The recluse's room.
Dim yellow light spilled onto the wall.
Reflecting the shadows of ancient runes. Claire sat in the corner of the room, leisurely sipping her black tea, as if placing a Time Machine in the drawer just now was the most normal thing in the world.
This might be the technology the Titans claimed to have mastered.
After all, they were the ones who first received benefits from the Creator.
Equivalent to partaking in God's feast.
As long as there is special effort involved, doing such things is quite reasonable.
"You're going to clean out all the Japanese manga."
Ian grumbled as he climbed into the opened drawer—it looked plain and ordinary, just a regular wooden drawer, but inside, it emitted a bottomless darkness.
Like an entrance to another world.
After he crawled in.
The room returned to silence.
Just as Claire was about to quietly resume drinking her soup and pick up her gaming console to play games.
"Are you sure this won't suck me in and turn me into dust in a black hole?" Ian's head popped out from the drawer again, asking uncertainly.
"Theoretically, it won't."
Claire put down her soup bowl.
"Unless you press the wrong button."
Her words made Ian feel slightly uneasy.
"Huh? There are buttons like that?"
Ian was hanging onto the edge of the drawer, never actually letting himself fall into the space within—the dimension below was pitch black, and Ian could indeed see a very familiar-looking Time Machine.
"Of course."
The Female Titan nodded.
"There are lots of stickers on it, should be pretty intuitive, all are hints." It was obvious she had done a "beginner's guide," clearly aware of how complex her creation was.
"So, I crawl inside, and then I'll end up in a Time Machine identical to Doraemon's?" Ian's mouth twitched; he could indeed see many buttons on the Time Machine.
"Exactly!" Claire nodded proudly; she evidently didn't understand copyright law. Of course, perhaps as a Titan, the concept of copyright, which emerged later, is something they truly could disregard.
"..."
Ian took a deep breath.
Cautiously, he loosened his grip. The next moment, he felt a force pull him suddenly, his vision darkened, and his body sank—the sensation of weightlessness surged immediately.
He fell inside.
Ian felt like he was floating in a zero-gravity universe, surrounded by darkness, only the sound of wind whistling in his ears. A few seconds later, his butt landed heavily on a metallic surface.
"Bang!"
Ian fell onto a soft yet cold metal surface. Looking up, he indeed found himself sitting in a Time Machine identical to Doraemon's!
"Hiss—" he rubbed his tailbone, looking around.
Indeed, it was a Time Machine identical to Doraemon's.
Its appearance was rounded and retro, overall in blue and white tones, with buttons, dials, and screens all over its surface. The most bizarre part was, it really had a few Doraemon stickers on it.
The cabin walls were plastered with Doraemon stickers—some were eating dorayaki, others fiddling with the four-dimensional pocket, and even one of Nobita crying.
Besides that.
There were indeed some operational instructions on it, along with stickers encouraging Ian like "Go, Raven!", "Time Journey Departing!", "Don't be late!" and more.
The flavor of the recluse's creation was really strong.
"..."
Ian, expressionless, reached out to peel off a sticker, finding a small line of text hidden beneath it:
[Claire's creation, infringement will be pursued.]
Alright, perhaps even a recluse Titan does know copyright law; at least she is quite adept at claiming copyright infringement, although it's unclear what kind of pursuit she's referring to.
"..."
At this moment, Claire's voice came from above, like some kind of holographic projection:
"Can you hear me?"
Ian looked up, seeing the Female Titan's translucent image appearing above the cabin.
"I can hear you." He replied blankly.
"Good! Now, let's start the Time Machine operation tutorial!" Claire clapped her hands enthusiastically while holding her gaming console, Ian clearly seeing her in his view.
The image switched to a virtual operation interface.
"Seriously, you're starting the tutorial now, you did that on purpose, didn't you?"
Ian shouted upwards.
"Hurry up, don't dawdle."
Claire's voice came from above.
Without a direct response.
Just with a hint of amusement.
Ian sighed, straightened himself, and began examining the operation panel in front of him.
"First, find the dial in the center of the console!"
Ian looked down, finding a large round dial in front of him, engraved with ancient runes instead of ordinary numbers.
"This dial is used to set the time," Claire's voice transmitted to him through some kind of magic power, "You can rotate it to choose the target year. The outer ring represents the century, the middle ring is the year, and the inner ring is the month and date, very simple and direct, so be careful not to select the wrong time."
Ian tried to rotate the outer ring, the runes glimmering with light as he moved them.
"Why do you sound particularly experienced at this?"
Ian adjusted the dial while complaining.
"Because I have made several models of Time Machines," Claire answered seriously, "Though each is slightly different, the basic principles remain the same."
"Next, infuse magic power to activate the positioning system!"
She continued her introduction.
Upon hearing this.