Seeing Kranos vanish with the king, most of the children were stunned. As for the princes, the second prince couldn't help but frown. He didn't like the way things were progressing. "Why him?" he thought bitterly. He's just mortal trash. Why does Father still care about him?
For as long as he could remember, his father—the king—had favored Raphael, Kranos' father, over all his children because of his amazing talent. That favoritism had turned into envy, and when Kranos was revealed to be a mortal, the Second Prince had been overjoyed. His father would no longer care about Raphael's family, and he would proceed to be the one to take the throne.
This was what he hoped for, but now it seems everything wouldn't proceed smoothly, I will have to get rid of him.
…
Kranos appeared in a dark hall with his grandfather, the king.
As soon as he appeared, he immediately knelt down, perfectly playing his role. "Grandfather, I have disappointed you!" he kowtowed.
There was no expression on his grandfather's face as he replied, "You don't need to be worried about that, just focus on your mindset. Even a mortal has a chance of cultivation!"
Hearing his grandfather's reply, Kranos smiled happily while standing up. His relationship with his grandfather could be considered quite great, the two had been close since he was a little baby. Of course, this was before he was discovered to be a mortal.
He had expected to be abandoned by his grandfather since he was a mortal. Yet, it seemed his grandfather wasn't as heartless as one might expect from a king.
"Now then, boy, go and rest. I have something to give you later. I'll summon you when the time comes." As soon as the king finished speaking, Kranos vanished, the king had sent him to his house.
After Kranos was gone, the king chuckled to himself. "I should take this opportunity to make Raphael owe me a favor."
…
Kranos appeared in front of his house. Seeing the familiar structure brought a small smile to his face. He could hear the voices of the maids and servants around, it seems that the news has spread. Kranos sighed indifferently. He knew that from now on, the way the servants treated him would change. But it didn't matter. If anyone dared to cross him… he'd simply take away the thing everyone valued most… time.
…
He didn't see his parents at home, so he headed straight into his room to check out his system.
System come out…
[TIME SYSTEM]
[Name – Kranos]
[Cultivation Aptitude – ETERNAL-grade]
[Elemental Affinity – TIME]
[Time Points – 1]
Kranos blinked his eyes in surprise. What the hell are Time Points? System, what are Time Points?
[[Time Points are used to activate time-related abilities. Think of them as a special form of mana. While regular mana can be used, it will only deliver one-tenth of the effectiveness.]
Lines of information appeared in front of Kranos' eyes, surprising him. He took a moment to process everything, suppressing his excitement, after all, the ability he had been hoping for was finally his.
The line of words in front of Kranos disappeared, and new information appeared, clarifying Kranos' misunderstanding.
[One Time Point is generated every hour.]
[The Treasures of Time are located within the Time Space. Your original body's elemental affinity and root bone have been awakened.]
Kranos' eyes widened in disbelief. He went through the information displayed on the screen once again to confirm he wasn't seeing things.
Treasures of Time? Time Space?
He pondered for a moment, unsure of how to access it. The system appeared to be mostly passive, only offering information rather than direct interaction.
Just when Kranos was lost in thoughts, his consciousness blurred, and he appeared in another space. Kranos froze for a moment before he came to an understanding. This must be… the Time Space.
He looked around. The world around him was white and completely devoid of life.
A line of words appeared in Kranos's sight once again…
[Time space - a space outside of time, here time is stagnant, but it doesn't affect the flow of time in the outside world. The space can be expanded using special time-related treasures.]]
Kranos saw the information and took a deep breath, but he was also puzzled, the treasures that could expand the space weren't displayed. System, what are the treasures? He asked mentally and aloud—but received no response.
Just as Kranos guessed, the system couldn't help him much at all, aside from giving him the treasures of time and the time-space and displaying his talents, it didn't seem to have any function.
Still, that didn't discourage him. His focus shifted to the three mysterious boxes before him, each resting on an elevated platform nearly at eye level, almost reaching Kranos's head, after all, he was just a little kid.
He walked toward the first box on the right. After a brief hesitation, curiosity got the better of him. He opened it, and the next moment, he was stunned. Inside the box was a pool of shimmering, silvery liquid, it reminded Kranos of something he had seen.
That's right! The portal. The silvery liquid looks just like the one that led to the awakening realm previously. The silvery liquid looks just like the one that thought for a moment. He also asked the system inwardly, but there was no response. He sighed, then decided to place his hand inside and see what would happen.
He dipped his hand into the liquid in the box, it felt as though his hand had passed through—cool and smooth—but Kranos couldn't dwell on the feeling because through the transparent silvery liquid he saw his hand rapidly wither and turn to dust..
Just as he was about to yank it back, his hand regenerated, as though it was aging backwards, it rapidly transformed from a withered elder's hand into that of a middle-aged man, then back to a child's hand. Kranos was shaken. This… this is true power. With a single thought, one could age to dust—or return to youth.
As Kranos was lost in time, he soon felt an object appear in his hand. Kranos was stunned because he didn't know or feel how the object appeared, it was as though the object was always there… as though it ignored time!
Slowly, Kranos withdrew his hand—and the mysterious object—from the box…