Time Twister

For the next hour and a half, he was writing 2 new papers, one focusing on the usage of processed magician remains as the catalyst for higher-cla.s.s spells. The other one was focused on elixir creation, specifically, he was publicly releasing 12 formulations of material ratios for 10 different sets of elements (water-fire, air-earth-wood, fire-life, and so on) that hasn"t been formulated in Eteria, a writing a total of 120 formulations, using metals, ores, gems, and crystals as other supplementary materials. He just got the formulations from the Galactic Empire, and these were considered there as some of the basics of elixir creation.

Of course, the formulations were granted under use for Public Domain, thus no one can really own the formulations and privatize them. They can do their own modifications with it or experiment on their own using these formulations and create their own formulations, and register them, but they cannot reduce the original formulations as something private or against their newly-made, patented formulations.

Once he posted it, once again, the whole world erupted in a furor. This time, because of the papers that were solely published by him, and contributed to the development of elixir creation as well as magic research.

It was his first paper that caused quite a stir because it basically suggested that even in death, the cultivators retain no peace. There were two opposing sides that rose up, one in support, the other being against it.

Those who were opposing this were worried that basically, Anyone above Elite Cla.s.s can be harvested for one"s remains and organs, to use for magic. It thus expands the gray market of selling magician remains. At the same time, their bodies might be implicated in situations involving ma.s.s murders, terrorism, and the like.

Those that supported this were more fundamentalists, believing the body is merely a vessel. This kind of hold true because what matters the most for cultivators is their life essence dolls. As long as it hasn"t been purged and returned to its purest state, one can still be resurrected. Heck, spirit lifeforms even exist.

Xander, who caused the debate, didn"t really care much. Cultivator remains recycling and processing is a profitable business market in the Galactic Empire, especially since they were most of the time, in small skirmishes against other empires, and unowned planets.

Concerning his second paper, people who were magibiopharmacists and elixir developers lauded the numerous formulations he had posted. It gave so many possibilities in how other plant materials can be processed alongside non-digestible material, such as metals/ores/gems, forming elixirs that can be consumed internally rather than external use. After all, Eteria had experimented and developed elixirs that contained metals, ores, gems, and crystals, but these usually had severe side-effects.

After a few more minutes of browsing, his flight back to Eta had arrived, and he was escorted by the attendants to the terminal gate, entering the gate ahead of time. He had been guided once again to his personal cabin, the same with the trio. Once there, he messaged the three to take care of any problems that may crop up concerning the flight.

He then prepared to sleep for 15 hours; he wanted to explore the Dream dimension once again. Once he closed his eyes, he opened to his dream bubble once again, however, there was something wrong. It seems there are rats that took the bite, Xander thought to himself.

Sitting at the throne, he noticed that the floating castle had burn marks, and the weapons were primed as if it was fighting a formidable enemy. There were weapons that had been destroyed and some were disabled. The small forest garden in front of the castle that he had created had patches of burnt areas, resembling bald patches when viewed above the ground. He looked at the wide expanse of blue water on the west, the color murky and dull. There were no waves, and it was deathly still as if there was no life. The desert on the east side of the castle was ruined; the large, sandy landscapes were blasted into deep pits, the winds deadly silent. The mountains behind the castle were littered with holes, making them look like gigantic cheddar cheese upright. The snow caps had all melted, and the growing vegetation on the mountains had died out. He sighed, a bit curious at his unwanted visitors. He waved his hand, immediately taking control of the entire bubble.

He restored everything in the forest garden back to their original, luscious state of green and life. Beasts, insects, fishes, began to appear, each and every organism pulled from his memory of these beasts, with a few changes and modifications based on real magic beasts. The plants became alive, filled with sentience.

The blue expanse of water started to twinkle and turn clear, and fishes, aquatic plants and animals began appearing en ma.s.se, filling the bottomless expanse. The waters began to surge, creating foam and waves, crashing by the beachside that was slowly turning to golden brown from its brownish-red color. The ocean waves produced enough power to crush Mythic magicians into powder, each water particle being able to corrode the toughest metals and alloys.

The winds began to blow once more in the desert, producing sand and detritus, creating large sand dunes. These sand particles were no ordinary sand, as each particle weighs about 200 kilograms each. The winds were strong enough to create a mark on an Adamantium-Pazril-Carlite alloy. Critters and beasts that live in the desert began to appear once again, full of life, vitality, and power.

The mountains began to shake, stone rapidly growing and reappearing on the peaks. Snow once again appeared, the temperatures of which reach unrealistically below absolute zero. These would never ever melt. Gra.s.s, flowers, and trees began to sprout on the surface, bringing forth different animals and insects.

All the creatures in the dream bubble had roughly the power of a peak Mythic cultivator. A horde of hundreds of thousands of creatures… even a peak DemiG.o.d would be wary.

The castle returned to its old, pearly-white color. The tattered banners showing Xander"s head were restored to their original shapes, loftily moving with the blowing wind. The ramparts and the towers were fixed, the cannons and armaments around the castle had a total upgrade: they became war weapons used by the Galactic Empire. They could easily blow Divine-3 cultivators and below to their deaths.

The dream bubble became alive, causing those people who were hiding in a small cave at the bottom of the mountains to shiver and pale at the sudden change.

______________________________

Upon sensing the changes in the dream, everyone realized it: the owner of the dream bubble was here. They were faced with a dilemma: Either fight and escape, or surrender and hopefully escape.

The group of 8 was quite in a perilous situation. Although they were experienced Dream walkers, this was the first time they experienced such a dream that they couldn"t have full control of the dream bubble.

They were part of a universe organization, and their current team of 30 beings was designated in this planet. Their cultivations ranged between Legendary to DemiG.o.d cla.s.s, with a Divine magician as their leader.

They were the group of 8 sent to reconnaissance a possible unaffiliated dream walker. Not only that, according to the report of their vice-captain, but the person could also enter and exit dreams quite easily without causing any disturbance. The target was supposed to be a toddler and using the dream trace, they managed to track down Xander"s current dream bubble.

When they reached the bubble, they could sense a formidable protective barrier that surrounded the dream bubble. The decryptor for this mission, Ganes, quickly manipulated the rules of s.p.a.ce in this dream, taking advantage of loopholes and openings in the s.p.a.ce sequence. Decryptor is the term used to people capable of twisting the rules of the dream dimension beyond their respective dream bubbles, albeit having a limited effect due to their cultivation. In Ganes" case, he was an expert at manipulating spatial constructs in the dream dimension.

However, Ganes was surprised that the destroyed barrier… had another layer. And the previous one was rapidly recovering. He immediately frowned. He left the vicinity after observing the second layer, then waited again for the whole first layer to recover.

He then began decryption once again. However, he noticed another problem: the loopholes and sequences he took advantage of earlier had already changed, and they were different already! He quickly a.n.a.lyzed the situation and cracked it normally, before cracking the second layer. Afterward, he saw another layer of protective barrier. Scanning it, he went out and waited for the new barriers to finish growing back. When he checked again, his suspicions were right; every time he broke the barrier, a different barrier of a different s.p.a.ce sequence would grow.

He broke the first layer and saw the second layer also changed. By this time, he didn"t worry much and continued to break the layers. He then reached the third layer and broke it since he had a.n.a.lyzed it already. Once the third layer was broken, the light coming from the dream bubble appeared in Ganes" sight. He signaled the rest to enter the opening quickly because he didn"t know when the shield would reform again.

Once they entered, they saw the majestic, wide expanse of a dreamscape inside a dream bubble. When their designated Observer, Leon, attempted to check the borders of the s.p.a.ce, he was surprised.

"It"s in a loop. There is no end. If you forcefully attempted to reach the end, you would arrive on the opposite side. The same as attempting to reach the peak where the light is coming from. You will never reach it. The point where we entered through disappeared as well. I"m not sure how we are going to leave." Leo"s words surprised them, causing a cold feeling to cover them.

It was their first time encountering a dream bubble that didn"t have a border or boundary. Usually, it"s the group of clouds high up the sky. Once one reaches past that, they could leave the dream bubble. In Xander"s bubble, however, the clouds had completely disappeared.

It"s a trap, in their minds, this idea developed. The current leader of the team, Vala, calmed everyone down. She then said,

"It seems we can only attempt to wait out for the owner of the dream to appear, or explore the dreamscape and find an exit. Look, there"s a castle in the middle of all 4 different scenarios, maybe that"s a key point to exit the dream?"

And so, their quest to arrive at the castle began. For the past 20 days in the dream bubble, they had been attempting to breach the castle, but no luck. They had destroyed the surrounding areas by their attacks, yet the castle still stands strong. The beasts had been killed.

Now, on day 21, the target appeared in the dream, yet the damage they did was reversed in mere seconds, and according to Leon, all of the structures, as well as the beasts, were strengthened to have a power capable of threatening DemiG.o.ds. Even the defenses of the castle ramparts were improved greatly.

When he described the weapons, it was Vala"s time to be shocked, surprising her team members. Her face turned grave, and said,

"The defenses mentioned and described by Leon are weapons from the Galactic Empire. I"ve seen them before when I pa.s.sed by the empire. Those are war weapons, capable of killing anyone below Sage-1. It seems we miscalculated. This unknown dream walker has a background far deeper than we thought. We either go for the kill, or attempt to escape, and warn our superiors."

As she said this, her teammates" reactions were quite colorful. One was pale, there was someone who was angry, and two were curious, while the other 3 were calmer than the first 4.

At this point, before they could even speak up, Leon"s face changed, and when he was about to warn others, they all appeared inside a building built with white marble, with streaks of gray and silver, and gold. Above them, it was a beautiful blue sky, yet consciously they knew they were inside a completely sealed room.

They couldn"t move. Even the Ganes" ability couldn"t be used. An empty throne made of gold, a seat made of complete Warm Ruby, with multiple priceless jewels and crystals embedded on the throne. Looking around, there was a large pile of elemental crystals rising up into the sky, yet it seemed to never reach the peak. A toddler appeared in front of them, materializing in front of them, sitting on the singular throne. He looked at them lazily.

"Welcome, visitors. You are from the Aurora Organization, I presume?"

Xander asked them lazily, mentioning their organization as if mentioning what the food was for breakfast is today.

"I"ll take the looks of surprise in your face and the mental fluctuations as a yes. Anyhow, why are you paying me a visit? I"m just a 7-year old kid, for heaven"s sake."

When they had a better look at Xander, looks of recognition flashed in their faces. Seeing this, Xander realized that they had recognized who he was.

"Well, it seems you aren"t dumb, as you had recognized me. Pity, I would have loved to set you free, but now I have to dig deep into your minds on how you managed to locate me."

Xander snapped his fingers, and immediately, the 8 people froze in position, their eyes blank. Their attempts to remove their memories were laughable when he had complete control of this dream bubble.

Immediately, their thoughts became transferable data that Xander absorbed and understood and realized he had been careless. It seems they had someone known as a "Tracker" which traces the unique life essence fluctuations one released.

Well, thank you for teaching me some skills a dream walker needed to learn, Xander smirked to himself. He traced back where their physical bodies were placed, and using [Divine Eyes], he was able to view the physical realm from the dream dimension, seeing the situation like watching a dream bubble.

He saw their bodies, and immediately, using [Dimensional Travel], shifted their physical bodies into the Dream Dimension to the surprise of the two people guarding the bodies; once he completed the transfer, he removed the protection, causing them to disappear and mutate into an unidentifiable thing, before shattering into dust that disappeared in the wide expanse of dreams. He then left a note in the physical realm:

"Stop bothering me. This is my first and last warning."

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Zendaya couldn"t believe it. 8 members of the order, gone. Their bodies disappeared under their watch, while the traces of their dream bodies disappeared as well, perplexing Marki, their Tracker. However, Zendaya snapped out of disbelief and focused on attempting to locate the target. For one, the target left a note, allowing him to be tracked through it.

Zendaya and Vohrs immediately went to sleep, and their dream bodies appeared in the wide expanse of the Dream dimension. Immediately, the two of them began to track the traces left by Xander. Once they took hold of it, they immediately moved to where he was.

Immediately, their surroundings changed, the dark s.p.a.ce they were in turned into a grayish color, with all other colors merged in the surroundings. This was when Zendaya realized another fact: the s.p.a.ce they are in seemed different from the dream dimension and the dream bubbles.

Then they heard a voice echo all around them.

"Welcome, to the Dream of Brahma. This is a unique point in the dream dimension where all other dimensions intersect and interlaced, forming this unique s.p.a.ce. Whatever you experience here, your bodies, your life essence dolls, all of these aspects are affected as well. I prepared these for you invaders. None of you can leave unless only one person remains standing." Xander"s plan was quite perfect. If they didn"t trace him, then good for both parties; if they tried to trace him through the note he left, well, they were in a surprise!

He had already cast [Dreams of Brahma], creating a unique s.p.a.ce in the dream dimension. When the two entered, their bodies were already connected to the unique s.p.a.ce. They were now vulnerable to physical and magical attacks.

"Enjoy this place. You can punch, kick, or cast spells, and it will affect your target"s real body as well."

Xander didn"t bother staying since the s.p.a.ce they were in has been programmed to collapse after only one remains alive, and then turn into a bead that flies to his dream bubble.

He returned to his castle and saw the dream bodies of the 7 people were slowly dispersing, melting into nothing. He was curious about the situation because it seemed that the dream body is separate from the life essence dolls connected to their bodies; once the bodies were destroyed, the binding of the life essence should have shifted to their dream bodies, but Xander"s a.s.sumption, in this case, was wrong. The life essence dolls, after disconnection, underwent purification, cleaning the remains before turning into pure life essence energy. The dream bodies, losing support from their life essences, would naturally dissipate. The reason why it was a slow process because his dream bubble was subjected to a semi-independent ordered system.

However, he wanted to preserve them for some reason. So, he began to put layers upon layers of s.p.a.ce, completely cutting off the connections with the other dimensions, completely isolated and preserved. He then placed them in his storage hall in the castle, where he planned to put his trophies and spoils of war in the future.

Afterward, he wiped all possible traces he might have left that would lead others to his dream bubble. He also practiced a technique known as "masking" in the dream dimension, where his dream bubble hides by copying another different dream bubble. He then increased the number of layers in the [Absolute Defense] spell placed on the dream bubble, mixed with [Absolute s.p.a.ce], making the rules constant and inviolable.

He woke up from the dream, 13 hours later, and saw the plane was turbulently shaking. Using his [Divine Eyes], he could see the situation outside. There seemed to be a DemiG.o.d-8 magic beast, a Three-tailed Gryphon. Its strength is comparable to a Divine-2 magician. He was surprised to see that such a thing was even in the flight path of the airplanes; hasn"t all flying beasts above Mythic cla.s.s already signed an agreement with humans, sprites, elves, dwarves, and fellow magic beasts that flight paths are to be held non-violable?

Seeing his seniors fighting, no actually, it"s more of defending against the attacks of the beast, he sighed, and waved his hand, transporting the plane above the Eta country jurisdiction, including the 3 surprised demiG.o.ds.

He could have created a s.p.a.ce bubble inside the Gryphon and had it burst out, but it might just recognize it as pa.s.sing gas due to its thick skin and muscle. At the same time, he could detect that this wasn"t a wild Magic beast, but rather a contracted one.

He checked the immediate future if he didn"t intervene, and saw that a man appeared beside the wreckage, and he began to sweep through the surroundings, attempting to look for someone. No one died, but a lot was unconscious; the man placed them all on the floating wreckage. Xander saw himself unconscious, still immersed in his dream, unaware of the situation. The man grabbed his body and carried him away, and the vision ended. Xander was surprised because he recognized it as one of the two Divine magicians in the Silver Office. He smiled wryly.

Well, you can"t do anything anymore in Eta"s jurisdiction.

The Gryphon was surprised, unsure what happened to its prey. It was merely ordered to attack and destroy the plane, but not kill anyone. But the plane is now gone, so what should it do, it wondered to itself. It then sent the message to its owner, who just sighed and said,

"Your job is done. Return back."

"Who intervened with my plan? Capable of manipulating s.p.a.ce…could it be that outsider? But hasn"t he left two weeks ago?" he murmured. He disappeared into the shack once again.