How to Kill Time

Everything that exists in the world is made up of the Aspects.

Water, Land, Animals, Minerals, Fire, Monsters, People.

However, the concentration and the proportion of the Aspects in anything and everything differs. For example, Animals have more 'Life' Aspect concentration than Land, and Fire has more 'Energy' Aspect concentration than Animals.

Since everything and everyone was made up of Aspects, it meant that they were bound by them. But, with the body I possessed, I was not bound by it. As a result, I was made up of none of the aspects, thereby making me immune to their general effects.

That had various advantages for me.

For one, I was able to use Hex unlimitedly. Since I was not bound by Aspects, I could defy them. Unlike any Hex user that existed, I only needed to interfere with the natural order of the world for me to use Hex. However, they needed to transform the Aspects which were within them into the desirable result. How sad.

I rose from my bed. Talia was still fast asleep, which meant I could go wherever I wanted. If everything went smoothly, I would be able to return before long. The location of the item I sought was in a ruin, thousands of miles from my location. Normally it would take me a great deal of time journeying to get there, and by then Talia's wings would have been long gone. However, using Hex, especially with my current body, that wouldn't be necessary.

"Hex #71 'Warp' " I said.

Immediately, I disappeared from my location, or more like, I warped.

Using Hex to distort Space and Time, I was able to close the distance between myself and my target. The target in this case was my item. Of course Hex wasn't omnipotent, but there were conditions to be fulfilled before certain effects could be actualized. For this particular Hex one needed to fulfil two conditions;

One was the exact knowledge of the target. That is, the appearance and sufficient traits unique to only that particular target and no other. The second was the location of the target. Since Hex was like a machine, or more accurately a "Code", whatever was imputed in it was carried out. Like hacking into the system of the world and the Aspects, such was the nature of my creation.

Since I had fulfilled both conditions, I was able to successfully warp to my destination. However, as expected I was warped to the entrance of the ruin and not the exact room where my item was located. The reason for this was due to the barrier I had placed around the ruin. It could only be removed by another Primordial, and I was sure even they would not care for such an object.

With my current ability I did not have enough power to break the barrier that surrounded the ruin, or even scratch it for that matter, but.

"There's always a loophole" I smiled to myself.

I walked toward the entrance and entered the ruin normally. Normally, the barrier would have sent my entire body disintegrating into nothingness, since anything that touched the barrier would be reduced to nothing. But my case was different.

The way the barrier worked was that it automatically destroyed any and all Aspects that came in contact with it, and since all things and beings comprised of Aspects they were eliminated. However, since my entire being was independent of any Aspect, the barrier could not recognize me. That made it a cakewalk for me to get in.

I couldn't use Hex to get in immediately because Hex made use of Aspects, like a hack. So it was technically an Aspect filled mechanism. That meant that I had to manually enter the ruins. Well, it wasn't all that bad, I might as well stretch my legs.

I walked for several minutes noticing that nothing had changed since I created the ruin. No surprise there. Since the barrier blocked out all Aspects concepts such as time and change did not apply within the ruin. Meaning no matter how much time was spent in the ruin, no time at all passed in the world.

"This will be a good place to train and orchestrate things" I said to myself.

I arrived at a checkpoint, and before me was a large gate. The gate shone so brightly and it was so massive that you would have to raise your head almost to the ceiling to see the top of it.

"The entrance of the Store room, or so it appears to be" I said with a smirk.

Of course this was a dud, a distraction to throw any invader who managed to infiltrate the barrier. For the gate to still remain standing and the barrier to be intact, it meant no one had gotten in. Still, I had been a very cautious and meticulous being at the time I made everything. Or maybe it was because I had a lot of time on my hands.

I made so many traps in so many of my dungeons and ruins that were most likely never going to activate. The Giant Shiny Gate, for instance. It was supposed to swallow whoever opened it and consume them in an eternal void.

"Such a waste" I mumbled.

I turned from the gate and saw a very slight opening in a corner. Most people would be too distracted by the gate, that they would fail to notice the opening in the corner. I smiled and approached the opening. As I got closer, the opening grew wider until it was wide enough for me to walk through comfortably, and so I did.

After about a minute of walking through the opening and passing a cave like space, I finally got through the exit. One would expect this particular ruin, due to its high difficulty, to contain magnificent gold and priceless treasures in abundance, but the Store Room contained none of these things. As I entered the room, the entire space was filled with absolutely nothing, entirely blank. There were a few rocks and stones here and there but nothing worthwhile.

Or so it seems" I smiled.

I walked forward and looked to the ground. There it was, the object I travelled thousands of miles for. The treasure of the ruin. "The Root of All".

It was a ring, black in color, with a dark purple jewel affixed at the center and a purple inscribing on it. I picked up the ring and blew on it. This was just for dramatic effect, there was no dust in the room.

"There you are" I said to my prized item.

Normally, someone ought to judge the quality of a dungeon or ruin based on its difficulty. In essence, the more dangerous it was, the greater the rewards. This particular ruin was nigh impossible to infiltrate meaning a great treasure would exist within it. Entering a deserted room with no single treasure in place could mean two things for most people.

One, another person had come before them and had made away with the treasure

Two, the entire thing was a bust in the first place.

However, I was not entirely unfair. I was a rewarder of hard labor. It would be entirely unreasonable to go through all the trouble of laying all those traps and barriers for nothing to be inside the ruin. Even if I was inconsiderate of the treasure seekers, I wasn't so bored as to create an entire ruin and put so much work in it just for nothing.

The empty room was also to throw invaders off. The treasure in the room was but a single object. The ring I held in my hands. Its worth was proportional to the entire ruin, meaning that this ring was as valuable as a room filled with gold and priceless weapons, maybe even more.

That was because.

"Root of All" I stated.

The purple jewel glowed and buzzed, showing it had awakened.

"Show Inventory" I said. "List Object quantity and quality"

"Confirmed" The Jewel responded to my instructions.

Immediately, a screen appeared before me, displaying everything in the inventory.

The Root of All was akin to a Coin Card, only phenomenally more superior. Coin Cards merely connected the treasury of the owner to the card. This ring, however, was the treasury itself. Also, it was not only limited to money.

"Coins are numbered 999,999,999,999" The Root said

Good, I smiled to myself.

"Sacred Grade Treasures are numbered 99,000"

"Divine Grade Treasures are numbered 9,999"

"Primordial Grade Treasures are numbered 9"

"Failures are numbered 100,000,009"

"Miscellaneous are numbered 999,999,999,999,999..."

And so on.

I smiled to myself.

"Who's broke now?"

The Root, in short, contained my most basic and essential items. Although, while some were really useless to me, they still held a sentimental value for me.

The items I didn't put in other ruins, dungeons or in other places were contained in the Root. This ring ws one of my most valued treasures and its recovery was essential if I were to live in the current world. "Now then, time to head back. I wondered how much time had passed since I left the inn." I said to myself.

TIME PASSED: 1 minute. 12 seconds.