Deep into the night, Tristan Mariana's eyes blazed with intensity. His heart raced with excitement. The more he envisioned what the Longevity Club would become and the power it would wield, the more he felt his blood surge through his veins!
His ambition was like wild grass, growing and spreading with reckless abandon!
In this world, there existed a tier of elite clubs that gathered influential celebrities, elites, and royalty from every field. They were the launching pad for the powerful and the gathering place for the wealthy. Membership was a symbol of fortune and status!
There was the private yacht club founded by Greek shipping magnate The Latsis Family, with only 100 memberships worldwide, known as the ultimate billionaire's club.
There was the Skull and Bones society at Yale University, whose admission rules were shrouded in mystery, conducting periodic rituals steeped in religious overtones.
From its membership had emerged three American presidents and two Supreme Court Chief Justices. It was called America's most mysterious and most powerful alumni club.
Then there were others like the Augusta National Golf Club, Hong Kong's Jockey Club, the Billionaires Club, the Elite Society...
Each of these top-tier clubs wielded tremendous power.
But if Tristan Mariana's envisioned Longevity Club came to fruition, all of these elite clubs would become trash in comparison!
The Longevity Club would become an existence transcending them all.
"The sole President of the Longevity Club shall be held by its founder, Tristan Mariana, possessing sacred status and supreme authority..."
The corners of Tristan Mariana's mouth lifted as he continued writing in his notebook:
"Tristan Mariana is the sole supreme decision-maker for all matters of the Longevity Club, with the authority to command and direct all members within the club to absolutely obey his will and orders.
All instructions issued in Tristan Mariana's name shall be granted sacred and inviolable status, allowing no defiance or dissent..."
In short, Tristan Mariana would be the emperor, the deity of this club, possessing absolute veto power.
"Below the President, establish a Management Committee consisting of twelve members, including one Chairman, one Vice Chairman, and ten member representatives... Appoint one Secretary-General..."
Tristan Mariana spent half the notebook detailing the organizational framework of the Longevity Club in one sitting.
Outside the window, a red glow gradually rose on the horizon. The torrential rain had stopped at some point without notice.
Tristan Mariana set down his pen, his gaze sweeping over the notes before closing the book.
Building this massive club would be Tristan Mariana's main project for the foreseeable future.
He closed the notebook and tucked it away in a drawer.
...
Tristan Mariana prepared to test his remaining two abilities related to time: Time Acceleration and Time Deceleration.
Since Tristan Mariana hadn't yet purchased anyone else's time or lifespan, using these two abilities would essentially consume his own existing lifespan.
However, lifespan would be the one thing Tristan Mariana would never lack.
He first checked his own data.
Name: Tristan Mariana
Age: 27
Remaining Lifespan: 68 years 88 days 18 hours 58 minutes 59 seconds
Tristan Mariana did the math. Without gaining this ability, he would have lived to ninety-five.
Honestly, he was somewhat surprised by this number.
After all, Tristan Mariana worked as a programmer. Working late and overtime were the norm. Sudden death from overwork was practically expected...
"Not bad. Looks like even without superpowers, I'd be the most resilient programmer out there!"
Tristan Mariana muttered sarcastically.
Then he immediately refocused his attention on testing his abilities.
"Acceleration first."
Tristan Mariana sat naturally in his chair and spoke quietly.
As the thought formed, information appeared in his mind:
Please select the time multiplier.
"Two times."
Tristan Mariana responded.
A strange sensation flowed through his body.
Then, the change occurred...
Tristan Mariana looked up at the clock before him. Suddenly, he felt that all the sounds he heard and scenes he saw had been reduced to half their normal speed.
Tristan Mariana's gaze shifted to the computer screen on his desk.
He stared at the time display in the lower right corner while counting in his head...
A moment later, he discovered that when he counted to one hundred twenty, the minute digit on the computer screen had only advanced by one.
Tristan Mariana heard movement from downstairs. He stood and looked outside.
He saw a middle-aged man out for an early morning dog walk...
But strangely, both the middle-aged man and the dog he was walking were moving at half their normal speed.
"So..."
"My time flow is now different from the outside world? My flow is twice as fast?"
Tristan Mariana pondered.
His thought shifted, and he suddenly increased the time multiplier to ten times, meaning his flow rate compared to the outside world was now ten to one.
Through Tristan Mariana's eyes, the falling leaves outside the window began descending at an incredibly slow pace...
Pedestrians' footsteps seemed to move like snails...
Everything in this world had slowed to a crawl.
Even the sounds became drawn out and sluggish.
"My time has sped up tenfold, so I see everything in the outside world as if it's slowed down tenfold. That means..."
"In other words... to people in the outside world, my reactions would appear ten times faster!"
"What if I stack even more time?"
Tristan Mariana's face lit up with joy.
Additionally, Tristan Mariana sensed he could expand the range of this time flow, though it would require exponentially more time consumption.
This ability was incredibly powerful. It essentially gave him sufficient self-defense capability.
At ten times speed, a hundred times speed, or even higher multipliers, Tristan Mariana would be invincible!
Tristan Mariana exited Time Acceleration.
He checked his time.
Remaining Lifespan: 68 years 88 days 18 hours 46 minutes 59 seconds
In the outside world, only two minutes should have passed. But Tristan Mariana had spent one minute at double speed and one minute at ten times speed, so his lifespan had decreased by twelve minutes total.
"Awesome!"
Tristan Mariana clenched his fist, grinned widely, and exclaimed.
A moment later...
Tristan Mariana began testing Time Deceleration.
This ability essentially stretched one unit of time to last twice as long, or even more.
As Tristan Mariana watched the scene outside, it appeared to be in an accelerated state.
"This is basically what the outside world saw when they looked at me just now."
Tristan Mariana made his assessment.
Regarding the Time Deceleration ability, Tristan Mariana felt its usefulness to him might be far inferior to Time Acceleration.
Perhaps in the future, he could develop more uses for these abilities.
After all...
Who knows?