"Yes, Dragonlord Placidusax." Tarnished nodded, confirming the name that had so horrified the dragon maiden.
Melina frowned deeply. Her knowledge came from her mission and long years of study, but the title "Dragonlord," and everything it represented, was entirely unfamiliar to her. "Placidusax... the Dragonlord? I have never heard that name. Neither the emissaries of the Greater Will nor the Erdtree's records, nor even the collections of the Carian Royal Family and the Academy, have ever mentioned him."
"Searching..." Ashmi's little silver head swayed slightly, emitting a faint hum. "Eternal Cities of Nokron and Nokstella databases... entries related to time sorcery... results: zero. Even at the height of the Eternal Cities' glory, research into the origin of time remained purely theoretical. There were no documented cases of actual manipulation. Confirmed: Ancient Dragon civilization's technology in the field of time surpassed the Eternal Cities' knowledge at their peak." She turned to Tarnished, curiosity and a thirst for knowledge gleaming in her liquid metal eyes. "Honey, what are the exact principles? The data models? Energy conversion formulas? Spacetime anchor configurations? Requesting detailed parameters!"
Embarrassed by the barrage of questions, Tarnished scratched his head. "Well... the principles, formulas, and all that... would you believe me if I said I didn't remember?"
Melina: "..."
Ashmi: "...Memory module damaged? Immediate deep data scan and repair recommended."
"It's not damaged." Tarnished sighed and spread his hands. "I never remembered any of it in the first place. You have to understand, 'last time'-before I crossed over-I was a genuine nine-intelligence musclehead! Even purer than the 'brilliance' of my current twelve intelligence! The Dragonlord did rattle on about all sorts of things. Disturbances in temporal elements, eternally unchanging foundations, turbulence in the gaps... I could probably understand each word individually, but put them together and it was all