Just as they were wondering what Loki was going to do next, they felt a vibration in space. The vibration was akin to the spatial fluctuations that occur when the barriers of the extradimensions are broken, so the vibrations were familiar. But they couldn’t tell what the source of the vibration was.
The vibration was subtle and very weak. It was something they wouldn’t have noticed if they hadn’t had the entire space in the area on lockdown.
But even after noticing the vibration, they couldn’t tell what was creating it or where it was coming from. The best they could tell was that it most likely had something to do with Loki.
They all scanned their environment in order to spot whatever Loki might be up to. But just as they were looking around frantically, the world around them froze.
For what lasted for an eternity, but felt like an instant for them, the world was frozen. Then the world faded away.
The world and everything within it first lost color. After everything became bland and grey, they stopped being three-dimensional and turned into flat two-dimensional objects.
Next, the flat and grey world broke apart into lines. As the lines separated from each other, they broke into points. Then the points scattered and faded away.
While this was happening, no one around Loki noticed. Not even Loki noticed this. His consciousness had already entered the River of Time, so he couldn’t notice anything going on in the physical world.
What Forced Exchange was doing to the Gold Body Metac spooked him for various reasons. The thing he was afraid of the most was Forced Exchange targeting Fenrir and taking it from him.
Of course, aside from Fenrir, there were other Divine Metacs that he didn’t want to lose. The Rewind Metac is the most valuable one right after Fenrir. He would be devastated if he lost either one of them.
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy for Forced Exchange to take Fenrir or the Rewind Metac. At the very least, Forced Exchange must know that he has them. Forced Exchange must also have the money needed to pay for them.
But if Forced Exchange were allowed to take the Gold Body Metac, everyone would realize that the Gold Body Metac wasn’t his only Divine Metac. That would surely make the money cultivators extra curious about what he has in the core of his Cave Heaven.
Since he couldn’t stop Forced Exchange from taking the Gold Body Metac, the only option was to kill Forced Exchange or escape the precarious situation as soon as possible. He chose to escape the situation as soon as he could.
After making his decision to escape, he destroyed his Cave Heaven and activated the Rewind Metac. He didn’t even have time to devour his Cave Heaven. As soon as his Cave Heaven broke apart, he left with the Rewind Metac before Forced Exchange so that no one could notice what he was doing.
Now that he was in the River of Time, he was free to go upstream across it towards the past. What he realized as he swam upstream was that he could control when to stop the trip.
The last time he had gone through the River of Time, he had been unable to control when to stop. Coincidentally, he was also carrying a Divine Position within Fenrir during that trip.
When he remembered this, he said, "Come to think of it, the time before that, I was also carrying a Divine Position, and the one before that, I was carrying the heart of a world."
"During those periods that I was carrying something, I couldn’t control when to stop. But before, when I wasn’t carrying anything, I could control when to stop. Does that mean I lose control when Fenrir is full of stuff to digest as we cross the River of Time?"
While he was asking himself this question, he had already controlled the Rewind Metac to stop. So he fell out of the River of Time into the physical world.
When he got bearings of his surroundings, he realized that he had appeared in the past just one year after he awakened during the initiation program.
He was currently in the second heaven, eating everything he could see like the reincarnation of gluttony. Monarch Forced Exchange had just sent him a message about their appointment.
The message was sent to him through the divine constellation. It said, "The Thorn House of Commerce has deliberated extensively, and we have decided to accept you into their alliance. So you are officially welcomed to join the alliance."
"When will you be available for the swearing of oaths? I hope that now is a good time for you."
In the previous timeline, Loki had said, "I don’t have time for that right now."
The two of them had argued back and forth for a while. Eventually, Forced Exchange had given him the grace of one year to prepare.
Loki had known that he wouldn’t be available in one year’s time, but had agreed to the appointment time anyway. But this time around, Loki had decided that the Thorn House of Commerce was too dangerous to mess around with.
So he said, "I am busy setting up my Cave Heaven for raising spirit creatures. That will take a lot of time, so can you give me five years’ time to prepare?"
Forced Exchange was quick to say, "That’s too long. We can’t wait that long. You have to reduce it, or we will consider this as a tactic you want to use to blow us off."
"After all, you don’t need to stop making arrangements in your Cave Heaven while you meet with us. You can make the oaths while controlling your Cave Heaven."
"And even if you can’t, the swearing of oaths and signing of contracts won’t take too long. So the only reason I can think of for why you want to delay for so long is that you are not really interested in joining our alliance."