Ian drew out his magic wand and gently tapped the center of the dial. Instantly, the entire interior of the Time Machine lit up with a soft blue glow, and the runes on the dial began to flow, as if coming alive.
"Now, set your target time — 300 BC, Greece!" Claire's voice really had that newbie guide feel.
"That's the target year for your first mission," Claire explained, "There's a talking rose absorbing the area somewhere."
"So I still have to go and find it, right?"
Ian nodded.
Continuing to observe the other buttons.
"This red one is the start button," Claire pointed to a conspicuous red button in the middle, "Press it and the machine will start a three-second countdown, then transport you over."
"Sounds pretty straightforward." Ian frowned, "Is there anything I need to pay attention to?"
"Of course there is." Claire's tone suddenly turned serious, "First, you cannot change crucial historical points; second, you must complete the mission within the limited time, or you might be stranded in that era; third, if you encounter danger, immediately press the green button, it's the emergency return."
Upon hearing this.
"Sounds like a game tutorial."
Ian mumbled.
"Actually what you're doing now is more complicated than playing a game," Claire chuckled, which didn't comfort Ian at all, but rather made him feel quite helpless.
Ian took a deep breath.
Ian carefully adjusted the dial, the outer circle's runes stopped at a symbol resembling an olive branch, representing Ancient Greek civilization, while the mid-circle was positioned at the "300 BC" node.
"Final step!" Claire's image suddenly leaned close, "Press the red start button!"
Upon hearing this.
Ian nodded.
His finger slowly approached the red button.
"Wait." Claire suddenly added a sentence, "One more tip."
"What?"
"Don't let others see your Time Machine, the era has the Gods you're familiar with," she said, "and the power of the Time Machine was borrowed from there."
Ian was left astonished.
"…"
He didn't know how to evaluate this.
He closed his eyes.
Pressed the red button.
"Three... two... one..." Accompanied by a low hum, the entire space began to distort, blue light flickering, and the surrounding scenery quickly blurred.
The Time Machine shook violently, the surrounding darkness began to twist, forming a multi-colored tunnel. All the Doraemon stickers on the cabin wall floated up.
Wavering in the air.
"Good luck!"
Claire's voice gradually faded, "Remember to collect Epiphyllum honey!"
Ian hardly had time to get angry at this remark, the next second, a strong pulling sensation hit, Ian felt himself being thrown into a spinning kaleidoscope—his figure vanished into the drawer, leaving that sticker-covered Time Machine quietly floating in the darkness, awaiting its next activation.
Meanwhile, outside the room, Claire set down her teacup, the corner of her mouth slightly raised.
"Hope you don't mess things up,"
She whispered.
Her gaze turned to the endless cosmic starry sky outside the window.
"After all, this timeline is more fragile than ever." Claire's voice echoed in the empty room, but Ian could no longer hear what she was muttering.
Ian had never experienced such a terrible crossing.
If the jumps made by the Time Converter felt like someone abruptly shoving you, then this "Doraemon" Time Machine experience was like being thrust into a washing machine drum.
Then thrown into the eye of a hurricane to be frantically stirred.
"Whoa—ugh—"
The intense dizziness hit instantly, Ian clung tightly to the armrests, his knuckles whitening from the force. The multi-colored time stream spun wildly outside the cabin, forming a dizzying vortex. His vision was pulled into blurred blocks of color, his ears filled with sharp buzzing, like thousands of Mandragora screaming simultaneously.
"Damn Titan, this isn't meant for humans, it's far scarier than the Time Converter!" he shouted in his mind, but his mouth couldn't open, his voice swallowed by the time stream.
All around was a chaotic crossing of lights and shadows, the past and future flashed rapidly before his eyes—he saw a collapsed castle, a burning forest, a little girl in Muggle clothes crying, an old man sitting by a window writing a letter... These images lacked logic and sequence, as if someone shredded all of history and scattered it into the air arbitrarily.
"Is this a crossing? Or madness?" Ian was almost crying.
He tried to grab onto something, but nothing could be grasped. His body seemed no longer his own but became a particle of dust in the river of time, drifting without direction.
Suddenly a shrill buzzing sounded, like countless old radios playing different channels simultaneously. Then, just as Ian thought he might use a single-use Time Machine.
A violent jolt surged abruptly.
"Claire—" Ian gritted his teeth to force out the name, he was nearly flung out by the Time Machine, "You call this—'a bit bumpy'?"
Perhaps when creating this Time Machine, Claire hadn't considered that its user was a Little Wizard, even if as a Legend, Ian's physical prowess was clearly incomparable to the Titans. In fact, even if Claire was an underdeveloped Titan, her physical strength was far greater than Ian's.
Fortunately, this dreadful experience didn't last long.