NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23: River(s) of Time
The world is composed of two Rank 10 complete laws, known as the Fundamental Law of Time and the Fundamental Law of Space.
They initially lacked will, and the Fundamental Law of Space remains mostly willless today.
However, the Fundamental Law of Time evolved.
Complete laws are distinct from fragment laws.
Fragment laws require an operator, while complete laws can function independently.
The Fundamental Law of Space didn't change much over millions of years; it simply performed its functions as always.
However, the Fundamental Law of Time gradually attained will and began to take action purposefully.
It established rules for everyone in heaven, hell, and the mage world.
Longevity is one of the rules set by the Fundamental Law of Time.
Longevity is not a law of the world; rather, it is a rule that exists because the Fundamental Law of Time has become a deliberate entity.
Its power is at Rank 10, so no one has managed to resist it, regardless of their strength.
There have been many theories about why the Fundamental Law of Time acted this way, one of which suggests it aimed to prevent anyone from reaching Rank 10.
However, the most significant change occurred one million years ago.
When the mages attacked heaven, the Fundamental Law of Time, for some inexplicable reason, disconnected the time in heaven from the time in hell and the mage world.
Time in heaven came to a complete halt, while time in hell and the mage world flowed as usual.
As a result, every mage who rushed to attain Rank 10 apple found themselves trapped in a zone where time had stopped!
Mages can superficially use the Law of Time through spells, but those are all inferior methods that indirectly harness some of its might.
With time itself taking action, all of those time spells became useless.
The fundamental law of time began disallowing any mage from wielding any of its power. Perhaps it was punishing mages for attempting to reach Rank 10.
However, these moves directly conflicted with the role of the Fundamental Law of Time.
Its real Duty was to keep the world moving.
Acting as a rule-maker was not its Duty. With these actions, it effectively abandoned its Duty to follow its desires.
It led to great conflicts within itself, almost causing it to lose its integrity as one complete Law of Time.
But it managed to barely hold itself together.
Today, however, a shadow appeared within the body of the Fundamental Law of Time!
This shadow was entirely illusory.
The fundamental law of time tried to throw it out from its body, but nothing worked.
The body of time resembled a river with many contradictory currents. It barely managed to flow in one direction.
But that shadow slightly altered and affected some areas, making them unstable.
The instability worsened and spread until one complete Law of Time split into two!
One of them wanted to fulfill its original Duty of keeping the world flowing, while the other desired to establish rules for the world.
They changed their names, with one being called 'Original Duty,' while the other referred to itself as 'Protector.'
Original Duty immediately began taking action, making heaven's time flow again.
On the other hand, Protector, now completely unrestrained, began reducing everyone's longevity, intending to kill all living beings!
"How fascinating! What are these two rivers? Are they related to time?" Rachel was filled with curiosity.
She was, of course, the shadow that caused all this!
"Why are there two rivers? Isn't time always described as one river? This is so strange," she pondered.
"What is this skill? I don't appear to be able to affect anything!" she exclaimed.
She gazed at the two rivers and was amazed.
In their reflection, she seemed to see the mage world, precisely the cave where Daniel was in.
One showed Daniel dying of old age, while the other showed him continuing to meditate for a long time.
"Which one is the real river of time?" she thought.
There are two fundamental laws of time but only one fundamental law of space.
Which river of time is the real one?
The answer is whichever one the fundamental law of space chooses.
The fundamental law of space has a weak will, and that will is committed to performing its original Duty.
So, it chose Original Duty and abandoned Protector completely!
From today onward, all limits on longevity have been eliminated, time magic is usable again, and the flow of time in heaven has returned to its original speed!
Rachel watched as one of the rivers became illusory, with the other becoming more solid and real.
But Protector wasn't satisfied with this result, so it attacked the original Duty and stole something.
Original Duty roared and created a protective shield.
Rachel watched speechlessly as the two rivers fought.
"This world is weird," she thought and then deactivated the 'dive in time' skill.
Daniel was sitting and meditating, but he suddenly opened his eyes. "Did you feel it?" he asked Rachel.
"Feel what?" she said.
"Feel... like something changed!" Daniel said in confusion.
"Don't be distracted. Let's continue to rank 4!" she said.
Daniel replied, "I have a weird feeling, like there is no need to hurry, like I can live forever!"
Mages are more sensitive to changes.
Rachel's eyes widened and activated 'dive in time' again.
She looked at the river that looked real and saw Daniel.
But then she started experimenting again.
She focused, and the picture changed slightly.
"I can look at the future? So this is the real ability of this skill!"
She concentrated and looked into a future where Daniel remained in that cave, and nothing external killed him.
She frowned.
After one million years, there was a lot of dust in the cave, but Daniel was still young and alive.
"Is this skill wrong? Why isn't he dying of old age? Could it be that he really can live forever?" she thought.
She fast-forwarded billions of years, but he didn't die.
"If this skill truly shows the future, then Daniel can live forever? " she wondered.
"Let's look into a future where he remains in the cave and meditates," she thought.
As she thought, the image changed, showing her a scene that frightened her.
"Is this where Daniel dies? Do I die with him?" She saw herself broken on the ground, with some blood stains and ripped clothes.
The clothes were the ones he is wearing right now!
"Who is that man?" It was a man with a third eye between his eyebrows.
"This is the future that will happen if he continues meditating in that cave! I can change it now that I know! I have to tell him to run away right now!"
She disabled the skill and said, "Daniel, let's return to the city! Move immediately."
Daniel nodded and said, "Yes, let's go back and see what happened."
But as he stepped outside, he saw a man with a third eye!
"No!" Rachel screamed and didn't hesitate anymore.
She activated her absolute trump card, the skill 'hellish box,' and was immediately thrown somewhere in hell!
Daniel looked at the man, frowning in confusion, and asked, "Who are you?"
The man replied, "Call me Dyer."
Then, he snapped his fingers.
Daniel, who was clueless, exploded into a blood mist, dirtying the surroundings.
His soul was captured by Dyer, and through a soul search, everything he knew was discovered.
"So that's why the concentration of luck around here is so high! A magic treasure that can improve?"
The man noticed that hell was where that thing had run to but lost its location.
The man opened his third eye and looked at the rivers of time.
"What a mess!" he sighed, flying toward the invisible light.
The invisible light was his primary residence as the dean of the Seven Lights Academy!
...
The ancient mages had returned, and the world changed in a day.
The Seven Lights Academy now boasted 14 rank nine mages, with the dean being the absolute peak of rank 9.
He was comparable to demon kings and gods.
The rank 7 mage of the Invisible Light still remained motionless, as if the past million years had never happened.
The chiefs of all lights returned, along with other rank 7 and 8 mages.
There was no point in remaining in heaven anymore.
For them, all those million years were like a second, and just as they were about to reach the garden, it disappeared without a trace.
It was as if it never existed!
Gods, who were also stuck in static time, immediately gathered and blocked the mages' path.
There was no more garden, so they lost their reason to fight.
Mages returned empty-handed and went to their respective continents.
The chief of the Blue Light returned and accepted Alistair as his disciple.
Doris had almost lost all of her authority over mage affairs, but for now, she retained her power over mortal affairs.
The Seven Lights Academy returned, and they began contacting other continents regarding the matter with the fundamental law of time.
...
Rachel looked at the demon before her, producing another rank 1 'root mana' pill.
These pills were all saved in her storage. Her storage had only 1,000 slots, most filled with higher-level pills, but she still kept some lower-ranked ones.
The demon took it and ate it with a smile.
"More!" the demon said in the demon language while pointing at the container.
"I don't have more!" she said.
The demon understood what she said despite her speaking in human language.
This was a function of her system – the host could always understand what Rachel said. She had already fed 100 pills to this demon and made him her host.
"Tell me your name. Are you a royal blood demon?" she asked.
The demon looked angry, demanding more pills and seemingly planning to rip open the pill container to get more 'candy.'
"Okay, okay, I'll give you more," she said, using her 'poison pill' skill for the first time.
The demon eagerly took the pill that smelled so enticing and swallowed it ... only to immediately be melted into a disgusting-looking red liquid.
Rachel was surrounded by the sticky liquid and sighed, hoping that a royal demon would appear soon.
These regular demons were unbelievably dense.
She used 'dive in time' to predict the future; it might help her find a royal blood demon.
...
Zagronan was a son of the demon king Tanoth. This doesn't say much, since Demon King Tanoth has millions of children yearly.
Still, Zagronan was far superior to most other demons.
While most demons below rank 4 were complete idiots, he was intelligent even at rank 1.
He possessed an inheritance of knowledge about many spells, pill recipes, and many secrets.
However, he remained weak; even those idiot demons could kill him.
Once demons reach rank 4, they are called demon generals.
While demon generals are enslaved, they are no longer considered cannon fodder.
If they can continue to advance and reach rank 7, they become demon nobility, completely gaining their freedom, albeit remaining subservient to the demon kings.
This is the highest level of freedom attainable for demons, if one doesn't consider demon kings and their descendants.
Royal demons also attain the status of demon generals when they reach rank 4, but they are not enslaved.
This means they are independent demon generals.
Zagronan's first target is to become an independent demon general, gather numerous demons as his subordinates, seize territory, and simultaneously gather the bloodline of the demon King Tanoth.
He smiled as he gazed into the distance.
The red soil area is the best location he knows of for rank 1 royal blood demons.
It is one of the areas where new demons are usually born.
It has many rank 0 and rank 1 demons. He has been traveling for nearly 100 years to get here!
He spotted a rank 0 demon, grabbed it, and cast the 'Blood Drain' and 'Purify' spells on it in succession.
Before the poor demon knew it, all of its blood was drained, purified, and consumed by Zagronan.
"So watery! This one had almost no royal blood!" he complained, angrily kicking the drained body of the poor demon.
It split open, and something shiny was revealed.
Curious, Zagronan took it and examined it.
It opened, and many rank 0 'Root Mana' pills fell out.
Zagronan took one and consumed it. "So delicious!"
He continued eating them, and after a while, he heard a woman's voice in his mind!