Chapter 1674: Time Power
Xu Huo chose a relatively open area, though it was only slightly more spacious than other spots. Within a two-hundred-meter radius, there were still space entities, making it impossible to completely avoid them.
At least there was some distance. He took out the "Cube Space." Unable to fully control the instrument's state, the moment the "Cube Space" was removed from the luggage compartment, rays of varying densities rapidly spread out, covering an area of about three to four hundred meters, precisely enveloping three nearby larger space entities.
The interior of the "Cube Space" was not uniform; the ray density and activity states varied greatly. Being inside it felt like being surrounded by vortices of different sizes, flow speeds, and directions. One could walk freely in the middle or choose to interfere or not interfere with the flow of these vortices. However, these "vortices" were visible and controllable to a certain extent.
Naturally, Xu Huo had never fully understood the "Cube Space" instrument since he obtained it, especially some of the chaotic rays within it. He had previously suspected that the players who disappeared in Xiaohe City were actually swallowed by the gaps created by the collision and friction of these different space rays. Although this hadn't happened during his subsequent use, he still considered it a possibility.
After all, this was an instrument from an A-level wormhole point. It could assimilate rays from different space items, quickly accommodating and adapting to rays of varying densities. It was inherently very special, and it wouldn't be strange for it to have some flaws.
As the instrument's power was released, rays began to rapidly condense around the space entities that were fully or partially absorbed into the instrument's range—yes, condense, not like the relatively loose ray zones that appeared when touching other space items. Instead, it was a dense cluster, like icicles formed by a rapid drop in temperature, instantly and uncontrollably stabbing outward in all directions!
These assimilated rays had a density similar to the space entities' rays, but lacked their lethality. Within the entire range of the "Cube Space" power, they seemed more like suddenly grown, rigid, unmoving stones. Like the space entities themselves, the rays within were extremely difficult to manipulate.
The density of rays appearing around different space entities was roughly the same.
From the outside, it was basically impossible to manipulate the rays inside the space entities. This meant that whether for ordinary people or Xu Huo, those space entities were essentially the same—a single whole.
The "Cube Space" could structure space rays of the same density, but that didn't mean it could truly control them.
Xu Huo spent nearly half an hour trying but couldn't smoothly control these space rays. It felt like pulling on extremely thick, unbendable iron wire. Of course, the space rays anywhere in this chaotic space were harder to control than those outside.
After a long time without results, he had to stop and rest. Although he knew space rays themselves could change, in his eyes, whether he could pull them or not, the rays all looked the same. No matter how carefully he studied them, the rays remained completely unchanged. He couldn't even make a single ray into a sharp weapon, let alone assimilate or connect them with surrounding objects.
"It seems breaking through the barrier isn't as easy as I imagined."
Xu Huo put away the "Cube Space" and instead took out "Angel's Eyes."
Unlike space power, the moment "Angel's Eyes" was taken out, the power it released instantly connected with the time power in the chaotic space. Those time rays, which he had only vaguely sensed before as tangled threads, now appeared with extreme clarity in his perception.
As he had realized the previous night, time rays had undulations, but they weren't the chaotic floating in the air he had imagined. Instead, they were long rays descending from the sky, seemingly endless. Though their upper and lower ends pierced through different objects, the feeling of transcending mere visually observable space was strong, as if they had already broken through space itself.
A district was independent, with stable space and stable time within it. Ordinary temporal items, even if they could cause small-scale temporal disturbances, couldn't affect the entire space. So both space and time existed within a relative range.
The space power Xu Huo sensed was indeed like this. Even if the range of space rays he could control was expanding, or when he saw Lawrence Li's space rays, he could clearly feel that this power was bound beneath space. Different spaces were independent of each other, with a solid, unbreakable barrier between them.
If one truly broke through this barrier, it would be the space channels created by cross-space items or instruments, or the space fragmentation caused by dimensional storms—neither of which fell within the evolution range of Super Evolvers.
Yet now, he felt that time rays had broken through this barrier.
In his imagination, the supposedly chaotic time rays were like straight lines evenly distributed in the air, piercing through the entire space from top to bottom. The rays weren't as dense as space rays, nor did they attach to specific objects. Instead, they were like sparse rain, randomly falling anywhere in this space.
Of course, time rays had undulations. They were no longer smooth lines but had become shallow S-shapes, curving left and right.
The nearest time ray was less than half a meter from Xu Huo. At this distance, he could clearly feel the curvature of the ray itself, unlike the more distant rays that looked no different from straight lines.
For Xu Huo, space rays were limited to lines he could manipulate. He had no further understanding of what they might look like when magnified. But facing time rays was very subtle, because the time rays before him were already magnified.
The frequencies and slightly varying undulations of the time rays were temporarily meaningless. Xu Huo was more curious about whether time could truly be grasped.
Time couldn't be grasped—this was the conclusion he had reached when previously comprehending time power. But now, with the magnified time rays right in front of him, he couldn't help but feel excited, wanting to test if this was really true!
Xu Huo reached out his hand, but stopped just before touching the time ray, instead gently brushing his hand downward.
At that moment, the three time rays in front of him and to his left and right trembled. The surrounding space seemed to instantly enter time acceleration. The rapid changes in light and shadow represented the swift passage of time, whether forward or backward. When it stopped, the surrounding streets were once again bathed in sunlight. The blue-eyed man who had already left reappeared on the street, this time walking from a distance, the dust on his shoes not yet wiped clean.
In that instant, Xu Huo understood another thing: time could only go backward, not forward.
(Chapter End)