A few days have passed since the Snow Festival.

And honestly, I felt like I hadn’t even had a moment to breathe.

Most of the time, I’d been focused on figuring out how my Time Affinity worked, but even so, I didn’t neglect my Ice Affinity.

I had to keep improving, especially since I was still learning about the limits and possibilities of my abilities, especially about this damned physique of mine.

『 Ice Generation (✦ 1st-Level Spell ✦) 』

Holding a chunk of ice in my right hand, I subtly looked at it for a moment.

“Lumi… insert an ounce of void on it…”

Hearing my words, she flashed a mischievous smile and nodded enthusiastically.

“Yesh, Mastah~!” she giggled, fluttering her hands before blowing air into the ice I held.

The moment the void element touched the ice, I felt the temperature drop even more, but it was different from what I expected.

The ice darkened, almost like it was absorbing the void energy, becoming more unstable by the second.

It didn’t take long before the entire chunk of ice cracked, splitting into a thousand tiny shards that scattered across the ground like confetti.

“Mhm…”

It was as I had thought.

The Void element and Ice just didn’t mix with each other.

Or maybe I was doing something wrong.

I had been thinking a lot about what Eleonora had said in one of our classes, the one where she talked about “Elemental Chemistry” and how different affinities could “react” together.

To put it simply, it was all about making an affinity stronger by mixing it with another.

For example, combining “Wood” and “Fire” affinities could enhance the firepower of the fire, creating explosions more powerful than what Fire could do on its own.

The energy would feed off of the wood, causing more intense bursts of flame.

Another example that came to mind was “Earth” and “Metal.”

Earth could be used to make metal stronger and tougher, increasing the durability and sharpness of weapons.

Similarly, combining “Water” with “Lightning” would increase the effectiveness of electrical shocks, making them faster and more lethal.

It was quite fascinating, to be honest.

And even my predecessor hadn’t thought about that because how busy he was in just making his Ice Affinity stronger than ever.

But of course, certain affinities couldn’t mix because their elemental natures didn’t align, like how “Fire” and “Water” would just cancel each other out or “Light” and “Dark” would clash instead of complementing each other.

When she had explained that in class, I became interested and decided to try something myself.

My Ice Affinity felt like it could potentially work with other elements, and I thought that combining it with something like “Void” could produce some cool results.

Void, after all, was the element of nothingness.

It wasn’t tangible or solid.

Void could eat away at physical forms, cause things to disappear, or distort space itself.

Maybe if I could mix Ice and Void, I’d be able to create something entirely new, like an ice spell that could distort space or freeze things into nothingness.

But of course, that didn’t work.

The Void seemed to have consumed the ice, but instead of creating anything new or enhanced, it had just destroyed it.

The ice had no way of holding onto the Void—it was like trying to store water in a bucket with holes.

There was nothing to keep the elements connected, and the Void ate away at the Ice, causing it to break apart.

“Mhm… If I can’t use Ice with Void… how about with Time?”

I didn’t really understand how to use it yet, but I had done something with it before while I was having sex with Eleonora.

Which is weird.

But how… did it happen?

I didn’t necessarily have a clue, but one thing was certain…

If I could somehow combine Time with Ice, that could definitely work.

The idea of manipulating time around the ice—making it freeze faster, maybe even more powerfully by speeding up the freezing process—sounded like it had potential.

Ice, as it was, was already pretty strong.

But if I could manipulate how quickly it froze, or if I could control how it interacted with its surroundings—well, that could make it even better.

Or maybe… even freeze time!

But the problem was, I didn’t really know how to use my Time Affinity.

It wasn’t like Ice, where I could just summon it and control it with my will.

Time… time felt like it was something that just moved.

You couldn’t just grab hold of it, right?

But I couldn’t quite figure out how to apply it.

Nonetheless, I had to keep testing.

After all, I wasn’t going to give up just because one experiment didn’t go as planned.

I looked at the remaining pieces of ice on the ground.

“Let’s try this again,” I muttered to myself, cracking my knuckles.

I closed my eyes slowly, trying to block everything else out.

The atmosphere felt still, silent.

I took a deep breath in—inhale—and let it out—exhale.

Focus.

I couldn’t think about anything else.

Not the cold air, not the way the ice made my fingers numb.

I needed to feel time.

The moment I focused, I noticed it—the soft ticking of the clock on the wall of my imagination, the beat of my own heart.

Tick…

Tick…

Each second felt so loud in the silence. It felt like the sound of time moving.

Slowly.

Relentlessly.

I reached out, not physically, but with my mind.

Time was like a current, like a stream that kept moving, no matter what.

I focused on it, pulling it towards me.

Whoosh.

I could feel the seconds slipping past, the air shifting just slightly, the faintest tug like something was pulling me along.

I thought back to the time with Eleonora.

I may have felt time speed up back then.

It was hard to say.

But I knew it was possible.

Now I had to make it work with the ice.

I could feel the ice in front of me, sharp and cold.

I imagined it in my mind, a block of ice, clear and frozen solid.

But if I could change how time worked around it…

Tick…

Tick…

My heart thudded in my chest as I tried to concentrate. I imagined time wrapping around the ice, bending it.

I could feel the seconds stretch out, like they were moving just a bit slower.

The ice should freeze faster, right?

Should I speed up the time around it?

I visualized it in my head.

The ice, cracking under the pressure of time, freezing harder, faster.

I could almost see it—snap.

The moment the ice would become something stronger, sharper.

But…

Nothing.

Silence.

I opened my eyes, a bit frustrated.

The ice didn’t change or anything.

“Fuuu…”

I took a deep breath.

Maybe, I should try something more… principalistic.

Freeze… time.

I wasn’t sure if I could, but I had to try.

I had to push the limits of what I could do.

If I could have something like this, it would be very helpful for me.

I closed my eyes again, focusing harder this time.

“Fuuuuu…”

I took a deep breath, feeling the cool air fill my lungs, calming my thoughts.

I needed to feel time.

Not just around me, but within me.

Tick…

Tick…

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Time moved on, like a clock that couldn’t stop.

I could hear it in my mind, like the faint ticking of a watch.

The pulse of time, slow, steady, always moving.

I focused on that feeling, on the way time moved around everything.

It wasn’t just about speeding it up.

This time, I needed to stop it.

Freeze it in place.

“Fuuu…!”

I took another deep breath.

My hand hovered above the ice again.

I felt the time, the seconds flowing around me like water, so constant, so relentless.

But this time… I pulled on it.

Gently at first, trying to feel the pressure.

Tick…

I could feel it slowing down, just a little, like the hands of a clock dragging.

The seconds stretched.

Tick…

Tick…

They slowed.

The air around me felt still, almost too still.

The ice in front of me shimmered slightly, but it wasn’t enough.

I needed more.

I had to push harder.

Tick…

I reached out with my mind, trying to wrap my hands around time, trying to hold it in place.

Stop.

Freeze.

I whispered those words inside my head.

The air around me grew colder.

A faint breeze stirred, like the passing of time itself, but everything else was still.

I felt the ice in front of me, the seconds slowly growing heavier.

And then—

『 Time Freeze (✯ 9th-Level Spell ✯) 』

Nothing.

The room was frozen.

I opened my eyes, and the sight shocked me.

Lumi was standing still, right there, in the middle of the room.

Her eyes were wide, frozen in place.

The tiny breath that had been rising and falling in her chest was gone.

She was… completely still.

Completely frozen.

“…It worked?”

I took a step forward, and then brought out my phone.

And to my surprise, I really couldn’t turn it on.

Then, I walked towards Lumi and reached out a hand, brushing a lock of her hair away from her face.

She didn’t move.

Not even a twitch.

It was strange, seeing the world like this.

However, it indeed worked.

“Haah…”

“Fuck…”

Suddenly, I felt a strange feeling in my body, as if I was being “emptied”.

It was my mana.

It was draining, fast.

Thump.

My heart skipped a beat.

And immediately, I took a deep breath.

I had already stopped time, now it’s the same principle, I just need to continue time.

“Haaa…!”

Tick…

I could hear the ticking sound in my mind.

I had to release it.

I let the hold on time go, slowly, carefully.

The pressure lifted, and I felt the stillness around me shatter like glass.

Whoosh!

The world snapped back into motion.

“Ugh…!”

Thud!

My body fell into the hard ground.

My vision slowly started getting blurrier.

“Master..?! Master!”

I could hear Lumi’s voice calling out to me.

But, I truly couldn’t move my body.

Even though I tried to cancel the spell as fast as possible…

It seems that it wasn’t fast enough.

And because of that I had spent almost every ounce of my mana.

‘Fuck…’

‘I’ll need to focus on increasing my mana quantity for now, since messing with Time seems more about the quantity I have instead of the quality…’

“MASTER!”

Well…

I hope I don’t wake up at the cathedral.

Anything but that.

Oh…

I just jinxed myself, didn’t I?

“Fuck.”

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