She appeared back in place, thankful that she did not have to sit through another case of sickness as she bent down “See you at the exit” she spoke, breaking out into a sprint.
“Mia?!” “Kid? After her!” “M-Mia?”
She heard their shouts as she passed them, her plan was simple, gain enough distance so she could solo the two of them, or at least take one of them out so one can’t sneak around and take a hostage, simple. She looked behind her shoulder, she had already gained a lot of distance between them, something she could do easily before, but now she had 150 dex, it wasn’t even a contest.
It made Mia wonder what other adventurers stats looked like, she had the benefit of gaining 50 points per level up, for others they gained less, way less, it was the fundamental difference between a hero and a regular person, the gap would grow at an insane rate. Thinking back to Rowan and John, while she didn’t know for certain, a level up for her would around 10 level ups for a normal person gaining 5 stat points, or 5 levels if they gained 10.
She didn’t know if that was for certain, considering she now knew evolved skills give stat points, surely there was more to it, possibly even titles other than hero titles that changed how many stat points you get, but even with that… looking at stats and just how fast she was in comparison to the cats, who most likely had years under their belts and multiple levels and skills, the difference was finally hitting her.
She’d like to see another person’s stats at some point, seeing how different it could be from hers to get a solid comparison, she didn’t know how she would do that but that was enough mulling over that, right now she had to prepare.
While running she raised her hand “First is ice mastery and magic craftsmanship.” She needed to make her weapons, the dumb axe hardly being of any use. She focused, mimicking what AM did and using the two skills. With the image of a clean dagger in her mind she felt her palm chill, ice forming in her palm that expanded “…thinner…” she could feel it, the skills guiding her. She imagined the dagger’s blade, causing the lump of ice to elongate “Thinner…” It thinned out, becoming a square plank of ice attached to a larger chunk.
“Hm…” It was hard, especially while running, but she persisted. Imagining the plank coming to a point she focused, watching the two corners of the plank come together into a point “Good.” She smiled, then tried to make it more dagger like, sharp edges extending from the point down to the handle. The form mimicked what she imagined, molding like soft clay to her mind’s image, soon she had a perfect dagger blade attached to a lump of ice. “The handle…”
She wasn’t done yet, next focusing on the lump of ice as it practically melted in her palm, forming to her small hands until all that was left was a narrow handle that was a perfect fit wrapped around her fingers. She stopped running, holding the dagger up. all things considered…it was pretty plain…but good, just a simple and plain dagger.
She poked the tip of the dagger, and ran her finger along the edge, happy when it managed to cut into her skin, it was sharp. “Isn’t fancy but it will work.” She nodded, looking at her status her jaw dropped “40 mana?!” Making that one blade had cost her almost half of her total mana pool, now she understood why AM didn’t run out and attack the two like she was doing, especially because of how she treated her weapons.
“Ah…” She impatiently looked behind her, still no sign of the cats, she stabbed the ice dagger into her shirt much like AM did as a makeshift holster and started jogging. She tried making another dagger, going through the process a little bit easier this time and managing to make another one that she stashed away and looked at her status “Still 40…” she had fifteen remaining.
As she jogged she stared at her status, after a few seconds she saw it tick up by one and started counting, after counting to 67 her mana count ticked up again “About a minute…” she regained 1 mana per minute, and the lights would start falling around 30 minutes after the load… “How did AM make so many?!” it didn’t make sense “She even used spells before it!”
She tried to remember what she looked like when making daggers, but honestly after 3 months of that she got stopped watching “Aaaah!” she knelt down, clearly she was missing something, she tried to remember, pounding her head to try and force herself.
“Skwei?”
Mia shot her head up, seeing a spider “oh, this guy…” She was surprised she didn’t run past it, but glad she didn’t. Trying to recall could wait, with this she could test the daggers she made.
“Skasha- ?!”
The spider didn’t get to do much, failing to react as Mia had dashed forward, plunging her ice dagger into it’s skull “Aaaand.” She flipped around, letting go of the dagger in the process, she withdrew the other dagger on her shirt mid spin and-
*ding*
Stopped, stumbling a bit she regained her balance after a few short hops “Huh?” She looked towards the spider, it having fell limp on the ground with blood trailing down its face and pooling on the floor “…” Yeah, the daggers worked. She went over to the spider, yanking the dagger free from its skull “Hm…”
She inspected the dagger, blood dripping from its blade, “It felt good…” Really good, different from how she felt holding the axe. She didn’t know if it was because of the increased stats, the skills, or just how tired she was using the stupid axe, but this? It felt right. “Ah.” It then dawned on her; she checked her mana “20…worth a shot.”
She then raised her hand, focusing on it as a light mist began emanating from her palm. From there a small amount of ice began to form, but instead of quickly forming into a large chunk it instead started to immediately take on the form of a dagger, growing into the shape of a pointed blade and handle. Once finished she looked it over, it was the same size and shape as the others, and when she looked at her remaining mana…” Ten…”
That was a massive difference, but she figured it out. Basically making a chunk of ice and molding the weapon out of that was a huge waste of mana, instead making the weapon directly was both faster and didn’t cost nearly the same amount of mana, if anything doing it the other way was a huge rip-off.
She heard faint voices from behind her “Crap.” She had spent too much time here, she bent down, dipping her finger in the spider’s blood and then scraping her blood covered finger crossed the ground. She stood up, nodding at her hastily drawn note and ran forward, making more daggers as she ran.
Sadly, she only managed to make one more before rounding a corner, seeing the exit and two robed individuals waiting outside it, then ducking back behind the corner and slamming her back against the wall, her ears twitched, hearing voices.
“Can’t we go in yet? the priest will be mad if we don’t find any…”
“Ain’t nothin we can do bout that.”
‘Yes!’ She got here before the lights fell, this was a good chance. She withdrew one of her daggers, giving her skills a once over, she had a lot of points to spend but she had not spent them, not wanting to get sick again so she had been putting it off ‘it should be fine…’ she thought to herself, during her test round she could handle the big guy just fine.
“Comon, lets go already.”
“Like I said, we gotta wait for [Sanctuary].”
‘should be soon…’ now it was just a question on how she should do this, if she played her cards right she could eliminate 1 of them right off the bat. She considered aiming for the smaller one but decided on trying to attack the bigger and slower one first. This might be easier than she thought.
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“Fuck that, I’m dying of boredom and heat.”
Mia peered around the corner, seeing the larger one trudge forward as the lights began to fall, causing him to shimmer and then vanished ‘here we go…’ she ducked around the corner, taking a deep breath. She knelt, preparing to leap up and stab him, waiting for the floating light to turn the corner.
She saw it, when it was half way around the corner she leaped, kicking off the wall and aiming her blade where she thought his neck would be ‘Finally!’ this was the one, the cat’s would be saved and she could move on from this nightmare. She thrust her blade forward, feeling it pierce the thin cloth and skin… or at least, that was what should have happened.
“Eh?”
Instead, she let out a small, confused gasp, finding herself unable to move. She struggled, twisting and turning but no matter how hard she tried she could not move. “What’s going on!” It was at this moment she noticed that, like her, everything was standing still, frozen in time. “Really! What is going on!” she shouted, she was so close, what was this?
“What?” She blinked, before everything in her vision started turning white and stretching vertically “Whaaaaaat!” everything then thinned to microscopic levels, and then with a *pop* she found herself floating in the air, high above a vast ocean “What? Where? How? What?!” she looked around for a second, before she found herself falling “WHYYYYY!!!!” she screamed.
With a splash she landed in the ocean, panicking because she did not know how to swim, but thankfully found herself rising, eventually breaking the surface where she gasped for air. “Seriously…I just want to… save some cats…” She gasped, the water under her now solid enough to stand on.
“yeah that’s the problem.” “Seconded, you cannot alter the fate of another so carelessly.”
Mia paused in her gasping, turning towards the new voices to see two figures, both human females. One was wearing a white suit and skirt, with long flowing blonde hair, white skin, and grey eyes. The other had a black gown, short black hair, and pure white eyes “Who…ah…[Fate] and [Destiny]?” she asked, kind of mad she was getting used to meeting random people.
“That is correct, I am [Fate]” The women in white spoke.
“And I, [Destiny].” The other in black added.
Mia fixed herself up while they spoke, shaking the water off herself “And, what is this about?” She asked, sitting down and crossing her legs, an unamused expression plastered on her face ‘3 cats…’ she thought to herself ‘all this over 3 cats…’
“You are charged with tampering [Fate], the will of the world.” [Fate] spoke in a haughty manner.
“And trying to rewrite others [Destiny], no man has the right to do so, and you shall be judged for your attempt.” [Destiny] spoke, a bit more subdued then the other.
Mia frowned “I am trying to save 3 cat beastkin from getting killed by a spider and 2 men, how is this such a big deal you have to summon me to what ever place this is.” Mia huffed “And hang on, where were you when I was killing them for three months?! Why now when I was finally about to save them! … I think.”
“Do not speak out against us, sinner! You are the one to be judged!” [Fate] yelled “Do not question how [Fate] works! [Fate] is not meant to be understood! Those two must die there.”
“It is how she said, their [Destiny] stops there, it does not matter how, or why, as long as their story ends there all is well. “ [Destiny] added “That is why we did not take notice when you were killing them for…three months?” [Destiny] became visibly confused, opening her eyes and staring closely at Mia.
A gaze Mia recognized and smirked upon seeing her face slowly losing color.
“It is as she says! So now you will be judged for attempting to save those whose [Time] has run out, make your case mortal! It makes not the difference.” [Fate] Smiled widely, her hands on her waist.
“Ah... sister?” [Destiny] reached out towards her sister, her hands shaking.
“Huh, what?” She turned towards her, noting her flustered state “What is wrong? Did this mortal do something to get under your skin?”
[Destiny] opened and closed her mouth, her hands waving in front of her “ap-apap-ap-ap-appraise her!”
“Hrm?” [Fate] tilted her head “Alright, don’t see how that would change anything.” She then rotated, facing Mia and staring her down, her face paling after a moment before it suddenly filled with rage “Oh of fucking course it’s [Time]…” She growled, plopping down on the water “Alright, you are free to go, sorry for the inconvenience~” her attitude doing a 180, she waved Mia off.
Meanwhile [Destiny] had dived face first into the ground, her face firmly planted on the water’s surface with her butt high in the air “We are sorry!”
Mia let out a deep sigh, the more they explained it, added on to what [Void] had told her, the more she knew that whatever the heck this was, didn’t apply to her. How could someone be *out of time* when she literally controlled it, hell, everyone was out of time when she loaded “How could it be anyone but me? Who would even get called here? And again, this was over three fucking cats” Mia said, patience running thin.
[Destiny] shook, only muttering “I’m sorry” over and over.
“Hey chill.” [Fate] waved “Divination wizards are a pain in the ass, especially when a king has 10 working for him.” She raised her hand, a thin piece of rolled up paper appearing in it, she brought one end to her lips, and igniting the other end with a flame that appeared on the tip of her finger “Besides, 3 cats, 1 king? 1 God? A whole town! What’s the difference? You outta [Time] you are out of [Time].” She breathed out, a cloud of smoke escaping her mouth “Not everyone has time on a god damned leash, rewriting everything free of consequence.”
She then slammed her fist onto the ground, causing a large splash “And not every fucking skill changes hands as often as you do!” She pointed her finger at her “Fucking [Time] asshole… well? Where is she? Might as well get it over with. Bring her out.”
Mia blinked “Well sorry, didn’t exactly expect trying to save anyone would escalate this much but… I have been at this for three months.” She said “And bring who out? Assist mode? I disabled her.”
[Destiny] Froze, going silent.
“You… disabled, Assist mode?” [Fate] asked, and when Mia nodded she dropped her smoke “Bwahahahahahahaa!” She fell back, kicking as she laughed her ass off “You disabled! That bitch? Shes disabled this time? Hahahaaha!” She howled, speaking in the gaps of her laughter.
“Ok? Did she do anything to the both of you? I know she’s a bitch but…” Mia was taken aback by their reaction.
“You…you are the only one that can bring us to the [Void]…She does that… to punish us for getting in [Time]’s way.” [Destiny] whispered.
“Ah…yeah that would suck.”
“It beyond sucks! Do you even know what [Void] is?! Bitch deserves being disabled this time around.” [Fate] regained her composure, standing up and standing next to Mia “I like you kid! Names Felicia, do us all a favor and keep hitting yes, ok?” She held out her hand.
“…This is a serious turn of character…” Mia sighed, shaking the girls hand.
“Yeah? Well fuck you, I have an appearance to keep up.” She then motioned towards the girl who was sitting besides them with red eyes. “You have met my sister, Destiny.”
“Hi…” Destiny sniffed.
“Your name is the same as your skill?” Mia asked.
Felicia laughed “Yeah, you could say it was Destiny.”
“Please… no… just… no, that is never funny.” Destiny frowned.
Mia sighed “So, I’d like to get back to saving those cats? Judging by your intervention I was about to do so? Right?” Mia asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Yes yes, we won’t bother you again when it comes to saving someone who is about to have an unavoidable death without outside influences interfering.” Felicia nodded “You are free from that.”
“Good” Mia gave an exacerbated sigh. “This is really too big of a fuss.”
Felicia shrugged “I said it before, what is the difference between saving 1 person or saving a king. Nothing, the number of dumbasses that don’t get that and try to use seeing into the future to cheat death just destabilize things, that doesn’t apply to you, the force itself.”
Mia raised an eyebrow “Destabilize? Destabilize what?”
“Oopps out of time!” she then rose into the air, her sister closely behind.
“Wait! Not you too! Get back here!” Mia screamed after them, her only answer being.
< Judgement passed. Verdict: Not guilty. >
“Argh! Come on!” She screamed, before falling into the ocean, the next moment she found herself back to where she was, frozen in place in the middle of the air about to stab some guy’s neck. “AURG!” in her frustration she pushed forward, stabbing the and feeling herself pierce flesh. The space in front of her shimmered, revealing she had just stabbed the man clean through the skull.
*ding*
“Brother!!!”
Mia turned, seeing the smaller man appear after the space shimmered, she kicked off the corpse “Fuck your brother!” done with all of this she unstuck one of her daggers, throwing it at the man.
He regained his composure, jumping to avoid it “You bi-ACK!”
Mia had thrown another dagger, aiming to where he dodged and hitting her mark, the blade landing firmly in his shoulder. She didn’t stop there, charging forward while he was recoiling in pain.
“S-shit, what the hell is this bea-“ He was backing up, drawing his sword with his still working arm he stared at the rapidly approaching black blur “Stay back!” he slashed, his blade infused with lightning.
Mia moved to the side, the blade moving past her face, sparks tingling as they passed her “Enough.” She then raised her blade, stabbing it into his foot.
The man let out a scream, falling forward, his chin falling directly onto her awaiting dagger, piercing clean through.
*ding*
Mia twitched “All that for three fucking cats!” she screamed, falling to her knees and dropping her remaining dagger, she was finally done. Tears rolled down her face as she heard three familiar yells approaching her.