Leon had been staring intently at the system screen for a full minute now. The violent tremors beneath his feet had completely stopped since then, leaving an eerie, almost oppressive stillness across the dimensional landscape.

His mystical eyes remained absolutely glued to the translucent golden display floating before him, watching with steadily increasing frustration as the progress bar sat stubbornly stuck at exactly 99% completion.

It couldn’t seem to move forward at all—not even by the tiniest fraction of a percent. Just frozen there, tantalizingly close yet impossibly far from completion.

Why? Why won’t it finish?

Seraphine had even asked him directly several times if the process was finally complete, her voice carrying hopeful expectation mixed with growing concern. Everything around them seemed to have come to a complete halt—the violent expansion had stopped entirely, the mana redistribution had stabilized at its new lower density, and the tremors had ceased completely.

However, Leon’s response each time had been immediate and increasingly frustrated. The system screen clearly and unambiguously showed the progress bar was still stuck at 99%, tantalizingly close to completion yet refusing to advance.

So damn close. Why won’t it just finish?

Leon suddenly remembered something potentially important from earlier in this entire ordeal. He’d questioned things before—directed specific thoughts at the normal cosmic system interface, asked the Tower directly when those unusual messages had appeared with the tower logo.

The Tower’s communication system did seem to actually provide intelligent responses sometimes, he recalled clearly. It had answered him before when he’d been confused about the power requirements.

It could just be a mere coincidence, of course—random automated responses triggered by specific conditions or keywords.

But maybe not. Maybe there was genuine intelligence or consciousness behind those formatted messages.

Worth trying again at least.

Leon decided to attempt direct communication once more.

He focused his thoughts deliberately and forcefully toward the Tower, projecting his question with as much mental clarity and force as he could muster.

What is happening? Why is the awakening of the Tower not complete even after all this sacrifice?

His mind practically screamed the inquiry at the massive structure looming before them.

However, no response came immediately to his mental question.

Only heavy silence greeted his desperate inquiry—absolute, complete, frustrating silence that stretched on for long seconds.

The progress bar remained frozen at 99% without even the slightest flicker of movement.

Leon felt his frustration building rapidly, transforming into genuine anger at the situation. He’d sacrificed everything for this cursed Tower—his entire accumulated fortune, the precious time dilation property of his realm, probably other things he hadn’t even fully discovered yet.

Answer me, damn it!

"Answer me now, damn it! Even after all this, it’s still stuck?!"

The words suddenly exploded from him verbally this time, his voice carrying raw frustration and demanding intensity. While speaking those words, Leon clenched both his hands into extremely tight fists, knuckles turning completely white from the enormous pressure he was applying.

His entire body tensed visibly with barely controlled emotion and stress.

Seraphine had been about to say something consoling—her lips had parted, genuine concern written clearly across her beautiful features as she watched him struggling with this devastating setback.

However, she stopped mid-breath abruptly, her words dying before they could form.

She’d noticed the sudden, dramatic change in Leon’s expression—his mystical eyes widening dramatically, his entire posture shifting from frustrated tension to shocked, intense attention focused on something she couldn’t see.

He’s seeing something new. A response finally came.

Leon’s mystical eyes were indeed completely focused on new text materializing on the translucent screen before him, words appearing that made his breath catch in his throat:

[Forceful Removal of Time Variable Has Caused a Critical System Error]

The text continued appearing line by line with that distinctive tower logo prominently displayed:

[Stability of the Realm Is at Significant Risk of Collapse]

[Absence of the Median of the Seal in the Newly Created World Would Cause the Awakening Process to Fail Catastrophically]

[Administrator Permission Is Required to Proceed with Stabilization of the New World]

[BEWARE: The Median of the Seal May Experience Unexpected Outcome for the Stabilization of the New World]

[Do You Still Wish to Proceed with Integration?]

[Time Given to Make a Choice: Unlimited]

Leon read through the cryptic message multiple times, his enhanced mind desperately trying to parse all the strange, unfamiliar terminology being thrown at him.

Median? What the hell is a median in this context? Seal? What seal? Newly created world?

Does that mean his time dimension had now somehow fundamentally become a complete world rather than just a pocket space or realm? What fundamental difference does that even make in practical terms? What changes between a "dimension" and a "world" when the space was so vast with mana?

And what seal is it talking about? What is this mysterious "median" it keeps mentioning?

And perhaps most confusing and suspicious of all—why was the Tower suddenly giving him unlimited time to make this supposedly critical decision, unlike all the previous instances where he’d gotten only ten seconds or less to choose?

That seems rather odd. Suspiciously generous compared to before.

However, one thing he understood clearly and simply from the message’s core meaning: for the Tower to fully awaken to operational status, and for this new world—meaning his dimensional realm—to stabilize properly and avoid catastrophic collapse, he just had to give his administrator permission.

Which seemed rather easy. Almost trivially simple.

Too easy. Far too easy.

His golden Divinordial heart was beating quite intensely and rapidly for some reason—faster than his normal enhanced physiology would produce, with a strange resonance pattern he’d come to recognize over time.

My heart doesn’t act without reason. There’s always a cause behind its reactions. It’s warning me.

One critical thing he’d learned through experience: this golden heart served as an instinctive warning system, alerting him to significant moments, hidden dangers, or pivotal decisions that would have lasting consequences.

He had to make a choice, and the obvious surface answer seemed perfectly clear.

But if it’s so obvious and easy, why does this feel fundamentally so vital? 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The situation doesn’t even seem like a real obstacle or challenge, so why didn’t the system just proceed automatically like it had done before with other changes? Why didn’t it even ask for his permission when it forcefully removed the thousand-times time dilation property—something far more significant?

That was a massive, fundamental change that drastically altered my realm, yet it happened without any consultation whatsoever. So why suddenly ask for permission now for this supposedly simple stabilization?

The more Leon thought deeply about the situation, the more hopelessly entangled he became in the complex web of mysteries and questions surrounding everything that had happened during this entire process.

Too many unanswered questions. Not nearly enough information or answers.

But ultimately, he had to make a choice, and the practical reality was obvious what that choice needed to be.

I know what I have to do.

___

Inside an unknown location deep within the Time Dimension itself.

In the middle of a dimly lit, extraordinarily ornate room, glowing gently with soft ambient magical illumination. Warm flickering light danced gracefully across perfectly polished white marble floors, and countless luxurious velvet cushions were scattered artfully around the elegant space in deliberate arrangements.

The silver-haired woman of absolute divine beauty sat there in the center, having finally made what should have been the most joyful moment after countless millennia of torturous imprisonment.

Today should mark the beginning of her long-awaited, imminent freedom—less than a hundred years of waiting was merely a small, insignificant moment for an immortal divine being like herself.

However, suddenly, for some completely unknown and inexplicable reason, she felt intensely, overwhelmingly agitated in a way she hadn’t experienced in eons.

This feeling... what is this?

For someone who was a genuine divine being—not a mere fragile mortal—this sensation carried enormous weight and significance. She absolutely didn’t take instinctive warnings or premonitions lightly. They meant something.

It was a bad premonition, a sense of impending doom, but she couldn’t understand why she was feeling this way now, of all times.

This should be a purely joyful moment of triumph. My heart shouldn’t be feeling like this at all.

A terrifying thought suddenly appeared unbidden in her mind: Did that bastard Keeper of Dimensions somehow find out about the breaking of the seal and is now coming back to strengthen it again?

"NO! No, it absolutely can’t be possible!"