"A god?"
"You're kidding, right?"
Will didn't believe Kaiser.
But the inexplicable ti added to his arm told him this was no simple matter.
In Will's mind, ti was everything.
Intangible, yet it governed all aspects of life.
Now, soone claid to be a god, aiming to overhaul the social system and strip ti's dominance from human life.
To Will, this sounded like madness.
"A hundred years is my greeting gift."
"Use it as you wish."
"You can seek answers with this ti."
"I expect your response."
"No need to hide my existence. If the police find you, reveal ."
Kaiser smiled, unfazed by Will's disbelief.
The rigid class system would teach Will the law of the jungle.
With that, Kaiser vanished.
Will's pupils shrank, his face etched with shock.
That vanishing ability…
"Could he really be a god?"
Will was stunned.
He felt he'd encountered sothing extraordinary.
Gods existed only in stories and legends.
In the Ti Bureau's world, gods weren't believed in.
If they existed, they were the elite of the first ti zone.
Immortal, gazing down from the world's peak with endless ti.
"A new social order?"
Will stared at his century of ti, falling silent.
This ti was his chance to rise.
To cross ti zones.
To enter the rich district.
With ample ti, Will's first act was consumption.
Items once out of reach now seed cheap.
"Hm?"
At a bar, Will noticed soone.
They didn't hide the ti on their arm.
Over a hundred years.
"Another from the rich district?"
Will was surprised.
To see such a person in a slum bar was unexpected.
"You're flashing your ti so openly. Aren't you afraid of ti bandits?"
Will ordered a drink and sat across from the man.
"Terence. You?"
The man seed unconcerned, introducing himself casually.
Beneath his carefree exterior hid a lifeless soul.
His eyes revealed a death wish.
"This isn't the place to talk. Want to go sowhere else?"
Will subtly showed his own ti to Terence, signaling no ill intent.
He recalled Kaiser's words about witnessing.
Here was soone from the rich district... perfect for gathering information.
"Interesting."
Terence glanced at Will, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
From the rich district, he knew such ti was impossible in the slums.
Will's deanor didn't suggest wealth either.
"Let's go."
Curiosity piqued, Terence agreed to talk.
They soon reached a warehouse.
This was Will's usual spot to unwind.
Not exactly hidden, but rarely visited.
"Will Salas, my na."
The two sat on a tattered sofa.
Away from the noisy crowd, Will relaxed.
"Your ti, it's from an unusual source, isn't it?"
Terence eyed Will.
He seed tense.
A century-plus of ti wasn't obtained through normal ans.
"No comnt."
"I'm here to ask why you're in this place."
"What do I need to know to visit the rich district?"
Will stayed silent, unwilling to reveal more.
"Don't worry, I'm not interested in your ti."
"I've lived long enough."
Terence leaned back, his eyes filled with confusion.
"How old are you?"
Will was curious.
In a world where life froze at 25, age was hard to gauge.
"Almost two hundred."
"You?"
Terence didn't hide it.
"Thirty…"
Will hadn't expected Terence to be nearly two centuries old.
"Young, full of passion."
"Now that you have ti you'll never exhaust, what do you plan to do?"
Terence asked a question he'd never answered himself.
"Do?"
Will recalled Kaiser's words.
"What do you think of the current social system?"
"If ti stopped being the asure of everything."
"If humans were born, grew, aged, and died naturally."
"Would that be a better or worse order?"
Will countered.
"Oh?"
"Not a question I'd expect from you."
Terence was surprised.
Slum dwellers toiled daily for barely a day and a half's worth of ti.
A calculated amount by those at the top.
There might be slight variations, but not much.
They controlled birth and death rates.
Ensuring the lower class could never rise.
Ensuring a steady labor supply.
A terrifying class system.
Even in the rich district, crossing classes was nearly impossible.
You were born in your place, locked there for life.
Rising was impossible.
But falling was easy.
Few chose to fall.
"Until yesterday, I hadn't thought about it either."
"But I t soone… strange."
"More refined than you, with an extraordinary presence."
"He called himself a god, gave a hundred years of ti."
"Told to witness."
"He asked what social system I'd build if I were in charge."
Will paused, then revealed Kaiser's existence.
Kaiser had said his presence didn't need hiding.
"A god?"
Terence's eyes lit up at the word.
"Will, you don't understand this world's system."
"It's rotten."
"The rich stay rich, the poor stay poor."
"I've lived enough. I don't want to keep going."
"I've lost my reason to live."
"But your talk of a new system…"
"If death ca to everyone equally."
"That might be a fairer world."
Terence's face showed confusion and pain.
Will couldn't grasp why soone with over a century of ti, free from worry, was so tornted.
"If you've truly t a god, and he chose you."
"Go see the world."
Terence shared tips about the rich district and basic knowledge.
They talked late, engrossed.
Until they fell asleep.
The next morning, Will woke alone.
"Terence?"
No response.
He glanced at his arm instinctively.
Will froze.
"Two hundred thirty-one years…"
He stared, stunned.
Looking out the window, Terence sat on a bridge, watching the sunrise.
His arm's ti ticked down.
At the final second, it hit zero.
Terence paled, his body falling lifelessly into the stream below.
Will wanted to shout, but Terence's warning from last night stopped him.
On the window, words were scrawled: "Don't waste my life."
"Witness the new world."
Signed, Terence Vale.
He'd planned it all.
Will stood silent, then took a photo of the ssage at ho.
Proof of his innocence, courtesy of Terence.
Everything had been orchestrated last night.
"So, you're setting out?"
Kaiser's figure appeared beside Will.
Will stumbled back, startled, then relaxed seeing Kaiser.
He asked the question haunting him: "Why ?"
Will felt lost.
Kaiser and Terence had both given him vast ti.
Witness what?
"That question will find its answer later. For now, see the world."
"Enjoy life."
"I still await your answer."
Kaiser gave Will a deep look.
He'd already begun balancing this world's laws.
But he wasn't ready to upend it yet.
Other laws were manageable.
Extracting ti laws from the souls and bodies of all beings was incredibly difficult.
Reviving a stagnant, lifeless world was a challenge.
"I understand…"
Will set aside his doubts, deciding to visit the rich district.
After sharing Kaiser's existence last night, Terence had opened up, and they'd talked extensively.
Will wasn't clueless about the rich district anymore.
Back ho, he transferred ten years to his mother.
Will shared the recent events with his mother.
"Go, Will. See the world."
"I'll take care of myself."
Her words freed him from worry.
He boarded a ti-operated vehicle, heading for the rich district.
The journey passed countless checkpoints.
It cost nearly seven years in tolls.
Will finally reached the rich district.
"Just crossing ti zones took seven years."
"No wonder slum dwellers never see the rich."
Will marveled.
Seven years, for the slums, would take roughly 2,600 people to pool.
An staggering disparity.
In the slums, seven years was unimaginable wealth.
For the rich, it might cover a single al.
The rich district's opulence and slow pace felt surreal.
But one thing remained constant: lifelessness.
A chilling absence of connection and emotion.
In the slums, children laughed and played.
Though ti was scarce, neighbors and friends shared genuine bonds.
They lived each day to the fullest, cherishing their last.
Here, with endless ti, there was no conversation, no laughter.
The contrast pained Will.
"Don't mind it. It's inevitable when you live too long."
"Look to your left, that elite."
"He's lived nearly a thousand years."
"But his family and friends died in accidents."
"So he's emotionally numb."
"They're just ordinary people with vast ti. They die if killed."
"Immortality can be a cruel curse."
"But you're lucky... you can choose to end it."
Kaiser appeared abruptly in the seat across from Will, ordering the sa coffee.
Familiar with Kaiser's ways, Will was only mildly startled.
"Why do you always appear out of nowhere?"
"And why can't they see you?"
Will glanced around, curious about others' reactions.
No one stirred.
"Only you can see ."
"I'm observing this world."
Kaiser replied.
"So you're really a god?"
Will no longer doubted Kaiser's divine claim.
But he couldn't grasp Kaiser's intentions.
"Your turning point is coming."
"Terence's death has been noticed by the Tikeepers."
"You're a pri suspect."
"As I said, I await your answer."
Kaiser vanished.
Will sat alone at the table.
"They've already noticed?"
Will wasn't surprised.
He'd crossed multiple ti zones.
And left the bar with Terence the day before his death.
He was the obvious suspect.
Unbeknownst to Will, a girl had been watching him.
She saw his hurried movents.
His self-talk.
Speaking as if to soone, though no one was there.
"Interesting…"
Sylvia felt intrigued by a man for the first ti.
In the cold rich district, Will brought a spark of color.
"Turning point?"
"Answer?"
"I need to connect with the rich."
To truly understand this world, he had to et its true rulers.
Those with endless ti.
After resting a night, Will learned of a casino.
A hub for the rich district's elite.
In a place flush with ti, only gambling brought thrills.
The casino was crowded.
Each patron imnsely wealthy.
Will spotted two conversing elites.
Their arms displayed centuries, even millennia.
Ti unimaginable in the slums.
Taking a deep breath, Will sat at a gambling table.
Across from him was a refined man.
But seeing the ti on his arm, Will's heart surged.
"Ten thousand years…"
Will couldn't fathom such ti on one person.
Even slum banks held only about a year's reserve.
But here was a man with ten thousand years.
Sylvia recognized Will.
The man who sparked her curiosity.
"You seem unique."
"Where are you from?"
Philippe eyed Will with interest.
It had been ages since he'd seen soone like him... clearly a cross-ti-zone traveler.
***
If you enjoyed this story, don't forget to drop 5 stars and your power stone. And if you want to read more than 70 chapters in advance, feel free to visit: pat reon . com / KangTL
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