Chapter 360: The

The conference hall deep within the base.

After thoroughly confirming the ruler and minister, the two began discussing the concrete capture plan.

Luosen asked, "Then, how should we turn these traitorous Dawn Guards to our side?"

Ti Lalin had prepared in advance and produced a square rune artifact.

"We can defeat them with our twelve ring guardians and reset the internal puppet spirit. This is the reset artifact I forged."

She handed the artifact to Luosen.

Luosen examined it closely after taking it, finding the structure extremely intricate, with the core involving a great deal of detailed knowledge of time spells, which made him furrow his brow slightly.

He could grasp most of the other components, but the knowledge of time spells exceeded his intellectual limits.

Thus, the artifact was effectively in an uncontrolled state.

An uncontrolled artifact implies that the Dawn Guards also carry a risk of losing control.

Moreover, the Dawn Guards are immensely powerful; if they go rogue, they would directly rewrite the Empire's destiny.

No emperor would tolerate such a huge uncertainty within his own camp, since this war entangles the fate of billions of citizens.

He then asked, "Does the puppet spirit also require time spells?"

Ti Lalin nodded, "Doing so serves first to defend against the opponent's time spells, and second to greatly boost the Dawn Guards' reaction speed."

She elaborated, "The greatest combat advantage in the world is speed, so the second effect is especially crucial."

"The spell that achieves this is called 'Temporal Surge', which can increase the Dawn Guards' reaction speed by an entire order of magnitude."

"Temporal Surge."

Luosen softly repeated the term, growing more yearning for such a potent time spell, and asked, "Madam Ti Lalin, is there any way for me to obtain the time talent?"

The time talent is a marvelous thing; it seems to exist at a subatomic level.

It cannot be observed by the natural scepter at all, nor can it be studied, let alone replicated.

This was not his first time asking, and the reason for the second inquiry was that Ti Lalin's power had increased, granting her new memories.

Ti Lalin deliberated for a while and indeed gave a response different from the previous one.

"Your Majesty, the principles of time spells are extremely complex; even I cannot discern the source of this power, and can only classify it as a gift from the Creator."

"However, based on my newly acquired memories, I have discovered a method to transfer—or rather share—the Creator's gift."

Luosen's interest piqued, his brow lifting, "Tell me more."

"We will perform a soul link and a deep soul resonance of the time frequency domain."

"If sufficiently fortunate, the time talent residing in my soul could, through resonance, be imprinted onto Your Majesty's soul."

Luosen understood.

In fact, he had previously undergone a similar soul link in the Navat Republic with the guardian mage A Lian Na, after which both parties experienced some uncontrolled memory transfers.

But hearing Ti Lalin's description, this should be a one‑way transmission, which instantly excited him.

"How high is the chance of success?"

"It's hard to say; time talent is extremely precious, so such resonance transfers are rarely performed."

"Throughout the Dawn Empire's history, it has occurred only 206 times, succeeded merely 11 times, and the results were modest, granting only a basic time talent to the recipient."

In other words, about a 5% success rate—not high, but not negligible.

"Can it be attempted many times, or only once?"

"It can be tried many times, but if the first attempt fails, subsequent attempts are unlikely to succeed."

Luosen understood and asked again, "Are there any side effects?"

Ti Lalin shook her head, "It's merely a matter of luck; there are no perceptible side effects. Your Majesty, would you like to try?"

Luosen, of course, wanted to try.

Ti Lalin replied, "First, we need an absolutely silent sealed chamber, with no magical interference whatsoever, not even the slightest fluctuation of spell rings."

Unsure how stringent the absolute silence requirement was, Luosen asked directly, "Is there a place in the base that meets the criteria?"

"There is an existing spot: the Dawn Guard's protection pod. Of course, it's a bit cramped."

It was indeed cramped, but tolerable.

The crucial point was that time was short; only a few days remained before the Gate of Creation opened, leaving no time to construct such a high‑requirement quiet room.

"If it doesn't affect the resonance ceremony, then the pod?"

Ti Lalin was indifferent, "As you wish, Your Majesty."

Soon, the two moved into the Dawn Guard's protection pod and activated the guard's wall shield, rendering the interior extremely quiet, with no detectable spell fluctuations.

The pod was especially cramped; due to the soul link requirement, they had to sit face‑to‑face in the narrow space.

After a few adjustments, Ti Lalin whispered, "Your Majesty, please keep your mind calm."

Now handling serious matters, Luosen naturally replied, "Wait a moment; it will settle down on its own."

Thus, the two began sitting face‑to‑face in silence.

They sat for twenty minutes.

The first ten minutes waited for Luosen to calm, the next ten for Ti Lalin to calm.

Because this court sage was heavily affected by the Divine Gun.

After twenty minutes, Ti Lalin finally exhaled.

"Next, our souls will link together, not in an ordinary way, but using the Dawn Empire's unique linking method."

"You speak, I act."

Ti Lalin began guiding the link, speaking a line, then Luosen responded with one.

After about a quarter of an hour, Luosen felt his soul tightly entwined with Ti Lalin's, like two interwoven double‑helix genetic strands. In this linked state, the two souls were virtually indistinguishable.

Luosen could clearly sense Ti Lalin's thoughts surfacing from deep within her soul, like bubbles rising from the bottom of a clear pool.

They believe the other sees them in roughly the same state.

But the connection's strength is still limited.

Each remains an independent individual; they can only see thoughts arising, but cannot see the concrete content of those thoughts, nor can they see the situation deep in the other's soul.

This is good; Luosen doesn't have to worry about Laifu being exposed in the deepest part of the soul.

After a moment, Tiralin transmitted a thought: "Now, Your Majesty, do not have any thoughts; I will also do my best to keep my mind absolutely still."

Luosen complied.

Thus, the 'bubbles' in the clear pool gradually disappeared, until completely calm.

Soon after, the soul resonance of the time-frequency domain appeared.

Dong~~ dong~~ dong~~~

Just like the successive bells announcing the time, deep and majestic, they sounded one after another in Luosen's soul.

With the continual vibration of this strange frequency's soul voice, faintly, Luosen felt some subtle changes appearing in their soul.

They immediately realized they had blushed, having beaten a 5% success chance.

This made them feel a flicker of joy, but they immediately suppressed it, continuing to maintain a state of no thought, no desire.

Dong~~ dong~~ dong~~

In the 'bell sound', the changes proceeded little by little.

After approximately an hour and a half, everything stabilized, with no further changes appearing.

After another approximately a quarter hour, Tiralin's soul voice transmitted: "Your Majesty, congratulations, you have received the favor of the Creator."

The voice carried a hint of joy; evidently they also hoped for successful resonance.

Afterward, they gradually released the soul-bond state.

After the connection was completely severed, Tiralin raised their hand, and a distortion sphere like a glass bead appeared at their fingertip.

"Weak time-stagnation sphere, one of the simplest time spells, Your Majesty, give it a try."

Luosen nodded, following their guidance to begin casting.

After approximately a quarter hour, their fingertip also manifested a distortion sphere; although the sphere's volume was the size of a glass bead, the actual time-stagnation effect was extremely slight, far inferior to Tiralin's.

Tiralin carefully sensed it and gave an evaluation.

"Your Majesty, your time talent is very weak. With the same time spell and same power expenditure, the resulting power is less than one-fifth of mine."

"Furthermore, Luosen's development potential is also likely very low."

"If nothing unexpected happens, Your Majesty can only master simple, crude time spells like time stagnation and surge, whereas for time spells requiring fine control such as insight, prophecy, and spacetime transformation, Your Majesty will likely be unable to undertake them."

Luosen wasn't greedy either: "This is already enough."

Their greatest fear was not being able to enter the door at all; but as long as they could get in, they should be able to think of ways to improve.

Even if they truly couldn't improve, there still exists the method of 'overcoming skill with force'.

"Now, let's continue talking about the lure trap."

Tiralin, however, wriggled their body: "Your Majesty, don't you find this place cramped?"

Luosen was in a great mood, instantly feeling playful, and thus leaned forward slightly, causing the other to let out a low cry: "It's fine enough; at least we don't have to worry about being disturbed."

Tiralin adjusted their slightly askew gold-thread glasses and whispered shyly: "Your Majesty, you wouldn't be looking to have some fun with me, would you?"

Luosen, seeing the other's state, knew there was an opportunity, and since there was no one else around, they directly asked: "May I?"

Tiralin thought for a moment and said: "It's possible, but only Your Majesty and I may know; it must not be known by a third person."

Luosen felt quite surprised: "Miss, are you shy?"

They looked closely; in the dim light, Tiralin's face was indeed flushed, their heartbeat rapid, and they immediately found it quite amusing.

Who would have thought that the Seven Sages of the Dawn Empire's imperial court would actually be shy over such a trifle? Tiralin whispered: "I spend all my time assisting Emperor Safinonos in saving the empire; the empire collapses day by day, everyone's pressure is immense, wishing to treat a second as a day, yet I have no mood to indulge like Your Majesty."

That's also true; for the final empire, the emperor also wants to save the nation, and as a loyal minister, they naturally face enormous pressure.

Luosen understood, yet felt a bit strange: "Why, then, do you now want to relax?"

Seeking fun is a matter for both parties; if the other is unwilling, Luosen will not force it.

The situation now is that Tiralin is clearly moved.

Tiralin, panting, said: "Because Your Majesty is strong enough, you won't sigh incessantly at every trouble, repeatedly asking me what to do."

Luosen understood.

Evidently, Emperor Safinonos does just that, thereby imposing great psychological pressure on Tiralin, the scholar-mage, naturally leaving no mood for play.

During their conversation, Luosen had already adeptly sheathed their weapon, while the former Sage holding the scabbard suddenly couldn't bear the weight, their whole body trembling violently, their breathing uneven.

Luosen silently thought: "Hey~ this is even more fragile than the Queen of Demons Nafeloniya."

Thus, they could not discuss serious matters; Luosen focused on seeking fun.

Only after the affair was over did they formally begin discussing the plan to lure and capture the traitorous Dawn Guards.

After the plan was fully discussed, as they were about to leave the Dawn Guards' protective chamber, Tiralin suddenly said: "Your Majesty, time talent is heritable, but the strength of inheritance is random; it could be mediocre, yet it could also produce a genius of unparalleled caliber."

Luosen glanced at Tiralin, seeing only that their cheeks were flushed, their gaze fixed intently on themselves, clearly there was more to the words.

As a Flower-Throng Divine Wanderer, they naturally could perceive the other's implied meaning, smiling narrowly: "Evidently my luck is not bad. Otherwise, shall we try our luck again?"

Tiralin gave a slight nod: "As you command, Your Majesty."

(End of chapter)