A Chronometric Defect

"Do you think we've got this all sorted?"

"Absolutely Aitia, and you've been a big help. Make sure to distribute these inscriptions to every dragon. They must keep themselves comfortable amongst polite society."

"Of course!"

I watch as Aitia shrinks from a— reah, 30 meter dragon, down to just below 20 meters. Is he doing that to stay shorter than me? Hreh.

"Rawr!"

I happily roar at him, because why not.

"Rarw! Thanks again Chronomet! Yesterday was the best day of my life, and so long as you're around, it never seems to stop getting better!"

The temple inscription speaks.

"Ah, ah? What about me!"

"You too, Tempy!"

"Rah! Rar!"

Why is an inscription roaring? Rehm.

I try to speak with him using only my thoughts.

Speaking of, do you like your name as 'Temp' or, I'll—

"I LOVE IT!"

That means 'temporary' in computing terms, but I suppose he doesn't have my past life's context. It is fitting, though. Temp, temple.

And reah, it seems he can hear me when I address him. I'll speak aloud for now; I guess?

"Then, what about the Mana Gathering array; can we stabilize it?"

"There's not enough Mana in the atmosphere! We'll only be able to run it at night for about thirteen minutes per day! The only reason we ran it longer earlier is because so much Mana was already gathered around!"

"Rehm. Set the time at thirteen minutes to midnight. I'll notify the dragons."

I've learned that days here are only about 20 hours from my old world. I knew they were shorter but not the exact conversion until now.

Studying that knowledge bestowal spell gave me more mastery over my perception of spacetime. The spell instructs dragons how to use their wings at a subconscious level, thus it contains a method to use gravitometric displacement to determine relative time dilation. Knowing that is, apparently, key to flying using the spatial plane. I haven't the slightest clue why. Since I know the rough size of my former solar system, I can use my knowledge of relative gravity, orbital durations, and tides to calculate and cross-check the relative length of a day. Incredibly, making a diorama of the solar system in third grade actually paid off. I'd thought it was entirely useless by my teen years. Not so!

As for this solar system? I simply viewed it myself. Space is a wonderful sight to behold.

The complicating factor is that folks here went with a hundred hour/minute/second system. Thirteen minutes to midnight is 99:87.

Time here has been recorded with magic since time was first calculated. Sunlight? Varying numerical systems? Mechanical gear sizes? Not a consideration. Which explains the complete lack of mechanical clocks. Not that I'd noticed until building my temple.

13 minutes is approximately 1.872 past life minutes. The rough conversation rate is therefore 0.1666 for hours, 0.144 for minutes, and 0.0864 for seconds. Regardless of measure, 13 minutes still isn't much. I should do something about this once I've become powerful enough to move Mana around however I please.

"YES, MY LORD!"

"Relax, Temp. Relax. I don't want you to scare off any visitors. Rhokay?"

"Yes, my lord! :)"

Wha— how did his voice make an emoji?

I'm reminded of what I did to Aitos with my voice inscription. But, an emoji? I'm not sure. He must know how to do that because he's an inscription.

I shake my dragon head. I'd best get over to the other continent before something else—

*bzzzzzt*

Elven Lord Todrian

Reh. Seriously?

I hit 'accept.'

"Hello, Chronomet! Your sermon was dazzling. I hadn't considered such philosophical intricacies! I'm formally inviting you to our forested elven capital, should you wish to visit. We're already set for your arrival."

Forested?

"Rahawr, thank you— and certainly, Todrian. I take it you mean Isteron City?"

"Ah, no! We use a large spatial displacement spell to make it appear like Isteron City is our capital. Isteron's actually a fortress city we can spatially retract at any time. Our real capital is situated at Qventeria Forest! It does qualify as a city, despite its name."

I hadn't heard of that.

Pathfinder, show Qventeria Forest.

A red dot pops up on the other continent. Hreh, you got me good, Todrian! Allow me to return the favor.

"Sounds fun, I'll be right there."

"Eh? We are—"

I transfer to his location; in front of his tree balcony, which he's currently standing upon. I'm tall enough to stand above his little treehouse, though. I put my huge hand on his tree balcony.

*THOK*

*creeeak*

My hand's weight alone is causing the tree to complain, but it's fine. I won't damage anything.

The connection drops and he looks up at me.

"My, my! I figured you would need a little more guidance! You never cease to amaze, do you Chronomet?"

"I should hope not— I'mma dragon after all. Rawr! Reheheh."

"Would you like to see the sights or visit our council, oh esteemed one?"

Rewh, esteemed one. Haven't heard that before. I like it.

Still, this is a classic political trap. I don't even need to know the elves personally; I know exactly what he means. He's asking whether I covet his land or want to broker a relationship with his people.

The answer is both, Todrian. You're going to have to deal with one of my world-famous 'meetings.' I smile toothily.

"Why don't we gather up the council and observe the forest's beauty? I don't think I can fully enjoy it without walking alongside its venerable protectors."

He seems confused for a moment, then realizes something nods his head. He looks back up at me with a mix of awe and fear.

He got my meaning. Though I don't think he expected me to so easily dismantle his words.

"Surely, oh esteemed one. I'll contact them. May we reconvene in nineteen hours at thirty seven point three kilometers due west, four point seven kilometers due south from this location?"

That's pretty specific yet random. Plus, that'll be nighttime.

This place may be a different continent, but it's dark on the east coast of Shridenia. This area is pretty close to the west coast of... Soon-to-be also Shridenia, so the sun is going down. Nineteen hours is about 1/5th of the day, meaning in past life terms, our meeting will be roughly five hours from now.

Annoying.

I didn't become a time god to do time zone conversions!

In any case, it'll be close to midnight at my temple by the time we meet up. Is this a trap? Yes? Please be a trap.

"Alright, just don't keep me waiting. I might get bored."

"Your boredom is world-famous, Chronomet. Neither I nor the council dare bore you!"

Reh. I bet Leario is spreading that rumor. It's not entirely wrong so I'll let it go.

Plus, he can do whatever he wants. At the end of the day, power crushes everything. And roh boy do I have a lot of that.

Status.

Name: Chronometric Dragon God

Stats:

Str: 1.1o

Sta: 1.0o

Int: 1.8o

Wis: 1.7o

Reah. Octillion. My stats jumped quite a lot. This puts my raw stats in the decillions. Yet my evolution remains stalled at 0%. I'm not inclined to care— it's as though the numbers have become meaningless. If a god couldn't kill me without help then in no way can anything else. On this planet at least.

I mosey over to the meeting spot via transference.

There's a nice waterfall here, but nothing else of note.

Do they really like this particular waterfall? There isn't a trap? It seemed so obvious, too!

Rawh, I'm disappointed. I wanted a trap.

As if to answer my complaints—

*SKREEEAAT*

— I'm hit from behind by a sharp object. Amazingly, it tears deep into my body. Hrah?

It doesn't do much since there's nothing in there for the attack to injure. I heal instantly and dodge the next attack.

*swoosh*

I turn around. I'm greeted by a large insect-type monster.

Another insect monster? Well, insects are the most numerous member of the phylogenic kingdom 'Animalia.' That was true in my past life and it's still true here.

The insect is roughly six meters tall. It looks similar to a heavily armored yet agile beetle. It has some strange facial features even for an insect, but who am I to judge?

Its carapace is mostly green with stripes of orange running down its sides, which then fade to white. Those stripes flare off toward its back in a zig-zag pattern. It has a triangle-shaped head, upon which its mandibles are positioned top and bottom like an animal's jaw. Its eyes are a large and bulging brownish-yellow. It's also got two large antennae above two smaller ones which, despite their large size, look translucent similar to glass. It has yet another antenna on the left side, but this isn't mirrored on the right. Perhaps the right side was broken at some point.

Its chitinous armor is segmented similar to plate mail. Its wings are the same as your typical insect, but their protective covering interestingly flares out like a dragon wing's arm. Its legs are thin but rugged. Its body is clearly meant for walking on four, if not all six legs. Finally, its chest armor has orange shoulder spikes which likely serve to protect its head.

Its form is VERY slick and imposing; it's almost as cool as a dragon. Not at all grotesque or malformed like the warp bug. Plus, it almost mimics dragons in some ways? It's just a shame it clearly can't walk on two legs, otherwise I'd want this creature in my hoard at all costs. However, I'm not that interested. Not yet. Let's see if it has sapience.

"Hello, may I ask why you're attacking me?"

"You, dragon— you can talk?"

Rah, it knows spoken language! It has a very deep voice, so I guess it's male. Hreh. Is he not in with the elves, or is his cluelessness a misdirection?

"Things have changed. I'm the Chronometric Dragon God. I'll forgive your attack if you submit to my divine rule."

He flaps his wings.

*bsstzzt*

"You, are... Trying to incite my anger?"

"No, no. I took your attack to judge your strength— you're slightly stronger than the Dragon God at his prime."

Which is true. I had no need to dodge, so I didn't. I was expecting this to be a trap in the first place.

"An appropriate guess, strange dragon."

"I'm many millions of times stronger than the Dragon God. 'Millions' is a dramatic understatement. I admit your ability to break my scales is remarkable. This, however, cannot cause me any harm, not even if you reduced my entire body to shreds. I'm offering you a chance to submit rather than be killed and eaten. Your choice?"

"Fight me and we'll see. Loser must obey the winner. Deal?"

A duel? I take it back. He is interesting.

"Sure."