One thousand times faster

While Darius waited for the gods to talk with him, he decided to rest. It didn't take long until he felt better. One and a half hours later, he was completely fine.

"Let's see… it looks like I recovered the energy that I spent," Darius said while looking around. "First, let's confirm that I can leave this place."

When Darius thought about it, a portal appeared in front of him that connected to the area that he had been before. When he crossed it, he didn't feel bad at all. Or tired, for that matter… he came and left a bunch of times, and it confirmed that he didn't have to use energy to use the portal. He also could escape from any situation in a single second. Still, he could only return to the same spot he had been before.

"Very interesting," Darius nodded to himself. "Now, let's check my influence in this world… can I make it look like it is night?"

The area began to get pretty dark, but soon Darius stopped since half of his energy had been spent, and he wouldn't be able to see a thing if that were to happen. He has some ideas on how to use that power in the future, so he decided to test some other things.

"If this world is affected by my mind, then…" Darius thought. "I want a watch above here showing the hours."

Just like Darius imagined, something like a chronometer appeared above the island, showing the time… it was marking 04:34:56. It seemed accurate… that much time had passed since he talked with the gods.

"This place is ruled by my mind, but it must have some limitations… one of them is the energy that I spent to create things, but the chronometer didn't make me feel tired," Darius thought while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Darius confirmed that he was unable to create things like humans and animals in that world… plants and things like water were fine. After some more tests, Darius decided to make that the watch would determine the flow of time in that world, so soon the area began to get brighter since it was past five in the morning in his world.

"I see now… creating physical things takes energy, but not physical things like rules," Darius thought. "I can create a bunch of rules to make things more convenient for me. Let's see… I want you to show me how much energy I have left at my disposal here.

On the side of the watch, a new option appeared. Darius saw a single word and some numbers. Aether: 10.

"Aether… was that again?" Darius furrowed his eyebrows.

In Greek mythology, it was thought to be the pure essence that the gods breathed, filling the space where they lived. Since Darius received the power of the gods in that world, perhaps it made sense that he could use something similar… in any case, he didn't get any more after a while. Still, after he used some, he recovered a single point after ten minutes. After using it again, the same thing happened once again.

"Aether must be the thing that I need to use to change this place physically…" Darius nodded to himself. "Anyway, I need to figure out a way to use this power to help me protect that world… I am just a regular dude, but there should be something that I can do."

Darius thought a bunch of things, but they were impossible. He couldn't make weapons there, at least not directly, and he couldn't use magic there, at least not the way he wanted. The place had a bunch of restrictions as well, but Darius felt fun instead of annoyance at that.

"Let's see… I want everything here to have levels based on their strength, magic power, speed, and endurance," Darius thought.

It didn't take long for Darius to see some things appear above his head. He couldn't help but smirk at it.

Level: 01

Strength: 05

Magic: 05

Quickness: 05

Endurance: 05

"It seems that I am pretty mid… anyway, this is way too simple," Darius thought. "Let's make this more interesting just for funsies."

Darius - Level: 01 (0/100)

HP: 50/50

MP: 50/50

STA: 50/50

Strength: 05

Magic: 05

Quickness: 05

Endurance: 05

Spirit: 05

Adaptability: 05

It still could be improved, but Darius was fine with that for the time being. He decided to stop with that because he soon confirmed that he couldn't use Aether to make himself stronger. He tried to make it assume a physical form for him to eat or something, but it wasn't possible.

"I guess I will have to find another solution for this problem…" Darius thought, and then he had another idea. "Let's make a quest system… the gods can use it to tell me what I should do and where I should go."

(Darius of the human species. Well done on getting used to our power. Thanks to your idea, we are able to communicate with you now. Due to several circumstances, we are unable to affect and protect our world, and that is why we chose you to do that in our place. Still, since this world exists beyond the realm of our world, communication is possible. Your first task is to protect that city from falling.)

"Well… this was fast," Darius thought. "I also want a quest system that can give me rewards, so let's update this feature… the guys in the city can use magic; how do you expect me to do something that hundreds, if not thousands, of mages, can't do?"

The answer lies in Darius' ability to affect that world… he shouldn't be able to fight the orcs directly, but there must be other things that he can do.

First of all, Darius decided to move back to that world, and then he soon confirmed that he could still see his parameters and levels even outside. So, he confirmed that his rules in that world could affect things and beings that had been there… permanently.

Darius opened the portal again, but this time, he changed it until it became like the screen of a computer. He could see the timer in the right-up corner of the screen and the aether that he could use as well. Darius soon added another function to the screen… fast-forward speed. There were four options there: 1x, 10x, 100x, and 1000x. Darius wondered if he could make time move faster or slower there, but he couldn't.

"I suppose it makes sense… it would be too crazy if I could make time flow there ten times thousands faster, and if I am here, making that place flow slower than my current flow of time would be weird," Darius thought. "Now let's do some tests about what I can bring to that place…"

Darius could bring things like stones, leaves, and small plants through the screen that he was using to watch his world. He couldn't make things too big go, though… probably because the place wasn't that big in the first place.

Darius made time flow faster there and see if he could recover aether faster, but it only worked when he was there, not when he was outside.

"I don't know yet if I will age like before, so I need to be careful with that option…" Darius thought and then used his aether to expand the Island by one meter in all directions. "Only this much, huh…"

Darius needed to do some more tests, but he didn't have that much time… he didn't know when the city was going to fall, after all. He had no idea what would happen if he were to fail either, so it was better to be safe than sorry.