Chapter 70：A Time Mage's Predicament

As the system notifications end the surrounding world becomes clear, it looks like a student's room but it was as if someone exaggerated it, there are books in towers everywhere surrounding the middle of the room where there is barely any space left at all.

As my conscience starts to take over the current trial's body and my senses come back to me I can sense that something is wrong with the body that I'm currently in right away. It feels as if someone had used time stop but modified the skill so that it applied towards an object instead.

Memories from an unknown source come flooding into my mind as I sit there with my head throbbing from the overflow of information. The only reason I didn't blackout from this enormous amount of information is that I have the improved thinking skill that aided me in the sorting of this body's information and personal memories.

This man was a Tier 3 magician who started focusing on time-related spells since getting his first class. The time element fascinated this man to an abnormal degree and he started doing experiments with time magic, he started off slowing things down and speeding them up, he continued throughout his journey of exploring the attribute of time until eventually, he got to being able to stop time for 1 second, but he couldn't go any farther than he had no matter how hard he tried as there was some kind of wall that he couldn't pass. One day he thought of the idea of finding someone else to experiment on but he was a kind person. As a result of his kindness, he only searched for people who would be a test subject willingly and in the end, no one wanted to be a test subject in something that had no prior history. With no test subjects for his experiments he only had himself so he began trying to experiment with himself instead. With the time attribute being one of the most difficult attributes to study in magic the magician found himself in a race against time, even with him being a tier 3 magician time still affected him. And so in the last 10 years of his life, he changed his goal from reaching the pinnacle of the time attribute, to trying to stop his body's time so he could research some more.

In his last moments, he turned to summoning a demon to help him stop his time, whether it was fate, plot, or just luck he summoned the Demon King that had some control over Time, the Demon King seeing his predicament offered him a contract, for a copy of his memories and a couple of other miscellaneous things the Demon King would not only stop his time he would also send him back to his prime. The promise of eternal youth to a dying old man must have felt like a miracle to the magician and he accepted the offer without even taking a look at the terms of the contract. This one mistake would lead him to an eternity of hell.

After sorting through his memories I decided to see if I can use the system in this trial as I take a look at his status real quickly.

'Appraisal'

...

'Appraisal'

...

'Damn the system is locked again.' I say to myself as I go through this guy's recent memories.

He was trying to create the magic to reverse time so he could get out of the demon contract. He originally wanted to try and just void the contract with other magic but he soon found that he had no talent whatsoever in the other elements of magic, the farthest he could go was level 1 on a lot of them. He had so many times in his life that he regrets and he just wishes to have a second try at life.

The last thing he thought to himself before I took over was, "If only I had chosen differently." This thought that he had was what was on his mind almost every day as he continuously tried to create some type of time magic to reverse time and change the choice that landed him in this mess.

The contract stated that he must kill 1 person a month or else he would be captured by the Demon King and tortured for eternity. In return, he would live in his youth eternally. He wouldn't age any matter what and in the event that he died that Demon King would resurrect him without failure.

'Damn that's kinda heavy. This guy must have had the worst luck possible to summon a demon king, but he can only blame himself for not looking at the contract before he agreed to it. If he's stuck with eternal youth and having to kill someone then what am I supposed to do to finish this trial? He was looking for ways to reverse time or just void the contract altogether so I guess I'll start there.

'Let's see... the contract that he signed is currently marked deep in his soul so it probably has something to do with managing his soul. Soul Manipulation is most likely gonna be the most important factor to solve this trial.

As I begin to use Soul Manipulation on the current soul of the Second Trial's body the soul starts to move in any direction I want it to. I continue trying to get the mark off of the soul but no matter what I do the mark comes back, removing the mark by trying to separate the part of the soul that it is on isn't working either. The mark and the part of the soul just keep coming back to the main soul.

'What if I try to use Word Magic to erase it?' I think to myself as I begin writing Erase with magic flowing to the tip of my finger. The amount of mana that this is going to take will be enormous and I may need a break after this trial.

With the word 'Erase' completely written I separate the mark from the soul and move it closer so I can apply the word magic. The word magic activates and a force starts fighting back as the mark slowly but surely disintegrates into nothingness.

[Congratulations on completing the Second Trial. The reward for completing the First Trial is being calculated based on your performance and difficulty...]

[Trial Completed: 200 Points]

[Preformance Rank: S]

[Difficulty Chosen: Impossible...]

[Calculating results...]

[Congratulations you have earned 2200 Points for clearing the Second Trial]

[Congratulations due to your amazing performance you have gained an extra reward.]

[Extra Reward: A Time Mage's Memories]

[Would you like to continue on to the Second Trial]

[Yes / No]

"Give me a minute" I say as I decide to wait out the choice as I continue to sit there and think to myself.

As I look over the notifications from the trial the system gives me its own notification.

[The system can now be used.]

'System are you unavailable during the trial due to the limitations or are you scared of whatever is running this trial?'

[...]

With the system being quiet refusing to answer I decide to use appraisal on the man while the trial was wrapping up.

'Appraisal'

Name: Augustin Auclair

Race: Human(Former)

Age: Unable to determine

Titles: Hardworker, Time Mage, Tier 3, Devoted, Demon Summoner, Contracted with a Demon(Voided), Eternal Youth, Demonic Body

Class: Magician of Time

Level: 199***

Strength: 150*

Agility: 150*

Endurance: 150*

Intelligence: 150*

Wisdom: 150*

Perception: 150*

Regeneration: 150*

Luck: 0

Magic Types: Time, Fire, Water

Mana Property: None

Skills: Improved Thinking(Lv.3), LifeStyle Magic(Lv.2), Mana Manipulation(Lv.7), Create Fire(Lv.1), Create Water(Lv.1), Haste(Lv.8), Slow(Lv.8), Replay(Lv.3), Duration Manipulation(Lv.1), Demonic Body Reinforcement Magic(Lv.1), Demonic Mana Manipulation(LV.3), Demonic Language(Lv.Max)

Unique Skills: Parallel Thinking(Lv.2)

'Damn this guy is loaded with time-related skills. He must have spent decades at the least trying to find some way he could reverse his time.' I say as I begin debating on whether or not I should take one of the time-related skills he has.

[The allotted time is up please choose an option.]

[Would you like to continue on to the Third Trial]

"Yes"

[Confirming your choice... Done]

[Randomizing the Third Trial's contents to match the difficulty chosen... Done]

[The Third Trial has started]