“Skreee-!”
A spider fell from the ceiling, landing in a flaming heap of blue flame, its corpse being consumed by the fire after being hit by a steady stream of flame until it was defeated by Mia.
“Like that.” She demonstrated to her sister, flexing her arm forward and shooting out another stream of flame towards the approaching swarm of spiders.
Ria stretched out her hand, straining her hand as she tried her best “Trying-! But nothing is coming out!”
Mia waved the stream around, trying to cover every inch of the approaching swarm “you have to imagine it what you want while channeling your mana.” She stressed, noticing a spider was getting too close, she formed a spear of ice next to her, skewering the monster in the head “Did you put points into int?”
“Yes, nothing.” Ria lowered her hand “This is not for me.” She huffed, unsheathing her sword she looked down into the pit “Mia, leave some without the fire please, I’m jumping in.”
Mia rolled her eyes, saving just in case “fine, but perfect time to practice.” She stopped carpeting one side in flames, freeing up some space for her sister to go in.
“Nah, I’ll let you handle the magic for now.” She walked to the edge of the cliff, spun around on her heel and blew her sister a kiss as she fell into the hole, spinning around in the air and landing on a spider’s head, starting her slaughter on that side of the hole.
“…show off.” She raised both hands and spewed out an additional stream of fire, scorching her side while minding her sister.
The two had decided to descend into the hole the goblins were huddled next to after gathering their cores, and after Ria leveled up followed by a brief lecture on magic by Mia, the two entered a spiraling descent and were beset by an onslaught of spiders. But like everything else on 1-A, these monsters were no match for the two, Mia using them as fire practice.
It was already paying off, with a few dozen spider kills she had leveled it up to 2, and while it still lacked fire power, she had mana to spare. All the death also helped her understand her fire’s quirks better…sort of…
For the most part it behaved like fire, it would ignite, spread, burn, melt, and destroy anything it touches, but it didn’t do it via heat, rather cold. It was a weird process to watch, as rather than being charred things would get frostbitten and consumed that way. It was really weird… but she chucked it up to magic being weird in general and would need to be tested, she doubted she could cook with this.
It still emitted light, which was a plus.
The two finished up, no spider in sight on the walls or climbing up from the shallow abyss. Mia checked the results, her mana was still fine and her fire magic was still at level 2 “Hmn.” She glanced down the cliff at her sister, who was wiping green blood off herself “Ria, you ok?”
Ria glanced up and smiled widely “Just fine~ “ She waved “let’s get these cores and head deeper, These dungeons have a boss and a treasure chest at the end of them.”
Mia nodded “ok, going to reset a few times first.”
Ria raised an eyebrow “A few wh-“
[Slot 3 loaded]
“I’ll let you handle the magic for now.” She walked to the edge of the cliff, spun around on her heel and blew her sister a kiss as she fell into the hole, spinning around in the air and landing on a spider’s head, starting her slaughter on that side of the hole.
“…Still a showoff.” Mia rolled her eyes then felt a tinge of regret in loading like that. She didn’t want to get that far ahead, leaving her sister out of this but outside of telling her what good would it do? Ria couldn’t keep her skill progress when they loaded, maybe if they were fighting a hard monster, it would benefit her? But then… wouldn’t the monster also get that info?
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“H-hey Mia! A little help?!”
“R-right!” Mia ran to the edge, seeing her sister surrounded while still managing to hold them off “…” she doubted her sister needed the help and was more so worried that she stopped casting. She sighed, shooting some ice spears into the crowds to lessen the threat around her sister, while going back to casting fire.
[Slot 3 loaded]
“What do you think, Ami?” Mia asked, having reset a second time after wiping out all the spiders.
[Oh? You want my advice?]
“Mhm.” Mia replied, “Don’t know what to do.”
[…]
Having received no input, Mia frowned. She knew Ami got like this som- most of the time, when asking for things but this time she really needed some advice. She decided to take a page out of her sister’s book, swallowing her nerves “Please? I don’t want to mess up.”
[…Fine.]
[Slot 3 loaded]
Another reset once the spiders were cleaned up, Mia’s fire magic had progressed to 3. “Thanks, so what should I do? Can I tell her? Is there any point? Can she-“
[One at a time. I cannot tell you what to do, offering suggestions outside of battle or skill operation is…limited… but you are perfectly capable of telling her.]
“Mn.” She wondered how much she was truly limited, but she was getting somewhere “How? What if she wants proof.”
[Simple, just hold onto her and save… or save when she is holding onto you and then load.]
“Oh, right, I can just do tha-“ Mia froze, momentarily stopping her casting, only snapping out of it once Ria yelled out to make sure she was ok. She remembered one of her recent saves where she was being held in Ria’s arms “Ah… so if I loaded back there…”
[She’d be aware unless you reverted to an older save.]
“Close.” That would have been bad.
[You can make a save right before you save while holding her in case it turns sour. Alternatively, if you return to slot 2 with her aware, then load slot 1, then return to 2 she will not be aware, as she never became aware. Loading after without moving save 2 will make her aware.]
“Hrm.” Mia thinks she understands “What if I make a slot after, then overwrite 2, but then go back to 1, then go back to…” she clutched her head, she had managed to confuse herself.
[Any action that would result in a paradox between slots will attempt to sort themselves out with the assistance of the unbroken parts of the saved [LOG]. If she becomes aware after a load and you overwrite that slot with another slot and load, she will not be aware of that load unless you were in direct contact again when you made that save, or in direct combat facing each other.]
Mia shook her head, going back to her training “So she will never remember the start… hey wait, what if I did what you did to that girl?” she asked, remembering the person who got dragged into the void “what if I did that but didn’t pool her into the void? Would she remember then?”
[With her current strength, no. that current iteration of her would be consumed by the void.]
[Warning: The result of successful attempt would result in a paradox, two cannot exist in a single point of time.]
[…as that said. Depending on the severity of the paradox, in this case your sister being dragged through time, her older body would disappear while her memories would be sent to her younger self. But doing so would shatter her mind beyond repair. Only tougher minds can survive that ordeal.]
“…scary” Mia shivered, loading another time and continuing “What about other paraboxes?”
[Paradox. And depending on whether it is small enough and not caused by us it can go ignored. An example of this is you and your aunt possessing the same title that only one person should have.]
Mia shrugged at that, not that it mattered to her since she already had it. She is glad it doesn’t get taken away from her each time, however “What about when one can’t be fixed?”
[…]
“…ah…” she felt like she just hit a limit, regardless, she got a lot out of her… she decided to change the subject “So, is there anyway to let her keep skill progression?”
[…]
Another wall. “No?” she nodded down towards her sister, happily slaughtering spiders while completely unaware this was her 5th time doing so “Would help a lot to help, and this is magic, right? So, nothing is impossible? Right?” she was melting spiders with cold fire right now, after all.
Her eyes went wide, realizing something “And the others that keep messing with me, their skills affect me, so…” she glanced at her sister, her mind slowly being made up “it’s not impossible…?” she questioned how that would work, but if it was worth a shot. If it did work, she could level up her sister and have an easier time getting her strong enough to withstand the void! She could warn father and get them back sooner!
She felt like she was getting her hopes up for nothing, but even if getting her strong enough to withstand that wasn’t enough, if it worked to where her sister would also benefit from fighting the same group of enemies 6 times then it would be worth it.
[…Silence is n-n-no-o-t//Error//]
Mia smirked “Just have to try…” She looked down at her sister, soaked in the blood of dozens of spiders and poorly trying to dry herself off, Mia being distracted had led her to fight more spiders than the last time, leading to this mess “…maybe later tonight.”
Mia did one final lap, her fire skill stopping at 3 for now, and she slid down the cliff to join her sister after the battle, and after they gathered all the cores they continued, progressing deeper into the pit, Mia continuing to experiment along the way.