In front of Degritone stood two of himself, new body and all. He readied his sword, but they dismissively waived him off in the way he would if he were in this situation. That caused him to pause and he motioned to the Dungeon entrance with his head and they all three went in, entering maximum time compression.

Degritone tried to create a new window with text on it and send it to his new copies, as he would with a Skill window. "So, I guess I'm not the real one if you two - one? - are already timeline hoppers."

"We can't know that for sure," one of them responded similarly. "Just because we're first doesn't mean we're the true Degritone of this multiverse."

"And no, we're both from different timelines. We've been looking for a way to make better coordinates so we can hop timelines in a much more accurate way. And, the coordinates we used to get back to our world lead to your timeline, so if anything, you're the real one."

"no u"

They all silently chuckled. "But seriously," the "real" Degritone responded, "did the coordinates actually lead to my timeline? Very compelling argument that I'll be the one to make it to multiverse hopper. Also odd that only two of you came here, if there's supposed to be infinite of me that became a timeline hopper in that moment."

"Yeah, we haven't had much time to explore yet, but I have a whole 4 day head start on you two and I've found the number of timelines of us not only not increasing, but decreasing. A timeline I'd been to before merged with another and the coordinates for one stopped working."

"What? That shouldn't happen, except in looping multiverses, and only right at the very end when all the timelines converge to a single event and effectively merge. Like... you already know, why am I explaining?"

"Because we are incapable of leaving things unsaid and imprecise when we're allowed time to converse."

"True. So, are we in a looping multiverse, then?"

"From everything I've seen, no. It seems we've had differing run ins with our respective So'Ejans. Plus, since we came from a single Degritone, and we're very much rigid in our thinking, I'm surprised we diverged at all, honestly. One timeline, one mind. Yes, the rest of the universe is effectively random, but we should have reacted the exact same and the changes shouldn't be large enough to notice except in the timelines that collapsed or whatever other way it could have ended."

"Could it also be that it hasn't been much time since we revived?"

"I went to many timelines of the soul contraption, and a bunch of our souls didn't escape, some did, and a couple others I freed myself while whatever the System was doing was still prevented by our Class Ideal."

"How many of me is running around this timeline right now?"

"Just us three, as far as I know. All the others didn't want to leave their Melena alone. With the knowledge that they're not the real one, they knew that their timeline would guaranteed be taken over eventually by the real one, and went to comfort Melena instead of save this world. We're here basically just because someone had to come give the news to the main timeline."

"Oh! Is it possible the system is somehow involved in the reduction in timelines?" The third Degritone asked.

"It's not impossible," the first timeline hopper said, "but I don't think the cause matters."

"And would I really leave this world for Melena if I knew I wasn't the real one?" The "real" Degritone asked.

"You might not, but all the ones I freed did, as well as... I think it's at five of the ones that I happened to meet that freed themselves also chose to go stay with Melena. The fact that timeline hoppers exist at all is kinda proof that our power scheme must be true in some way, and I guess they figured that, since they weren't able to escape and the original coordinates lead to your world, they weren't the real ones and might as well just sit back and enjoy their time before your inevitable rise to multiverse hopper."

"Should we even be... no, I guess this pocket's Gatiel would have stopped you if I were meant to not see you. You capable of sharing timeline hopping powers?"

The third Degritone had a realization, "Wait, what are we going to do if this pocket's Gatiel is a loli? Yes, they can take any form they want like anyone with a pure energy body, but Gatiel still had a base form. Surely they will, too. What if it's loli like with Music? We kinda need to be able to defeat them to make multiverse-altering changes like we want, if they are as different from Gatiel as this one seems just from its methods."

"It could have also just, well I guess we should say 'they,' but blah, could have also just showed us that without it actually being their overall method. Though, it could also be that they are that different. As for what we'd do... Good question. We'd have to figure out a way to make the changes without changing how the multiverses end. To do that we'd need to allow destruction multiverses to be destroyed.

"We could also just get a loli to order us to accomplish our goal before we encounter them. Anyway, timeline hopping powers?"

"Yeah, so, basically, you need to make the same shape that the system makes for teleportation, but keep it active and don't provide any coodrinates. It'll bring up a system interface that allows you to view 'nearby' timelines and their coordinates. It's not our own power, though, so we'll need to figure out the principles behind this. I'm sure a few of us'll want to help out the main timeline by researching it. Here's the structures needed to make that, in memory packet form."

After absorbing the memory, the 'real' Degritone asked, "Ok, how in the world am I the real Degritone? Other versions of me are definitely going to get to true timeline hopper first, and then there's no way they aren't going to be researching how to get to multiverse hopper. Also, can one of you go comfort my Melena for a bit? You're me, you know exactly why."

The third Degritone nodded and disappeared.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The first timeline hopper responded, "You definitely are, no question about it. The system keeps a little marker on us that's almost just the coordinates, just missing the outer shell, telling it what our original timeline is, presumably so it can return us really easily. Your marker is 100% the coordinates we used to get to this timeline from out of the multiverse. So, unless the system messed up, you're undeniably the original."

"Hm. Did you find anyone who used their ticket or failed to successfully transfer to my timeline? I assume the 'you are being hunted' means they're back in the soul place again, or maybe under higher security."

"Yeah, we haven't been able to find anyone who did. The ticket didn't leave anything behind when torn, so we can't even tell when it was used. There's just a bunch of timelines where there's no Degritone, at least that we could find."

"Sad. Have you gotten a few of us together to try taking on a So'Ejan?"

"No, and you know why."

"Yeah, doing so would almost definitely result in a second death, potential capture by the system's soul thing, and an entire timeline of sad Melena for each dead Degritone, plus a sad Melena for the timeline you attempt it on since you wouldn't be able to go back. Man, being a timeline hopper is kinda annoying now that I think about it. We can't actually undo our mistakes, just go somewhere we haven't made them yet.

"Making it to multiverse hopper will be so nice since we can actually travel through multiversal time at that point, rather than just move horizontally through time to different timelines. You said it brings up an interface, though. Does that let you see timelines that are just seconds ahead or behind yours? ...Actually, not very useful because Swordsman's Territory basically doing the same thing in 3D."

"Yeah. Anything else you want, or shall I go get my Melena up to speed?"

Degritone waved him off. "Go lick her."

"I doubt she'll let me," they replied before disappearing.

"Oh, wait, I should have asked them to get the Melenas in contact with each other. I suppose that's probably already happening. Anyway with that... What, half a second second real time diversion out of the way-" He got cut off by a mace tom the back of the head.

As he turned, another blow landed on his side and he filled his Health back up with Revitalizes. In front of him stood two new guards. The one who had already hit him went in for another attack, and Degritone went to meet their attack with an application of Mark of Antipathy while replacing his Mana armor with condensed armor.

Then the other guard began the same ultimate attack as the previous guard. Panicking, Degritone hoped he remembered the wording of Antipathy correctly and his that guard with an Omen of Famine to apply the mark, made sure to land his blow before the ultimate attack to summon another Ghoul, and cast Omen of Pestilence to get maximum damage reduction he could get for a single attack at the start of combat.

He felt the mark properly apply to the right person and he calmed down just in time for the attack to hit him for around nine hundred thousand damage. Almost half what it was before off of just increasing his Level, thanks to Mark of Antipathy scaling with his Level. As before, upon the attack landing, the guard fell unconscious. Another Degritone appeared and blocked the next normal attack from the second guard.

After a few fractions of a second, after a couple more blocks of attacks, this new Degritone sent, "Don't worry about guards. I'll keep them occupied. I know this may be confusing, but I'm you from another timeline. Can't explain fully because fight."

Degritone nodded and responded, "Thank you. I've already met a couple others. See you when I kill the boss, then maybe talk to you while or after grinding Skills."

The new Degritone nodded and went back to grinding the boss, now with the additional sight between fights of a slowly growing number of other versions of himself among an ever more slowly growing sea of unconscious guards.

----------------------------------------

Around five hours after her report, Padina was watching the king and high nobles deliberate in their fastest common speed. Someone in a Dungeon guard uniform knocked on the door and was let in at real time, meaning she could actually understand what was said.

"Jalton, sir, it seems one of the Village Dungeons has been taken over by a hostile force. We have sent 112 Level 70 guards to try and take it back and they have all failed. Reports state that the enemies are nearly invisible, as if looking through very thick glass, and use condensed armor and a Mana greatsword. They have each survived multiple blows from our Final Crush.

"They have exactly one person clearing the Dungeon. Based on their clear speed and assuming a Level 65-75 start, they should be around Level 87 to 90 by this time. The first Final Crush was used three and a half hours ago and the enemies seem to ignore the unconscious guards and non-combatants. The only time anyone has seen any of them move away from the Dungeon was to stop one of the female slaves from being his by their owner."

"How many enemies?"

"Reports say their numbers are somehow growing, but this has not been actually confirmed. Latest count was 404."

"Which Dungeon?"

"VD872, The Menace."

"If you have no more information, you are dismissed. I will confer this to the other nobles and we shall decide on a course of action."

The Dungeon guard nodded and left.

Padina took a while to find the documentation on Dungeons and realized that was the same one her savior had gone to in the past. She moved her vision to them and many of them moved their heads to look at the origin of her vision.

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Soul Exploration unlocked!

You can now enter your soul to view your Class and Skills, as well as train your Skills!

Since you were already able to enter your soul on your own, you gain 3 Free Stats.

You can learn more by giving your new Soul Exploration Tutorial Token to a Village Spirit.

Congratulations!

For your first time reaching 100000 in one of four primary Stats, Potent Vitality has been upgraded!

For being the first person from your world to reach 100000 in one of the four primary Stats, you gain the Forerunner of Vitality Achievement!

----------------------------------------

Having just recently reached Level 88, the original Degritone was highly concerned when a good portion of his other versions missing, with many of them disappearing each swipe of a newcomer's longsword. He stuck around just long enough to see a single attack's worth of Degritone reappear and attempt to land attacks of their own, but the only attacks that were landing were the guaranteed damage from Omen of Famine, Omen of Pestilence, and his many auras.

Still in maximum speed time, he asked a nearby Degritone, "Should the original help?"

Their response was, "No, keep grinding, though maybe switch to Skills, even if you're not Level 90 yet. It seems they sent in some big guns, but nothing we can't handle. They almost killed the first few of us they hit, but we can just port out before we get hit now that we know the danger, then port back in a few seconds later.

"Some of us still occasionally get hit, though, and that leaves us with hardly any Health, so our numbers are slowly decreasing. I also don't think we're actually doing any damage. No one has managed to apply Withering yet and they don't seem to even register our Omens. We'll probably only be able to hold out a couple real hours at this rate unless they bring others or we're doing more damage than I think.

"We'll need your higher Level soon."

The original nodded and went back into the Dungeon, this time slipping into his soul before picking his 4 new Skills and starting on increasing his Skill Levels.