Master of Time

It has been a few days since then, and I think my reputation precedes me.

It is just a feeling, really. A very good feeling, considering that everyone avoids me like a plague. Avoids Sapphire too for she is one of my direct students.

Well. The only student of mine so far. I do plan to get more, but I am not in any hurry to do so. Having Sapphire is enough for now.

And like me, Sapphire prefers to be left alone to her own devices, especially when there are things she needs to do. Nobody really bothers her anymore.

They would not dare, considering that I am her master.

Many of her peers do try to befriend her now though, but she repeatedly rejects their fake friendships, opting to study and practice her magic in relative peace and comfort.

This is because Sapphire fears of disappointing me, and I will be disappointed if she is wasting her time and effort on stupid things.

Having said that, I do think that it is much better for Sapphire to have friends and comrades who she can rely upon in time of crisis, especially when I am not around. Although, it is probably not necessary as I could have Legion looks after her.

I also like her to have interest in the opposite sex, not because I am homophobic but because I actually want to bed her one day.

It is kind of wrong, but I am not the first teacher to lust after his student, not even in the prime-reality.

And that is a fact.

Sure, I have the option of mind-controlling Sapphire. Just a few words from me, and I am sure she will stop thinking about Lavender, who is definitely not gay.

I have Legion checks up on that, and Lavender and Eric is an item, for Lavender takes care of Eric during their adventures together.

Adventures that Sapphire cannot go and accompany them. Her future as a mage is far more important since I do have big plans install for her.

It is a bright future, one by my side, bringing forth a whole new generation of mages on Earth. She will go down in history for that. Definitely.

Sapphire will obviously be a tenth-circle mage by then. Any higher, she would have to ascend just like Hans and Alex have done so in a desolated future. One with Earth destroyed by magic.

Obviously, there is more than one mortal plane of existences. They are stacked on top of one another, allowing those with powerful lifeforce and magical power to ascend and become more than mortal.

I have expected as much.

There is more than one way to break free from the Samara Karmic Cycle.

How many there are exactly, I am unsure, but I will find out eventually.

I will find out everything eventually.

As an official teacher at the academy simply because I have said so, Sapphire is finally allowed to take any of the advanced classes now, learning new magic theories and commonly used runes.

She is doing well so far, as everyone treats her with respect for obvious reason.

It totally has nothing to do with me and the mass arrests and imprisonments that have been going on within the academy and the country so far.

Yeah. Totally.

There are just so many cases of corruptions and abuses of power within the mage population. Far too many to even count, but with the backing of the King himself, I am allowed to basically arrest anyone that I damn well pleased.

Well. Not anyone, but quite a lot of people, and I probably do not need his permission to arrest anyone either. It is just a formality, I suppose. All to keep the political structure in place.

Do not break what is not broken!

Royalties and nobilities are just title. Mages are actually the ones who control everything, from affairs of the state to personal matters.

Honestly, I would have locked up pretty much anyone who is anyone within the country if I have a real desire to clean up this world socially and politically.

I do not, and there is no need for me to do more work than necessary.

My only concern at the moment is the academy itself. There is plenty of secrets hidden within. Secrets that might or might interest me, and so far, it is only interesting to know.

Too many things to do. My list just gets longer and longer.

In addition, I am sort of swamped with paperwork at the moment as demonstrated by the amount of papers lying in front of my desk. My desk within a brand-new office. One designed to my specification.

Seriously though, running a concentration camp is hard. I mean a correction facility. Executing all those people in jail for their crime against humanity will probably piss off a lot of people, leading to instability and open revolts within the country.

It is better to correct them and turn them into decent human beings. One who will protect their fellow man regardless of whether they are mages or not.

Maybe add in a bit of tolerance towards other species as well.

With my Commandment ability, it should not even be a problem, but the nagging notion of infringing on freewill is always in the back of my head.

I do think that this is an exception as it is a concentration camp after all. I mean correction facility.

More like a concentration camp though as I do have absolute power here. Nothing can happen without my expressed permission, and all the wardens and guards are Legion so have fun bribing them.

Strange that people still do. Funny.

I think I will execute a few people just to get the point across to the majority. I do not fuck around, so do not fuck around with me.

Obviously, I should not execute anyone who is far too connected though, as that will cause problems further down the line for me, but then again, everyone is connected to everyone else, as according to Legion.

It is just a mess. A really big mess.

Legion has managed to obtain a lot of useful information by literally mining their brain and extracting their memory. So many shits are going on in the background without the majority being aware.

It is to the point that I cannot really be bother with it all sometimes. However, I did learn about a few methods of removing curses.

How effective it will be, I will have to see for myself.

In any case, within a few short days, I have accomplished far more than anyone could have imagined, and now, I basically have absolute control over the academy and the newly formed legal system. More like my own do-not-fuck with me system.

I am working on building an actual prison. Somewhere deep within the dark seas.

The entire continent is surrounded by the dark seas, where powerful monsters dwell. Even Archmage do not want to cross the ocean unless they must, and they must travel quickly lest they want to spend time and effort fighting their ways towards land.

Of course, those monsters are not a problem for Legion. He just nuked the whole place, killing a whole lot of them before building a prison over their corpses.

That obviously did not go unnoticed.

It is pretty hard to miss huge-ass rising mushroom clouds. That is not to mention severe earthquakes and all the radiations. Mages can detect radiation, interesting enough.

Radiation is a magical element of sort. Good to know.

I have actually announced the prison this morning, outlining all sort of funs that will be going on there for the criminals, so they now know who has nuked the monsters, adding to my terrifying reputation.

A little bit more would not hurt.

Since someone did asked me about it, I called it a Nuclear Explosion spell, capable of wiping out a small Kingdom as well as irradiating the landscape, so it is about fourth-circle level magic spell.

Seems legit, but whatever.

Now I have something to dangle over people's head with.

If they want a nuke in the face, I am sure that I can give them a taste if they pissed me off.

On another note, I finally upgrade my micromachine body into biomechanical body. I did leave it until now because I want to see how long I can last under the curse of Erosire with a non-biological body.

But since the lust has become quite unbearable, I will need to release soon. I might just teleport Eliana in for a bit of loving fun. Thinking about it does made me smile.

"Master Maxwell! Master Maxwell! I demand to see Master Maxwell!"

A voice breaks me out of my train of thoughts. A feminine voice. A demanding voice. Honestly, no one can demand anything from me, not from this world anyway.

That said, I do wonder who is trying to see me now. Quite a lot of people want to see me since morning, ever since I have announced the state-of-the-art prison.

It is expected since those who are locked up here can still be visited by their family members and so on, and it will not be the same once they are transferred into the new prison.

Banging against the doors soon follow, but it stops as quickly as it has started. She had probably used magic to try and break down the door, but that would not fly with Legion standing outside.

Legion likely shock her, but seriously, if he did not, she will not be able to break down the door without resorting to something like a siege engine. Or a Grand Archmage.

There is no Grand Archmage within the academy or the country. Not anymore.

Any who tries to intermingle in with the students at the academy will have a shock of their life.

Literally.

Those two Grand Archmage spies certainly did, and now they are my prisoners. Actually, I have already extracted whatever I need from their mind as well as turning their body into something useful.

Their magical cores are extracted, thus giving me power to emulate a Grand Archmage. Still, I do want to have the power of a Grand Archmage myself without needing Legion.

One thing at a time, I guess.

Listening carefully, there is a firm but a far more polite knock on the door. It seems like whoever that is has learned some mannerisms.

There are just so many hothead mages around, really believing that they own the place. That will not fly anymore, at least under my control.

And pausing for a short moment, I decide to entertain whoever that is.

I could have Legion directly tell me who it is but meh. There is no point really. It is not like anyone is really stupid enough to try and attack me.

Well, not true. There are plenty of stupid people around. Too stupid to live for long.

"Please come in."

I state, and the door from the far side of the room activates, opening slowly to let in a woman as well as two Legion bots. They take the form of Hans and Alex because I decide it is better that way for what I have in mind.

All Legions bot take the form of Hydra members.

Of course, taking form is one thing. Having them emulate the same personality is another, and it is not really necessary for that.

That said, I do like Alex and Hans, so I allow the bots to take on their personality. Simulate it, I should say.

For the impression, I keep my eyes on the papers in front of me while the woman is on her approach, not of her own will, however. She is actually being dragged by Hans and Alex, one on each side.

"So, what do we have here? An intruder?"

I question as soon as she is standing in front of the desk before me. I did not look away from my note, however.

"Yes, boss. She was very insistent in seeing you, so I figure you would like the opportunity to say a few words to her before we throw her ass in jail, one right next to her fiancée, so they could have a loving moment together."

Alex comments with a smirk. He feels just like the Alex I know, and at his words, the woman, who had been quite docile with her anger held in check, widens her eyes and struggles out to get out of those hard grips on either side of her.

"Wait, what? No. I just want to talk to Master Maxwell. You cannot imprison me for that!"

The woman calls out, still trying to break free of those grips. Even as a mage herself, she obviously will not be able to. Hans and Alex are as powerful as Grand Archmage. The two cores that I have extracted are within them.

"I can and will, Venetia."

I state before looking up at her.

"Did you not get the memo that this facility is a restricted area within the academy? I do not believe that I have received a notice of your arrival, so the fact that you are here, you are trespassing. The days that mages are allowed to go anywhere they pleased is over. Did we not put a sign about that?"

I question.

"Which sign exactly? The one that says trespasser will be raped? Oh. Does that mean we can rape her? She is trespassing, after all."

Alex questions, making Hans rolls his eyes. The sign obviously did not say that.

Okay, maybe it is not a good idea to have Alex as one of my bodyguards. It is more than likely that he will probably insult everyone who comes his way. That is just his personality, especially now days.

But then again, the look on Venetia's face is priceless. Absolutely priceless. She truly really thinks that there will not be any consequences of barging into here.

I will make an example out of her just a good warning for others.

As for her fiancée. He is one of those five idiots that tries to kill my student, Sapphire.

What is his name again? Drake or something. To think that he has such a lovely fiancée. One who cares enough to barge in here to have a word with me.

Sure, I will have a word with her after I make her squirms a little. Let me see what her crimes are. I can obviously put a few more in just for fun, just to scare the shit out of her.

"You can't do that! Do you not know who I am? I am –

Venetia calls out.

"Do not tell me what I cannot do, Venetia. Trespassing. Assault. General Nuisance. Honestly, if I don't know any better, I think you intend to have me harm, and while it is interesting to see you try, I believe a few nights in our very luxurious cells alongside with your future husband will change that attitude of yours. Do not worry.

You will get to witness how your beloved is doing then. And perhaps, you might get to sleep better at night?"

I comment before returning to my notes. Even so, I still pay somewhat attention to her expression just to see those traces of self-important and anger being bled away. Fears and surprises replace them as there are plenty of stories about what going on in the dungeon.

Mostly stories that I have fabricated, but I did let a few people to return home. They are a mere husk of their former self. Too terrified to even tell their family and household what truly had happened to them within my dungeon.

I obviously torture the living shit out of them, of course. Magic opens new concepts of torture to me, and it is quite enjoyable to learn new things.

"What? No! Wait! No! No! Master Maxwell!

Master Maxwell!"

Venetia calls out as she is being dragged away by Alex and Hans. She continues to scream all the way to the doorway, but no matter what she says, no one else can hear her wailing.

Without anything else, the girl will spend the next couple of nights as my guest down in the dungeon, and her nobility status means squat in my eyes. Of course, I will have to deal with those elders of hers when this get out.

Sounds problematic, but not really. No one dares to confront me unless they want to get nuked. That is an option now. Awesome, isn't it?

"I know what you want! I know what you want! Master Maxwell! Please hear me out! Please!"

Venetia calls out with desperation just as the doorways about to close, and I wonder what she means by that. It could be nothing, but still, it is not that much of trouble to ask.

"Bring her back here."

I state casually, and the door opens wide once more, allowing Hans and Alex to drag Venetia back into the room. She looks utterly terrified, but once she is at the front of the table again, a bit of confidence could be seen.

"I wish to speak to you alone, Master Maxwell. Without other eyes and ears."

Venetia requests in a composed manner. Her brown eyes did glance at the surrounding, wondering to herself whether anyone actually spying on me.

There is not, at least Legion has informed me so. Of course, it did not really matter since I am not really stupid enough reveal anything important even within my office. I have special places for that. It is not anywhere on the planet.

"Very well. Release her and leave us, so I can entertain our guest myself."

I request, and Hans and Alex bid their farewell. Alex did. Hans simply retreats out of the room in a very orderly manner. They will be standing outside the door if I need their help for whatever reason.

After the left, the door closes behind them and seals like before. The whole room is airtight as well as soundproof. Nothing can get in or out without my say so.

"Well, Venetia? You have me all to yourself for the moment, so do not waste it."