Chapter 25: Techniques

Timorath floated slowly, his movements steady as he approached the first step of the spiraling staircase. An overwhelming force erupted around him when his feet landed on the tread. Blades of condensed time energy formed out of nowhere, slicing through the air and striking him relentlessly. Each blade shimmered with golden light, leaving faint ripples in the surrounding mist before disappearing.

"What was that?" Timorath muttered, his voice tinged with confusion. He instinctively scanned himself, his eyes narrowing as he inspected his body. To his surprise, there wasn't a single mark or injury. He furrowed his brow, thinking. "Those… were attacks made of time energy," he concluded after reflection.

A grin spread across his face as excitement bubbled within him. "The first tread and I'm already learning something new. What a perfect opportunity for me!" he said, his voice filled with eager anticipation. He took the next step without hesitation, moving to the second tread with renewed focus.

Timorath didn't realize the true nature of the "time blades." These attacks weren't meant to harm in the physical sense. Instead, they were designed to strip away the lifespans of those they struck, draining them to nothing in mere moments. However, he remained unaffected due to his immense power and unparalleled mastery overtime laws.

Unknowingly immune to their effects, Timorath pressed forward, his excitement masking the danger that would have been fatal to any other being.

Timorath climbed the spiraling staircase steadily, his golden eyes narrowing as he ascended each tread. After a few steps, he noticed the time blades were becoming sharper, faster, and more relentless. Their power increased exponentially with every step he took. Though their attacks didn't faze him much initially, he began to feel the shift in intensity.

The numbers ticked in his mind: 50 steps… 5,010… 52,000… 550,000. By the time he reached the 550,000th step, the time blades had become fierce enough to force him into action. He dodged them easily at first, weaving through the strikes with fluid grace. But then, a single blade managed to graze him. His movements froze as he felt something strange—a sensation he hadn't experienced before.

"What… how?" he murmured, his voice sharp with surprise. His gaze flickered toward the edge of the river of time, where his apparition was stationed, keeping his connection to the river intact.

To his shock, the apparition moved slightly backward, shifting closer to the river's edge. His eyes widened as the realization dawned on him. The effect of the time blade wasn't limited to the physical realm—it had momentarily reversed his position in the hierarchy of time itself. This was a monumental revelation for a primordial, whose standing was often judged by their distance from the river of time. It was unheard of to regress toward the river instead of moving farther from it.

"This…" he gasped. "This changes everything," Timorath murmured, standing still for minutes as he processed the weight of his discovery. If the monolith's trials could influence one's connection to the river, it offered him a potential advantage over the other primordials. Furthermore, this newfound knowledge gave him a unique upper hand.

His lips curled into a faint smirk, and his gaze lifted toward the monolith above. "The challenges from here on will be harder," he mused, his voice steady and filled with determination. "But I must reach it."

Fueled by the weight of his discovery and the ambition it ignited, Timorath resumed his climb, weaving skillfully through the relentless barrage of time energy. By the time he reached the millionth step, the nature of the attacks had shifted.

A new threat emerged—time storms. Whirling torrents of condensed time energy lashed out at him, starting as harmless gusts but quickly escalating into deadly hurricanes. Each storm twisted reality around him, forcing him to dodge endlessly, his movements precise but increasingly strained.

Occasionally, a storm struck him, and he stumbled. The experience was jarring. Though he embodied time itself, it showed no mercy to him. "I never thought time could turn against me," he muttered, a bitter realization settling over him. His mastery was being used against him, and the very domain he ruled was now his greatest obstacle.

Timorath paused, scanning the chaotic surroundings. His sharp eyes identified a spot where the storms were weakest. Without hesitation, he moved there, sitting cross-legged to think. "If I'm to succeed, I must adapt," he thought, determination hardening his gaze.

He began drawing intricate runes around himself, each glowing faintly with time energy. Then, focusing inward, he accelerated his time by millions of folds. The abundant time energy in the air was quickly drawn into him, its immense power fueling his rapid contemplation.

Timorath's consciousness plunged deep within his soul sea, a boundless expanse of shifting time energy. He attempted to condense the chaotic energy into a small, stable form but failed repeatedly. Each attempt collapsed into raw energy, testing his patience.

On his 900th attempt, he succeeded. A tiny, solid object formed, pulsing with pure, refined time energy. It hovered in his grasp like a seed of infinite potential. Timorath observed it intently, ideas swirling in his mind.

When he returned his focus to the outside world, he noticed something remarkable: the time energy surrounding him had thinned considerably. His accelerated time had drained it rapidly, leaving a brief calm. This gave him clarity, sparking an epiphany: "Time energy can be absorbed and controlled if done properly."

His resolve strengthened, and Timorath delved deeper into his soul sea. For what felt like millions of years, he honed his understanding. Trial after trial, failure after failure, his knowledge expanded. He emerged from this mental marathon with several groundbreaking techniques etched into his mind.

Timorath stood up, his expression calm but focused. The storms still raged around him, but he now had the tools to fight back. With a wave of his hand, he activated his first technique: Future Mirage.

Shimmering illusions of his future self appeared each one a potential version of him from diverging timelines. The storms hesitated, confused by the conflicting targets. Attacks struck the wrong versions of him, allowing the real Timorath to weave through the chaos unscathed.

Step by step, he climbed higher, each storm testing him further. As he moved, he refined and mastered his newly created techniques, his confidence growing with each challenge.

He now advanced purposefully, no longer merely enduring the trials but turning them into opportunities to perfect his craft.

Elsewhere, the three primordials stood together, their eyes fixed on the spiraling stairs. "What now?" Noctyra asked, his gaze shifting to the others.

"Hmm…" Luscith murmured, his tone calm yet unreadable. After a moment, he added, "We wait."

Hearing this, the group fell silent, their attention returning to the monolith. Each of them harbored their own thoughts concealed behind stoic expressions.