Everything around me burns.
Raging flames explode outwards like a supernova, lighting up the endless darkness of the abyss of near infinite size. It shouldn't be able to reach the edge of the room due to spatial compression, but it can try.
Space is expanding faster than even the speed of light!
Extreme heats vaporize bone and flesh all alike, yet one thing remains.
My consciousness…
Although I could heal my physical body endlessly thanks to my power, my soul could only take so much punishment before fracturing.
I do have a soul even I am an Aspect, right? It would be strange if I don't, so I will believe I do have one for the sake of not overthinking things. Besides, its existence is evidenced by my spiritual awareness, therefore, I must have a soul or something close to one to be able to feel spiritual energy.
When did I become aware of spiritual energy?
It wasn't when I first meet Terra, the Master of Chaos.
Nope. It was when I had jumped all the way to the beginning of time, just to see what is at the start of everything.
In the presence of those Primordial beings, shrouded in darkness, my spiritual awareness was forcibly awakened.
I didn't notice it back then, but now that I think more about it, it must be one way to awaken spiritual energy within a person. Perhaps I can use this to awaken others later on.
Hmm…?
Regardless of what a soul might be, I could feel it breaking under the relentless assaults by the divine flames of a Dragon God.
The attacks actually making me become more and more spiritual aware, forcing me to learn faster and faster. I could finally feel the spiritual energy of the world.
Incredible! I didn't expect that!
The astral entity, born from the will and intent of a Dragon God, drawls all its power from the magical energy within my body.
It is quite an ingenious curse.
And until my magical energy is depleted, the astral dragon does not dissipate. It will continue to attack me, physically and spiritually.
I have withstood the attacks with my will and my will alone. My power rewinds time whenever I finally lost consciousness. Even when my body is vaporized by heat and fire, I still didn't lose consciousness and remain aware of my surroundings.
It is a very strange feeling. An out of body experience…?
The experience is becoming stronger and stronger, lasting longer and longer with each painful death.
Why do I put myself through such unfathomable sufferings?
I need data. I need to experiment. I need to understand. I need to feel exactly what is happening!
Knowledge is power!
And true powers come from the ability to crush the wills of others without even lifting a single finger, and I am willing to do what it takes to acquire such power!
While I am unable to reverse the damages done to my soul or essence, it seems to heal itself overtime, relatively speaking.
Everything is relative when you are talking about time.
I am unable to speed up the healing process since my power does not affect the soul at the moment, so I will have to just wait it out like a caveman.
Great…
As I continue to fall in the dark abyss of near-infinite width, height and length, I have a read through all the data that the far-future Alex and Hans have provided for me.
It keeps my mind off all the pains my spirit is suffering from. The divine flame is no joke, but it seems to make me stronger each time I pick myself up again.
Good grinding! I will make this curse works for me!
As for all the data I have uploaded to Legion, when I needed a research done instantly, I will just jump into the future and grab the research before returning to the present again.
It is not cheating!
Cheating would be knowing everything without needing to figure out loopholes. I earn everything I've learned through blood and sweat. Well, except my power of time. That just comes with the package I suppose.
It is a good thing that I take the shortcut. I would have to wait a few millennia for the complete analysis of spatial compression otherwise.
It does take Alex and Hans and Mystic that long with basically infinite resources at their disposal.
Did humanity survive beyond the 31st century?
Nope.
They destroy the world by the 23rd century due to the widespread use of magic. A knife is enough to kill a person when given to child. A nuclear bomb is enough to kill millions, so I have expected as much when you give basically reality-bending power to the human race.
A cataclysmic magical event shatters the planet and destroy much of the solar system.
Some idiots must have decided that they know better than everyone else.
There are always those idiots, ruining it for everyone else. Only this time, they have killed pretty much everyone else in the process.
But thanks to the advances in both technology and magic, Hydra and Shield continues to live on. And with the fabricator technology at their disposal, as long as they have energy, they can survive in the depth of space practically forever – I assume.
Neither Hydra and Shield is not there, waiting for me when I had jumped to the future and witnessed for myself what remains of the solar system. An endless debris field drifting in the unforgivable nature of space.
Hydra and Shield probably have left, looking for another habitable world.
That is the contingency plan should Earth is destroyed for whatever reason. I didn't bother finding out where they have gone, but history tends to repeat itself until someone put a stop to all that pointless destruction – me.
Alex and Hans are still there, waiting for me all alone in the void of space. Quite a few people did wait with them at the start, but many have ascended to higher realm once they reached 10th circle magical power.
How they manage to become that powerful are within all the data they have given me.
Unfortunately, their methods are not very useful since they have speed through the whole thing. This makes them some of the weakest 10th circle mages ever lived in comparison to Azula reality, but still the greatest mages the prime universe has ever known.
Furthermore, Alex and Hans only concentrate on a single element, their natural affinity. This is pretty much the same with everyone else who awakens their magic.
It is very difficult to master two elements. It takes exponential amount of time and resources. Neither they have after the world is destroyed.
Alex and Hans would be considered as 10th circle dot mages for having mastery just over a single basic element. Mastery over two elements, would make them a line mage. Three would be a triangle. Four would be a square. I think you get the picture.
Mastering them all would make the mage a paragon. I am aiming for that since it is investing in myself, not simply just ensuring the survival of human race.
Any less than perfection is not worth my time.
While I won't be using their training method, it does give me some insights to how to level up. Endless training increases their proficiency, hence growing their magical and expanding their understanding, but taking thousands of years to reach 10th circle seems kind of long.
Well, I do have plenty of time. And I inherit all of their spells. They figure out all the runes we acquired from the Nazis. The rune that empowers bullets is called Protect.
Wow, I can see the irony!
When Protect combines with an Elemental Rune like Fire or Wind, it becomes an Enhancement or an Enchantment spell, protecting whoever being casted upon or an item.
This is very interesting. Hans spends a lot of time on creating Enchantment or Enchantment spell. This would make him an Enchanter. Alex on the other hand, spends more time working on offensive spells, but he does have Conjuration spells, summoning monsters.
Very, very interesting.
I thank both Alex and Hans for their hard work and then erase them from reality by jumping back to the past. The future is no different with I am here.
And they will be the most powerful mages in all realities, not just this one! But for now, I will let them go their own pace. It will take a while for them to reach 1st circle.
I do wonder what is this realm they are talking about?
Alex and Hans do not know since from their experience, whoever ascends won't be able to return to the mortal realm again. That is why they didn't want to ascend, on the account of me.
Interesting. Maybe I will learn about this realm thing later.
It is time to torture my body and spirit again. How many times is it now? Well, I have plenty of time. I did compress the time around me just like when I was with Eliana.
Temporal compression allows me to make time flow faster or slower. Making it flow faster allows me to experience years while only a fraction of a second passes outside.
I explore this concept when I got tired of jumping back to the past and merging with myself repeatedly. Keep doing that makes me does make me lost track of time.
There is just so much to my power.
"Analysis completed, Supreme Commander."
Legion notifies me when there is no new information can be acquired with simply torturing myself. It did take several hundred cycles. Kind of slow, to be honest.
The room return to normal, and I could see scorch marks all over the wall. The mircomachines that is the walls quickly fix itself, returning to pristine conditions.
The divine flames reach that far? I didn't underestimate the power of a Dragon God no matter what kind of insults I spews in the heat of the moment. But this really makes me thing.
Heat can travel faster than speed of light.
Also, with that kind of repair capability, it will be very hard to destroy my robotic army.
Plus, their number is endless.
They are designed to take down both Hydra and Shield after all.
It is my insurance against all human-lead organizations. If freedom is the cause of extinction then I will remove freedom, but what kind of dystopia will the future be?
Thinking too much on that wastes time.
I revise the new data, learning that the divine flames originate from the center of my body, where my heart should be. It spreads outwards and engulfs my entire body before attacking my spirit. All of this happens very quickly, but not fast enough to escape Legion.
Magic on the other hand, forces magical energy to flow through the limbs, usually the hands and then infests the air, forming an incantation magical diagram for casting. Magical energy can come from the core or from the pathways. The core takes longer than the pathways.
"Require more data for cleansing affliction known as Burning Curse. Alternative options are possible, Supreme Commander."
Legion informs me and shows me several options. I review each one before making my decision. There is no way to remove the Burning Curse, but there is a way for me to cast magic. Since magical energy flows to the limb, I will just store it right where the hands are.
This is where magical capacitor comes in. However, they are huge and bulky. But huge and bulky are no longer a problem with spatial compression.
"Schematic acknowledged. Processing request."
Legion notifies me as it constructs a new apparatus for me. A metallic wristband is created. Two to be exact since want to practice with both hands. Those bands wrap around my wrist.
"Excellent work, Legion. It is time to become a part of me."
I request and take off my Hydra ring and toss it towards the wall. The wall opens up and seems to eat the ring. While Legion is carrying out my order, I try to form a magical incantation diagram.
Seeing the diagram manifests in the air does bring a smile to my face.
However, I feel a sharp piercing pain in my chest. It seems that the Burning Curse didn't like my little bypass. Like I give a shit. But the pain will become fairly unbearable as my magic core grows in size. I will have to find a permanent solution to this – or just kill the Dragon God.
Killing the Dragon God seems easier, so that is plan A, I guess.
The room collapse all around me, as all the micromachines swirl into a singularity. That singular is the new ring on a pedestal.
It has been upgraded.
I reach out my hand and grab the ring of power. Without using magic, I can see the endless darkness within the one ring in my mind.
This is the power of Magictech. Magical energy is not required to cast any spells. With it, however, the spells become more powerful!
Countless red light emanates in the endless darkness, revealing each individual machine in the ocean of metals, and they stretch far beyond the horizon.
"I am Legion, for we are endless."