Master of Time

What is up with that? He is scheming something, I swear.

In any case, I did learn the whole picture or maybe most of the picture. Zeus never tells me everything for one reason or another.

Sigh.

Zeus and Zephyr need to farm these Spirit Shards in order to reconstitute their missing soul, at least a little. It will take at least a million shards each, so they have a lot of work ahead of them.

Having an actual soul is a must to enter the Twisted Nether, a place of infinite dimensions, apparently.

It is all to hunt bigger game as well as for training, not to mention looting. There are a lot of lost items, weapons, and artefact there.

Being a temporal clone, they have lost much of their powers, especially their spiritual power. They are pretty much in the same situation as me, except that I still have a soul.

So technically, I can enter the Twisted Nether myself for a treasure hunt.

Can enter doesn\'t mean that I should.

I am not stupid enough or insane enough to attempt a raid alone, especially so many people far more powerful than me currently have already died there. I mean spiritually wise.

And I don\'t mean simply die.

They cease to exist if their soul is destroyed or devoured. Without a soul, there is no rebirth as well as reincarnation. It seems like the death of the corporal body is more or less an inconvenience to people with any real power.

It actually makes sense in the grand scheme of things.

The Mortal Plane is one of the lowest planes in all of existence. It is also the most populated.

Despite the obvious danger, so many people still want to enter the Twisted Nether, including Zeus and Zephyr. For one, it is to train their spiritual power. For two, it is known to contain an entrance into the place that Zeus wants to go.

Zenith.

Seems like all the powerhouses are at Zenith, a fitting name.

Considering the hype, I actually also want to go there, if just to snoop around due to it sounding a lot like an exclusive club.

Unfortunately, it is not that easy to get to Zenith.

Not only the entrance into such an exclusive place is hidden deep within the Twisted Nether, it is also being guarded by Spiritual Beasts of Aeon, the strongest of all Ranked Spiritual Beasts.

If one of these beasts ever step onto the Mortal Plane, all souls within that said plane will instantly be devoured, at least Zeus seems to think so.

There is no reason to doubt him since it is one of those times that he appears to be genuinely serious.

Zeus actually has never seen one before because if he did, he wouldn\'t be here talking to me. He would either manage to enter Zenith or he would cease to exist. There is no third option when facing an Aeon Ranked Spiritual Beast.

It is all in or don\'t bother trying.

An interesting warning to all those that tries to reach Zenith.

In any case, Spiritual Beasts of Aeon are probably gatekeeper or something similar.

And since I am an Aspect of Time, I will certainly have to face a Spiritual Beast of Aeon one day. Maybe more than one.

But until then, it is better to avoid running into them. It is very unlikely to meet one since these beasts reside deep within the Twisted Nether.

In any case, it is actually better to avoid all Ranked Spiritual Beasts unless I am seeking to kill one. They seem like trouble, considering the spiritual power they wield.

Power level do increase exponentially the longer they live. It is because for them to live that long, they have to compete and devour each other. How did one come to be in the first place anyway?

Where do Soul actually comes from? No one really knows.

In any case, it is a good thing that these Spiritual Beasts are rarely found on the Mortal Plane. It is not really their natural habitat, and the Twisted Nether do call for them.

A Million Ranked Spirit Beast is enough to scare the pants off most cultivators from what Zeus is telling me.

Realities that have any form of spiritual cultivation usually contend with at most thousand years beasts only, and that already causing enough problem as Spiritual Beasts are immune to all physical and most magical attacks.

Evil Spirits aren\'t really regard as Spiritual Beasts.

But while evil spirits do not possess the same overwhelming power as actual Spiritual Beasts, they are still pretty dangerous since they can think and act intelligently.

Beasts are called beasts because they are stupid most of the time.

That makes me feel a lot safer, knowing those 5 evil spirits are not as deadly as I first initial thought.

I was being sarcastic.

Humans are pretty weak physically, but their brains help them take down a lot of predators to become what they are today. It is the reason why these evil spirits manage to survive that long in the Twisted Nether, considering the place is crawling with Spiritual Beasts.

They have a brain, and they know how to use it.

So, yeah, that makes me feel a lot safer.

How troublesome. It is very troublesome to be honest.

But after a clear head, I realize that even if Zeus didn\'t cause this problem, someone else will.

It cannot be avoided if I am to regain my power.

Well, at least I don\'t have to worry about the lunatics who had built the house.

They are likely dead.

I could bring them back to have a chat to why they want to create a portal into hell but get the nether instead. I hope it isn\'t because they just want to see Lucifer.

Actually, I am more interested in how they could do it.

Opening a portal into another plane of existence, I mean.

Even Zeus is not sure how they did it exactly. He only forces the rift the open wider through raw power alone. It is not the same as forming a bridge in the first place.

I ponder about that for a moment while looking at the Spirit Shards alone in my spatial dimension. It\'s really easy to clone them, but the cloned Spirit Shards are empty of spiritual energy.

Even so, they are still useful, so I clone a million of them.

Legion did analyze a shard, finding the just plain glass container. It is the same finding as blank monster core. Neither are obviously glass even if they look like glass. They are as fragile as glass though, so it is pretty dangerous to leave them lying around.

Regardless of what Spirit Shards are made of, I have Legion prepare an arena for me.

Once Legion did, I take out a bottle of mana and consume it. Magical energy immediately fills my body and flows within my body, and with magical energy, a certain Dragon God decide to come out to play.

"Hello Ingra."

I greet as the burning dragon surrounds me and roars, sending a powerful blast of flames against me in an attempt to vaporize me. I defend against the attack, but just like before, it is far too powerful to be stopped.

Despite being magical in nature, it damages my soul, meaning it is capable of harming spirits.

And as Ingra is completely focused on obliviating me, Legion attempts to sap it of its spiritual energy, and it is working. Those Spirit Shards glow with power, but just like monster core, it could not contain the might of a Dragon God.

Did I contain Zeus in a monster core without much effort? Why is it so hard for Ingra, who is also just a will of the original?

I guess this is different between an actual imparted will versus an actual temporal clone.

Ingra appears to be pissed off at my attempt to sap its spiritual energy. It attacks me with a lot more ferocity, but once my magical energy runs out, it has no choice but to retreat back into my soul.

Well. That didn\'t work. I guess I need bigger Spirit Shards. These shards are from Spirit Hounds, which are years to decades Spirit Beasts. Basically, ants in the Twisted Nether.

It is not a complete loss since Legion did get a lot of data when spiritual energy of Ingra gets absorbed into a Spirit Shard. Into millions of Spirit Shards.

Despite not being able to detect spiritual energy visually or electronically, Legion can actually detect when a Shard is filled with energy. This is because one a shard is filled with spiritual energy, it becomes invisible.

Since a Spirit Shard only need to come into contact with spiritual energy to begin absorbing, I just think of a good way to detect spiritual energy.

"Legion, workshop."

I request the workshop, so I can design a new type of drone. Upgrading Shield\'s Surveillance Network will require some overhauling, not to mention time, but to create a new cloak drone didn\'t really take that much time.

Aside from cloaking and antigravitational devices and the essential, the spiritual sensor only needs to carry a Spirit Shard. If it runs into spiritual energy, the shard will become invisible, thus basically telling me where there is spiritual energy.

Once I finish design the bug, I really wish the Miniaturization Project is complete. If it did, I could shrink the new spiritual sensor into the size of an ant. It is as big as a coin right now.

In any case, it allows me to locate places with spiritual energy. Perhaps, I will be able to find a Spiritual Nexus somewhere in the world.

Having one will speed things up for Zeus and Zephyr since they are able to absorb a lot of pure spiritual energy. It also helps me to cultivate.

Spiritual Nexus connects to the Spiritual Plane. A place similar to the Twisted Nether. It is one of the places where souls go when their corporal body expires.

So, there is that.

It isn\'t as nearly as interesting as the Twisted Nether, considering only the dead can go to the Spiritual Plane. Going there as living person is asking to die.

Anyway, I have Legion fabricate the new drone. A trillion of them. It takes Legion about 10 minutes to do what I have asked. The fabricating capability is impressive.

Once Legion is finished calibrating them, I return to the real world and let them loose. It will take about a day or so for them to disperse all over America. A week to disperse around the world.

If I need more, I will have Legion build more, but it isn\'t really necessary since the drones are not like stationary camera. They will always be on the move.

And while Legion is carrying out my wishes, I drive to the hospital to check up on Christina. Shield has found her mother. She is living in Pennsylvania.

It is a long drive, but not so long with my power.

I initially thought of taking care of Christina myself, but it didn\'t seem right with her mother is still alive along with her younger sister. It is better for her to reunite with her family.

Furthermore, Christina is far too young to be useful to me. Her ability did not manifest yet. It mightn\'t, considering not every baby carrying the M-Strain will.

Of course, I didn\'t come to pick her from the inhouse playground at the hospital alone.

And Christina is frightful to see her father with me.

It is not actually her father, who is in intensive care due to me beating him up.

"Christina, sweetheart. Listen to me."

Legion speaks to Christina while wearing her father\'s body and face. Not literally because that would be quite gross. Not to mention unnecessary with shapeshifting capability.

"Daddy will be going away for a long time, so I will have your mother take care of you. Please go with this doctor, Max. Listen to everything he says, okay? He will take you to your mother. And I am sorry for everything I did to you. I have been a very bad father."

Legion tells her and then gives her a hug. She is both shocked and surprised at the hug.

It seems like her father rarely hug her, at least not like this.

Her small hands eventually reciprocate, wrapping around Legion and hugging him tightly. It is the best I could give her since her father is in a coma. He also wouldn\'t have done such a thing.

Despite what had happened, Christina does not really hate him. He is still her father after all.

And like most people say, blood is thicker than water. I suppose I believe that as well since I am paying far too much attention to someone like Christina.

The embrace lasts for a long time, and once it is done, Legion says his farewell before leaving the room without hesitation. He has finished his acting.

Surprisingly, Christina chases after him, but he is nowhere to be seen.

"Daddy. Daddy!"

Christina calls out as I pat her on the head a few times before speaking up.

"Let\'s go, Christina. I will take you to your mother like your father has wanted. And we can also go for dinner on the way there."