She ascended to the seventh stage two days ago. It is completely impossible to get to the next stage so fast. Besides, she did not practice, her soul did not do cycles of energy spending / replenishment. It’s not so easy to get to the 8th stag. It isn’t the beginning but the end of the phase.
«I… I got stronger!» – Juno muttered enthusiastically.
Kyon frowned. He had a strange, almost absurd hunch. He continued to clear her key of the wind. He wasn’t concerned that Juno was getting stronger. She was nothing against him. Her getting stronger was only to his advantage. He was going to take everything from her, anyway. More than that, the cleaner the keys, the faster the cycles. Her development would grow faster and he was going to take it sooner or later.
*spatial flash*
Juno instantly jumped to the ninth stage.
Kyon’s jaw dropped in surprise.
«Fucking imba!»
«Wow!» – Juno said shortly. She was shocked by what had happened.
«Master, did you do this?!» - She looked at Kyon as if he was her benefactor. The usual hatred in the depth of her green eyes had disappeared. She had completely forgotten about the lost money and medicine. She was overwhelmed with happiness!
Kyon supposed it all came down to her unique body of the divine lotus of development. He decided to clean her wind key to 100% to confirm his hunch. Taken into account the progression of the complexity of each next stage, she would get to the peak of the base phase right at 99%. He listened to his still inactive light part of the nucleus. Was it going to get filled with positive emotions of the annoying girl? What if he could activate his unique body along the way?
Soon, they could see the expected spatial flash that marked Juno’s transition to the 10th stage.
The light part of the sphere in his soul began to rotate. One turn, two... and three. That’s it. Apparently, the girl’s gratitude had ended at that. Kyon was angry, almost furious. How could she be such an ungrateful bitch? Or maybe he should fill the light part of his core with some other emotions? Kyon wanted to beat her out of frustration! After his victory over Kaisen, the dark part of the core turned about five times. The victory over Tsayan gave him about 25 turns. Violent sex with Dinah led to who knows how many turns. There were a lot of them, by all means because it filled his core with dark energy to the brim! But this little scum gave him only three turns of light emotions?! And she was hoping to defeat her sister after that?!
As soon as Kyon cleared the last percent and Juno became the wind bender, his Synergy accidentally crawled to the end of the canal and touched her soul.
~whoosh~
An incomprehensible blue flash lit up the room.
Time stood still for Kyon... Then everything blurred into a shimmering blue fog.
Kyon could hardly open his eyes. The chamber of Juno was somehow replaced by the surroundings of the estate. Judging by the sun, the time was around noon.
{Did I suddenly pass out for almost a day?} - Kyon incredulously rubbed his eyes and looked around. There was something mysterious and inexplicable in everything that was happening. He remembered perfectly well Synergy touching Juno’s soul and then... And then he didn’t remember anything.
{What the fuck! Where are my Synergy and development?!} - To his complete bewilderment, Kyon couldn’t feel any connection with his soul. His keys did not rotate. Synergy did not leave the 10th key.
No matter how hard he tried, nothing changed. It was like his body didn’t belong to him. However, the clothes were the same, the ring on his finger was the same, as well as his hair and appearance... Everything was in its place!
Without wasting his time on unnecessary emotions, Kyon quickly remembered the map of the estate and determined his location. He was about a kilometer from the mansion, which was even more confusing. What moron brought him here? Maybe he came on his own? Why did the whole day pass by? Where were his development and Synergy?!
He took the sound transmitter out of his pocket, but he could not use it without pure energy.
Alright, no problem. Kyon came up to a passerby and asked him to call a certain frequency.
Kyon brought the device to his ear and was completely at a loss. {Um...} - He was shocked by the lack of any response, which meant the sound transmitter he was calling to was destroyed as if it had never existed. Perhaps someone had intentionally broken it?
A chill of foreboding swept over him. He decided to get as much information as possible.
«Hello. Can you tell me what day it is today?»
An elderly passer-by squinted blindly, straightened himself up with difficulty and creaked slowly:
«It’s the sixth day of the week, son.»
Kyon's eyebrows crept upon his forehead. The party was on the seventh day! Has he slept for six days?
«Thanks. By the way, can you tell me the month? I seem to have lost my memory in the battle…»
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«You should take care of yourself, dear. Today is the twenty-third day of the fifth month.»
Kyon blinked in disbelief. He was beginning to understand what had happened to him.
«And the year?!»
When the surprised old man told him the year, Kyon's heart leapt to his throat. He had turned back time to four years! He asked a couple of more passers-by to make sure that the data was accurate. The travelling in time would explain the lack of his development but not his age! His body was still 14 years old. And where did his Synergy go? It was in him even before he had connected with his soul!
Kyon thanked the old man and headed for Juno’s mansion, his legs stiff with tension. He wanted to have an outside perspective. How did the contact with the girl’s soul send him to the past and deprive him of all his abilities? What can he do now? Maybe he should find himself? Or return to the mines and restore Synergy? The new connection with his would be terrible if it was possible at all with his inborn talent and all the keys (he had found it out when he was in the mine).
Kyon passed a couple of alleys and suddenly saw a white tiger that was hastily running somewhere. On his back dangled a frightened golden-haired girl of about 9. She tightly clasped the animal around its neck.
{Juno?!}
Only an idiot would not recognize Juno in this charming cutie.
He ran after the tiger wondering why there were no guards or escort? How did she end up on this tiger? She was afraid of the beasts, wasn’t she? She looked frightened but not petrified. She must have had no phobia four years ago.
Kyon soon lagged behind the strange couple. Without pure energy and his development, he was no stronger than an ordinary teenager and not much faster.
He could see from the distance the tiger turning to a blind alley.
A couple of slaves (judging by their gray clothes) looked in with curiosity. An instant later their eyes filled with fear and they ran away in panic. In fact, they scurried off to get help.
Kyon finally arrived in the alley. His heart sank at the thought of the bloody sight he was going to see. However, Juno, deathly pale but still alive, was crawling away from the pack of animals surrounding her. The large white tiger was the leader. They all growled and drooled slowly approaching the girl. Their intention to devour her was more than obvious.
{If I am in the same universe but four years earlier, someone will definitely save her, and she will get her phobia. Or... What if I should save her not to break the space-time continuum?!} - Kyon thought alarmed.
In his world, science had completely refuted the possibility of time travel. They claimed people could only travel to the future, and it wasn’t a completely correct interpretation. As for traveling in the past, there was no way to do it. However, countless incredible theories had always worried Kyon’s mind. Even now the most unbelievable thoughts were zooming round his head.
{Most likely they will save her at the last moment.} - He finally decided. But he couldn’t see anyone rushing to help her. The beasts were going to eat her up in a couple of seconds.
{They will gobble her up, sure as eggs is eggs... I can’t help her anyway, can I? Why on earth do the beasts attack a family member with a first-rank formation on her wrist?! It doesn’t have to be like this!}
Kyon’s eyes flashed with a sudden hunch. After moving in time he kept his things, appearance and the ring. Maybe the formation stayed, too? But to his disappointment, he couldn’t feel it at the moment.
All sorts of thoughts came into his head: about the possible benefits he could get if he saved the patriarch’s granddaughter, calculating the risks, calculating the probabilities of any outcome, etc.
{It’s all pure nonsense! Bullshit!} - Kyon did not want to believe that he would have to start all over again. The whole situation was ridiculous! He spent only a few minutes there and he was already trying to act out of habit making plans for the future!
At the moment, he did not have time to think about the benefits or other nonsense. The frightened little girl, who hadn’t done anything to him yet, was about to be torn to pieces. That’s the most important thing now!
…
A bit earlier, Juno had fallen from the tiger’s back of the tiger and she hurt her side. The terrible bloodthirsty creatures were slowly approaching her growling and drooling. She was the patriarch’s daughter. Everyone had to look up to her with respect. They were obliged to bow to her and show their reverence. For the first time, she had ended up in such a catastrophic frightening situation. She wished with all her heart that someone would save her, anyone at all... Then she saw some slaves peering around the corner. Hope for salvation glimmered in her eyes but they just ran away in fear. It had only enhanced her opinion of slaves as inhumans. All her hopes had gone down the drain.
Was she doomed to be torn to pieces? Shock and fear clutched at her. She had wet herself and was now trembling. She did not want to die, but her body froze and did not want to move, covered with cold sweat. Even her voice had disappeared. She could not ask for help or just scream.
Suddenly, a handsome black-haired young man bravely jumped over the shrinking ring of the bloodthirsty creatures and carefully took her in his arms. It seemed to the girl that someone kind and very brave gave her a helping hand. He snatched her from death’s icy grip straight into his strong and reliable embrace that she had been craving with all her heart. She had been dreaming about this moment, his smell and warmth... She reflexively hugged him as tight as she could. She didn’t want to let him go.
«Get out!» – Kyon barked with all his might.
The beasts felt his formation of a 4th rank family member and could not attack him. He was holding their prey and there was no way for them to reach it. They had to retreat with a disgruntled roar.
Little Juno went on sobbing quietly soaking her savior's shirt with her tears. She saw through the tears the animals retreat and felt endless gratitude to the boy. She wanted to stay with him forever. He was her savior, her hero! She would never let him go. This handsome young man was destined to become her friend and benefactor until the end of his life. She would take care of this! And she didn’t need Yegorka the fool anymore...
Kyon didn’t care for the girl’s tender. Everything blurred into a fickle blue fog again.
{It can not be!}
Suddenly, someone jumped from above. Perhaps that’s who was supposed to save Juno. Judging by the figure, it was a girl with long golden hair. He did not have time to see anything but noticed her displeased expression.
~whoosh~
An instant later, Kyon woke up in the same chamber where it all began.
Time slowly continued its course. His head was empty after the shock. Kyon felt a strange heaviness in his chest as if his soul had gained weight and struggled to cope with a new load.
{An illusory world created by Synergy?!} - It was the very first guess that came to his mind. He was so naive to believe in time travel, but the truth was closer and simpler!
When Synergy came into contact with his soul nothing happened. When it touched someone else’s soul both matters annihilated. Who could know an anomaly would occur when he touched Juno’s soul. An anomaly that would make him completely revise the laws in this world!