Chapter 523: The Usage of the Hour Time Technique
The next day.
Gu Ze, for once, was up bright and early.
He stretched, walked out of his room, and prepared to wash up before having breakfast.
Just as he turned his head, he saw Li Wei walking out of Gu Sewei’s room.
He froze on the spot.
Gu Ze’s expression stiffened as he looked at Li Wei. "What were you doing in Weiwei’s room so early?" he asked curtly.
Li Wei hesitated for a moment. ’Should I tell Gu Ze that I was actually in Gu Sewei’s room all night long?’
He decided to be cautious.
Li Wei didn’t tell the truth, instead making up an excuse to brush it off.
"Ah, it’s nothing. I just suddenly thought of something I needed to tell Gu Sewei," Li Wei said.
Gu Ze eyed him suspiciously, narrowing his eyes. "What was so important that you had to tell her this early?" he asked.
Li Wei replied casually, "While I was sleeping last night, I came up with some theories about the Demonized Creatures. I came over early so I wouldn’t forget them."
Gu Ze smacked his lips and breathed a sigh of relief. "Is that so?"
Although he wasn’t sure how he felt about Gu Sewei and Li Wei getting together...
...Gu Ze was still instinctively protective of his family’s precious treasure, and he didn’t want her to be snatched away by some pig.
Even if he had raised that pig himself.
Gu Ze was deeply conflicted.
On one hand, he greatly admired Li Wei’s talent and power.
On the other, he felt an extraordinary sense of protectiveness and affection for the sister he had been separated from for so long.
Gu Ze wasn’t opposed to something happening between Li Wei and Gu Sewei.
He just hoped it would happen a little later.
He wanted more time to feel his sister’s love.
’I just got my sister back, I don’t want someone trying to steal her away from me already.’
That would be a tragedy.
As Li Wei and Gu Ze were talking, Gu Sewei walked out of her room.
She looked at Li Wei with a smile and said, "Li Wei, thank you for last night."
Hearing this, Gu Ze froze instantly, turning his head toward Gu Sewei like a malfunctioning machine.
Li Wei’s mouth twitched. He turned and quietly slipped away.
Gu Ze snapped back to his senses and instinctively reached out to grab Li Wei, demanding an explanation.
’What in the world happened last night?’
His left hand grabbed nothing but air. He turned to look, but Li Wei’s figure had already vanished beyond the courtyard gate.
Gu Ze’s face twitched.
Gu Sewei watched Li Wei’s and Gu Ze’s reactions with a look of confusion.
’What are those two doing?’
A single sentence had shattered the sincere friendship between the two men.
Gu Ze spent the entire morning looking for Li Wei.
But Li Wei was nowhere to be found, having vanished into thin air.
If he didn’t know that Li Wei’s power was immense and that no one in Fred City was his match...
...Gu Ze would have worried that something terrible had happened to him.
The more Li Wei avoided him, the more convinced Gu Ze became that there was some unspeakable secret between him and Gu Sewei.
And the more he wanted to find out what had really happened last night.
Normally, he could have just asked Gu Sewei directly.
However, as her older brother, Gu Ze felt a little embarrassed to do so.
If he asked Li Wei, though, he wouldn’t feel any psychological burden.
In a sense, the bond between Li Wei and Gu Ze was even deeper than the one between Gu Ze and his own sister, Gu Sewei.
Li Wei had saved Gu Ze’s life and changed its course.
And the same was true for Gu Ze’s impact on Li Wei.
Li Wei hadn’t disappeared because he was deliberately avoiding Gu Ze.
He had entered the Magic Cottage.
Last night, he had spent the whole night in Gu Sewei’s room.
And Li Wei hadn’t been doing nothing... He had been discussing the many mysteries of Magic with Gu Sewei.
He had finally found a possible way to cast the Hour Time Technique.
Li Wei entered the Magic Cottage specifically to experiment with the Hour Time Technique.
The key was Saint Xi.
To be precise, it was the Time Dragon’s Reversed Scale on Saint Xi.
If the Time Dragon’s Reversed Scale contained the Power of Time, then he might just be able to cast the Hour Time Technique.
"Saint Xi, are you ready?"
Li Wei stood before Saint Xi, his expression serious.
The Hour Time Technique was a form of Magic that had never been recorded before.
Li Wei had no idea what the consequences of casting it would be.
He had to prepare for the worst.
According to its creator on the beast skin scroll, the Hour Time Technique’s only effect was to accelerate the flow of time.
But he hadn’t specified the exact effect of this acceleration.
By what factor would the flow of time be accelerated?
Onefold, tenfold, a hundredfold, or even a thousandfold or ten-thousandfold...?
Li Wei didn’t think it would be that exaggerated, but he still had to be ready for the worst-case scenario.
Saint Xi had transformed into a young woman. In the center of her forehead was a seven-colored Scale.
That was the Time Dragon’s Reversed Scale.
Ever since Saint Xi had rapidly grown by absorbing the Power of Time in the Time Secret Realm...
...the Time Dragon’s Reversed Scale had fused with her.
Saint Xi nodded earnestly. "I’m ready," she said.
Then, she asked with some confusion, "But, Li Wei, I don’t know how to use the Power of Time. What should I do?"
Li Wei said, "You don’t have to do anything. Just stand there and don’t move."
Saint Xi nodded seriously. "Okay, I understand."
Between Li Wei and Saint Xi was a sprouted seed.
Li Wei planned to use this sprouted seed to test the effects of the Hour Time Technique.
He closed his eyes and adjusted himself to his optimal state.
Li Wei focused his mind, calmed his breath, and cast the Hour Time Technique on the sprouted seed with all his might.
While Casting, he concentrated fully on the Time Dragon Scale on Saint Xi’s forehead, trying to draw out the Power of Time from within it.
A moment later, the Casting of the Hour Time Technique was complete.
Li Wei and Saint Xi stared blankly at each other, then continued to stare at the sprouted seed before them.
...
There was no change.
Li Wei comforted himself, ’Maybe the acceleration rate of the Hour Time Technique is too small to be obvious. I’ll observe it for a while longer.’
Half a day later.
"Damn it!"
Li Wei couldn’t help but curse.
He had been observing it for half a day, and there was still no change.
During that time, Li Wei had even cast the Hour Time Technique several more times.
He was afraid the spell’s duration would end.
But in the end, time proved that his Hour Time Technique was completely useless.
Li Wei sighed, feeling helpless.
’Time Magic really isn’t something an ordinary person can mess with... Sigh!’
Seeing how much it bothered Li Wei, Saint Xi thought for a moment and said, "Maybe you haven’t drawn out the Power of Time from the Reversed Scale. Why don’t you try casting the Hour Time Technique directly on me, Li Wei?"
Li Wei shook his head. "No way. I can’t let you take a risk on a form of Magic with unknown effects."
He would rather the Hour Time Technique be useless than let Saint Xi risk falling into danger.
Saint Xi shook her head and said with a smile, "What’s there to be afraid of? I’m a Legendary Holy Dragon. Even if the Hour Time Technique were a Forbidden Curse, it couldn’t kill me, let alone the fact that it isn’t."
Despite her words, Li Wei was still unwilling to take the risk.
Finally, after much persuasion from Saint Xi, Li Wei reluctantly agreed to give it a try.
He casually cast the Hour Time Technique on Saint Xi once.
His true intention was to hope the spell wouldn’t work.
After the Casting ended, Saint Xi froze on the spot.
Li Wei asked, "How is it?"
For a long moment, there was no response.
He looked at Saint Xi with some concern. "What’s wrong?"
Suddenly, a stream of unintelligible gibberish spilled from Saint Xi’s mouth.
It was incredibly brief, as if a sentence that should have taken a minute to say was compressed into a single second.
Li Wei frowned. ’The Hour Time Technique worked?’
After a long pause, Saint Xi’s voice echoed in Li Wei’s mind.
"Whoa, Li Wei, the Hour Time Technique worked! You’ve gotten so slow. It takes you forever to say one sentence, I can barely understand you..."
Li Wei was taken aback for a second, then a thought occurred to him.
He communicated with Saint Xi through their spiritual connection.
After a brief exchange, Li Wei understood the current situation.
The Hour Time Technique had taken effect on Saint Xi.
Just as Gu Sewei had said, the Hour Time Technique was missing a crucial element, which was why he couldn’t cast it before.
That crucial element was the Power of Time.
Because Saint Xi possessed the Power of Time within her, the Hour Time Technique was able to affect her.
Under the effect of the Hour Time Technique, Saint Xi was now experiencing time flowing at twenty times the normal speed.
That’s why when they tried to speak to each other...
...Saint Xi felt that Li Wei was speaking at a snail’s pace.
...while Li Wei couldn’t understand what Saint Xi was saying at all.
Similarly, Li Wei felt that his own speech and movements were completely normal.
But from Saint Xi’s perspective, they were slowed down twentyfold, making them incredibly sluggish.
To Li Wei, Saint Xi’s movements looked like a fast-forwarded movie; he could only see the result without being able to perceive the process in between.
Only when the two of them communicated on a spiritual level did this anomaly caused by the time differential disappear.
In spiritual communication, both of their thoughts were transmitted to the other instantaneously.
Even if the flow of time was sped up twenty times, twenty times an instant was still an instant.
Perhaps if the time flow accelerated beyond a certain level, even spiritual communication would experience a time lag.
But for now, at least, Li Wei didn’t have to worry about that happening.
"A twentyfold acceleration in the flow of time, and it only works on you?"
Li Wei sighed. ’What good is that...?’
Saint Xi sensed Li Wei’s thoughts and corrected his misconception.
She said, "It’s extremely useful. Its significance is profound."
"I am now growing and getting stronger at twenty times the normal speed!"
"Huh?"
Li Wei’s face showed his astonishment.
He thought about it for a moment and nodded. ’It seems she’s right.’
For Saint Xi, the accelerated flow of time wouldn’t cause her any harm.
On the contrary, it would push her to rapidly enter her next stage of growth, allowing her power to increase quickly.
Time is the best catalyst for a Giant Dragon’s growth.
A twentyfold growth rate.
In one year, Saint Xi would experience the equivalent of twenty years of growth.
In one hundred years, Saint Xi would grow as much as she would in two thousand.
Two thousand years was enough time for Saint Xi to grow into the Mature Stage, or even the Complete Stage, of a Holy Giant Dragon.
As for whether she could reach the Peak Stage, that would depend on Saint Xi’s own accumulation of power.
Growth achieved through the natural passage of time alone was not enough to reach that level.
In just one hundred years, Saint Xi could reach a level of power that would have originally taken her two thousand years to achieve.
Li Wei was overjoyed.
Saint Xi was also delighted.
Most importantly, the Hour Time Technique was only at the Master Level right now.
If the Hour Time Technique continued to level up, the time acceleration rate would increase even further.