Thief of Time

Wind whispered on and on as the two of them stepped through the boundary that separated the modern world from the ancient battlefield, and Claud shivered. A hint of sorrow filled his chest a moment later, and Claud felt his eyes water up with warm tears.

“This is…” Claud wiped his eyes. “I’m crying. I haven’t cried for a long time.”

Lily dabbed at her eyes too. “It’s probably one of the remnant effects of this place, I think. The world’s sorrow at the end of a god that ruled for sixty thousand years.”

She sniffed thrice, and then hugged Claud. “I’m going to bawl soon if you don’t do something!”

“Me too, though!” Claud sniffed twice, and then drove his mana. “This works, somewhat…but I still want to cry.”

The two of them sniffed for a while at the edge of the ancient battlefield, which was more than enough for three worried meeplings to dance around them. Thankfully, the border was opaque; no one could see the inside from the outside world, and vice-versa.

“Meep?”

Claud sniffed again. “I can’t help it…”

The meeplings made funny little noises as they hopped from Claud’s head to Lily’s, and then back.

After around three more minutes of sniffing, the two of them finally regained enough control of themselves to drive their mana circuits more, thereby blocking out the remaining effects of the ancient battlefield.

“Screw this place,” Claud muttered, before handing Lily her second bottle of water. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Lily looked at him. “Your eyes are puffy, do you know that?”

“Yours are too…still, this place really is cursed.” Claud looked around, and then pulled out a small handkerchief. “Need another one?”

“I’m fine. You should dab your eyes instead…”

The meeplings made a few more meeps, before returning back to Lily. It would seem that they were a bit scared by Claud and Lily’s sudden sniffing and bawling, but now that this unfortunate feeling was over, they were more than happy to just return back to Claud.

“I’m still a bit thirsty, though. Despite not actually needing much food and water,” Claud muttered.

“Well, we did cry a small pond.” Lily looked around the place. “I wonder if the others also started bawling the first time they entered.”

“Probably did,” Claud replied. “Alright. I suppose we need to investigate a few things here. The Black God’s apotheosis, because that’s something I’ll probably need to do too. After that, I’ll have to investigate those prana jades and figure out if they’re the reason behind high-ranked folders turning into monsters.”

Claud held his head. The sequence of events that he’d constructed thus far was not guaranteed to be correct, at the very least, but it seemed the most likely one.

After meeting with the Black God and after thinking about those prana jades, Claud now had a new question. While he could not recall any instance that would highlight the existence of prana jades in the Second Tutorial, it was possible that those things actually existed in that timeline already. After all, only when there was a drought in lifestones would people actually use them, and prana jades were publicly noted as dangerous in the first place, since they contained remnant wills.

Therefore, there was a good chance that these things were innocent to begin with. However, Claud didn’t dare to make any assumptions right now. He knew that his previous iteration had been affected by something very similar to the Distortion phenomenon, just that it seemed to target mana-users rather than normal people.

And mana-users fell into the category of people that were more likely to use prana jades, if nothing else.

“Claud?” Lily rubbed his head. “Are you feeling sick again?”

“Happens all the time, but I’m not feeling sick right now,” Claud replied. “I’m just thinking through the sequence of events again. There is a possibility that I’ve misinterpreted the whole thing and that we’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“It’s scary to hear you say that, but I’m glad too.” Lily sighed. “Seeking the truth can be hard.”

“Only professionals would dare to do that on a consistent basis.” Claud paused. “And the desperate. I’m sure you know which side I fall in.”

“Yeah.” Lily squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

“We’re way beyond the point for needing thanks already, so don’t be so formal.” Claud rapped her head gently. “Now, then. I suppose we’ll need to figure out where the Black God slew his opponent.”

The two of them, plus three concerned meeplings, began to make their way forward. None of them were interested in fighting just yet, so Claud always took the initiative to give the spectres that roamed this place a wide berth. There was no helping it; he was still a debilitated, hollow person at the very core. Even if he could fight, moving too much or mobilising mana on a large scale would tire him out rapidly.

“Hmm.”

Claud glanced at Lily. “Did you think of something?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m a bit curious. The Black God told us that he became a divinity after he slew the Goddess of Hope, right? But why would slaying a god turn one into a god?”

Claud thought for a moment. “Maybe because things are passed down through slaughter. The O thing works that way too. If I’m killed, the killer becomes the next O. That seems to be the only way such a position can change too.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah. Maybe there’s more to it,” Claud muttered. “Divine power, maybe. The powers of the gods. Maybe one becomes a god after absorbing divine power stolen from another god’s corpse or something, like prana jade.”

“Or maybe they leave something behind, huh.” Lily folded her arms. “I suppose that’s a good enough explanation, but it still feels weird. I thought the whole process is meant to be a lot more graceful or something. But does this mean that one can become a god outside of the Godsfalls if they killed a divinity?”

“Possible. I mean, the Godsfall seems to make the act easier, if nothing else.” Claud thought about the time when he slaughtered the Red God. “But I did kill the perp, though, and nothing happened to me.”

“I’m not sure if the Red God would appreciate you calling him perp…”

“Right.” Claud checked his Looped Encryptor, and then heaved a sigh. No one in the five grand skies had noticed his little slip of tongue, which could have been fatal.

“Hmm? What’s that?”

“The Looped Encryptor, remember?” Claud chuckled. “Alright, let’s just make our way in first. I wonder if the Goddess of Hope left a corpse.”

“That’s a really good question.”

Spectres drifted around randomly as the duo snuck towards the centre of the ancient battlefield. Along the way, Claud encountered irrefutable proof of other activity here; there were some indents on the ground where a prana jade would probably be sitting at earlier.

“There are really people in this place, huh.”

“Yeap.” Claud looked around. “We should be able to detect them easily. I mean, we’re also driving our mana. Anyone who looks a bit closely should be able to tell that we’re here.”

“Right?”

“But I can’t see anyone.” Claud folded his arms. “Maybe they’re a bit deeper in or something.”

“Maybe they’re all resting or something.” Lily looked around again. “Oh, look!”

She picked up a small lifestone. “Lucky!”

“It’s luckier if you pick them up while walking outside this place, but true.” Claud examined the lifestone. “Oh, wow. It’s a pure-ranked lifestone. Not as good as a Pure-Life Gem, but still.”

“Speaking of Pure-Life Gems, you haven’t used them much, right?” Lily asked.

“I’ve received a bunch of free lifespan injections recently,” Claud replied. “If you want, you can have them instead. My lifespan’s a bit absurd right now anyway. I’m not going to think too hard about this.”

He checked his status once.

[Name: Claud Primus

Class: Omen

Lifespan: 257883 years

Active Skills: Will of Solitude (11) Will of Freedom (11), Will of Captivity (11), Will of Purity (11), FiBoD;O??? (0), FiBoD;O??? (0)

Passive Skills: DiL???C, Mana Locus, Omen, Omniscience (False), Mastery of Permanence, Artificial Life Contractor, Aeon Fold — Omen (36), All-Life Nemesis, Cornerstone of Coincidence

Mana Circuit Superimposition: 6.90

Mana Control Proficiency: Master

Authority: 6

Comments: <…>]

“Yeah. Absurd.” Claud gazed at his Comments section. “And it’s all quiet on the comments front too.”

“Comments?”

“Yeah. No one’s telling me anything now…”