Chapter 368 A Glimpse at the Past 2
After the Great TImeMaster announced these ominous words, the scenery around them changed once more as it displayed a new scene.
The apocalyptic atmosphere from the meteor impact was gone, as it was now replaced by a new view of the Barren Expanses.
This time, there were no more dust floating in the air, and the trembles in the ground has already disappeared.
Even the buffeting winds from the impact was gone, making everything look still and calm.
Looking at these alone, Professor Frances could infer that the scene that they were looking at was at least a few hours away from the first scene.
This inference of her was further proved as the professor began to clearly see the focus of the new scene.
Right now, the professor found herself staring at the crater of the meteor impact, which was a depression 213 kilometers wide and 24 kilometers deep.
There were no signs of the whole meteor that could be seen on this crater, as only bits and fragments of it could be seen scattered around.
"Interesting…" Professor Frances muttered to herself as she ignored the ma.s.sive size of the crater displayed in front of her.
Her eyes were focused more on the center of the crater itself, which had something intriguing placed on it.
Instead of flaming rocks or some pile of s.p.a.ce stones, what the professor saw at the center of the crater was a woman.
"Hmm… this woman looks familiar…" Professor Frances mused to herself as she began to observe the woman more intently. "It was as if I had seen her before…"
This woman wore a green, tight skinsuit which covered her whole body, except for her face. This accentuated her perfect curves that even Professor Frances can appreciate.
As for her appearance, Professor Frances could see that she was a beauty, although this woman seemed to be around 18-20 years old, judging by the youthful look on her face.
Her hair was tied in a bun, although it seemed to be in a disarray, which could have been caused by the meteor impact herself.
Right now, this woman was in a state of unconsciousness, as her body was not moving at all. Only light, rapid breathings could be heard coming out of her body, which was enough to state that she was alive, but only barely so.
"!!!"
It was only after a few more seconds of looking that Professor Frances had realized who this woman actually was.
"This woman from the meteor impact was you, right?" The one who said these words was Alex, who beat the professor on saying it. His eyes were not looking at the Great TimeMaster, although the professor could feel that he was staring at her intently now. "From what I can see in this scene, you are just around 18-20 years old. Great TimeMaster, that"s a really young age to be riding a meteor…"
"Hmph, I don"t think you should waste your time saying those reprimands to me." The Great TimeMaster replied as she shook her head. "I was young and adventurous at that time… So the actions that I did there before was pretty reckless…"
"So why the h.e.l.l did you suddenly came in this planet through a meteor?" Alex said as he looked at eh crater around him with interest. "Did you just arrive here by accident?"
"Yes, that"s what happened to me." The Great TImeMaster muttered as she looked at her younger self with slight pity.
She then shook her head as she looked at the sky with a restrained look.
"As you might have known, I came from a race of beings which practice Chronomancy." The Great TiemMaster said, looking quite nostalgic with her explanation. "Originally, us Chronomancers lived in our own original planet, which was light years away from this planet. In that planet, we Chronomancers were the supreme beings. We are the dominant beings there, and there was none that has managed to usurp us."
"…"
Maybe it was just Professor Frances, but she noticed that the Great TimeMaster was now referring to herself as a Chronomancer, not a TimeMaster. Of course this difference might be nothing important, but still, Professor Frances took note of it inside her mind.
Alex did not make it apparent if he was interested in what the Great TimeMaster just said, as he kept a straight face throughout the conversation.
"Oh, that explains your origins then." Alex mumbled, as Professor Frances internally agreed with him. "So you originally came from a Planet which housed the Chronomancers or in better terms, TimeMasters in it. But there lies my question from earlier. If you came from that far away planet, then what the h.e.l.l happened that made you accidentally come here in the Immortal World?"
This time around, the Great TimeMaster did not mince her words or waste everyone"s time as she went straight on giving her answer.
"A ma.s.sive plague suddenly broke out in my original world, which led to a lot of the living beings there dying." The Great TimeMaster replied as her look hardened. "Not even us Chronomancers, with our ma.s.sive power over Time has resisted the plague."
"…"
"In just one generation, almost 1/20th of all the Chronomancers have died because of the plague. Of course that might be just a small number, considering that the deaths all happened inside one generation. But the experts in our world concluded that if nothing was done against that plague, there will come a time that all the Chronomancers will be extinct."
"Well gee, that"s a tragic thing to hear." Alex said in an insincere tone. "So what happened after that discovery?"
"Everyone panicked of course." The Great TimeMaster said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Since the fate of the whole Chronomancers was in question now, even the old fogies in our planet were forced to take an action against this issue."
"Okay.."
"After a few days of intense deliberations and debates, two camps were formed in my original planet." The Great TimeMaster said as a tired sigh came out of her lips. "The first camp advocated on finding a cure against the plague, which essentially meant that the members of this camp thinks that the Chronomancers will have a chance to end the plague before the plague ends us all. As for the second camp, they were focused on planetary relocation. As the name suggests, this camp wanted to relocate everyone into a new planet, which could possibly bring a fresh start on the Chronomancers. Just looking at these two camps, I think it was easy to see which camp had more support."
"It was the first camp, obviously." Alex said proudly as he crossed his arms. He seemed to be enthusiastic about this topic, as he did not let the Great TimeMaster talk about it by herself. "After all, curing a plague was a much more realistic approach compared to colonizing another planet. Curing a plague will only require some years of intense research, while planetary evacuation will require a lot of things. 3 things actually, if you will group them all."
Alex then raised three of his fingers and continued talking before the Great TimeMaster could.
"The first requirement is transportation. After all, if you want to relocate people, you must be able to bring people with you. And this transportation must be st.u.r.dy enough to resist dangerous objects in s.p.a.ce, and it must also have powerful weapons to fight off s.p.a.ce creatures and s.p.a.ce pirates."
"The second requirement are supplies, money, and equipment. How can you last throughout the whole journey if you can"t feed, arm, and entertain your people? Without this second requirement, everyone will easily die out of starvation, boredom, or attacks by foreign factors."
"The third and last requirement was just simple. The journeying crew must have an ability to conquer a planet that they will colonize. After all, the only planets that can be colonized were the ones that already had living beings in it. In the case of the Chronomancers, they must at least find a Stage 6 Planet, since only this kind of planet can accommodate them. This, in my opinion is the hardest thing to do. Without an exceptional leader that is expert on conquering planets, it will be almost impossible for a race to easily conquer a planet. Especially if that race was a race that was already suffering from the effects of a deadly plague…"
Everyone in the area went into stunned silence, as they were all rendered surprised with what Alex just said.
Professor Frances pondered his words with interest while Alina seemed to look aggrieved by Alex"s statements.
As for the Great TimeMaster, she went silent for a while before she gave Alex an appraising look.
"So my suspicions were right. You"re indeed related to Emperor Litch, and from the looks of it, your relations.h.i.+p with him was quite close." The Great TimeMaster said as her gaze at Alex began to change to that of clear obsession. "Tell me, are you his close relative? Because only people like those can emit the same aura as Emperor Litch and know a lot about planet conquering…"
"Hohoho… so that"s the reason you were interested in me before? Because you thought I had a relations.h.i.+p with Emperor Litch?" Alex said as he barked out a laugh. "That"s funny!"
From the way that he reacted right now, it appeared as if he was not distressed with what the Great TimeMaster said. He seemed to be even enjoying it. "Great TimeMaster, you are one of the most cunning people that I have ever met. I wonder… if you have more things prepared against me…"
"Hehehe, you will know that later, Mr. Alex." The Great TimeMaster said as she let out a chuckle. "For now, why don"t I continue with my story first?"
"Alright, go on then."
"This is f**king weird." Professor Frances thought to herself after witnessing the way that the conversation between Alex and the Great TimeMaster had gone. "Why are they talking to each other as if they were just playing a game? Is there something that I missed here?"
The Great TimeMaster then resumed her story-telling as she picked up from where Alex had stopped.
"So just like what you said Mr. Alex, planetary colonization was a difficult thing for us Chronomancers to do. Because we"re not versed in s.p.a.ce travel and planet conquering, the majority of the still alive Chronromancers sided with the first camp. As for the people who were either crazy, brave, or just both, they all sided with the second camp. The rest that remained has decided to be neutral. As you can infer, I am naturally at the side of the second camp. In fact, I was one of the founding creators of the second camp."
"Oh, that"s great, I guess."
"It"s great at the start, but after I saw the weak support of the Chronomancers at the second camp, the past me was naturally enraged. "The Great TimeMaster murmured as she let out a wry smile. "At that time, I did everything to make everyone join on my goal. But due to the sheer difficulty of planetary colonization, and the fact that most of the Chronomancers were at the first camp, there was no support that came at the second camp."
"…."
"Due to that lack of support, the past me was driven beyond the point of madness." The Great TimeMaster said as she sent her past self an embarra.s.sed look. "Due to that madness, I decided to do one thing which I was not sure if I should be happy or angry with. As for what I did, it was-"
"You left your home planet, as you decided to conquer a planet by your own, right?" Alex said as he interrupted the Great TimeMaster. "Seeing that your condition in this scene was not good, you must have messed up in your journey."
"Yes, I messed up a lot indeed." The Great TimeMaster said as her shoulders slumped. "I only rode a small s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p that prioritizes speed over durability. Because of that, my s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p broke down after a pirate attack, which forced me to cling to a meteoroid floating on s.p.a.ce. What happened after that was as what you just witnessed. The meteoroid that I clung on entered the atmosphere of the Immortal"s World, and it crashed here on the Barren Expanses, plunging me into a near-death state."
"And right now, this scene right here will show what allowed you to survive." Alex murmured as his attention came back on the scenery around him. "Hm… I wonder what kind of event saved your life? Did an elixir appear here to save you? Or did an Immortal Beast fell down from the sky and decided to heal you?"
"Nope, both of that guesses were wrong." The Great TimeMaster said as she crossed her arms. "Why don"t you just wait and watch? You will see what happens next on my already dying body."
"Hm, this better be good." Alex slowly said as he sat down on the ground. "I want to see if your past in this world was worthy enough to be watched like this. Hey Professor Frances, do you have popcorn with you? I want to eat some while watching. After all, this feels like a movie…"
"Huh?" Naturally, this is the best reply that the professor can give towards Alex"s bizarre request. "You want a popcorn? How did you even think that I could have one?"
"Do you have one?"
"Well… yes."
"Good, now give it to me."
"…."