Master of Time

Chapter 102: Powers and Abilities (Auxiliary Chapter)

This is an auxiliary chapter! It is marked in the title. You can skip this chapter if you prefer. You actually won't miss anything if you have been paying careful attention to the story.

I hope you guys (and girls of course) enjoy the story thus far. Please forgive me for all the memes and references. It does get a bit excessive sometimes. Heh…

This chapter summarizes Maximilien Maxwell's current progression of powers and abilities thus far.

In the story and the continuity of the whole Aspectual Multiverse, there are several classes and types of power. You can consider them as grades of power if you prefer.

The best power is obviously Aspectual class. The next on the list is Primordial class. After that are the sub-classes of Aspectual and Primordial, but let's not get technical. You just need to know all the main ones.

Even if Maximilien Maxwell is an Aspect of Time, he can still use Primordial-based powers and abilities, but the Primordial won't like that very much. It is basically an Aspect stealing their powers.

And using Primordial-based powers and abilities will definitely get the attention of the Primordial, and all hell will break loose if they show up in person.

Of course, if this is what Maximilien intended to happen, then by all mean. They can consume an entire reality on a whim, so good luck fighting them, Max. We are rooting for you!

Alright, let's describe the powers and abilities that Maximilien Maxwell has thus far.

[Time Jump (Aspectual Class) – Active Type]

This is the first power Maximilien awakens.

It activates on his birthday, exactly when he is 18 years of age. The question is why exactly 18 years of age when human measurement of time really has no relative meaning to an Aspect? You will find out in the story later, but Maximilien did mention that "time" in the way he sees them is not what humans describe them to be. There are hints like these throughout the story!

The moment this power activates, it sends Maximilien straight to the future, just before the extinction event of the human race at their own hands. He gets basically nuked thousands of time until he figures out how to use this power.

Sounds easy enough.

Not really.

Maximilien is unable to activate it the first few hundred cycles of death because he didn't have any temporal energy left to use it. Heh. I didn't mention that part since temporal energy did not come into play then. It comes into play when temporal rifts happen, and I did state that he can absorb temporal energy to boost his power.

The rest is history, so you should already know if you have read this far.

Maximilien uses this power frequently, especially when he wants something to be done instantly. Like for example, instant researches. Well not instant, but superfast. He does this by stealing progresses and researches from the future repeatedly.

To prevent an unraveling paradox from taking place, Maximilien will automatically merge with his past or future self if he jumps into an instance when he already exists.

It is extremely disorientating when that does happen and extremely frightening if he is a fetus.

But all of this is due to the safety switch built into his power. Paradoxes can destroy the entire reality, so yeah.

Maximilien will figure how to turn it off one day. It is required to create a stable time loop. Stable time loop will fuck with people's mind because how insanely bizarre it is.

Have you guys seen Predestination (All You Zombies)? That sort of shits!

Although there is no limit to this power, Maximilien cannot jump beyond the beginning and the end of time. This is because time did not exist before or after such an event.

It is more correctly to say, time wasn't born yet. Heh. The end of time is when time is no longer needed. That does happen. Why? You will find you later in the story.

The most complaints I have heard or read in the comments or reviews is why doesn't Maximilien just fucking jump back in time to fix any screwups? Like the Rebecca stuff happens? It would be so simple.

Actually no.

To understand this, you must first understand Maximilien's core principles. He actually does not want to do more work than necessary. If it is his mistake, he will fix it because he will own up to his mistake, but if it is someone else's mistakes, why the fuck should he fix it?

This personality is common amongst all the Aspects. Aspects simply don't like picking up the shits the other have unknowing or purposely causes. They do have better things to do most of the time.

Otherwise, Terra would have just fixed Max's little problem – as in find all the Fragments of Time and restore his power and memory. She can do it with a snap of her fingers as she is that powerful.

But there would be no story at all. Doing this also mean Maximilien will be the old Maximilien, and not the new Max we come to love. Seeing his adventures, which will define who he is, is the fun part! He is ruthless, extremely sadistic, but he is also fair, loyal and honorable. He loves those around him, and he does try to help them with their situations – when he has time.

Acknowledging the past (old Max) and accepting the future (new Max) is one of the many themes of the story. It is one of his character's progressions.

Although Max does fix other's people screw up sometimes, such in Alex's case, but he gets annoyed in doing so.

Secondly, it also depends on how far back Maximilien has to jump to fix the problem. Too far back, he will get really grumpy.

Let's take Rebecca's case for example. It was several weeks ago, just after he talks to Henry Oxford and accept the documents for Terra Entertainment. To jump back that far and merging with his past self, meaning that he will have to redo everything up to the current point.

That is several weeks worth's of work. Would you do it if someone tells you to go back to your younger self and then acts exactly like you would for several weeks? I wouldn't.

In other word, unless it is a massive screwup, Maximilien wouldn't forfeit all his current progression and jump back to the past to redo everything again. He did once due to the internal collapses of the Galactic Empire, and it is enough.

I could talk for a long time about this power, but we should move on.

[Time Manipulation (Aspectual Class) – Active/Passive Type]

Time Manipulation first activates when Maximilien got killed, but this is the passive mode. It prevents him from dying, or more correctly to say, it prevents his soul from moving beyond the mortal plane of existence. You will learn about this later, when plane of existences finally come into play. It won't be for another few hundreds of chapters, I think.

I do foreshadow quite a bit of stuff.

Alright, a lot of stuff. Sorry.

It is for the 2nd (Arcane Academy – think Harry Potter, but our world) and 3rd Arc (World Domination – not just the prime reality, but all the other realities). 4th Arcs – Slaying the Gods – is way out there at the moment.

Anyway, you can read about all the arcs in the Auxiliary Volumes.

Maximilien learns how to use the active mode of this power after he figures out the time jump ability.

This power does come naturally to him, so he can reverse or accelerate the time of any object as well as person. It currently does not affect the soul of a person since this is beyond his current level.

The advance form of this power allows him to freeze the world as well freeze the time of any object he wishes. Once he figures this out, he uses it excessively so that things don't happen unexpectedly in the prime reality when he is not there in person.

Its awakening also brings forth the temporal rifts. So how did the temporal rifts come into being? It is obviously not him. Max already mentions this since he doesn't have that much temporal energy.

Maximilien usually uses this power to kill people by accelerating their time within an instant. In other word, he dusts them since everything reduce to dust when an absurd of time passes. He also uses this power to heal people, as reversing time will reverse all damage done to a person.

This power is actually a lot more versatile than what Maximilien has done thus far. He barely scratches the surface of this power. The full power Aspect of Time can kill anyone below Primordial level before they even know what hits them. That is a pun. Time is an abstract concept!

[Temporal Bubble (Aspectual Class) – Active Type]

Temporal bubble is actually an extension of Time Manipulation.

Instead of adjusting time for a whole object or person, Maximilien only wants to affect certain object in the body, like the brain for example, or a bunch of objects at the same time.

This means he can erase the memory of a person.

He first uses this power in full when he brings Atlantis into the present, so he can have an island for his base of operation. Oh, the original inhabitants on the island are free-for-all, but it is actually also a test for his men, the original arm forces of Hydra.

If Maximilien tells his army to pillage and rape people, they will pillage and rape the people regardless of whether they like it or not. The chain of commands is above personal preferences.

Maximilien does not need an army that does not obey his command. There will be no subordinations, especially during a mission. If someone refuse a direct order from their commanding officer or squad leader, they will just get executed right away.

There is no room for negotiation. All Hydra members know this, thus make them extremely efficient and super ruthless.

Maximilien doesn't really care about the people he doesn't know that much if you haven't notice. He cares about humanity as a whole, not individual people. If anyone goes against him and attempt to destroy all that he tries to accomplish, he will kill them in a heartbeat – probably.

Two heartbeats if they are family and friends.

It has been demonstrated that the bubble can expand to encompass an entire world. Doing so allows Maximilien to do his social experiments. It hasn't happened yet, but it will soon.

Just imagine the God create the Earth within 7 days. Well, Maximilien can do that in seconds.

7 days is way too much time for someone like him.

What else? Hmm… not sure. If I remember, I will update this.

[Temporal Duplication (Aspectual Class)]

Temporal duplication is another extension of Time Manipulation.

Maximilien figures this out when he was practicing temporal bubble ability. As he can interact directly with the temporal bubble and whatever are inside the temporal bubble, it allows him to basically steal things from the past by bringing it into the presence.

There is something that Maximilien cannot duplicate, however, for example – a soul.

If Maximilien brings a person inside the temporal bubble to outside, if they already exist somewhere, the copy he created will instantly be erased from existence since a soul cannot be in two places at the same time. This is the same as monster cores as it contains the essence (soul energy) of the monster, but unlike a person, the core becomes inert.

An inert core is actually very useful, as you will find out in the story eventually. Maximilien does have a few inert cores in his pocket dimension, since he has become a hoarder.

He hoards everything even if they appear to be useless.

What else? Not sure. Will update if I remember. Heh…

[Selene (Technological)]

Selene is a virtual intelligence designed by the eccentric doctor of the 31st century. She is to regulate all the nanomachines floating inside Maximilien's body. She is also to prevent the nanomachines from becoming self-aware and gain sentient.

Selene is not actually inside Max's brain because he definitely wouldn't allow something of the sort to happen. She is actually inside all the nanomachines floating inside his bloodstream.

As a supercomputer, Selene can interface with everything electronically and wirelessly. She can hack into virtually any computer system of the 20th and 21st centuries. She can also connect and talk to all the virtual intelligences, such as Shield or Legion. There is actually more virtual intelligence than those three, but they will be revealed when they are relevant to the story.

While in the prime reality, Selene addresses Maximilien as Operator. She calls him Master when they are in other realities.

As a virtual intelligence, she is not self-aware. She does not think independently and does not have a self-preservation directive. However, as a story progresses, she will gain sentient as well as an avatar.

Her personality will be based on Cortana from Halo franchise. When does that happen, who knows? I am jumping from one plot point to another at my own pace. At the moment, it is barely just the start of the journey.

I will talk a bit about the nanomachines inside Maximilien due to his augmentation. Some people have been complaining about why he can get hurt by someone like Halle Berry.

The nanomachines inside Maximilien gradually alter his genetics over time, making him an enhanced or evolved human biologically. This is different from standard augmentation or military grade, which does give instant boosts. When Max went for the augmentation, the doctor has already said so.

The final benefits are much better than instant boost.

And as his genetic is altered, Max gains increased strength, increased stamina, increased endurance, accelerated healing factor, expanded mental capacity and so on. Since adjusting genetics of a person is an art and exceedingly dangerous, the changes are happening in very small increment, allowing Maximilien to become more used to his augmentation.

Furthermore, Maximilien has a limiter on his Strength on to prevent unintended destruction.

Just imagine how painful it would be if his junior is solid steel? He would not enjoy it either.

Max likes to enjoy the little thing in life, whenever possible. All this power and not enjoying it is such a waste. This sometimes make him distracted, but he is focused on the main goal most of the time. Or at lest he tries to be.

[Legion (Technological)]

Legion is Maximilien's newest tool.

The virtual intelligence was created as a contingency plan to Hydra. Maximilien learns from his mistake in the Galactic Empire. Human-lead organizations will always become corrupt regardless of how safety measures are in place.

Only cold calculating machine will not, hence Legion is born.

Maximilien programs Legion himself, so it is like his child. He considers it as such, and he even gives it a gender instead calling Legion an "it".

Max has a great plan for Legion in the future, so he always keeps an eye on Legion. He hopes that his child doesn't go rogue when it finally becomes self-aware.

Legion is male. Selene is female. Shield is female. Each of them will become self-aware. I already make dozens of foreshadowing about this. It is inevitable, and only when they become sentient, does they can help Max with a lot more stuff he needs.

At least one artificial intelligence is required to suppress the other artificial intelligence. Hopefully that will be Legion, for we are one, we are many.

The micromachines are called XCOMBAT or simply XCOM. They are mainly served as Legion's avatars. Hence, Legion is actually everywhere.

Despite being called micromachines, Legion do have access to nanotechnology as the entire repository of human knowledge is within Legion's mainframe.

That is actually not correct. Unlike Shield, Legion doesn't really have a mainframe, so it doesn't have a weakness. Legion is based on the replicator in Stargate, where the sum of individual parts adds to the overall strength. So, to kill Legion, all of the micromachines must be destroyed. Even destroying a lot can hurt Legion.

The reverse is also true, the more micromachines Legion has, the more powerful he becomes. That is why Maximilien has him spread out the galaxy and start replicating.

But the main Legion is currently residing within the storage ring on Maximilien's finger.

Legion has access to spatial compression, which allows him to do many things.

One of Legion's special abilities is assimilation. He can devour another lifeform – biological or technological or even magical – and then reanimated it as one of its avatars.

Sadly, he cannot devour spiritual entity since they doesn't reside on the material plane.

Anywya, the newly created avatar gains all the powers and skills that the assimilated has. This allows for some cool stuff that you will get to see later!

This also allows Max to have a true terrifying army. As more and more beings are assimilated, Legion become more powerful as a whole. Hence the motto.

We are Legion!

I will try to make an epic scene about this part. ^-^b

[Magical and Spiritual Stuff]

This stuff is very complex, and this chapter is already long enough.

I will write about them when you learn more about it. We are still on the first arc, which is about 500 to 600 chapters long, so all of this stuff about magic and spirits is way out there at the moment.

The magic stuffs will come in play next arc, where people of the prime-reality will be selected to learn magic in a control environment. This includes celebrities, stars and idols. Oh, the public knows about magic by then, so it will be super fun. Most people should be able to use magic or sense magic by fourth arcs when the Gods start to become a problem.

For now, you just need to know only Max and a handful of selected individuals on the prime reality can use magic during the first arc.

And only Max as a living person can do all the spiritual stuff for the first arc. It will be hilarious. Well, I will see you guys in the next chapter. Enjoy!