Time Twister

"Homer Simpson was known through his publication of two theses concerning the elemental conversion of immaterial to material elements and elemental concentration producing a physical phenomenon. It was at that point the researchers and even governments around the world designated Homer Simpson as a Cla.s.s V researcher." At this point, her voice changed from being astonished to being somber.

She continued, "That was before he managed to hack into Eta"s conference of DemiG.o.d representatives, and caused a commotion. Later on, he caused one of Eta"s ruins to be destroyed and revealed some truths about the ruins all over the world. This is when he exposed that he was an Outsider visitor because he was attracted by a signal emitted by something or someone in our planet several years ago."

"And the appearance of his name in the encryption code, on the so-called test results of his co-writer, Xander Cloverfield, is merely a coincidence? I think not. There"s a deeper connection between the two, and we must inform the Eta government- no, the world council right away!" Mrs. Carliste finished off her statement frenzied.

After all, Xander Cloverfield, according to her husband, had also caused another disturbance 4 days ago, causing every single DemiG.o.d in Ete continent to be affected. She was even only privy to this information because her husband was one of the DemiG.o.ds who were affected by the situation; all of them were severely injured, not to the point of dying, however, but incapacitated and would need a month or two to completely recover. According to some news, even Divine magicians were affected in the continent, waking up from their deep meditations and taking over of some of the ancient clans and conglomerates of their descendants, while others had their Mythic magicians take the helm.

It was both a boon and a problem for the countries in the Ete continent because they can use this time to suppress bad seedlings from their countries and restore more of their authority and control of their respective countries. Not only that, but it also boosted everyone below the DemiG.o.d stage, increasing their affinities, comprehensions, and even their stages. Other people who weren"t able to practice magic, were showing talent on practicing magic cultivation after a while, while those in the Mundane stage would have an additional primary element they are attuned to.

If the government can recognize the connection between Xander Cloverfield and Homer Simpson, the university"s prestige would also rise in the eyes of the other governments! Mrs. Carliste was thinking of the long term effects if she released the information to the Eta government, as well as to the world council.

However, would Xander even give her the chance to do so?

The moment she had that thought in her mind, the spell Xander casually and silently cast before he left on Mrs. Carliste, [Thread of Karma], activated on its own, instantly turning the world into a stilled silence for Mrs. Carliste.

Immediately, everything turned monochrome for Mrs. Carliste, and everything stopped moving around her. Slowly, bit by bit, everything she remembered about the people she loved, she cared for and had given birth to, all of them slowly vanished. It was a creeping kind of vanishing; she was aware that she was losing something very vital, very important to her existence, piece by piece, one at a time. Her childhood? Gone. Her friends? Gone. Her family? Gone. Her emotions? Gone. Her existence? Gone. All the traces she had left in the world slowly disappeared, leaving only a foreign name to anyone who used to know her. She could feel her body disintegrate and crumble under the coercive force of the ordered system, attempting to purge the foreign material. Only a thread remained, a thread connected to her husband, which was slowly withering and snapping part by part.

Simultaneously, her husband, who was a demiG.o.d, could sense that the karma between him and his wife was being snapped piece by piece. They knew the existence of karma, as it was foundationally taught as fundamental in establishing a life essence doll; after all, their life essences are metaphysically a.s.sembled by karmic threads. And snapping those threads, although he didn"t know what was specifically happening to his wife, he had a foreboding sense that something very important to him would disappear. He tried to resist the corrosive force the karmic threads that combined into one thick rope was experiencing, but to no avail, as he had never thought that karma was another type of element to be understood and mastered.

Seconds pa.s.sed by, but for the demiG.o.d, it felt like months of continuous battle, a battle that ultimately... he had lost. Immediately, memories flashed by within his mind, her smile, her touch, her tears, her anger, her hopes and dreams, her very first appearance, the first time they dated... all of these crumbled to ashes, and try as he might, he could not remember what he had just lost. He coughed out a mouthful of blood, and the machines monitoring his condition began beeping crazily, causing the doctors and magicians of the Life element to rush in to help stabilize his condition.

Back in the meeting room, there was not a trace left of Mrs. Carliste"s existence, and the experience she experienced was actually within a span of 10 seconds. Not even Amelia nor Brian noticed something amiss, except for the fact that they were gathered in the meeting room again.

"Wait, Amelia, why were we in the meeting room again?"

"Ugh... I remember it"s something about the test items being locked by the quantum supercomputer? By this person named Homer Simpson?" Amelia said, a bit bewildered. She felt that something was missing, but she couldn"t put her finger on it. There wasn"t any damage to her body, nor were there any detected magic disturbances in the area.

"Hmm, that"s right. I think this Homer Simpson is the same guy who wrote those 2 papers. Do you remember who his co-author was? It was Xander Cloverfield. Yes, this very same student." Brian said excitedly as if he was happy to find a clue about his research.

After all, his family"s older generations have theorized and attempted to prove it but were met with failure. If he managed to see the in-depth results of the test, he might have a chance to crack at the mystery of the s.p.a.ce element! Brian was filled with fervor.

____________________________________

All awhile, the culprit, Xander, noticed the fluctuation of his spell activating. He was already in front of the building of his cla.s.s when he felt it.

He tsked a bit.

"Less than 2 minutes. Pity, she wasn"t sensitive to the danger she was facing. It seems people in Eteria only managed to become sensitive to fate upon reaching the DemiG.o.d level. Probably because of their over-reliance to technology, or maybe they aren"t just attuned to it," Xander mumbled to himself, as he scanned his smart.w.a.tch over the terminal. Of course, this was the new communicator model he bought from the Galactic Empire; it has been modified to work in Eteria as well as have the additional functions he had placed on the previous smart.w.a.tch.

He headed inside the building and saw that the cla.s.s hasn"t started yet, with Ms. Sandra Lim not even here yet. He looked around and saw some familiar faces.

"Oh, Xander, you"re finally back!" Maryann exclaimed, approaching Xander"s desk with joy.

"Yeah. How"s the elemental fusion, Maryann? Have you found a way to combine the two elements?" Xander replied, genuinely curious if she was able to discover a solution. Although he wouldn"t have such problems since what he had was a paired origin element, he wasn"t able to completely resolve the issue of fusion between two opposing elements before he had left a week ago, so he only gave her some of her interpretation and understanding of the 5 elements and their relationship, and how one gives birth to another while rejecting another.

"Hmm, there"s some progress! But for now, I"m a bit confused. Although according to the hierarchical setup, Ice is a tertiary element that is suppressed by a secondary element, fire. Ice is formed from the interaction of heat element that is under Fire element and that of the Water element, another secondary element. Shouldn"t it be, by its form and combination, Ice be more superior than fire?" Maryann questioned, feeling lost. Although she had deepened understanding concerning ice and fire elements, the interaction of the two still remains a mystery. If she wasn"t able to find a combination point for both elements, she"ll probably be stuck in Master Cla.s.s forever; worse still, she might not even progress to Master cla.s.s!

Xander, with the amount of information he had already accessed and stored in the past week, had a probable solution, but it involved the knowledge banks of the Galactic Empire: Elemental Fusion by representation. You fuse two elements that have similar, close, or nearly the same representations/rules. it"s a new concept for Eteria, but he didn"t want to introduce it this early. He did plan, however, to hint something at Maryann.

"You"re actually on the right track, Maryann. You also already have the answers to your questions. Ice is made by a tertiary derivative of fire and by secondary element water. Ice can be stronger than fire, but fire is still stronger than ice; this is because of hierarchical suppression, and because a tertiary element of fire is a part of ice. Here"s the question for you to think more about: What point between fire and ice can you use as a starting part of fusion? Once you realize that, you would be able to begin fusion of the pseudo-spells quite easily." Xander said after a minute of "deep" thinking.

Maryann was a bit puzzled, then pensive, before suddenly smiling, as if a light bulb had turned on inside her head. She nodded profusely at Xander.

"Thanks Xander! I understand what you are trying to say!" She did so while grabbing Xander"s hands, shaking them with joy for a few seconds before realizing that it was Xander who she was talking to, causing her to drop the hands and retreat shyly.

Xander, who was technically the victim, was confused and surprised by the sudden physical touch employed by Maryann. He had a weird feeling bubbling inside his mind. He didn"t know how to describe it, but it felt weird? He immediately checked the smart.w.a.tch health monitoring application, which immediately did a full-body scan of his current state.

According to the results, he had elevated heartbeat, as well as increase in neurotransmitters being produced and used by the brain. Xander thought for a moment before realizing: It seems what I am experiencing is what they call "puppy love?" or something similar to it, Xander thought to himself. He wore a pensive look.

In the meantime, Maryann was b.u.mbling around attempting to apologize to Xander. After all, she thinks Xander didn"t like physical contact. The momentary pensive look he showed also supported her thoughts.

"Ah! S-s-sorry Xander. I forgot you didn"t like being touched! It was an accident, really!"

"Hmm. No worries. I never said I didn"t like being touched." Xander mumbled audibly, causing some of the girls who were in cla.s.s, but acutely listening to the conversation between the two students perk their ears up. Some of them also glanced at each other, as if formulating a plan.

After all, these girls saw Xander... as their own small brother! He was sooo cute!

"ah, is that so... it seems I overreacted. Sorry about that, Xander." Maryann still apologized, forcing Xander to well, "forgive" her.

"Anyways, I haven"t seen James or Alexa. are they skipping cla.s.s?" Xander asked curiously, attempting to shift the topic.

"Eh? Xander, you haven"t heard yet?" Maryann was perplexed at Xander"s question. She had thought that Xander might have heard the news.

"What heard? I was in my laboratory the whole week. What happened?" Xander responded puzzledly.

Before Maryann responded, it was another voice who responded to Xander"s question, another girl in cla.s.s. He recognized her; her name was Valerie Verdny, of the Verdny clan in Alpha province of Eta. The clan had a Divine magician ancestor and several DemiG.o.ds elders managing the family.

"Both James and Alexa had to withdraw due to personal circ.u.mstances. I"m sure you remember what happened 4 days ago, right Xander?" Valerie said, her voice hinting at something.

Xander then realized that it seems their families were also affected by the backlash, with the demiG.o.ds of their families being out for the count.

"Oh, the magic wave right? It was quite surprising actually! I actually raised my cultivation to Master-1 after I had woken up from the trance, haha." Xander said, scratching his head. Of course, he couldn"t just tell them that he was already Master-9 and was just planning to breakthrough once his birthday comes.

However, upon hearing what he said, Maryann, Valerie, and the other students in the cla.s.s froze, not sure if what they heard was correct.

"W-w-what did you say? You reached Master-1?"

"Yeah, it was a surprise really. I had prepared my pseudo-spells beforehand luckily, allowing me to integrate them seamlessly to the magic seeds! I just needed to combine and form my master-1 unique spell to advance. Shocker right?" Xander said, releasing a portion of his power, showing his fellow students he was already a master magician. Of course, the release of power was only up to Master-1 level, with the help of [Absolute Defense] and his increased control over the origin elements.

Maryann, who was now an Elite-6, couldn"t believe it. Even Valerie, who recently advanced to Elite-7, couldn"t understand how it happened. After all, she had received numerous instructions from the family ancestor concerning Xander, who seems to be the reason why the whole thing happened in the first place.

Some of the girls were at awe, however, at Xander. One even approached him.

"U-um, Xander, can you tell me what I should do to have a faster way to advance, while making my foundations stable? Can you teach me?"

Seeing that brave girl, more and more girls approached Xander, some taking the opportunity to touch his hands and even his hair. Xander didn"t mind it much; they were harmless gestures anyways.

"Uh...you"re Carly, right?"

"Waah! He remembered my name, so cute!!!" Carly, the first girl who approached Xander, gushed. Xander couldn"t help but roll his eyes.

"Hey, hey Xander, call me by my name too! Serena. S-E-R-E-N-A. Oh my gosh so cute!"

"Ugh, shut it b.i.t.c.h! Xander, call out my name too, hehe. Faeria."

"No, call my name first!"

"Stop pushing!"

"Ohmygosh, he rolled his eyes, so cute!"

Some of the guys were crying frustratingly, unsure why there"s such an injustice among people with talent. Why did you have to be cute, talented in cultivation, and smart at the same frickin" time!

One of the brave guys, a dude who was Elite-7, coughed and tried to approach the girls, saying,

"No worries girls, I can help you with your cultivation problems, just-" Before he could even finish his words, a barrage of deadly looks and mocking stares came from the girls.

"Hu-uh? Who is this clown?"

"Ugh, not even cute to look at. Why does he keep on talking?"

"Why are there walking trashes near us? Valerie, can"t you use your powers to sweep these kinds of trash?"

"Yeah, yeah Valerie, you are the strongest one of us, hehe ~ save us from hara.s.sment!"

The brave boy could not do anything but swallow his words and retreat back to the guys when he saw them calling for Valerie, who everyone in cla.s.s knew had a hatred for boys and championed the girls.

Xander coughed, loudly, trying to get the attention of the girls. The girls, on the other hand, just screamed. Xander sighed before utilizing his [5-elements foundation] spell, launching 3 spells in succession.

[Silent Wave]

[Calming Heart]

[Quiet Breaths]

Each spell targeted the following: the screaming girls" voices died down, their adrenaline and blood pumping slowed down, and the last ensured that they do not open their mouths.

Upon experiencing the 3 spells cast in succession, the girls were both surprised, scared, and a bit...turned on? Their faces were quite red, even the guys were as well.

"Ok, now I can speak." Xander spoke, his voice childlike still, but to the observant listener, his voice contained a hint of aged tiredness.

"Um, Carly and the girls, as well as you guys, you can already consider this magic wave phenomenon a rare opportunity. Not only did the wave increase your cultivation levels, it also improved your current affinity with the elements, the most affected being your primary elements. Right now, some of you might have increased perception, understanding, and comprehension of your primary elements" representations right? Fill your next pseudo-spell slots with spells that showcase these representations. You would not only have a greater foundation for breaking through Master cla.s.s, you would also have an easier breakthrough to Legendary Cla.s.s, when you select and mix your primary elements" selected representations and create a Magic Sphere."

"My situation is very rare because I had already prepared my pseudo-spells in advance, and all I needed was to inscribe them on the Magic seeds when they formed. General rule of thumb: The more complex and layered a spell is, the stronger the pseudo-spell you create. But it would generally be impacted by the size of Magic seed you develop. If the size is too small, it cannot handle a spell array that you are attempting to inscribe as a pseudo-spell!"

After saying his fill, Xander canceled the 3 spells, causing the students to be able to talk once again. He then continued,

"This is why majority of people break through to Elite at around 11, 12 years old, and breakthrough to Master Cla.s.s at 21-24 years old. They use the time to reinforce and strengthen their magic seeds. And how do they do that? they use cultivation skills."

He had just finished when he heard clapping sounds coming from the doorway, causing everyone to turn at the source of the sound, revealing the figure of Ms. Lim, who was genuinely impressed with Xander"s progress. Even if he skipped a week off cla.s.s, he already had reached the Master Cla.s.s, and even realized the importance of cultivation skills in improving one"s foundation and future development.

"What Xander had said was truly correct, and coincides with what we are going to discuss for this week and next week: Magic Meditation through the process of utilizing cultivation skills. Cla.s.s, return to your seats. Mr. Cloverfield, congratulations on your breakthrough. I hope you yourself have established a very, very good foundation when you were still an Elite cla.s.s?"

Ms. Lim"s words were not a simply congratulatory statement, but also to confirm the status of his family and his current abilities.

Xander answered humbly, "Just so-so, ma"am Lim. I only managed to make it the size of an exercise ball after several compressions and acc.u.mulations. I couldn"t make it smaller, sadly." His first statement gave a bit hope to the guys in the cla.s.s, even some of the overachieving girls, before being smashed to pieces to what Xander said on the latter half.

Hey, hey, our magic seeds isn"t even as big as a rice grain! How could you even cause it to go to the size of an exercise ball! And that was after the multiple compressions and acc.u.mulations you did? When did you really reach Elite cla.s.s, huh? Did you really cultivate the same time as us?

...Wait, it seems he cultivated in a shorter period of time than us. !

Ms. Lim was also flabbergasted. Although her pseudo seeds weren"t as small as a rice seed, they were only as big as a regular-sized strawberry, and that was after using a Perfect rank cultivation skill, hey!