Time Twister

One thing's for sure; the ruins they found that enabled superluminal traveling, came most likely from a higher civilization or a being adept at s.p.a.ce-time elements. Anyhow, he saw that Faykes was still deep into his Magic meditation. He decided to continue his reading of research papers. After all, cla.s.ses start at 9 am, and it was just 6:45 am. He has plenty of time to spend.

Time pa.s.sed and Faykes had finished his Magic meditation, opening his eyes and releasing a breath of turbid air. Not only was his body cleaned and refined, but his comprehension of his primary elements was also improved. All his seeds had also grown from the size of his pinky nail to as big as a mango seed, and it was already compressed twice as well.

Xander, not raising his head from the tablet screen, merely said,

"I have another mission for you; check the families and clans that have a connection to the Galactic empire. All of them, including your family if they are involved. I'll give you 2 weeks to gather all the intel you can get. The rewards this time... how about a few Sage-level spells you can use for your pseudo-spells, as well as 1 kilogram of feathers from a bird-type Mythic magic beast, with elements that were air and earth/metal? How does that sound?"

When Xander placed this mission, it was also the last test for Faykes; whether he would betray his clan and truly pledge allegiance to him. At the same time, it was his way of supporting him on the road of becoming stronger. When Faykes heard the mission contents, his eyes glistened. He didn't hesitate.

"Don't worry Xander, I'll get you the accurate information within 2 weeks!" Faykes said, tapping his chest with his fist as if saying he is a strong man.

Xander merely nodded and stood up, and headed downstairs, as cla.s.s was about to begin in 10 minutes. Faykes followed Xander as well, talking about mundane things, and happenings in Eta.

Once they reached the cla.s.sroom, Xander's att.i.tude changed, acting calmer and less cold to others, even to Faykes. He and the other students began discussing what their progress was in magic meditation, as well as attempting to improve their own experiences.

Faykes shared his personal experience, causing the students to be at awe since they were actually still struggling to proceed with magic meditation even with cultivation skills from their families and clans. Some were jealous because they didn't have access to such resources; they had planned to begin selecting from the ones the university had. Xander had not partic.i.p.ated in the discussion, as it might be quite unfair or even damaging for their future if he began throwing terms like "origin point," "Cycle area 341, 446, 988, etc.," and "recycling process" while discussing. However, he did give hints through his small inserts and ideas about activating cultivation skills and then attempt to delve into deep meditation, as well as what one can focus during Magic meditation. The students welcomed his inputs because some of them were present yesterday when he had demonstrated his Master cla.s.s spell.

After a few more minutes of talking, Ms. Lim had finally entered the building, causing the students to head back to their seats. Ms. Lim then walked to the front of the cla.s.sroom and opened up the hologram projector.

"Ok cla.s.s, today, for those who have not selected a cultivation skill, please stand up and line up outside. For those who had selected their cultivation skills already, take a seat in one of the mats available and be at your most comfortable position. Attempt Magic meditation on your own, without cycling your cultivation skill first. Once I come back with the other students, we will begin with the meditation with the usage of cultivation skills." Ms. Lim said, and the hologram showed 6 figures and a step-by-step procedure concerning Magic meditation, repeating over and over again.

Ms. Lim then headed out after all the students who had not selected a cultivation skill have lined up; there were a total of 43 students out of the 108 students in the cla.s.s that left the building. Xander and the remaining students took their places on the mats available.

Faykes sat on the mat beside Xander. He was silent, unlike his usual self. For one, he was genuinely curious how great the cultivation skill Xander used. Another thing is that it was a cla.s.s hour, so nonsensical chats should be reserved after cla.s.s or during the break. He immediately delved into Magic meditation, familiarizing himself once again with the feeling.

Xander did as well, solemnly. He just lied down the mat, bringing out a pillow he just made with temporal replication a few seconds ago. He didn't bother hiding his capability of creating matter from 'elements' since he had already published papers about them with his alternate ident.i.ty Homer Simpson. He then closed his eyes and curled his body, like he was sleeping.

Some of the students also stopped being surprised by the capabilities that Xander demonstrated, so when they saw the concentration of elements forming a bona fide pillow, they weren't overly shocked. They basically set him as their standard to surpa.s.s in the following years, enabling them to rise up in their respective professions and fields. What surprised them was that Xander was... literally sleeping when he did his Magic meditation, and he looked...cute.

The girls could not help but giggle to themselves and whisper at each other, some even taking a picture of Xander, posting it in their social account with the caption, "Practicing Magic meditation xoxo with the great Xander Cloverfield

Of course, little did they know that Xander could still hear their whispers and even the clicking of the cameras the girls used. He just rolled his eyes, since he knew that any image of his uploaded will be deleted within 24 hours, tops. After a few minutes, everyone stopped talking and giggling, and they were attempting to undergo Magic meditation.

Maryann and Valerie were also very calm and serious about this. Like everyone here, they had their own cultivation skill inheritances, and they had been immersing themselves in understanding the skill even before they reached the right level to use them. Some that were here were actually at Elite-5, so they didn't really need a cultivation skill since they can't use the one they inherited. All they wanted, for now, is familiarize and enter the controlled, deep meditative state one must undergo to be considered to be doing Magic meditation.

For the next 30 minutes, there sighs, breaths of frustration coming from the students. Although they could easily reach deep meditation, the process on which they are understanding the elements and their power was very pa.s.sive and was not easily controlled. They couldn't change the focus of their meditation to that of enlightenment of the elements and the mysteries they hold, but rather, a form of restive meditation.

At this time, Ms. Lim had returned with the students who had gotten their own cultivation skills that suited their primary elements. The students looked excited since most of them were not from large clans or well-off families with their own

She then headed to the front of the room, in front of the students on the mats. The returning students took their places on the empty mats in the room, relaxing and arranging themselves to their best postures. Ms. Lim looked at everyone, and lightly clapped; A subtle wave woke up everyone from their deep meditations, causing them to open their eyes.

Only 2 people were not awoken: Faykes and Xander. Ms. Lim looked at the two and was surprised to see that Faykes was already circulating his own cultivation skill, acclimatizing his body, mind, and life essence doll to the universe. When she looked at Xander, however, she couldn't feel anything amiss from Xander's posture, meditation or reaction. Right now, the wave she produced has a special effect of waking targets from their sleep or their deep meditations, but it wouldn't work if someone was running their own cultivation skill while undergoing Magic meditation.

She didn't bother focusing too much on Xander or Faykes; after all, the former has caused quite a stir already. Most likely, that kid was using his cultivation skill already.

In truth, Xander was just lightly sleeping. He wasn't affected by the magic wave released because [Absolute Defense] immediately neutralized it.

Ms. Lim began her quick overview of how Magic meditation could be done.

What she said could be summed up in 6 easy steps. For those without cultivation skills, it was just 5, removing the 3rd step.

1. Close one's eyes, removing all distractions around you.

2. Tune out all the sounds, sensations around oneself.

3. Activate and circulate your cultivation skill.

4. Enter deep meditation with a simple, directive thought, such as "going to focus on elements, going to focus on elements...." over and over again. This would ensure you would be 'conscious' in commanding what happens in your deep meditation.

5. Place a trigger to allow you to wake up from deep meditation, such as receiving physical stimulus of a certain level, the amount of time that had pa.s.sed, etc.

6. Begin your process of comprehension and enlightenment; just remember: Do not break through between cla.s.ses!

The students with and without cultivation skills began their process of magic meditation. Xander also woke up momentarily, stretching his limbs out before yawning. He then looked around dazedly, before deciding to fall back to his pillow, activating his cultivation skill and proceeding to the process of Magic cultivation.

Once he did though, everyone suddenly s.h.i.+vered, and the whole building creaked, causing Ms. Lim and the students to be alarmed. Ms. Lim prepared to deploy her powers but realized that the elemental particles and the elemental energy around the vicinity were raging as if something was controlling it. They were moving towards... Xander's body. Ms. Lim was astonished. Even those around him were rapidly awakened by the lack of elemental energy and particles, causing them to suffer a bit of backlash.

Faykes had awakened, coughing out a mouthful of blood, surprised. He then saw that the droplets of blood were slowly moving to the side as if guided by a mysterious force. He then turned to his side and saw what was visibly happening around Xander.

Xander's body was rapidly taking in both elements and matter around them. The ground, the mat, and even the pillow were slowly disappearing, bit by bit, being absorbed in their purest states as elements. Even the blood that the people who surrounded Xander had coughed out was purified and absorbed by Xander as elemental energy. The air around the building was also decreasing, causing Ms. Lim to change her att.i.tude and shouted to the students,

"Everyone! Please leave the building! You might not survive in an area without air!" Upon shouting this, all the students stood up and hurriedly left the vicinity. Ms. Lim also had contacted the remaining staff on the second floor to evacuate the premises, and he also alerted the Mythic magician professors present on the campus.

All these happened within the span of 2 minutes, and the surrounding mats around Xander had already disappeared, and the ground had already caved in. He continued to absorb the elements and matter around him pa.s.sively, immersed at attaining comprehension of the elements. Earlier, he had received a boost in comprehending the Emotion series under the Life-death elements, allowing him to have a greater grasp of how it worked and how he, as a sentient being, is affected by these series of elements.

As he was contemplating the matter of self-discovery and understanding, the whole building was continuously shaking, as if it could not handle the pressure happening inside. When the students, professors, and Ms. Lim saw this, they thought for a moment that it was going to crash, causing them to panic.

It was Faykes who placated them.

"It's due to the difference of pressure outside and inside the building. Remember that Xander had taken all the matter around him, doesn't that mean the area is a vacuumed s.p.a.ce? The building openings need to be opened or else it will collapse on its own."

Hearing this, one of the professors, who was Number 5, rolled his eyes and made a hole at the top of the building, allowing air to enter from above. They sighed in relief before they heard Valerie's remark.

"Why are you relieved? The building will still be unstable and most likely collapse; recall that he's still absorbing both elements and matter! That includes the ground and everything inside!" Realizing the situation, Number 3 scanned the interior of the building and saw a clear view of the first floor.

Xander was now surrounded by a 2-meter radius sphere of elemental energy and matter. There were no movements from Xander who was inside the sphere. He was just curled up, even moving around. For the next 2 minutes, the sphere didn't increase in size, nor did the ground below it continue depressing.

He did a quick scan and saw that only matter suspended in the air was being absorbed along with the elements. Seeing the situation stabilize, He reported what had happened to Number 5 and the rest of the professors. After a minute of intense discussions, they turned to Ms. Lim, who then listened to their suggested plan.

Ms. Lim was quite bewildered and even astonished by the plan. Initially, she had thought they would send one of the professors to forcefully wake up the student, but they decided to... resume cla.s.ses and just adjust the students to surround Xander?

Ms. Lim controlled her facial features, and looked at her students looking at her before saying,

"Cla.s.s, we will resume our meditation. You will be surrounding Xander, meditating under the influence of the increased elemental density. This can be considered a blessing in disguise because you are able to cultivate in a place full of pure elemental particles and energy. You can use this opportunity to have a faster speed in cultivation, and even do your first round of expansion and compression of magic seeds. Of course, if you feel unsafe, you may opt-out to skip the cla.s.s today, and it won't be put in your record."

For a while, the students were taken aback, before showing looks of surprise, and bewilderment. Even Valerie, Faykes, and Maryann couldn't help but consider: Is Xander really a lucky star for the cla.s.s? Or a disaster?

However, Faykes asked a vital question: What happens if Xander undergoes a deviatory magic psychosis during cultivation due to us absorbing the elemental energy around him? Upon hearing this, the professors and Ms. Lim were taken aback, before pondering, and then having a cold sweat run behind their spines.

"N-no more, the cla.s.s is dismissed. Thank you Mr. Faykes for reminding us of a vital point we have forgotten." Number 3 coughed, a bit embarra.s.sed since they were supposed to be the smart ones and the a.n.a.lytical ones.

If Xander Cloverfield underwent deviatory magic psychosis... not only do they have to face the power and influence of the Cloverfield family, they would first have to survive the initial fallout from his parents and their personal connections. Second, Xander Cloverfield is currently one of the leads they have concerning the 2nd ranking member of Brightforce. Lastly, with his abilities that he had demonstrated and suspected to have, he could easily demolish the school grounds, only to be stopped with the sacrifice of a lot of people.

So in the meantime, the students from Basic Magic Training cla.s.s were to cultivate under the sun, ensuring their learning process wasn't interrupted. They did this in the newly-restored field, and they began their process of Magic meditation. Time pa.s.sed and it was already near the end of cla.s.s. The majority of the students had successfully entered Magic meditation at least once, maintaining it for around 10 minutes shortest, to an hour, which was done by Faykes Valentine.

As Ms. Lim was praising Faykes, everyone felt a large tremor, coming from the Magic Training building. Immediately, they all fell to the ground, screaming in pain, some were crying, some were laughing madly for no reason, some were beginning to eat the food they had in their bags.

Number 6, who was at the proximity of the building, immediately realized what was happening, and immediately raised a magic barrier that consisted of his 2 elements under the 7 emotions and 6 desires series of elements below the Emotion series of the Life-Death elements.

However, before he could react, he felt a dangerous power emerging from the building. He wanted to shout and warn the others, but before he and the other professors could act, everyone rapidly disintegrated when the wave of that potent, dangerous power expanded to cover the whole planet.

It was instantaneous, and before those in the Mythic, DemiG.o.d, and Divine magicians could react, the wave had reached their bodies, causing them to disappear without a trace.

_____________________________________

Xander, who was the cause of the disturbance, was in a state of epiphany.

He was completely enamored to understanding a facet of the Life-Death elements: The Emotion representation under it. This was similar to s.p.a.ce and time representations he had seen through the system.

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.

Pleasure. The motivation that fuels us to reach our dreams. It is the feedback produced by the life essence doll once something was done in line with what one wants, a form of positive energy.

Anger. The burst of negative energy our life essence dolls produce, affecting the mind and ultimately, our actions.

Sorrow. The burst of negative energy our life essence dolls produce, related to things that are lost or unfulfilled that carries significant weight to the person. Karma and Sorrow elements are quite intertwined.

Fright and Fear. The former is born from the latter. One is a warning from their existence, their life essence dolls, while the other is produced when the warning is heard but is not resolved.

Thought and Worry. The former brings forth the latter. One enables us to be living beings, whether as an instinct or conscious/subconscious thoughts. From these, worry rises when the things we have expected and we actually experience may not actually be in line with one another.

The desires were much simpler to understand once he understood the 7 emotions. After all, these were born from the latter.

The l.u.s.t, Pleasant Sounds, and Sensual Pleasures elements were born of pleasure and thought, and worry. The want of enjoyment to produce positive feedback from their existence gave rise to these desires.

The Vanity element was brought about by worry, sorrow, and fear. It focuses on the memory of oneself, the worry and fear of being forgotten, so they obsess with their selves and through others' compliments.

The Dignity element was brought by Pleasure, Anger, Fright, and Thought. It focuses on the ego of oneself formed from thought, brought by the pleasure of being recognized as such, anger of being disregarded, a warning from their own existences.

The last desire, a Good Life/Death, is born from fear, thought, and pleasure. The wanting of the existence of a good life/death indicates stability from the unstable future, of the unknown. Once we are ensured of this stability, it brings positive energy.

Usually, magic cultivators disregarded aspects of their emotions and desires, thinking of them as hindrances; they never saw it as a complete setup to help them break through levels and cla.s.ses. Excess of these emotions and desires would be the same as completely removing them, and thus there is a need for balance.

Xander had understood this, and his Life-Death elements comprehension felt like it was deepened. Xander had set up a time to wake him up 5 minutes before cla.s.ses ended. When he felt the alarm, he could feel his consciousness and life essence doll returning to reality, acclimating to the situation that had happened.

When he opened his eyes, this was where an accident happened. Because of the feedback from the experience of the Magic meditation, [In a Moment] activated on its own, once again through the simple movement of his eyes. Xander had only realized this when he saw a familiar, desolate and destroyed landscape of nothingness around him. He was literally in s.p.a.ce. Eteria was gone. To be technical about it, even time and s.p.a.ce did not exist in the area where Eteria was once was. Even the satellites and the moons were gone. The only indication it was once there was that the constellations he could see were that of Eteria's skyline. In the area where he was, he could even feel the powers of the Void element surging.

He panicked for a bit, before he calmed down, slowing down his breath. He knew that panicking can make things worse. He immediately blinked and reined in his powers, returning everything back to normal, like nothing ever happened. There were no more rifts, where one can see the Great Void, nor were there any changes.

He opened his eyes again, and he was back inside the building, everything was the same, except for the gaping hole around him. He then returned the missing land and the lost mats.

He then headed out of the building, meeting the confused, horrified and at the same time, relieved faces of the professors.

Xander acted confused, puzzled by their reactions.

"Uh, professors? What's up?"