Chapter 158: Time Acceleration
After more than half a year of energy accumulation and the restoration of some of its functions, the Book of Truth now activated the basic capabilities of the Plane Factory and the House of Time.
Entering the palace where the Plane Cube resided in the Kingdom of Truth was like entering the previous two palaces—it led to an independent space.
The Plane Cube appeared as a metal cube in the shape of a Rubik’s cube, filled with countless holes and pathways, containing complex and varied spatial structures and rules. Its function was related to the creation of spatial planes. The Kingdom of Truth originated as a semi-plane designed and created by the Plane Cube. Only after that true god infused it with numerous divine artifacts and powers did it develop into the complete plane world it is today.
It was extremely difficult for a true god to create a semi-plane outright. Even for a powerful true god, while creating a semi-plane might be easier, creating a complete plane world where beings could thrive was incredibly hard, almost impossible.
Yet, the former owner of the Book of Truth, being a true god at the pinnacle of a world, found a solution. The Plane Cube itself was an absolutely rare supreme divine artifact with spatial attributes. Ordinary divine artifacts were classified according to the rank of true gods—ranging from demigods, lower-grade divine artifacts, medium-grade divine artifacts to higher-grade ones—with only a small number of supreme divine artifacts being created at the birth of a great world.
The value and utility of such supreme divine artifacts were on par with high-grade divine weapons, and they could even serve as materials for creating even greater divine weapons. Yet that true god used it to form part of the Book of Truth. Along with it, there were other types of precious divine artifacts, indicating that the potential of the Book of Truth as a divine artifact likely exceeded that of high-grade divine weapons. It was a pity it lost its owner right after initial completion and ended up adrift in outer space.
With the energy Donald currently possessed, relying on the Plane Cube, he could only create a small semi-plane. Moreover, the more complete the rules set for it, the smaller the size of the semi-plane that would be created.
For now, Donald had no plans to create any semi-planes, so after a brief understanding, he left the palace where the Plane Cube was located and headed to the House of Time.
The House of Time controlled one of the most fundamental laws of time—the law of time itself. Generally, true gods who mastered this law and obtained related divine positions could almost always become powerful higher gods.
At the core of the House of Time lies a dragon crystal of a Time Dragon. As one of the most powerful creatures among all universes, these rare Time Dragons are no less formidable than ordinary True Gods. Their attack capabilities are bizarre and powerful, coupled with the extraordinary ability to manipulate time. If a Time Dragon decides to escape, few methods exist to hold it back; even mighty Higher True Gods would need some luck to capture one. This illustrates just how precious the Time Dragon dragon crystal is—its value is almost on par with that of half of the supreme divine artifacts.
The primary function of the House of Time is to adjust the rate of time flow. That is, within a certain range, it can alter the speed of time, provided sufficient energy is spent as a cost to accelerate time by harnessing the power of the laws of existence. Divine power is the best source of such energy; basic divine power can accelerate time by up to a hundred times compared to the normal rate in the material world. A single drop can sustain this acceleration for a day. Faith power is slightly inferior, capable of only achieving a tenfold acceleration. Lastly, there are elemental crystals. Depending on their purity and energy content, a high-grade elemental crystal can sustain a fivefold acceleration for a day—meaning that one day outside equals five days inside the House of Time. Medium-grade crystals can only sustain about two hours, while low-grade crystals can barely maintain acceleration for around fifteen minutes.
Upon learning about the functions of the House of Time, Donald was overjoyed. The effect of time acceleration meant that with enough divine power, he could treat a day as if it were half a year. With his status as a Demon Hunter, along with the enhancements from his elven and divine bloodlines, he could enjoy a lifespan of nearly a thousand years, allowing him to afford such consumption. In less than half a year, he might even be able to firmly advance to the Silver rank or even reach the Golden rank!
However, he wasn’t willing to use all his divine power. As for elemental crystals, the energy they convert for time acceleration is not only low in multiplier but also requires significant consumption. Donald calculated that to sustain a fivefold acceleration for half a year inside the House of Time, he would need to exhaust all the income from his estates and lands in the main world.
Therefore, for now, he decided to start by using just a small amount of divine power to test the results. After all, this divine power was derived from faith power, essentially coming at no cost.
Beyond this, there are three more inaccessible palaces, along with the main temple at the back—these represent the unrestored parts of the Book of Truth and the core of the divine kingdom, where that True God will eventually reside in his true form.
Generally, true gods reside in their true forms in the safest place—their own divine kingdoms—sending avatars to handle affairs at other times. After all, as long as the true form remains intact, an avatar can be reformed if lost, but there is only one true form, and any damage to it significantly affects overall strength and is difficult to recover from. According to the Records of Truth, in its original world, there were instances where a god’s true form was imprisoned by other powerful beings. Thus, the location of a true god’s form must be at the core of the divine kingdom, the place with the strongest defenses.
Donald currently has no way of knowing about the three palaces or the main temple at the core of the divine kingdom. He can only uncover them as the Records of Truth recover further. After witnessing these, his soul projection voluntarily left the Land of Truth to test the functions of the Time House.
Since the rules of the divine kingdom in the Land of Truth can cause irreversible harm to living beings, Donald’s physical body cannot yet enter the Land of Truth or reach the palace where the Time House is located. Therefore, he must expend more energy to create a divine artifact projection in the main world and then adjust the time flow within it.
So, Donald created a projection of the Time House in an underground training room, forming a small room that enclosed him. Though it appeared small from the outside, it contained vast space, complete with everything from a bed, bathroom, kitchen, and dining area to an alchemy laboratory and a magic practice ground. It was even possible to adjust the spatial environment to one’s preferred scenery—be it valleys, grasslands, deserts, or islands—chosen freely or designed as desired.
Donald casually selected a beach island scene with blue skies and turquoise seas, and the scene inside the Time House immediately changed. Seeing the tropical island environment, reminiscent of a vacation spot from his past life, he gave a mental command, and a beach chair, umbrella, and small wooden table appeared before him. Soon, a colored drink with a mild alcohol content appeared on the table in the kitchen.
Lying on the beach chair, Donald enjoyed the scenery while sipping his drink, filled with various thoughts. In his past life, he would have needed tens of thousands of dollars just to visit such a place. Not only was it costly, but he was also too lazy to go, so he could only watch it on TV for satisfaction. Now that he had the means to enjoy it, he was no longer in the same world. Truly, fate is unpredictable and capricious!
After a long while and many exhalations of awe, he finally ordered the Book of Truth to inject a drop of divine power into the House of Time to accelerate time by a hundred times. Although the flow of time in his own space had already been altered, Donald only noticed a slight anomaly at the moment of the change; he felt no discomfort physically. “It’s probably because I already possess divine bloodline! The physique of divine beings is far stronger than that of ordinary people, and their ability to control time, as powerful as that in the House of Time, is also quite stable, so it doesn’t cause any harm,” he thought. With that, Donald calmed down and began his meditation and cultivation session.
Divinity naturally contained some of the rules and knowledge understood by its original owner. Though these were less than one-thousandth of the original divine power, they were still profound and rich enough for Donald. Over most of this half-year, he focused on understanding the rules and knowledge within divinity. These rules were essentially the power of laws—usually, one needed to reach the Golden rank to grasp even basic applications of these laws. Those who could comprehend this power early in history were either highly famous or extremely powerful figures.
Even with nearly 200 days, Donald only gained a superficial understanding of some basic laws through the rules contained in divinity. He couldn’t even begin to grasp the true essence of these laws, let alone apply them, as he was still only at the Bronze rank. Though he could defeat Silver-ranked warriors, his strength was still far inferior.
“The power of laws truly is something only Golden-ranked warriors can master! These are just some superficial laws derived from the periphery of divinity—how terrifying must those at its core be? Moreover, what I possess is merely a tiny fraction of the evil god’s original divinity. No wonder such powerful laws can make one a god! It seems I’ve underestimated this world!” Yet, even this brief glimpse into the power of laws brought tremendous benefits to Donald’s cultivation. His current level had surpassed 99% of Silver-ranked warriors, bringing him one step closer to the Golden rank.
In addition, divinity contained many other kinds of knowledge. During the remaining few dozen days, Donald devoted himself to absorbing knowledge related to magic, like a dry sponge absorbing water from various sources.
In just a few days, Donald had solidified the knowledge required for the Bronze rank. He not only quickly mastered several new spells he was not yet proficient in but also gained a more comprehensive understanding of all the spells he had learned from level 0 to level 5. Although Donald did not deliberately meditate or practice, he relied on the energy from the magic crystals to sustain himself. When tired, he would lie down to rest, and upon waking, he would continue to delve into understanding divinity. He spent these 200 days without eating or drinking. When his seclusion ended and the House of Time disappeared, he realized that his strength had unknowingly reached the Bronze Subversion state. “This can be considered an unexpected gain—having knowledge from divinity to fill in the gaps in my foundation means I no longer need to deliberately suppress my rank!” Donald said calmly yet confidently. “With the House of Time and the source of divine power, it means that while three months pass for me, only one day passes in the outside world. Thus, even if I can only accumulate enough divine power to use it for one day every month, it will take only a year or two for me to build a solid foundation of knowledge and advance from Bronze to Gold!”