bookrebus Chapter 418 First Attempt Against the Tide
Chapter 418 First Attempt Against the Tide
A dense array of skill icons spread out.
S-rank, SSS-rank, and several god-level skills quietly floated in their respective positions.
At this moment, an unfamiliar icon appeared in the list.
It was a pale silver, slightly rotating symbol.
Unlike other skills, it doesn't have a flowing, dazzling light.
It simply stayed there quietly, like a newly joined member, low-key, reserved, and unassuming.
Mind lock.
Against the Tide
Rank: God-level
Attributes: Time Law, Divinity +5%
effect:
You are an anchor point in the river of time.
After activating the skill, you will be temporarily "kicked out" of the current timeline, becoming an eternally immobile origin point. The surrounding world will then rotate at a hundred times the speed of your reference.
You can terminate this state at any time. Upon termination, you will reconnect to the current timeline, and the world's timeline will be forcibly aligned according to your "anchor" position.
Cooling: None
Cost: Consumes 10 mana per second.
Lin Tian finished reading it.
The properties panel only has one and a half lines.
The description section contains only a few lines of text.
Compared to skill descriptions that are hundreds of words long, listing three or four effects, and accompanied by detailed damage coefficients and range of effect, the description of [Reverse Tide] is so concise that it is almost stingy.
There are no damage values.
No effective range.
There is no limit to the target quantity.
There is no cooldown period.
There is only one description.
There is also a line that says "the law of time".
This was the first time Lin Tian had seen this attribute classification.
The skills he possessed, from the most basic Fireball to the most advanced Starstorm, all had a clear system affiliation—elemental, spatial, spiritual, stellar... Each one had a clear damage formula that was quantifiable and predictable.
But this is a counter-current.
"You are an anchor point in the river of time."
Lin Tian repeated the description in a low voice, his gaze falling on the pale silver icon.
Anchor point.
He certainly understood that word.
In timeline theory, an anchor point is a fixed frame of reference.
Everything around us is in flux, only the anchor point itself remains constant.
But what about "kicking" the player out of the current timeline?
To make the world run at 100 times the speed?
And then you can force timeline calibration?
Lin Tian remained silent for a moment.
Why think so much?
He raised his head.
The moonlight remains, the courtyard remains, and the lights of Star Moon City in the distance remain sparse and tranquil.
Summer insects chirped among the grass, and the fragrance of night-blooming cereus was carried by the night breeze, sometimes strong, sometimes faint.
Everything was so normal, so peaceful, as if the world had always been this way and would always be this way.
He slowly stood up.
Then--
【Against the Tide】—Initiated.
In that instant, the world fell silent.
No.
It's not quiet.
It is... stagnation.
The wind stopped.
The moonlight seemed to freeze in mid-air, like a silver-white waterfall frozen in time.
The petals of the night-blooming jasmine in the courtyard remained suspended there, half-blown up by the wind, motionless.
The faint footsteps of the night patrol guards in the distance, the regular and rhythmic "tap, tap," had completely disappeared.
The whole world is like a painting that has been paused.
Lin Tian stood in the center of the painting.
He looked down at his hands.
The fingers can move freely, bend and stretch, and make a fist.
He tried to take a step forward, his foot landing on the bluestone slab with a clear "tap" sound—the only sound in this world at that moment.
He raised his head and looked again at the frozen moonlight.
No, it's not that he got faster.
The whole world... has slowed down.
Lin Tian opened the system panel.
Personal attributes, task list, skill bar... everything is normal.
His gaze shifted to the time display in the upper right corner.
【22:34:12】
The numbers remained still, like frozen water droplets.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Four seconds.
Five seconds passed.
Six seconds.
Seven seconds.
Eight seconds.
Nine seconds.
ten seconds.
【22:34:13】
The string of numbers jumped slightly.
It turned out to be the case.
The world hasn't stopped.
His "ten seconds" are equivalent to one second in the world.
The consumption of 10 mana points per second results in a time flow rate ten times that of an ordinary person.
Lin Tian silently calculated.
His current total mana is nearly 1000 million.
With a consumption of 10 per second, without the need for mana regeneration, he can maintain the [Reverse Tide] state for a full 100 seconds—which translates to 10 seconds in external time.
Ten seconds of "slow motion world".
That's enough for him to do a lot of things.
Lin Tian took another walk around the courtyard.
He deliberately quickened his pace, even jogging a few steps.
My mana is being consumed much faster than before.
He immediately stopped and checked the panel.
My mana dropped by about 1% in those few seconds of jogging—a percentage that was barely visible to the naked eye.
But the next second, the automatic mana regeneration mechanism was triggered, and that bit of mana was instantly restored to full.
It turned out to be the case.
10 mana per second is just the basic cost to maintain the [Reverse Tide] state.
Once he moves, casts spells, or even makes any slightly violent movements in this state, his energy consumption will skyrocket.
I only jogged a few steps, but my energy expenditure increased several times over.
He stood there, quietly experiencing this completely still world.
Then he saw it.
At the edge of his vision, between him and the world, there is an additional "line".
That's not a real, physical line.
It's more like a concept, a concrete manifestation of a rule.
It extended from between his eyebrows like a slender, translucent silver thread, stretching infinitely forward before—merging into the void and disappearing without a trace.
At one point along this line, a small, shimmering "anchor point" is slowly rotating.
Lin Tian stared at the line.
It felt strange. He didn't know if he should "see" it, but he saw it anyway.
That wasn't visual perception, but a deeper, soul-like awareness.
Just like a person knows they have a shadow, knows that their past and future have left their mark on this timeline.
He tried to reach out his hand.
The instant my fingertip touched that line—
An image exploded in his mind.
It's not a picture. It's "information".
He sensed the direction, the veins, and the branches of this line.
He sensed the location of that anchor point—it was the moment he activated [Reverse Tide], at 22:34:12, the instant he became the "eternally immovable origin of coordinates".
He sensed even more.
He sensed that he could touch the line.
He sensed that he could... manipulate it.
Lin Tian fell silent.
Then, he slowly raised his right hand, joined his index and middle fingers together, and gently pinched a certain spot on the silver thread—a small section behind the anchor point, representing the "three seconds that had just passed."