slowly Opening his eyes, a sign of consciousness returning, Tarkan blinked groggyly. As if realizing something, his eyes widened in panic. He suddenly jumped up, frantically scanning his surroundings, half-expecting the scream he let out earlier to have drawn nearby monsters.
turning in every direction, his eyes scanning through the trees. After a few tense moments of looking around, with nothing but trees and empty forest, he heaved a long sigh of relief.
That pain caught him completely off guard.
He had experienced pain before but never had he felt anything remotely close to what he'd felt. He felt like every core of his being was being torn apart. It had been so intense that, for a moment, he had genuinely wished for death.
But what baffled him was he felt no change or any noticeable power boost. And based on what he had read in the library, one could only awaken their talents and begin the path of an ascender after passing the trial and entering the first realm.
deep in thought. That's when something clicked.
How can i forget the strange timer prompt, that appeared when he first transmigrated to this world.
Thinking about it, the prompt appeared, floating in front of his vision:
---
[Timer: 1:38:40]
(Reverse: Reverse time without restriction as long as you have enough time)
[Eternal Monarch Physique (Partial)]
---
Tarkan stared at it, not with joy but with horror .
He wasn't excited at all by the new addition and changes on the timer instead he was super terrified.
For the past sixteen years, since the timer had appeared it only added one second per day no more no less.
But from what he was seeing Now, the timer had increased by sixty full seconds upon waking up after losing consciousness earlier.
What did that mean?
Did that mean he failed? That he'd missed his chance at ever awakening?
Just as those thought krept in, Panic started to build in him.
For the second time he frantically scanned around the familiar trees seeing the familiar landscape he'd remember of the trial ground he couldn't help heave a long sigh of relief, he returned his attention to the timer again.
If the change wasn't just the prompt but also the timer itself then by how much has it added? And this reverse I_
Admist his thoughts.
Suddenly he felt something.
His whole being screamed for him to run.
Base on instinct he tried to jump out of the way, but it was already too late.
PAAA!!
CRASH!
"AAAHHHH!"
Tarkan was flung through the air, His body slammed into a tree with great force that the tree shattered into splinters.
While the second tree stopped his flight tregectory, and he crashed down, groaning in pain.
His waist twisted at an unnatural angle, his limbs and bones broken from the impact. His body was completely mangled beyond repair.
With blood blocking his eyesight and with much pain, he tried to make sense of what was happening.
In a blurry vision he saw what looked like,
a boar.
Not too different from the ones he remembered from Earth, but was much bigger And looked far more dangerous.
The boar upon seeing it prey still breathing backed up, pawing the ground aggressively. It was preparing for another charge.
At this moment all Tarkan could feel was Regret .
He had let his guard down. forgetting he was in a trial And now after waiting sixteen years for this, he was about to die.
Still on the ground unable to do anything pool in his own blood His body was starting to giveup.
His mind was slipping out of consciousness. And the outline of the hateful boar charging into him blurred into his vision. The only thing he could think of was the prompt.
As if hearing his thoughts, it reappeared.
---
[Timer: 1:38:40 (Lvl 1)]
(Reverse: Reverse time without restriction as long as you have enough time)
[Eternal Monarch Physique (Partial)]
---
With blood chocking his throat. He couldn't speak. His mind getting foggier with every breath. Still, he focused all his remaining will on the only word that mattered.
Reverse.
He didn't say it out loud but shouted it in his mind as if begging the system to do something.
Just as the boar's tusks were about to pierce into him and end his life, suddenly everything
Stopped.
And started to
Reverse.
Like someone clicked a rewind button from a remote, time began to flow backward.
The boar's that was charging at him slowed and started moving backwards. Tarkan's mangled body lifted off the ground and soared back through the air.
The broken tree reassembled. His limbs untwisted. His blood pulled back into his veins.
Within seconds, he was standing again.
Back at the spot where he had first risen from when he was unconscious.
It was like the scene earlier had never happened.
Everything happened in an instant
Like an illusion.
But Tarkan knew damn well it was no illusion.
That pain, the embrace of death, it had been far too real to be an illusion.
He was breathing heavily now, but his body was back to normal. He was fully alert. No longer groggy or in shock.
He reached behind him for his sword only to find nothing.
And that was when It hit him.
After the incident from earlier the explosion of pain and the transformation he couldn't see his clothes, The cloth Ricky had given to him to use as nose mask was also gone. His sword was also nowhere to be found
He was completely butt naked.
Even the tree wind brushed against him in the worst possible place.
Still, Tarkan had no time to be embarrassed.
He immediately scanned his surroundings for the earlier boar.
And there In the distance, the massive beast, locking eyes with him again but this time he was awear of it. It roar through the forest as it charged at Tarkan.
Tarkan jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding it. the boar missing its mark smashed headfirst into a tree, breaking it apart.
Seeing It missed his target the boar turned around, furious.
Tarkan clenched his fists.
He couldn't fight it head-on. This thing was far stronger than the bear he had once killed. And at that time, he had a sword to do so.
Without a sword
he had to improvise and plan something fast or he'd die a gruesome death.
But there was no sign of panic on his face.
There was no point.
Panic would only cloud his judgement leading him much faster to a gruesome death. He remained calm, even as he moved to dodge another charge, the boar grazed his side, nearly slamming into him again.
But he forced him self to remain calm while thinking on ways to kill it.
He called up the prompt again in his mind.
---
[Timer: 1:37:50 (Lvl 1)]
(Reverse: Reverse time without restriction as long as you have enough time)
[Eternal Monarch Physique (Partial)]
---
Now he was sure it wasn't an illusion.
When he checked the timer earlier, it read 1:38:40. But Now it read 1:37:50.
Which means thirty seconds was gone.
And the time that passed from the moment he was hit until the moment he used reversed was roughly thirty seconds.
Breathing steadily,
A theory began forming in his mind.
Could this mean this power let him reverse specific amounts of time based on what he had in the timer?
If that was true then_.
A huge grin started forming on his face
barely dodging another charge.
this time, his confidence building, he narrowed his eyes.
And whispered
"Reverse 2 seconds."