Daniel’s injuries healed in front of the doctor’s eyes.
“See, I’m okay.”
Daniel stepped out of the medical tent.
He left behind surprised gazes on others’ faces.
After leaving the city, Daniel forwent everything that wasn’t needed to keep himself alive.
He only ate and slept the bare minimum.
All of his time and focus went towards monster hunting.
His fame in the city increased as he hunted more, stronger monsters.
Rumors spread of a lone hunter like wildfire.
As much as he wanted to rush out and save Selene, he understood he had to grow stronger first.
He couldn’t defeat Typhaon alone either.
He needed more Awakeners to support him.
‘I need to join an organization, and get their support.’
Time passed.
Daniel became known as the ‘Anomaly Hunter’ after having successfully taken down three anomalies.
He was approached by Titans and the Awakener Association.
Before he could make a choice, a voice echoed in his head.
‘Daniel!’
It was Selene’s voice.
Familiar, broken, trembling.
‘Help… Help me, please! I’m alone here. It hurts.’
Daniel nearly lost control of his emotions.
He would’ve left for the Savage Expanse that very moment if not for the System’s cold voice dousing water over his head.
[Intrusion of highly dangerous entity detected!]
[Alert! Alert!]
[Deploying System defenses! Blocking all foreign mental interferences!]
“Why did you do that?! It was my sister—”
[Host, it was not your sister.]
[The voice might be hers, but do you really think Typhaon, the Father of Anomalies, will let her talk to you?]
[It was Typhaon who spoke to you.]
Neo’s voice remained calm and emotionless.
He explained what Typhaon had planned.
Typhaon wanted to start a war between Awakeners, using the energy from their clash to awaken himself fully.
“If you know all this, then what is happening to my sister?” Daniel questioned.
Neo didn’t answer.
“Tell me…”
Neo remained silent.
“Tell me!” Daniel roared.
A notification glowed before him:
[The reward for the emergency main quest is World Time Spell.]
In other worlds, his sister was dead.
The knowledge pressed on his chest like an unbearable weight.
The only way to save her was to go back in time.
That’s what the System was telling him.
Daniel ignored System’s warning.
He would save his sister.
He joined the Titans, explaining his plan to save his sister, a Child of Mana, but he had withheld the truth: Typhaon’s awakening.
He feared the Titans would refuse to help if they knew the full extent of the danger.
‘I would rather let the world be destroyed if I can save my sister.’
It was borderline madness, yet he clung to that resolve.
Neo had severed Typhaon’s mental link with Daniel.
Without it, Typhaon couldn’t force a status screen to appear for Daniel to prove his sister, a Child of Mana, had been kidnapped and was pleading for salvation.
In Neo’s timeline, Daniel had shown Ares his status screen.
However, nothing similar had occurred in this turn.
Daniel suspected the Titans wouldn’t help because he couldn’t prove she was a Child of Mana.
“We will save the Child of Mana,” Kronos declared, much to Daniel’s surprise.
“What…?”
Daniel’s voice trembled with disbelief.
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“You’ll help save my sister? But I can’t prove she’s the Child of Mana.”
“I trust you.”
The words struck Daniel harder than he expected. He
wasn’t a child anymore, too old to believe in blind faith.
Kronos must have his reasons.
Yet, the only explanation Daniel received from Kronos was: “My intuition tells me to.”
The relationship between the Awakener Association and the Titans deteriorated further.
The Awakener Association refused to aid in saving Daniel’s sister.
They wanted to stop the Titans from doing the same, but the Titans stood by Daniel.
Small skirmishes erupted between the two factions.
[Host, this will allow Typhaon to awaken.]
The system’s words formed coldly, clinically in Daniel’s vision.
Daniel ignored it.
Neo, watching from the sidelines, had his hands shackled.
As much as he wanted to intervene, doing so would risk Daniel’s life, and without Daniel, Neo couldn’t save the world.
[Host, at least start the construction of the World Time Spell.]
Daniel agreed to build the World Time Spell.
He showed the magic circle diagram to Kronos.
Kronos was surprised.
The Spell Daniel gave him was the exact spell he was planning to build himself, but complete.
His eyes narrowed.
A glint of suspicion flashed in their green depths.
“Where did you get this from?” Kronos asked.
Daniel dodged the question.
Surprisingly, Kronos didn’t pursue it anymore when he noticed Daniel’s reluctance.
Kronos ordered the construction of the spell.
Since the spell’s diagram was already complete, it was supposed to take only 10 to 15 years to inscribe it on Earth.
Time was needed to collect mana-conducting metals for the magic circle and make the magic circle durable.
The task required the combined efforts of thousands of skilled craftsmen and mages working tirelessly.
Fifteen years was quite less than Neo’s turn.
It had taken them 40 years to build the World Time Spell previously.
Four months later, Typhaon woke up.
The skies darkened as an unnatural storm gathered over the horizon, crackling with dark lightning.
The Father of Anomalies had collected enough energy.
Titans and the Awakener Association had to put aside their differences and join hands.
Their alliance couldn’t do much.
Typhaon took only three weeks to conquer Russia and China.
Smoke choked the air as entire cities were reduced to rubble.
Over 60% of the population living in those countries were wiped out.
The rest were transformed into monsters by Typhaon.
Emma, Rhea, Perses, Athena, and countless more high-ranking Awakeners were dead.
The battlefields were littered with broken weapons and blood-soaked corpses.
Typhaon was overwhelmingly strong.
More would’ve died if not for Kronos and Gaia leaving their stations to protect civilians.
However, after Gaia stopped her continuous synchronization with the World Core, countless natural disasters hit every place in the world—tsunamis drowning coastal cities, earthquakes splitting the earth, and hurricanes tearing through the skies.
It seemed the end of the world was near.
Ash filled the sky, and hope seemed all but lost.
Suddenly, Typhaon stopped its assault.
The Father of Anomalies declared he would let humans live if they served him as their king.