Kronos shook his head when he noticed that barely anyone understood his simplified explanation.
A faint smile crossed his face.
He understood the mechanism of timelines because he had been nearly erased by Time multiple times.
The ignorance of his peers only proved they had not yet suffered at the hands of Time.
He wished it would remain that way.
“Neo and his existence are the same,” Kronos said, pointing at Jack with his chin.
“They should be dead, but their deaths would cause a major paradox. Thus, to solve the paradox, Time allows them to exist even though they should’ve been erased.”
Jack blinked in stupefaction.
Listening to Kronos refreshed his memory, and he was able to recall the lessons he was taught at the academy.
Kronos’s explanation had small problems, but it was mostly correct.
The absurdity of it all left Jack in shock.
The knowledge that the people of the future had gained after multiple generations was only marginally better than Kronos’s understanding.
Jack realized that Kronos’s title of “Father of Time” wasn’t just a symbolic decoration—it was well-earned.
The council meeting proceeded smoothly after Kronos’s explanation.
Much to Jack’s relief, the council took Jack’s words about the world’s impending end seriously.
“We need to speed up the progress of the World-Time Project,” Ares said.
“Yes, I’m already working on it,” Kronos replied without hesitation.
Jack furrowed his brow.
He had no idea what they were talking about, but it seemed important.
He decided to wait until the council meeting ended and ask Emma for more information.
“One more thing,” Kronos added. “Nobody will ask about the knowledge of the future from Jack.”
His words were firm and left no room for objections.
“Asking him for knowledge of future will only cause more paradoxes to appear. It would be harmful to us.
“There is also a high chance Fate will take harsh measures to stop us from taking advantage of future knowledge.”
The flickering firelight cast dancing shadows across Kronos’s face, emphasizing the gravity of his warning.
Around the room, the council members exchanged uneasy glances.
Their expressions ranged from reluctant acceptance to grim determination.
As soon as the meeting ended, Zeus approached Jack, his towering presence dominating the hallway.
His piercing gaze bore into Jack as he demanded answers about Neo’s whereabouts.
Jack, maintaining his composure, firmly told Zeus that he didn’t know where Neo was.
However, Zeus’s expression twisted with disbelief which made his distrust clear.
The tension between them grew thick, and the charged air was almost crackling.
Zeus took a step closer, his voice lowering but carrying a dangerous edge.
Their confrontation might have escalated into something far worse if not for Emma’s timely interference.
She stepped between the two and took Jack’s side much to Zeus’ annoyance.
Her calm but commanding demeanor forced Zeus to reconsider his options.
Zeus reluctantly backed off, though the frustration in his eyes was clear.
Despite Emma’s intervention, Zeus didn’t stop.
He continued to approach Jack over the following days, persistently asking for any information about Neo and his father.
Each conversation was as strained as the last.
Zeus’s suspicion never wavered.
It took Jack dozens of days, countless firm denials, and a great deal of patience to finally make Zeus understand the truth:
Jack knew nothing about what Zeus wanted to know. Only Neo had the answers, and they had no idea where Neo had disappeared to.
After the problem with Zeus was solved, Jack was absorbed into the routine of a normal awakener working under the Awakener Association.
It was not a good experience for Jack.
The days in the association were long and grueling, with constant missions that pushed him to the brink of exhaustion.
However, the physical strain paled in comparison to the social hostility he faced.
Most of the awakeners in the association didn’t like Jack.
Their disdain was palpable, from the whispered gossip behind his back to outright criticism hurled in his face.
The association’s crushing loss against Jack and Neo had brought immense shame to its members, and many awakeners directed their bitterness at Jack.
This resentment led to outright bullying.
Jack, of course, wasn’t the type to tolerate bullying, especially not when his bullies were weaker than him.
Any physical confrontations ended quickly and decisively in Jack’s favor.
Yet, the constant hostile atmosphere at the association weighed heavily on his mind.
The distrustful glances, the venomous words, and the sense of isolation created a mental burden that even Jack found difficult to bear.
Eventually, Jack—now known by his alias, Erebus—decided he had enough.
He left the Awakener Association and joined the Titans, much to Emma’s dismay.
She tried to stop him, but he remained firm in their decision.
The Titans, always opportunistic, didn’t stop with Jack.
They also managed to recruit Daniel, the brother of the late Child of Mana, into their ranks.
From what Jack understood, the Titans had brought Daniel aboard for the World-Time Project.
The World-Time Project was to inscribe a giant magic circle — World-Time Spell — at the Earth’s poles.
The purpose of the spell was to allow multiple people to travel 30 to 50 years into the past.
Such extreme manipulation of time was beyond even Kronos, which was why the project required the construction of a massive magic circle to accomplish it.
The process of building the World-Time Spell was filled with challenges and tragedies.
Numerous trials and errors marked its development, and the experiments involved frequent attempts to travel into the past.
These experiments came at a steep cost.
Many time mages—already a rare and valuable resource—lost their lives in the process.
Time Deaths, such as Unremembrance and Time Slipping, were not uncommon.
Even Kronos himself wasn’t immune to the dangers of Time Deaths.
This was where Daniel came in.
Though Daniel’s control over time was poor, he possessed very high resistance to Time Deaths.
In simpler terms, his job was to become Kronos’s experimental dummy.
Time seemed to pass in a blur as everyone worked tirelessly to build a functioning society and stop the looming Calamity.
Thirty-nine years passed in this manner.