Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 1208  Not the perfect candidate

The Old Man First nodded, his expression unreadable but faintly pleased. "Do not misunderstand," he said, his tone quiet yet profound. "Interest does not mean approval. It means potential—the seed of something that might grow, if nurtured well enough."

Max nodded in understanding. Yet even so, his spirit burned brighter than ever. The Law of Time was within reach, and before him stood the one being who could help him understand what he had long been chasing—the truth behind the flow of moments and the very essence of eternity itself.

"However," Old Man First said after a long silence, his voice carrying the calm weight of ages, "even though you have piqued my interest, you are not the best candidate to comprehend the concept of time." His tone, though steady, carried a trace of melancholy, as if he regretted what he was about to say.

Max frowned slightly, unable to understand what he meant. "What do you mean?" he asked. He could easily comprehend so many concepts to the fourth level already—space, sword, lightning, flame, ice—and each of them carried immense profundity. So what could possibly stop him from doing the same with time? To him, it was just another path to understand, another barrier to break through. "I've walked through concepts others call impossible. Why would time be any different?"

Old Man First looked at him with quiet eyes, the kind that seemed to see through the illusion of the world. "Because the concept of time is unlike any other," he said, his voice calm but firm. "You misunderstand its nature. Flame, ice, lightning, sword—they are domains of existence. They define what is, and how it behaves. But time is not existence. Time is the thread that weaves existence together. It governs not what is happening but why it happens. When one tries to understand time, one steps into the river that controls the flow of causality itself."

He took a step forward, and with that step, the stars behind him shifted as though reality bent around his presence. "The Law of Causality is not a simple law of cause and effect," he continued. "It binds every event, every decision, every possibility into a continuous chain. To comprehend time is to perceive every ripple caused by a single thought, every outcome born from a single motion. It is to see not only what is but what could have been and what should never be."

Max's brows furrowed. "So what you mean is… understanding time means understanding everything connected to it?"

Old Man First nodded slowly. "Yes. And therein lies the danger. The moment you begin to comprehend the law of causality, it will reach into your body, your soul, your memories, and even the concepts you have already mastered. It will try to align them according to the laws of cause and effect. It will seek harmony, and if it cannot find it, it will attempt to create it."

He raised his gaze toward Max, his eyes sharp and penetrating. "You, Max, are already filled with countless conflicting forces. Space bends within you. Flames devour. Ice freezes. Sword severs. Devouring essence consumes everything, while the White Lotus Ice Essence seeks stillness. These forces coexist only because your body and soul are abnormally stable. But if you touch the law of causality—if you attempt to understand time itself—it will try to reconcile all those contradictions. The result would be chaos, a chain reaction of cause and effect spiraling out of control."

Max went silent. The thought of it made him uneasy. He had always known his power was complex, perhaps even unstable in some ways, but he had never considered that something could unravel it completely.

Old Man First sighed softly, his gaze distant. "I have seen beings greater than gods lose themselves to causality. One misstep, one misunderstanding, and their souls were erased from every point in time. No one remembered them because, in the law of causality, they ceased to have ever existed. That is the danger of meddling with time before one's essence is perfectly unified."

Max clenched his fists slightly. His instincts told him to resist the warning, to keep pushing forward regardless of risk. "But I can control it," he said, his tone calm yet defiant. "My body has already adapted to the clash of flames and ice. I've overcome imbalance before."

Old Man First's expression softened, though his tone remained grave. "You may believe that, but understand this—the moment you grasp even a fragment of causality, there will be severe cause and effect. The law of causality will hit you for sure. It will test the meaning of every cause that led to your being. Your past, your future, even your present will blur together until you no longer know who you are or when you are."

A cold stillness settled in Max's heart as he heard those words. The Law of Time sounded magnificent, but it was a power that demanded everything from those who sought it.

"And let's not forget," Old Man First continued, his tone calm but layered with meaning, "you have already comprehended the concept of space to the fourth level." His gaze shifted to the endless expanse of stars stretching in every direction. "Though there is a saying that time and space are closely related, it is, in truth, a dangerous oversimplification. Those who truly walk the path of the laws know that time and space may touch, but they do not merge. They are two sides of existence that resist one another, each maintaining its own dominion."

He raised his right hand slowly, and the space around his fingers began to ripple like water disturbed by an unseen current. In the next instant, the ripples froze completely. Everything around them—the starlight, the flicker of distant constellations, even the faint energy pulsing through the void—stopped moving. It was as if the universe had suddenly lost its heartbeat.

"This," he said softly, "is space holding time still. When space dominates, it creates stability. It forces reality to take form and remain in that form. Space is the skeleton of existence, the framework that holds everything together. But when time interferes, it begins to bend that framework. It shifts what was once solid and fixed into something transient, something that lives only in the moment between past and future."

He slowly lowered his hand, and movement returned. The stars twinkled once again, and the faint hum of existence resumed its rhythm. "The concept of space grants one control over distance, position, and dimension. The concept of time governs change, progression, and the unseen flow that turns possibility into reality. They appear to complement each other, but they are not harmonious. The moment one tries to hold both in perfect balance, conflict begins. One wants stillness, the other motion. One seeks permanence, the other transformation."