For a while, Azzy didn't move and just concentrates on taking rest to recover his soul power in a natural way.
But, he didn't expect Avia to capture every moment very clearly.
"Tell me. What just happened, right now?" A voice was heard from behind, making him jump on his feet.
As his eyes met her eyes, he felt like he was naked with everything exposed to her, including the secrets he was hiding.
"Just now, I have seen you summoned the soul card and the hourglass, and now, I see, your soul power is exhausted. Moreover, I remember making myself clear that you should..."
"Oh! I didn't."
Only then did she realize she forgot to mention it to him. Azzy climbed the stairs before her words finished. So, they never escaped her throat.
"Okay, if you want to reach the top and go to the next step of training, then, you should forbid yourself by using to rely on other things, including your Arcana. That's how you temper the body."
Azzy silently nodded, gesturing he understood and sat in a meditative position to recover his soul power along with analyzing what just happened to him.
'So, my Hourglass can reverse the time, just as it was mentioned in the Book of Death but how much time is it?'
He then did realize he left the watch in his room, so, he turned towards the sky to look at the position of the sun.
'Previously, I woke up by noon and the sun doesn't seem like it's at the head. But, I also have to consider how long I was...
I need to use the skill a few more times to confirm.'
Meanwhile, Avia who teleported back to the top, wondered whether the kid was tired as she saw him, glancing at the sun.
A few hours later;
Sitting inside his room, Azzy equipped the watch and looked at the time before summoned the Hourglass again and turned it upside down.
Azzy found himself on the 38th step this time. And the first thing he did is to look at his watch.
"1:12 P.M.?"
Glancing at the sun, Azzy thought, 'so, the things that traveled through time with me don't change. Okay, I learned something new…'
"Young Master Garcia, what are you doing? I saw…"
Before she was about o lecture him again, he interrupted by apologizing, "I'm sorry. I just thought using soul power would help me somehow. I'll not try to use Arcana, again."
As Avia realized she hasn't instructed about it, she replied, "if you want to use soul power, then, you should spread it all over the body or at least legs to face off against the gravity."
Upon hearing a piece of advice, which he hadn't got for the past three times, Azzy became excited inwardly and asked her for further advice on how to do that.
But, she didn't explain to him the details and teleported back to the top.
After she left, Azzy returned to the bottom of the stairs to recover his soul power with a recovery card before stepping on to the stairs once again.
Three hours later; Azzy returned to the house for lunch and take a break for the rest of the day.
Going back to the time, again and again, while constantly tempering his body for several hours, exhausted his mind, so, he decides to use the skill after a few hours.
Until the time of the dinner, Azzy did nothing but holed himself up in the room. He refused to meet other elders or the clan leaders with an excuse of being tired.
Looking at the wall clock, Azzy mumbled as he summoned the Hourglass, "Ok, it's now 8 p.m."
He turned the Hourglass upside down once again and started the stopwatch at the same time.
The white sand started to fall in the other glass bulb while his right arm is being frozen.
Once his arm became free and his soul power emptied out, the surroundings didn't change anything this time except that there's sunlight passing through the ventilation and illuminating the room, instead of electricity.
Another change is that the time on the wall clock changed to 4:15 p.m.
He glanced at the stopwatch and 35 seconds passed.
'So, let's write what I discovered.'
He took out one of his school notes and started to write in it.
'First, it takes around 33-35 seconds to launch the skill.
Second, either its soul power consumption is huge or it generally takes all of the soul power and the time would probably depend on it. More research is needed.
Third, I can atleast turn back the time for nearly 4 hours, not for the target like the usual hourglass but the entire world.
Well, it seems like my Arcana has its disadvantages when comparing to the normal hourglass. For one, my soul skills are divided into two of them.
I can't use time stop until I reach four-star. On the other hand, other users can use it when they become one-star.
And I can't also stay at the same place I used the skill. I will be teleported to the place I was supposed to be. It's like I'm erasing the timeline between the destination point and present.
But, the advantage is that my powers will affect the entire world and, no one can resist. Despite being stronger than me by many ranks, Ms. Avia didn't even realize it.
If I can control the hourglass, then, I might do wonders…'
Three years later;
Violet Pavilion, the Death Clan;
At the top of the stairs, Avia was folding her hands to the chest and continue to stare downwards.
Beside her, stood the heir of the Crescent clan, Gredor Crescent who is also a descendant of the Garcia family. "What a shame…" He sighed while shaking his head.
He is also one of the prime candidates to be the next leader of the Death clan until Azzy showed up.
Everyone reveres this six-star Arcana Master with his talent second only to Avia, despite always losing to her.
Three years ago, when Azzy came to the clan village, everyone immediately discarded the thoughts of making Gredor the clan-head because no matter how much of a genius one is, a collateral descendant was lost in the status to a direct descendant from the moment they are born.
And only a clan-head can scrape off this rule.
He was taught that from the moment he was born, pointing at Azzy's parents.
But after the demise of them in the Cursed Forest of Death, he was brought into the limelight, which turned into darkness once again after he heard there is a direct descendant.
Because of the presence of the old monster inside the village, he never thought of harming this boy that's standing in his way.
The secret clan meetings were stopped. Even his own father doesn't dare to support him.
So, he started to accept missions more frequently to not only keep himself from getting frustrated but also to increase his influence outside, to take care of Azzy when he leaves the clan at the age of 15 to study and graduate at the Freyles Academy of Arcana, which is the best Academy in the country, and top 3 in the continent.
But, after two years passed, the elders and the clan leaders started to reorganize their thoughts about Azzy, who still looked like he was struggling on the stairs.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m