Much later…

And then a little longer...

“Paul, respectfully, I hate you. Why would you do this to me? Keep your pain and agony to yourself like any real man until you finally burst and experience a psychotic episode. Honestly, this is much too disappointing. For like 23 years, I have been stuck here watching your eventful misery, and I have only sadness and indignation to show for it. No, you don’t have the right to tell me that only 27 minutes passed, okay? If I say it’s 23 years, then it is. There is no question about it. Now, let’s get to business. I still have to watch this wretched garbage over and over, and I simply can’t stand it. So, we’ll have to figure out a solution. Now that I can actually think, it has become quite clear to me that I need to help resolve your grudge. Normally, I could just have you stop praying for the nightmares to end, but since I accidentally absorbed the energy coming from you, that is no longer the case. Hmm? Yes, and no. I’m better than a god; I’m Samuel. Stop getting distracted, you weasel. The problem with me helping you is that no matter how hard I try to sense you, I can't. Not only are you not in this realm, but I've searched the entire dimension, and there is still no trace of you anywhere. There is a heavy restriction and threat coming from the dimensional border leading to the other lower dimensions of my universe, so I need to be quick. In other words, I need you to tell me what dimension you are in. Since you’re dead, you should be able to use your greater spirituality of the soul to derive certain information from space. No, calm down, and stop shouting the name of your dimension. The name is not what I'm looking for. Give me the coordinates. There are a total of 7 axes relevant to the coordinate, and I need at least 5 of them. Can you do that? 9 axes? What the fuck are you talking about? I’ve literally just checked, and the maximum the dimensions can hold, whether they’re higher or lower, is 7. Stop messing around. Are you doing it right? Explain the process to me then. Fuck.”

After a very long-winded conversation, explanation, and discussion, Samuel came to the dreaded conclusion that Paul was living in a universe with the name Nullspace IX, clearly a higher level of universe. He who could not force his way into the higher dimensions of his own universe was supposed to help someone in a different, higher-level universe. How could that possibly happen, as things are now? He was already so unbelievably overpowered, yet the strength he seeks always manages to elude him. What a whiny, pathetic, weak, bitchy, and short, cough, unfortunate soul Samuel is.

“Paul, how powerful were you before you died? Great Devourer stage? What the fuck am I supposed to do with that information? Again, the name does not tell me anything of relevance! Give me something I can use. Were you capable of traversing universes, for example? No, not with the help of formations. Were you yourself capable of traversing universes with your own power? The other Nullspace dimensions, but you never tried the lower-level ones? The what physique? Why would you not tell me this first? Is it rare? Then I imagine it would not just disappear after your death, right? Great, give it to me, and I'll come and help you out right now. Do you not want revenge? If your plan was to reincarnate and rise for revenge, I don't think that is going to happen. You have been trapped there for over a thousand years already, and the formation they used was clearly a sealing technique for souls. There is no chance of you getting out without help. So, either the physique fades into obscurity together with you, or you give it to me, and I help you escape and get revenge while I can give you a cool technique in return. What do you think? I might be weak right now, but some of the techniques I've managed to craft are top-notch. After all, I can talk to you across seals and universes.”

Samuel shamefully took credit for the creation of the Path of Faith technique in his attempt to pull off the greatest scam of all time. This is not the honorable justice warrior Samuel; this is the scheming piece of shit god Time-Man. None of Samuel’s morals matter in the trade between his pious believers, such as Paul, and himself. Meaning he can scam one of the most outrageously sounding physiques he could ever imagine without blinking an eye. The Eternal Master of Nothingness Traversal sounded much too broken for him not to.

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“Just sacrifice it in exchange for what I promised you. I will become bound by the trade. If I then disobey it, then my soul will be obliterated while all my power, including your physique, is transferred back to you. I’ll transmit the instructions now. Since you are not exactly swimming in resources right now, it will take a bit longer than optimal. While you get busy setting that up, I am going to do some cultivation to make sure I can complete my part of the bargain. Let’s get to it!”

“Gowla, gowla, gowla, gowla, gowla... You are not allowed to let me down now!” Samuel’s mind was going ballistic in an attempt to force his way into the obscured time rune in his soul. If he doesn’t get access to it, then he stands no chance of activating the other runes or, more importantly, fulfilling his trade with Paul, which would result in catastrophic consequences. "Think, Samuel, think! Time Sphere, time rune, talent, me, awesome. Damnit! Argh! The locks on my talent are supposed to be removed as I progress. Well, I'm at the True Cultivation stage; how come I control only one part of one meager rune? This is not right. I must be doing something wrong. Why are my control and grasp of time so much more superior now than before? That’s it. The key has to be with this.” Lots of turning wheels and cogs suddenly appeared around Samuel in celebration of his amazing intelligence. Never in the history of man had a creature been in such a deep layer of flow state. He was both thinking and not thinking at the same time. He was tuning into the time around him and following its path in an attempt to reach its breaching points—beginning and end. The time sphere allowed him control over the passage of time for his mind, i.e., his personal time, while that allowed him a deeper insight into the time of the world. If that’s the case, then he has to trace the origins of the different versions of time and then comprehend the concept of personal time before regaining access. This was easier said than done, however, as the Balamier Universe was a lot older than 13.8 billion years and would exist for countless times longer. Eternities upon eternities passed in both directions, challenging the very fabric of Samuel’s mind and soul in his attempt to transcend the normal limitations of the law of time. Suddenly, the part of Samuel that was tracing the past of time was erased from the timeline, forcing him to reconnect with the one looking into the future. The recombination of both parts allowed Samuel to gain massive speed. He became so fast, in fact, that he no longer could control or realize where he was going. This continued for what felt like both an eternity and a few instants, until he suddenly stopped. Samuel’s consciousness found itself in front of what he was searching for. A rune of infinite magnitudes was all there was in Samuel’s view. A rune connects three different layers of something unknown into a great unity. The lower of the three appeared fickle, like a dream. The middle was solid yet inconspicuous. The higher of the three was imposing, even a little too much so. Yet the rune connected them and glued them together into a weird creation. Samuel felt both his soul and sanity slipping at alarming speeds; he needed to find what he came for before he was no more.

The infinite tendrils connected to the rune were impossible to differentiate from each other, but Samuel felt a weird connection to a few of them. They felt familiar, like lost friends. They called for his attention, drawing him towards them in his search. Yet they still remained more than he could handle in his limited time. When he was moments away from causing another reset, he gambled everything on one last attempt. One final Hail Mary as they say. With great effort, he projected the voice of his physical body through the fickle connection, still remaining with his soul and mind, and managed to utter "Gowla." The glowing infinite that was a rune and its indescribably many tendrils all froze before the golden color took on a dark gray glow, illuminating Samuel’s pitiful soul. It was only for a moment, but that was enough for things to change drastically. Not just for the space it occupied, but also for Infinity itself. However, the biggest change was still done to the mortal, ignorant human who witnessed it.