Time Twister - 112 Selecting Representations

All he saw was darkness, and suddenly, light shone in the area, the light produced by the flame. It then experienced thousands and hundreds of thousands of years, changing owner to owner, gaining freedom and losing freedom, before a calamitous situation caused it to self-destruct, leaving only wisps of the original flame, which began to land to the hands of different owners and rulers before ultimately, a lucky Sage cultivator got it and traded it for the fruits I consigned for trading.

All of these were great and all though, but it really didn’t help out much on how these were formed. Should I attempt to bring it back from the past, Xander muttered, before sending a message to the trio.

“Hey guys, I plan to extract an Immortal flame from the past. I won’t damage anything if I do that, right?”

WOAH, WHERE ARE YOU, WHY IS THE TIME DIFFERENCE SO LARGE?

…BLACK, HE’S IN HIS PERSONAL LABORATORY. ANYWAYS, DEPENDS ON HOW FAR BACK IN TIME ARE YOU GOING TO DELVE TO EXTRACT THE ITEM.

“It’s 190 million years. That was the instance it was free and complete. I only got a wisp of it right now.”

… ARE YOU JOKING? DO YOU WANT THE RIVER OF TIME TO OVERFLOW FROM THAT DATA CHANGE? YOU’RE NOT COPYING THE DATA, YOU ARE EXTRACTING IT.

“Huh? The description of the spell allows me to make a copy of it in the present time, not extraction.” Immediately, Xander sent them a copy of the description of the skill.

…DUDE. ARE YOU FOR REAL? THAT’S THE SKILL YOU HAVE? DAAMN, THAT’S OVERPOWERED AF.

…YEP, FOR ONCE, I AGREE WITH BLACK. THAT’S JUST TOO OVERPOWERED.

…AS MUCH AS I HATE TO AGREE WITH THE TWO IDIOTS HERE, YOUR SPELL REALLY IS OVERPOWERED. YOU CAN USE IT TO COPY DATA HUH? WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE EXCESS OVERFLOW?

HOW WILL YOU SOLVE THE DATA CONCENTRATION IN THE UNIVERSE BEING OUT OF BALANCE?

“Um, place it in my laboratory? Since it can absorb from the universe’s resources anyway…”

…THIEF! YOU REALLY MADE A NASTY LEECH!

HAHA, U25, IT’S OK, YOU STILL HAVE YOUR DAILY ALLOWANCE OF VOID ENERGY u003c3

THAT’S RIGHT, HAHA! ANYWAYS, THAT SOLVES THAT PROBLEM. JUST MAKE SURE ONCE YOU DO THE TIME EXTRACTION, YOU OPEN THE CHANNEL FOR DATA ABSORPTION IN YOUR LABORATORY SPACE SO IT CAN RAPIDLY TAKE IN THE EXCESS DATA.

“Wait, why didn’t any data overflow occur when I brought back the dead bodies of cultivators Demigod and above, Magic beasts, and plant materials from the past?”

THAT’S BECAUSE ONE, THE POWER AND DATA REMAINING IN THEIR BODY IS VERY LOW. SECOND, YOU DIDN’T RETURN THEM BACK INTO THE UNIVERSE, BUT RATHER IN YOUR ISOLATED LABORATORY. THIRD, TIME IS A FACTOR: YOU DIDN’T GO BEYOND 100 MILLION YEARS.

I NOTICED THE DATA BEING COPIED, AND SINCE I RECOGNIZED IT CAME FROM YOU, ONE OF THE ANNOYING INSERTS, I DIDN’T REALLY CARE MUCH SINCE IT DIDN’T CAUSE A LARGE DATA OVERFLOW.

HOWEVER, IN THE CASE OF THE IMMORTAL FLAME, IT’S DIFFERENT. IT HAS A VERY HIGH AMOUNT OF DATA, AND IT IS BEYOND 100 MILLION YEARS. IF YOU BROUGHT IT BACK TO YOUR LABORATORY, THE DATA OVERFLOW WILL BE CUT BY HALF FROM THE ORIGINAL PREDICTION.

“Ok, so I’ll bring it back while I’m still in the lab, got it!” Xander responded, enlightened by the situation.

…THIS WOULD REDUCE THE CORRUPTION TO A MINIMUM, REDUCING OUR JOBS, HEHE.

…LAZY ASS. WHY DID AMADEUS EVEN PROGRAM YOU LIKE THAT.

” (¬ -̮ ¬) Thanks, seniors for the information! Talk to you all later.” Xander exited the chat and began the process of [Time Extraction].

Once again, a magnificent river made up small granules of light of different shapes, colors, and sizes appeared in front of him, and he began to focus on a particular granule of light, reaching out to grab it. Instead of grabbing the granule, his hand went inside, and it began to vibrate a bit, before another granule of the same color and shape, and size appeared. He placed pulled out that granule from the river’s influence, bringing it from the immaterial into his laboratory space. Once he did, the absorption of data by the laboratory began to activate in full power, gathering the leftovers.

Immediately, the granule of light began to shift and change, turning into a spark, before becoming as large as a star in front of him.

Xander was shocked because he could actually sense incomplete sentience from the flame.

Right now, it was wary and confused with its surroundings, seemingly lost in the situation. It could feel that it was not in the same place as it was before.

Xander, instead of complaining, let out a sigh of relief, before bringing out the wisp of immortal flame.

When the flame detected the small wisp of fire Xander had, it was alert and curious because it detected a depth of familiarity from it, instinctively lowering its guard after a few moments.

Xander, using his powers over Mind and Emotion elements, began to soothe and comfort the flame, the latter reacting to it nicely, to his relief.

This was like having a baby dog, Xander thought. He communicated with the flame if it could reduce its size to as large as a basketball, which it managed to understand, quickly shrinking and compressing, turning into a fire hovering on his right palm where the wisp was.

He began to interact and talk to the flame for the next 6,000 years, teaching it what Xander could teach it. Although it cannot communicate with words now, it could still communicate with its emotions.

Xander, after this was said and done, began to harvest the fruits and elemental crystals, before saying goodbye to the flame. The flame, on the other hand, seeing Xander was about to leave, wanted to stop him.

When it realized that it couldn’t stop Xander, it asked if it can go with him, with Xander replying no because he wasn’t his contractual companion. When the flame heard this, it immediately initiated the bonding process, surprising Xander at how eager the flame was. Both the flame and Xander stated their vows and the flame began to merge to Xander’s body, intrinsically bound to his life essence doll. That was when he knew the name of the flame: Hakobi.

He headed out, releasing Hakobi, who was hovering on his shoulder, curious with the world it was in now. Because of the bonding, the data overflow was more imminent, so he immediately opened all the powerful absorbing power of the laboratory, gathering elemental particles and energy around it to equalize the data being restored. Of course, to avoid devastating the planet, the basement had already been teleported somewhere in deep space, countless light-years away from Eteria.

After ensuring everything was alright, the laboratory was teleported once again back to his villa, and Xander and Hakobi headed to Eden, where he introduced Hakobi to his other contracted companions.

The sprites and Fae were surprised but welcomed Hakobi nonetheless. The latter was a bit apprehensive, but when it recognized the mark Xander had with his contracted companions, he soon began to soften up and began to play with them, especially in Marie’s place, which was a place of pure fire.

Xander began his normal routine of meeting up the sprites and magic beasts living inside Eden, asking for ideas and thoughts and their experiences, will giving them feedback about their questions on certain topics.

This lasted around 10,000 years, longer than before. This was because he decided to talk to every single one of them with the help of 4 additional mirror images.

He needed to gain a sense of understanding towards them, especially since he had changed the announcement of 15 days to 5 days, or 864,000 years from now.

After this routine meeting, he began to bond with his contracted companions. He planned to let them out once they reached Divine-1. By then, at least they would be undefeated by normal means in Eteria. Of course, they still had to be careful against other Divine magicians in Eteria.

He also used this time to finalize the representations of Space and Time that he wanted to use when breaking through.

For the space element, the Dimensionality Category was near perfect. However, he didn’t really like any of the representations under that category. In fact, his spatial view skill, [Divine Eyes], allows him to already interact with these representations and comprehend them in a fundamental way. However, there was no flair to the skill.

That left him with Function, Break, Movement, and Essence. The problem with the last one is that even the system couldn’t enumerate the data for the representations in it. Maybe, a lack of level could be a cause, he didn’t really know.

The main reason for the difficulty of choosing is that he needed to find the best combination of representations from space and time. For example, if he selected Folding representation of Space, what aspect of time should he get? Should it be the Stitching capacity of time? How about replacement? Condensation? Variable flow of time?

Maybe, he could use the Cycle representation of Time, and combining it with the Folding representation, create a domain that repeats its space over and over again once you enter. That meant a continuous loop that one cannot escape from. However, if someone was proficient in dimensional traveling, they can take advantage of the rules set in the domain to leave.

Xander, with the help of the system, began to calculate the different space representations he had a 100% in and combining them with that of the representations of time with 100%.

He came up with the following 5 optimal combinations:

Isolation-Decay combination allows him to isolate the space in the area, decaying anything and anyone’s time and space within the domain. The space isolation would mean other dimensions within the domain will be cut off.

Stitch-Cycle combination allows him to adjoin any cycle or processes related to oneself; e.g. baby, boy, and man cycle, a cycle of suffering, a cycle of peace, a cycle of reincarnation, cycle of destruction, a cycle of one’s life. The previous owner of the cycle’s body will be stitched as well, meaning that if it was a cycle of misfortune on a master magician, for a moment, the body of the targets will have the qualities of the master magician and the cycle of misfortune. Even if the targets leave, it would take quite some time before their real bodies and own cycles returned. For the spatial aspect, he could add things into the space domain, allowing it to have variability; meaning, if he wanted to connect the dream dimension and LEO into the space around him, it can happen.

Scatter-Break combination allows space to scatter, creating a fragmented domain, where both time and space don’t exist. Anyone who enters would experience spatial scattering and their time shattering, wherein parts of their body and life essence dolls and whatnot dissociate with one another and cease to exist in relation to the main body. What is lost cannot be recovered even if one leaves the domain.

Flux-Replication combination allows space and time to move in different situations, even if the situation doesn’t allow it, e.g. frozen space, timeless space, or void areas, as the domain rapidly propagates both space and time elements in the surroundings, creating a stable domain for movement.

Displacement-Subtraction combination allows Xander to displace parts of a whole or the complete space around him to different dimensions, locations, etc., and while being inside the domain, one’s time and body are continuously subtracted, unrecoverable by normal means. This is because one’s time still exists, but is displaced from the life essence doll. If one’s life essence doll is in location A as well as their time, a part of their time is displaced in location B, a location that cannot be accessed or located, unless another space-time magician adds the time back, or gets another time from another being.

All of these possible pairings were quite tempting for Xander because of the usability they each had. However, he calmed down and began to ponder what he would need the most in the stages of Legendary to Demigod class. After all, once he reached Divine class and began to completely comprehend the element of space and time, the other representations of his origin element can easily be used and emulated. The complete mastery of the space-time elements, after all, has its perks.

The first one seems great since it’s offensive and defensive at the same time.

The second one was similar to his Timeline superimposition, so he crossed it out since he already had a spell for that.

The third one was a milder version of [Spatial Disintegration] and [Time Shatter], so he crossed it out for now.

The 4th one would be helpful… if he was out in the void. Right now, this was useless, so that was quickly crossed off.

The 5th one, on the other hand, was quite interesting. He could displace space alongside one’s time. In fact, if he wanted, he could connect it to his own time or someone else’s, increasing their lifespans.

He was left with the first and 5th options. He was quite helpless on what to decide, and even the system was staying mum on this issue.

Should I ask U25, J, and Lucy about this?

I booted up the chat and placed my question to them.

“Seniors, I have another pressing issue at hand.”

HUH? OH, IT’S YOU AGAIN.

HEY BOY, WHAT’S THE PROBLEM? DON’T HESITATE TO ASK DADDY LUCY u003c3

…

…

…

“Um, it’s about the space-time representations I should choose for Legendary class. I’m torn between these two: Isolation-Decay and Displacement-Subtraction.”

OH, THOSE ARE QUITE GOOD, BUT NOT REALLY PERFECT.

U25 IS RIGHT. WHY ARE YOU LIMITING YOUR DOMAIN IN THE UNIVERSE LEVEL ONLY? ARE YOU PLANNING TO STAY IN THE UNIVERSE YOUR ENTIRE LIFE?

YUP, I AGREE AS WELL. A GOOD REPRESENTATION WOULD HAVE BEEN TANGIBILITY-MANIPULATION. YOU WOULD HAVE THE CAPACITY TO MANIPULATE AND CREATE SPATIAL THREADS, EVEN IN THE GREAT VOID, WHILE CONTROLLING THE FLOW OF TIME INSIDE THE DOMAIN.

OH, THAT’S A GOOD ONE WHITE u003c3

…NOT BAD, INDEED.

“…But I already have a God-rank skill for that.” Xander responded, showing them a brief description of the [Origin Universe].

…WOW.

…DAMN IT, TELL US, ARE YOU REALLY NOT RELATED TO AMADEUS?

…HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY IDEA WHO THAT IS, WHITE.

FOR REAL? WHY THEN WOULD HE HAVE A SKILL THAT LITERALLY ALLOWS HIM TO CREATE HIS OWN UNIVERSES? POTENTIALLY BREAKING THE BALANCE OF THE NUMBER OF UNIVERSES THAT CAN EXIST INDEPENDENTLY IN THE GREAT VOID?

…I DON’T KNOW. YOU KNOW AMADEUS NEVER TELLS US THESE THINGS. MAYBE THE DUDE GOT LUCKY?

LEMME CHECK THE RECORDS… OK FOUND IT, HE GOT IT FROM…ANALYZING A PROTOSPHERE? HOW THE HELL DID HE EVEN GET ONE?

WHAT? U25, YOU HAVE PROTOSPHERE-PRODUCING CAPABILITIES?

WELL, ORIGINALLY NO, BUT IT WAS ADDED BY AMADEUS AS A GACHA KIND OF THING IN MY SETTINGS… BASICALLY, THE CHANCE OF THAT HAPPENING IS 1 OUT OF 1E+250 CHANCE.

SO NOT ONLY POWERFUL BUT ALSO LUCKY? BUT THAT’S NOT RIGHT, HIS LIFE ESSENCE DOLL SEEMED BLOCKED FROM INTANGIBLE ELEMENTS’ EFFECTS, THOUGH.

AT THIS POINT, I WON’T BE SURPRISED IF HE HAD A SKILL THAT CAN DESTROY PARTS OF THE UNIVERSE IRREVERSIBLY, HAHA u003c3

…

“Um…I actually do have those…several, actually. (;-_-)/” Xander replied, causing the chat to come to a stop.

…

…

…U25, ARE YOU REALLY SURE HE ISN’T AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD OF ONE OF THE GODS OUTSIDE? MAYBE A REINCARNATION?

…AT THIS POINT, I DON’T EVEN KNOW.

COUGH, COUGH. OK, GOING BACK TO THE KID’S REQUEST, I THINK IT’S BEST TO CHECK FOR DOMAINS THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR HIM AT LEGENDARY TO DEMIGOD CLASS.

THEN THAT WOULD BE THE FIRST SET RIGHT?

YUP. ANOTHER POSSIBLE SET WOULD BE SCATTER-MANIPULATION. THIS WOULD LEAD TO ANYONE AND ANYTHING ENTERING TO DISSOCIATE, BEFORE MANIPULATING EACH AND EVERY PIECE OF SPACE.

THIS WOULD BE A GOOD OFFENSIVE DEFENSIVE DOMAIN, BECAUSE NOT ONLY CAN IT STOP AND INTERRUPT ATTACKS OF ALL KIND SINCE THE CONNECTIONS ARE RUPTURED, IT CAN ALSO INTERRUPT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN EACH PART OF THE DISSOCIATED BEINGS, ALLOWING AN EASIER KILL BY MANIPULATING THEIR TIME TO DECREASE, INCREASE, OR EVEN BE NON-EXISTENT.

OH YEAH, THAT COMBINATION THOUGH WOULD BE SICK u003c3

…BUT IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A SPELL WITH A SIMILAR EFFECT, GO WITH THE FIRST ONE THEN.

HUH, NOT BAD, WHITE. WELL, THERE YOU GO, BOY. WE’VE GIVEN YOU OUR SUGGESTION.

“Er, ok thanks, seniors. I won’t bother you seniors for now. I’ll just select the third one. Thanks for your input.” Xander said, a bit flustered and shy with the words they were saying at him. After all, these trio are considered the strongest beings in this universe, yet even they are shocked about Xander’s power and abilities.

…SURE. SEE YOU. NICE GARDEN, BUT YOU STILL HAVE ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.

+1 TO THAT.

+2. IT LOOKS PLAIN.

“…thank you, seniors. I plan to modify it once I break through to Legendary this weekend. I hope you can help me create an isolated sandbox by then.”

With that, Xander exited the chat and played and bonded a bit more with his contracted companions, before heading out, with Hakobi following suit. It was now a small flame that was just hovering over his shoulder, and normally, its presence was not detectable or observable by the common cultivator.

He then ate his late dinner before heading upstairs, took a nice long bath, and headed to sleep.

________________

The next morning, Xander woke up quite refreshed. He did his daily routine of going to school, interacting with his friends, helping them in their questions, while asking his own questions about life in general, trying to improve his own understanding.

This was what was done for the next 4 days until Friday. He did head over to his parents’ mansion to check up on them once in a while, while also doing some training with his bodyguards. His original group of bodyguards, with the amount of demigod and divine-class food and elixirs he had been feeding them, had already reached Mythic-6 to Mythic-9 from their original Legendary-2 to Legendary-6 cultivations nearly 2 months ago.

His new set of guards under James’ command had the same progress, with none of them lower than Demigod-3 and James and Azaya both reaching Demigod-6. Just in the span of 1 month.

After all, Xander wasn’t stingy towards his own subordinates. The stronger they are, the stronger his fighting force is, the more impact my group would have.

Xander began to slowly easy everyone in Eden to fall into a dreamless, deep sleep, this time, to prepare them for the transfer rather than euthanasia like before.

Friday evening came and his initial preparations were complete. He only needed the help of U25 and the duo to proceed with his breakthrough. He’s not going to lie, he was quite curious how it would be to have his own sandbox reality to practice in.

He sent several messages to his friends and family that he should not be disturbed under no circumstances, as well as instructing his guards to protect the perimeter for the next 48 hours, letting no one in or out.

He then booted up the messaging program and sent,

“U25, Lucy, J, I’m done preparing.”