Sora stood still, watching the trees outside the time-bending zone sway unnaturally fast while inside, everything seemed unchanged. He shifted his attention to Kara, his expression thoughtful.

"How long can you keep this effect going?" he asked.

Kara glanced at him, slightly nervous. "Thirty seconds, max."

Sora raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed. "That's not bad at all." He glanced back at the world outside their zone, watching the rapid movements. "Now, reverse it."

Kara hesitated for a brief second before focusing her energy. The shimmer of her time-bending ability flickered for a moment, and the world outside began to slow down. From their perspective, it was as though time beyond the zone had nearly come to a halt.

"Twenty-seven seconds left," Kara said, her voice calm but focused.

Sora nodded, taking in the situation. "So, what else can you do with it?"

"I can reduce or expand the zone," Kara replied, her tone thoughtful. "It consumes more mana depending on the size. Smaller zones take less energy, larger ones drain faster."

Sora crossed his arms, thinking through the implications. "Let's try something. Reduce the zone as much as possible."

Kara nodded, focusing her mana again. The shimmering boundary of the time-bending zone began to shrink, slowly closing in around them. Sora could feel the pressure of mana being condensed, the air growing heavier as the zone tightened.

The world outside moved at the same rythm. Kara's control was remarkable for someone at her level, but he could tell it took immense focus and energy.

As the zone kept closing on them, he got closer and closer to her.

As the shimmering time-bending field shrank to a tight bubble barely a meter wide and two meters high.

"How long can you maintain this?" he asked, his voice calm despite the tension in the air.

Kara looked at him, her focus unwavering. "Thirty minutes inside the zone. Fifteen minutes will pass outside."

She didn't seem to be tired anymore. It seems she only needed to focus to make changes with the skill.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "That's impressive. But can you recover mana while you're doing this?"

Kara shook her head. "No. The zone blocks out external mana flow, so I can't recover while maintaining it. We're in a mana-starved space."

Sora thought for a moment, then nodded. "Increase the intensity of the effect. Let's see how far you can push it."

Kara nodded, focusing on her mana control. The air within the zone seemed to shimmer more intensely as the world beyond them slowed even further. The wind outside seemed to freeze in place, and the sunlight casting shadows across the field barely shifted, as though time itself had been brought to a near halt beyond the bubble.

Sora moved his hand, noticing no resistance inside the field. "Everything feels normal in here," he noted. "But out there, it's like the world is barely moving."

Kara smiled faintly, though the effort of maintaining the spell was becoming more apparent. "Inside the field, we feel nothing different. But to someone watching us from the outside, we'd be moving so fast, it'd be almost impossible to track."

Sora's eyes flicked to the edge of the bubble. "How much faster are we now?"

Kara closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on the energy flow within the spell. "Right now, time inside the bubble is flowing five times faster than outside."

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"Impressive." Sora glanced at the world beyond, where a bird was flying slowly, barely moving. "Let's push it further."

Kara nodded, her concentration deepening. The shimmering in the air grew more intense as the gap between their time and the outside world widened. The bird in the distance seemed to have stopped completely, its wings hanging in the air as if trapped in a moment of stillness.

Sora observed the change, still feeling no difference inside the bubble. "What's the difference now?"

Kara's voice was a little strained. "Twenty times faster. But it's starting to drain my mana quickly."

Sora nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly as he continued to study the frozen landscape around them. "Keep going. Push it until you can't anymore."

Kara gritted her teeth, her fingers twitching slightly as she funneled more mana into the spell. The air shimmered with a near-visible pressure now, and everything outside their field was almost completely static. The sun barely moved, the wind had stopped altogether, and even the faint rustling of leaves outside the zone had gone silent.

After a long moment, Kara exhaled sharply, her face pale from the effort. "That's it... I can't push it any further."

Sora looked around, noting the eerie stillness outside their bubble. "How fast is time moving for us now?"

Kara wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead. "We were moving about 100 times faster than everything outside. So we will spend around a hour here. I can't refine mana further."

Sora raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. "That's amazing"

Kara shook her head. "No. The only thing I felt was my mana being drained. Every time I maintained the intensity, I could still speak or act normally, but changing the effect was... exhausting. And this isn't useful at all, I can only stay inside without doing anything as mana is not enough to train. I can use it as a way to time skip by reversing the effect, but that is also useless... "

Sora nodded, considering what they'd just experienced. They could spend a while inside the bubble, testing her abilities, yet only a few minutes would pass in the outside world. It was an impressive feat, but it came at a heavy cost to her mana reserves.

He glanced at the edge of the bubble, curiosity sparking in his eyes. "What would happen if I tried to leave the time bubble?"

Kara blinked, caught off guard by the question. "You could cross it, but once you're outside, you'll no longer be affected by the time manipulation. Inside, we're moving faster. Outside, time flows normally again."

Sora's gaze flicked to her. "Has anyone else seen this skill in action?"

Kara hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Just Master Areva. She told me not to show it to anyone else. Said it was too dangerous, that people would try to exploit it or kill me."

Sora chuckled softly, though his tone held a note of caution. "She's not wrong. This skill could be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. But you know I can resist its effects, right?"

Kara nodded, her eyes serious. "I do. If you resist the time manipulation, it'll drain my mana faster to keep the effect stable. I could release you from the field, but if I don't..."

Sora's smile faded slightly as he considered the implications. "Then we've got a real weapon here," he said quietly. "Let's not use it in fight until we have a way to keep it secret".

"This skill has incredible potential," he said, his voice calm but carrying a note of genuine admiration. "But it's not exactly what I expected you to focus on first."

Kara looked at him, still catching her breath from the strain of maintaining the time-bending bubble. "Not what you expected?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah. Your Time-Bending skill is powerful, no doubt about that. But we have to hide it from the world if there is no way to hide its effects. We can't get ourselves killed in our first week outside. But the problem is, your skill levels are too low for now, especially since you just changed classes. We need to get you up to speed quickly. And more than that, you need to regain some of the abilities you had before."

At his words, Kara's shoulders slumped slightly. She knew he was right. The change to her new class had been exciting, but the price had been steep. She had lost all the skills she had learned as a Priest, all the healing abilities , her shields, buffs, she had relied on for so long. It had left her feeling exposed, vulnerable. She nodded in response to Sora's question, her voice quiet. "Yeah... I lost all of my skills from the Priest class. It was hard to accept, to be honest."

Sora placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's not as bad as you think," he said, his tone steady. "In fact, it's okay. Losing those skills might feel like a setback now, but I have a way to help you reach your previous peak. And not just that—I can help you surpass it, make you stronger than you've ever been."

Kara looked at him, a spark of hope flickering in her eyes. "You do? How? This is what you meant with the contract?"

Sora's smile widened slightly, a hint of his confidence showing through. "Trust me. Without your old class and old experience, we can push your growth to an entirely new level. You won't just regain what you lost—you'll explode in terms of power."

Sora paused for a moment, his gaze thoughtful. "What skill did you have the most mastery over before the class change?" he asked, his tone calm and inquisitive.

Kara didn't have to think long. "Heal," she answered softly. "It was unlocked when I reached level 15 in the Priest class. I used it all the time. It could be targeted at myself or others... It was my go-to."

Sora nodded, his expression serious. "Good. Use it now."