Unlike what Thomas had expected, Moriarty's soul didn't depart from his body; it delved further inside his body until it reached his mental plane.
And what he saw there... Was certainly not pleasing to the eye. All the bookshelves that had once looked elegant were now filled with dust and scratch marks.
"What the hell did he do to this place?" Moriarty asked himself, landing perfectly in the middle of the plane.
"Time doesn't wait for anyone. It flows on without care," I stated, standing in the same form in which I stood in the Time Alteration room with a conjured sabre in my hand. "I didn't do anything to them, time changed their appearance. On that thought, I learnt something, do you know why we should always train our skills? It's because if we don't sharpen and polish it diligently, they will rust no matter how great our skill is, such are the wonders of time."
Moriarty looked at me as if he was looking at a madman before snapping his fingers to fix the surroundings.
"... You haven't even started using that, why are you acting like an experienced old soldier? Have you gone mad after activating Timeless for the first time?" Moriarty asked, slamming his head with his hand. "... Why do your eyes look... So old?"
"I was trying to find my purpose and ended up practising with it a bit. Then I was bored, so I tried to calculate every possibility for our actions in the next ten years to find a way to speed up our efficiency. In order to do that, I had to accelerate the time in this place and ended up accidentally activating Timeless."
"You want to improve even faster? I think we are already improving at a decent speed, the main character, even if he is a system master, I think he will have a hard time catching up to us at this speed," Moriarty stated, trying to ease my worries.
"Don't compare us to others, the only person we can compare ourselves to is us. Things like competition don't sound appealing to me; those are things humans chase. My goal isn't something an ordinary person can understand, which is why I don't want to make them understand either," I explained, putting away the sword and turning towards Moriarty. "Do you know what we need in order to change the flow of time in the limited time during life?"
"Prior knowledge of the future or a possible predetermined future... Wait are you planning to start calculating again? Our brain is already damaged because of your reckless activation of Timeless in our mental plane if you start now-"
"What are you? An idiot? I meant to start after the Awakening ceremony; I don't want to miss meeting our arch-nemesis ahead of time. It's also a good method to train Timeless."
"Except for the fact that it almost killed us, I agree."
"... Sorry for that... But on the bright side, we don't have to get scolded anymore for going through the trial beforehand; they think that this is our official trial. Just let them get a little imaginative for a while and we will go out after ten minutes," I tried to change the subject.
"That... Is genius... But don't think too much from now on. Until and unless we improve our vessel, we can't use thought acceleration recklessly," Moriarty stated.
Thought acceleration and body acceleration were two of the primary skills of Timeless and were meant to be used together but since I didn't know how to activate it properly, I created a small accident.
Timeless is an ability that is heavily dependent on the vessel, as the vessel grows stronger and better, the skills would become easier to use.
The rest of the skills of Timeless would take me a while to unlock as they need a higher level of mastery over Timeless and perfect control over the primary skills.
Currently, our main goal was to weaken the system of the main character to slow down his growth rate as much as possible. So, we could put aside the training for a while.
"... I will try, but I can't give my word. The wisdom path has changed me a lot, I feel more curious and attracted to the unknown. You can feel it as well right? Magic is like a double-edged sword; we have no idea what kind of journey awaits us," I explained, looking at the fog that surrounded the area of the empty books. "However, my purpose..."
I remembered my father's speech on one's purpose.
"... Is to see through the journey that awaits us."
Yes, I had finally realised it. In this life, I wish to live a meaningful life while achieving my goals.
After all, a goal is just an endpoint... However, a journey is what defines it. I wish to live through that story.
"I think you just gave me gerontophobia," Moriarty commented, stepping back nervously.
"... Start running."
***
After a while had passed and I was done beating up Moriarty's soul, I took control of the vessel.
As I opened my eyes, I saw the worried faces of three people standing around me, my father, uncle and Alfred.
"Did you pass the test?" Thomas asked, his face filled with doubt.
"Yes, without a problem," I answered him, getting up from the stone bed.
"What did I tell you?" Grey smiled while looking at Thomas who looked slightly relieved by the news. "Anyways, how did she look?"
"Mother? She looked like a giant white snake... I think she was similar to the image of Ouroboros that I saw in a storybook," I answered, earning a doubtful look from Father and a jolly look from Alfred and Uncle.
"Who gave you that book?" Grey asked, but his question was interrupted by the laughter of Thomas and Alfred.
"Ahaha! A snake, he saw mother as a snake! That's the funniest representation till now," Thomas continued to laugh.
"Pfft! Ahem! I am sorry for my rudeness, young master but it was honestly a good joke. Till now, every other Allen that has interacted with her has seen her in the form of green light that attracts their eyes or a body of energy," Alfred stated, masking his laughter.
"Is there some sort of weird humour in that which I don't understand, or?" I asked back, hoping to understand why they were laughing.
"There is no humour in that, this is why children aren't allowed to take the Trial before they are ten years old. What is mother going to think when she hears about it?" Grey heaved a sigh.
"That's not how it works, Master Grey; she already knows about her form when you see her as such. Since she doesn't seem to hate it, I don't think she has a problem with it," Alfred explained, which caused him to calm down a little.
"Fine, then it's alright. However, don't try to overwork yourself for a while; the training can resume after the Awakening ceremony is over," Grey said before walking out of the room. "And congratulations."
I guess he is a bit sad that he can't help me with this subject.