly inside Decan. Strange creatures rushed out of it in droves. They caught everyone off guard."

It felt like he was reliving the grievous scene.

"Despite us having so many adventurers. They overwhelmed us."

He shook his head.

"If it wasn’t for the Adventurer Guild, a lot more people would have died."

Neo began to understand how dangerous the world he had returned to had become.

"Neo," Sofia called softly.

"Please be careful out there. There are horrors worse than demons walking our world now."

Her eyes held deep worry within them.

And something more.

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This Chapter is dedicated to all my loyal readers on NovelPhoenix, for being by my side throughout this journey.

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Love you all.

Please read the author’s notes.