“I am clueless about everything you just said.”
Neo shook his head.
“I’m living my life normally.”
“You aren’t changing the future purposefully?”
“I don’t know the future. How can I change it?”
“That’s even weirder.”
The Sphinx continued.
“Neo Hargraves, you don’t exist in the Akashic Record. Not in the past, not in the present, not in the future.
“You are absent in the pre-determined timeline recorded in the Akashic Record.
“But you exist here in reality. Your presence itself is causing the changes.”
“…?”
“Forget it, doesn’t look like you know what is happening either.”
“Are you… going to kill me because I’m changing the future?”
“Mhm?”
“Listening to your words, its clear Akashic Record can predict the future.
“Are you planning to eliminate me since I’m a variable to the predictions?”
Neo knew the answer.
He asked to question to make sure he looked innocent.
“No? I don’t care about the future.
“Our Akashic Record isn’t made to predict the future. That’s just a side-effect.”
The Sphinx realized it had spoken more than it should have.
It decided to change the topic.
“What is your question, Inheritor of Death?”
“I want to learn about emotions.”
“That’s too broad of a topic, no? Tell me why you want to know about emotions, so I can phrase the answer to match your needs.”
“It’s to increase my mastery over Darkness.”
“Ah.”
The Sphinx nodded.
“Sacrifices to the Darkness and understanding what you need to sacrifice. Did the Angels of Death tell you learn about them?”
“Yes.”
“I can answer your question. You are not the first person who wants to know this but…”
“But?”
“Answer me, Inheritor of Death.
“Do you really think the Darkness asks for sacrifices in return for the powers it bestow?”
Neo did not understand why Sphinx asked the question.
He thought about it carefully.
It was Darkness’ nature to devour.
It demanded sacrifices.
That was what he learned from his experience with Darkness and Paimon told him the same.
“Yes, it does. I think so at least.”
“I see.”
The Sphinx nodded.
“You are following the teachings of your teacher.”
Before Neo could ask why it questioned him, it snapped its finger.
“I’ll show you four visions and ask a question at the end of each vision.
“By the end, you will learn what emotions are.”
“…Is this a test?”
“Yes and no. It is a test, but it’s very easy.
“No can fail it and it will give you the answers you need.”
Neo frowned.
“Can’t you answer my question normally?”
“I can give a vocal answer, if you want, instead of teaching you about the emotions through the visions.
“Of course, the visions will teach you a lot more.
“The choice is yours.”
Suddenly, a window appeared before Neo.
[Quest: Answer all four questions of Sphinx. (0/4)]
[Reward: Immortal Exp +100]
[Accept/Refuse]
The quest made Neo wary.
The Exp reward was twice what he usually received.
‘This confirms the visions are not going to be simple.’
‘This damned Sphinx wants to play with me.’
In the end, Neo accepted the quest.
One hundred exp was enough for him to reach Grade 3 Awakened.
The Sphinx was anything but a liar.
If it said the visions were impossible to fail, then the Quest was a free reward for Neo.
“I’ll see the visions.”
“Good choice.”
…
Neo woke up with a groan.
He was sleeping on a tattered mat spread on the ground.
Sunlight peeked through the broken walls of the hut.
“It’s morning already?”
Neo stretched his limbs.
He noticed he was extremely thin, probably due to malnutrition, and wore torn clothes.
The large piece of cloth draped over the entrance was lifted and a man in his 40s entered.
“Silas, how long will you sleep. Get to work already.”
“Yawn, l know, uncle. I was just tired due to yesterday’s festival.”
Neo — Silas yawned.
He left the hut with his fishing rod and returned in the evening.
It was an average day.
He caught a few dozen fishes in the sea, played with his friends, and went around doing nothing.
If Silas had to say what was memorable about the day, it would be the cube.
Usually, the net would capture some junk along with the fishes.
But today he caught a cube.
A small, fist-sized, silver cube with smooth sides.
The cube, rock, or whatever it was, was special to a child like him.
He bragged about it to his friends.
His daily routine did not change much for years.
Eat, sleep, go fishing, and play around.
Silas liked his routine.
He resisted the upcoming change to his routine.
“What!? Why am I getting married!? I’m just nineteen!”
Silas shouted at his uncle who came to meet him today.
“Silas, listen to me—”
“No, dammit! I said no! I don’t care if you are the village head or whatnot!
“Throw me out of the village or exile me. I’m not getting married to someone I’ve never met before!”
Silas’s uncle massaged his brows.
It was a political marriage between two villages to strengthen their ties.
The marriage was important for their poor village.
Silas left the hut in anger.
Just when he stepped outside, he saw some unfamiliar people.
They were from outside the village since Silas did not recognize them.
He was about to ignore them and leave when suddenly his eyes wandered to girl at the back of the group.
She was breathtakingly beautiful.
Silas had never seen someone so pretty.
He could not move.
His eyes refused to look at something other than her.
“Silas! Listen to me!”
Silas’ uncle came out of the hut.
He noticed the group of people who came for the negotiations for marriage.
‘Shit, did they hear Silas shouting about the marriage?’ he thought.
Before he could give an excuse, he noticed Silas staring at the girl in stupor.
“Hey, what happened to you?” he whispered.
“That girl. Who is she?” Silas asked.
“She’s the one you are going to marry. I know you don’t want this, but please, think about the village —”
“Okay.”
“What?”
“I’ll do the marriage.”
“Huh, why so suddenly?”
“She’s beautiful — I mean, it’s for the village. For the village.”
Silas stepped forward to introduce himself to the group of people.