Chapter 26: Core Abilities

“Sis Liz, the bandages are ready…” Zinia entered, pulling back the curtain.Neo’s back blocked much of the view, making it seem as though the two close together were kissing from her perspective.
“Oh,” Liz replied calmly, then adjustedNeo’s collar with a gentle smile. “It’s time to change the bandages for the wounded.”
Neo stretched his arms. “I can help with some tasks.”
As they exchanged words, they naturally parted ways—Neo headed to the sickbed, while Liz and Zinia went to the adjacent tent to prepare medicines.
Neo had good hearing. As soon as the two women left, he heard Zinia eagerly saying, “Sis Liz, evenNeo is one of your suitors! You both…”
“You silly girl, don’t talk nonsense!” Liz interrupted, her voice tinged with embarrassment, but clearly not genuine anger…
Neo raised his eyebrows but quickly dismissed those thoughts. Just as women enjoy compliments on their beauty, no man truly minds such harmless mistakes—after all, the quantity and quality of females are often seen as indicators of a male’s strength. Reason taughtNeo to treat such tempting moments like tasting wine—just a brief sip.
Neo roughly estimated that, with his current mental energy and using the same magic levels as when healing Jeff and Ebutter, he could use Life Wave about 4–5 times a day and Life Touch around 13 times, with a consumption ratio of nearly 1:3.
It had to be said, this calculation was quite idealistic, and it only considered mental energy consumption.
Targeting the severely wounded,Neo used Life Touch on the six unconscious patients. After treatment, their expressions visibly relaxed, and their breathing became stronger and more steady.Neo decided to check on their recovery periodically to see if Life Touch had the lasting effects he expected.
ThoughNeo’s spells weren’t instant, they were much faster than chanting incantations. By the time Liz and Zinia returned, the spells had already ended a while ago.
“Sis Liz, it’s really lucky to have you and Zinia taking care of them. It seems they’ve passed the critical stage.”
Liz thoughtNeo was just being polite. Only when changing the bandages did she notice that all six patients looked much better, with their wounds healing well. More importantly, there was a sense of inner vitality that was truly reassuring. As someone with considerable medical experience, Liz knew exactly what this meant.
Zinia, holding a wooden tray, said puzzledly, “I remember it wasn’t like this before. It seems they recovered all at once!”
Liz took a roll of bandages from the tray and wrapped it around one of the patients whose bandages had been changed. “Mm, it is different now.”
Zinia glanced atNeo, who was helping support the patient. “Neio, could it be that you used some healing spell just now to help them through?”
Neio replied seriously, “I didn’t expect that besides being a level 4 warrior, I’m also a priest above level 5. Group healing spells—how amazing!”

Zinia playfully stuck out her tongue, while Liz smiled gently and rolled her eyes at Neo with a flirtatious air. “Always hanging around with Jeff, Ebut, and the others—learning to be smooth-talking too!”
Neo grinned mischievously.
A tender look flashed in Liz’s eyes. “By the way, are you already a Level 4 warrior?”
“Mm. Since the Calamity started, battles have been frequent. I’ve been through life and death several times and luckily survived. My strength has improved rapidly. By all metrics, I’m almost at Level 4. To stabilize, I still need to work harder on the details, and I have to improve in a few specific areas.” Neo was telling the truth.
“Wow! Neo, you’re so amazing! Getting stronger after every setback!” Stars sparkled in Zinia’s eyes.
“Everyone is great. The Calamity has made us stronger.” …
After helping Liz change the bandages on the wounded, Neo chatted with them for a while before leaving.
Liz and Zinia quietly cleaned up. The scent of medicine, along with the faint blood smell from the freshly changed bandages, mixed with the warm scent of pine, lingering in the air.
About 5 minutes later.
“Should we continue injecting them with the sedative?” Zinia’s voice sounded colder, her expression even more indifferent.
“Do you know to ask me now? Do you realize how dangerous your self-righteousness was just now? How many times have I told you not to act so carefree? You’re not playing the role of a courtesan—you’re a girl who’s just been through much suffering. Before this, you never had any physical relationship with any man!” Liz was no longer the gentle and graceful widow. Her serious demeanor now bore many similarities to Valentina’s during battles.
Neo began to doubt, and Zinia could sense it too, especially when Neo said, “The Calamity has made us stronger.” Clearly, due to their past relationship, Neo interpreted his doubts as self-understanding. But being scolded like that by Liz made Zinia feel resentful. She muttered, “You can just flirt with him…”
Bang!
“Ugh… Hah… Hah…” Zinia suddenly collapsed to the ground. Severe pain made her body arch like a cooked shrimp. Her face turned pale, and she let out suppressed groans, finding it extremely difficult to breathe.
The attack ended as a human-shaped glow rapidly transformed in midair, turning into a beam of smoke before disappearing back into Liz’s body.
“Think carefully about how to be a proper subordinate. Next time, even if you’re favored by ‘Silver,’ I’ll still kill you.” …
Neo didn’t see Liz’s icy and fierce side. He still had the impression of her as a beautiful, strong young widow with a maternal aura. Even now, though he had grown accustomed to using his multitasking ability to the point of occasional self-satisfaction, none of his concurrent thoughts were about Liz.
Multitasking—Neo now classified it as a constant-type spell-like skill, similar to the “Wolf Bloodline.” Using it drained mental energy immensely.

Recalling how and when he acquired this skill, Neo felt it should be considered a reward from his adventures in Solth City. However, it was only after fighting against Dark Claw’s forces led by Dathi in the South Fragrant Leaf Forest that his potential was unlocked, and with the help of a mysterious healer’s advanced healing techniques, did he finally master it. It has since become the skill he uses most frequently and for the longest periods of time.

Previously, he had used meditation combined with prolonged focus on studying, fighting, and working to reduce or even prevent headaches. Over time, meditation and mental exertion became instinctive habits, as natural as breathing. After acquiring the skill of multitasking, he experimented by combining light meditation with multiple lines of thought, which not only prevented headaches but also greatly improved his efficiency in studying, fighting, and working.

Under normal circumstances, Neo maintains five lines of thought operating simultaneously.

The first line of thought is always in a state of light meditation. Deep meditation requires absolute mental focus, but light meditation does not have such strict requirements. It is a state of mental relaxation and tranquility, during which Neo can slowly and continuously examine his consciousness and body. In this state, Neo acts as both a recorder and a rational observer, documenting what happens to his consciousness and body under various thoughts and conditions, always approaching everything that occurs—internal or external—with a calm and peaceful mindset. Neo calls this line of thought the “Observational Recorder.”

The second line of thought is the eternal memory cycle. Knowledge has accumulated to such an extent that it is impossible for a person to master even one-hundredth of it in a lifetime, and this is only the knowledge contained in humanity’s most advanced civilization to date. Neo’s confidence stems mainly from his mastery of this knowledge, rather than his combat rank.

The Lord Manmoris family placed great emphasis on cultural education for their descendants, with a vast collection of books in their study, especially in history, military affairs, geography, society, and various reference books. For Neo, who had always aspired to reach the pinnacle of power, this was exactly what he needed.

Driven by both passion and pressure, Neo, whose intelligence was only average in the human world, managed to store half of the books in the study in his mind within four or five years. Before migrating, he carefully packed away and stored all the books he could gather, largely because he was not satisfied with what he already had and hoped to continue studying them someday.

In the past, whenever he had free time, Neo would retrieve from his memory a book he had memorized by rote and study it carefully. This learning process was somewhat like feeding cattle grass—self-sufficient but inefficient. Before truly mastering the material, Neo had to spend a lot of time ensuring that what he had memorized didn’t blur or fade, before he could even consider self-studying a particular work or subject.

Since acquiring the skill of multitasking, and after ensuring that his actions were under self-supervision, Neo’s first priority became acquiring knowledge, and the process began with memorizing books.

The deity left behind many words of wisdom, one of which reads: “Scouring widely is not as good as studying thoroughly and reflecting deeply.” Nio used to rely on broad scanning, but now he can finally study intensively, over and over again—often resolving many critical issues in this process. Nio calls this mode of thinking the “Preparer for Learning.”

The third mode of thinking is responsible for actual learning, acquiring knowledge from books. This mode bears the heaviest burden and consumes the most mental energy. Nio calls it the “Knowledge Acquirer.”

The fourth mode is also a form of study, but focused on practical matters, such as reflecting on the outcomes of events, summarizing lessons, and accumulating experience. Its workload has become increasingly heavy, as in addition to combat skills, shamanic skills have been added. There are plenty of issues to address. Nio calls it the “Practitioner of Techniques.”

The last mode is in a free state, handling daily affairs. When idle, it assists the third and fourth modes with certain tasks; when busy, it directly affects their efficiency. In battle, if needed, it draws from the first, second, third, and fourth modes to activate the sixth mode, helping process battle information for use by the fifth mode. Nio calls it the “Task Handler.” The sixth mode is called the “Emergency Assistant.”

The Observer Recorder, Preparer for Learning, Knowledge Acquirer, Practitioner of Techniques, Task Handler, and Emergency Assistant—these six entities. Nio intended to systematize, organize, and refine them. Though lacking personalities, they function like six people working on their respective tasks simultaneously. Even Nio could sense the rapid progress being made.

On his way to Xavier’s tent, Nio’s thoughts were still centered on the two techniques: Life Wave and Life Touch. His question was how to obtain this power, aside from relying on mental energy.

The path of shamans differs from both the divine magic system and the spellcasting system. In divine magic, power is obtained through exchange—the caster offers faith as a form of sacrifice in exchange for divine power. In spellcasting, power comes from control, with the caster using their own mental energy as a medium to wield magical forces.

Shamanism, on the other hand, is highly flexible. Its flexibility lies in the fact that it obtains power by negotiating with various spirits. Gods are not dishonest; faith is exchanged for divine power—quality matches price. Mages, on the other hand, gain effective control methods by analyzing various laws, methods that have been refined over time, resulting in a 100% success rate under normal circumstances. Negotiating with spirits is different, as spirits have their own wills and are free to refuse. Thus, those in the divine magic and spellcasting systems look down on shamans and druids as “liberal” practitioners of primitive magic.

Nio regarded “freedom” as a goal and desire, and accordingly, he had to pay a price—for example, solving the energy problem associated with casting techniques.

Through his analysis, Nio discovered that Life Wave and Life Touch, thanks to the harmonization provided by the relics, had their effects divided into three characteristics: healing energy, life awakening, and purification. The source of power for these techniques consisted of two parts: mystical energy and life energy.

The mysterious energy is something Neo cannot resolve at the moment. He did remember the words spoken by the Perfect Woman: “Desire will guide you.” This reminded him of the situation when he chose his spoils at noon—that crystal, which caused him to faint. According to Ebut, it was with Valentina, who left a message saying she wanted to talk to him. Neo guessed that the mysterious energy might come from there.

In truth, this idea was somewhat flawed. The so-called mysterious energy was actually a composite healing energy generated by the combination of growth-point crystals and wisdom crystals, creating an artificial intelligence that controlled multi-functional energy chambers. As for the item guided by desire, as mentioned by the Perfect Woman, it was the energy needed for the AI to improve itself.

Since it couldn’t be created on its own, Neo felt as if he was running out of resources. The mysterious energy was something he understood nothing about, and there was no way to deal with it for now. What about life energy?

The concept of life energy immediately made Neo think of the skill “Life Absorption.” And at the thought of it, his mind became more active.

His previous fear of this skill stemmed from his inability to effectively process the absorbed energy. When using “Life Absorption,” although he could draw life energy, other mixed forces were also drawn in. Unable to handle them effectively, these mixed forces accumulated in his body, affecting its normal functioning.

But now that he had mastered the basic healing spells related to life, could their purifying effects eliminate those mixed forces? Neo thought this approach was worth trying. If successful, he would at least have another way to quickly obtain healing energy. Imagine, in the heat of battle, killing an enemy and then healing a comrade—what a significant achievement!

Of course, a more reliable method was to follow the proper path. By studying the Shamanic Chapters of Sengorassa, Neo learned two ways to obtain life energy.

The first was called “Borrowing Power from All Living Things,” which involved drawing life force from countless creatures in nature. It was an advanced technique far beyond his current capabilities, and it also carried karmic consequences. Simply put, one had to take responsibility for the outcomes of such extraction.

The other method was called “Equal Exchange of Energy,” which meant obtaining life force from a specific spirit while fulfilling its needs. It was a reciprocal contractual transaction. Most shamans obtained their magical power this way, depending on whether they paid a deposit, made a cash transaction, or allowed credit—depending on the shaman’s skill.

“It seems my top priority now is the plant totems. Their life force is the most abundant and easiest to absorb…” Neo mused. With the journey east ahead, battles were likely inevitable. He must ensure he could use the important spells “Wave of Life” and “Touch of Life” at any time.