The origins of Time Bestower
The Rock Grand Knight Commander reached down and unfastened the Dead Object Pocket Watch hanging inside his robe, gently placing it on the wooden table between them. He gazed intently at Lu Yuan and slowly began to speak:
"According to the Imperial's top-secret archives, Time Bestower is an extremely ancient and Transcendence weapon. Its history is much longer than we imagine, and can even be traced back to before the establishment of the current Auris Empire."
At this point, the Rock Grand Knight Commander paused, his voice lowering slightly, and briefly mentioned that long-forgotten history:
"Back then, the ancestors of the Auris Empire overthrew the rule of the previous empire and inherited a large number of ancient legacies and treasures left behind by the Former Empire. Among them was the Time Bestower -Transcendence weapon, which was created by an ancient Grand Artisan. In the top-secret archives preserved by the empire to this day, there are only four Time Bestower have been passed down, including the ones you and I have."
"I have this piece myself, and the piece that fused to your chest is indeed clearly recorded in the Imperial archives, but it's only a very simple record. As for why it turned out the way it is now, the archives don't provide any more detailed explanation."
As Lu Yuan listened to the Rock Grand Knight Commander's account, his eyes flickered slightly. He hadn't expected that the Pocket Watch he'd salvaged from the Night Watcher' warehouse in Grim Port was actually a relic of the previous dynasty inherited by the Auris Empire when it overthrew the previous one. However, what truly puzzled Lu Yuan was that this thing actually had four pieces?
It seems that the corpse of that Time-Reversing Worm is quite large.
The Rock Grand Knight Commander tapped the old Pocket Watch on the table with his fingertips, and then explained to Lu Yuan why a Transcendence weapon like [Time Bestower], with its ancient origins and only four pieces in the world, was almost ignored in the empire today.
"Although this thing has a very important origin, in the eyes of the current imperial Transcendence, it is a complete waste of resources. There are three main reasons for this. First, it has absolutely no practical value for Alienated Transcendent or Eerie Transcendence below the Fourth Order."
Rock Grand Knight Commander looked at Lu Yuan and analyzed the situation in a calm tone:
"Since you've been using it all along, you should know better than anyone how terrifyingly Time Bestower- based synchronization consumes sanity. The sanity cap of Alienated Transcendent and Eerie Transcendence below the Fourth Order isn't high to begin with, so they simply can't afford this weapon with its astonishing consumption. Maintaining their own Pathway and using their Transcendence abilities to fight on the battlefield is already a huge expenditure of sanity, and if they were to forcibly activate Time Bestower..."
"A normal battle that could have lasted half an hour or even an hour can be shortened to a mere minute in an instant because reason has been completely drained. On a battlefield where life and death are at stake, this is no different from courting death."
Lu Yuan nodded in agreement. If he hadn't pursued the path of Forbidden Studies—Scholar, cultivated [Defense], and pushed his rationality to its current limit of two hundred points, any ordinary second or third-tier Transcendence being would indeed not have been able to withstand the kind of draining [Time Bestower] would provide.
Rock Grand Knight Commander withdrew his finger from the watch face, leaned back in his chair, and continued with the second reason:
"As for the second point, once it reaches Fifth Order or Fifth Order powerhouse, Time Bestower becomes completely useless. Regardless of what skill it comes with, its effect on beings of the Fifth Order or higher becomes extremely weak. However, the sanity it consumes per second not only doesn't decrease, but continues to increase. Moreover, the records clearly state that once the user's own Pathway level increases, the sanity deducted each Time Bestower is activated will also increase accordingly!"
Upon hearing Rock Grand Knight Commander Shi's last words, Lu Yuan's heart stirred slightly, and a knowing look flashed across his eyes.
In fact, he had already suspected this before. When he used the [Time Bestower] acceleration effect on Fourth Order Blue Knight on the battlefield, he lost two points of sanity at once.
Last time, when I used the blessing on this Fifth Order Rock Grand Knight Commander in the Hanging Tower, it was so terrifying that he lost three points of sanity every second. In contrast, when I used it on him, who was only Third Order, it only deducted a mere one point of sanity per second.
After comparing the huge difference in consumption, Lu Yuan secretly speculated that if he were to successfully advance to the Fourth Order day, even if he only activated [Time Bestower] on himself, the amount of sanity deducted per second would likely increase accordingly.
It was just that I couldn't verify it before. I never expected that what was originally just a guess in my heart would be confirmed today by the top-secret files of the Empire that the Rock Grand Knight Commander dug up!
The Rock Grand Knight Commander, sitting opposite Lu Yuan, was unaware of Lu Yuan's inner thoughts. He looked at Lu Yuan and continued to explain the third reason why no one had paid attention:
"Since the Alienated Transcendent and Eerie Transcendence can't use them, surely the Knowledge Transcendent with profound rationality can, right? But they're useless too. This is because Knowledge Transcendent generally have weak physical abilities, and each Time Bestower fragment seems to have different abilities. Take these two, for example: Time Bestower slows down, while yours Time Bestower. For a physically weak Knowledge Transcendent, giving them a Transcendence weapon that can only slow down others while simultaneously consuming their own precious rationality is utterly useless in actual combat. It's far more practical to exchange it for other Transcendence items in the treasure vault that can directly protect their lives."
At this point, Rock Grand Knight Commander gently shook his head, thoroughly explaining the Knowledge Transcendent:
"Moreover, looking at the entire empire, the vast majority of Knowledge Transcendent will never personally go to the front lines to fight the enemy in close combat. Normally, it is enough for them to steadily maintain their own level of rationality. When facing the bizarre and highly concentrated Contamination, the most important survival method for Knowledge Transcendent is to maintain a high level of rationality to fight against it. No one would be foolish enough to squander their most precious rationality on a Pocket Watch."
After listening to the three main reasons summarized by the Rock Grand Knight Commander, Lu Yuan finally understood the awkward situation of this secret treasure from the previous dynasty. It was unusable for those below the Fourth Order, had no effect on those above the Fifth Order, and was completely useless for those with Knowledge Transcendent. It was precisely because of this bizarre characteristic of being neither high nor low that it devoured the user's rationality.
[Time Bestower] had been gathering dust in the Imperial Treasury and the Night Watcher Headquarters exchange vaults for almost no one, but by a twist of fate, it ended up benefiting this freak who possessed both high sanity and a need for melee combat.