Void Evolution System

"Did I feel wrong?'

Damien wondered. That feeling was so fleeting that he almost questioned whether it was an illusion felt due to his insanity for a second.

But no. It couldn't be. That was a feeling that he had only felt a few times before, but he knew it clearly. It had been ingrained in his body.

'That essence is…'

Without wasting a second, he sat down on the ground and entered a meditative state. His awareness slowly spread from his body and covered the area 10 meters around him.

His forehead wrinkled. 'Why can't I sense it anymore?'

He could feel the extremely solid space and even the myriad of elemental essences in the surroundings, but that specific essence was no longer present.

'No, it's there. I just don't know how to look for it.'

It was something he had tried to grasp for so long, yet even now he barely had an inkling of the path forward.

It was an essence equally as esoteric as space, yet pertaining to a completely different concept.

Time.

For a brief instant, Damien had felt the essence of time swirling through the surroundings.

Although time, like space, would always have its essence permeated through the surroundings, maintaining the order of the universe, what Damien had felt was different.

He had not yet reached the level where he could freely feel the essence of time. If he had done so, his status panel wouldn't be filled with question marks. The affinity for time would be clearly documented.

For his affinity to not yet have bloomed, it showed just how elusive the element itself was. 

And for Damien to be able to feel its essence even for a second, there had to be an influx of it.

'Right, I have to be right! If it's like that, then I no longer have to worry.'

He put all his focus into trying to once again feel that essence. Although he had a guess as to why there was a large amount of it in the atmosphere, he didn't want to gain consolation from a mere guess. 

His awareness weighed down on the atmosphere like a mountain. He no longer gently allowed it to interact with the surrounding essences, instead bearing down on them and forcing them out of the way, trying to clear the area.

It was a grueling process. These elemental manas weren't things he could just randomly interact with, since he didn't have any affinity towards them. He had to use his affinity for space to try and bend and distort the spatial mana in the atmosphere to actively push away all other outside influences.

And with the sturdiness of the space in this realm, it was an incredibly hard task.

It took almost an entire day for him to succeed in this endeavor, but he wasn't discouraged by this measly speed. He had an entire year in this realm, and he had confidence in his ability to succeed in this trial. Brute strength was, after all, the thing he was best at.

Damien sat still like an old monk, his entire attention on the ethereal essences that made up the air. He didn't even put an ounce of his focus towards the outside world. If someone were to sneak up on him at the moment, he'd be completely vulnerable to their attack.

Well, that was if his eyes and Danger Sense from long ago weren't always passively activated.

A day passed, then two, then three, until finally, an entire week went by with no movements from Damien.

And at that time, his body slightly jerked.

Within Damien's mind, the image of a formless and colorless essence was attempting to form. It swirled around the atmosphere calmly and unhurried, not making its presence known in the slightest.

But still, it was there. It was there and extremely important. Even if others weren't able to sense it or come into contact with it, they would always subconsciously be aware of its presence.

Damien had finally glimpsed the essence of time.

But his comprehension hadn't increased at all in this week. He hadn't even bothered to try. Instead, he had brute forced his way through the process just so he could feel the essence itself.

His goal at the moment wasn't comprehension and he wasn't trying to awaken the affinity. Instead, all he was trying to do was confirm something. 

And seeing the essence swirling in front of him, Damien felt his entire body slightly relax.

"Hahaha!" He laughed. It was an uproarious and joyous laugh that one wouldn't expect from someone who had simply been sitting still for an entire week.

"I was right! I was right! Hahahaha!" He almost jumped around like a little kid.

There was only one thing Damien cared about right now. It was the fact that he'd have to spend a year within this realm and that he'd miss his chance to see Rose again.

But when he sensed the essence of time, he felt a faint glimmer of hope. Now that he had properly investigated, that glimmer of hope had fully bloomed.

"Hahahaha! The time flow here has been altered! So it's like that, it's like that!" 

The time flow within this realm was different from the outside world. It wasn't just a simply 1:2 ratio either, it was much larger than that. 

Since Damien wasn't an expert or even a novice in the time element, he wasn't able to come to a proper conclusion on the exact conversion ratio, but he was still someone with a blooming affinity towards the element.

Not to mention, space and time were always mentioned in the same breath. There would rarely ever be one without the other. Due to this, he had a sort of instinct that he couldn't quite explain.

Although he didn't know how much time would pass in the outside world while a year passed here, he knew that it wouldn't be long at all. He knew that he'd still have plenty of time before the predetermined date of his departure from the mountain range. 

And if it was like this, he no longer had any worries. 

'I can go crazy.'

In an environment with no 4th class existences who could stop him, where killing meant moving forward in the trials, where time was sped up, he didn't have any worries.

He could go crazy. He could relieve some of the stress that had been unknowingly built up over time since he had come to the Cloud Plane.

Even he wasn't aware that he had built up stress until this moment. Only when his worries about Rose were cleared, he felt the massive weight that had been burdening his shoulders.

Such was the result of him being constantly embroiled in things that a normal 3rd class existence shouldn't be getting involved with. 

But none of that mattered. Looking at the rolling plains and forests, as well as the towering mountains in the distance, Damien felt a smile bloom on his face.

Crack!

The ground cracked under the pressure of his feet. Black lightning raged across his body. And in the next second, he disappeared.

Boom!

A dust cloud rose from his movements and followed him as he rushed towards the scent of beast mana in the atmosphere.

Perhaps, it was time to go on another killing spree.