The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Two Hours Ago
The skill Reid used to open the shimmering white portal was a skill he copied from Rusty just now.

[Time Gate]

It was a skill that would allow him to open a portal back to a few hours in the past, with the maximum being 6.

His reasoning for going back to the past was simple. First, he had exposed too much of his abilities in front of too many people. The military, other cadets, his team and possibly even the spies of the cult.

As for his second reason? He needed both the creature’s and Darren’s memories. From the way the creature spoke, it showed that it clearly remembered its creators and the one it referred to as father.

Maybe with their memories, he could figure out who the spies in the cult were.

Taking another look at his team, he proceeded to walk into the portal just before the the forcefield was successfully hacked by Ethan’s slime.

As soon as the forcefield was down, team 7 rushed towards the portal but they were not fast enough.

The portal collapsed, disappearing as if it was only an illusion. When the portal closed, everything came to a halt.

From the atoms to even the movement of the entire universe as if time itself had been taken away from this universe.

Everything was completely still… Well, almost everything. At the edge of the universe, an eye suddenly opened in the void.

The eyes looked like that of a dragon’s. It watched as the ever expanding universe and the galaxies that were always in motion come to a halt.

A deep sigh rumbled within the void that seem to originate from the owner of the eye.

“Time travel, hmm?” a voice rumbled through the void. It sounded to be coming from everywhere in the void “The child grows… faster than we anticipated.”

“Very well… Let us see how far you will go, little one.”

And with that it returned to its slumber, waiting for the day the kid became strong enough to meet them and from the looks of things, that time is closer than they had anticipated.

As for the frozen time, it would continue so until Reid caught up with it, even if his actions are different.

——- 2 hours ago ——-

Reid was completely immersed in engraving runes on the wasp’s core he currently had at hand.

Garrick sat on one of the stools in the forge lab closely observing Reid work, clearly impressed but he’d never show it.

Reid quickly engraved the last rune before standing up and turned to Garrick, who had quickly masked the impressed look on his face.

But as soon as the old man opened his mouth to say something, he froze.

“Master?” Reid called out, since his master just weirdly sat there his mouth open to say something.

Reid looked around to find most things in the lab frozen just like his master was. Now that he paid attention to the surroundings, he noticed the lock of sound which was eerie.

“What’s going on, Evo” he asked.

[It seems like someone is using a skill capable of stopping time] Evo informed.

“Time stop?” Reid asked in surprise “the cult maybe?”

But his question was quickly answered when the space behind him suddenly rippled.

Reid quickly turned around, getting into a battle ready stance. He was ready for whatever was coming.

The rippling space suddenly cracked like glass, revealing a shimmering white portal which slowly stabilized and allowed a figure to walk through.

Reid summoned his forged beasts to his side and his metal bat to his hand. The first thought that came to mind when he saw the creature that stepped out of the portal was,

Malrath.

Or maybe something connected to it. Its full form was revealed when it stepped out of the portal and into the forge.

It stood at seven feet, completely towering over Reid, and its body was covered in black armor.

It had claw like arms and a finally, a black helmet with the compound eyes of a fly covered the thing’s face.

It was easy to see why Reid associated it with the embodiment of death and destruction, Malrath.

“Evo, can you scan it?” He muttered but was shocked when the creature replied.

“That won’t be necessary” it said and the helmet on its head retracted, revealing its face.

It was a face Reid was all too familiar with—after all, it was the same face he saw in the mirror every day.

His own face.

The only difference that existed between him and the person that stood in front of him was the red eyes and its height.

“What the hell?” Reid exclaimed “is this another illusion?”

He had fought himself a couple of times before so facing another illusion of him was no surprise, but this one felt different.

Evo revealed exactly why.

[

Species: Gluttony monarch

Rank: ????

Soul power: Gold tier

]

[While scanning him I discovered something else] Evo said.

‘what?’ he asked

[His genetical makeup looks completely identical to yours, at least his human part anyway and the other part is identical to Beel’s] she started [he seems to be you fused with Beel]

‘Synergize?’ he asked.

[Possibly] she answered, that’s when the red eyed Reid spoke again.

“I suppose you have questions,” he said, his voice completely identical to the blue eyed Reid’s “and although I don’t think I have much time in this form, I can answer a few to make this easier.”

“Firstly,” blue eyed Reid started “what are you?”

“I am you from two hours in the future” the other Reid answered “I travelled back using Rusty’s [Time Gate]”

Reid couldn’t see a sign of lying on his face so he moved to the next question.

“Why did you travel back to the past?” He asked. Reid knew that he wouldn’t just travel back in time for no reason.

“Well…” Future Reid took a short pause “I kind of revealed most of our abilities to the entire military base and possibly to the spies from the cult.”

“Plus, we also ate Darren without extracting his memories about the cult” he finished.

“We ate a human?” Past Reid asked in shock, he could feel his stomach churn at the idea “what the hell happened in just two hours?”

“Well technically, we ate a creature that had completely taken over Darren’s body” future Reid explained.

“That doesn’t make it any better” past Reid said.

“I know, but explaining everything will take a while” future Reid said “and according to Evo, I only have 20 seconds before this form wears off and about two minutes before the universe tries correcting itself, permanently deleting one of us.”

“How do you plan on fixing that?” Past Reid asked.

“We just need to touch for us to merge” future Reid said causing the other reid to narrow his eyes.

“And what exactly happens when we merge?” He asked.

“We’ll become a single entity again” future Reid answered “we’d still be us, but with memories of the future, at least that’s what Evo said.”

“And you just expect me to believe that?” Past Reid said “for all I know, you might just be one of Malrath’s undeads hoping to take over my body.”

[He’s not] Evo was the one who replied.

‘what do you mean?’ Reid mentally asked.

[Remember how I said I can feel my siblings if I’m close enough?] She replied with a question of her own.

‘Yes’ Reid nodded.

[Well, I’m feeling the energy of us codices being released from him] she said [but instead of one of my siblings, the energy is identical to mine?]

‘Which means he might actually be me’ Reid lowered his guard, sending his forged beasts back to his inventory.

“So if we don’t merge, one of us gets deleted by the universe?” He asked.

“That’s why Evo said, and I’m not ready to confirm that theory” future Reid said and outstretched his claw like hand “and I’m sure you do not want to either.”

“Screw this” With a sigh, past Reid took the outstretched hand of his future self.

“This better not be a f*cking trick” he said.

As soon as their hands touched, a surge of energy erupted from the point of contact, enveloping both versions of Reid in a blinding white light.

Even the still time trembled, when the two came into contact.

Both Reids felt a pull as they merged into a single being. The white light receded to reveal a single Reid instead of two.

Time immediately resumed as soon as the merging was completed and Reid almost dropped to the ground if he hadn’t caught himself.

“You okay, kid?” Garrick’s voice came, he sounded a bit worried.

“I’m fine” Reid, now with the memories of two hours ahead, replied “just a bit exhausted.”

“Then get go get some rest” Garrick said “I’ll handle assembling the forged beast.”

“Thank you master” he said and moved out of the forge lab.

Even the drained soul power had been merged that’s why he felt so weak. But luckily, since past Reid’s soul power was full, he wasn’t as drained as future.

He had enough energy to win against Darren.

“Now, let’s handle that creature before it merges with Darren again,” he said, taking a step forward—only for his stomach to suddenly protest with a loud rumble.

He froze for a moment, then let out a chuckle.

“Guess that’ll have to wait,” he muttered, shaking his head.

With a sigh, he turned and made his way toward the canteen for the second time today (?).