Chapter 384: Time Beacon

Ansu leaned back in his chair, mechanically chewing on the sweets as his consciousness sank into that grand and quiet library.

Within his 【Mind Palace】, all of his memories were organized with perfect clarity, ready to be pulled down and examined at any time or place.

He walked through the rows of bookshelves, patiently browsing through them.

There had to be some clue he had overlooked.

Start from the back and work forward.

Ansu repeatedly turned over the methods of the God of Clamor and Filth in his mind.

At the very beginning of the timeline, the moment Ansu first touched and absorbed mana, the god had quietly altered the underlying parameters of mana itself.

Crossing the dimension of time, He had completed the corruption.

Time...

Ansu pondered the word "time" as he walked to the bookshelves further ahead.

He had once “returned” to the past with Celia through 《Hoffman's Alchemy Notes》, traveling back over two thousand years to the Second Era, when magic was at its absolute zenith.

And back then, they had witnessed firsthand everything Hoffman had feared:

The Norn Empire was fanatically pushing forward with its God-Making Project, creating the very first false god.

It answered every prayer, and its power grew at an astronomical rate. Many had already begun to refer to it in private as the “God of Magic.”

But Master Hoffman saw far into the future. From that point on, he dedicated himself to opposing the God-Making Project, believing it was sowing the seeds of destruction. However, the Senate rejected his opposition.

Yet, his words indeed became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Mana was no longer the pure, neutral energy people of that era had known. It was endlessly abused, repeatedly tempered in the most extreme crucible of war, absorbing far too much negative emotion.

From this, a chaotic, clamorous, and indescribable entity of immense power was born.

And then, there was that sentence.

“The past cannot be changed; it can only be recorded...”

Thinking about it now, perhaps both he and Celia had been misled back then, believing the emphasis lay on the first half of the sentence.

They had assumed it was merely Master Hoffman, out of concern and warning for the future, recording his most important day—the turning point in the history of magic.

Now, Ansu had a completely new perspective on the second half of that sentence...

“However, mana can transcend the walls of time and space to transmit information.”

Wasn't this exactly what the God of Clamor and Filth had done in the simulation just now?

He had quietly planted the corruption from one end of time, delivering death right before his eyes.

So...

Since He could do it, perhaps he could too?

Ansu took a deep breath, forcing down the torrent of thoughts churning in his mind.

He remembered that beginning, back when he and Celia were leading the entire research team to create safe magic.

He had assisted Celia, and through countless simulations of trial and error, they had created the core formula of safe magic out of thin air: the 【Ring of Pure Protection】.

It was the mana resonance triggered by that research that had accidentally activated that ancient text, 《Hoffman's Alchemy Notes》.

Ansu's thoughts stirred slightly.

The system notification from back then surfaced in his mind, word for word.

【Magic Item】

【Hoffman's Alchemy Notes】

【Activation Requirement: Requires mana fluctuations of the same origin and resonance frequency to successfully activate the magic runes】

This was it...

Then, they had triggered something called a “Time Beacon.”

【Connecting to the historical memory node anchored by Hoffman in the Second Era】

Ansu suppressed the excitement swelling in his chest and continued to deduce further.

Because his spiritual power was depleting rapidly, the words before his eyes began to blur and double.

By the end, he was even starting to drift out of focus.

“Ansu...”

Celia looked at him with concern, hesitating to speak.

“I'm fine.” Ansu simply stuffed another mouthful of the cloyingly sweet treat into his mouth, forcing his scattering attention back.

Keep thinking.

Ansu recalled the series of research plans aimed at breaking the curse before the consecutive simulations.

Among them was a seemingly useless branch: Altina's amulet.

The Amulet Research Group, led by Professor Duncan, had pushed through three days and three nights of sleepless work to break down every single rune on that crescent pendant.

In the end, the fully transcribed blueprints covered nearly ten square meters of archiving shelves.

At the time, he had even patted the professor on the shoulder and praised him, saying, “Incredible.”

But after that, the research was shelved because the amulet's magical ability only worked when worn by Altina.

Later, he had found the Filthy Heart through a carpet search and easily kept it under control, so this research, which seemed unrelated to the curse, was naturally tossed into a corner.

Suddenly, Ansu realized something.

He suddenly stood up, his abrupt movement startling Celia.

“What's wrong? Did you think of something?” she asked quickly.

Ansu nodded, his eyes shining brightly. “Come with me!”

He immediately led her through the long corridor and pushed open the door to the underground archives, where nearly ten square meters of manuscripts lay quietly piled on the shelves.

As Ansu checked, he quickly scanned the blueprints and voiced his thoughts.

Celia's eyes lit up bit by bit. “You suspect that the special rune structure inside that amulet might also trigger a resonance?”

Ansu nodded. He remembered his initial judgment of this pile of manuscripts, which had been a pity to discard but useless to keep:

This rune system was extremely ancient and did not belong to any known contemporary school of magic. It was difficult to understand its principles in a short time, let alone replicate the same effect.

At the time, Celia had speculated that it might have originated from a niche school of magic from the Norn Empire during the Second Era.

“Perhaps it's a similar type of rune structure from the same period as 《Hoffman's Alchemy Notes》?” she pondered aloud.

“Then next—!” Ansu turned to her, a rekindled fire burning in his eyes. “Can you make this pile of rune structures 'run'?”

It sounded like running code, and in reality, it was indeed quite similar.

“Run...” Celia was momentarily dazed, but she quickly understood his meaning and nodded heavily.

“Of course I can. The rune structures have already been broken down, though we did try back then and had absolutely no idea what this magic could do.”

“That's enough!” Ansu said excitedly.

Celia didn't ask any more questions. She squatted on the ground, spreading the most core blueprints before her to study them.

Ansu immediately assisted her from the side.

An hour later, Celia stood up and patted her numb calves.

Her hands traced a trajectory in front of her, and this ancient magic of unknown origin and purpose began to glow faintly in the manuscript-filled archives.

Ansu did not hesitate. He raised his hand, and a pure, deep blue ring silently manifested in his palm.

The dazzling light of the 【Ring of Pure Protection】 reflected on their faces, pushing back the accumulated shadows in the archives by a few inches.

Then, the ground trembled slightly.

The two light sources echoed each other in the dim archives, flashing at the exact same frequency.

Celia looked at Ansu in surprise. “Their resonance frequencies are completely identical!”

Ansu was even more surprised than she was.

Because a system notification had popped up in front of him.

【Triggered 'Time Beacon'】

【Connecting to unknown historical memory node】

【Status: Unknown...】

【Duration of Stay: Unknown...】

...