Cherreads

Chapter 2 - Aetherion - Lord of the Temporal Gates

Just as Ash was wondering how the summoned awakener would arrive here, a spatial crack around 2 meters big suddenly appeared 3 meters away from him.

A second later, a light-brown-skinned young man with spiky white hair came out before looking around and stretching his body nonchalantly while the spatial crack behind him instantly disappeared the moment he stepped out from it.

He wore a dark blindfold marked with intricate symbols. His outfit was ornate, with detailed armor-like gauntlets and elegant robes, emitting an aura of mystical power and calmness.

Sigh!

"It's been a long time since I have moved my body around." Aeth sighed and murmured softly as he stretched his body, then stopped when he noticed that Ash was looking at him with a thoughtful expression.

Subsequently, his face suddenly turned serious, and vague lights could be seen glowing behind the blindfold, his left eye glowed with a deep, nebula blue color, while the right eye glowed with a deep violet color.

A second later, he nodded his head and said in a low voice. "I see."

Aeth then walked slowly toward Ash and patted his shoulder with a smile. "Young man, you're indeed extremely lucky to summon me just like this."

Ash snapped back to his senses when Aeth tapped him, as he had been thinking about something else the moment he saw the spatial crack and the young man who had just come out of it.

"Oh? Why do you say so?" Ash raised an eyebrow, then realized something and frowned. "Wait… What did you just call me? Young man? What the fuck are you talking about?"

Ash slapped his hand from his shoulder and snorted. "Hmmph! You don't even look that much older than me, yet you called me a young man." 

"Young people nowadays are indeed so rude." Aeth shook his head helplessly for a while before asking Ash a question that shocked him.

"Were you thinking about summoning your younger brother and little sister over here?" 

"Y–you, you! Did you just read my mind?" Ash opened his eyes widely in disbelief, as he had never expected to find someone who could read someone else's mind like this.

"I didn't read your mind but instead looked at your past." Aeth replied with a chuckle.

"WHAT?! How did you do that?" Ash looked at Aeth in disbelief.

"I just can because I'm the strongest." Aeth said it confidently, as if he was just stating the truth.

"Strongest, my ass. You're just at the Sovereign Rank, which could barely be said to be one of the strongest on this continent." Ash snorted, thinking that Aeth must have known his past because of the system.

"You don't believe me? Look at my rank, they should be stated as sealed since my real strength is beyond your comprehension and imagination." Aeth only chuckled when he heard that Ash was looking down at him.

Aeth continued with a smug expression. "Besides, even if I'm at the rank that you called a Sovereign Rank, my combat power is much, much stronger than that." 

Ash rolled his eyes at Aeth's shameless brag and checked his stats instead of arguing with him like this.

— — —

[Name: Aetherion]

[Age: ???]

[Race: Human]

[Attribute: Primordial-level Space and Time Element]

[Rank: Sovereign (Sealed)]

[Bloodline: – ]

[Physique: Eternal Void Chronobody]

[Items: ???]

[Skills: ???]

[Passive Skills: ???]

— — —

"What do you say now? Aren't you extremely lucky, as I said?" Aeth smiled confidently the moment Ash checked his information.

"What's primordial-level? Why are your items and skills filled with question marks?" Ash asked with confusion, as he didn't understand a thing about them.

"In simple terms, Primordial is the highest level known to exist. I can't explain it to you in detail because you're still too weak at the moment." Aeth explained and shook his head slowly before continuing with his explanation. 

"As for the question marks, it was either the system can't calculate them or doesn't know them entirely."

"Were you really the strongest, as you said?" Ash asked, sizing Aeth from top to bottom curiously.

"Of course!" Aeth chuckled.

"Then, if you really could look into my past, can you look at my younger brother and little sister's situation at the moment?" Ash asked with a bitter smile.

"Technically I could, but with my current strength, it would cost me too much, and it's not worth it at all." Aeth explained, shaking his head helplessly.

When Aeth looked at the disappointment across Ash's face, he then continued with a bright smile. "Besides, if you really miss them that much, why don't you just summon them later on? Or I could even do that if I were to open my seal."

"Wait, really? I can bring them over here?" Ash immediately became excited and came in front of Aeth, shaking his body over as he shook Aeth's shoulder in excitement.

"Let me explain first, don't get too excited." Aeth chuckled and stopped Ash from shaking his body.

"First of all, you can bring them over using the summoning chance, but it would only depend on your luck to get it."

"Second of all, I'm more than capable enough to bring them over if I were to open my seal." Aeth explained with a smile, then became serious and tapped his foot on the floor as he continued.

"However, let me tell you this first. I can only open my seal once, and when I open my seal, I would naturally become the strongest for a period of time. So, using my strongest state in exchange for something like this is not worth it at all."

"Third and last, remember that this world is not the same world as your peaceful world. So, if they were here, you might even endanger their lives since you're still too weak to be able to guarantee their safety."

"Now that I've explained it to you clearly, you can think it over for a while before telling me your decision." Aeth patted his shoulder with a nod.

"If you want me to open my seal to bring them over, I don't mind at all. It's your call."

Ash thought about it seriously for a few seconds before looking at Aeth with a bitter smile. "If you open your seal, are you literally going to become the strongest? Even stronger than those old monsters on the main continent?"

Aeth burst into laughter when he heard it. "It seems that you've misunderstood what I meant by becoming the strongest."

"Well… it's also my fault for not explaining it to you in detail before." Aeth shook his head softly.

"What I meant by becoming the strongest is literally as it is. In simple terms, there's no one in the entire world, upper realm, divine realm, or beyond that could be my match. Do you understand it now?" Aeth explained with a smile as he tapped Ash's shoulder and continued.

"Now, do you understand what that means? It means that if you were into some kind of dipshit in the future, I could solve it even if your enemy is one of the strongest beings that you can't even imagine exists."

Ash opened his eyes widely in shock when he heard it and didn't want to believe him at first, but then, thinking about the primordial part and sealed strength again, it seemed to be believable.

Sigh!

"Alright then, I'll trust you for now. Only time will tell, right?" Ash shook his head and decided to open the other two rewards first before going outside.

However, before Ash could even order the system, he heard a loud bang and immediately tilted his head to the left.

Boom!

"What the hell is happening in the main hall?" Ash mumbled softly, knitting his eyebrows.

"It's your fiancée's doing." Aeth commented with a chuckle.

"This fucking bitch, see how I'll deal with you after what you've done." Ash cursed, then walked toward the door.

"Let's go!" 

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