"Of course, I just showed you that it could actually be interacted with, a lot easier than you may have thought. But I'm sure that's not enough. The problem is that people think too much about consequences when they use Time magic, and sometimes, they do it the wrong way"

"Let me explain. The consequences one may think about are things like paradoxes due to time travel, this simple thought stops them from using Time magic. Because they tend to think that if they mess up somehow, they will create a parallel line or a paradox. But it's only an a.s.sumption and a self-destructive move" Arima declared.

"Things like paradox are most likely possible, same with parallel timelines. And that's the problem, no one has never experienced something like that, not ever tried. But people still think that they know what will happen. That's what hinders your Time magic" He explained.

"Stop thinking about it when you use Time magic, because thinking about a theory of which you have no proof and don't really understand the process is the best way to make fail your magic" Arima smiled and a raised a finger "That's the first reason"

The students sighed, they were already sweating. Now they were patiently waiting for the second reason, the first one was simple enough, but the same wasn't definitely true for the second.

"Don't worry, the second reason is not that complicated too" Arima said and everyone looked at him in relief "Well, it's pretty simple, when you use Time magic, you shouldn't try to control it" He declared and the audience tilted their head.

"Time is definitely something that can't be controlled by humans. It would be like trying to control a higher dimension. The only thing you can do with Time is work with it. Cooperate, in another word. Contrary to s.p.a.ce, Time doesn't compose us and we are not part of it, Time is simply something that practically dictates our lives"

"Time also recovers everything. If you want to control it, you would need to be some kind of omnipotent being. That's why instead of controlling it, you should basically create a connection with the s.p.a.ce-Time kind of ask for its help" Arima explained and the students thought that it made sense.

"There's also a misunderstanding for most people, the most useful way of using Time is slowing or accelerating the flow of time. But when they try to do it, they imagine that everything around them will slow down or accelerate, which is wrong. How could you affect the whole world by yourself?" Arima smiled.

"The correct method is to gather the s.p.a.ce-Time in your body and disrupt it to transform yourself in a sort of semi other-dimensional being. Of course, it puts a lot of strain on your body, so you can't use it for a long time" He said "You should always remember that Time is to be communicated with and be gathered, not controlled"

"That's it about Time" Arima said and his students were surprised. They thought that Time magic was a lot more complicated than that "Of course, Time magic is still hard magic to master, even with all of this. But if you keep in mind everything I told you, you will be able to sense Time a minimum and then improve yourself naturally" He added and students nodded seriously.

Arima stood up and smiled "Well, we did the most of the work already, now I only need to teach you about three things, the spiritual forces and a non-elemental magic that I created by chance" Arima announced and the students were shocked by the last part.

A self-created, new magic, they were astounded but extremely curious at the same time "From now on, for a few days at least, I will train you with all of the different magic I taught you about. Don't hesitate to ask me about anything during that time"

Arima said and the forty students started to leave, except his picked up cla.s.s. Then, from that day onward, Arima started training them rather than teaching them.

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

In the Time Garden, Lilis was watching the image depicted on the pond. She was following Arima as he grew up in the orphanage.

Arimane was a smart child, since the day he entered the orphanage, he kept wanting to learn new things. His thirst for knowledge and the way he memorized it so easily even at this age, attracted the attention of the staff.

Arima soon became a topic for them, he was the kid that was left strangely in front of the orphanage and he also turned to be the smartest they ever saw.

As he aged, Arimane started to talk to some others orphans in his division and he soon made friends, after all, it was a simple thing to do at that age.

At the age of four, Arima could already speak like eight years old and his thoughts, although not that deep or complicated, were not something corresponding his age.

The same week he turned four, he was transferred into another section of the orphanage, with children between the age of four and ten. The lessons became a bit more advanced but nothing complicated for Arimane.

A few days after he entered that advanced cla.s.s, some people wearing white coats came in and gathered all the children who had just transferred, so all of the four years old.

Then, one after another, the kids were injected with something "What is that?" Arimane asked when it was his turn.

The woman making the injection smiled "That's Nanomachines, they will make your body stronger and your mind a bit clearer" She explained and brought the syringe to Arimane's arm "Nowadays, children who reach four years old in this orphanage, are all injected with this" She said while making the injection, also to keep Arimane's focus.

In the end, Arima felt nothing and looked at his arm in daze "Done" The woman smiled "Now you'll be able to live even longer" She said.

Arimane blinked and nodded, before leaving and let the next kid go. The next day, when Arimane woke up, he instantly felt something different, he was sure that something was different, then he remembered the injection he had the day before and came to a realization. It was the Nanomachines working.

Actually, ifs the scientists that came to make these injections knew that Arimane felt the changes the next day, they would have been stupefied. Obvious effects shouldn't even be felt, the Nanomachines could only improve the physical prowess and its internal defenses very slowly during the entire aging process of an individual.

The truth was that if they had scanned or investigated Arimane's body right now, they would have discovered that his metabolism reacted strangely to the Nanomachines, his muscles changed a bit like something was waking in them.

It was the same for the machines themselves, they seemed to be programmed to act considering the physical state of its host, usually, it's always the same since every human has the same biology, but in Arimane's case, the Nanomachines started to act strangely in front of the unknown body condition. Ultimately, they improved his body even more than it was theoretically possible.

Of course, Arimane didn't know about that. He didn't even know what were Nanomachines in the first place. He thought that his new physical ability was normal.

After that, the days and the years continued to flow. And Arimane continued to grow up, he kept learning more and more. To the point, he had read almost all the books the orphanage had when he was seven years old.

It was at that age that Arima first started to have different thoughts and new ones at the same time. The more he learned about the world, the more he was confused and thrown into deep thought, trying to understand.

Politics, wars, protests, racism, discrimination, dictatures, murders, all of this, every time he stumbled upon things like this, no matter how many times he re-read it, there was only a thing he said after he learned about it.

"Stupid" Arimane muttered and returned back on its shelf the book he had in his hands. That book was about History and some important dates. History was the subject Arimane detested the most, he was fed up of seeing so many stupid things in history. Every time he sees something strange about history, he can only wonder.

"What is wrong with these people?" He said with an annoyed tone. He could only wonder what the h.e.l.l was pa.s.sing through the heads of the people in those periods "Were they all born mentally handicapped?" Arimane muttered, he wasn't even sarcastic, that's honestly what he thought, literally.

When he was eight years old, Arimane joined a specialized program to train soldiers. Obviously, Arimane nailed every exercise thanks to his unique const.i.tution. Const.i.tution that Arima still didn't notice at that time.

It was only when he became ten years old, with his mind becoming even sharper and intelligent, that he realized that he was clearly different from the others. No matter if it was, speed, strength, endurance, resistance, he was a lot better. And he even was holding back by a huge margin.

In the same period, Arimane became ten years old, the man who had registered him nine years ago, Moria, came to him.

"Arimane, from now on you'll be joining my squad, I'll be the one training you" He said with a strong voice and a sharp look.

Arimane instantly nodded, he didn't even have any other thoughts than accepting. He never even considered refusing something coming from Moria. The latter was the captain of this orphanage's security. A former sergeant major and a spec op soldier, he was recruited here to teach the children how to be soldiers. Basically, someone you don't want to get in your bad side.

Moria nodded "Follow me" He turned around and directly started walking toward the main corridors of the orphanage. Arimane obediently followed "Arimane, do you know what is the purpose of this facility?" Moria asked while they were moving.

Arimane nodded "Yes, I think so"

Moria glanced at him "This orphanage is just a place to train special forces, able to act at any moment if ever necessary. The ones who are trained here become in the end, a.s.sa.s.sins, saboteurs, spies and so on" He explained with a straight face.

Arimane blinked and his eyes flashed with surprise "Is it okay to tell me that?" He asked.

"I'm telling you this because I judged you to be perfectly ready to hear it" Moria answered and Arimane fell silent, he smiled though. Maybe because he was happy to be praised.

After a few minutes, they arrived into a sort of big dojo. There was already a group of people waiting there. Most of them were around 15 years old and all looked at Arimane when he entered, with a probing stare.

"He's Arimane, he'll be the new entry in this squad" Moria pointed at him and quickly presented him. Arimane just nodded "Nice to meet you"

The others looked at each other strangely then turned toward Moria "Sir Moria, I'm sorry, but I don't think most of us would accept a ten years old child" The older guy, maybe around 18, declared, without even greeting Arimane.

Arimane smiled wryly and shrugged when he heard that. On the other side, Moria stared coldly at the guy who just spoke and the latter took a step back before bowing his head.

"Arimane is someone I deemed to be perfectly worthy and prepared, if you want to say anything else, you'll have to convince me, Erin" Moria said.

"Yes!" Erin straightened his back and made a salute. When Arimane saw that, he frowned.

"(I hope I won't have to make that salute one day, it's awkward)" A childish thought pa.s.sed through his mind.

"But I, of course, understand that you all may be reluctant to accept him" Moria suddenly declared "So, I'll have him to prove himself to you" He added and tapped on Arimane's shoulder.

The latter felt the hand on his shoulder and froze "Eh?"