The Invincible Full-Moon System

Chapter 2002: Relying on the System

Rex had been confident in entering the Sundial Arch to meet with the Warden precisely because of this.

Unlike the other Gods whose powers were tied to the ability to kill and cause destruction, the Weaver of Time is a God who governed time across entire realms. As long as the concept of time existed within a space, then he has influence over it.

It would be hard for a bloodthirsty and chaotic personality to survive with that power.

All Gods would probably work together to take him down if the Weaver was someone like that.

And learning from the Overseer of Realms—who were neutral in his ways, which could be clearly seen from how there are rules and regulations in crossing into other realms within the God Realm, the Weaver of Time should also assume that kind of method as his power stretched to all corners of existence.

Rex didn’t need to be afraid of being killed.

Or at least, as long as he met the higher-ups, then he didn’t need to be afraid.

It was an entirely different thing when it came to the creatures earlier.

Since that was the case, as long as Rex didn’t make fatal transgressions, then he should be sound.

If anything—the worst the inhabitants of the Sundial Arch would do to him was throw him into another space entirely like the Temporal Labyrinth earlier or simply kicked him out of the Sundial Arch. Neither was a loss for him.

Knowing that he only needed to use words, he only needed a way to convince the Warden.

Convince that he was someone important and worth helping.

Fortunately, he had the System for that.

Having the Warden attack him to trigger the System’s failsafe can’t be used, as it would teleport him away from the detected danger. It has the possibility to convince the Warden, but he would need to use the Primordial Permit again to re-enter the Sundial Arch and find this place all over again.

Along the way, Rex had been thinking about how to convince the Warden, and he finally got it.

He thought of the method when the group was resting earlier.

For the longest time, Rex had been hiding about the System, only telling the others in a vague way. But the System also didn’t want to be known. Even when his soul was probed by Elder Tilrith, she did not, or rather, could not see the System’s trace.

Rex gambled on that to convince the Warden.

As someone with a direct link to the Weaver of Time, the Warden has dominion over time.

Looking into someone’s past and future should be well within his capabilities, so Rex simply asked him to check his past and future. No need for him to think of a complicated scheme to convince—the Warden. Just let the System do the heavy lifting.

After all, he was dealing with an entity beyond his reach.

He needed help, which the System could provide.

Seeing the profound confusion blooming inside the Warden’s eyes, Rex knew that the System succeeded in blocking him from looking at a specific piece of Rex’s memory. The night that kickstarted all of this. The night when the System came to him and rescued him from the edge of death.

”Do you believe me now...?”

”...”

”No? Then why don’t you check their futures?” Rex pointed at the sisters with his thumb.

Even though he was hesitant, the Warden checked the sisters’ future.

And exactly like what he saw when he tried to look into Rex’s future—he was only greeted by darkness that betrayed nothing. He knew that his power was working, but something beyond him simply blinded him from truly seeing their futures.

”Okay, I believe you. I can acknowledge that you can indeed back up your confidence.”

”I’m glad that we’re on the same page.”

”So—” the Warden reclined on his chair and gestured with an open hand. ”What is your name again?”

”Rex,” Rex answered firmly. ”Rex Silverstar.”

”Rex Silverstar, what exactly is your attention by coming here to the Sundial Arch?”

”I am in need of a favour from you.”

”A favour, you say?”

Slowly—the Warden crossed his legs and rested both hands above his knee. He tilted his head slightly, amused at this unexpected demand. Frankly, he expected Rex to demand something based on how brazen he was.

But surprisingly enough, Rex wanted a favour instead.

And a favour meant that he would pay it back in the future when the Warden needed it.

”I’m not expecting that from you at all,” the Warden mused.

”I understand how it can be surprising for you,” Rex nodded and gestured toward the sisters. He called for them to come to him, and out of respect—the Warden summoned a few chairs on either side of Rex where they could sit. ”My fiancé here—taught me an important lesson. About the fact that I need to change my habit of making an enemy out of everyone, and instead, making an ally of them.”

”A wise suggestion...”

”Does this mean you’ll hear what I’m asking for?”

”Before that, you need to tell me something first. How did you do that?”

”Do what, exactly?”

”How can you block me—from seeing portions of your time?” The Warden’s eyes flashed with interest, clearly still surprised by how Rex was able to repel his power without seemingly using anything. ”I see no treasures on you, no special constitutions, no special bloodlines, nothing.”

From his eyes, Rex repelled his power without doing anything.

And that didn’t sit right with him.

Across his entire life, he had never seen anyone who could do something like that.

Such a thing drew his interests.

For someone who had already lived through ages uncounted, there aren’t many things remaining in this universe that could surprise him. Finding one could take eons—or longer. So, when one was now right before him, he couldn’t help but take an interest.

A question like this would normally be hard to answer.

Rex’s lips curled into a faint smile.

He then focused on the Warden again, and then looked down at the table, searching for something.

Knowing what Rex was searching for, the Warden took out paper from his drawer and placed it in front of Rex. He then gestured with his eyes toward the feather pen on the side, telling Rex that he could use it to write.

Rex did exactly that.

He took the feather pen, wrote something on the paper, folded it, and then pushed it forward.

Davina and Lilliana couldn’t see what he wrote on the paper.

On the other hand, the Warden took the paper and unfolded it without breaking eye contact with Rex. And then, he looked down and saw a single word on it that made him raise his gaze again at Rex, almost as if he was trying to determine whether it was the truth or not.

’Scion...’ the Warden repeated the written word in his mind. ’He’s a Scion of the Vertex?’

Only then did he focus his eyes, peering beyond their dimension.

And then he saw it—the reddish vapor steaming from Rex’s body, curling into the air like scorched heat off of stone. It carried a strange, contagious quality that infected anyone who glimpsed it with the same emotion that fueled it.

As the Warden stared, anger began to rise in him—unbidden and unwelcome.

It was the tell-tale sign that Rex was really a Scion of the Vertex from the Anger Stratum.

Even knowing that, the knot inside the Warden’s chest only grew tighter.

’I must have been really dulled from being isolated in this tower that I didn’t even bother checking who he really was—or am I really an old man now?’ the Warden shook the thoughts of being old away. ’I’ve met a few Scions. Most of them have a stronger distinctive aura than him—and yet none of them could blind me without doing anything.’

Slowly, a bead of cold sweat trickled down the side of the Warden’s face.

A cold sweat that was unfamiliar, almost foreign, after so long without anyone pushing him to this point.

Having encountered several Scions before—mysterious individuals who were a part of an unknown and mysterious faction whose origins defied all knowledge—the Warden felt the pressure weighing down his shoulders, but this much pressure wouldn’t make him sweat.

Forcing him to that point would need a bit more than that.

Instead, he was sweating because of something else entirely.

’For those who carry secrets, when forced to surrender one truth, they would never offer their deepest. They give one large enough to satisfy, while the true abyss remains hidden.’ The Warden stared at Rex but did not pry further, fearing that he would peer at something forbidden. ’What secret was he keeping that he would confess to being a Scion to protect it? What could possibly be greater than that?’

Since the Warden knew that Rex was lying, then there must be something else even greater.

And frankly, he knew that it’s best not to pry too deep into the unknown.

A life as long as his had taught him many lessons, but none more vital than this: never gaze directly into an unknown abyss. It never ended well. Let others peer in first—gather what they found, and only then decide whether to look yourself.

So, the Warden didn’t press further.

”Okay, Rex Silverstar. What favour do you need from me?”

Moments later.

Crack—!

Out of nowhere, a glowing lance thrust forward, and the space itself yielded.

It simply parted as the tip of the lance punctured through the fabric of reality and plunged into another dimension beyond. With a sharp twist of the shaft, the Warden widened the puncture. Light bled through the wound in the world, green and shimmering, and the path opened like a dilating iris.

”Here we are,” the Warden stepped through without hesitation. ”I’m sure this place would suffice.”

Behind, Rex and the others followed.

The four of them emerged onto a spherical platform that hung suspended in an endless void.

The nothingness around them wasn’t black but a shade of green—a deep, sickly verdant that stretched into infinity in all directions. There was no sky. No ground. Only the platform beneath their feet, smooth and pale as polished bone, and the void that cradled it.

Circling around the platform were two glowing emerald rings.

Each one rotated in opposition to the other.

As the rings turned, they cast shifting patterns of light across the platform—a slow dance of green and gold that gave the space a cathedral-like reverence. In the distance, there were more platforms that dotted the void.

Smaller than the one they were standing on right now, and most don’t have rings.

On the other end of the platform, rising from the pale, stood an hourglass. It was nearly identical to the one Rex had seen on the top floor, but its size was smaller. The sand inside was green, and it also glittered brightly.

Abruptly, the Warden stopped at the center and then turned around to face Rex.

”Do whatever you want to do here, but remember, each one of you can only set one. This platform would be deactivated automatically when you’re done,” the Warden said, reminding them of how this platform worked. ”Change the hourglass level to the maximum you can endure to quicken the process. I’m sure you can figure it out.”

Once he said that, the Warden headed back toward the open tear to return to his workspace.

But Rex stopped him before he could enter.

”What about my other request?” He asked. ”Can you do it? In case you need to know, that request is far more important than this one.”

”It would be hard to do alone since we’re dealing with Gods, but I’ll ask for help from the others who are not busy,” the Warden replied reassuringly, and then walked through the open tear. ”I can fulfill it, so you can rest assured.”