When Tom finally succeeded, he exclaimed loudly, "Yes!"
His excitement caused him to lose control over the temporal flow, but he didn't care; he was too busy jumping for joy.
When his joy subsided, he tried to repeat the same feat. Although it was still as challenging, he managed to reproduce the success, showing that he could now control the flow of etherium.
However, his control was far from perfect. During actual combat, he couldn't focus as he did during his training sessions. Therefore, he needed better control over the temporal flow.
Tom was aware of this, and that's why, after his small celebration, he got back to work.
However, contrary to what one might think, his first training wasn't about controlling the temporal flow but rather about sensing the etherium flow better.
What he was practicing wasn't mastering etherium control, but rather developing the ability to feel the etherium flow around him.
The goal was to be able to sense the new flow that appeared and reduce the time needed to do so when he activated his astralum.
He did this by focusing on the etherium flow around him continuously, throughout the day. Even during sleep, although the latter was challenging because generally, when one sleeps, they're unaware of their surroundings.
Fortunately, etherians had keen instincts even while asleep, so Tom could react somewhat if he were attacked during his slumber. But it wasn't easy to detect the etherium flow even while sleeping.
After becoming more familiar with the etherium flow over a few days, Tom decided it was time to progress to better control over the temporal force.
To achieve this, he assumed a meditation position, attuned himself to the etherium flow, and then activated his astralum.
Immediately after activating his astralum, a second flow appeared before his eyes - the temporal flow.
Using the temporal force, Tom gradually began to manipulate this temporal flow to lead it where he wished.
Just as he did the first time, Tom enveloped the temporal force around a rock that hovered in his tent, striving to sustain this temporal force around the rock for as long as possible.
And so, Tom dedicated days to increasing his mastery over the temporal force. He even attempted to use the temporal force to stop time around multiple objects simultaneously. He even succeeded in doing so.
However, he soon realized that controlling multiple objects at once was substantially more challenging. It was as if he needed to divide his focus among different subjects, making it needlessly complicated. Consequently, he abandoned the idea of controlling multiple things and decided to focus on stopping time around one thing at a time while extending his grasp.
Fortunately, as he now concentrated on a single object instead of several, his power lasted longer.
After several days, when he felt his control over the temporal force had improved, Tom attempted to use his time astralum on a living being.
Throughout this time, he hadn't even entertained the notion of stopping time around a living being, as he couldn't even determine what to stop or let continue.
He considered it a logical progression to first master the temporal force before attempting to affect living creatures, as it would be absurd to try and stop a living being's flow of time when he couldn't even sense the temporal flow.
"Mooglie, come over here," said Tom to Mooglie, who was training nearby.
Once Mooglie entered the tent, Tom instructed him to stand in the center of the tent and continuously jump without stopping. Mooglie found Tom's request peculiar but complied, hopping in the middle of the tent.
Meanwhile, Tom concentrated and activated his astralum. Right after activating it, both the temporal flow and the temporal force appeared before Tom's eyes.
Without wasting a moment, Tom manipulated the temporal force to envelop Mooglie, much like he had done with the rocks.
However, unlike the rocks, even after he had wrapped the temporal force around Mooglie, the latter continued to jump in place as if nothing had changed. Tom could clearly see and feel the temporal force surrounding Mooglie, yet his movements showed no sign of slowing.
't's as if my power has no effect on him,'thought Tom, utterly perplexed.
'But that can't be. I've seen with my own eyes my astralum stopping humans. I know it's possible.'
Faced with a new challenge, Tom resumed analyzing the situation and contemplating what could prevent his astralum from affecting Mooglie.
This time, instead of trying to control the temporal force or modify the temporal flow, Tom chose to observe the temporal flow around Mooglie.
Naturally, simply observing the temporal flow was draining in terms of etherium, which necessitated several breaks to recover.
Fortunately, after several hours of observation, Tom finally understood why his astralum didn't work on Mooglie.
However, this time, discovering the problem didn't bring him closer to a solution.
'How am I supposed to overcome this problem?' Tom wondered with a sigh.
What he had noticed was the existence of a second temporal flow. This temporal flow was different from the usual flow of time; it was unique to Mooglie. Tom knew this because, during his observation, Mooglie had grown tired, so Tom had summoned Matour to take his place.
When Tom analyzed the temporal flow around Matour, he observed the same peculiar temporal flow. However, this flow was different from the one around Mooglie.
He theorized that this second temporal flow he observed was specific to each individual.
To prove his theory, he had to observe several more of his subordinates, and it ultimately confirmed what he had suspected.
"If you think about it, it's only natural that each living being has their unique temporal flow. After all, we don't all age at the same rate. Two humans can have different lifespans; I'm sure it's due to this temporal flow,' thought out loud Tom.
"The problem is how to stop this second temporal flow," Tom mused, sighing again.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't even have the time to focus on this issue because just after he had asked Mooglie and the others to leave his tent so he could contemplate, Mooglie returned to inform him that another wisemonkey was descending from the mountain.
This time, the wisemonkey descending was not an ordinary one. It belonged to the top four of the special unit.
It seemed that it was time for the headliners to make an appearance.
***
Author note : sorry for the long absence without chapters, that's because I was ill 🤧