[ Prince Chronos Astral’s Study Room ]
As soon as the metallic door to Chronos’s study room slid open,
*Vroooosh*
Without warning, a small projectile came hurtling towards him, seemingly out of nowhere. His instincts kicked in, the small dimensium blade levitating by his boots zipped upwards to deflect the projectile. He scanned his surroundings, the dimensium blade lined with a strip of purple neon fluorescence hovered by his face ready to strike.
Chronos was met with a sight of an old researcher, his 5 meter short frame levitating in front of his desk. The elderly researcher had his white hair pulled back into a messy bun, he had a bulbous nose but despite his quirky appearance, he had an aura of authority exuding from him.
Standing beside him was a chubby kid who was stuffing his face with buns, hovering above him were 3 of those buns. Chronos’s eyes glowed a regal white momentarily and saw a bright glow exuding from the chubby kid.
Chronos closed his eyes and focused entirely on the three buns. Within his mind, he formed a simulation of the objects, their shape, size, estimated mass and the most direct trajectory. A flurry of intricate mathematical formulas flooded his consciousness.
In less than a second, a small smile of excitement played at the corner of his lips. He had worked out the highest probability trajectory of the buns, their speed and direction, and he was ready.
“Wooosh”
With a flick of the wrist, Chronos sent his dimensium dagger forward, it curved a distance ahead of him and skewered two of the buns in a single piercing motion. He then conjured a small dimensional barrier, blocking the last bun almost exactly in its path. As the remaining bun bounced off the purple energy barrier, Chronos burst forward and caught it in his hand as it fell toward the ground.
Taking a bite of the still steaming bun, Chronos snickered,
“Is that all you got fatty?”
By this time, his dimensium dagger had already returned, levitating obediently by his side, two pork buns still skewered at its blade.
The air crackled with tension as the plump kid glared at Chronos. His face was red with anger, the bag of buns now tossed onto the floor beside him. He clenched his fists at his sides, as he struggled to contain the raw power exuding from within him.
“I’M NOT FAT! I’M JUST GROWING!! “ he roared, trembling with rage.
“What are you going to do about it fatty? Can you bear to give me more of your pork buns?”
Chronos smirked, excited at the opportunity to test his three years of training with a real-life opponent. His provocation was but a façade, he relished the idea of facing his first opponent.
The words were like a match to gasoline, and the chubby kid's rage exploded into action. He drew on the strength of his telekinetic abilities, channeling an unfamiliar power into a small trident which looked like a… giant fork?
*VROOOSHHH*
The trident crackled with power as it started propelling toward Chronos in a blur of metal and light. A quick analysis shocked Chronos. The trident was hurtling towards him at an astounding speed, a few times faster than he could manipulate his dimensium blade.
Chronos did not panic, his years of combat experience in Telluria Online flaunted a weathered calmness. With half of a pork bun still hanging out his mouth, Chronos’s two hands were wrapped with a purple dimensional energy,
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He started moving with grace and precision, his movements fluid and deliberate as he deftly redirected the trident within the dimensional energy exuding from his two hands. Chronos continued to gracefully spin a round. His body and mind worked in perfect harmony as he channeled the energy of the attacker and propelled the trident back at him as an even more powerful counterattack.
Just as the trident, now propelled by the combined forces of the kid and Chronos’s dimensional energy, was about to strike the chubby 5-year old looking boy, a thick book darted in its path and stopped it in its tracks.
“ HAHAHA as expected from the treasured prince of Astral! ” a hoarse voice echoed from the old professor.
“ Hmph! Don’t be so proud of yourself for beating a 3-year old!” the chubby boy chided, arms crossed, his annoyance clearly perceptible.
Chronos stood there calmly, finishing off the pork bun that had been in his mouth this whole time. Wiping his mouth, Chronos first turned to the old man and said,
“Greetings Senior Researcher Dolus…”
He then turned to the chubby kid and cheekily retorted,
“I’m three-years old too fatty…”
“STOP CALLING ME THAT! My name is TaoTie from the honorable family of Erinyes” the chubby kid pointed a finger and barked angrily.
‘Erinyes? Honorable? Aren’t they one of the biggest triad organizations on Tertius?’
Chronos immediately picked up on that name, in the past three years, getting to know the social intricacies and networks within the Aion and the rest of Tertius was an important part of Sophia’s tutelage.
However, having spent a lifetime in the slums during his PBS meant that he actually felt a sense of closeness more than prejudice toward TaoTie. In fact, Chronos’s eyes brightened as he knew that the Erinyes would play an integral role in his upcoming plans.
“Your Highness, Lil’ Taotie is a generational genius within our Erinyes lineage and even though I have long since stepped away from the family business, his grandfather, my elder brother, convinced me to accept him as my first disciple,”
“As you can see, even at his young age he has shown an incredible affinity to the path of psychokinesis and so he shadows me as my little assistant; I hope you don’t mind him joining us today…”
Senior Researcher Dolus explained.
Chronos nodded. walked up to the chubby Tao Tie and raised an arm to shake his hand,
“ You can call me big brother Chronos, you are the first kid I’ve met that's my age, so it’s nice to meet you.”
Tao Tie rolled his eyes, shook Chronos’s hand in reply and scanned Chronos curiously,
“ Sorry for attacking you earlier, Grand Uncle Dolus just wanted to test you…”
“ Oh and are you really 3 years old too? I’m already bigger because I eat… *ahem*... am growing faster than my peers but you have the body of a 10 year old! And you’re not as *ahem* horizontal gifted *ahem* as me “
Chronos’s eyes widened at the fearsome chubby boy’s sudden burst of youthful innocence, before deciphering his statement and let out a laughter,
“Hahahaha, we ‘re both geniuses, I just eat better than you!”
“Ok ok… enough jibber-jabber time for our lesson!”
Senior Researcher Dolus cut the two boys off and a strange prickly sensation surrounded their bodies, before they knew it, both of them levitated onto the two chairs prepared behind the study table.
Chronos’s eyebrows furrowed, not because of Dolus’s insolence toward a prince but that his levitation was juxtaposed completely from his Grandmama’s.
“In front of you is a summary of a research paper of psychokinesis, I’ll give you 30 mins to run through it while I prepare for the lesson,” Senior Researcher Dolus instructed before hurriedly arranged a set of holographic projectors on the floor in front of them.
“Hehe, I’ve already read them all several times, good luck in finishing it in time,”
“Grand Uncle gets very grumpy with slow people, the only reason you got off easy earlier was because you portrayed enough talent to justify us waiting for you,”
“Or else, he wouldn’t even bother starting the lesson, prince or otherwise…”
TaoTie leaned over and whispered to Chronos, only to realize that Chronos was already scrolling through the document screen at an unbelievable speed.
Senior Researcher Dolus had also noticed this, his brows slightly furrowed, considering whether he should let his short temper erupt at the prince’s perceptible lack of focus and respect for his research summary.
“ Chapter 2, page 6, describe the basic concept of energy manipulation,” Dolus demanded suddenly.
It had only been five minutes but Chronos had already put the document pad down, his eyes closed as if he were deep in thought. TaoTie on the other hand was grinning ear to ear, anticipating his Grand Uncle to erupt into a tirade.
“Cultivators manipulate the flow of energy through a complex system of energy channels, or meridians to harness the natural dimensional energy of the world…”
“... there are a total of 12 standard meridians, also called Principal Meridians divided into Yin and Yang groups…”
“ The Yin and Yang meridians of the arm are the Lung, heart and Pericardium and Large Intestine, Small Intestine, and Triple Burner respectively… “
As Chronos continued to ramble on, Tao Tie hurriedly checked the page on his own Document Pad and his eyes widened in awe. Chronos was reciting the page word for word.
Senior Research Dolus’s mouth hung agape as a glint of excitement shimmered in his eyes. He continued quizzing,
“Enough, tell me in the 290 pages of the document how many total words are there?”
“That’s a trick question, the pages are numbered only up to 287, however, there are inconsistencies in the spacing in Chapters 24, 36, 37, 38, 52, 67 and 69, accounting for these discrepancies there should be a total of 293 pages with a total of 140,580 words averaging 479.795221843 words per page.”
Chronos calmly replied, his eyes still shut.
Senior Researcher Dolus tossed aside his apparatuses and hurriedly grabbed the Document Pad off his Grand Nephew. A few moments later, he looked up at Chronos, eyes wide open, mouth agape, only to be met by an innocent smile.
“I have a decent memory,” Chronos muttered.