Chapter 524 - 484: [Attribute Affinity: Space-Time]

Chapter 524: Chapter 484: [Attribute Affinity: Space-Time]

[Core ’Primordial Mark’ composite Attribute affinity detected: Space-Time]

[In-depth analysis in progress...]

[Host detected to possess Trait: Time Traveler]

[Determination: Host’s soul essence possesses high innate affinity with the Space-Time Attribute, producing a synergistic enhancement with the composite mark obtained from this enlightenment.]

[Final Attribute Affinity confirmed: Space-Time]

As the final line of golden text faded from his vision, an extremely subtle, almost illusory sense of "calibration" emerged out of nowhere in Roland’s consciousness.

It was as if some ruler within his body, one that had always existed but had never been precisely measured, was now silently being zeroed and aligned.

The world didn’t shatter or reform before his eyes; the translucent "cracks" and silvery-white "threads" remained as they were.

But when he observed them, there was an additional, indescribable...

"Texture."

The passage of time was no longer just the visual mending and reappearance of "cracks." He could now vaguely "feel" it pass, leaving a sense of "flow rate" and "direction" at the edge of his consciousness, like a gentle breeze against his skin.

The sensation was exceedingly faint, lighter than a breath, yet undeniably real.

It couldn’t make time speed up or reverse, nor could it even precisely measure the length of a second. But it gave him an internal confirmation of the very fact that "time is passing," one that transcended sight.

The same was true for space.

The "map" formed by the Energy veins and nodes in his vision seemed to have been given a clearer "depth" and "relative positioning," like how a veteran sailor could estimate a voyage’s distance simply by feeling the waves with his body, without needing to take measurements.

The most subtle change lay in his newly acquired [Time Trace Weaver’s Engraving Blade] Trait.

The halo of light at his fingertip, woven from pale gold and dark red, seemed to resonate almost imperceptibly with this newly confirmed Space-Time affinity.

When he gazed at a "thread" again, in addition to its flickering rhythm, he could now seemingly "feel" the minuscule "stagnation points" created as its looping command was transmitted through the "flow of time."

And the nearly negligible "ripples" it caused when passing through different "spatial layers."

This didn’t directly strengthen the interference power of the Engraving Blade, but it gave the timing and position of his "aiming" and "striking" an ineffable, more instinctive sense of "appropriateness."

It was a foundational completion, a subtle expansion of his inner Perception.

Roland slowly exhaled a turbid breath. The last of the strange phenomena in his eyes subsided completely, and their depths returned.

Just as he was about to try and re-establish contact with the Son of Divine Remains to ask for more specific information about the "World Serpent," his consciousness was met with only an empty silence. There was no longer any response.

Although the light on the surface of the distorted building still pulsed, it now exuded a deep sense of fatigue and closure, as if the recent guidance and contract formation had exhausted the last of its "lucid" will, causing it to fall into a self-protective slumber.

Seeing this, Roland didn’t dwell on it.

He turned to his companions and, in the most concise terms, summarized the contract he had just made, the new vision and abilities he had gained, and his deduction that Yemiga, the "World Serpent," was the maintainer of the loop’s core.

"So, we need to find the weakest ’node’ in this loop system."

Roland concluded, his gaze sweeping over the silvery-white "threads" that filled the void, visible only to him.

"And then, we try to interfere with it."

Thanks to his newly acquired Space-Time Attribute Affinity, the "Space-Time Weaving Threads" that symbolized the loop’s sustaining power became unprecedentedly clear in Roland’s Perception.

They were no longer blurry phantoms in the background, but were now like silver rivers flowing through the night sky, with clear "flow directions," "densities," and "convergence points."

The vast majority of these threads were like flocks of homing birds, stretching up from deep underground to finally converge and vanish into the world above.

"Follow me."

Roland no longer hesitated. Following the guidance of the clearest "thread," he turned and moved toward the outer perimeter of the facility.

This time, his steps held none of the hesitation of exploration.

The Space-Time Weaving Threads acted like precise navigation beacons, pointing out the most direct and viable path for him through the intricate maze of abandoned pipes, collapsed tunnels, and dark Deep Wells.

In many places that appeared to be dead ends, the "spatial depth" and Energy vein map revealed by the threads showed hidden maintenance tunnels, gaps created by structural deformation, or shortcuts left over from early construction that had never been fully sealed.

Avril, Duraga, and the others followed close behind.

They couldn’t see the "compass" that Roland saw, but they could clearly feel the certainty radiating from him.

Guided by the threads, they didn’t go deeper down. Instead, they climbed up several times and eventually found a narrow, upward-sloping maintenance tunnel hidden behind a giant cooling pipe.

At the end of the tunnel was a heavily rusted but structurally intact metal airtight door.

The mechanical lock on the door had long since failed. Duraga used his War Axe to pry open a gap, and the group filed out, returning to the surface.

But Roland didn’t stop.

The "threads" in his vision continued to stretch upward.

’The Upper City District?’

After adjusting to the dim sunlight, Roland didn’t delay and pressed forward.

As he rode the lift and passed through increasingly clean and bright streets, understanding dawned on Roland.

When he stopped in front of a multi-story building of elegant design, with a crystal dome and bronze doors, he couldn’t help but shake his head and let out a wry laugh.

"The Morning Star Archive..."

Avril took a step forward, looked at the building before them, and asked in a low, solemn voice.

"Roland, is this where the ’node’ is?"

"That’s right."

Roland nodded lightly, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings.

This was the workplace Yemiga had mentioned, and also a place Roland had visited in the previous loop.

And not a hundred paces behind them...

The wide streets, the bustling market, and the newsboy with only a few papers left in his hand, shouting his headlines...

This was the exact spot where they had first stepped off the platform and entered the Upper City District of Silver Radiance City.

It was also their starting point every time the time loop reset in this city.

’I should have thought of it sooner...’

A flash of understanding lit up Roland’s eyes.

’For a loop, the beginning is the end. It’s also the most logically critical ’node,’ where the ’Space-Time Weaving Threads’ are most tightly interwoven... The loop closes here, and it might also be pried open here.’

’However, if I hadn’t received that enlightenment from the Son of Divine Remains and gained the ability to see the ’threads,’ I probably would have been helpless even if I had figured this out.’

At that moment, Galvis, who had walked ahead, was already asking the friendly-faced receptionist at the archive’s front desk if Yemiga was in.

The reply was identical to the one from the last loop.

"Mr. Yemiga? He’s out on inspection today, he’s not in the archive."

Hearing the familiar words, Roland didn’t wait any longer.

Taking a deep breath, he began to walk forward slowly as he spoke aloud, his calm but clear voice carrying into the archive’s bright, spacious hall.

"Come out, Yemiga."

"I imagine that with your power... or rather, with the Authority of the ’World Serpent,’ you must have already sensed that I now hold the ’key’ to breaking this endless loop, haven’t you?"

As his voice fell, he raised his right hand.

A faint glow, woven from pale gold and dark red, was already emanating from his fingertip—the light of the "Time Trace Weaver’s Engraving Blade."

He reached out resolutely, touching the phantom of the thickest silvery-white "thread" in his vision, the one that plunged straight into the depths of the Morning Star Archive.

The next moment...

Roland’s finger abruptly froze.

At the same time, the surrounding air underwent a subtle change.

It wasn’t a surge of Energy, but a "stagnation" on the level of Perception.

It was as if the entire space had suddenly turned into a precise and sealed petri dish.

"As expected of... a traveler who roams outside the warp and weft of fate."

A calm, clear voice, which nonetheless sounded like countless subtle echoes layered together, rang out from all directions at once, filling the space.

The voice carried a trace of sincere, almost academic admiration, as well as a faint, imperceptible hint of confusion.

"Even here, within my Domain, your trajectory is still like a drop of heterogeneous oil in still water—your outline is clear, yet you cannot be assimilated by the current, nor can the pattern of your diffusion be fully predicted."

As the voice spoke, the air under the brightest patch of light in the center of the lobby distorted slightly, like a heat haze stirred by an unseen hand.

A slender figure materialized from the void, gradually taking form.

It was Yemiga.

He still wore that simple, neat robe, his long hair tied back meticulously, his expression serene.

Only his narrow, dark yellow eyes, with their slightly vertical pupils, were fixed on Roland, countless motes of light seeming to flash and vanish within them.

His appearance carried no astonishing aura, yet it completely transformed the atmosphere of the Morning Star Archive’s lobby, as if the public space had instantly become the core of his private Domain.

Yemiga’s gaze swept past the wary faces of Avril and the others, finally settling on Roland—or more precisely, on Roland’s fingertip, which was wreathed in a faint glow of pale gold and dark red.

His pupils contracted imperceptibly for an instant.

"That is..."

His voice remained steady, but it now held a note of inquiry, like a researcher who had discovered an unexpected variable in an experiment report.

"An ’Echo’... drawn from that ’failed experiment’? Interesting."

Yemiga shook his head lightly.

"I have performed thirty-seven million, four hundred and ninety thousand conventional deductions and eighty thousand chaotic simulations, calculating all known variables and probability clouds... yet I never once glimpsed a potential node where you would interact so deeply with the ’Deep Well Core’."

"Your very existence is like a strange parameter that continuously produces ’accidents’."

He took a slow step forward, his footfall light and silent, but his gaze never left Roland’s fingertip.

But his expression was not one of seeing a threat; it was more like he was examining an extremely interesting, unrecorded magical phenomenon.

"If I may, Mr. Roland."

Yemiga tilted his head slightly, his tone polite and sincere, as if he were genuinely just asking an academic question.

"Could you describe the course of your encounter for me? It is... of the utmost importance for me to perfect my model and understand the generation mechanism of ’variables’."

"I am very curious. What chain of causality led to this... ’resonance’ that deviated from all calculated paths..."