"I have to make an evolutionary pathway in a week."
Bruce rubbed his chin, feeling troubled. He could make a technique in just 12 hours, that much was true. But to make an evolutionary pathway, it took longer than that.
Months—no, even that was fast. It took Great Scholars many years to develop and publish one, and even then, some of them resulted in failures or dead ends.
To make a stable pathway in less than a week...
That was unprecedented!
At the very least, Bruce had never heard of anyone in human history accomplishing such a feat before. Or other races for that matter.
The fastest one was from a Great Scholar a hundred thousand years ago, the person created a stable pathway in just three months.
After them, no other person in human history managed to do less than that.
To make an evolutionary pathway was hard!
Hard!
He could not stress the "hard" part enough.
Bruce shook his head.
It took humanity thousands of years to develop the first-ever sable evolutionary pathway. Granted, they had far fewer resources and knowledge back then.
But even now with all the resources and knowledge, countless scholars struggle to make an evolutionary pathway that has potential. Only a few in a million scholars can succeed.
If he could make one in less than a week, his status would transcend to "Great Scholar", a title that stands above in human civilization.
In front of it, most evolvers were dirt.
Maybe his status would be even higher than Great Scholars, considering that making a pathway in less than a week is an impossible feat from all angles...
Not maybe, Bruce corrected. He was sure that his status would be far higher than an ordinary Great Scholar.
"The Cipher really upped the difficulty here by a large margin. But, it's not impossible..." he calmed down and assessed the situation. Just because no one has ever done it before didn't mean it was impossible.
It was because they didn't have the Infinite Cipher or more specifically "Top-level comprehension" to help them.
"I'll have to take a look at the library when I'm free this week. I remember seeing a book related to pathways there. Moreover, the Evolutionary Assessment is two days from now."
"If I remember correctly, during the assessment, the academy will allow the students to find the evolutionary pathways that suited them the best. But they can only view the level 1 contents though."
However, that was more than enough. Bruce was confident that with "Top-level comprehension" and materials for references, he could create a pathway in less than a week.
'As for the pathway that suits me the best... I already have an idea about it. I'm just not sure if it's feasible or not.'
After deciding his plans for the week, Bruce nodded and went back to practicing and mastering his skills.
Since he couldn't master "Top-level comprehension" momentarily, he'll switch his focus to a different skill... "Time Dilation" it is then.
He thought of "Mind Eye" first but he was afraid that the Cipher would torture him, like what happened with "Lower Regeneration".
Both of them were defensive skills in a sense.
Without further ado, Bruce entered the Cipher.
[Entering the Infinite Cipher...]
[Detected five gifts: Lower Immunity, Energy Extrasensitivity, Time Dilation, Top-level Comprehension, and Mind Eye.]
[Domains available to practice: Body Domain, Abstract Domain, Temporal Domain, and Mind Domain.]
[...]
[Choosing Time Dilation...]
[Choosing Temporal Domain...]
***
To master time, you must experience time first.
That was the concept of the first trial for Time Dilation.
Surrounding Bruce was the direct replica of the private room he rented, but different from reality, time was moving extremely slowly.
His every movement was slowed down significantly. It was as if he was experiencing life in slow motion.
Not just his movements—his brain was affected as well. His thoughts had slowed down significantly as if he was experiencing lag in real time.
'...In..te...res...ting...'
Seeing this, Bruce was sure that if he didn't have "Top-level Comprehension" it would take him more than a week to master this skill.
Or maybe never.
But that was normal.
Temporal-related skills were among the hardest to understand, much less master. In fact, the minimum level criteria for coming in contact with such skills is level 4.
Even if you're extremely talented, if you were not a level 4 evolver — your chances of understanding a temporal skill is zero.
But Bruce was a special case.
He closed his eyes with a smile, gathering all of his concentration. He began comprehending the skill, "Time Dilation".
In a few seconds, he found the source of the skill.
In a few minutes, he understood the source.
Then, as soon as he understood the source, he had mastered the skill. All of that happened in under five minutes.
"What an innovative way to give skills, I have to hand it to the Cipher. No wonder I can use such a complicated skill despite being so weak."
Bruce grinned as moved his body. But this time, his movements were no longer in slow motion. His thoughts were also back to normal.
As it turned out, the source of the skill was his body.
More specifically, his body was remade by the Cipher to be more inclined with the concepts of time. It was a complicated concept.
The gist of it is that the skill "Time Dilation" was engraved on his body, as opposed to it originating from an energy source.
Due to this, Bruce couldn't completely master the source and evolve the skill, like what happened with "Lower Regeneration".
But he could use it as he sees fit. It was like awakening abilities in a sense. Evolvers don't understand their awakened abilities, but they can use it like it's second nature to them.
But it wasn't impossible to master the source fully. It was just impossible for now.
The true source of "Time Dilation" was understanding of time, in which case, he was still very far away from understanding...
'One thing at a time.'
Bruce shook his head. As he stood up, the room gradually vanished into black particles.
He was left alone in the void.
[The Infinite Cipher]
[Mind Domain Task: Master Time Dilation (100/100)]
[Evaluation: S]
[You have passed the trial. It took you a total of 5 minutes, and 4 seconds to master the skill.]
[Return to reality. Y/N?]
'Only S...? I guess getting an SSS+ evaluation was luck in my part.'
He didn't want to return to reality yet. He wanted to master "Mind Eye" before the day ended.
That way, he only needed to worry about the other skills that were yet to be discovered. He had a feeling that he would discover them soon.
Bruce pressed the 'no' button and went on to the Mind Domain. May the Gods bless him for the torture the Cipher was going to put him.