Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 863 - 127: The Cost of Time Magic

Chapter 863: Chapter 127: The Cost of Time Magic

"Yes, living twice as long as others but being able to do only as much, and at half the speed, is meaningless to me," Philarx nodded and answered, "So you’re right, I would never accept that outcome. Rather than live like that, I’d prefer to die early."

"Not only that, but the things done might not even match what others can do, and perhaps even less," Pannis added, "I’ve realized it from Victor. Time magic requires a sacrifice. To control time, one must pay with equivalent or even more time as a price. When you think about it carefully, that actually makes sense."

"Indeed it does," Philarx replied, "But apart from me, no one understood time magic back then. So even the clumsiest lie, as long as it had some basic logical consistency, was difficult to see through. Even if some perceptive people like you had doubts, given my power, status, and reputation, they would end up thinking they were wrong, rather than doubting the truth of the matter. That’s why the lie could deceive the whole world."

"Hmm, like me, they never doubted it," Pannis nodded, "Until an hour ago, the things I saw from Victor made me suspect you. Once I started to suspect, I fully understood. I was definitely right because, ten days ago, you had already explicitly told me that you were the mastermind behind it, along with your two students. I was just too foolish, thinking you were joking and even actively finding reasons to acquit you. Ha, to think, after all these years we’ve known each other, when have you ever joked around?"

"Actually, it is all a joke," a mocking smile appeared on Philarx’s face, "I never lie. When you asked me about the mastermind, I didn’t lie. Years ago, when asked why I aged much slower than others, I didn’t lie either. At that time, I honestly answered that it was due to time magic, then the people naturally came up with reasons themselves, claiming that I had slowed down my own time. All I needed to do was not deny it, and let the incorrect conclusions ferment over time into a real lie."

"So, you mean to tell me that for many years, you’ve been relying on stealing others’ time to offset the impact of time on yourself?" Pannis and Philarx were sitting opposite each other, chatting casually as if reminiscing during a break in an adventure over a hundred years ago, with no sign of animosity between them, as if discussing the fate of countless people was as mundane as deciding what to have for dinner, "But why had no one noticed it before? I checked in several guild libraries, and I never found any similar incidents."

"Because the frequency of plundering was low back then," Philarx explained with a natural tone, "At that time, the experiments with time magic hadn’t progressed to the current stage. To extend my own life, offset the consumption of using time magic, and for a small amount of time experiments, drawing time from others was sufficient. Therefore, each year I only needed no more than ten victims, and in the vast world of Yarra, making ten people completely disappear without a trace within a year isn’t too difficult for a mage, as long as one is careful enough to leave no evidence."

"Ten victims?" Pannis raised an eyebrow in confusion, "If all chosen were young, that would mean seizing hundreds of years of time. Do you need that much?"

"Not that much, actually. The Array’s effect is really poor, even after my modifications. A person who could live for another fifty years, after being plundered and converted, would only provide at most a tenth of that time in actual usable form. Ten victims together could only give me no more than fifty years," Philarx shook his head, "And the price I have to pay for using time magic is also very high. Just like those few minutes you saw earlier, do you know how much time they cost me?"

"A day?" Pannis ventured a guess towards exaggeration, but seeing the disdain on Philarx’s face, he could only hazard a guess at more, "Not just one day? Then, two days?"

"Four months," Philarx held up four fingers, stating calmly, "One hundred and thirty-two days, a full four months of time."

"Are you mad?" Pannis asked with a bizarre expression, "What kind of time magic is this? It’s practically suicide magic. A few minutes of use costs four months of life; how many times can a human use this in their few decades of life? How can there be such magic?"

"Don’t forget, I told you before, Triclops don’t have an end to their lifespans, and time holds no meaning for them. Time magic was a magic exclusive to them, not meant for humans. If I want to forcefully use it, naturally I have to pay a tremendous price," Philarx explained calmly, "And you misunderstand, the price wasn’t always that great from the start, nor is the cost of all kinds of time magic so high. Initially, about a hundred years ago, just over ten years after that war ended, I finally mastered some minor time spells through my research. Although they still exacted a price, the costs were minimal and almost negligible. So, I didn’t pay much attention to it. But when I first successfully split time, allowing me to appear in different places and states at the same time, as you just saw, I found through several long experiments that the cost had escalated to two for one, meaning for every minute maintained, I was losing three minutes of time."

"That’s already extreme," Pannis sighed and said, "But at that point, couldn’t you just seal away that kind of magic and stop using it? Okay, I’m talking nonsense again. With such unknown and mysterious knowledge before you, how could you possibly refrain from researching it?"

"Haha, old friend, you know me well," Philarx laughed heartily, "Knowing such knowledge and magic was there for me to discover, I couldn’t possibly resist; it’s instinctual, just as if the things I had done were laid out before you and Nellie, there’s no way you wouldn’t try to stop me immediately, dictated by our very natures."

"Indeed, it was a choice destined from the beginning, one that no one could stop," Pannis slowly squinted his eyes, contemplatively speaking, "So, you never did resist?"

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, we invite you to vote and support us on qidian.com. Your support is our greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)