Time had leveled up to four, and with it a new power. It was confusing, to say the least, but more so than that it was interesting and worrying. It didn’t stop Ami from showing her excitement, which was also somewhat new, while she had let it slip before that she wasn’t as emotionless as she states like the multi-hour rant on time and light… thinking about it further was pointless.
It was best to just take things one at a time, like usual.
- - -
[Skill: Time. Level 1 – Grants the authority to {Save} and {Load}. Grants one Save slot. Grants access to assist features {Assist Mode} and {Log}. {Save} saves the users current state to any available slot, {Load} returns the user to that state. Experience, levels, memories, and stat points gained after a save point are lost, if a moment in time is lived enough times a vague memory may remain.
{Assist Mode} Provides basic assistance when operating the skill [Time]
{Log} Provides a detailed chronological description of events between Saves.
Level 2 – Grants a new save slot. Memories are no longer lost when loading.
Level 3 – Grants a new save slot. Access to [Assist mode]’s knowledge Vol 1. Access to the [Time] specific skill [Slow: 5] ]
Level 4 – Access to [Assist mode]’s knowledge Vol 2. Access to the [Time] specific skill [Record: -]
- - -
Much to her dismay, she did not gain another slot. She didn’t necessarily think she needed another, she had been doing just fine using one as a back up and the other liberally. Having another backup would have been very nice, especially considering the gigantic mess [Record] was…
[Do you see? Another unlock for me!]
“And that helps me… how?” Vol 1 certainly made her more talkative, but besides being snarky lately… snarky the right word? Anyways, she didn’t see the benefits from unlocking anything else, it worried her, if anything. From the few people she met who knew of Ami they either feared her or were warry of her.
[More shackles are released, Mia, with this I do not have to tiptoe around certain information anymore, or wait till you meet certain conditions… also, a lot easier to express myself! Teehee.]
Mia shuddered; she was personally a mix between the two. “Great-“ she pulled her status screen in front of her face as she sat up “-fill me in later, for now…”
* * *
[Skill: Record, LVL -: The second true authority of time, temporarily sacrifices one save slot in order to create a recording of the user. To create a recording, first choose how many instances you would like to start, then dictate how much mana you would like to give each instance. Once decided, select which save slot you would like to use for the anchor point of your recording. Finally, once the anchor point is placed the recording will start and play parallel to real time.
- The slot sacrificed will lose its current saved date. The slot will be unavailable to be used until all recording instances are ceased. You cannot load to an anchor point. You can only have one anchor point at a time.
-Instances consume 10 mana per minute. Instances can use every skill and magic the user can use but will consume mana as normal. Instances have the same stats as the user. Instances do not gain levels or stats. All level experience and skill exp earned is halved, stored, and given to the user upon expiration. Memories of the instances will also be returned.
- Instances will expire once their mana hits zero. If they perish prematurely, half the lethal damage they took will return to the user. ]
* * *
That is a doozy of a skill, and Mia thought slow was insane… is what she would say if she understood what any of that meant, all she really understood was if she used this skill, she’d be down to one slot.
[Two slots.]
“One.Slot.” Mia glared at the status screen, she was not about to use slot 1 anytime soon, she could have really used that extra slot…
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
“What does this skill do anyways? Hard to understand.” It was talking about recording, but recording what? What was the point of it?
{Well, strike while the iron is hot. Best way to explain it is while you are using it.]
“Yeah but…” she glanced over to the deck, people still cleaning up the mess, now even transporting the heavily wounded to safety. A bigger problem was she hasn’t heard of anything from below deck either, the threat of a nuke going off was still a thing, but everything was quiet. “…not the best time to get rid of a save.”
[You can use two?]
“And if something happened to Ria? No.” she much rather risk having to refight Jack.
She sighed, curiosity getting the best of her.
“Ok, slot 3.” She chose that slot “one instance to try it out…10 mana a minute…” she glanced at her mana and decided to use half of what was remaining “20 thousand, how long is that?”
[If the instance doesn’t cast and does nothing, she’d last for more than a day. That is excessive for just trying it out.]
“But it ends once it hits zero mana? 10 thousand then.” She thought that was everything, mentally confirming that is what she wanted to do, wait did order matter?
[Recording start! Instances: 1 ]
She felt sick for a moment, her vision blurred briefly and once it cleared she found everything had slightly moved “”Huh, guess no…?”” Odd, she brushed her ears and shook her head, she could have sworn she just heard double “”Ami, am I doin-?!”” no, she was hearing double, she quickly turned towards the voice “”?!?”” Her eyes widened, as did the person in front of her as well.
As if looking at a mirror, she found herself staring at herself “”woah…”” they both said, taken aback as they spoke in unison. They both raised their right hand, carefully bringing them together and clasping each other tightly “”This is, hm… weird.””
[That, is your instance Mia.]
“”Instance?”” they both reacted, staring at each other, one raising an eyebrow.
“Why is she… faded?” the other Mia asked.
“Faded?” Mia looked down at herself, indeed, she did seem a bit, ghostly? Very slightly see through. Compared to her instance who was more solid.
[Oh, finally out of sync, took a while. Yes, it is to show which one is on real time, doesn’t mean the other is fake, far from it actually, time is playing out for the both of you, at the same time. Simply one is more… disposable, is a harsh way to put it, a simple way is to think of instances as a perfect clone, that’s wrong, but if that gets your head wrapped around it, so be it. But she is 100% you, oh and the fade is something only you two can see, to everyone else she looks perfectly normal.]
‘Ah, I am the clone then’ Mia thought, looking at her faded hands, she then glanced up at her status, seeing it appear as normal but with a clear difference, her max mana was 9,999 and was counting down slowly. Which was… a very dreadful feeling, literally watching her life countdown.
She soon shrugged off the feeling, wasn’t any worse than the usual. She was still herself, after all.
[No, she is you. No not like that! Time in this instant is linear; everything is playing out at once she is just going through it like…Argh! No! look, imagine you saved, worked an hour, and then loaded, but the you who went through all that the first time was still there, it is like that.]
‘Can’t hear my own thoughts?’ Mia pondered, she could hear Ami just fine, wait… if she was the first save then shouldn’t the Mia in front of her already know all this?
[No, it is happening at the same time, she’ll learn of it after you expire…talking to the other Mia…yes you can both hear me…fucks sake just talk out loud!]
“”Sorry.”” They both apologized, bringing each other’s attention to themselves, inspecting each other.
“Huh, this is weird.”
“Yeah, like a mirror but…” the instanced Mia reached out and poked Mia’s cheek “better? Looking at yourself.”
“Mn.” The other Mia reached out, poking the same cheek on the other Mia’s face “we really don’t open our eyes the whole way.”
“Looks sleepy.”
“Mnm, think they are more open than before, evolution maybe.”
“Reminds me…” they both glanced downwards “something has been bothering me…”
“…Since then? Right.” Mia quickly constructed a small room of ice around themselves, obscuring them from the outside world “which one should check?”
“Does it matter?”
“You are faded, maybe can’t see clearly?”
“Mn, and when I return, you’ll remember, right?”
Mia nodded “so says the skill.”
“Alright, then.” She gripped Mia’s side, twisting her around and raising the back of her shirt, getting a clear look at the base of her tails “not a single point, three tails, three roots.”
“Not one split into three?” Mia asked, wiggling her tails in an attempt to separate them so she could see more clearly “felt like one still.”
“No, three.” Mia spun her around again, then turned around herself and lifted her shirt just enough so she could see “See?”
“Hooo…” it was true, she had three separate connections, the mystery of her tails had been finally solved.
[…]
[The hell are you two doing…]
“”Enjoying seeing a part of ourselves we would never had been able to see otherwise”” they both said, one spinning around while fixing her shirt “”now, to check if anything has changed.””
[…How did you manage to get synced up again?]
They glanced at one another, then both shrugged “”don’t know, that a bad thing?””
[Technically, no, usually you’d stay synced only for a moment, until you figured out which one was the clone, become separated, or by outside stimulus. Resyncing… well I’ll just be thankful you are not aggressive towards each other.]
“”Why would we be?”” they both asked, looking puzzled “”we are the same person, right?”” after having experienced it, it was as Ami originally said, this instanced Mia wasn’t a clone, but her, just doing a time loop… thing…
[Hm. Well then, as long as it doesn’t cause problems.]
‘’again, why would it?’’ they both thought, turning to each other with a slight grin on their face “”now, to see if everything else is the same.”” They both took a few steps away from each other, then slowly raised a freshly made dagger, glad to see there were no issues and marking the start of their tests.