A week had passed since William and his siblings had met up with the leader of Pandora.

After negotiating for a few hours, they were given full protection from Pandora and all its allies.

At the moment, William had just woken up and was sitting cross-legged on top of his bed.

He had spent the following week recovering since his mana channels were in a pretty bad state after his use of the forbidden spell. He had to constantly drink mana potions since mana would automatically drain from his body, leaving him lethargic and weak.

Thankfully, waiting for a few more weeks would be enough for him to return to his normal state, where he would be able to solidify his mana core and even begin advancement to the first rank, though that would take a bit of preparation.

As for awakening other energies, it would be a solution to his current issue, since then he wouldn’t need to rely on mana potions to walk around.

When it came to aura, he just needed to strengthen his body, since his willpower was already more than enough to awaken it. However, training required time, which he didn’t have at the moment. This meant that Aura was out of the picture for the time being.

As for his aspect, it was something that caused him nightmares in the past, as someone who had never awakened it. He had tried multiple elemental treasures in his past life, but he was still unable to determine his elemental attribute since he only had access to high-quality treasures after gaining status.

This resulted in him not managing to awaken his aspect due to his age.

Thanks to this, however, he knew what attributes were not the ones correlating to his aspect. He only had two attributes left to test: Time and Space, the rarest attributes.

Getting his hands on an elemental attribute treasure with these elements was impossible with his current wealth and connections; however, he could still try one of them right now.

William stopped meditating and grabbed the jade-green amulet that was hanging freely from his neck.

If he had not experienced the reveal of the time crystal, he would have never known the truth of the amulet he had held onto all his life.

Although he had probed it countless times in the past, he had never noticed a reaction from the amulet, causing him to think that it was nothing but an ornamental item, but now he knew that wasn’t the case.

If the time crystal was just an ornament, then what was considered a magical treasure?

Wanting to use the time crystal as the catalyst for his aspect awakening, he tried to channel mana into the amulet, but nothing happened.

Frowning, he kept channeling the mana for a while, his complexion turning paler and paler as his mana reserves were exhausted rapidly.

He had to use multiple mana potions, which wasn’t good for his body. If he continued like this, he would develop immunity to mana potions, rendering them useless. However, he was too focused on solving the situation in front of him at the moment to even think of this.

William noticed that the amulet was absorbing his mana greedily, steadily draining him of everything. This was a different reaction from what he remembered.

‘Just what is going on?’

He thought as he stopped pouring mana into it, directly releasing his grip and letting it fall.

However, the amulet didn’t fall, as it slowly floated.

Temporal fluctuations suddenly spread into the surroundings as space started warping around William, frightening him.

Space cracks formed reflections around him, as he could see himself from different angles all over the place.

Panicking, he quickly grabbed the amulet and brought it close to his chest.

The temporal fluctuations became stronger as they gushed into his body, shaking his internal organs and causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood.

A fearful expression appeared on his face as he quickly tried to throw the amulet, but he realized that he couldn’t move his body at all.

‘What is going on!?’

He was scared witless, as he felt suffocated, the pain of his body being torn apart being the only thing keeping him alive and conscious. Even dying once wasn’t enough to describe the pain he was feeling at the moment.

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After an uncertain period of time, William realized that the pain was subsiding as the energy gushing into his body slowly dissipated, returning the room to its peaceful and serene silence.

William collapsed on the floor as he breathed heavily, his body convulsing due to the shock.

He was relapsing into a dreadful state of unconsciousness, prompting him to use his willpower to keep himself awake.

Somehow, he knew that if he succumbed to that state, he would be unable to ever wake up again.

After a few minutes, he had finally regained full clarity and control of his body, heaving a sigh of relief.

He didn’t understand what just happened, but he had some ideas.

It seemed like the time crystal had shattered the space-time barrier, causing him to see the past, present, and future simultaneously and also giving him a look into parallel versions of himself.

Glancing at his still-shaking hands, he noticed a change in his body. Faint patterns resembling words covered his whole skin, glowing in an eerie green light.

“What the--“

He exclaimed, rising to his feet in an instant as his body was propelled into the air from the momentum, causing him to slam into the ceiling.

Falling on the floor once more, William was stupefied as he quickly tried to get back on his feet, this time using a much smaller amount of force.

Since he already had experience with possessing a stronger body, he quickly adjusted his strength as he headed to the bathroom to find a mirror.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he was befuddled.

The countless patterns covered his face, while a large hourglass symbol shone on his forehead.

Suddenly, a form of knowledge flooded his mind as he fell into a state of comprehension.

After a while of staring dazedly at his face, he muttered.

“Chronomancer? Like a manipulator of time?”

This name, along with his current body's capabilities, had suddenly appeared in his mind, shocking him greatly.

It seemed like he had awakened his aspect.

He was in shock for quite a while, not hearing the constant knocking on his door and the shouts of worry coming from it.

After living for so long without an aspect, he felt like even if he ever awakened one, it wouldn’t affect him much, but in reality, things were far beyond his expectations.

Countless complicated thoughts flashed through his mind, but they were promptly stopped by the sounds of the door being broken open.

Adam, whose body was covered in a full suit of armor, worriedly walked over the broken door as he looked around the room for William.

Seeing William's silhouette in the bathroom, he hurriedly rushed over but soon stopped as he glanced at him in disbelief.

“Will? What is going on? Did you awaken your aspect?”

Asked Adam, a hint of excitement evident in his still slightly immature voice.

William looked at his brother’s bulky armor, and his lips twitched, not knowing what to say. He didn’t expect Adam to directly break through the door.

Well, if William knew that a day had passed and he still hadn’t come out of his room, then he too would have been worried.

“I think I did, but I’m still comprehending its abilities, so that’s why I didn’t hear your knocking.”

He responded, recalling the abilities he had understood.

[Chronomancer] was an aspect he had never heard of, probably being a unique aspect just like [Night Stalker].

From the little bits he had understood of his aspect, it possessed three forms, two of which were still locked away due to his weak body.

Although it was a shame that he couldn’t use the other forms, the first form alone was still powerful enough to compare to the most powerful aspects.

The form was called [Rune], covering his body in time acceleration runes, making every function of his body faster, stronger, and better in every way. From his cells to even the atoms that composed his body, everything seemed to work at its own pace, as if time flowed differently.

With the first form being this powerful, he couldn’t wait for the other two forms.

Adding his magic and possibly even aura abilities, he was invincible in the same stage; even leaping through levels would be an easy thing in the early stages.

His blood boiled just thinking of the possibilities.

Adam was also excited for him, removing the metal covering his body and hugging him.

“After so many treasures, we finally found your attribute; father and mother will be so happy when they learn about it.”

He said that, making William frown.

‘Right, why am I gloating at a mere aspect when I should focus on the things that truly matter?’

His gaze became focused as he used his finger to point at the broken door, making Adam blush at the damage he had caused.

“I will spend a day or two stabilizing myself, and then we will proceed with the plans. Also, make sure to fix the door.”

William said as he escorted Adam out of the room.

Adam nodded, his gaze also becoming dazed.

Seeing his expression, William smiled slyly and kicked his shin, prompting Adam to scream in pain.

Realizing that he had used too much force, William’s face turned pale, quickly using one of the healing potions he had acquired.

If Adam wasn’t a knight cadet, then his leg would have already been lobed off just from that kick.

Seeing Adam’s wronged expression, William spoke.

“I just wanted to tease you like I always do... I didn’t expect my strength to be that powerful. Well, anyway, talk to you in a day or two.”

Saying so, he quickly shooed him away in shame, not caring about the shouts of his brother.

Heading back to the bathroom, he stared at the mirror once more.

He couldn't believe what had just happened to him. He had awakened his aspect, and it was a time-related aspect.

He stared at himself in the mirror, his body covered in intricate patterns that glowed in an eerie green light.

The large hourglass symbol on his forehead indicated his aspect.

Sighing, he used the new type of energy in his body to directly shut off the first form, since he had already kept it active for too long.

Aspects used a different form of energy from mana and aura, a much purer form of energy called Eather.

Eather, just like mana, was everywhere, but one could only sense it in their bodies when they awakened their aspect.

As to why that was the case, many great minds had dived deeply into this matter, but they had never understood why.

Augmenting or replacing another form of energy with Eather was also impossible as if the laws of reality were directly interfering.

For that reason alone, William had no experience manipulating it, but thanks to the fact that he already had advanced knowledge of aura and mana manipulation, it was easier for him to adapt to this new force.

“At least I now have a way to fight back even without the ability to use my magic.”

He couldn’t help but mutter, a pleasant smile on his lips.