"Fuck, shit, shit—damn!"
"I can reach level seven! Awesome, awesome…"
"Just barely. Against a real level seven, you'd only be able to run for your life."
Before Blaine could celebrate, Gali poured cold water all over his excitement. He sighed in defeat. After all, his level seven was only a false one—granted temporarily by the blessing of the God of Luck. Including the Hunter System, all he truly had now were a few extra life-saving abilities.
"Gali, teach me magic," Blaine said suddenly. Since the live broadcast had ended and they had nothing better to do, he figured it was worth learning a new trick or two before Gali left. After all, skills like hers—those of a Universe-level being—were rarely shared.
"What do you want to learn?"
"How about stopping time?"
That spell had fascinated Blaine for a long time, but his mental strength had always been too limited to properly learn it. Even his Copy Eyes had only managed to capture fragments of its structure.
"Good choice," Gali said softly.
Ding~~~
As soon as she finished speaking, time froze.
The leaves swaying in the yard stopped midair, locked in unnatural stillness.
The glass of water Blaine had been about to set down hung motionless above the table.
Drops from the faucet froze in mid-fall, like a string of pearls suspended in air.
Even the image on the television was still.
In the entire world, only Blaine and Gali could move and speak.
It was breathtaking. Even though this wasn't the first time Blaine had witnessed Gali stopping time, it never failed to amaze him.
Within his eyes, the Copy Eyes activated. The magical pentagram began to spin rapidly—but as it analyzed Gali's spell, it seemed to hit a wall, unable to decode its full complexity.
Blaine gritted his teeth and poured all his mental energy into his gaze. Unbeknownst to him, the soul pendant hanging around his neck began to emit a soft milky-white glow. The light spread outward, wrapping around his head completely. Only Gali noticed it—no one else could perceive it.
As Blaine focused, a wave of euphoria washed over him. His mind felt as though it were immersed in warm water, soaking in infinite knowledge.
The pentagram in his eyes spun faster and faster—until it became a luminous circle of swirling colors.
Then suddenly, Blaine *understood.* He grasped the structure, the form, and the essence of time-stop magic.
"Gali, release the time freeze," Blaine said.
She obliged. Instantly, the world resumed motion—the glass fell onto the table, the leaves rustled again, and the droplets from the faucet resumed their descent.
But at that precise moment, a transparent barrier shimmered around Blaine's body.
One inch. Two inches.
One foot. Two feet.
One yard. Two yards.
Within seconds, it expanded to a radius of nearly twenty meters around him—then stopped.
Inside the translucent dome, everything was frozen in place. The falling glass halted midair again, ten inches above the ground.
"Success…"
Blaine could *feel* it—the time within his field had completely stopped. The world outside moved normally—the leaves still swayed, and the water still dripped—but inside his sphere, time obeyed him alone.
"Yeah, not bad. Not bad at all," Gali said with a smile.
He couldn't freeze the entire planet like she could, but this was enough. Just last time, Blaine had barely managed to freeze time within the span of his palm.
This time, his Copy Eyes had truly evolved. Before, they'd merely mimicked the surface of time-stop magic. Now, they had analyzed and understood its full composition and nature.
His mental strength wasn't enough yet to expand the range further, but someday—when his power grew—perhaps he really could halt time across the Earth, just like Gali.
"Those who master the Copy Eyes," Blaine mused, "can replicate magic perfectly, and with enough knowledge, modify or even create entirely new spells."
The realization sparked something inside him—a small but thrilling idea.
"Gali, come with me," he said suddenly.
In a flash, Blaine teleported into the yard.
He turned toward a tree swaying in the wind, raised his hand sharply, and focused. His Copy Eyes spun rapidly as a transparent energy sphere formed in his palm. With a swift motion, he hurled it forward like a shockwave.
The barrier struck the tree, instantly freezing it in place. Every leaf, every movement—locked in perfect stillness.
"Just as I thought…" Blaine said with a grin.
The technique was inspired by the shockwave attack from Captain America and Thor earlier. If their energy could radiate outward to crush enemies, then why couldn't his time-freeze field do the same—to immobilize them?
"Oh! Not bad!" Gali exclaimed, her eyes bright. "It looks like that ice spell used by that female mage in King of Pesticides!"
Blaine laughed. "Exactly. It's like a 'love shock'—freezes the enemy mid-battle. Heh…"
He was thrilled. He hadn't expected such a small experiment to yield a brand-new combat technique. If he could paralyze an opponent mid-fight, wouldn't victory be guaranteed? It'd be like having the enemy trapped on his chopping block.
"It's a shame the spell drains so much mental energy," Blaine sighed. "I can probably maintain it for only about a minute."
Sure enough, moments after he spoke, the barrier vanished, and the tree began swaying once more.
Still, for a spell of this magnitude—on par with Universe-level magic like time-stop itself—Blaine was more than satisfied with his progress.
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