Reborn as a Mechanist with a God-Tier System-Chapter 289: A Century-long reunion [3]
Despite the fact that Leon already expected this question before coming to Iron Reef, when Ren Nora finally asked it, he could not help but feel complicated emotions swell up in him.
The General didn’t rush him, he simply waited patiently.
After a few seconds, Leon finally exhaled, then he chuckled. "It’s crazy actually, I myself would find it hard to believe if I didn’t experience it myself".
He looked Ren Nora in the eye. "If I tell you that all the time I spent in Iron Reef was all inside a Trial, would you believe it?"
"Yes". Ren Nora answered without hesitation.
"..."
Now, it was Leon’s turn to be dumbfounded as his mouth opened in shock.
"Huh?"
Ren Nora shrugged. "If you tell me something, no matter how unbelievable it sounds, why shouldn’t I believe it?"
Leon blinked. "Why should you believe it?"
"Because I trust you".
It was just 4 words but those words struck a chord inside Leon.
He needed no further explanation, he needed no complicated illustration, Leon fully resonated with those 4 words.
Noting his silence, Ren Nora blinked. "Wait, you’re actually saying the truth? That was not just an example?"
Leon chuckled. "What do you think?"
Ren Nora’s eyes immediately bulged in shock, then he frowned. "How is that even possible?" He looked at Leon. "How old are you?"
"24".
He froze, feeling like his whole life just turned upside down. Looking at Leon, he opened his mouth to talk, then he closed it back.
"Then how?" He mumbled with a genuinely confused expression on his face. "I believe you, but that does not even make sense".
Leon shrugged.
Despite saying those words though, Ren Nora’s emerald eyes remained unfocused as his brain whirred, analyzing a lot of things.
"This changes everything," he muttered. "This changes all of my existing knowledge of the secret of the Ascendant Trial system".
"What I don’t understand is if this is an anomaly or not".
"Over the years, I’ve been trying to understand the Ascendant Trial System and why Ascended have to take on Trials to become strong. I’ve seen a lot of Ascended attempt Trials but none of their Trials have ever been similar to yours".
"No Trial have ever affected reality as far as I know, this has to be the first".
His emerald eyes gleamed. "Is it possible to actually travel through time?"
He rubbed his chin in deep thought. "No matter how impossible it sounds, I can’t help but see similarities between it and the abilities of a C Rank Reality Sculptor of the Temporal Warden Class Specialization".
Leon’s eyes gleamed, he hadn’t thought of that! 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
Apart from the ability to control reality constants, General Murphy also displayed the ability to generate time loops!
That was the core power of his Class Specialization.
Also, at D Rank, one of the Lieutenants of the Federation Army who was a Quantum Shaper of the same Specialization as the General also displayed abilities to alter local time flow and perception.
Leon’s eyes narrowed into slits. ’Is the ChronoSystem related to the Quantum Shaper Class?’
The moment he had this thought, another followed. ’Wait, Quantum Shapers are deeply connected to the Omnicore Federation...’
Leon’s eyes gleamed. ’Is the ChronoSystem related to the Omnicore Federation?’
For the first time, he found something that may have a connection to his system! At the same time, Leon felt a chill run down his spine as he felt like the Director-Prime was quietly watching him from the dark.
Despite how he felt, to Leon, this was a big step in the right direction towards his ultimate goal of recovering his memories.
And once again, this made him confirm that there was no escaping a conflict against the Omnicore Federation in his quest for growth and freedom.
The Federation was a huddle that he was going to have to face sooner or later to develop further.
These realizations made him briefly regret his decision to not tell Ren Nora about the existence of the ChronoSystem.
This was not a matter of trust. Just as the General trusted him, Leon also trusted him, but this was a matter of precaution.
The more he learned about the ChronoSystem, the more Leon became convinced that it was somehow tied to ADE, the Ascendant Trial System, and the very truth behind this world.
This correlated with the fact that the Omnicore Federation as the rulers of the world likely knew more about the world than anyone else.
No matter how much he trusted Ren Nora, Leon didn’t want to take the risk because he felt that the truth of the ChronoSystem may also implicate the General.
Ren Nora took a moment to accept Leon’s explanation fully, then he chuckled. "No matter how unbelievable it sounds, I guess even fate wanted us to rise, or how else would you have been sent just to aid us?"
"Over the years, I’ve made a lot of theories concerning why I can’t find you anywhere in the world, I never expected that you were never even born". He felt complicated.
"What was the Trial Objective of your Trial?"
That question immediately made Leon grit his teeth angrily. "The Trial objective was to ensure your survival and successful Trial completion while surviving the assault of multiple C Rank Ascended!"
Ren Nora immediately froze as his eyes widened. "That was the objective of an E Rank Trial???"
Ren Nora’s reaction was all Leon needed to know to confirm his grievances as he cursed. "I always knew this whole Ascendant Trial system was rigged against me from the start, dammit!"
Seeing his reaction, Ren Nora couldn’t even bring himself to blame him. Pitting an E Rank Ascended no matter how strong or talented he was against C Rank Ascended was a literal suicide scenario.
There was a literal 0% chance of survival and yet, somehow, Leon managed to pull it off in a way that he didn’t just survive but also managed to cause a lot of problems for the C Rank Ascended too.
After taking a moment to calm down, Leon also finally asked a question that had been on his mind since completing his Trial.
"How was the C Rank Trial like?"
He was already preparing for his future C Rank Trial.
Looking at him, Ren Nora raised both his hands up. "I don’t know why but my Trial was nowhere as ridiculous as yours".
Leon immediately gnashed his teeth but he stayed quiet and listened.
Seeing his reaction, Ren Nora chuckled. "My Trial may not be as ridiculous as yours, but I think it’s unique because it took me to a period of time that’s beyond our current recorded history".
Leon immediately perked up on hearing that.
"According to the smartphone of my Trial identity, it was Year 1998".
Leon’s eyes widened and Ren Nora nodded. "Yes, they were not using our current calendar. I believed that was an era before Genesis and even then, it must be a really ancient era".
"I was a pure human in the Trial in an era of only humans, and I awakened in the Trial as a mundane human".
"I was a sales boy working in a music studio, my job is to sell music discs".
"Well, that week, my boss, Dr. Dre, that’s what we all called him in the Trial. He got a high-paying commission receiving countless corrupted and damaged music discs, and the commission was to repair all of them in 6 days".
"It was a tough task but considering the pay, Dr. Dre took on the commission. He hired more workers to help me to lessen the load, that’s the only reason why I managed to complete it at the end".
"It was tough, but with my existing NetRunner knowledge, I had an advantage over all the other workers".
"But still, it was a tough week".
Ren Nora smiled as he reminisced. "For 6 straight days, I was locked in a basement working non-stop and using a professional-grade resurfacing machine to remove microscopic layers of plastic from the discs to restore a mirror finish".
"I barely slept".
"I didn’t know I could learn from something that primitive, but by 6 days, I realized that my understanding of data corruption had increased".
"Throughout the 6 days, I couldn’t stop worrying about the outside world".
"I worried about the ongoing war, how was it going? I worried if Sylvari had broken out of the trap and was already rushing towards my body to end my life, I never even thought another C Rank Ascended would come".
"It was crazy honestly". He smiled as he reminisced.
"I was scared of failing the Trial and becoming corrupted, turning into a Neon Beast".
"I never stopped worrying".
"But in the end, none of that happened". He grinned. "You guys all protected me despite how long I took, I did my part and I completed the Trial".
"My luck was that 24 hours in the Trial translated to an hour in reality".
He raised his chin high with pride. "And after, I became the first C Rank NetRunner of the Code Phantom Specialization in the history of Neo-Tokara".
"I became the Glitch".
...
[Special Appreciation to Katcan20, r03n, Yametekudastop, D4rkV1II4n, and ImperialJadeDragon for the Golden Tickets, thanks for the support!]
