CH 86

In the same garden as they left earlier stood Zel and Emilia. They were still in a good mood due to being together again, but it was interrupted when Zel heard Toph give him a notification. One that really took him by surprise.

[A legacy has been detected in close proximity to the user. It is estimated to be less than a hundred meters away. Searching for its exact location now.]

"There's a legacy here? In the school?" Zel looked at the ring on his finger and saw that the runes on it were glowing. It was different from when he uses the ring as the runes don't light up when he uses mana to activate it. The runes only light up when he uses time energy. This is a sign of it activating on its own, since he wasn't giving it any instruction at all.

[The legacy seems to be moving towards the direction of the user. Warning! The user needs to leave the premises before the legacy integrates with the user's soul! The user's mana core lacks the required mana to keep the legacy at bay!]

"What? Shit. Time Stra-" Just before Zel could finish activating his ability and running away, a blue sphere appeared in front of him in a flash and threw itself into his chest. Right at the area where his mana core lies, where his heart used to be. An extreme amount of mana transferred itself into his mana core, boosting its capabilities to the next level. Giving him intense pain in the process as the mana has exceeded what his storage could handle.

"Zel!" Emilia was surprised at Zel's movements as he suddenly started falling to the ground, luckily, she caught him before he did. She looked at his pale face and trembling hand as he held on to his chest. His expression was one of deep pain that's being held back forcefully, making him look pitiful.

"Gasp. Gasp." Zel breathed heavily while holding on to his consciousness. He could see glimpses of memories he had no recollection of, an essential part of the integration process. A faint figure was walking away from him while his hand reached out to that person. A deep sadness welled up in his chest as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"Damn it!" This is similar to what happened when he first saw the ring from before he went to the past. The memories are just an effect of his soul being mended from the damage it took from his previous life, filling him with more knowledge regarding mana and his own abilities. If it was similar to before, he would need a long time before he can piece these glimpses together to see a cohesive memory. Thankfully, it wasn't like it was before, he had the system to help him now.

[Redirecting excess mana into the Pocket Dimension. Estimated time to completion 0H:0M:05S. Please bear with the pain for a while, user.]

The good thing about the system was that it is a part of his body now. Setting it up used most of his life force, but that came from his soul from another timeline. A loophole that lead to the creation of the system present in his mana core, unique to him who has affinity to time. He essentially has an operating system inside him, allowing him to have a precise control of his body and abilities.

Storage of memories, updates on his body's current condition, these are things that can be done because of the system in his mana core. A mana core that will be improved when this Legacy is integrated into his soul.

[The mana has been successfully redirected. The fragment of the Legacy of Time is now being integrated into the user's soul. Estimated time left to completion 10H:30M:11S]

"I'm fine now, Emilia. I can move, at least for a while." Zel who felt the system redirecting all the excess mana into a stream that flows through his body and into his ring. Since the ring is the artifact that holds his Cerebral Kingdom, he can pass the mana from inside his body and into the space that contains his Cerebral Kingdom. Filling it with mana that would have caused his body to explode if left unattended.

"Well, I think I figured out how to improve mana cores now." Zel looked at the still worried Emilia and gave her a smile. He could feel the wild mana gradually calming down as it was led into his ring, and it left behind a change in his mana core. The red glow it usually radiated had changed into an orange one, a clear indication of it advancing to the next level. 

An upgrade of his mana core means that he can now store more energy, which means both time energy and mana. Though the integration would also come with a rather dangerous cost. As Zel's body was now experiencing another transformation, this time, however, he didn't know what would come after it. Since his body had already reached a state of 'fullness' from activating the mana core just yesterday, there is no telling what it would do to handle more power.

"Zel, what happens to you now?" A worried Emilia looked at Zel with a concerned gaze. She was already surprised that she can hear his thoughts, something that he had always blocked, but now she was hearing quite disconcerting thoughts. She gripped his hand more tightly as she wanted to help him. That's what they do after all, they stay together for everything, especially during times like these.

"I'll be in a state of metamorphosis by midnight. I can't stay at home or it might just be gone by the time I wake up. I'm probably going to enter the Cerebral Kingdom before then. Here, take this." Zel placed his left ring finger and thumb over his ring and pulled at it. Creating a bronze ring similar in style to his but looked much more plain. In particular, the ring had no gemstone on it.

"If you want to enter the kingdom, just insert some of your mana inside this and I'll know. Well, Toph will know and she'll open up a portal using this ring. Hold out your finger for me." Zel held the ring out to help Emilia wear it. He wasn't able to see it but her eyes were shining brightly, feeling happy at the gesture. It looked like he was proposing to her, and she couldn't even say no. She didn't want to say no, anyway.

"If I don't call you an hour after midnight, check up on me. If I do call, then check up on me anyway. I want to see you." Zel winked at his entranced wife as he pressed his finger at her nose. Seeing her enraptured look made him happy for reasons he can't explain. His little gesture finally making the girl respond as she nodded her head eagerly.

"Let's go back, they might be looking for us." Zel was about to head upstairs when his surrounding suddenly changed.

He was standing in front of their classroom door. He wasn't quite sure why, but he can't control his body. His hand opened the door and his body entered, all on its own. He looked around and saw that it was empty, with not even a bag left behind. It was then that his eyes caught sight of a few moving things in the distance as he looked at the window that showed a view of the outside.

A bunch of students were standing in the track and field oval, lined up into columns. He was even able to recognize his friends lined up among them. He was about to try and turn around when everything went black and he fell into a bottomless abyss.

"Ahhhh!" Zel didn't understand what was happening so he tried to reach out, finding something, anything to grab on to. He found nothing, felt nothing. He closed his eyes, hoping that it would end when he opens his eyes again. It was then that he felt his hand being clenched tightly, so he turned around.

The moment he opened his eyes, the surroundings turned back and Zel returned to the garden where he was still holding on to Emilia's hand. Her head tilted to the side as she wondered why he suddenly stopped walking. Then was more confused when he headed to a different direction.

"What's wrong, Zel?" Emilia asked as she caught up and walked side by side with Zel. Her eyes never leaving his face. He had already blocked his thoughts from her, so she knows that he's fine mentally. But his actions were strange, making her worried all the same.

"I don't know how or why yet, but I saw them in the track and field oval. There must have been something that happened while we were gone. The feeling I got was like when I wake up from a foresight, I think it's happening without my permission this time." Zel smiled wryly at his situation. This integration is already showing unforeseen changes.

"I don't recall having anything like this happening before. This never happened in the past, it seems that we're already changing a lot of things." Emilia was now experiencing her first apprehension towards knowing the future. 

'So this is what it feels like when the things you think you know suddenly change. No wonder he hates using foresight.' Emilia thought to herself as she felt frustrated about having a young body once again. There were a lot of bad memories she associated with being young after all. Hopefully things work out for the better this time.

"Let's go there first, we'll talk later." Having experienced this hundreds of times before, he knew that things are already about to go to a direction that he won't be able to completely see through. Though the foresight glimpse was unexpected, it seems that his body was already showing a few changes. He wants to get this over with so he can test things intensively.

...

St. Legaspi has always been a prestigious school. It has been ranked highly in the country's top K-12 school rankings. This is due to their utmost care and diligence in handling their students. With most, if not all, of their students finding themselves in good colleges when they graduate. 

Another incentive for this school is its extensive facilities and large open spaces. Created to encourage students to try out new sports and hobbies, in an effort to expand their horizons. One of these spaces is a track and field oval. It is where the majority of the students in building B is being relocated to keep them safe. 

"Everyone fall in line! I want everyone to do a head count, starting from you." Jessica pointed at the child in front of her who was startled at the teacher's rather loud voice. Though the young girl immediately called out after a second of thought, immediately followed by the one behind her.

"One! Two!... Thirty!" The count lasted for a while before the count stopped. As the children looked at Jessica, who seemed to be bothered as soon as the count discontinued. Her head tilting as if waiting for something.

"Thirty? Isn't there thirty-two of you?"

"Thirty-one!"

"Thirty-two!" The sound came from behind her, spooking Jessica as she wasn't able to sense their presence at all. It was like they were people from the Intel department. Turning her head, she was only able to find a young boy and a young girl looking at her with innocent expressions. Then she heard a happy noise from the rest of the children which caught her attention.

"Zel! Emilia!" Carlo and the rest hurriedly flocked the two as they were glad to see their friends safe and sound. But they were immediately drawn to silence as soon as Zel's head shook his head towards their direction.

When Jessica turned her attention back to Zel and Emilia, she wasn't able to catch his quick movement. Their faces were still as innocent as they were a while ago. They merely stood in line after giving her a smile.

"Ughh, why would you two take so long to pee!? Good thing you guys came out of the building quickly." Seeing as the teacher was looking at the two with an intent gaze, Jed tried to explain without explicitly explaining. But Jessica wasn't looking at the two with suspicious due to being delayed in going out of the building, but because they lost all their color.

'How is that even possible?'