RE: LORD OF TIME

Inside Room No. 8 of the basic dormitory, William and Liam sat on their bunk beds.

Liam was on the lower bunk, while William sat on the upper one.

Sunlight streamed through the open window, casting an ethereal glow over both of their figures.

At this moment, powerful Aether Energy fluctuations were emanating from both of them, their auras steadily rising.

Liam had a painful expression on his face as he went through the same process William had experienced while breaking through to the Star Warrior Realm.

However, William wasn’t concerned about him. Instead, he remained focused on his own cultivation because he knew Liam would be able to break through without any problems.

The most dangerous part of advancing to the Star Warrior Realm was the opening of the Sea of Consciousness, as it directly affected a person’s soul.

However, Liam was one of the very few people in the world who had awakened his Trait before reaching the Star Warrior Realm.

Because of this, when his Trait Image condensed, it had already opened nearly half of his Sea of Consciousness.

He only needed to endure the reshaping of his physical body and no longer had to worry about his Sea of Consciousness, as the remaining portion would open naturally during his breakthrough.

On William’s side, his Aether Core pulsed like a beating heart, while the amount of Aether Energy within it continued to increase.

Around William’s neck hung a pendant with an azure-blue gemstone embedded in its center, releasing a faint, soothing glow.

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---) Azure Tear (Common Grade): A pendant forged from Deep Sea Blue Gem and White Silver. By using Aether Stones, the sea gem can be charged. The stored energy within the gem can then be used during cultivation, increasing the user’s cultivation speed by upto fifty percent.

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The Azure Tear was a Common-Grade treasure that could occasionally be found inside Common-Grade Treasure Orbs dropped within Astral Rifts.

William had exchanged it from the Academy’s Resource Department for forty Credits.

Normally, a Common-Grade treasure cost anywhere between fifty to two hundred Academic Credits.

However, the Azure Tear was one of the cheapest Common-Grade artifacts available.

The reason for its low price was because of its many limitations.

First of all, it required Aether Stones to charge the sea gem before it could be used.

Aether Stones were not cheap. Even the lowest-grade Aether Stone cost one Academic Credit each.

Secondly, the artifact was only useful to Star Warrior-level Evolvers. Once someone broke through to the Star Commander Realm, it would no longer provide any meaningful assistance.

The third and most important reason it was so inexpensive was because using it was simply a waste of resources.

Normally, a person could absorb around thirty to forty percent of the energy contained within an Aether Stone, depending on the quality of their cultivation technique.

With the Time Star Codex, William could absorb nearly seventy to eighty percent of an Aether Stone’s energy.

However, when using the Azure Tear, the maximum amount of energy that could be absorbed was only around twenty percent.

Although it greatly increased cultivation speed, the cost was simply too high.

Two days ago, William had exchanged for five Aether Stones along with the Azure Tear, spending a total of forty-five Academic Credits.

One had to know that the senior student responsible for registering new students at the registration building would only receive around ten to fifteen Academic Credits for completing that task.

Ten to fifteen credits might sound decent, but registration wasn’t a one-day job.

That senior would have to continue doing the same work for nearly half a month just to earn those ten to fifteen Academic Credits, yet William had spent 45 Academic Credits immediately after entering the academy.

At this moment, the pulsing of William’s Aether Core suddenly intensified, as if it had reached a critical point.

The next second—

Bang!

A muffled explosion echoed within his Aether Core as the amount of Aether Energy inside it surged dramatically.

At the same time, a wave of energy spread outward from his core, rapidly flowing through every part of his body and strengthening it even further.

The breakthrough to the middle stage of the Star Warrior Realm came naturally to William and with the experience from his previous life, he mastered his newly increased strength in just a few minutes.

"...Phew."

William let out a slow breath before finally opening his eyes.

He sensed the amount of Aether Energy inside his core and found that it had increased by nearly thirty percent.

More importantly, the quality of his Aether Energy had also improved, making it noticeably stronger than before.

Since he was inside the dormitory, William didn’t dare test his physical strength as the last thing he wanted was to pay compensation for damaging the room.

Instead, he tested his other abilities.

After breaking through to the middle stage of the Star Warrior Realm, he could now use Eyes of Insight to observe the flow of energy and trace its movements within a radius of one hundred and fifty meters.

However, the thing that delighted him the most was Time Acceleration.

With his increase in realm, its acceleration ratio had risen from 1.5 times to 1.6 times.

Although the improvement seemed minor, it had only been a breakthrough within the same realm.

Previously, William had believed the skill would only improve after breaking through to an entirely new realm.

Yet now, it had strengthened even after a minor breakthrough.

’At this rate, when I break through to the early stage of the Star Commander Realm, the acceleration effect might reach two times or perhaps even higher...’

William took a deep breath to calm himself.

He lowered his gaze to the Azure Tear hanging around his neck and sighed softly.

"This thing is truly a money-burning pit..."

When William had first entered the academy, he had estimated it would still take him another five or six days to break through to the middle stage of the Star Warrior Realm.

However, with the help of the Azure Tear, he had accomplished the breakthrough in only three days.

’I have already used three Aether Stones...’

Looking at the two remaining stones from the original five, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

After storing the remaining Aether Stones away, he leaned over the edge of the upper bunk and looked down at Liam.

At this moment, Liam’s body was covered in blood from the impurities forced out during his breakthrough.

’He’s about to finish as well.’

William sensed Liam’s steadily rising aura and after thinking for a moment, he silently jumped down from the bunk bed and left the room.

"Today is the 8th of July, and classes begin in two days. It’s better for us to enter the Astral Rift today so that we have more time to explore it," William muttered to himself as he left the dormitory.

He needed to inform Alicia about their departure and buy a few supplies from the marketplace to prepare for their upcoming expedition.

"Howling Desert..."

He softly muttered the name of the Astral Rift he had chosen, and the corners of his lips curled into a faint smile.

"I hope these two newbies don’t start crying after entering it."