Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow!-Chapter 106: Just a contingency plan (part 1)

The prison carriage made a constant noise, jumping a little whenever one of its wheels did a full revolution.

Maybe it was a problem with the axle, maybe it was the wheel itself that was misshapen and overall faulty. Either way, no matter how much one would try, they just couldn't ignore this noise.

The noise that constantly reminded them that they were getting further and further away from civilization while getting closer and closer to where their fate would likely find its end.

That's how things would be normally, though. And with no one else but Theodore Evilbane locked in the carriage, things rarely went the way others would consider normal.

The noise that others executed by the exile would consider as their greatest bane on their last path through the safe lands became an anchor for Theodore's meditation.

And through this constant, unending noise, he managed to reach the enlightened state of mind, which was the very last requirement necessary for his plan to work.

'So that's how it feels…' Theo thought as his consciousness separated from the body, locking his mind within a single instance of time.

And within this single frame of reality, Theodore activated it all.

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The massive runestone smuggled by one of his men and then attached to the bottom of the prison cart. An array of jewelry, each holding an important component of Theodore's masterpiece of a spell.

Even the necklace of exile, one that would guide him back to civilization once the exile would come to an end, served as the center point for Theo's spell even though it wasn't originally a part of the array.

Finally, there was Theo's soul itself, an essence of his personality, character, memories, experiences… All of which made him who he was.

Then, a few seconds ago but also never and always, Theo's spell activated.

Still locked within a single instant of time, the magic power spun out, sucked out of the runestone and accelerated around the array of formations embedded into Theo's jewelry. And as this magic power continued to surge through the whole array, it then all focused on the necklace of exile, piercing a hole through reality as it did so.

Next, two things happened at the same time.

First, Theo's soul, while basking in this overwhelming amount of concentrated energy… condensed. And then…

'The last message, huh?' Theo thought, watching how his soul jerked up, breaking free from the restraints of time and then latching onto the one and only future anchor it could find.

This wasn't the main part of the spell, just a convenient little addition Theodore added strictly for sentiment's sake.

By the time this side-spell activated, the main one had already executed while also having yet to start and being fully completed.

When operating within a singular frame of existence, the laws of time no longer applied.

And so, with Theodore's soul already shooting out through the very fabric of the universe, it also re-emerged in the times that had yet to happen, in the one opportunity that his future self had created.

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"Theo!"

Hearing his voice called out, Theo opened up his eyes.

'Huh?'

At first, he couldn't see almost anything, with pretty much no light reaching the spot where he was.

It took his eyes a while to get used to the missing light, allowing the young man to recognize the girl desperately shaking his shoulders with a look of infinite worry on her face.

"Cal?"

The girl froze.

The look of shock imprinted on her face as she could do nothing but stare down at Theo's face.

"Judging by your reaction, it seems things didn't work out exactly as I had planned them, huh?"

Just the surprise on Callane's face from when he called her by her nickname told Theo enough to figure out the rest.

She would only have a reaction like that if it was something out of the ordinary, something special. And for him calling her the way he always did to be special, it could only mean that in her eyes…

Theo was no longer the same Theo that she knew.

Meaning, his contingency plan, a side project he added to his masterpiece of a spell purely out of sentiment, actually proved to be of utmost importance.

Not for the sake of Theo's mission. The success of that he had already ensured with the main body of his spell, but…

He just couldn't leave his dear Callane all alone without, at the very least, saying his farewells, could he?

"Is that…" Callane's face thawed a bit as tears started to brim in the corners of her eyes, "is that really you?"

That said it all.

In the end, Theo's mission that he started with his main spell… had both failed and succeeded. And while he couldn't have a single clue for why his memories didn't transfer back upon his return… He did return. And judging by the amalgamation of incomprehensible magic seals and flows inside of him, he did return successful, full of means to deal with the dangers of his exile, full of means to finally heal the world out of its biggest ills.

Regretfully, all of it came at a cost of the very essence of his soul that he transferred over to another world, to another civilization sophisticated enough for his soul to latch on to.

And right now, Theodore had scammed the flow of time itself to get one last chance to say all that he never had the courage to say before.

"Cal…" Just uttering the girl's pet name was enough for Theodore to melt down on the inside as he rose up, only to then reach out and bring the girl into a tight hug. "I'm really sorry for leaving you all alone to deal with this world, but I hope you will believe me when I say this," he took a moment to gulp down the regret welling up in his throat, "there was no other way."