Chapter 92: Heading North

The pale stone knight knelt in the exact center of the two-hundred-yard silver ring, its massive greatsword resting against the indestructible black stone of the arena floor. The ancient, glowing runes etched into its heavy plate armor pulsed with a warm, steady golden light, perfectly synchronizing with the rhythmic beating of Leon’s own heart.

"Our work here is done," Leon commanded, his voice steady, carrying the absolute, tyrannical weight of his Sovereign’s Edict.

The Silent Aegis did not speak. As a construct of pure dimensional logic and ancient magic, it possessed no vocal cords, no face, and no organic soul to express gratitude or subservience. But it understood the command perfectly.

The Level 245 Dimensional Guardian slowly bowed its featureless helm.

Then, the entity simply ceased to exist in the physical plane. The pale stone armor, the massive greatsword, and the overwhelming aura that had just battered Leon for nearly thirty-five minutes all dissolved into a swirling vortex of silver light. The light spiraled inward, compressing into a single, blinding spark of energy that shot across the arena and slammed directly into the center of Leon’s chest.

Leon gasped slightly as the spark anchored itself to his mana core. He didn’t feel a physical weight, but rather a profound density within his soul—a permanent tether to a being of unimaginable capability. A new, distinct sigil materialized on the back of his right hand: a minimalist depiction of a stone greatsword surrounded by a circular silver halo.

"A pocket dimension specifically reserved for the Guardian," Leon noted, tracing the glowing silver sigil with his left thumb. "It resides outside of standard time and space, completely immune to external damage, waiting for the summon."

He looked at Auris, who had landed near the edge of the now-dormant silver ring. The Glacial Sovereign’s cyan eyes were fixed on the sigil, a low hum of draconic approval vibrating in his massive chest. Auris recognized the sheer tactical value of the entity Leon had just subjugated.

"Let’s test the parameters," Leon said, stepping away from the center of the ring. "A system never hands a player a Level 245 asset without installing a failsafe. If I could walk around Sector 12 with the Silent Aegis permanently acting as my bodyguard, the entire point of Eternal Heaven will be obsolete."

Leon squared his shoulders, channeling a surge of his mana into the silver sigil on his right hand.

"Aegis," Leon commanded, locking his intent onto the dimensional tether. "Manifest."

The space directly in front of Leon abruptly fractured. There was no explosion of light, no swirling smoke or dramatic casting animation. The air simply snapped open, and the Silent Aegis stepped out of the localized rift, perfectly formed and immediately assuming its flawless, neutral guard stance.

The physical pressure radiating from the Level 245 construct was just as terrifying as it had been during the duel.

But as the Guardian materialized, Leon’s eyes immediately locked onto a new piece of system data that had not been present during their five-round fight. Hovering directly above the featureless stone helm of the knight was a glowing digital countdown timer.

Ding!

[Dimensional Guardian Summoned: The Silent Aegis]

[Summon Duration: 6 Minutes]

[System Notice: Increase your level to increase the maximum time your Guardian can be summoned.]

[Current Cooldown Period: 12 Hours post-manifestation.]

Leon read the cascading text, a slow, understanding nod replacing the initial surge of surprise.

"Six minutes," Leon analyzed aloud, walking a slow circle around the towering stone knight. "And a twelve-hour cooldown period. It is a surgical strike asset, not a persistent companion. The system is treating you like an ultimate ability rather than a standard summon."

It made perfect sense. If he could keep the Silent Aegis on the field indefinitely, he wouldn’t even need to draw his sword to conquer Eternal Heaven. A six-minute window, however, forced him to be incredibly tactical. He had to reserve the Guardian for absolute emergencies, boss executions, or scenarios where he was overwhelmingly outnumbered.

"Six minutes of a Level 245 is more than enough to completely alter the landscape of a war," Leon reasoned.

He decided to test the dismissal protocol. "Return, Aegis."

The Silent Aegis instantly dissolved back into iridescent silver light, retreating into the sigil on Leon’s hand.

Leon immediately pulled up his system interface, navigating to the newly generated ’Guardian’ tab to observe the cooldown timer. The interface displayed the expected twelve-hour lock.

[Guardian Summon Cooldown: 11:59:58]

But as Leon watched the red numbers, a massive anomaly occurred. The seconds were not ticking down at a standard rate. They were actively blurring.

The timer dropped from eleven hours and fifty-nine minutes to eleven hours and fifty-four minutes in the span of a single real-time second.

Leon’s golden and icy blue eyes widened. "The cooldown timer..."

He watched in stunned silence as the twelve-hour lock violently plummeted. Ten hours. Eight hours. Four hours.

In exactly six minutes of physical time standing on the black stone floor, the twelve-hour cooldown completely hit zero, flashing green.

Ding!

[The Silent Aegis is ready to be summoned.]

Leon let out a sharp laugh that echoed across the vast, empty expanse of the arena.

"The cooldown is linked to the outside world’s baseline time," Leon statet. "The system registers the cooldown in Sector 12’s temporal reality. But I am standing inside the Abyssal Fracture." 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

He did the math in his head instantly. The Battlefield Realm’s primary modifier was time dilation: one hour spent inside equated to five days spent outside. Five days was one hundred and twenty hours.

If one hour inside equaled one hundred and twenty hours outside, then one minute inside equaled two entire hours in the external world.

Therefore, a twelve-hour external system cooldown was completely processed in exactly six minutes of this battlefield realm time.

"As long as I am inside the Abyssal Fracture, I effectively bypass the twelve-hour limitation entirely," Leon murmured, looking at the glowing prompt. "I can deploy a Level 245 Guardian for six minutes, wait six minutes, and deploy it again. It is a localized, infinite loop of firepower."

It was a staggering exploit of the realm’s environmental modifiers.

Leon closed the system panel, his tactical mind shifting gears. The revelation about the time dilation forced him to confront his own temporal reality. The Abyssal Fracture was a factory of absolute godhood, but it demanded the most precious resource a player possessed.

He opened his personal logs, tracking his elapsed time since entering the Void Mist.

"The boss gauntlet at the Gravesite Plain took forty-seven minutes," Leon calculated, looking at the pale purple sky. "The initial mob grind in the outer courtyard took nearly two hours. The duel with the Silent Aegis, including all five rounds and the reset periods, took approximately forty-five minutes. Factoring in travel time and inventory management..."

He had been inside the Abyssal Fracture for exactly four hours.

"Four hours," Leon said quietly, the weight of the math settling over his shoulders.

At a ratio of one hour to five days, four hours inside the realm meant twenty entire days had vanished from Sector 12.

Leon had entered the Abyssal Fracture with seventy-five days remaining on the system’s ruthless Elimination Cycle timer.

"Fifty-five days left," Leon noted.

He wasn’t afraid. The realization didn’t send a spike of panic into his heart. If anything, it solidified his absolute calm. He was currently Level 98. He was only two levels away from breaking the threshold into Level 100—the legendary Steadfast rank.

In Eternal Heaven, reaching the Steadfast rank was not just a milestone. It was an evolution. It was the point where an Adept shed their limitations and began to interact with the fundamental laws of the system itself.

He was practically breathing the air of the Steadfast rank. But he still needed to keep track of things.

"It’s time to end this," Leon declared, his voice carrying the finality of an executioner’s decree. "I came into this mist to clear the corruption threatening the Azure Scale village. We have harvested the realm for all it is worth. We take the source, we break the dimension, and we go home."

I am ready, Vanguard, Auris’s ancient voice echoed directly into Leon’s mind. The Glacial Sovereign lowered his massive, sapphire-plated neck, inviting his master to mount.

Leon vaulted smoothly onto the dragon’s back, his 235 Agility making the leap look entirely effortless, as if he were defying gravity itself. He didn’t need to issue verbal commands for flight. The soul-bond allowed his intent to seamlessly flow into the beast.

Full North, Leon projected. To the heart of the mist.