Power of Runes Chapter 542: A Temporary Anchor

The River of Time carried Ash onward without giving him even a moment to settle, and after countless journeys through places that lasted anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes, the familiar distortion once again wrapped around his body before abruptly throwing him into another Timeline.

This time, however, Ash landed somewhere far more awkward.

His feet barely touched the ground before he stumbled forward into a room that appeared to be some kind of private chamber, and for one brief moment, he had no idea what he was looking at because a young woman standing only a few steps away was in the middle of changing her clothes, with a loose garment still hanging around her shoulders as she stared at the completely naked man who had just appeared inside her room.

The silence that followed was almost painful.

Ash looked at her.

She looked at Ash.

Neither of them moved.

Then the woman screamed.

"AHHHHHHHH!!! PERVERRRRRT!"

The sound was so loud that Ash’s ears rang, and before he could even explain that he had absolutely no idea where he was or why he had appeared there, a fist came flying directly toward his face.

BAM!

Ash was sent crashing through a wooden door and into the corridor outside.

For several seconds, he simply sat there.

He slowly pulled himself out of the broken doorway, dusted the dirt from his newly formed robes, and stared at the room he had just been thrown out of with the expression of someone who had long since accepted that reality itself was bullying him.

He closed his eyes, took a slow breath and teleported far away from the place hurriedly.

Then, unable to hold back his frustration any longer, he spoke directly to Eva standing on the rooftop of a high rise building.

"Eva, please tell me you’ve made some progress with that ability I asked you to create, because if I keep getting thrown into random places like this every few minutes, I might eventually be labelled as a Pervert or even worse."

There was a brief silence.

Then Eva’s voice came through, and although she clearly tried to keep it serious, Ash could feel the amusement hidden beneath her words.

{I actually did make progress, and I think you’re going to like what I’ve managed to create, although I wouldn’t recommend judging the ability before hearing the entire explanation because the current version is still incomplete and there are several problems I haven’t managed to solve yet.}

Ash’s expression immediately became more serious.

"So you succeeded?"

Eva remained quiet for a moment before answering.

{I succeeded in creating the framework, not the final ability. I tried countless combinations of the Runes we currently have, especially anything related to Time, Space, Stability, and even a few less obvious combinations that I thought might create a stronger form of resistance against the River of Time, but no matter how I arranged them, none of them were enough to create a permanent Temporal Anchor that could withstand the current of the River of Time.}

Ash frowned slightly.

"So the problem is not creating an Anchor, but creating one strong enough to stop the River from dragging me away."

{Exactly, and that is much more difficult than I originally expected. The River does not simply push your body around, it interacts with the Timeline itself, so any Anchor I create has to connect you to your current point in History strongly enough to resist the River without interfering with your existence as an Anomaly, and every time I tried to strengthen one part of the structure, another part became unstable.}

Ash leaned against the wall as he listened, his earlier embarrassment slowly being replaced by genuine interest.

"Then what did you manage to create?"

Eva’s laughter returned, although this time she quickly suppressed it.

{An incomplete ability that I think is still worth using, especially because you’re currently being thrown through the River like a stone in a storm. I managed to create a temporary form of Temporal Anchoring that can bind you to the Timeline you’re currently occupying for 15 minutes at a time.}

Ash’s eyes brightened.

"Fifteen minutes?"

{Yes, fifteen minutes, although there is an important limitation. The ability cannot maintain itself indefinitely, and I haven’t found a way to strengthen the duration with the Runes currently available to us. The structure is incomplete, and several Glyphs are clearly missing from the ability, so unless we find the particular Glyphs or Rune fragments required to complete those missing sections, I won’t be able to push its current limit any further. So, you have basically comprehended more.}

Ash thought about that for a moment before asking, "Can I control when the fifteen minutes start and stop, or does it activate automatically every time I enter a new Timeline?"

{You can control it completely, and that is one of the reasons I consider the incomplete version useful despite everything else. You can activate the Anchor whenever you want, and once it is active, it will hold you to the Timeline for fifteen minutes, after which the effect will end automatically unless you deactivate it before then. You can also withdraw the Anchor whenever you decide that staying in that Timeline is no longer useful, which means you don’t have to waste the entire duration if you find what you’re looking for early.}

Ash’s expression slowly brightened.

Fifteen minutes.

Compared to the few seconds the River had been giving him in some Timelines, fifteen minutes suddenly felt almost luxurious.

He thought about the ability for a few more moments before asking, "And you’re certain it won’t collapse immediately?"

{I’m certain that it works, but I wouldn’t call it perfectly stable. It can withstand the River’s pull for fifteen minutes under normal conditions, but if you enter an especially turbulent section of Time or interfere with something significant enough to create a major temporal disturbance, the duration could shorten, and I don’t yet know how much resistance the structure can take before it breaks completely.}

Ash nodded slowly.

"That’s still better than what I have right now, which is absolutely nothing."

Eva finally laughed properly.

{You say that after being punched out of someone’s bedroom for appearing naked in the middle of the room?}

Ash’s expression darkened.

"Don’t remind me."

{I’m sorry, but you should have seen your face when she screamed. I have been replaying that memory in my head ever since you appeared there, and I am honestly starting to think that the River of Time might not be your greatest enemy anymore."

Ash narrowed his eyes.

"You are enjoying this far too much."

{Of course I am. I’ve spent the last few days watching you appear in forests, oceans, temples, ships, and now inside someone’s bedroom, and every single time you look more offended by reality itself. This is probably the most entertaining part of our entire journey so far.}

Ash sighed deeply.

Then he looked toward the unfamiliar surroundings around him.

That small amount of control was already enough to change how he viewed the journey.

He had no idea which Timeline he would enter next, what dangers would be waiting there, or how long he would be able to remain, but at least now he finally had a way to stop being dragged away immediately.

"Alright, Eva, keep working on the ability whenever you can, and the moment you discover which Glyphs or Rune fragments are missing, let me know. If we can complete even a small part of it, fifteen minutes might become thirty, then an hour, and eventually I might actually be able to stay somewhere long enough to figure out where the hell I am."

{I’ll keep working on it, but please try not to get punched too many times before then. Reconstructing your dignity might be outside my current abilities. Also you need to comprehend the Runes, after all there might be a possibility that what we need is not with us yet.}

Ash’s expression turned completely blank.

".....Sigh. I really regret giving you this much freedom."

There was a brief pause before Eva replied in a perfectly calm voice.

{Try restricting it, and I will sue you.}

Ash’s eyelid twitched.

"Never mind that. I suppose you have already activated the [Temporary Temporal Anchor], considering I haven’t been yanked into another Timeline yet."

{Indeed. And while you were lamenting the loss of your dignity, I had already finished scouting the surrounding area. This is not the world of Akumia. It is an entirely different world, which is rather interesting because I tried matching it with the Database of the present-day Realm of Eden, and this world does not have any resemblance with the culture and language of any known city or town. Which means...}

".....This world was destroyed long ago."

{Bingo!!}

{Although that is only one possibility. We cannot be certain yet, because there could be countless other reasons why a world would be absent from the current Database, and until we gather more information, it would be premature to conclude that this place has already been destroyed.}

"Indeed, but I’m not interested in its history anyway. What matters to me is whether there is a Rune here, or at least a trace or fragment of a Rune’s power that I can use to establish a connection with another Rune. Have you found anything on that front that I asked you look?"

{No. The ability you asked me to simulate isn’t possible with the number of Runes you currently possess. I can construct a detection ability only when I have enough information about what I am trying to detect, but we don’t know which Rune’s trace we are looking for, nor do we know the exact signature its power. Without that information, creating a reliable detection ability is practically impossible.}

"I see. Maybe I was too hopeful, thinking we could create an ability similar to the one Ray’s System possesses. Basically, the energy signatures are different, just like how everyone’s energy signature is different..."

Ash’s voice suddenly stopped.

His eyes narrowed slightly as another thought surfaced within his mind.

"Wait."

{Hmm?}

"The signature..."

Ash’s expression slowly changed as the pieces began connecting together.

"Wouldn’t the other Runes know what the signatures of the remaining Runes are like?"

{Technically, yes, but those fragments of the Runes are sealed within other objects, which helps hide their presence. Even if we know their energy signatures, I can’t create something that can reliably detect them unless I have something similar to study, because without a proper reference, I won’t know what kind of search to perform or how those sealed traces might have changed while being contained within another object.}

"I see."

Ash fell into deep thought, and his mind immediately turned toward the only thing he knew that could detect the sealed traces of the Runes.