Time
When Cordelia and I got back to the rest of the group, everyone was talking about the pros and cons of the technological upgrades. It seemed like Byakuren was interested in them, mostly based on how highly Millie spoke of the benefits, but Idomu was dead set against it. He felt that it was unnatural and did not want anything foreign inside his body. I could understand and even relate to his sentiment. If I had the option of rejecting the technological upgrades, I probably would have. It didn't matter for me at this point since it was already done, and I liked the benefits now. Anyway, there wasn't any point in trying to convince them to do it if they didn't want to, so we just moved onto the things we could do to prepare.
Millie went into the simulations to get some accelerated practice time fighting with her new abilities, which she wasn't ready to show us just yet. I was curious about what types of magic she had come up with, but I kept my distance because I felt a bit awkward about the fact that I had found out more about her past than she was aware. She knew my memories, but I had given her permission for that. Cordelia and I had done something close to talking behind her back. There were good reasons for keeping it to ourselves, but it still made things weird.
Gilda set up a holographic projection of the highlights from the recording of my memories for the tanuki couple. They needed to see the battles, both in the simulation and the one inside the spaceship. It was meant to help them mentally prepare for the fights that were coming. After all, the battle was not going to be like anything they had ever seen on Earth. It was less efficient than just downloading the data directly, but it was better than nothing.
Gilda and I returned to the task of moving the sample Earth creatures into the core. While Cordelia started making use of the influx of mana they provided by upgrading our magical defensive and offensive capabilities. Apparently, the outside of the spaceship looked very different now. She and Gilda were in near-constant communication over the direct mental link to maximize the efficiency of the process. I was seeing now how powerful their ability to multitask was. While I was stuck with doing two things at once, at most, they were both doing several things at the same time.
As a result, my competitive streak got the best of me, so I made several attempts to use my onboard AI to force my brain to deal with three tasks at the same time. My main task was doing the physical job of moving the specimens into the core once Gilda had removed them from stasis. I was also using part of my brain to download the relevant information for each species. The third task I was attempting was then using the newly downloaded information to analyze any good opportunities for genetic edits to myself.
I failed at maintaining this balance many times. Either I would find myself standing still in the hallway, having forgotten to walk. Or I lost track of one of the mental tasks without realizing it. However, with each failure, I felt myself getting closer to unlocking the trick to balancing my mental resources better.
After a few more hours of working at it like this, something clicked. Suddenly, my mind was crystal clear, and I could easily separate my mental processes. It was almost eerie how easily it came to me now, but there was something that felt wrong. I could no longer sense the onboard AI at all. After I worried about it for a few moments, I gave up and contacted Gilda through the direct link.
<Hey Gilda, I lost contact with my onboard AI. I was trying to improve my multitasking ability, but I think I might have burned out the AI system by pushing it too hard.>
I hadn't heard Gilda laugh very often, especially over the direct link, but she definitely snickered at me now.
<There is no need to worry, Willie. Your mind has finally fully merged with the onboard AI layer. The reason you are not able to sense it anymore is that it is no longer a separate entity.>
<Oh... Wow. So that means I'm the first to merge?>
<No. I'm sorry to say that you are last. Cordelia merged almost immediately after the installation procedure due to her excellent compatibility. Millie was only a few hours behind her.>
<What?! Why didn't anybody say anything?>
<For one thing, there has been a lot going on, and this was not a top priority. But also, we all felt like you were under enough pressure as it was. There was no need to make it into some sort of competition.>
Maybe I really had spent too long in the simulations and had become too competitive. Part of me hated coming in the last place. Still, I wanted to be mature about it. We all had bigger fish to fry, and I was more anxious to see how my new mental skills worked anyway.
What I hadn't noticed was, while all this was going on, I had continued to work on the other three tasks without pausing. Which proved I was already capable of doing four things at once.
<Hey Gilda?>
<Yes?>
<Do you think it would be possible to have part of my mind be getting experience in the simulation while working on other things?>
<It can be done. I do precisely that. However, it is best if you wait until you have more experience. Your mind will struggle to reconcile moving at two different speeds if you are not skilled enough at partitioning your mental functions.>
Parts of my mind moving at different speeds? If that was the barrier to my training, then I felt like it was a good idea to try to adapt to those differences in how time moved as soon as possible. Missing out on training time was already putting me in a bad situation.
<Okay, I get that it'll be hard. But, given the situation, I need to push harder and use the time we have to the best effect. Would you help me get set up to try it out?>
<If that is your wish. However, I want to reiterate that it is very likely to be unpleasant. Or perhaps, could even cause you to lose consciousness due to the mental strain.>
If I did pass out, that would be a total waste of time, but I felt like I needed to risk it in this situation. It might have been that my fear of falling behind the others was warping my thinking.
<I understand, but I still want to try it out. Please help me get started.>
Gilda took a break from the stasis work to help me get set up. I chose to use the second simulation since I had already beaten it. That way, I could put my focus on just getting used to mentally processing the time moving at two different speeds. I wanted to keep helping out here, so I set up a mental partition in such a way that it wouldn't interfere or overlap. I was amazed at how easy it was to do now that the onboard AI had become fused with my mind.
Once we had everything set up, I sat down to make sure I wouldn't hurt myself if I suddenly passed out. When I triggered the simulation to start, I had the weird sensation of being in two places at the same time. Both felt real, but the part of me sitting down inside the spaceship was moving at a much slower speed. After a moment, I felt something shift in my mana, and suddenly both experiences synced up.
"Hey Gilda, something weird is happening."
"I did warn you that operating at two different speeds at the same time would be difficult."
"Yeah, it was... at first... but now everything is totally synced up."
She made that cute gesture, where she tilted her head to the side as she looked at me. Which was a surreal experience because, at the same time, I was hacking a zombie to death inside the simulation.
"The simulation appears to be functioning normally. However, your brain activity does appear unusual. Did anything occur before the change in your experience?"
"The only thing that seemed a bit weird was my mana moved in a way that only happens when I use magic... but I didn't use any."
I could almost see her brain kick into researcher mode. It was plain to see that she was happiest when she had some new thing to research.
"Do you have any magic that controls time?"
"No, of course not. There would be no way I would miss something like that."
"Then do you mind if I take a look at your stats for a moment?"
"No, by all means, please do. I'm getting some training in right now, so I feel like I'm still getting good use out of the time."
I called up my stats at the same time as she accessed them through our party connection.
Species: Human
Name: Willie Jennings
Damage - 0/100
Stamina - 50/100
Mana/Capacity - 95/100
Strength - B
Durability - B
Speed - S
Dexterity - C
Intelligence - A
Skills:
Languages 4, DNA Editing 3, Identification 2, Riding 1, Herding 1, Marksmanship 1, Tracking 2, Field Dressing 1, Fire 1, Martial Arts 4, Combat 2, Parallel Processing 1
Magic Skills:
Lightning Magic Level 1, Unknown *Chi Attack* Level?, Unknown *Deflect* Level?, Unknown *Impact Absorption* Level?, Unknown *Aura Reading* Level?, Unknown *Mana Synchronization* Level?, Unknown *Drain* Level?, Unknown *Reposition* Level?
Gilda quietly read through the stats for a few moments before saying anything.
"We spoke before about how Teleportation magic is somehow different from your Reposition magic. Otherwise, the system would have just named it Teleportation magic. The important thing is that time and space are closely related. Perhaps Reposition magic has an unknown time element to it... What do you visualize when you trigger that magic?"
I had to think about it for a second. I hadn't used reposition very often because it consumed a large amount of mana without much effect. It was useful in a pinch when you needed to be unpredictable in your movement, but you had to end the fight quickly, or you would run out of mana.
"When I trigger it, I focus on where I want to be right now."
Gilda started pacing back and forth, mumbling deep in thought.
"So you are repositioning yourself in three-dimensional space, much like teleportation. However, you have added a time qualifier of 'right now' to the function. Perhaps you are really repositioning yourself in four-dimensional space, time included."
That sounded like some crazy talk. There was no way I was unconsciously using magic to time travel. Although it would explain the absurdly high mana cost.
"Okay, fine. Let's assume you are right, and I can use Reposition to travel in time. Why would that help parts of my mind operate at two different speeds?"
"This is only a theory, but perhaps to travel in time, your magic helps your mind process the experience of time differently than a normal person. I would imagine time travel would be hard on the mind because our brains are designed to only experience time linearly."
A non-linear sense of time. For some reason, that felt like the right answer at a gut level. When I used Reposition, I always saw it as a complete break from one thing to another. As if a rope was cut and a brand new one suddenly appeared someplace else, but they weren't attached in any way.
"I think that might be close to the truth, but how do we test it?"
Gilda seemed so happy to be working on this new magical research that she was almost giddy. She had us both use identical stopwatches. My goal was to only move two seconds forward in time, staying in the same spot, to save on mana. Our stopwatches were synced up when I triggered Reposition.
Instantly I felt drained of almost all my mana. I had to catch myself to keep from falling over. I looked over at Gilda and barely managed to speak.
"So... did it work?"
"You vanished for exactly two seconds. However, that does not prove time travel conclusively. We should verify the times on the stopwatches."
When we compared them, Gilda's watch had experienced two seconds more time than mine did. Time travel confirmed.
"I can't believe it... I'm a time traveler."
"How did it feel?"
"It just felt like I didn't move at all. I'm dead tired, though."
"Yes. Well, it makes sense that you would need a huge amount of mana to move independently through time. Perhaps you should rest and try to recover for now."
Gilda seemed really enthused about this development, but I was too tired to feel much of anything.
"Yeah, it's been a long day anyway. So I guess I'll go lie down for a while."
"Rest well, Willie."
"Thanks, Gilda... for everything."
