The Timeless chamber was... odd.
Like the rest of Professor Tanelye's demiplane, it was grand and high-ceilinged, with a ring of pillars around the outer wall supporting a crown of arches, all done up in seamless, monolithic marble. The odd part was how it felt, being in a timeless place. I'd only had a Wisdom of 12 this morning, and she hadn't yet summoned any Efreeti, nor had I had the weeks necessary to read all of the Tomes yet. All I had was the Hairpin of the Gods +6, and yet, that was enough to realize that something was amiss.
"One of the many useful traits of a Timeless demiplane is that spell duration does not matter," Professor Tanelye said, pulling a scrollcase out of her pocket as she stepped up to a glowing magical circle. I know she'd just given me a magic item likely worth over a hundred thousand gold pieces, but I really wanted pockets like hers. "I only need to cast Magic Circle Against Evil and Dimensional Anchor once; once cast, they last forever, provided nothing dispels them." Oh, right, she was talking. "It is always, perpetually ready for... Planar Binding!"
In the center of the chamber, the inverted Magic Circle glowed with its own magic and the magic of the Dimensional Anchor. Within the circle, a single ember formed, before rapidly expanding into an entire Efreeti. Powerfully built, made of fire, and garbed in fine silks, the Efreeti crossed its arms imperiously. I barely noticed the scroll in the Professor's hands crumbling to dust and disappearing.
"Speak your wishes, summoner," she intoned.
"Grant my student an inherent +3 bonus to Intelligence," Professor Tanelye ordered.
"Very well," the Efreeti said, before snapping her fingers three times, each snap sharpening my mind just a touch more. "It is done."
"How does it feel?" Professor Tanelye asked, turning to me.
"...I feel sharper," I said. "Like I'm a touch better at connecting the dots."
"Good. I'll have to summon nine more Efreeti to finish the job, so please have patience."
"In here, I've got all the time in the world," I said.
"Mm. Indeed."
"Oh, by the way, you didn't wish for another Efreeti or anything like that," I said.
"I have over a thousand scrolls of Planar Binding in this scroll case," she said. "Summoning ten of them is hardly an imposition."
"Ah."
"All that cost me was several boring hours. You've done far more than that in pursuit of knowledge."
She produced another scroll, and began to summon another Efreeti.
The process was, objectively, not terribly long. It couldn't have taken even a full minute to summon an Efreeti and give it its marching orders. Nonetheless, standing there and watching someone perform a repetitive process- not performing the repetitive process but watching someone else do it- was boring in the extreme.
Finally, though, she finished.
"Now," Professor Tanelye said. "The Tomes. Ordinarily, reading simply one of these girthy volumes requires six entire workdays. Reading six of them would take over a month. But! Here, in a Timeless space? You will not grow tired or bored." I had evidence to the contrary for that second claim, but I was willing to extend my trust to her. "Now. Here." She reached into a pocket- her robe seemed to have many, concealed in its folds- and produced a hefty stack of six doorstopper-sized tomes. "Read in whatever order you choose."
"Alright," I said, nodding. "Let's start with... Clear Thought, because I'm biased."
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It took a total of forty eight hours of combined reading time to read a single Tome and gain its benefit. With six of them, that equaled twelve entire days without sleep.
It was rather a lot of time in which to contemplate Timelessness, what it meant, and what it did.
And yet, all of that contemplation was for naught, as the very nature of the property was made clear to me by a simple experience.
"That was quick," Professor Tanelye said, crumbs spraying from her mouth. "Let me finish my sandwich."
She had been eating that sandwich the entire time I'd been reading. And not in a linear fashion, either! On occasion I'd see her open her mouth, as a bit of sandwich reappeared in the space her teeth had once occupied. An endless minute, stretched across twelve unmarked days.
I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I certainly wouldn't be looking at sandwiches the same way ever again, though.
Stolen novel; please report.
"Well," I said. "That was an... experience. Let me check my stats."
"Please do," Professor Tanelye said, nodding.
This morning, I'd woken up with a reasonable stat spread for a low level Human Wizard.
STR: 9 (-1)
CON: 14 (+2)
DEX: 14 (+2)
CHA: 11 (0)
INT: 19 (+4)
WIS: 13 (+1)
And when I checked them now...
STR: 25 (+7)
CON: 30 (+10)
DEX: 30 (+10)
CHA: 27 (+8)
INT: 35 (+12)
WIS: 29 (+9)
Oh yeah. That... That was an abomination. I have sinned. I'm going to hell when I die.
"Wow," I said. "My Wisdom score is high enough I'd get bonus 9th level spells per day, if I was a Level 17 Cleric. It's so high, I could actually multiclass to Cleric, and Multiple Ability Dependency wouldn't be the specific reason I got laughted out of the room by everyone in the world and their mother."
"Let's not get crazy, here," Professor Tanelye said. "We have two more items on the agenda before I'm done with you, and send you on your way."
"Lay it on me," I said.
"This... is the Book of Truth."
She withdrew from a pocket one more tome, and I barely suppressed my flinch. It wasn't like the six Tomes I'd just finished chewing through, though. It was... Simple. Unassuming. And yet, still pleasing to the eye.
"...And what is the Book of Truth?" I asked.
"In truth, it is a magic item that grants a floating +15 competency bonus to any skill you choose while holding it," she said. "But I prefer to call it the Book of Truth. It feels... more powerful, that way."
"It's a +15 to any skill I need," I said. "That's not nothing."
"True," she granted, before reaching into her pocket again, and pulling out... the pocket itself? "You'll need somewhere to keep it, and for that, I am also giving you this Handy Haversack. Which I've also packed with other useful, but less interesting items than the Book of Truth." She stowed the Book back inside the Haversack, and held it out for me.
"Professor-"
"Elendar," she insisted.
"...Elendar," I began, "I appreciate everything you've done for me, but... why?"
Her eyes unfocused for a moment. They refocused an indeterminate amount of time later, and she shook her head.
"Do you ever think about what it really means, that they call me your Doktormutter?" Elendar all but whispered. "It's... an ideal. An aspiration. Something I try to live up to. I am not some anonymous professor, who taught you a particular subject for a few months before passing you along. I am your advisor. I am your mentor. I am your Doctor-Mother, and I spent two years of our lives helping to raise you into the intelligent, capable young woman standing before me. You are like a daughter to me. I love you."
"...I-"
She put both hands on my shoulders, letting the Haversack fall to the floor. "And I am sending you on an adventure, and I cannot stare down the remaining half of my life having gotten another daughter killed," Elendar said, starting to shake. "I cannot, Selva. I love you, and I cannot keep you in the academy you hate, but I want you to be safe, and so... And so, I need to stack the deck in your favor, as much as I can. And..."
I reached out and pulled her into a tight hug. She whimpered quietly, before returning it.
"...Three years ago, I was a Magister myself," Elendar whispered. "My daughter, my own flesh and blood, graduated the university at Level 4 without a Prestige Class. She was impatient, full of piss and vinegar... The academic life was not for her. She joined the Magistry, immediately enrolling in the training program, and... And she died. She died in that dungeon they sent her into. One of her teammates had been stocked up on flasks of Alchemist's Fire, and... There was nothing left to Resurrect. Wishes haven't been working either, and...
"I was given a month to grieve, but... when the month ended, I didn't return to the Magistry. I took a year on the outside to pull myself together. And then... I returned to the University. Just in time to be assigned as your advisor. So. No. I... I am not ready to lose you. And... and if you ever need any help from me, do not hesitate to ask. I will drop everything to do so."
"...This might not be the best time, but..." I chewed on my lip for a moment. "I do understand now why an ancient elfish archmage was so concerned about making sure I had actual food to eat, and not conjured trail rations."
Elendar burst into a fit of giggles, seemingly despite herself.
"I'll have to introduce you to my first mother sometime," I continued. "The two of you can argue over what vegetables go in beef stew. And if I have to taste-test for the ensuing stew competition, well, that's simply the price I have to pay for having had you in my life."
"Oh, Nelothel would've loved you," Elendar bemoaned. "You two would've gotten along like a house on fire."
"I believe it," I said, nodding.
"Oh, listen to an old woman ramble," Elendar said. "We really should be moving to the retraining facility, so you can swap out your feats and boost your hit points."
"It can wait for as long as you need," I said, not letting go of her. "This place is Timeless. Take all the time you need, and then some."
We stood there for a moment. We stood there for an eternity. We stood there long enough for Elendar to understand I loved her as much as she loved me, and not a second less.