Time Twister

Seeing them stand, Xander nodded before saying,

"Good that you don't give up easily. Let's heal your injuries first to make sure you are in tip-top shape!" Xander waved his hand and a glow surrounded the two girls, and in less than a second, all their external and internal injuries, as well as magic energy, were restored.

"Let's have at it again, shall we?" Xander this time didn't move, but rather raised one of his arms, pointing at the two girls, and suddenly ten magic circles appeared around Xander, both at the back and front of Xander. This caused the girls, the other students, and even Ms. Amelia to narrow their eyes in surprise and fear.

There were too many concentric circles in each magic circle! Although it was a brief moment, Ms. Amelia managed to count the number of concentric circles on each magic circle and reached a terrifying value: 80! A total of 80 concentric circles for each magic circle!

She immediately prepared her own magic barrier, allowing her to launch it as soon as she could see the two girls and the other students unable to handle the spells. Although she didn't know if the spell she would cast would hinder the spells, it would give enough time for her to get the girls and the other students out of the spell's way.

Xander, on the other hand, flicked the spells that finished forming towards the girls, before muttering,

"Lesson two. If you see you can't beat your enemy, run. Don't be a hero. Live to fight for another day. Don't face the enemy head-on, unless you have a final trump card."

The spells were each from the element of Light, Darkness, Water, Fire, Air, Earth/Metal, Wood, Ice, Lightning, and Poison elements. Each of these spells was special in a way that they contained parts of other elements in their spell structure, so they aren't completely Light-based, completely Darkness-based, etc.. They were roughly at the level of a Master-9 spell in terms of strength due to the concentric ring augmentation, roughly at the 80th cla.s.s. Ms. Amelia can block the spells, however, ensuring the safety of the students anyways.

Seeing the incoming spells, both Maryann and Valerie had a split second to react; first and foremost they focused on creating the thickest, strongest magic barrier they could create, and then attempted to launch their own spells. Maryann managed to cast 1 spell, [Ice Curtain Shower] to further fortify her defense when the spells had reached her defense. It was momentarily stopped in a small fraction of time before shattering the magic barrier and the spell she had cast, reaching her body. Maryann didn't close her eyes in fear, but rather in regret that she was still weak.

Valerie, on the other hand, opted to launch a kamikaze attack by using an offensive spell, [Corroding Arrow], allowing her to summon two arrows within that split second, and launched them towards Xander, rather than the spells. Xander raised his eyebrow at this move and simply raised the palm of his right hand, causing the poison arrow to slow down to a stop, before evaporating into thin air, dropping a small metal needle from each arrow. The spells easily broke through the barrier she had placed and Valerie didn't close her eyes at all, defiant and still full of fighting spirit.

Of course, Xander didn't plan to kill them to smithereens; after all, it would be hard to reconstruct using time magic and life magic. The moment the very first elemental particle of the magic spell touched their bodies, they stopped and began to circle around their bodies like halo lights. This caused the students, especially the two girls, to be surprised at the development.

"Lesson three: Do not escape and leave behind your humanity and convictions. You did this very well. Rather than escape and prolong the situation, in which case, more variables would pop out and harm the other students, you stood your ground with your convictions still with you. As a magician this is important."

As Xander was speaking, Valerie could help but be in a daze and attempted to touch one of the spells hovering around her, before hearing a voice that woke her up from her actions.

"Lesson number 4: Do not touch anything your enemy had used against you; you do not know if it contains any spells, protective measures, or actually just a trap," Xander said, rolling his eyes at Valerie for her stupidity.

"What I had just cast is an example of a Subconscious control of a spell, but up to four layers. The first layer is to form the magic conformation, creating the spell. The next layer is being launched towards the target, with a lock-on function, never missing its target. The third layer is what you can see now; upon reaching the target, it transforms into a form of hovering spell. The fourth layer is, well, if you touched it again, you would have reached the fourth layer. Your body parts would then be splattered across the floor with scorch marks and bits of elemental physical manifestation around your body parts, and I won't be able to restore you back to normal."

Xander explained concisely and calmly, using his spells and the example to teach the two girls about subconscious control. This caused the listeners to feel another chill up their spines. However, for Valerie and Maryann, it serves a life lesson for them.

"For now, try subconscious control of 1 layer, which is to establish magic conformation, and launch the spell to the target. You can try the 2nd layer once you have a deeper understanding of the spell and the element you are controlling, in which case you add functions to the original magic spell that it didn't have in the first place. Most opt for up to the 3rd layer, as additional layers are kinda moot unless you are playing and not fighting for the kill." Xander snapped his fingers, and the hovering orbs of light visibly shook, before disintegrating one by one, as if they never existed in the first place.

"Now, I'll use a simple AoE spell. It's a personal spell of mine; I named it [Garden of Eden]. It's a simple spell, it just keeps growing in size and area, as well as the organisms present in the garden continue to grow and strengthen. I want you to destroy the spell structure before it consumes you. Use every spell at your disposal. Heck, ask the others to join as well in destroying the spell. Ask Ms. Wineheart to help as well, if things seem to go south. I have to warn you though, you might be consumed by the spell and released by it as one of its creations. Do you want to do this challenge? This is a good way to push your control of the subconscious type deeper and more profoundly, because you are, well, pushed to the depths of survival as well."

Valerie and Maryann were feeling conflicted. On one hand, they want to grow stronger. At the same time, they don't want their lives to

After a minute, both Valerie and Maryann rejected the offer, causing Xander to nod at their practicality of recognizing their limits, and shaking his head in disappointment because he wanted to test out the spell in a real scenario. Seeing his crestfallen face that looked like a pouting cherub, one of the girls in the cla.s.s said, in an attempt to cheer him up, "Xander, how about you demonstrate to us what the spell can do? So we can see if we can think of possible countermeasures." Upon hearing this, he looked ecstatic, and looked at Ms. Amelia, with a look of "can I? can I really?"

Upon seeing his face and the looks the students were giving her, Ms. Amelia could help but agree, and decided to do it outside of the building.

So they headed outside and went to the nearest open field. While on the way there, Ms. Wineheart had gotten the necessary permissions and signatures required for the activity.

Upon reaching an open field, Xander's face turned serious, and turned back to look at the students, before solemnly saying,

"Please step back 3 meters from my current position. I will set the area of the spell to be at 3 meters in diameter. It would rapidly grow, so please retreat if necessary. Ms. Amelia, I might need you to use your flying artifact to target the garden from above if it gets out of control, specifically the biological organisms that you can see."

After hearing his instructions, his fellow students moved back, with Valerie, Carly, and Maryann being the closest to him. Ms. Amelia was on standby, her magic power ready to be unleashed.

Xander then pointed at the spot in front of him for two seconds, around 5 meters away from him, and uttered a word: "Garden". Immediately, the winds began howling in the area, with the elemental concentration rapidly increasing in the field, going towards the point where Xander had pointed. From that point a small seed appeared, growing rapidly into a small tree in a matter of seconds, before becoming a 20-meter tree with a diameter of 1 meter. Rapidly, shrubs, vines, small trees and even all kinds of organisms began to grow around the tree, as if appearing out of nowhere. The elemental energy and the elemental particles all over the campus were raging, moving towards the field where the Garden of Eden was placed.

From the initial 3 meters in area, it rapidly grew to 4, 5, 8, 16, to 32 meters in diameter in less than a minute. The students had already retreated far away from the field, and more students were also appearing from the other buildings, because their professors all left the cla.s.sroom, heading towards the field. It was still growing, albeit slower this time, because Xander had already gained control of the spell, allowing him to dictate the speed of absorption of elements, matter, and biological material.

"Ms. Wineheart, fellow cla.s.smates, what do you think? Hehe, the spell has a nifty function: It can absorb any magic attack and any physical matter and convert it into nutrients! If you also get attacked by the organisms inside the garden, the garden s.p.a.ce itself will absorb your elemental and magic energy in your body from open wounds and orifices, turning you into a dried-up corpse in a few minutes if you don't manage to escape. After it does that, it absorbs your corpse, and your life essence, supplying it with much-needed energy to proliferate and maintain itself. The best part is: It's not limited to land!" Xander raised his left arm in an upward arm motion, causing the field to shake, before a piece of it starts to float on air, reaching 20-30 meters up in the sky. Ms. Amelia, on the other hand, had to move out of its area in case she suddenly lands on the garden and be absorbed by it.

Ms. Amelia shouted at Xander, who was on the ground, asking,

"Should I attack it now?" upon hearing this, Xander nodded and responded, "Ms. Wineheart, be careful. The garden can cast spells instinctively on its own as it continues to grow! So make sure you cast a spell that would ensure its death or the remnants of the spell's effect will slowly be devoured by the garden and can gain immunity from it, hehe."

Upon hearing this, Ms. Amelia, as well as the professors and the members of Brightheart were dumbfounded. Why would you design such a spell in the first place? This can literally be a walking fortress, ok? Under the scrutinizing looks he received from uppercla.s.smen, professors and from Ms. Amelia, he giggled, before twiddling his fingers together, acting like a toddler.

"I was bored ok, this spell is just one of my Advanced- I mean, Master cla.s.s spells in development. I haven't integrated it to my life essence yet, hehe." Upon hearing this, the looks of the professors and other uppercla.s.smen who were in Master cla.s.s became weirder. Although geniuses were known to do such a thing at Master cla.s.s, wherein they perfect a spell before integrating it to their life essence, didn't he just breakthrough to Master Cla.s.s? Why is he already creating his second spell this early, and this powerful??

"Ms. Amelia, you can ask the other professors to help you create a magic array to destroy the spell. Hurry though, if it reaches the size of 64 meters in diameter, All attacks below Mythic level are nulled!" Upon hearing this follow up statement from Xander, the looks the students and professors gave him were of undisguised horror and envy. A master cla.s.s spell being able to resist attacks of a Legendary Magician? That was notable. A master spell that can only be destroyed by a Mythic magician or higher? F*** you!

Ms. Amelia looked at the professors who were at Mythic cla.s.s, and communicated with them before all of them took certain positions around the garden.

Rapidly, numerous runic symbols, writings, flashed from their hands and bodies, moving towards the Garden, piece by piece, surrounding it like a sphere.

After more than a minute of continuous casting, the runic writings were complete and all they needed to do was cast the spell.

"Mythic cla.s.s forbidden spell array: Era of Duhsamduhsama: Sorrow and Misery!"

Immediately, the s.p.a.ce around the garden turned dark, chaotic and reeked of death, misery, and sorrow. Everyone around the field immediately retreated further away, as they knew this kind of spell can be damaging to anyone in the vicinity just by the aura it emanated.

After a few seconds, within the field, only Xander remained, seemingly unaffected by the spell. What he was doing was observing the array and the elements that made it up.

"Huh... Not only are there 5 elements present, but Darkness element is also present, as well as Elements of Life-Death, specifically the ones from the 7 emotions, 6 desires element series."

The 7 emotions were Pleasure, Anger, Sorrow, Fright, Worry, Fear, and Thought; the 6 desires were l.u.s.t, Vanity, Dignity, Pleasant Sounds, Good Life/Death, and Sensual Pleasures. There were Sorrow and Fear elements present, all containing a touch of death.

This is an extreme spell since it can actually seal off all sensory organs and at the same time, seal one's magic energy with the dominating force of darkness element over the 5 elements. It also uses the same mechanism the Garden uses: It absorbs elemental energy and particles around it, to strengthen and maintain the spell. Seeing this, Xander thought for a moment and decided to let loose his control over the absorption and growth of the spell because a question popped out in his head: Which one is stronger?

After removing the control over its growth and development, it rapidly and greedily absorbed the elements and magic power that was around it, attempting to destabilize the magic array the professors had set up around it, and use it to grow instead.

It was managing to resist the bombardment of attacks, each wave carrying the strength of 10 Mythic magicians attacking at the same time. However, each wave that it survived allowed it to grow stronger and stronger against the attacks. From the original burnt trees, and leafless plants, to slowly, more and more leaves survived and thrived. From the yellowish leaves to bright green leaves, and even the wilted flowers were already blooming brightly, releasing their own spells and attacks, all focused on absorbing and engorging the elemental energy entering the garden. The insects, small animals, and medium-sized animals born and killed in the garden slowly thrived and survived, using the attacks as a nutrient to grow and mature. After a total of 70 strikes, the garden was now starting to take initiative. After 108 strikes, it was beginning to absorb the energy and matter around it, rapidly increasing in size, devouring the runic writings surrounding it one by one, destabilizing the magic array.

In less than 2 minutes, the whole magic array collapsed, devoured by the Garden. Seeing this, the faces of the professors turned grave and began to move away from the garden, moving about 50 meters away from it. Their magic reserves were quite drained, and could barely maintain their flight. Xander on the other hand, watched as the garden grew, from its 34-meter diameter to an astounding 66-meter diameter. Basically, it covered a part of the field and was even casting a shadow at where Xander was.

He then changed his view to the Garden and began observing the changes. When he saw the interior area, the Garden was calm, just pa.s.sively absorbing the elemental particles and energy, as well as physical matter around it. Xander was not affected nor discovered by the biological beings inside. They were just minding their own business. When he had viewed the area using [Divine Eyes], he already discovered the mechanism of why no creatures can get out, or even survive once they were brought out: The garden existed in a separate universe!

It was considered foreign material and once they appeared outside the protection of the garden, the universe expels it or attempts to recycle it. Xander approached a few organisms created by the garden, such as a blood-red honeybee queen, a small anteater, and a dire wolf. There were many flowers present in the garden, and there was even a small field of multi-colored flowers even. It felt like a picturesque scene...before one would die.

There was a large tree in the middle of the Garden, which was the origin point of the Garden. Someone who had seen the garden grow from a single tree may a.s.sume this was the weakest point of the garden, and that by cutting it or destroying it, the garden would collapse; wrong. The tree was simply an initiator.

The weakest point of the spell was when the seed was just growing since it was the only organism in the garden at that time. So within a span of 2 to 5 seconds, one needs to destroy the tree completely, and the spell would collapse on its own. That was because as long as all creatures, plants, trees, flowers, etc. (basically biological beings) created by the garden are not destroyed, the garden is eternal and ever-increasing in size.

It was a pity for Xander, that he had to destroy the garden. Maybe in the future, he can make one grow as large as a Solar system, maybe. He was quite curious what was the limit of the creatures' evolution and growth inside the garden, and if they can break out of the Garden itself without dying.

Xander then returned to the field, and cast another spell: [Ragnarok]. He wanted to cast [Twilight Sonata], but according to the UTP the System got, it was only 8 pm. He can only cast it when the UTP is between 9 pm to 4:30 am. Pity, he could have gotten Seeds of Creation and Destruction from the spell.

Oh well, might as a well settle with one Seed of Life. [Ragnarok] was cast, and once again, everything went into chaos, destroying the garden bit by bit, compressing it into a form of a seed after 3 minutes. He immediately got the floating seed of life and returned to where Ms. Amelia and his cla.s.smates were, jovial and smiling. After all, he gained free labor from the professors and allowed him to understand the Garden even more.

"Ms. Wineheart, shall we head back to continue the training cla.s.s?" Xander asked innocently as if he didn't cause the top professors of the university to need to recover for at least 2-3 days. Ms. Amelia shook her head before responding,

"Mr. Cloverfield, we cannot continue because I would still have to finish the paperwork this spell of yours had caused me... the cla.s.s will be dismissed earlier, but we will continue tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will discuss the AoE spell that Mr. Cloverfield had demonstrated, before continuing with the training. Everyone, return and get your items and you are dismissed from cla.s.s. Good day to all." She bowed to everyone and left, flying with her artifact.

The students were a bit fazed and then clarity returned to their eyes, and they looked at Xander curiously and had a thought: If that spell was cast and we were forced against it, aren't we just cannon fodder then? They oozed another cold sweat, silently thanking that they knew their own limits at that time.

Both Valerie and Maryann, as well as Carly, had different reactions to the spell. Even by just watching, they felt they were touching something very, very unique concerning the elements and their relations.h.i.+p with one another. They decided to digest this information for the remainder of the day in their homes and hopefully, produce fruitful results on tomorrow's practice.

Of course, it wasn't just the trio who gained benefits; there were others in the cla.s.s who used this opportunity to do so. They also planned to do the same thing and hopefully improve their control abilities tomorrow. Xander, who had noticed these small changes among his cla.s.smates, paid it no mind and greeted them farewell before heading to the campus gates. He, of course, called his driver in advance.

Upon reaching the entrance, the car was already there and he opened the door to the pa.s.senger's side and got in. There was nothing out of the ordinary throughout the trip, and it was quite silent.