RE: LORD OF TIME

Buzzzz!!!

A sword hum echoed across the battle arena, and a flash of sword light engulfed the entire ring.

The sword light was so powerful that the ring, which was durable enough to withstand attacks from Peak Star Commander-level warriors, began to crumble bit by bit, its surface turning into dust.

Outside the Battle Arena Ring, a white light flashed, and Kevin’s figure appeared there.

The leather armor he was wearing was torn in numerous places, and blood dripped onto the ground from the countless wounds covering his body.

His hair was completely disheveled, his face was pale, and his eyes were blank.

If it hadn’t been for the numerous safety arrays covering the ring, which quickly teleported him outside, he would have definitely died under William’s attack.

The people in the stands were stunned after witnessing William’s attack and the once noisy stadium had now become completely silent.

Standing on the crumbled ring, William took a deep breath. Just now, he had used up every last drop of his Aether Energy and a lot of soul energy.

However, despite having no Aether Energy or soul power left, his mind was clearer than ever.

’I thought the mutation my soul underwent when I saw that supreme figure was only about increasing the rank of both of my traits from Legendary Grade to Ancient Grade. But to think that wasn’t the only change my soul underwent...’

William muttered inwardly as he looked at two notifications that had appeared on his status window earlier.

====

(Your Soul Mutation has been perfected.)

(You have awakened an Epic Level Trait—Soul Spring.)

====

When Kevin’s Dread Sovereign Trait affected him, William could have easily broken free from the Fear Aura if he wanted to.

Although he had many fears hidden deep within his heart, his Willpower was strong enough to prevent him from being affected by the Fear Aura of the Dread Sovereign.

But he didn’t break free from it instantly because he had always believed that he had overcome his fears.

He believed that with this second chance and his ever-increasing strength, he would be able to change everything that had happened in the original timeline.

But unbeknownst to him, it was merely an illusion he had created for himself.

Deep down, he was still terrified that the events of the original timeline would happen again.

Afraid that everything would repeat itself and he wouldn’t be able to change it.

Afraid of losing everything once again.

Normally, these hidden fears wouldn’t cause him any problems.

But when a person broke through to the Star King Realm, they would condense their soul within their Sea of Consciousness.

During the condensation of their soul, their entire Sea of Consciousness would undergo a Soul Tribulation.

And these hidden fears could cause major problems during that time.

If he became affected by his fears during the Soul Tribulation, in the best-case scenario, he would only fail his breakthrough and suffer minor injuries.

But in the worst-case scenario, his entire soul could collapse, causing him to fall into a coma.

Knowing the danger, William simply decided to solve this problem right away instead of leaving it for the future.

When the Fear Aura manifested his worst fears one by one, William’s heart was far from calm.

Seeing the worst nightmares of his previous life unfold before him wasn’t easy.

But as he looked at those scenes again and again, he realized something.

Although those scenes were his worst nightmares, weren’t they also his greatest motivation to become stronger?

If it weren’t for his fears, he wouldn’t have reached his current level in this timeline in such a short period of time.

Since returning to the past, he had been striving to become stronger every single day without resting for even a moment.

Wasn’t all of this because he didn’t want those fears to come true?

In a sense, although those fears were his worst nightmares, they were also his greatest motivation to become stronger.

As he came to this realization, William understood that he had two choices.

He could continue hiding those fears deep within his heart so that he wouldn’t have to face those nightmares again.

Or he could accept those fears and, instead of falling into an abyss of despair because of them, use them as a source of motivation so that they would never come true in this timeline.

Since returning to the past, he had actually been running from those memories.

Running from the destruction of Rosco Barony.

Running from the deaths of his family and friends.

Running from the possibility that, no matter how hard he struggled, everything would happen again.

But did he really need to run away from those memories in this timeline?

They were just memories, not his current reality.

If he couldn’t even overcome those memories, how was he supposed to change this timeline?

’Yeah, there is no need to be afraid of these memories. Instead of hiding them deep inside me, I should keep them in mind so that I won’t forget them and allow them to become reality again.’

As soon as he made this decision, he felt a small imperfection that had been present within his soul because of his fears disappear.

It was also at this moment that a new trait image, which looked exactly like him but was somewhat ethereal, condensed inside his Sea of Consciousness, right beside the other two trait images.

’If I had faced those fears from the beginning instead of hiding them inside my heart, I would have awakened this trait long ago...’

William thought as he glanced at his status window and looked at his newly awakened trait.

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---) Soul Spring (Epic Grade): Your soul has reached a perfect state without any imperfections. Permanently increases your soul power by two times. Once every seven days, you can use Soul Burst, temporarily increasing your soul power by ten times for a short period of time.

====

William read the completely absurd description of his newly awakened trait, and although he had just experienced its power, he still couldn’t help but feel shocked.

The reason he was able to manifest the power of his trait in the outside world was because of Soul Burst, which enhanced his Soul Power by ten times.

Although it was still far from enough to raise his Soul Power to the Star King Level, it was sufficient for him to condense a prototype of his trait in the outside world.

The domain he had created using his trait wasn’t actually its full power. Since his Soul Power was still insufficient, he could only create a small prototype of the domain.

If his Soul Power had truly reached the Star King Level and he had manifested the full power of an Ancient Grade Trait, his final attack wouldn’t have merely destroyed the battle ring.

It would have destroyed the entire Battle Arena, which covered an area of over 25 square kilometers.

On top of that, William could feel that his newly awakened trait had still not reached its full potential and could evolve further.

Just when he was lost in thought, a voice suddenly reached his ears.

”You... How did you do it?”