Chapter 182: The Price

Time stop?

No—not quite to the level of stopping time entirely. But time had certainly slowed dramatically.

It didn’t take Muen long to understand the nature of this power from the changes around him.

Given that the Eternal Clock was the artificial authority prototype Meladomir had spent a thousand years constructing to control the laws of time, it wasn’t surprising it held such an extraordinary ability.

He just hadn’t expected that even at the second stage’s very first inscription, it would reach this level.

Everything in his perception had slowed to a crawl; judging by the falling water droplets, time had been stretched by dozens of times.

If this was the result of an incomplete build... how terrifying would it be when her work was finished?

Would he then have the power to truly turn time back?

If he had that kind of power...

For some reason, Muen thought again of that face—blooming briefly, like an ephemerally beautiful flower.

...

“Feels like if I don’t do something right now, I’m betraying my blond-haired identity.”

Amid the drifting petals and slow-floating droplets, his eyes fell on Meladomir—expression frozen, her slightly baby-fat cheeks pale and soft, the kind that made you want to bite down.

A reckless thought bloomed.

Just one touch. I’ll just touch it once.

A legal loli’s face wasn’t something you could touch whenever you wanted.

This was a chance.

They weren’t far apart. Under the drag of slowed time, his movements were sluggish too—but when he pushed himself to full speed, he was still far faster than everything else around him.

Closer... closer...

His fingertips inched toward that pale, soft cheek, and his heartbeat sped with excitement—

—Until, in the instant before contact, he froze.

Her amber-red eyes—previously motionless—shifted with sly precision.

Like a girl in a photo suddenly breaking free of the frame, she turned to give him a long, meaningful look.

“Your audacity never fails to surprise me, boy. Both in thought... and in deed.”

Muen’s expression slowly, painfully stiffened.

Before he could react, Meladomir’s body gave a subtle twitch—then she moved, completely freed from the drag of slowed time.

“Any last words?” she asked with a sweet blink, voice sugarcoated and terrifying.

“Teaaach—er—Mel—a—do—mir—I—was—wron—”

His voice stretched into an endless drawl, and before he could finish, she was already looking bored.

“Guess not. Go cool off in the sky.”

Her small hands clapped—

Whoosh!

Yellow-haired head, rocket launch. It shot free of his neck, broke the sound barrier, performed a variety of aerial maneuvers, and finally landed—face-first.

Somewhere in all that, time had resumed its normal pace. The pure water spilling from the watering can caught the sunlight, painting a faint rainbow in the air.

Meladomir picked his head up, smiling as she peered into his pale face.

“How do you feel?”

“I... I have exited the cockpit... feel... fine...”

Fine, my ass—his head spun, vision full of stars. His brain felt like it had been put through a blender.

“Good. You’re going to feel even better in a moment.”

Her mischievous smile sent every hair on his body standing on end.

“Wait—hold on, Teacher Meladomir! I was just joking!”

“This isn’t punishment. It’s the price you have to pay.”

“...Price?”

Before he could puzzle it out, she set his head back onto his body—

—and in that instant, sensation came flooding back.

Indescribable agony hit. He heard the sounds of tendons tearing, bones cracking—followed by a staccato of popping joints, like beans frying in a pan.

His skin flushed—not with healthy color, but from every capillary near the surface bursting, blood seeping through.

Before he could process it, every ounce of strength was sucked out of him. He collapsed into a boneless heap on the ground.

“Cough—cough... Wh-what the hell...?”

He hacked up blood flecked with bits of meat—his organs clearly hadn’t escaped damage either.

“I told you. It’s the price,” she said, peering down at him with open schadenfreude. “Did you really think the power of the Eternal Clock would be so easy to control?”

“But why this kind of price? Can’t I just pay you money?” he shouted hoarsely.

“I said it’s the price, but the root cause is that your body is too weak.”

Rolling her eyes, she continued:

“Your preliminary link to the Eternal Clock can extend your time, but it can’t strengthen your body.”

“So... you mean—” Muen realized.

“Exactly. With time stretched, you pushed your ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) body past its limits without realizing it.”

Hands behind her back, she paced around him as she explained:

“Normally, humans can’t go all-out—the body has protective mechanisms to stop us from hurting ourselves. But when time slows like that, those safeguards barely work. The reason—”

“—Is because to my brain, my movements seemed slow,” Muen said, recalling his attempt to pinch her cheek.

Thinking he was moving too slowly, he’d pushed harder and harder.

But in the real flow of time—

“—I’d already gone past my limit.”

“Correct.”

She snapped her fingers, pleased her foolish disciple wasn’t completely hopeless.

“Because of your physical limits, even though your mind could clearly sense time slowing, your body couldn’t keep up. The Eternal Clock only manipulates time—it can’t affect anything else.”

“But I feel like the price is more than just that...”

Muen gave a bitter smile. Faint crimson flames flickered over his body, but so weak the injuries healed painfully slowly.

“It felt like just using it for that short time... drained me completely.”

“Of course. Do you even realize what you were manipulating? Time. Even gods can’t truly control it.”

Meladomir stood with her hands behind her back, gaze drifting past the flower sea toward the far horizon.

From her small frame emanated a cold pride that didn’t match her appearance—yet in this moment, Muen felt it was entirely fitting.

Compared to the man-made authority of the Eternal Clock... perhaps its creator, Meladomir, was the truly incomprehensible one.