Time Stone? A Fake

Nepal, Kamar-Taj, Kamar-Taj Courtyard.

In the lingering glow of the setting sun, a figure leaned against a tree, his eyes closed as he dozed.

Russell was catching up on sleep. It had been a long time since he had gotten up early.

Thinking of his agreement with The Ancient One last night, Russell had made the rare effort to rise early.

But—

He had been careless.

There was a time difference between Nepal and New York!

The former was in UTC+5, while the latter was in UTC-5.

Nepal was roughly ten hours ahead of New York.

Whoosh!

Half-asleep, Russell heard something being thrown at him.

He could dodge it, but he could not be bothered to move.

It would not hurt even if it hit him.

Smack.

A green gem with its glow concealed struck Russell on the forehead before falling into his arms.

Russell stretched and slowly woke up.

The bright moon already hung high in the sky.

The Ancient One slowly emerged from the room. "Didn't I tell you to come tomorrow?"

"Master, time difference."

The Ancient One fell silent.

After a while, he finally spoke. "Russell, what do you think time is?"

What The Ancient One was asking was probably not for time's definition or concept.

Russell focused his mind and carefully sensed the Passage of Time.

The gem in his arms emitted a green glow.

Russell's perception of time became even sharper.

Speed—the speed at which time passed.

Time passed at different speeds for different objects.

Russell looked at The Ancient One in confusion.

The Ancient One said, "Want to know?"

Russell nodded. "Mm."

The Ancient One pointed at the Green Gem in Russell's arms.

"There. The Time Stone. Find the answer yourself."

"This is the Time Stone?" Russell picked up the gem in his arms, unable to believe it.

"Mm. I just made an imitation."

Russell let out a breath of relief. He had thought the gems were everywhere. So it was a fake.

The Ancient One added,

"Its functions are similar to those of the Time Stone, though it may be a little less effective.

"And it does not possess Infinite Energy. Using it requires you to consume your own energy."

Russell looked at the Time Stone in his hand, his expression conflicted.

It consumed energy? He wondered whether the invisible energy representing physical constitution and the Spiritual Energy representing the mind would work.

If it meant Burn Lifespan, then forget it. He needed to save that for increasing Attribute Points.

One-time gains and permanent gains.

Russell still felt that permanent gains were more important.

He would try Spiritual Energy first.

Spiritual Energy flowed into the Time Stone.

In an instant, the scene in the courtyard entered his mind, then rapidly passed by.

In the image, Russell and The Ancient One sat in silence for a long time before Russell finally took his leave.

Was this... precognition of the future?

Russell opened his eyes and looked at the Time Stone in his hand in surprise.

His ability to perceive and foresee the future had been amplified nearly a hundredfold.

Suddenly, The Ancient One stood and said, "Russell, what would you like to drink? Coffee or tea?"

As he spoke, The Ancient One winked at Russell.

That scene had not appeared in the future.

Russell suddenly understood.

"Master, I get it.

"You want to tell me that the future is merely a deduction, one possibility.

"What matters is what kind of future I choose?"

The Ancient One nodded meaningfully.

I only wanted to tell you that the future is uncertain.

As for choosing the future and all that, you realized it yourself.

If you cause trouble later, it has nothing to do with me.

"Russell, play around with it on your own. If there's anything you don't understand, come ask me tomorrow."

As he spoke, The Ancient One took out a hammock and tied it between two trees in the courtyard.

"I've been busy all day. Time to sleep."

Russell shook his head and laughed.

The Ancient One was chasing him away.

With one step, a ring of light flashed, and Russell arrived on an uninhabited island.

Just then, a red sun rose above the horizon.

It was sunrise.

It was not that Russell and Master Ancient One had no concept of time.

Time zones were suitable for ordinary people, but not very friendly to sorcerers.

On the deserted island, Russell continued familiarizing himself with the Time Stone's uses.

Hm? Gwen and George.

With a wave of his hand, an image moved before him and began to play.

In the image, George brought Gwen to explain to the teacher why she had not attended school for the past half month.

This image had occurred several hours ago and had been recorded by the Time Stone.

Half a month? Shouldn't it have been over twenty days?

Russell pondered it, then suddenly understood.

It was the speed of the Passage of Time.

The speed at which time passed in the two universes fluctuated within a certain range.

That was why there was a discrepancy.

And what did the speed of time's passage depend on?

Velocity?

Mass?

Energy?

What about at the microscopic level?

Too complicated. He could not figure it out.

It seemed he was still better suited to being One Punch Man.

With a sigh,

Russell began deducing Gwen and George's future.

I'll clear away some of the mines for you two.

So that when I leave this universe and return,

some irreversible tragedy won't have happened.

Although he could use the gem to reverse it, the gem only reversed time, not events.

Once an event happened, it had happened.

What life experienced was events, not time.

Russell seemed to gain some insight.

When Russell began his deduction, he found it far more difficult than he had expected.

Whenever he encountered a choice, several branches of varying thickness would appear.

Their thickness represented the likelihood of their occurrence.

A choice appeared during nearly every short stretch of time.

Feeling his Spiritual Energy rapidly draining away, Russell stopped the deduction.

This method of deduction was wrong.

A person faced countless choices, but many of them were insignificant.

Only a handful were important choices.

Russell tried deducing again.

This time, he ignored the tiny branches and focused on the key points.

At last, he saw it.

A massive land mine in Gwen and George's lives!

The event took place one night several months later.

Ghost-Spider was injured and surrounded by several police cars.

And George—

stood in front of Ghost-Spider, doing his best to explain things to his colleagues.

In the end, the police were persuaded. They opened the encirclement and let Ghost-Spider leave.

Afterward, George was held accountable and dismissed.

Just as Russell suppressed his anger and continued watching,

the image collapsed and vanished.

"How could this happen?" Russell could not help crying out.

"Gwen just chose a low-probability branch. Reality overwrote the deduction."

Was this method of deduction wrong too?

The deduction itself was wrong!

A flash of insight struck Russell.

What mattered was not how many possibilities the future had, but what kind of future he chose!

Feeling his Spiritual Energy about to run dry, Russell stopped studying the gem.

He would rest and wait for his Spiritual Energy to recover.

After that, he would go straight to their door.

Although the image he had just deduced had not shown the mastermind,

Russell had a general understanding of the Original plot.

In the Original plot, this incident involved George pointing a gun at Gwen.

There were several versions of the mastermind: one was George himself, one was Kingpin, and one was Matt Murdock.

But now that the plot had fallen apart, George could be ruled out.

That meant it was either Kingpin or Matt Murdock.

If they were good people, Russell might feel burdened by judging them for future crimes.

But on Earth-65, neither of them was a good person.

Mm, to be safe, he would investigate them again.

That way, he would not accidentally kill good people.

Oh, and there was also a criminal organization called Spider Silk. He would deal with them all at once.

Russell silently sentenced everyone above to death in his heart.