After using Kevin’s License Plate seven centuries ago, Eugene was in the void removed from time. Being outside of time gave Eugene the opportunity to truly think about his life and his decisions. It lasted an eternity, but also lasted no time at all. He interrogated his own mind. Eugene sacrificed everything he had ever worked for just for the opportunity to travel in time. But he knew, deep down, that it was what he truly desired.
A common question debated by the Hibiscologists of Eugene’s time was if it was better to be the head of the Rabbit or the tail of the Lion. Strongest of the weak, or weakest of the strong? Seven hundred years ago, Eugene was the strongest of the weak. Eugene had the power to completely destroy the Second Jade Alliance, but instead merely toyed with them. He didn’t even bother to have his army face them, instead emerging alone. It was just so boring. The cultivators of his era were so, so weak.
Did Eugene miss the unrivaled power? He did. But the only time he felt truly alive was when he had worthy opponents. And the cultivators today were of unfathomable power! No one had ever reached Kambili rank in Eugene’s time, but now, if a sect didn’t have at least three Kambili-rank elders, it was seen as weak. The Dawn and Dusk Sect of today was many times more powerful than it had been during the time of the Second Jade Alliance.
Eugene’s thoughts turned to the many Jade Alliances throughout history as he remembered the decision he was going to have to make. In times of great need, sects would combine their forces into a Jade Alliance to fight demon cultivators. Today, it was the Fourth Jade Alliance that held the line against the demon sects of the brimstone wastes. The Dawn and Dusk Sect was the most powerful of the Jade Sects, and held a first-among-equals position. Eugene as the scion of a powerful clan would be strongly supported in his journey of Purple Cultivation.
But the Fourth Jade Alliance had another enemy. It was the Five-Headed Tortoise Sect that was the most powerful sect of the modern era. And the prospect of joining that sect made Eugene hunger for power. For it was that sect alone that held more secrets of Purple Hibiscology than all other sects combined.
But there was another option. Demon sects were still in existence and still strong. There was little information about them, but it was commonly known that they worshiped him as a god. Eugene could prove he was Eugene from the past, and lead an alliance of demon sects. This was the riskiest option, albeit the one with the highest reward.
Eugene wanted to reach his true potential, which was only possible now that he was in the future. He was now exposed to seven hundred years worth of Hibiscan knowledge. It would have to be digested and contemplated for decades. But Eugene was the master of time, not the other way around. In order to return back to the realm outside of time, Eugene need not expend any of the power stored within Kevin’s License Plate. If the artifact was in his possession, Eugene could leave time at any moment, and then return to the time he left, without using any power. It was traveling forward or backwards in time that sucked the energy of the holy rectangle.
Thus, the plan was simple: obtain the collected published wisdom of the entire field of Purple Hibiscology and the best books about history and the contemporary geopolitical situation. Eugene would bring that, and of course a copy of Purple Hibiscus, into the timeless realm. There, he would absorb himself in a profound Hibiscan trance while contemplating the fundamental nature of the universe and Purple Hibiscology. Simultaneously, he would consider which faction to join and then manipulate to his own ends.
The only problem was Czeslaw Bielszowicki, Eugene’s “father”. Head of the Bielszowicki clan, and also a Kambili, he would instantly realize that Eugene was a Eugene. Eugene would have to navigate around him to obtain the required literature.
The best option was to run into the Bielszowicki clan library, take everything relevant, and immediately retreat into the timeless realm. Czeslaw wasn’t supposed to be there for another few hours, in a meeting of the Dawn and Dusk Sect’s Kambili Council.
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The compound of the Bielszowicki clan was within sight of the Dawn and Dusk Sect’s spherical bubble of night. Eugene dashed over there, running as fast as was plausible for a cultivator of supposedly Father Amadi rank to go. The compound was built as a series of layered concrete slabs, each in the shape of a hibiscus, getting narrower the further up the tower they were. At the top was a floating orb, glowing with a purple light. The compound was surrounded by a wall of barbed hibiscuses, a breed of hibiscus that would turn into deathly sharp spikes charged with Hibiscan energy when an intruder was near. Eugene walked through the wall, the hibiscuses melting away for him as they detected the presence of Grzegorz’s soul.
Enchanted hibiscus flowers existed in Eugene’s time too, but were much more primitive. Grzegorz’s memories were that hibiscuses could be morphed into nearly any shape for any purpose, but he was unsure of their full capabilities. Eugene hoped that they couldn’t sense that there were two souls in his body.
Eugene was strangely calm as he ran through the doors, into the atrium, and up the spiral staircase. The library was on the third-highest floor. The staircase shook as he pulled on his Hibiscan soul to increase his speed. Without slowing down he started picking books off the shelves without even looking at them, trusting his Hibiscan senses to guide him. As he turned to dash off into another section of the library, a purple rift in space opened up.
A man clawed his way through.
“Son,” he said.
Eugene threw himself into the timeless realm.
His only thought was: How had Czeslaw had known?. Was it the enchanted hibiscuses? Or perhaps some detection mechanism within the library? Regardless, there was only one reason why he would leave the Kambili Council of the Dawn and Dusk Sect, and that was if he thought what had happened to Grzegorz was more important than what the convening of the Kambili-rank Elders of the second most powerful sect of all time were discussing.
Czeslaw knew, the only question was to what extent. The worst-case scenario was that he knew that there were two souls and two minds in Grzegorz’s body, and that whoever had possessed him was a powerful cultivator. The best-case was that he only knew that “Grzegorz” was of Eugene rank. Regardless of the truth, Eugene had an infinite amount of time to consider the situation. A wealth of knowledge was at his disposal, from both Grzegoz’s memories and the books he had taken. Eugene had only managed to snatch two hundred or so, out of the multiple thousand he wanted. However, it was sufficient.
Eugene’s plan was to prepare a way to avoid giving himself away. Czeslaw probably didn’t know that Grzegorz’s body had been hijacked, so all Eugene had to do was perfectly imitate every aspect of Grzegorz and then convince Czeslaw of a reason for why “Grzegorz” was now a Eugene. A daunting task, but Eugene had an infinite amount of time and the perfect tools at his disposal.
If Czeslaw did know that a foreign mind and soul were occupying the body, then Eugene would simply burn a percent or two of Kevin’s License Plate to travel back in time. As for why Eugene didn’t immediately use the holy artifact when he saw Czeslaw, the reason was that the situation was still salvageable. He would only travel in time if he could confirm that Czeslaw knew.
So, Eugene’s first task was to be able to perfectly imitate Grzegorz. Luckily, Grzegorz’s mind was right there. Eugene had kept it intact in order to be able to do this very thing. The mind could simply be disassembled and incorporated into Eugene’s mind, thus allowing him to act like him. Of course, the remnants of Grzegorz would be kept separate from the key parts of Eugene’s mind, preventing any unwanted influence. Eugene set on that task.
Eugene’s other goal for the timeless realm was to ascend a tier in his cultivation. Each rank was separated into low, mid, high, and peak tiers. At peak, a cultivator was ready to ascend to the next tier. All that was required was a personal revelation about the Holy Book. Eugene currently stood at mid tier of the Eugene rank. With the huge amount of fresh Purple Hibiscologist research at his disposal, it was inevitable that he would ascend to high tier given enough time. That ascension was critical to his scheme for what he would do after leaving the timeless realm.
The timeless realm was a comfortable place. Within it, Eugene was enveloped in a cosmic net. Relaxing in the currents of time, Eugene knew that he had the willpower to solve his main issues. He easily slipped into a flow state of Hibiscan meditation.