“Okay that’s, something. Do you think she’s dead?”

“Fate? No. She’s way too slippery to die. Incapacitated and unable to do anything? Probably. Dead? Nah.”

It’s the morning after and I’ve explained that this is probably the only remaining timeline left. 

I don’t really understand how you can hide a timeline, or how they work, as the concept is still too far out of my reach, despite the many enhancements my brain went through.

To put it in perspective. The amount of calculations I had to do for some of my more complex spells before the Restart was akin to calculating all the variables of sending a rocket to Mars, or the exact paths and end of a 12 magnitude earthquake down to the millimeter, all within seconds.

The concept of timelines is still far beyond me. Sure, I understand how they work in theory. The concept has already been researched and is fairly accurate. Whenever an event is at a crossroads, with multiple possible outcomes, for each outcome that is not the “truth” in our observable universe realm, an alternate timeline is created where one of the other possible outcomes becomes that universe realm’s “truth”.

Then there are universe realms. An universe realm is a myriad or cluster of different universes, they are occupying the same location in space, but they are at the same time not. It’s like each branch on a tree is a different universe, but they’re all connected to the trunk and core of the tree.

And then there is interacting with the timelines. There are beings so far out of our understanding, that they can interact with the past, present and future of all these possible timelines at the same time. They are everywhere and nowhere. To think I dreaded quantum physics during university, haha.

These Overseers are the highest being we know of, but there were theories in the future, before the Restart, that they also answered a higher being, or multiple beings. An Overseer generally has its own territory, or domain, and the closest concept we have to Overseers are the Primordial entities in Greek mythology.

Most of them work to keep all the universe realms and timelines intact and alive, but there is a particular Overseer, who’s name shall never be mentioned lest we want him to find us, that has deviated from its path and is seeking the destruction of everything, past, present, future, forever.

All the branching timelines, all the universe realms, everything.

“Babe?”

Oh, It seems I did it again. “Sorry sweetie, I got lost in my own thoughts.”

Miralis let’s out something between a snort and a chuckle. “I know, ever the mad scientist.”

I pout at her statement, I am not mad. I am merely curious, and sometimes I may or may not cross a line, or spend a few months without sleeping or eating studying a particular problem.

Maybe I am slightly crazy? No. Blasphemous thoughts. By the Chaos I am perfectly sane.

I look at my wife and she gives me a knowing look, and I quickly avert my gaze.

“Anyways, you said you needed to reach second circle before we could get that system stone you mentioned?”

Ah, yes. My circle system. I never got an answer to why I am seemingly the only one to ever exist with magic, instead of cultivation. The most common question is “what is the difference?”

Cultivation is sectioned into tiers. Each tier is the amount of life force, ki, chi, chakra, whatever you want to call it, that your core or dantian can hold. By improving your body to the next tier, your soul, body and mind are elevated, strengthened and improved way beyond human capabilities.

A second tier cultivator can run as fast as a car, and their skin is bulletproof, well, maybe not to an anti material rifle or rail gun, but semantics.

A tenth tier cultivator can destroy a continent with a little bit of effort.

Then there is me. I don’t have a dantian, or life force. Instead I have mana, and a mana ocean. Well, at the moment it’s more like a kiddie pool, but whatever. I expend my mana to construct spells in the form of circles. These constructs can have a different amount of circles, and the spell is categorised based on the amount of magic circles needed to perform the spell.

Each circle has a set amount of runes, depending on the complexity of the spell, and the wanted outcome. These runes are not from any one language, and you can mix and mash different runes. They don’t even necessarily have to be runes, but having the English word for ‘language’ contains a lot more letters, and will take more amount of potential runes in the circle, which can only contain a certain amount, as well as more mana.

By substituting the English word for ‘language’ with say the Japanese Kanji 言語, which means language, it takes up less amount of ‘rune slots’ for the same outcome.

While a cultivator’s power or external manipulation of the world always has to originate from the cultivators body, and their dantian, I can create a spell that originates from across the world.

There are also other differences, like my body is still remaining as human as it is right this moment, even if I can construct spells that can annihilate an entire world. That is where my system comes in.

The system is something all people in every world will at some point gain. Our world is simply a bit behind due to some weird agreement made by the Egyptians, Romans and Greeks millennia ago with their gods.

The important part is again, my system is different, and again, it’s driving me mad that I don’t know why. My system is tailor made for me, and can help me with upgrading and enhancing my psionic and mental capabilities. Some of these are things cultivators can buy in their system store, or something they gain, like eidetic memory or multi-thought processing.

My system can help me gain capabilities to make certain items, foci, to help me create complex spell constructs with more ease, decipher languages just by looking at them, analyse quantum entanglements and a lot more. I have yet to explore it’s full capabilities, something I assume I will have to do.

Now then, since my trip down memory lane is over with, let’s get to the second circle. While I don’t understand how this works, the system has locked me from creating say a third tier spell, even though I know how to, until I unlock the second tier by casting a second tier spell, and therefor can use the system to enhance my mana ocean, well, kiddie pool.

Looking over at my wife, I create a construct in my hand. Two magic circles with runes and words of different languages creating a complex geometric structure.

My sweet, lovely, beautiful, gorgeous lover looks at me in anticipation, which I shall gladly shatter in a few seconds. 

With a mental flex I superimpose the spell construct onto reality, and only a moment later I can see my wife’s grin turn into a frown, as she yells at me. “ARIANA!!!”

Giggling to myself I quickly pat the now very floofy cat ears adorning her head, before gently stroking her tail and running out of the room.

[Congratulations Ariana! By casting a completely, utterly and magnificently useless spell on your wife, you have casted your first second circle spell and you are now categorised as a second circle mage. Certain functions and items in the shop are now unlocked. Be careful, with great powers come great responsibilities, or in your immediate future, a massive stamina drain and jelly legs.]

Giving my snarky system a mental snort, I turn around and look at my lovely kitty. 

I am so dead.