Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 866 - 865 - Hope Steps Up

Over the last few years, Lind had to teach the various major systems to others because he simply could not do it all.

Wen was essentially the second in command but also interpreter of the external readings of the ship.

An older woman with gray and metallic black hair sat at a round table in the larger meeting room Lind had chosen. Her dark gray eyes looked up and the wrinkles on her face spread into a smile as she waved them in.

She wore a simple woolen shirt and cloth pants as her preferred choice. She was in the room first because she was from the medical bay. Elixirs, pills, and a few other items were the main supplies there but the woman in front of them had a unique gift.

Unlike any other hybrid, she was without a dragon clan but her blood was very important to all.

"True Lord, Lady Wen, I see you are resting as I ordered you too." Lind flinched at her kind words and Wen actually looked guilty. Hope giggled but ran over to her.

"Granny Oz, they work too hard!" The old woman smiled but then a glow of azure and tan flowed over Hope. It was her gift.

"You work too hard too but hide it better! Still, you are adorable!" The wrinkled hand was steady as a rock and full of power. Oz had no other name but her blood came from a rare dragon clan that had been wiped out.

Most hybrids only got a couple centuries as well as other benefits if they did not cultivate but Oz was different. A dragon clan called Earthen Heart Clan once specialized in incredible healing Arts.

Their hybrids stunningly could perform similar healing even though they were humans to start and their lifespan exploded! Oz was nearly a million years old!

Even the most haughty dragon would give respect to her! The High Priestess had recommended her.

Despite her frail appearance, she could easily toss Wen around like a child if she chose too.

"True Lord, the power issues have settled thanks to our stopping." A young man with grayish skin and scales came running in. There were small horns poking out from his silvery hair that hung down his back. His robes were stiff in a few places.

"No reporting yet, Gard, just take a seat." Lind waved to a seat and the Moon Tier dragon nodded.

The young man had taken to the power and support systems like a fish to water but he could only understand the systems as good as Lind, not truly repair them. The key component of the Hacore was still only under Lind's power.

"We are here, True Lord!" Silver hair bounced on Veran's shoulders as he was clearly straightening his robes as he came into the meeting room. Jeryl was right next to him and was blushing.

The reason was the scent all the dragons could clearly smell on her.

Lind smirked at young love but chose to forego any teasing as they had a grim conversation to get through.

"Take a seat. You all already know our problem. Many of you are far older than me and had access to the materials in the temple. Is there a way to protect against variable time?" Lind had focused on the concept himself but it required him to grasp Time Laws far better than he currently could.

It did not mean it was the only solution, but he simply did not have the time so he hoped someone here might have more knowledge than he did.

The pin drop silence did not bode well but was not surprising.

"I have touched on time a bit but only in relation to my healing abilities. It is closer to a partial Law trace more than anything I am afraid." Oz spoke up but it might help so he noted it for later. Inspiration could come from the tiniest seed.

"While the acolytes could often try to help us discover the Laws we grasped, time was always the most difficult. A few tried due to the potential of it, but none alive succeeded to my knowledge." Jeryl's pale yellow eyes looked regretful at not trying harder to grasp concepts behind time.

Lind smiled and waved it off.

"I suspected we might find issues but this variance is not something I can overcome with the ship. My grasp of Time Laws are too limited." Fiction did not help Lind this time. Even the few philosophical discussions with George and others only partially inspired him at best.

"Could we use gravity to overcome the issue?" Gard spoke up and Lind considered it. Theoretically, gravity could affect time but the extreme gravity needed would kill them all.

At least so far as Lind could guess, it would. A black hole was not much help for obvious reasons but even getting close to such a distortion of gravity might bend time around them.

The power needed, however, was far beyond the safety and capacity limits of the current Hacore.

"It is not a bad idea but even all of us combined on the ship with the Hacore would not be enough. Also, it would likely rip us all apart to even move." The meeting became silent at his words.

The limited contributions and his grim words made the scope of it all weigh heavily on them.

"Do we turn back to modify the ship?" Wen finally spoke up but all looked to him. He wanted to say it was an option but Oz beat him to it.

"Based on my evaluations, True Lord Frey has maybe a year or 2 at most before he collapses. The stress on his body keeps increasing and even an Immortal has limits." Lind grimaced but Hope blanched looking at him.

He had seen no reason to share his condition. He was not going to die, not for a long time, but he would not be able to be awake for more than a day after a handful of years.

A coma was far less taxing and he would simply deteriorate for a few centuries or less before everything died with him.

That was the state of the Celestial Fields. Everything was on a knife edge and the same knife was at his throat.

"Big Brother…?" Hope's tiny voice seemed to drive home their situation. It had taken nearly 35 years to just create the ship and he had admitted he did not grasp Time Laws very well.

Even the most gifted cultivator could take decades to grasp Laws.

They had run out of time and options. They could risk moving ahead or admit all loss of hope and turn back.

Hope stood up before slowly moving towards him. Lind smiled and swung his arm out but then froze as the room changed.

The others froze but not just them. The Qi and Laws he could perceive stopped moving entirely! Hope still moved!

He sensed the flow of time around him was no longer working! Hope then stood before him but he frowned at what he saw.

His Eyes saw the Celestial Qi dance in ways he had never considered and Time was at its whims, but she was bleeding!

Her eyes, nose, and mouth had small traces of blood before time resumed. All the others jumped as Hope, a peak Sun Tier, had just flitted across the room without any of them noticing!

"How did you do that?" Lind was asking quietly but she only smiled at him.

"When you saved me, I saw a dream. I was older. You were on a bed and many people were crying. Everyone was going to die soon but they all simply worried about you. The white death came for us all and I hugged you as we died." Tears mixed with the blood as she grasped on to him.

Her eyes, once so innocent, now looked ancient and mysterious.

[We are born outside of time. We are time. The chain was broken but you restored the path.] The moment passed but Lind knew he was the only one to hear those words. Hope was back to herself.

"I can do it. I can protect the ship but only for a short time. I don't want that day to come, Big Brother." Lind narrowed his eyes at her.

"And what price will you pay for that, Hope? You paused time for a few breaths and are pale, bleeding, and weak. Your meridians are strained. You do not have full control of it, do you?" His tone was firm but she did not hide it.

"I won't become an Immortal. I couldn't anyway. You knew that, Big Brother. I am already as strong as I will ever be." Wen shot to her feet in shock but Oz just smiled sadly. The others also looked with pity at her.

Only Lind understood.

Celestials did not cultivate the same as other races. They were born knowing their limits and manipulating reality to understand it was how they advanced. Time was part of the world so obviously Hope could control it.

The issue was she was not an Immortal. Heaven Realms, despite their power, could not control Laws. Law traces were available to her, but that was it.

What she was suggesting was exceeding her current limits by far. Lind, of all people, was more than familiar with the price a cultivator paid for that.

"I will die. It will hurt. I will hurt you." She did not look away from him as she spoke, Her eyes were clear and Lind felt his heart break. "You will live and save everyone because I believe in Big Brother Lind!"

Wen was suddenly behind Hope and hugging her. Tears were flowing like rivers and many at the table suddenly grasped something.

Hope and Wen were a couple!

"Hope, I chose to die to save a friend, more than once, but I want you to understand. When it comes, you will know darkness is closing in and it will never go away. You will be gone forever. The fact I am alive has more to do with dumb luck and some interference far above all of us." He did not hide the truth and did not sugarcoat her chances. "Even knowing all that, you still want to try?"

All heard the metal table groan as Lind's grip was causing his knuckles to turn white. All understood the effort it took for him to ask that question.

Hope smiled up at him and nodded as she held Wen's hands at her shoulder.

Tears fell from Lind's eyes as he stood up and looked at Gard.

"Prepare to use the emergency thruster. I want triple checks done and I swear to all the spirits of Heaven and Earth if anything is missed, I will not show a shred of mercy." Gard bowed low to both of them and bolted from the room. "The rest of you get the ship ready, now!"

All the others left until it was only Hope and Lind in the room. He pulled her into a hug and she cried into his shoulder. He did not want to let her go but both of them knew there was no choice.

Either Hope risked her life or the world died.