Ocean's Embrace

Amelia sat in the corner of the underwater cave.

"Why did you return so late?" Elizabeth got out of the pond and wore clothes with a slow yet hurried pace.

"The money we brought in hurry wasn't enough."

"I have some cash on me. We can use it for now," Neo said.

He checked his wallet only to remember he left his wallet and Academy ID with the scuba diving gear. And he had no idea where his scuba diving gear was right now.

Amelia noticed his actions.

"Are you looking for these?"

She pulled out his Academy ID, smartphone, and wallet from her backpack.

'Did she take those when she was removing my clothes?' Neo thought. 'That's why they weren't surprised when I revealed I was an Academy student. They knew about it already.'

"I was planning to use your money, but I thought I should ask you first. So I returned and found you two being very nice to each other."

Amelia's words were dripping with icy contempt.

"You can use my money," Neo said. "Now, go away."

It was doubtful if Elizabeth would give him the weapon in front of Amelia, since it meant revealing its existence. Thus, Neo wanted to send her elsewhere.

"Yeah?" Amelia let out a cold smile. "I'm not leaving. If you have to do anything, do it in front of me."

She would be an idiot if she left the two of them alone.

'Damn, these two idiots!' she shouted in her mind.

If Neo had been forcing himself on her mother by leveraging his actions in the Mermaid Country, Amelia might've taken action against him.

But, Amelia knew her mother's personality and strength. Instead of being blackmailed, she was the type to blackmail others.

It was painfully clear who approached who.

'What are you doing, Mom!? He is my junior in the Academy!' Amelia shouted in her mind. 'You never showed interest in the opposite gender! You used to reject all marriage proposals regardless of their bloodline or strength!'

'Why now!? Why him?!'

She wanted to pull her hair out. One fact was clear, she could not leave these two alone. A disgusting chill crawled down her spine when she thought about what they would've done if she did not come back.

Of course, there was a chance they weren't going to do anything, and Amelia had misunderstood them, but she wasn't going to take chances.

Prevention was the best remedy to all problems.

Neo did not care about her thoughts. He turned to Elizabeth.

"Can you teach me the Tremor-ranked Spell?"

"Mhm."

He sat cross-legged next to the pond.

Even though he wasn't inside the pond, he should have a faster Divine Energy regeneration rate at this distance.

Elizabeth sat behind him and told him to take off his shirt.

"I'm watching you two," Amelia said from the side.

"…"

Elizabeth placed her palm on Neo's back.

"I'll use my Divine Energy to use the Spell with your body. Don't resist the flow and try to remember the sensation."

She was about to begin when she suddenly stopped. There was one thing she had to confirm before teaching him the Spell.

"Do you have a Water Affinity? You can't use the Spell without it."

"I do."

She puckered her lips.

"You have Death Affinity too. Do you have multiple affinities?"

"Yes."

"That's a surprise. How many affinities can you use?"

Neo didn't answer. He could only use Death affinity at the moment, after all.

He changed the topic to save himself from embarrassment. "I thought only two people could inherit the Ocean's Embrace. Will you lose the Spell if you teach it to me?"

"How do you know the Spell's name...?"

…!

Shit!

"I saw Amelia using the Spell during last year's tournament..."

He sighed inwardly. It was a believable excuse.

Elizabeth felt something was wrong, but she decided to let it go.

"To answer your question: No. The part about only two demigods inheriting the Spell was a lie. I created it to stop the ones approaching me for it."

'So it was a lie.'

Neo didn't know what to feel. It was another fact different from what he knew.

In the novel, Amelia actually believed the lie and told the same to the protagonist.

Looking at Amelia's expression, which was like a fish unable to close its mouth, it was clear Amelia took a bigger hit than him.

Neo smirked.

He found an important secret related to her before her. His smile was like rubbing salt on Amelia's wounds.

She knew he was taking revenge for the dragon prank, but what she wouldn't have done to fire an arrow at his smug face right now.

"I'll start."

Elizabeth pushed her Divine Energy into Neo.

He groaned.

He closed his eyes and focused on the foreign Divine Energy inside his body.

It moved through his magic circuits.

Magic Circuits were pathways inside one's body through which the Divine Energy left one's body.

Neo tried to remember the path of Divine Energy and the activation sequence of magic circuits inside his body.

Hours passed. Elizabeth was not in a hurry to teach him. The higher the rank of a Spell was, the longer it took to learn.

The time could be shortened depending on the mastery of the person who was 'transferring' the knowledge of the Spell.

With Elizabeth, they repeated the training with short breaks, and Neo learned the Tremor-ranked Spell within three days to a usable level.

[Ocean's Embrace]

[Rank: Tremor]

[Mastery: Apprentice]

[Effect: Envelops the target in a powerful layer of enchanted water, nullifying damage and extinguishing elemental attacks with overwhelming force.]

A thin blue layer appeared around Neo's skin.

It increased his resistance against heat, cold, and allowed him to breathe underwater.

His movement speed under the water increased, and with the Spell, he could tank both physical attacks and magical attacks.

The defense would increase depending on his mastery, but even at Apprentice rank, it was quite powerful.

It was an all-rounder spell.

The best part was the Divine Energy expenditure.

Ocean's Embrace consumed a lot less Divine Energy compared to Necrotic Touch.

He could use it for five minutes straight! Five minutes might look short, but it would be enough for battles.

'This is it. I can finally be rest assured about my defense.'

With Ocean's Embrace, he had two Tremor-ranked Spells in his arsenal.

Neo might've been the first person to learn two Tremor-ranked Spells as his first Magic Spells.

It was normal for demigods to start with low-ranked Spells and slowly move towards higher-ranked Spells after they gained sufficient mastery over Divine Energy.

"I've given you the reward for the Divine Water pond," Elizabeth said while panting slightly. The technique she used to teach him was very burdensome. Only an Exalted Demigod like her could pull it off. "As for the reward for saving me…"