Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 1209  Space-Time Contradictions

Max listened quietly, his eyes fixed on the shifting starlight above them. The words resonated deeply with him. He had felt that contrast before, though never understood it fully. Whenever he used his space-based techniques, everything became absolute and unchanging. But whenever he tried to sense the flow of time, even in his Dimension of Time, it resisted that stillness. It slipped through his grasp like water between fingers, refusing to be confined.

Old Man First turned his gaze toward him again. "Your mastery of space is exceptional," he said. "It has allowed you to stand firm even against forces that should have torn you apart. But that very mastery will hinder you if you ever attempt to grasp time. Space rejects change. It enforces boundaries. It demands stillness to exist. Yet time is the very embodiment of change. It thrives on motion, on cycles, on the endless collapse and rebirth of all things. When you already carry the mark of space within your essence, the moment you try to comprehend time, they will clash violently within you."

He paused and then added in a solemn tone, "This is not a matter of energy or willpower, Max. It is a matter of existence itself. The moment you draw the law of time into your soul, the law of space you already possess will fight it. It will try to stop time from moving within you, while time will try to erode the very foundation of your spatial stability. If they cannot reach an equilibrium, both will destroy one another—and you with them."

Max's expression darkened slightly. He could imagine the chaos that would unfold within his body if such a thing were to happen. His Unholy Trinity Body might suppress conflicting elements like flame and ice, but even that physique might not be able to handle the clash of two primal laws that defined the universe itself.

Old Man First looked upward again. "There is a reason why no being in the recorded history of the mortal realms has ever mastered both time and space to perfection," he said, his voice carrying a trace of age-old wisdom. "Many have tried. Some reached the edge of understanding, but none have succeeded. A few even erased themselves from existence in the attempt. The balance between these two forces is not meant for mortal hands. Even gods tread carefully when touching both."

He turned back to Max and his expression softened slightly. "The truth is that time and space are not allies, nor are they true enemies. They coexist because they must. Without time, space would remain motionless, an eternal stillness without purpose. Without space, time would have no form to shape, no stage upon which to unfold. Together they define reality, yet they can never merge completely. You have already walked deep into the realm of space. If you now step into time, the two paths will collide. Your existence itself will become a battlefield."

The silence that followed was heavy and endless. The stars shimmered faintly, and Max could feel their cold light brushing against his skin like whispers of forgotten truths.

After a long pause, Old Man First continued, "You must understand this, Max. To wield time is not to merely move through moments or glimpse the future. It is to command the very rhythm of existence. To do that while already commanding space is to challenge the order of the universe itself. It is a path few dare to take, and fewer survive. You have great potential, perhaps greater than anyone I have seen, but potential does not make you ready."

Max nodded slowly, his eyes distant as he absorbed the meaning behind every word. He finally understood why the old man had said he was the last person who should try to comprehend time. It wasn't because he lacked talent—it was because his strength, his very foundation, was built upon something that resisted time itself.

"Then what should I do?" Max asked after a moment of silence, his tone calm but laced with frustration. "I suppose you haven't brought me here just to warn me about this, have you?" He looked at the old man expectantly, though deep down he already knew there was no simple answer.

For the first time in a long while, Max felt helpless. He had overcome every obstacle that had stood before him through sheer strength and willpower. Yet now, he was facing something that neither strength nor determination could solve.

The concept of time was not a physical opponent he could strike down, nor a force he could simply suppress with his Unholy Trinity Body. It was an idea, a law that governed existence itself. To understand it, he would have to go beyond everything he knew—and that path was tangled with contradictions.

He could not deny that the Law of Causality posed a grave danger to him. If the law truly tried to "correct" everything within him, it would not stop until it reconciled every contradiction inside his soul. His flames devoured, his ice froze, his sword severed, and his space distorted.

Each of those concepts functioned under different principles, and none of them aligned naturally. Even with the Unholy Trinity Body stabilizing them, adding the law of causality would mean inviting chaos to govern order.

And then there was space. Max's understanding of it was already deep—perhaps too deep. He had learned to bend it, to compress it, and even to erase it entirely with the Void Genesis Art. But that very mastery made him the worst possible candidate for time.

He knew that now. Space represented structure, permanence, and resistance to change, while time was constant transformation. If one sought to master both, it was like trying to freeze a river while keeping it flowing at the same time.

He exhaled slowly, his voice low. "Even if I try, it will destroy me before I reach any understanding. My body might be able to hold both fire and ice, but space and time…" He paused, shaking his head slightly. "They are something else entirely."

Old Man First observed him quietly, his expression unreadable. Then, at last, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly into what could only be described as a knowing smile. "There is one other way," he said, his tone carrying a faint glimmer of amusement—as if the solution he was about to offer was something few could even imagine.

Before Max could ask what he meant, Old Man First raised his hand. The stars around them began to move. Slowly at first, then faster, until the entire sky seemed to spin like an enormous wheel. The light of countless celestial bodies stretched into long trails of gold and silver, forming spirals that converged toward a single point ahead of them.

A low hum filled the air—a vibration that didn't come from sound but from existence itself. The space around Max rippled like the surface of a disturbed pond. He felt his footing vanish as if the very fabric of reality was being rewritten beneath him.

"Come," Old Man First said calmly, his voice steady amidst the chaos. "Let me show you something."