Master of Time

It is just a show of power.

There is no need to say anything further to make Sapphire understand what is at stake. I have left her memory intact for this very reason. It is one of many reasons.

Always try to kill more birds with just one bullet.

The more, the better.

Sapphire has demonstrated her strong willpower and extreme resilient in the face of danger, so she is more than capable of triumphing over any adversity.

Hopefully, she will grow stronger as a person in the process.

If not, well, I will be somewhat disappointed, but probably only briefly. I have never put all my eggs in the same basket, so at least one of those eggs will hatch into a dragon, preferably the egg that I take the time to talk to personally.

Allison for example. Eliana is another. Sapphire is just the latest in the line.

However, I have seen her tenacity when all is lost, so I don't need to jump into the future to see how well she will fare. It is just a probable future, that might or might not have happened due to one thing or another.

The future is always changing, after all.

To be honest, there is no need for me to resurrect any of the villagers. Although it doesn't really cost me anything to do so, I am not someone who did thing simply because it is the right thing to do.

If I don't gain anything in return, then why should I bother? I have never claimed to be a hero, so don't expect me to act like one.

That said, I did it because it is a gift to my newest apprentice.

"Rise."

I command without needing to turn around. I can see everything through the countless minions staring down at her. Those minions are standing there to demonstrate what will happen to all that she loves and cares for if she displeases me.

Death is very simple, but an eternity of enslavement. Well, that is far more frightening.

In other word, all her friends and family are my hostages, now and forever.

Sapphire understands this clearly. It is the reason why she is here alone, subserviently. She obeys my command and stands straight.

There are more than just fears in her beautiful sapphire eyes.

Is it why she is called sapphire?

I don't mind gazing at those eyes all day. Sadly, they did lose their brilliant when she had been reduced to a mere cock-sleeve. Her magic also went berserk, but it gives me a glimpse into her potential.

"Master. My name is Sapphire Solare. How may I address you?"

Sapphire asks politely.

I already know her name since I have been spying on her and the villagers. I didn't restore her village to its unmolested condition because I don't want the villagers to think this is all just a dream.

There are other ways to prove this, but no need to spend too much braincells on this.

I am not even supposed to be here right now, playing the mysterious benefactor. But I do adjust my plans on the fly, especially when new information arises.

It is called a plan because it needs to be planned and re-planned constantly.

Nevertheless, the villagers do not recall the terrifying experience at the hands of the goblins and Bruce though, as there are young children amongst the dead.

Letting the children remember what had happened only serves as psychological torture.

They were raped to death by Bruce, after all. After reviewing his disjointed memory briefly, I can say for sure that this guy is 100% an Otaku.

I mean, a lolicon. Is there a difference?

"Maxwell. You may call me Maxwell."

I answer and turn around to face Sapphire. My face is shrouded by the hood. As I am currently creating a personification as well as a lineage, I didn't give her my first name. It is reserved for later.

"This student greets Master Maxwell."

Sapphire responses with a respectful bow.

Student? Well, that is just another name for slave on Azula.

To grasp the secret and power of magic, almost all students will do anything that have been requested of them by their respective master. This includes sexual things as well as deadly experimentation. The latter is more frequent since most mages are too obsess with magic to enjoy the opposite sex.

A lot of students died due to being horribly experimented on by their master, but the risk is well worth it in the end in spite of that. Massive amount of money and life are spent to advance magic. It is one of the reasons why humanity will dominate the other races in the far future.

How I know all of that? A little time manipulation and a lot of questions, that is how.

My current personification is the mysterious and all-knowing master, isn't it? Would be strange if I do not know anything about the political landscape on Azula. I even know her natural affinity is fire, she has just been initiated at the Arcane Academy, and her potential is sapphire.

They use precious gems to rank magical potential? Interesting.

"Master returns the greeting to student Sapphire."

I response in kind. It is strange to talk in 3rd person, but whatever, I suppose. I gesture the girl to come and stand before me.

Sapphire swallows the lump in her throat before approaching me. She tries not to leer at Bruce, but it is quite difficult. Her hatred for the Hobgoblin runs deep even though it did not touch her at all. It did rape her friend Lavender though.

Yes, I have reviewed that part of the memory from Bruce. That is some fatality!

Even standing just an armlength from me, Sapphire is unable to make out my appearance due to the holographic projection. All she sees is blackness within the hood.

I place my gloved hands on her small shoulder, making her flinch. She is barely a young adult, but she is developing nicely. There is no doubt in my mind that she will be a beauty when she grows out.

"Master…?"

Sapphire utters before freezing up. Her academic robe and somewhat plain undergarments reduce to dust, revealing her milky nakedness and budding maturity. Seeing her whole instead of separate parts is much nicer.

Her forced indecency only lasted a second before metallic winds swirl around her, covering her up and giving her new fiery robe.

True, I could just tell her to undress. She will do without any question as she has no other choice, but this is a lot more fun.

You must enjoy the little things. It also adds to my eccentricity – maybe insanity? Hahaha!

Ahem…

The old robe is standard issue, for students who does not have a master yet. Since I have accepted her as my padawan, she should wear something befitting her new status.

Welcome to the dark side!

Before Sapphire has time to appreciate her new set of clothing, micromachines stream out of her Jedi-like apparel, spiralling down her arms and around her wrist. She tries not to scream as the machines pierce into her wrists before forming two metal bracelets.

These bracelets are more than just to grant her limitless magical energy at my command. They also lie detector and GPS tracker amongst many things.

"Master?"

Sapphire utters when she looks at the metallic shackles on both wrists. Their appearance is on purpose – just to remind her of her new position. Must I need to go that far? Nope, but her mind needs to be constantly reinforced.

"Would you like one around your neck instead?"

I question before gesturing to Bruce. Here is another mental reinforcement.

"This is for your protection. It is peak 1st rank monster."

Sapphire accepts the new pet even though she didn't want it. Its presence will constantly remind her what could happen.

I take out a Heavenly Path to Magic, Basic Introduction, from my Hydra ring and give her it as well. She hasn't master any of the runes yet, but she does know 5 in total. Fire rune has the highest proficiency because of her natural affinity.

I know about a couple of hundred runes, and master none so far. In any case, the amounts of runes should be more than sufficient for what I have in mind back in prime reality.

"I must be leaving this realm soon, Sapphire. Continue your studies at the Arcane Academy. I will drop by time and time to see how you are progressing, so do not slack off. Here are some mana crystals to get you started."

Mana crystals are actually the currency used between mages. It contains raw magical energy that can be processed to another form, as Hydra have demonstrated. That meteor is equivalent to a giant block of gold.

Someone is being very generous.

And with a snap of my finger, countless spatial portals form, allowing my army to step through, leaving just me, Sapphire and Bruce.

Sapphire is shaken at the display of mass spatial manipulation. She feels absolute no magical energy radiating from me, giving me an even more mysterious aura.

She then vanishes along with Bruce. I turn around and have a look at the village bellow, as many people screams in fright at her sudden teleportation along with a hulking monster.

I chuckle at that before teleporting away. I appear in front of the temporal rift.

"Legion, continue autonomous monitoring. I want to every little details of this world, who the major players are, where their loyalties lie, what kind of military might they have. However, please priorities the following…"

I list all the necessary priorities.

Once Legion acknowledges my order, I return to the prime reality, right after I return the flow of time to normal. Almost forgot that.

The other side of the rift is a building still under construction. The construction stops when people are disappearing, allowing Hydra to move in inconspicuously.

Thais are a very superstitious people, so that helps.

"Supreme Commander on deck!"

The commander of this base calls out and everyone gives their salute. I gesture them to continue what they were doing while I talk to some of the scientists, who maintain the temporal disruptor.

Aside from wondering when I had passed through the temporal rift in the first place, the people in the made-shift base are curious to why the recon team have returned before the scheduled time. I will let the recon team explains that in their debriefing.

"At the current temporal energy level, this temporal rift can last approximately 2 months idling, Great Leader."

One of the scientists informs me.

Great Leader – that is a new one. But he is of German descent, so I suppose I can accept that. Everyone does call me by a different title, but the military generally addresses me as the Supreme Commander while the scientists uses my name, Mr. Maxwell.

"Once Mr. Washer has a working prototype, I want it to power this temporal rift indefinitely."

I order the scientists. The prototype in question is a temporal energy capacitor. It is capable to storing and releasing temporal energy.

Hammond Washer should have one ready within a month at the latest.

I turn my attention to the commander afterwards.

"Bring in more men and secure this whole area. If we have not brought the property, buy it and finish the construction. I want an impenetrable military base here within a couple of months, where we can launch an invasion force."

"Yes, Supreme Commander!"

The command acknowledges. He barks order to the men when I take my leave. I will let him work out how to accomplish what I have requested.

There might be some issues with the Thailand Government, but this is the 1990! There is nothing that good old American dollars couldn't solved.

And if for some reasons, they don't accept money like a good little corrupt government official, a bullet to the head will do. The next person who replaces them might be smarter.

Since I haven't been to Thailand in like forever, I take the time to look around and go sightseeing. It is nighttime in Bangkok, and motorbikes are basically everywhere, zooming in and weaving through the traffics.

It is about 10 am in New York right now, since I have only been gone for about 2 hours when I dropped off my daughter at my mother's place.

I was actually gone for few weeks due to my power to compress time, but who is keeping track of that, right?

Certainly not me.

In any case, I have about a couple of hours to loiter around and try some good old street foods. There are quite a lot of choose from, but much of it disgust me to no end.

They eat these kinds of stuff in Thailand? Well, let me have a taste.

I don't want to stand out too much as a foreigner. In fact, I would have pickpocketed several times if I have a wallet on me. I don't carry around a wallet anymore since I have a storage ring.

[Contamination detected. Neural Toxin. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis (CBI) strain detected…]

[Contamination detected. Cell mutation. Tyrant virus detected…]

[Contamination detected. Toxicity level high. Traces of Tiberium detected…]

Yeah okay.

I stop trying the foods even though I can't really get food poisoning thanks to all the nanomachines, but that is quite a lot of contaminations. Let not think too much on it.

I wander the street for a little, passing several massive buildings, including Chrono Reserves. The bank is insanely popular with the local since its policy is very lax in term of providing initial offerings for all the startup companies.

In exchange for shares, of course.

I stop at an enormous building – Lok Entertainment. This company started just 5 years ago, but it has become one of the most powerful entertainment giants in Thailand thanks to all the future knowledge I imparted regularly.

There are countless of people there, sending in their application.

Lok means Earth in Thai, so does Terra, which is Latin. In other word, Lok Entertainment is actually Terra Entertainment.

There is all different version of my company in every country. In China, it would be called Diqiu Entertainment. In Indonesia, it would be called Bumi Entertainment.

This is just to name a few.

I only run the American division since I am an American. It would be strange if I run these divisions myself and force American values on them, but regardless, the chairman and chief executive officer of every division should follow my plans for the future.

And one day, all arms of Terra Entertainment will be merged into a global entertainment giant.