Chapter 58: Northern Border, Forest and Snowfield

Chapter 58: Northern Border, Forest and Snowfield

Alex realized that he seemed to be cursed with bad luck when it came to teleportation.

The proof? He had been teleported to yet another desolate, remote place. Yes, in the most literal sense.

Where on earth was this?

As Alex walked through the forest, he couldn't figure out where he had ended up. If it were just a regular forest, there wouldn't be much of a problem. But the issue was that this forest seemed a bit off.

Normally, even in winter, there would be some animals moving about in the forest. Even if most animals were hibernating, there should still be signs of life. But here, there was nothing!

Alex had walked through the forest for an entire day and night without encountering a single animal! Not even a bird in the sky. This made Alex a bit uneasy.

Did the teleportation system mess up and send him to a lifeless, barren place? If that were the case, it would be really troublesome!

The only fortunate thing was that Alex found a river in the forest, which gave him some relief. From his experience, there were usually human settlements along rivers, even if the chances were slim.

It was better than wandering aimlessly in the forest. Although Alex, after his transformation, didn't get hungry as quickly as an ordinary human, he still needed to eat. If he got lost for too long, he might have to resort to eating tree bark.

But Alex didn't just sit idle. While making his way through the forest, he also explored the time-manipulation abilities he had gained, trying to see if he could discover any new tricks.

After all, he had gone through so much in "Edge of Tomorrow" to acquire this power; he wasn't about to let it go to waste. Boredom is always a great motivator for research.

During his journey, Alex indeed figured out some ways to use his time-manipulation abilities. Instant movement!

Of course, this "instant movement" wasn't the kind that involves crossing space, but rather crossing time. For example, if it normally took Alex ten minutes to run five kilometers, his "instant movement" would compress that time down to one second.

In other words, Alex could instantly appear five kilometers away, but this wasn't because he had broken through a spatial barrier—it was simply because time had sped up.

Since the time manipulation is centered on Alex himself, as long as he could move, there was no need to worry about stepping outside the range of his ability. However, there was a downside to this method: it consumed physical energy.

Time movement and space movement are different. Space movement connects two points, shortening the distance. Time movement, on the other hand, only speeds up time without reducing the energy expenditure.

This means that if it takes Alex a certain amount of energy to run 100 meters, he would still use the same amount of energy even after speeding up time. This is a subtle but real drawback.

Another issue was that accelerating time also sped up Alex's physical aging. For every ten minutes he moved faster than others, he would age ten minutes faster.

Although ten minutes might not seem like much, over time, when ten minutes becomes ten years, it's a different story. Fortunately, the Zerg genes in Alex's body perfectly resolved this problem.

Miruune had explained to him that Zerg growth follows a unique cycle. When they consume genes and enhance themselves, their bodies remain at that peak state until the next evolution.

This is why the higher-ranking Zergs are increasingly difficult to deal with. However, because of the Zergs' unique war-focused lifecycle, few of them live long enough to experience such extended growth.

In other words, while others age one year at a time, Alex only ages when he evolves. So, no matter how many times Alex uses his time-manipulation abilities, he won't age faster than others.

Moreover, Alex discovered another aspect of his time-manipulation ability: the time and area of effect were relative! Currently, Alex's "Time Manipulation" is at level E, with a ten-minute limit and a five-meter radius centered on himself.

However, Alex could increase the time limit by reducing the area or expand the area by reducing the time limit. For instance, Alex could extend the radius from ten meters to one hundred meters, but the time limit would decrease to one minute.

Conversely, if he reduced the area to a one-meter radius, his time limit would increase to twenty minutes. In addition, Alex developed a more complex usage method!

This idea stemmed from his understanding of time manipulation, as the ability description included the phrase "manipulate at will." This meant that Alex could not only speed up time but also slow it down or even pause it!

Building on this, Alex devised an effective combat technique, which he called "Stacked Strikes." The entire process is actually quite simple.

When facing a target, Alex could use "instant movement" to accelerate time by eight minutes and "teleport" to the opponent's side. Then, he could pause time, "rewind" ten seconds to land a sword strike.

Then he could "fast-forward" ten seconds to land another strike, followed by "fast-forwarding" thirty seconds to cast a Judgment, then "fast-forward" five seconds to unleash a Verdict, and finally "fast-forward" one minute to move away from the target.

From an observer's perspective, it would appear as though Alex blinked into existence in front of the target. They would then witness multiple sword strikes, followed by a series of judgments and verdicts, and then Alex would vanish, leaving the target to fall.

Unfortunately, there was no loophole in this ability. Alex could manipulate time, but he couldn't twist or change it. He could speed up or slow down time to control it, but he couldn't resist the process itself.

If Alex needed eight minutes to reach a target's side, once he "accelerated" to that eight-minute mark, he couldn't "rewind" to two minutes earlier to attack again. If he tried, his body would just revert to where it was two minutes ago.

Similarly, if a sword strike took five seconds to hit an enemy, he couldn't rewind time second by second to strike repeatedly, creating a one-second, five-strike combo. The only option was to acknowledge that the strike missed and then rewind five seconds to launch a new attack from a different angle.

It's also important to note that no matter how much Alex "rewinds" or "accelerates" time, the total amount of time he can manipulate is still limited. He can't turn that time into an infinite resource. Regardless of how he uses it, he must ensure that the cumulative time doesn't exceed the default limit.

In other words, whether Alex "accelerates" by one second or "rewinds" by one second, the ability will count it as -1S, -1S, -1S, and so on, until the time limit is reached.

If time were money, Alex only had a set amount of cash. He could spend it, but he couldn't get it back.

Alex also discovered another flaw in his time ability. When he used powerful skills while manipulating time, the duration of the ability would decrease. He realized this after using Royal Cross Swordsmanship.

If he used regular attacks within the time limit, it didn't feel particularly taxing. But if he used a combo of powerful sword techniques—like Crusader Strike, Judgment, Holy Storm, and Verdict—the energy consumption was massive. He could barely maintain the ability, and it even risked exhausting him.

This realization made Alex more cautious. He noticed that after performing a full combo in place, his time manipulation ability could only sustain itself for a maximum of three minutes.

And that was just against a stationary target. What if he faced a powerful enemy?

Let's not even consider the Child of Chaos. What if he faced the Lich King, or a grand knight like Malt or Stone? How long could he maintain his ability in front of them?

Alex had thought time manipulation would allow him to do anything within a set period. But now, it seemed that if the opponent was powerful enough, his time control could be weakened. If he encountered an enemy too strong for him, it was possible that his ability could be completely nullified.

During his journey, Alex focused on experimenting with his ability. The description of the ability was just an introduction; it was up to him to figure out how to use it effectively.

As a game designer and veteran player, Alex had plenty of experience in this area. He treated the ability like a skill in a game and began testing whether it was more useful as a support or a primary attack tool. So far, it seemed better suited for support. However, Alex suspected that with upgrades, it might also have potential as an offensive skill.

For now, though, it wasn't particularly effective.

"Hm?"

While Alex was busy studying his ability, he suddenly looked up, surprised. He had just sensed the presence of life ahead—a lot of it!

The Zerg genes were still very sharp in terms of sensing, and Alex could clearly feel numerous life signals gathering not far from him. It was a bit like seeing red dots on a mini-map in a starcraft game. It felt odd, but... as long as it worked.

Finally, something alive!

Excited, Alex quickly sped up and dashed forward.

It didn't take long for him to reach his destination. As he expected, where there was water, there was usually human habitation. In front of him stood a small town.

From the outside, the town looked like a beautiful place. But right now, it had nothing to do with beauty or peace.

The reason was simple: it was under attack.

And more importantly, the attack wasn't from humans.

"What is…"

Standing on a nearby tree branch, Alex frowned as he observed the scene. Outside the town, a wall about three or four meters high blocked the attackers' advance. But the attackers hadn't given up.

They were a pack of massive black wolves, each as large as a warhorse, numbering over a hundred. These wolves were circling the wall, ramming the gates with wild abandon. Some even breathed fire, scorching the walls.

Magical beasts?

Alex knew that this world had magical beasts, and quite a few of them. He hadn't paid much attention to them before, but after learning that spirit crystals could be used for recharging, he became more interested.

But he hadn't expected to encounter such a large pack of magical beasts here!

The town was clearly struggling to hold them off. Alex saw militiamen on the walls, shooting arrows and throwing spears at the wolves, but to no effect. The wolves' thick fur acted like armor, causing the arrows and spears to glance off harmlessly, posing no real threat.

If the townspeople hadn't piled up a heap of stones at the gate, they probably wouldn't have lasted this long.

But their time was running out.

The town's defenses were about to crumble under the wolves' assault. Alex could easily imagine what would happen to the town if the wolves broke through.

However, for Alex, this wasn't a problem.

Although he had conducted countless experiments, actual combat was always the best test, right? Besides, these black wolves were magical beasts…

Thinking of this, Alex's gaze toward the wolves became the same as if he were looking at a pile of walking cash.

It was time to recharge and spend big!

(End of Chapter)

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