RE: LORD OF TIME

William sat on the back of his slave Crawler, whom he had named No. 1.

”Move in that direction.” He pointed towards Varhan City, and No. 1 instantly sank into the ground, moving forward.

Underground, William looked at his surroundings curiously, but with not even a speck of light, he felt as if it were nighttime again.

Around him, he could only see hard soil and rocks.

As the Crawler moved forward, the brown glow covering its body fell upon the hard soil, which instantly softened, allowing it to move as if it were swimming in water instead of moving underground.

The little girl sat alongside William, appearing very curious even though there was nothing interesting around them.

Just then, William suddenly thought of something, and his eyes narrowed.

(The Night Has Fallen)

(Night Crawlers will begin to move soon...)

He once again looked at the notifications he had received when night fell yesterday and frowned slightly.

’If I am understanding these notifications correctly, Night Crawlers should only move during the night. If that’s the case...’ He turned his attention towards No. 1, and a look of confusion flashed in his eyes.

’If Crawlers can only move during the night, then how is this guy moving right now?’

As he thought of this, William tried to communicate with the Crawler.

Because of the Heart Devourer ability, there was a connection between them that William could use to issue commands to the Crawler.

But even then, No.1 could only understand some simple commands through that connection.

For example, he could ask it to keep watch over their surroundings, move in certain directions, or do some other miscellaneous things.

But if he wanted to ask it something complex, he needed to communicate with it using his soul power to directly send his thoughts into its mind so it could understand him.

’It’s a pain to communicate with these guys since they don’t understand Universal Language or any other languages that I know...’ William sighed, and after a lot of struggle, he finally got the information he wanted from the Crawler.

It was just as he had expected. The Night Crawlers actually only moved during the night, while during the daytime, they would either hide underground or in some cave dwelling or somewhere similar, remaining still until it was completely dark.

Before it became William’s slave, No. 1 had been the same and would hide underground the instant the first speck of light appeared on the horizon.

But after it became William’s slave, because William had been sleeping when it became light and hadn’t given it an order to hide, it didn’t dare to go underground to sleep.

It kept patrolling their surroundings and sometimes surfaced to take care of some low-level Crawlers that dared to come near the village.

Whenever it surfaced and the light fell upon it, No. 1 felt an extremely strong urge to run back underground.

This urge originated from the depths of its soul, as if it were an instinct carved into its very being, dictating how it was supposed to behave.

It shouldn’t move during the light!

But although this urge was strong, William’s command to keep an eye on their surroundings prevented it from staying underground all the time.

As such, it resisted the urge to follow its instincts.

And the longer it resisted, the more uncomfortable it felt. But as time passed, this urge slowly faded away, and now it could move even in daylight without any problems.

’An instinct carved into their souls...’ William narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin.

’Are these the rules of this Trial Realm that prevent these Night Crawlers from moving during the daytime, or... A order from a powerful individual who carved these instincts into their souls?’

The reason William felt it might be the work of some powerful individual was because of how easily No. 1 had overcome its instincts under his Heart Devourer ability.

If it were really because of the rules of this realm, William felt it would have been very difficult for his ability to overpower No. 1’s instincts.

”Hooo!” Exhaling a mouthful of air, William’s eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he rubbed the back of No. 1.

”The waters of this place might run deeper than I thought...” He muttered under his breath and glanced at the little girl in front of him, noticing that she had already gotten bored after looking around and was becoming a bit restless.

She kept shaking her body or jumping up and down while sitting.

”Stop moving, or you will fall.” William grabbed her small head with his palm and stopped her from moving.

The girl showed a dissatisfied expression and waved her hands at him.

”Dadda Dadda...”

”You can’t play here. Also, stop calling me Dadda. Call me Brother.”

”Dadda Dadda!”

”Not Dadda... B-R-O-T-H-E-R. Call me Brother.”

”Dadda Dadda!”

”Learn some new words, you dimwit.”

”Dadda Dadda.”

William stared at the girl expressionlessly and finally understood why people said kids could sometimes fry your brain.

Taking a deep breath, he ignored this little package and shifted his attention to his surroundings.

’Since we are underground, I wonder if I will come across something useful, like a hidden mine or some treasures,’ He thought to himself.

Time continued to pass, and soon, six hours had gone by since the moment they started moving.

The little bit of enthusiasm William had about finding something hidden underground had long since disappeared, and, similar to the girl, he was sitting with a bored look.

The girl leaned back against his chest, looking at the darkness around her with a deadpan expression.

”Dadda!” She rubbed her belly and looked back at William pitifully.

This time, William didn’t even bother trying to correct her. He estimated the time inwardly and realized that it was indeed time to eat.

”Let’s go out, No. 1.”

No. 1 let out a soft sound, and its body immediately moved towards the surface.

Soon, No. 1 was about to emerge from the ground.

But just before No. 1 surfaced, William’s expression changed, and his instincts sent him a strong warning about danger.