Chapter 198
The scene before her shifted in an instant.
Ye Bai snapped back to reality, realizing she was now standing within the very 'image' she had been observing just moments ago. Her body hadn’t moved, yet she found herself ten meters away from her previous position.
Teleportation?
Shouldn’t this be a form of spatial magic?
Ye Bai’s mind was filled with questions, her instincts telling her it wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Confused, she decided to conduct a few more tests.
On this desolate planet, a figure flickered in and out of sight within a certain area, creating a rather eerie spectacle. Any interstellar citizen familiar with the concept of 'ghosts' would undoubtedly exclaim, "What the hell is that?"
As she continued her experiments, Ye Bai gathered more information about this ability.
First, the game described a ten-second cooldown for the skill, but in reality, she discovered it wasn’t as rigid as that. After one 'blink,' she could force another one, though the second attempt would drain a significant amount of mental energy. If she waited around ten seconds before using it again, her energy consumption would return to normal levels.
Secondly, similar to other skills that could be controlled in their release, Ye Bai found that the farther away the 'image' she wanted to reach was, the more mental energy it consumed. The maximum range seemed to be about two hundred meters.
Moreover, within this two-hundred-meter radius, her blinks were quite flexible, not limited by her line of sight; as long as she thought of a location, she could arrive there.
During her tests, Ye Bai noticed a significant difference between this ability and conventional spatial teleportation: her 'blinks' appeared to be quite 'intelligent.' For instance, when she chose to blink to a spot made of soft synthetic material, there was no tearing of the material as one might expect from a spatial transition.
Logically, if this ability allowed for spatial traversal, then upon selecting a target, her body and the material could potentially collide, leading to a glitch similar to those seen in games.
However, that wasn’t the case. Ye Bai stood firmly above the chosen material, feeling its softness and elasticity beneath her feet.
So, what was the reason behind this intelligent 'blinking'?
Ye Bai carefully recalled each step of using the skill, meticulously comparing all the differences between her previous and current experiences, leaving no detail overlooked.
Suddenly, she clapped her hands, seizing a spark of inspiration.
When using this skill, her mental recovery rate was faster than usual. There was also a subtle change, not easily noticeable at first, but once recognized, it became quite apparent: it stemmed from her injuries.
Ye Bai’s wounds were healing rapidly, and after her recent tests, they were healing even faster.
Connecting this to what the game system referred to as time magic, with skill names like "Breakpoint" and "Leap," it was clear that this ability didn’t merely restore health or mental energy.
Ye Bai’s eyes lit up as she fully grasped the principle behind this ability—
The skill didn’t actually leap through space; it was a manipulation of her own time!
What appeared to be spatial displacement was simply Ye Bai choosing to move to a destination.
In reality, the essence of her 'blinking' was that she was using her maximum speed to reach that destination in the most primal way.
What changed was the time taken to complete that journey. In relation to the normal flow of time in her environment, it was as if the time it took for her to move from point A to point B had been compressed, seamlessly connecting her to a version of herself that existed slightly further along in time.
Ye Bai referred to the effect of "Breakpoint Leap" as time 'compression' rather than 'disappearance' because it manifested in her faster recovery of mental energy and physical condition.
If that period of time had 'disappeared,' then her mental energy and injuries wouldn’t have shown such rapid improvement; they would have progressed at a normal rate.
After testing for a while, Ye Bai realized that the time she had 'spent' was far greater than what was perceived in the outside world, which corresponded to a longer recovery time for her physical state.
Thus, it wasn’t her recovery speed that had changed, but rather the time she carried with her.
Next, Ye Bai combined her current movement speed with the maximum range of this ability—two hundred meters—and roughly deduced that the time compression range was about ten seconds.
With this conclusion in mind, she contemplated the potential applications of this ability.
Ye Bai couldn’t help but take a deep breath—clearly, "Breakpoint Leap" was a power far stronger and more profound than spatial jumping!
Spatial jumps could be blocked, but time's breakpoint leaps were nearly impossible to obstruct. When Ye Bai used this ability, she didn’t disturb space or create any ripples; as long as her enemies lacked precognitive abilities, they would find it hard to predict where she would 'blink' to next.
Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, as long as her enemies didn’t possess similar time manipulation abilities or could instantly cover the area with force, Ye Bai believed she wouldn’t be vulnerable to any attacks while using this skill.
To her enemies, that period of time simply wouldn’t exist, making it impossible for them to strike her.
In games, invincibility frames are a product of system programming, but this ability, in a certain sense, provided real-life invincibility frames!
Without a doubt, this first ability of time magic was already stronger than the spatial magic Ye Bai had acquired. With this thought, she felt a sense of relief; at least the reasons and subconscious motivations for choosing this profession didn’t seem like a trap but rather a boon for her.
Next, Ye Bai began to explore the other two abilities.
The other two time magic skills weren’t as abstract as "Breakpoint Leap." From their names, Ye Bai could glean some information and vaguely guess their effects.
"Bullet Time" was a term from film, commonly understood as an enhanced slow-motion or time-stopping effect.
Ye Bai picked up a handful of sand from the ground and tossed it into the air, then immediately followed up with "Bullet Time."
Sure enough, the world around her slowed down in her eyes.
Her mental energy continued to drain, and just like in movies, the sand she had thrown seemed to lose its gravitational pull, floating in the air and descending at an incredibly slow pace.
If it weren’t for the noticeable drain on her mental energy, Ye Bai might have thought she was watching a slow-motion film unfold before her.
She reached out and grasped a small handful of the floating sand.
In this slowed-down state, her speed remained unchanged, but when she attempted to perform more vigorous actions, the corresponding mental energy consumption increased.
This ability could be used for direct combat; whether dodging attacks or launching strikes, it would undoubtedly yield powerful results.
With the surrounding environment slowed down, it was as if Ye Bai herself had sped up. As the saying goes, "In martial arts, speed is king." At such high speeds, the damage she could inflict would be considerable.
"Whoosh..."
As she released "Bullet Time," the flow of time returned to normal, and the sand fell gracefully back to the ground, resuming its regular speed.
Finally, she arrived at the third ability, "Time Reversal."
The longer the cooldown and the greater the consumption, the more powerful the ability—this was undeniable. This one-day cooldown and massive energy drain ability was the one that intrigued Ye Bai the most.
The two time magic abilities she had encountered so far could be simply summarized as 'time fast-forward' and 'time pause,' while the last one corresponded to the previous two, suggesting 'time rewind' from its name.
What piqued Ye Bai’s curiosity was what exactly this rewind entailed. Would it really allow her to return to a past moment? That could lead to complications involving time paradoxes and parallel universes, making it hard for her to imagine or comprehend.
The most direct time paradox would be: if she could indeed rewind time, wouldn’t her abilities cease to exist if she returned to a point before her class change?
Rubbing her temples to dispel her overactive imagination, she decided to stop speculating—she would find out by trying it.
"Time Reversal" had a massive energy cost, so after resting for a while, Ye Bai prepared to attempt it again.
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