Eternal Pendant

Once the pecking order was established, Michael had begun to ask Archie some of his most pressing questions to fill in the blanks. It turned out that the meadow he was in currently was the spatial dimension inside of his Ancestors pendant.

"So, what you're saying is, I'm currently inside my Ancestors crappy pendant? Michael asked disbelievingly. He thought back to the ordinary wooden pendant that a beggar wouldn't even wear.

Archie cringed at the added adjective "Master, I think you'll find that while the pendant looks ordinary, it is far beyond that" he said with a pleading tone in his childish voice.

"This is only one of the spatial dimensions within the Eternal Pendant" he added slowly.

Michaels eyes bulged out of his sockets as he looked around the area "It's huge! And there's more than one?"

"That's not all Master, this particular space has the effect of freezing time" This time Archie had a smug look on his face as he described the space.

"The F***? That's overpowered!" Michael exclaimed in amazement.

"Just be aware that no living beings besides yourself can be brought into this space, as they'll likely implode and die upon leaving the space" Not wanting to upset his master and risk being called "Arse" for the remainder of his life, he was careful to explain everything.

"Hmmm makes sense" Michael mused. "So what about the other 2 spaces?" he asked impatiently.

As soon as he finished speaking, he was teleported to another area which looked like a medicinal herb field. He could feel an abundant earthly Qi emanating from the soil in front of him. Upon closer inspection he could see a few medicinal herbs planted further in the field.

"Ginseng and… Mugwort?" Noticing the herbs in the back of the field, Michael suddenly felt something click.

"Those are the herbs I harvested the other day! The ones that disappeared from my herb satchell"

"Yes Master, any herbs that you collect, provided they are properly harvested and without much damage can be replanted in this space."

"So the Ginseng that appeared in my hands when I treated Jason came from here" More and more pieces began to fall into place as his thoughts continued to catch up to the present.

"Wait a moment, those herbs look a bit different…" he pointed out.

"As expected of you Master, indeed those herbs have experienced almost an additional 2 years since you had last seen them" Archie adopted a tone of flattery as he explained.

"So this space has an increased flow of time" Thinking of all the possibilities this entailed, Michael began to imagine all of the money he would soon be swimming in.

"Heh…heh hehe"

"Master, please keep in mind that no living…"

"Yes Yes, explode and die. I know" Michael waved his hand dismissively after having his happy thoughts disrupted. "Just to clarify, what is the time ratio between here and the outside?"

"It is currently flowing at 365:1 Master, so 1 day outside is equal to 1 year in this space" Archie said while rolling his eyes.

"Heh…ehehe…hehe" with a deviant look on his face, Michael rubbed his hands together.

Seeing his master rub his hands together like a filthy merchant, Archie was slightly worried for his future. "Master… this ratio will only increase as you get stronger".

"HEH…EHEHE. HAHAHAHAHA" Michael laughed heartily as he accepted this pie from the sky. With this in his hands he wouldn't have to worry about finding enough money to get stronger and pursue his revenge. He gripped his hands into a fist tightly and shouted, "JUST YOU F***ING WAIT YOU F***S, VENGEANCE IS COMING".

Archie just waited by the side awkwardly as he watched his master go through a range of emotions before interjecting "Master, there's still one more space".

Michael cleared his throat in embarrassment "Yes, judging by these 2 spaces the last should be time reversal, correct?".

"…" Archie who was just about to teleport them and begin his explanation was caught off-guard.

"Y…Yes Master that is correct" he stuttered.

"Very good, there's no need to teleport us. I understand the situation" Now that he had regained his composure, Michael was starting to understand the situation but there were a few questions he still had.

"Ar---chie, I have a few questions that I hope you can answer" he said seriously.

"Ahh yes Master, I will do my best to answer any questions you may have" Archie replied with a bow.

"Firstly, when I discovered my father… I searched for Ginseng to soothe his wounds. Why did it not appear?" This was his first question, and the most important to him. If he were going to use the Eternal Pendant, he needed to know he could trust Archie and that he would not hold back when he needed it most.

"I'm sorry Master, the Pendant had just absorbed your blood a few hours before and was not capable of transferring anything out of the dimensional space"

"Absorbed my blood?" he asked

"Yes Master, this is how we formed a contract with you" Archie said nodding his head like a pecking chicken.

"Hmm it must have happened when I fell from the rockface" Thinking back, he was bleeding quite heavily after the blow to the head.

"Then who were you contracted with before me?" Michael paid close attention to Archie's facial expressions after asking this question. Making sure he was being truthful.

"Master, you are the only one we've ever been contracted to" Archie scratched his head and responded.

"Huh?" Michael was stunned, didn't his Ancestor own this pendant and pass it down through the generations of his family? Estimating the timeline, by his Ancestor saving Grandpa Yin's grandmother, there should be at least 4 to 5 generations between him and his Ancestor.

"I'm the first?"

"Yes Master, you are the first master of the Eternal Pendant" Archie replied.

"Okay…" This was something that Michael was not expecting and muddled his line of thought. It wasn't until a few minutes later that he decided to stop thinking about it and move on to the final question.

"We only walked 2 hours from Rigante Village to where we are now. However, Grandpa Yin says we're on the western side of the continent. Did you have anything to do with getting us here?" He asked.

"Yes, that was me, Master. I sensed danger from a powerful being and decided to teleport you as far away as I could with the energy we had accumulated."

"Okay, well that explains that" Thinking back to the state he was in earlier that day with Jason on his shoulder, he was grateful that he didn't meet that powerful person. He would have thrown his life away, and with that any chance of revenge.

"Thank you, Archie, you did well." For the first time since they had met, Michael had called him properly by his name.

Almost moved to tears, Archie began bowing and saying his thanks. "Thank you, Master, just know that at most I can teleport you to a random location once per year. Any sooner and your body would likely be caught in the spacetime fractures and be torn to shreds".

Michael silently shuddered at the thought of becoming shredded beef.

"Master, I'd suggest not telling anyone about the Eternal Pendant until you're strong enough to protect yourself" Archie suggested quietly.

Nodding Michael came over and put his hand on the younger version of himself "You don't have to worry, I'm neither naïve nor stupid. One more thing…" he said while tightening his grip on Archie's shoulder.

"Why the F*** are you appearing as a 10-year-old me? It's F***ing creepy dude".

Archie yelped in pain before disappearing "S…sorry master, I just used the DNA in your blood to create a form".

"Okay okay, take me out. I need some sleep" Michael suddenly had a thought of acquiring some dog DNA to recreate mans best friend.

"Heh ehehe"