Sora stood still, watg the trees outside the time-bending zone sway unnaturally fast while inside, everything seemed unged. He shifted his attention to Kara, his expression thoughtful.

  "How long you keep this effect going?" he asked.

  Kara g him, slightly nervous. "Thirty seds, max."

  Sora raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed. "That's not bad at all." He gnced back at the world outside their zone, watg the rapid movements. "Now, reverse it."

  Kara hesitated for a brief sed before fog her energy. The shimmer of her time-bending ability flickered for a moment, and the world outside began to slow down. From their perspective, it was as though time beyond the zone had nearly e to a halt.

  "Twenty-seven seds left," Kara said, her voice calm but focused.

  Sora aking iuation. "So, what else you do with it?"

  "I reduce or expand the zone," Kara replied, her tohoughtful. "It es more mana depending on the size. Smaller zoake less energy, rger ones drain faster."

  Sora crossed his arms, thinking through the implications. "Let's try something. Reduce the zone as much as possible."

  Kara nodded, fog her mana again. The shimmering boundary of the time-bending zone began to shrink, slowly closing in around them. Sora could feel the pressure of mana being dehe air growing heavier as the zoightened.

  The world outside moved at the same rythm. Kara's trol was remarkable for someo her level, but he could tell it took immense focus and energy.

  As the zo closing on them, he got closer and closer to her.

  As the shimmering time-bending field shrank to a tight bubble barely a meter wide and two meters high.

  "How long you maintain this?" he asked, his voice calm despite the tension in the air.

  Kara looked at him, her focus unwavering. "Thirty minutes ihe zone. Sixty minutes will pass outside."

  She didn't seem to be tired anymore. It seems she only o focus to make ges with the skill.

  Sora raised an eyebrow. "That's impressive. But you recover mana while you're doing this?"

  Kara shook her head. "No. The zone blocks out external mana flow, so I 't recover while maintaining it. We're in a mana-starved space."

  Sora thought for a moment, then nodded. "Increase the iy of the effect. Let's see how far you push it."

  Kara nodded, fog on her mana trol. The air within the zone seemed to shimmer more intensely as the world beyond them slowed even further. The wind outside seemed to freeze in pce, and the sunlight casting shadows across the field barely shifted, as though time itself had been brought to a near halt beyond the bubble.

  Sora moved his hand, notig anside the field. "Everything feels normal in here," he noted. "But out there, it's like the world is barely moving."

  Kara smiled faintly, though the effort of maintaining the spell was being more apparent. "Ihe field, we feel nothing different. But to someog us from the outside, we'd be moving so fast, it'd be almost impossible to track."

  Sora's eyes flicked to the edge of the bubble. "How much faster are we now?"

  Kara closed her eyes for a moment, fog on the energy flow within the spell. "Right now, time ihe bubble is flowing five times faster than outside."

  "Impressive." S the world beyond, where a bird was flying slowly, barely moving. "Let's push it further."

  Kara nodded, her tration deepening. The shimmering in the air grew more intense as the gap betweeime and the outside world widehe bird in the distance seemed to have stopped pletely, its wings hanging in the air as if trapped in a moment of stillness.

  Sora observed the ge, still feeling no differenside the bubble. "What's the differenow?"

  Kara's voice was a little strained. "Twenty times faster. But it's starting to drain my mana quickly."

  Sora nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly as he tio study the frozen ndscape around them. "Keep going. Push it until you 't anymore."

  Kara gritted her teeth, her fiwitg slightly as she funneled more mana into the spell. The air shimmered with a near-visible pressure now, and everything outside their field was almost pletely static. The sun barely moved, the wind had stopped altogether, and even the faint rustling of leaves outside the zone had gone silent.

  After a long moment, Kara exhaled sharply, her face pale from the effort. "That's it... I 't push it any further."

  Sora looked around, noting the eerie stillness outside their bubble. "How fast is time moving for us now?"

  Kara wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead. "We were moving about 100 times faster thahing outside. So we will spend around a hour here. I 't refine mana further."

  Sora raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. "That's amazing"

  Kara shook her head. "No. The only thing I felt was my mana being drained. Every time I maintaihe iy, I could still speak or aally, but ging the effect was... exhausting. And this isn't useful at all, I only stay ihout doing anything as mana is not enough to train. I use it as a way to time skip by reversing the effect, but that is also useless... "

  Sora nodded, sidering what they'd just experiehey could spend a while ihe bubble, testing her abilities, yet only a few minutes would pass iside world. It was an impressive feat, but it came at a heavy cost to her mana reserves.

  He g the edge of the bubble, curiosity sparking in his eyes. "What would happen if I tried to leave the time bubble?"

  Kara blinked, caught off guard by the question. "You could cross it, but once you're outside, you'll no longer be affected by the time manipution. Inside, we're moving faster. Outside, time flows normally again."

  Sora's gaze flicked to her. "Has anyone else seen this skill in a?"

  Kara hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Just Master Areva. She told me not to show it to anyone else. Said it was too dangerous, that people would try to exploit it or kill me."

  Sora chuckled softly, though his tone held a note of caution. "She's n. This skill could be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. But you know I resist its effects, right?"

  Kara nodded, her eyes serious. "I do. If you resist the time manipution, it'll drain my mana faster to keep the effect stable. I could release you from the field, but if I don't..."

  Sora's smile faded slightly as he sidered the implications. "Then we've got a real on here," he said quietly. "Let's not use it in fight until we have a way to keep it secret".

  "This skill has incredible potential," he said, his voice calm but carrying a note of genuine admiration. "But it's ly what I expected you to focus on first."

  Kara looked at him, still catg her breath from the strain of maintaining the time-bending bubble. "Not what you expected?"

  Sora nodded. "Yeah. Your Time-Bending skill is powerful, no doubt about that. But we have to hide it from the world if there is no way to hide its effects. We 't get ourselves killed in our first week outside. But the problem is, your skill levels are too low for now, especially since you just ged csses. We o get you up to speed quickly. And more than that, you ain some of the abilities you had before."

  At his words, Kara's shoulders slumped slightly. She knew he was right. The ge to her new css had beeing, but the price had been steep. She had lost all the skills she had learned as a Priest, all the healing abilities , her shields, buffs, she had relied on for so long. It had left her feeling exposed, vulnerable. She nodded in respoo Sora's question, her voice quiet. "Yeah... I lost all of my skills from the Priest css. It was hard to accept, to be ho."

  Sora pced a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's not as bad as you think," he said, his toeady. "In fact, it's okay. Losing those skills might feel like a setbaow, but I have a way to help you reach your previous peak. And not just that—I help you surpass it, make you strohan you've ever been."

  Kara looked at him, a spark of hope flickering in her eyes. "You do? How? This is what you meant with the tract?"

  Sora's smile widened slightly, a hint of his fidence showing through. "Trust me. Without your old css and old experience, ush yrowth to airely new level. You won't just regain what you lost—you'll explode in terms of power."

  Sora paused for a moment, his gaze thoughtful. "What skill did you have the most mastery over before the css ge?" he asked, his tone calm and inquisitive.

  Kara didn't have to think long. "Heal," she answered softly. "It was unlocked when I reached level 15 in the Priest css. I used it all the time. It could be targeted at myself or others... It was my go-to."

  Sora nodded, his expression serious. "Good. Use it now."

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