Quadruple split.

Chapter 2821: Seize the time
Space...space...

Feeling completely trapped in mid-air by the oppressive atmosphere from all directions, A-Sang, who couldn't even move a finger except to speak, desperately racked his brains, trying to convey the information that Oboro had told him to Fourteen in a slow and methodical way, while also pondering his mentor's teachings.

Although that hardly counts as a lesson.

As a mage, an excellent mage, an excellent mage who was born to be entangled by the [Pseudo-space-time flow], Asang was well aware that he was quite talented in spatial magic. Putting aside everything else, at least he did not have the pressure that ordinary mages felt when tearing space, nor did he have the negative physical sensations that ordinary mages felt when crossing space.

Or to be more precise, there were negative feelings to begin with, but considering that Ah Sang has been involved in the [pseudo-space-time flow] countless times over the past year, he has long been desensitized by the random teleportation.

When he was first teleported, he might experience headaches, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. He might even be forced offline by the system because his body couldn't handle being teleported multiple times in a short period of time. However, by the two hundredth time, Ah Sang was able to completely ignore the side effects of spatial crossing. Not only that, he even had time to use the delay before the spell was completed to know the situation outside in advance, and even hide himself before revealing himself when necessary.

Asang himself was well aware that spatial magic was extremely important to him, for no other reason than that no other school of magic was more suitable for saving his life and escaping than spatial magic.

Even so, the [Spatial School] is still the lowest-level specialization in A-Sang's quest panel. Although it is already higher than 99.9% of players' level 45, it still cannot compete with A-Sang's [Fire Element/Wind Element/Earth Element/Lightning Element/Water Element] specializations, which are all at level 50.

In addition, Asang's [Negative Energy Specialization] is only level 45, the same as [Spatial School].

The reason is simple: only the [Spatial School] and the [Negative Energy School] have nothing to do with elements, and their magic is very simple and crude. Even if they are used frequently, they cannot repeatedly break through the upper limit. As a result, Ah Sang, who has turned himself into a sponge to survive and desperately absorb all kinds of knowledge, is at a loss.

Of course, the helplessness here is compared to A Sang's other elemental specializations. Among the vast majority of NPCs and all players, being able to play the [Spatial School] so well (specialization level 45) before stepping into epic realm is already quite remarkable.

But that's not enough—

At least at this moment, in this situation, let alone the level 45 [Spatial School], even the critical point from high-level to epic, namely the level 50 specialization level, is probably not enough.

It should be noted that when Fourteen was forced to activate his Sea Giant bloodline under dire circumstances and directly entered the 'Ancestral' state, he directly overcame the so-called 'Epic Bottleneck' and completely reversed the offensive and defensive situation between the two sides.

The enemy is very likely a unique hybrid [Dream Species] with epic-level strength, a [Realm Barrier], and a [Domain]. This is the predicament that Asang is facing right now.

There is no option to temporarily break through to the Epic Realm as a solution to this dilemma.

If Fourteen, with his exceptional talent and the advantages of two Dream Species, could go toe-to-toe with Asang in his normal form, then having completed his ancestral state as a Sea Giant, officially broken through to Epic level, and possessing [Domain: Surging Waves] and [Unique Boundary: Raging Waves], his combat strength against Asang is now firmly at a 10/0 split. Even if Asang really breaks through the Epic level bottleneck, at most he would only turn 10/0 into 9/1. The probability of him escaping successfully is not low, but winning is a pipe dream.

To put it bluntly, at this moment, Fourteen can be completely understood as having broken through to the peak, and at that, he is at the peak of the entire continent, the kind of person who is almost unrivaled below the legendary level.

Therefore, there are only two possible paths for Asang to survive: one is to pray that Fourteen keeps his promise and shows mercy after he has given all the information about his bloodline that Long provided; the other is to hurry up and break through to the Epic level before all the information is given, and then find a way to escape.

The first possibility is too slim. After all, in Asang's opinion, since Fourteen has held a grudge against him for more than two hundred years for the slight 'bullying' he did back then, there is basically no possibility that he will let him go today. After he finishes telling Ao the information he provided, he will be cruelly killed because he has lost his value.

Here, there is actually an information gap—

Simply put, Ah Sang knew too little about Fourteen and did not understand Fourteen's motives for attacking him 'two hundred years later', so he misjudged the latter's personality and behavior.

In other words, if Mo Tan had actually encountered the historical Fourteenth in the "Path to Survival" instance, had dealt with the latter quite a bit, and possessed a mental state capable of deeply "empathizing" with the latter, she would draw a different conclusion: given the vast difference in strength between the two sides, it is indeed possible that Fourteenth, having obtained additional information, would spare Asang's life, and the probability would not be low.

Even if we add the negative emotions of being forced to revert to one's ancestral form and having only the path of returning to the deep sea, Mo Tan would probably come to the precise conclusion that "as long as one cooperates enough, the probability of being spared should be over 70%." Coupled with his eloquence, it might even rise to 80%.

Unfortunately, Ah Sang was not Mo Tan. He not only lacked a deep understanding of Fourteen, but also lacked the mental state to deeply empathize with others. Moreover, due to the numerous life-threatening situations he had faced over the past year, he habitually assumed things would be viewed from the worst possible perspective. Therefore, in his judgment, the probability of Fourteen letting him go was no more than 10%!
This judgment has both disadvantages and advantages.

The downside is that he misjudged the situation, so in Fourteen's eyes, this wary and spiky insect doesn't look very cute, which greatly reduces its chances of survival.

The advantage is that, because of his misjudgment, Asang has defined his current situation as "dying, dying, dying, dying, dying, dying, dying," and in this situation, it is very easy for a normal person to break through the bottleneck that was originally difficult to overcome.

Just like the 'death battle' between Gu Xiaole and Yune, given that both of their strength had reached the epic threshold, which was above the limit of the arena's protective barrier at the time, then if Noyce Huashao, who could have stopped them 100%, was not present, these two could have truly killed each other. And it was precisely for this reason that they were able to unleash their power in a desperate situation and break through the epic bottleneck.

This leads to two conditions—

First of all, is this desperate situation desperate enough? In this respect, A-Sang's strength has obviously been maxed out. If the danger level of the battle between Gu Xiaole and Yune Yi was D, then at least in A-Sang's own perception, the current danger level is definitely SSS!

Secondly, it's about whether Asang's basic qualities have reached the level required to break through to the Epic level. The answer is yes. As a super mage who shone brightly in the "Debate on Inquiry," making a group of super powerful players pale in comparison, and who emerged out of nowhere, Asang won against Futaba in the individual competition, experienced countless battlegrounds during the game, and even received heartfelt guidance from Oboro, a high-level observer, was already stuck at the threshold of the Epic level, just one step away.

Therefore, this is both the biggest crisis and the biggest opportunity!

Admittedly, given that he would have known about Fourteen in advance, Long would never have let Asang put himself in danger. However, he also believed that now that things had developed to this stage, it was the best time for Asang to advance.

The premise is that he can seize the opportunity.

The premise is that he can make good use of his time.

[Hurry up...]

Asang's gaze wandered, mechanically repeating the information about the Behemoth and the Sea Giant that Oboro had been continuously feeding him, while desperately racking his brains to find a way to break through the bottleneck.

[Hurry up...]

Ah Sang swallowed hard, trying his best to make the most of the fleeting moment of 'swallowing' to think and study.

[Hurry up...]

Asang fully understood Long's 'tips' and knew very well that if he wanted to break the deadlock, he did need to find a breakthrough in the concept of 'space', but he didn't know how to do it.

[Hurry up...]

Asang had studied the memories of space before, but he still couldn't find a clue. After all, at this moment, under the influence of Fourteen's [Surging Waves] and [Grossing Waves], he couldn't even do the thing of 'driving magic' itself, let alone manipulate, interfere with, or tear space by using magic.

[Hurry up...]

The confinement imposed by Fourteen is all-encompassing. Both the magic power within his body and the surrounding elements have fallen into a state of silence at this moment. Therefore, Asang suspects that even if his [Spatial School] reaches the level 50 mastery level in the next second, he will still have no chance to use it.

[Hurry up...]

It's time to speak again. What did the mentor just say? What did I just hear? What did I repeat? Is Fourteen satisfied? Is he willing to continue listening? Will he crush himself?

[Hurry up...]

No, no, where was my mind? Space? Utilizing space? How to utilize space? How much time do I have left to think about how to utilize space?

[Hurry up...] How can I hurry up?! I don't understand! There's clearly no time left, right? How can I grasp at something that doesn't exist? Can I possibly use a second as a minute?!

[Hurry up...]

One second has passed.

[Hurry...time...one second...hurry...huh?]

Another second has passed.

【Wait a moment?】

The third second has passed.

I caught him!?

Asang suddenly looked up, only to find that although he was 'looking up', it wasn't 'sudden' at all. On the contrary, he raised his head very subtly, very, very subtly, as if in slow motion.

Is this feasible?

The fourth second has passed.

No, no, no, no!

Like a diver suddenly surfacing, Ah Sang gasped for breath, realizing that everything had returned to normal, and that his thinking had been wrong.

Although he did seem to have 'seized' the time, three seconds was the limit because it would affect Fourteen, as well as his [domain], [propaganda], and even a wider area.

Lengthen the first second by a factor of two.

Lengthen the second second by two times.

Lengthen the third second by three times.

Ah Sang successfully stretched three seconds into nine seconds.

But this is meaningless! With your own time also being extended and affected, this amount of time is just a drop in the ocean, not even as much as a cup of water!

[Your approach is wrong! You won't catch it this way.]

Asang frowned, lost in thought for a moment.

This reflection, in turn, represents silence.

Silence signifies an interruption in the narrative.

"Ok?"

The towering giant frowned slightly, looking curiously at the mage who had inexplicably fallen into a daze before him, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

How about this?

Ah Sang blinked, having once again seized the moment, and a thought struck him.

"Ok?"

The towering giant frowned slightly, looking curiously at the mage who had inexplicably fallen into a daze before him, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Haha, really?!

Asang stared wide-eyed and gently plucked the 'string' that didn't exist, yet was omnipresent.

"Ok?"

The towering giant frowned slightly, looking curiously at the mage who had inexplicably fallen into a daze before him, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Do not talk."

Ah Sang shook his head and casually said to Fourteen, "I'm thinking."

"What did you say... um?"

The towering giant frowned slightly, looking curiously at the mage who had inexplicably fallen into a daze before him, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

You did it.

The higher observer deep within his consciousness laughed, his words full of approval: "You acted quickly."

"Too cunning, teacher."

Ah Sang twitched the corners of his mouth, complaining inwardly with great displeasure: "It's clearly time, but they insist on saying space."

【How could that be? Didn't I clearly tell you to 'hurry up'?】

For some reason, Oboro, who wasn't affected like Fourteen, laughed happily: "Besides, if you want to escape this predicament, the power of space is indeed indispensable."

"You're just playing with words."

Ah Sang rolled his eyes, then took a deep breath and asked, "So, why is this happening? How could I do something like this? Logically speaking, even legends shouldn't be able to touch time, right?"

Perhaps it's because the time you're living in is a little too 'simple'~

Chapter 2812: The End

(End of this chapter)