(Arlen's POV)
The night hadn't moved much.
I was still sitting there, legs crossed, with the fireflies drifting lazily between me and her.
It hit me all at once.
I did decide I'd bring her back…
…but I never actually figured out how.
From the system to the Red Lightning assimilation, from Laro to the monster hunts… everything kept piling up, and I never stopped long enough to think about the details.
Details on how exactly I will bring her back.
Popping the shop open, I dove straight into the Magic section and a beat later, an almost never-ending list blinked into my vision.
My eyes skimmed names that read like both promises and threats.
{
-Chrono Rewind - Reminiscere(Epic)
Rewinds a single event within sight by up to 5 seconds.
Only affects physical states, not memories.
Warning: May create Paradoxes.
Price: 50,000 Credits
-Temporal Step - Aevum Trace(Rare)
Moves the user's body through personal time by up to 1 second.
Creates a visible ripple through time.
Price: 12,000 Credits
-Memory Echo - Mnemosyne's Veil(Epic)
Draws out one sensory memory from an object or a person's past.
Older memories appear hazier and fragmented.
Price: 600,000 Credits
-Time Dilation - Aion Field(Legendary)
Time is slowed to a crawl in respect to the user's perception.
Price: 150,0000 Credits
-Reverse Age - Reversum Vitae(Legendary)
Reverts the biological state of a target by up to one day.
Using this on sapient beings risks paradox formation.
Price: 300,0000 Credits
-Temporal Collapse - Chrono Ruina(Legendary)
Condenses and collapses the flow of time into a sphere before releasing it outward.
Everything caught in the blast is crushed between accelerated and reversed time and is completely annihilated.
Price: 2,000,000 Credits
-Time Travel - Iterum Exodus(Unquantifiable)
Transports the user physically into the past or present at a chosen anchor point.
Returning to the present is not guaranteed; paradox risk is extreme.
Acquisition: Quest Only
-Chronal Erasure - Nihil Exordium(Unquantifiable)
Deletes a single event from existence by erasing its cause across the time-stream.
Results are unpredictable and potentially catastrophic.
Paradox is inevitable.
Acquisition: Quest Only
-Absolute Stasis - Ecliptica Null(Unquantifiable)
Halts the flow of time across all reality, ensnaring every living observer, divine, or conceptual, that could perceive the Host, the zone, or the halted moment.
The effect propagates recursively through chains of perception, freezing every consciousness, entity, or mechanism that might witness the event until no awareness remains capable of knowing time has stopped.
Acquisition: Quest Only
.
.
.
}
Each entry pulsed with its own bright little warning triangle.
Not cheap, not even close.
The top-tier stuff read like a government ledger with price tags that made you feel tiny just by looking.
And then my gaze snagged on one that made my heart beat surge.
Time Travel - Iterum Exodus(Unquantifiable)
"I can go back in time, duh…" I murmured.
"No… that'd just split everything into another branch. Another me, another mom. That's not what I want."
[But, with Time Affinity… paradoxes are basically inevitable.]
"Hey, System," I said, tilting my head toward the sky, "how do you even handle paradoxes? You've got a rulebook for it or something?"
-Ding!
{There is none. However, Host will be warned if the current actions are predicted to result in a paradox.}
"Any way to bring my mother back without creating one?"
-Ding!
{No}
"What would happen if I brought her back still?"
-Ding!
{^%R^&R&>>(&R. &R&(T*)(*^&%T. The paradox will be fixed. And your existence will cease to exist.}
"Dude… did you just… glitched? The first half is all gibberish," I asked, half amused… and half afraid.
-Ding!
{No. I did not Glitch. ^%R^&R&>>(&R. &R&(T*)(*^&%T is what would happen.}
"Yeah… you're glitching…"
My eyes turned towards mother's resting place, before fixing on that single wild flower growing out of that little mound of stones…
"Just gimme two things," I finally spoke.
"Will the paradox of bringing her back be world-ending? And whatever that would happen to me afterwards, and that fixing of paradox… will they also be world-ending?"
After all, I can't bring back my mother if there's no world to bring her back into…
-Ding!
{Your actions may create Paradoxes that could potentially end the world. And no, ^%R^^% and #. &%& will not cause the end of the world. Your mother and her soul will be returned to her current state.}
"So basically… This world will be okay? And the resultant consequences… will just end me and get mother back to her current state?"
-Ding!
{Yes. For the most part.}
"Good…" I whispered, eyes still on that flower, "With your help… will I become strong enough to handle whatever that will come after I create a paradox?"
-Ding!
{^@#$@}
"Again…" I sighed.
And a beat later…
That same smirk of a cockroach rushing towards the heavens crept on my face as I looked up and spoke.
"Then I'll kill whatever that comes after us… be it a god, the heavens themselves, or even something beyond… I'll rise to a stage that's even beyond your capacity…"
-Ding!
{Advisory: Please avoid creating a Paradox.}
"No promises." I chuckled dryly before scrolling through the spell list again, half-expecting another blue panel full of zeroes and warnings.
The lines of text blurred and shifted until one entry stopped me cold.
{
Reversal Domain - Tempus Inversa(Unquantifiable)
Designates a localized zone (radius adjustable by mana input) within which the flow of time reverses, affecting all matter, energy, and metaphysical imprints inside.
The longer the spell is sustained and the more mana fed into it, the further backward the area regresses in time.
High Risk of Paradox.
Acquisition: Quest Only
}
"This is it…" The words scraped out of my throat before I realized I'd spoken.
Then louder "This is it!"
My fingers tightened into fists as I read over the description over and over again. "This would be it… the one that brings her back."
I could almost see her there, alive again, smiling through the steam of morning tea, humming that little hum.
For a moment, the world shrank down to that panel and that flower swaying gently over the mound.
-Ding!
{Advisory: Using Tempus Inversa to resurrect your mother will create an inevitable Paradox.}
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock…" I muttered, half-laughing, half-choking on it.
The laugh stayed a second too long before breaking into a breath that wasn't quite so steady as I craned my neck back at the faint shimmer of the moon.
"System…" I said, "Mark Tempus Inversa as a suggested reward for an appropriate quest."
-Ding!
{Done.}
The blue light dimmed, leaving me staring at the mound again.
And I could see it.
Me, standing here one day with enough mana to crack the sky, hands trembling as I feed that impossible spell, and watching the world's flow unravel and rewind as the air, the soil, the sound rewinding until… she breathes again.
Not some version of her from another timeline
But Her.
My mother.
Alive.
But breath hitched at the mere thought alone.
"I've got a long way to go… and ironically, not enough time."
The longer I took to grow strong enough, the more years would pass.
And the more years I'd have to reverse.
Which meant more mana, more power, more risk.
A loop with no end.
A race against the very thing I'm set to master.
"But if I can't even gather the mana to bring her back," I whispered, "how the hell am I supposed to face whatever comes after?"
Wind brushed past, stirring the flower like it pitied me.
"I can't take my time regardless…" I muttered, swallowing hard. "System, bring up that suicide quest from this evening."
-Ding!
{
Optional Quest
Target: Wyvern (Fire)
Predicted Tier: 5, Mid-Stage
Time Limit: 2 Days
Time to Accept: 1 Hour
Reward:
5000 Credits,
Time Dilation : Aion Field (Legendary)
Time is slowed to a crawl with respect to the user's perception and cognition.
Effective range: 10-meter radius at minimum function.
}
The text hovered before me, orange-red against the night.
A Mid-Tier 5 wyvern.
The kind of Magic Beast that burns cities to the ground in minutes.
Also, the kind of Magic Beast that just might push me closer to what I needed to become.
"Would've loved to accept this in the morning…" I whispered as that familiar, crazed smile bloomed. The same one I killed Laro with.
"I accept the quest."
-Ding!
{Quest Accepted! Time Left: 47:59:57.}
And a faint, rhythmic ticking started somewhere deep in my chest.
Every second now was a step closer or a step wasted.
I rose to my feet.
My shadow before the full moon stretched long across the ground, crossing the mound, and that wildflower.
"I'll bring you back, Ma," I said softly.
"And when I do… I don't care what happens after. I'll beat the shit out of it all the same."
As the system's glow faded, fireflies returned to my vision. The world was still moving.
And for the first time since she'd died…
It felt like I was too.