Chapter 333 Inside and Outside

INSIDE THE GIANT

"Annie, I’m scared..." Kiera mewled out as she pushed her small body closer to Annie.

Annie, who was wearing an undiscernable expression on her face, only patted her friend’s arm as she replied,

"Kiera... don’t worry. I think someone will rescue us by this point."

"B-but how can they rescue us when we are stuck here?" Kiera shot back with panic creeping on her voice. "C-c-can those TimeMasters manage to find us here? How about Big Brother Alex? Will he be able to discover this place? Annie... can we really get out from this dark cave?"

"Kiera.... We can get out of here, definitely." Annie replied as she looked all around her.

What Annie could see all around her was only inky darkness. There was no light streaming on this place, which made it totally impossible to see anything.

Annie’s skin however can feel hard ground which seemed to be made up of minerals. There was also some sense of wetness from the ground, making it appear as if it was also constantly wet.

Sounds of other worried people can be heard nearby, and just like Kiera, all of them sounded scared and panicked at the same time.

It was only Annie who managed to maintain her cool, although her face was also slightly pale.

"Kiera, there is a high possibility that we were brought towards a massive place that can hold a lot of people." Annie continued saying as she started to comfort Kiera. "And they did it in a way that made it impossible for the nearby TimeMasters to intervene. "But since this place is large, I am sure Big Brother Alex and Big Sis Alina can find it soon. We... just have to wait"

Even if Annie cannot see Kiera, the subsequent sigh of relief from Kiera was all too audible for Annie’s ears.

"Annie, you really are so cool. You can still stay calm even when we’re like this..."

"Don’t talk anymore Kiera. Just focus on calming yourself down." Annie replied quickly as she patted Kiera’s back reassuringly. "Just breathe and focus, ok?"

"Ok..."

To anyone seeing the interaction between this two, it was hard to believe that both of them were at the same age.

After all, Annie seemed to be a little too mature especially right now, when she and her friend were suddenly brought at this dark place.

Kiera on the other hand was the normal kid, who just reacted with the right amount of fear.

If Alex would see this, he will surely blame this difference on Annie’s lax mother...

"Okay Annie, I think I am fine now..." Kiera, who looked like she was about to cry earlier, forcefully wiped her wet eyes as she gripped Annie’s hand tightly.

"I want to cry right now, but Big Sister Alina told me to not cry in situations like this, so I will not cry!" Kiera declared as she scooted closer to Annie. "I-I will stay here obediently until Big Sis and Big Brother rescues us! Okay! That’s what I will do!"

"Are you really sure that we should just stay here?" Annie slowly said as she tightened her hold on Kiera’s hand. "How about grandpa? Shouldn’t we look for him?"

"What do you mean by that Annie?"

"Kiera, when those crazy people in the restaurant brought us here, we were forcefully separated from grandpa. Since we were at this place, grandpa could most likely be here too."

"Oh no! Grandpa could be shivering in fear right now!" Kiera exclaimed as suddenly stood up. "W-w-we have to look for him!"

"Yes, yes. We will look for grandpa. But let’s do it gradually, ok?" Annie replied reassuringly as she stood up too. "Since we are in darkness right now, we just have to take one step at a time, ok?"

"Ok."

historical

"And while we are at it, let’s also call grandpa occasionally. Maybe once every 30 seconds. How does that sound?"

"It’s a good plan Annie! Sigh... You’re really cool! You’re just like Big Brother Alex! You are also smart!

"Hehehe, mommy just played a lot of pranks on me when I was young, so I had to learn how to be smart..."

"Ah um, sorry about making you recall that Annie."

"It’s fine. Let’s just start looking for grandpa, ok?"

"Ok! Hey grandpa! Where are you? We want to see you again!"

"Kiera, please lower your voice... others might get scared from it."

"Oops."

"..."

*********************

OUTSIDE THE GIANT

"Alex, the reinforcements are here already." Alina, who was mostly quiet when after she started teleporting herself and Alex, suddenly said these words to her partner.

"That fast?" Alex’s earlier thoughts on his plan to get stronger were jostled as he heard what Alina just said. "How many TimeMasters did arrive?"

"More than a thousand." Alina replied as her mouth set itself on a thin line. "They just arrived right now, and they all looked ready to fight the Savage Sword Giant."

"Good. Now we can just wait for things to escalate in our favor." Alex replied as he sensed that the giant was still rushing towards them relentlessly. "With that many TimeMasters added, they can surely damage the Savage Sword Giant, especially now that it’s attention is focused on us."

"That giant may look scary, but I totally agree with your prediction Alex." Alina replied as she sheathed her sword back on her katana. "That many TimeMasters surely will be carrying a lot of transacted Time with them. That kind of power... not even that giant can resist that."

"I agree."

"Boom!"

Right after saying these words, Alex suddenly heard booming sounds, as he saw the additional TImeMasters start their own attacks on the giant.

This time around, larger wounds appeared on the giant’s body and they also healed slower. Even its domineering presence earlier had started to become reduced as its opponents continued their fierce counter-attack.

"Good luck surviving from an army powered by the very life of this world." Alex muttered to himself as he watched the sudden dominance of the TImeMasters. "If you fought these people before they occupied this world, then you are certainly a danger. But right now, your risks are not that high."

*******************

At Alex’s 3-month stay with the TImeMasters, he already learned a thing or two about the TimeMasters themselves.

One of that included the knowledge about the TimeMasters’ source of power.

From what Alex had heard and learned from Alina, a TImeMaster basically had two sources of power that fuels all of their abilities.

The first one is an internal source, which exists inside a TimeMaster’s body.

This internal source is inherently present inside a TimeMaster, and it contains the essence of Time itself.

This internal source can be channeled by a TImeMaster to fuel his/her abilities, and it will only stop once its contents are used up. It can recharge itself, although its speed will depend on the level and talent of the TimeMasters.

Alina, who was just a newbie Chronomancer, relies solely on her internal source to fuel her abilities.

Luckily for Alina, her internal source seemed to hold large amounts of Time Essence, which makes her more powerful compared to the TimeMasters at the same level as her.

At one look, the internal source might look normal, which is right. However, just like the other power systems, using the internal source for a TimeMaster’s abilities both have its advantage and disadvantages.

The advantage of internal sources lies on the fact that they are something that a TimeMaster can use at all times, anytime and anywhere.

As for the disadvantage, these internal sources can only provide a TimeMaster with enough energy to fuel minimum amount of abilities. That is not a good thing, especially in a world where fighting is an absolute must.

Fortunately for the TimeMasters, they have a second source of power, which inherently is much more superior compared to their internal source.

This source was called the external source, which strictly means ’power source outside a TimeMaster’s body’.

External sources, in the simplest terms, are the Time Essence from other objects or sometimes, even living beings. The amount of Time Essences that can be found on these things will depend on their age. The older an object or a living being is, the higher the Time Essence inside their bodies. Conversely, the younger an object is, the lesser their Time Essence will be.

With the sheer amount of objects and living beings out there, the amount of Time Essence that can be gathered from them is enormous. That’s what makes external sources look extremely appealing to the TimeMasters.

As long as the TImeMasters can gather these massive amounts of Time Essences for themselves, they will be able to cast miraculous abilities that require insane amounts of fuel.

But of course, the TImeMasters cannot just easily use all these free Time Essences as their external source.

If they want to get it, they must use special methods first.

These special methods were varied, although there’s one that was popularly used right now.

This popular method was the practice of forcing living beings to give their own Time Essence to the TimeMasters.

Granted, this method seems to be difficult to pull off, but there was some that managed to do just that.

In fact, all the TimeMasters who colonized this world managed to successfully use this method.

As anyone can recall, after the TimeMasters occupied this world, new sets of rules were established, which forced everyone’s Time to be used as currency in this world.

This right here, is the way that the TimeMasters in this world has forced living beings to give up their own Time Essences easily.

The ’Time’ that everyone has to pay for services was actually their very own Time Essences, which the TImeMasters just gobble up and store on their banks as their external sources of power.

All the business that the TImeMasters had in this world were built with the sole intention of gathering Time Essences from as much people as possible. The more people pays with their Time, the more Time Essences can be obtained from them.

With the amount of people living in this world, and the amount that were born each day, the Time Essences that they produced gave the TimeMasters so much external power source that even Alex was not sure on how much they already had.

And right now, Alex could see that the TimeMasters in front of him were about to use some of these ’earned’ Time Essences for their good use.

"Hmph, so the reason why all the TImeMasters choose to pursue bank or business-related jobs in this world was because they wanted to get as much external power source as possible." Alex thought as he watched the Savage Sword Giant get beat up more and more by the TimeMasters. "Sigh... and this just makes me pity the Immoral Cultivators more... "

Alex knew that with the way that this world is in right now, the Immortal Cultivators will find it highly impossible to win, especially with the increasing amount of Time Essence gathered by TimeMasters.

How long has it been since the TImeMasters colonized this world? More than 10, 000 years already! Just seeing that number was enough to show that the TimeMasters were the dominant side in this world.

But even with that, these Immortal Cultivators still did not stop on making their own moves, as if they do not care about their enemies’ power.

"Do these Immortals have their own trump cards too?" Alex thought to himself as he saw the giant’s armor get shredded into pieces. "If they do have one, when will they use it? Will they use one right here?"

Alex seems to have been really jinxed today, as right after he thought of these, the giant, who seemed to be cornered right now, suddenly let out another roar.

But this time around, this roar was not meant for attack. This roar was actually laughter, which roiled out of the giant’s body.

"Hahahaha! Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"

As the giant continued laughing, all the TimeMasters hastily stopped their attacks, in fears that the giant was about to do something radical.

Fortunately for everyone, the giant did nothing of that. Instead, the giant actually started to talk.

"Hahaha puny b**ches! So you really ganged up on us, even though we have hostages inside us!" A mocking voice came out of the giant, which made the TimeMasters freeze on their tracks. "Hahaha, I know, I know. One of our hostages is a VIP, which you have to save at all costs. That was why you are attacking us this ferociously!"

As this giant started to talk, Alex narrowed his eyes as he felt that something bad was about to happen. He was not sure what bad thing will exactly happen, only that he knew that it was about to happen any moment now.

"Hmph, so the brute actually can speak." One of the TimeMasters said as he sneered at the giant. "Since you can talk, then we can-"

"Shut your f**king mouth, you sissy." The giant cussed out as he interrupted the talking TimeMaster. "You think we want a negotiation here? Hell no! We are just talking here to let you know that we have won!"

"You, what do you-"

"Sayonara, little b**ches!" The giant shouted out as its body suddenly glowed extremely bright.

Everyone in the area were forces to closed their eyes, including Alex, whose abilities did not manage to help him out.

"Hahaha! It’s been a fun night!" The giant said as its voice echoed out again. "I hope we can do something like this again next time!"

"Boom!"

A massive explosion then covered the whole area, engulfing everyone, including Alex in its vicinity.