Chapter 215: Time Physique Activated

"So many stones... Is it even possible for me to absorb all of this at once?" Juliana asked, staring down at the sprawling mountain of glowing stones with wide, blinking eyes.

?’Well, her chaotic gangster persona definitely managed it in mere seconds... Though perhaps not quite on this scale,’ Asher thought internally, lowering his gaze back to the radiant stones.

?Was he actually making the correct strategic call here? Could Juliana’s body safely process fifty thousand high-grade stones simultaneously without catastrophic energy backfire?

?’No! We’ve already committed—there’s no turning back now.’ He snapped his gaze back up to meet Juliana’s eyes:

?"Just try your best. The moment you experience any physical discomfort or spiritual strain, stop immediately—we are right here beside you." He reassured her, quickly shooting a sideways glance toward Kelly for verbal backup.

?"Yes, exactly—don’t stress over it, we’ve got you covered," Kelly added warmly with an encouraging smile.

?"Huh? What on earth are the two of you saying? Did I ever imply I was going to hesitate...?" Juliana chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Looking at this many pristine stones, only an absolute fool would stand around second-guessing a free meal."

?"...?!"

?Both Asher and Kelly were struck completely speechless by her utter nonchalance.

?"Here we go, then." Juliana murmured, stepping casually toward the edge of the pile.

?"Be careful—try absorbing them in smaller batches, maybe a hundred at a --" Asher started to caution, but his voice instantly cut off mid-syllable as he froze.

?In a fraction of a heartbeat, the entire mountain of fifty thousand SS-Rank evolution stones completely vanished from the grass without a single trace.

?Asher: "What the absolute fuck?!"

?Kelly: "Huh?!!"

?Sara: "...?!"

?System: {...}

?{Master... I believe I may have severely miscalculated; Wife Juliana’s spiritual absorption pipeline is operating on a terrifying, broken anomaly.}

?’It appears we drastically underestimated her capacity.’

?WHOOSH!

?"....?!"

?Asher’s breath hitched as Juliana’s physical form suddenly erupted into a brilliant, emerald-green pillar of luminescence:

?"Huh? What is happening to my body right now?!" Juliana asked, genuinely bewildered as the air pressure began to warp around her.

?"Shit—get back!!"

?{Flash Skill — Activated.}

?Asher materialized instantly between Sara and Kelly, hooking his arms tightly around both of their waists before activating Flash a second time, tearing through space to teleport several thousand meters away to the far edge of the meadow.

?Juliana blinked in surprise, staring across the vast expanse of the open field at the three figures standing in the distance, before exhaling slowly as her irises glowed a piercing, luminous green:

?’My innate abilities... I can physically feel it waking up.’ She thought.

?Asher, Kelly, and Sara watched in stunned silence as Juliana slowly levitated off the ground, ascending into the center of the artificial blue sky above the meadow. The next instant, a suffocating tidal wave of emerald energy violently exploded outward from her frame, sweeping across the landscape in a wide shockwave.

?"....?"

?"Look at the grass," Kelly whispered, pointing downward toward the meadow directly beneath Juliana’s hovering form.

?The three of them stared in absolute fascination as the vibrant turf beneath Juliana rapidly cycled through its natural lifecycle: the blades of grass instantly grew hyper-green, withered into dry hay, decayed into dust, and then violently reversed in time, snapping backward through growth stages until they returned to fresh, dewy sprouts.

?’Time itself completely breaks down and loses its directional flow in her immediate vicinity... If we stood close enough during that surge, would we rapidly age, decay, die, and regress back into helpless infants? That sounds so weird, I can’t even imagine it.’ Asher thought, raising his eyes back toward Juliana, who remained suspended in the azure sky.

?’If she fully masters and weaponizes this terrifying domain, who in the mortal realms could ever hope to defeat her? No living entity can outrun or override the absolute flow of time.’

?{Actually...}

?’Do not ruin this magnificent moment with your technicalities, System,’ Asher cut the system short internally.

_

?[Fifteen Minutes Later.]

?"She’s finally descending." Kelly noted softly, her eyes tracking Juliana’s slow, controlled drop through the air with a trace of lingering tension.

?Asher gave a short nod. Satisfied that the immediate energetic backlash had cleared, he stepped forward, transporting himself, Kelly, and Sara right back to Juliana’s side as her boots finally made soft contact with the ground.

?’System, I am genuinely hallucinating this, right? Please tell me my eyes are deceiving me.’

?{....}

?’How on earth did she bypass so many ranks and leap straight to A-Rank in a single bound?!’ He demanded inwardly, staring at Juliana in profound disbelief.

?"I didn’t quite reach my peak, but this is more than sufficient to casually annihilate a few S-Rank threats." Juliana noted casually, stretching her arms and inspecting her reinforced physical frame.

?’Take down "a few" S-Rank fighters as casual collateral?! Which sane A-Rank Awakened would ever make such an absurd statement? Well... Juliana has never been a standard Awakened; she is my legally wedded wife, wielding one of the rarest, most lethal elements in existence: Time.’

?"How are you feeling physically?" Asher stepped closer, his expression softening.

?"Incredible... Completely refreshed and crystal clear, most of my abilities are back." Juliana nodded, offering a radiant smile.

?Back when she was an F-Rank, equipped with her Mythic-Tier gears, she could already contend with some SSS-Rank targets; and now that her actual cultivation rank had caught up... Asher couldn’t suppress the proud, wide grin spreading across his face.

?’System, does Juliana still require those ten thousand SSS-Rank Evolution Stones for her progression?’

?{Negative, Master.}

?{DING!}

?{Congratulations Master for Investing in your third wife Juliana.}

?{Investment Asset: 50,000 SS-Rank Evolution Stones.}

?{Congratulations!! Master Successfully Triggered the 10,000x Return.}

?’Well, a 10,000x return is still a respectable haul.’

?{Gained 10,000 SSS-Rank Evolution Stones directly added to inventory.}

?Asher froze, his eyebrows knitting together in a sharp, dissatisfied frown as he stared at the holographic text: ’System, are you deliberately messing with me right now...? Ten thousand stones? That’s it?’

?{Master, a return of ten thousand SSS-Rank Evolution Stones holds vastly superior energy density than fifty thousand SS-Rank stones combined.}

?{Why are you suddenly whining about the caliber of the return... Do not allow unbridled greed to cloud your judgment, Master.}

?’I understand... But I desperately need a larger volume of raw stones right now.’

?{You cannot successfully construct and conquer a continental empire in a single day, Master.}

?Asher raised a skeptical eyebrow: ’We will see about that...’

?{Master, allow me to reiterate a fundamental truth: you possess my powers to accelerate your growth, but your wives do not have that shortcut... While they can theoretically force their way into SSS-Rank using these accumulated stones, doing so will leave their foundational spiritual core dangerously brittle and hollow. I am referring specifically to your first wife, Kelly.}

?{It is infinitely more advantageous for an Awakened to forge their true combat resilience through live, high-intensity battlefield engagements, which naturally solidifies their core foundation, rather than artificially power-leveling solely through mineral consumption. You should be acutely aware that once an Awakened successfully ascends to SSS-Rank, raw evolution stones lose their efficacy entirely, becoming functionally useless to their progression.}

?’What are you advising, then?’

?{Wife Juliana can safely advance directly to SSS-Rank today due to her solid foundation, whereas Wife Kelly should be stabilized at A-Rank... Master must take wide Kelly out into active high-tier dungeons, forcing her to complete rigorous combat trials to cement her foundation.}

?’Are you deliberately attempting to throttle my progression speed? There are countless Awakened out there who rely entirely on--’

?TAP!

?Asher abruptly lowered his gaze downward. A small notebook was resting gently against his chest. He blinked, shifting his eyes sideways toward Sara, who was standing beside him with a subtle, critical frown etched across her features.

?"....?!"

?Without a word, Asher carefully reached out, lifted the notebook away from his chest, and took a slow, grounding breath before flipping open the cover.

?’Huh?’