Stacking My Abilities

Days and nights quickly cycled.

In the warm spring breeze, colorful flowers blossomed in the forest.

A gust of cold wind...

Patta... Patta...

The sparse raindrops ramped up into a rainstorm.

Pita-pata. Pita-pata.

Rain mercilessly barraged onto the flowers. In the curtain of rain, flowers showered onto the ground.

Gradually, the world brightened up again. The heavy clouds up there thinned out again.

The weather quickly warmed up. it\'s summer time now. In a moment, it was blazing hot.

Like a snap, tree leaves started to brown and fall to the ground. A cool wind pushed out the burning air.

It\'s autumn now. The tree leaves on the ground quickly withered and rotted. Gradually, a thin frost blanketed over the leaves.

Snowfall begun.

No matter how Jeff moved around, he\'d be teleported back to the path in a blink. It\'s like he was trapped in the concept of time itself. Slowly but steadily, Jeff felt the force of aging grinding him down. One extra second at a time... Almost ignorable to be honest.

This spell was fancy... But fragile.

Jeff snapped his fingers.

His view instantly changed. He was back to reality now.

That cyan broad sword had stabbed into the ground. It\'s like that sword had ran out of energy. Unable to continue floating in air, it fell into the ground.

Yet, Jeff could sense an aura of death from that sword. Standing on the ground, Jeff felt that his life force was being drained out. However, the effect was so little that it basically didn\'t matter.

Looking at that purple curved sword... An invisible dome was expanding out from that sword now. Inside that dome, there was nothing. No air. No particles. Nothing. Just a vacuum.

Anything that came into contact with that dome just disappeared. However, that dome was tiny. The expansion was also excruciatingly slow.

Jeff looked in front of himself. That crimson thin sword was shooting at him now.

However... Jeff walked out of its path. Extending a hand, Jeff grabbed onto its handle. Jeff felt a destructive force running up his hand. But, it\'s too weak to do anything.

Suddenly, Jeff felt a force cutting right through his mana barrier. His barrier was just foam in front of this force!

It\'s quick!

But not dangerous.

That force grabbed onto Jeff\'s shirt and suit. Before Jeff could do anything...

ZZzzzzlap!

That invisible hand tore Jeff\'s clothing off. Flapping in air, Jeff\'s clothing flew away from him.

Turning around, Jeff could see the assailant now. It\'s an S-rank outside the dome. That guy was frozen in air.

The dude was pointing a wooden staff at Jeff. Another radiant-tier artifact!

The dude was useless. It\'s the staff doing all the work!

As a sage-tier, Jeff could grab his broken clothing back. But even as a sage-tier, Jeff couldn\'t just magically repair his outfit.

Jeff: ...

Clunk! Clunk!

Having spent all of their energy, the two swords fell onto the ground, bringing up two puffs of fine dirt.

Inside the dome, the four swordsmen had collapsed onto the ground in fatigue.

On the ground, there were only fine particles of dirt now. The ground level had sank five inches from this battle.

Gradually, the swordsmen\'s energy level returned back to A-rank.

\'No. They are weaker now. There are side effects after all...\'

Jeff then looked down at his upper body. No lean muscles. Just an one-pack. Yeah... attribute improvements did not include cosmetic effects.

Now that this battle was settled, Jeff exited his sage mode.

"Really now... All of that, just to do this? Is this some form of humiliation?" Jeff turned to Tyler Anas.

"Ha! I knew- Whhhhat!" The mid-aged dude looked at Jeff in disbelief. "You reached ancestral tier without the aid from the void, or the blessing of a god?! You are a natural ancestral being?"

"Impossible!"

At this sight, Tyler Anas dropped all of his elite manners. Dropping his jaw, this guy shook his head in disbelief.

"What?! A wild mage. Whhhaaat?!" Tyler gasped in sheer confusion.

"Noooo. No!" Tyler Anas looked at Jeff with an intense stare. "Who ARE you."

Jeff casually popped a grey T-shirt into existence. You know. Habit of stacking supplies.

"Since you asked..." Jeff raised his chin. "Some people call me the mission machine."

"But I." Jeff squinted and pointed at himself with his thumb. "Am Jeff Norman."

"No. Who ARE you!"

"Jeff Norman." Jeff leaned back in confusion. \'Am I supposed to be someone else?\'

"Ok. Reincarnation? Descendent of a great one? Bloodline reawakening. Maybe you found your ancestor\'s inheritance?" Tyler Anas held up a hand. "You don\'t have to tell me. But since our ancestors fought together, could you at least give me a name?"

"For the honor of your family, you wouldn\'t hide this right?"

"Say your heritage in pride and honor!"

Tyler Anas looked at Jeff in anticipation.

Jeff looked at the dude in confusion. "... Norman?"

Tyler Anas: ...

Jeff: ...

"Am I supposed to know?"

"Of course you are supposed to know!" Tyler looked at Jeff in suspicion. The dude\'s gaze glinted a little.

Tyler Anas opened his mouth and raised his brows. He seemed to have realized a possibility. His expression became uncertain. Jeff could be genuinely confused. Or Jeff could be hiding something... But what was Jeff hiding?

Tyler Anas squinted in thought. His mind was running at light speed for a moment. Then Tyler Anas\' expression became blank.

He had reached a conclusion: No idea. Back to square one.

"Very well Mr. Norman. We admit defeat for this battle. Looks like we won\'t be able to confine that Void Key in your hands."

"Correct."

"But I do have to warn you, the void energy is very dangerous. Sometimes, when you take a wrong step forward, there is no going back."

"Yes I know."

"If you have time, maybe we can have a chat about it." This mid-aged dude sighed in defeat.

"Maybe we could even bargain a deal." Tyler Anas chuckled like this was a joke.

"You couldn\'t have offered me this earlier?"

Tyler Anas\' expression froze. "All you wanted was an exchange?!"

"Well yeah. I\'m not going to give away my loot for free." Jeff leaned back.

\'Isn\'t this obvious?\' Jeff ranted in his mind.

"Just because you asked me for it, I\'m supposed to give it to you?"

"Of c- Huueehhh..." The mid-aged dude slumped and sighed. "But.... Huuehh..."

"You are a fool... And I am an idiot." This mid-aged dude murmured. His gaze wondered as if his worldview had shuttered.

Jeff: ...

\'Am I the alien? Or is this guy an alien?\'

The dome of red light retracted into that floating pearl.

Plop.

The pearl made a tiny crater in the dust.