"Master, I'm afraid this won't work."
Hearing Fang Mo's request, Ah Xue unexpectedly shook her head.
"Why not?"
Fang Mo looked at Ah Xue a bit strangely.
"Because I'm not very skilled in barrier magic. After all, in that forest, all barrier magic is handled by the witches," Ah Xue explained. "I can only cast an Ice Barrier, but its effect would turn this mountain range into an extremely cold place... You understand what I mean, right, Master?"
"Oh, I get it."
Fang Mo nodded, Ah Xue had made it clear that her ice magic would only turn this place into a twilight glacier.
Just like the terrain where the Snow Queen resides in the Twilight Forest, besides extreme cold and solid ice, there was nothing else; it was truly a land of eternal frost.
"By the way... Master, you mentioned wanting to teach Jojo magic, right?" Ah Xue asked. "The kid has some talent; if you really want to teach magic, should we ask the witches for help?"
"Huh?"
Hearing Ah Xue's suggestion, Fang Mo was taken aback. "Ask the witches to come over? Are they knowledgeable in this area?"
"Those witches were once real Archmages when they were alive; they manage most of the barrier domains in that forest," Ah Xue explained. "They have a very deep grasp of magical knowledge. Although their own strength is not as great as mine, the Hydra, or that evil spirit, they are very suitable as teachers, especially since... Master, you don't really know any magic, do you?"
"Cough, cough, your master is a melee mage..."
Fang Mo awkwardly coughed and said, "I've watched tutorials; the internet says melee mages should max out armor penetration, attack speed, berserk, lifesteal, dual wielding heavy weapons, etc. As for spells... you just need to learn a single illumination spell, and my weapon already has a glow enhancement attribute, so even that's unnecessary. I can just hack away."
"..."
Ah Xue stared at Fang Mo for a long time, seemingly wanting to retort but ultimately gave up, sighing and saying, "Never mind... as long as you're happy."
"Having the witches teach magic does sound pretty good."
Upon seeing Ah Xue's expression, Fang Mo smiled and then explained with some seriousness: "However, we can't go back just yet. The Book of Ages allows us to travel between two worlds, but the flow of time is different in each. If we return for just a moment, it's possible that decades or even centuries could have passed here."
"Ah, is that so?"
Hearing this, Ah Xue also understood. It seemed that the previous twelve years, in her master's view, had also passed in an instant.
"Just teach them according to my methods for now."
Fang Mo waved his hand: "There are still some things I need to confirm, so we won't go back for the time being."
"Okay then."
Ah Xue didn't say much, just lifted her little hand: "If we can't go back, then we can't set up the barrier either. Let's just make do with this for now."
As soon as she finished speaking, a mist of ice began to spread not far ahead.
Then dozens of floating ice sprites, resembling sunflowers, flew out.
"My god! Naiads!?"
Fang Mo was immediately astonished upon seeing this.
"Naiads?" Ah Xue paused for a moment: "What does that mean? Is it a name you specifically gave to these ice sprites?"
"Um... more or less."
Fang Mo nodded, to be honest, this little thing suddenly evoked his memories.
Naiads is a monster in the game Dungeon & Fighter. Back when the game was at version 60, all kinds of sprite monsters were hard to beat. He was still in school at the time, didn't have money to spend on the game, and his little sword spirit was poked to death by these ice sprites countless times.
But back then... Well, although he often died while grinding, he still enjoyed it immensely.
Even now, Fang Mo remembers dying from the Dark Thunder Ruins all the way to the Second Vertebra, then being cleaved to death by the Ghost Cry Shadow Scythe in the Shadow Maze, getting beaten in turns by the three giants in the Lava Cave, being frustrated by the Headless Knight's healing speed, being chewed on by rats in Hamulin...
And then there was the Abyss Party's ghost-like Dark King Sidir.
Some people online have said that they don't believe in things like family affection because they were abused by their father with a solid steel pipe 20cm in diameter. Actually, what this person said is true... because Fang Mo had to grind through his own dad.
In short, whether it's the plot or anything else, he still remembers all those experiences.
Unfortunately, later versions changed too quickly. First, there was a mysterious major shift, then a group raid mode popped up, and Fang Mo soon gave up on it.
"Ah, if only there was a Tome of Ages to go to the Arad Continent."
Recalling past experiences, Fang Mo sighed, "I wonder if Kaili can enhance the Tinker' Construct weapons. I really want to steal her crappy furnace... and then randomly seal a few Apostles in the weapon."
"Master, what are you talking about?"
Ah Xue of course couldn't understand, and asked in confusion.
"Oh, it's a story from another world," Fang Mo casually explained. "Back then, I was an adventurer, constantly spending money to protect that world... Eventually, I came to my senses and left, becoming the god of the current MC world."
"Spending money? Protecting the world?"
Ah Xue paused upon hearing this, "It seems... you've never mentioned this before."
"After all, it's not something glorious."
Fang Mo waved his hand dismissively, "Enough, let's not talk about this. Go make me something to eat."
"Mhm."
Ah Xue didn't ask any further and headed straight back into the villa.
Fang Mo had brought many ingredients from the MC world, and some were already in the fridge. Ah Xue had been practicing her cooking skills for twelve years, so making a meal was easy for her.
While the little maid was busy cooking,
Fang Mo took out the Time-Stop Sword and transferred the Time Tree into it.
The original Time Sword was made of black meteoric iron, Uru, and crystal matrix ingots. It had an overall silver-black appearance with some crystal structures, very beautiful.
But after sealing the Dusk Time Tree, some root-like structures suddenly grew on the hilt of the sword, winding around the handle and the lower half of the blade. At first glance, it seemed as if the handle was made of a bunch of ancient vines, suddenly sprouting a blade.
It's worth mentioning that a delicate golden clock also appeared on the hilt at some point.
This clock is intertwined with a large amount of vines, making this sword look very ancient, vicissitudinous, and full of a mysterious feeling.
Fang Mo simply tested the sword.
It's pretty much what he expected.
After sealing the Time Tree of the Twilight Forest, the time-stop effect of this sword has been extended. Fang Mo roughly estimated that, based on his perception of time in the time-stopped world, the time-stop now lasts for about ten minutes.
That's pretty good.
Many people's average time is around ten minutes.
Like those glue... glue guys, this time is likely to be even further reduced.
Besides the expected time-stop effect, Fang Mo found that this sword also has the ability to modify the flow of time, similar to the Time Tree.
It was said before in the world of Bleach that the Time Tree could accelerate time. Ichigo Kurosaki even practiced his Bankai under the shade of the Time Tree. However, after being sealed into the Sword of Time, this ability might have resonated with the Stillness Magatama in some unknown way, enhancing its original power.
After testing by Fang Mo,
He found that just by inserting the sword into the ground, he can distort the surrounding time field.
The Sword of Time now can not only become a place for cultivation similar to the "Room of Spirit and Time," but it can also create places similar to some legendary fairylands, giving a feeling somewhat like 'timeless in the mountain, but a thousand years have passed in the world.'
With this discovery, Fang Mo was really happy.
However, before Fang Mo could play for too long, Ah Xue had already prepared a large table full of sumptuous dishes, so he had to go back and eat first.
After dinner, Fang Mo chatted with Ah Xue about how to teach the two unfortunate kids tomorrow. Under Ah Xue's suggestion, Fang Mo began to rummage through Steve's backpack to see if there was anything that could replace traditional magic.
After some brief research, most of the night had passed.
Early the next morning,
Fang Mo had just lain down for a short while when a knock on the door woke him up.
"Master! Good morning!"
The voice of Jonathan Joestar, full of energy, came from outside the door: "Dio and I have come to learn magic from you! Master, are you home!?"
"What's with the young people these days?"
Fang Mo heard this voice and helplessly sat up from the bed: "Don't they need to sleep? When I was their age, I was practically sealed to the bed. What kind of willpower did these two kids muster to escape the clutches of their beds?"
"Maybe it's the allure of magic?"
Ah Xue was also awakened and gently rubbed her sleepy eyes: "Master, should we ask them to wait a moment?"
"Oh, no need for that."
Fang Mo shook his head and then directly drew the Sword of Time, saying: "Watch me give you a new trick; let you witness the boy's instant grooming technique."
As his words fell, Fang Mo immediately activated time stop.
A strange time field expanded spherically, and for a moment, it seemed like everything around lost its color. Then everything returned to normal, but the entire world suddenly became silent; everything, including Ah Xue lying next to Fang Mo, froze.
"Alright! Start grooming from now on..."
Fang Mo stretched and then jumped down from the bed to get to work.
However, because Fang Mo accidentally lifted the quilt when getting up, he saw some interesting stuff and suddenly froze.
Looking at Ah Xue's beautiful face, Fang Mo suddenly fell into deep thought: "Hmm..."
"How about we use these ten minutes to have a round of 'getting warm up'?"
~~~
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