“Mia! Come back!”

“Where are you going kid!”

“Stop!”

Mia ran deeper into the dungeon, motes of light falling behind her. She had given up trying to explain the importance of running away to them, but they never believed her, she was just too young to be taken seriously in their eyes. Even when she alerted them to the lights beforehand, they simply didn’t believe her.

So now she is here, running deeper into the dungeon in a futile attempt to get away from the church.

Yes futile.

No matter what she did, no matter how deep she ran, no matter how perfect she prepared them, they would always end up dead. She was effectively at a dead end, what’s worse, she was very close to becoming a slave again, managing to end her life before each time.

“Miaaa-!“

“Who the fu-!“

“Sto-!”

Mia stopped, hearing nothing but the familiar sounds of silence, tears welling up in her eyes. “Dang it!” she fell to her knees, hitting the ground with her fists, they had found them again, she did not run deep enough. She had tried multiple paths, leading them through different rooms but still, the church would always find them. She was biggening to suspect they had some way of tracking them.

She took a deep breath, taking the lumber axe in hand and positioning its blade over her arm, closing her eyes as she saw her shaky limbs. ‘This will make it the fifth…’ she clenched her closed eyes tight as she cut her wrist.

[You have died, would you like to load? [Yes/No]]

“Mmm…” She had to rethink this, she couldn’t just repeat the same part over and over and hope for a change “Could try leading them into a monster trap, like that giant mouth or mimic.”

[You have died, would you like to load? [Yes/No]]

“Rushing to the exit?”

[You have died, would you like to load? [Yes/No]]

“Climbing up and going through the ceiling?”

[You have died, would you like to load? [Yes/No]]

“Locking ourselves in a room?!”

[You have died, would you like to load? [Yes/No]]

“Maybe-“

[You have died, would you like to load? [Yes/No]]

“What if-“

[You have died, would you like to load? [Yes/No]]

“I just want to-“

[You have died, would you like to load? [Yes/No]]

“If I dodge the attack to the right-“

[You have died, would you like to load? [Yes/No]]

“AAAAAAAH!!!”

Mia yelled out into the void, nothing she did worked, it was truly a dead end, but she stubbornly refused to go back to square one, it just didn’t sit right with her, abandoning them like that. She hated that feeling, leaving people behind just because she could reset. “But what can I do…”

[Suggestion: Load save one]

“Eh?” Mia looked around, not seeing or hearing anyone in the void “Who is there?”

[Answer: Assist mode]

“Assist mode?” The thing she locked at level two of her time skill? “Weren’t you locked?”

[Affirmation: Yes. Answer: Dead end detected resulting in temporary release of assist mode. Suggestion: Load save one]

“N-no, I can’t! I can’t just leave them because I can!”

[Advisement: It is currently impossible to save them with the skills currently available. Solution: Load slot 1, train, come back stronger.]

“But…”

[Observation: Owner lacks resolve and is being a hypocrite. Speculation: Possibility owner acquired this trait from John extremely likely.]

“Ok! That isn’t fair… but…” She hated to admit it, but it was right. Just like back in the village she really didn’t want to leave them to their fate if she could help it…even if she was coming back eventually. But to compare her feelings to something John would pull…

[Suggestion: There is possibly another way.]

“Hrm? A way to save them and continue without going to slot 1?”

[Answer: Yes, Owner simply must raise their skill level while remaining on slot 2. Over and over. Until skill levels are high enough to make a difference.]

“Wouldn’t that take a long time?”

[Yes.]

“Hrm…” It could work, experience for skills is carried over after all, that was the whole point of her training. If she could do that then her problem would be solved. “How long would it take?”

[Explanation: To make a meaningful difference, the raising of skill levels would take, at owners’ best pace, three years of thirty-minute intervals before having to load before getting cut off by [False Sanctuary] and being unable to load.]

“Oh, three years…” That is a lot of time to spend in one place, and that was assuming she was constantly going at her best pace. Fatigue wouldn’t be an issue, her body would go back to how it was before the training, but mental fatigue would be an issue, eventually she knew she would get sick of it, wait what did it-

[Suggestion: To optimize training time, I suggest owner take advantage of one of my features. Now that I am unlocked.]

“Huh? Features?”

[Affirmative, since a dead end has been reached, I can do the training for you, increasing the efficiency of the training tenfold.]

“So, you would do the training? And that would get me out of this dead end, so I can continue, and everyone will be safe?”

[Correct. Training time will be an estimated three months of your time. With the desired result of raising skill levels so the mortals Si, Ra, and La continued existence along with owner escaping out of the unknown skill. Is this result desirable?]

Mia thought about it, it sounded very ideal. The sooner the better and with a power boost by the end of it? And everyone would be safe, the most important thing. “That sounds good.”

[Affirmation: Owner: Mia will allow [Assist Mode] To pilot the main body on slot 2 until skill levels are high enough to overcome the current dead end. Is this correct? [Y/N]]

“Yes.” Mia answered, then… nothing… “Hello? Assist? What happens now?”

There was no answer, only silence.

“Hello?” Mia tried to activate her skill, tried to load, but nothing appeared. “uhm…Assist mode?”

“Man, you really screwed the pooch on this one kid.” A familiar voice spoke.

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“What’s wrong Mia?” Si asked Mia, the fox beastmen child her adventurer group had found sleeping in a chest. She was currently staring off into space after asking about skills. Si thought of her as a weird kid, running away from home and ending up in a dungeon and wondered what kind of weird series of events had led her to this place.

Truthfully, in her many years of being in the adventurer business, this was perhaps the weirdest encounter she has ever had, and it was a wonder how she was even alive, but she was glad they had found her before she met an ill fate.

“Hey~ Mia?” Despite her calls Mia didn’t respond, just continued to stare off into space. Si looked to her companions, Ra shrugging while La approached the child.

“Mia?” La patted the girl’s clothes “everything ok?”

“Maybe she finally realized how much danger she is in?” Ra commented.

Si shot him a look, though she had to agree with him, Mia had been woefully dismissive about how dangerous it was down here, hoping it wasn’t something too sever like a mental break status effect or something… Si knew they had to get her home and fast.

“Alright, begin.”

Mia finally speaking brought Si’s attention to the girl, a chill running down her spine as she watched in horror as the girl as the young girl she assumed to be harmless suddenly grabbed La by the neck and lifting her up in the air “M-Mia?! What are you doing?!”

“N-ny- it h-hurts…” La choked out.

“You-?! Unhand her!” Ra readied his weapons, pointing the sword at the girl.

Mia raised her free hand as La struggled in the other, she placed it over the cat’s face, cold mist seeping out from it.

“B-bad joke.” La laughed nervously “S-stop, it hurts. Please.”

“Damnit! Let her go kid! I’m warning you!” Ra took a step forward, his sword glowing a soft blue.

“Mia, yes this is a bad joke, I don’t know what’s going on but please, stop.” What the hell was going on? this was a kid right? La’s appraisal had said so. The brief idea that this really was a doppelganger flashed in Si’s mind but was quickly shook away, this was something different. “Mia please.”

La stopped struggling, pointing her paw towards Mia “Will do it, put me down!” La shouted through Mia’s misty palm, when her grip didn’t lighten, she growled “Yo- Aaaaaa!!!”

““LA!”” Both watched in horror as a blast of frozen air shot out from Mia’s palm, point blank hitting her in her face as she screamed. Ra was the first to react, the phantom blade extended “You damned kid!” he yelled, running forward and slashing down.

Si watched as Mia simply moved to the side slightly, avoiding the strike by a hairs breath with still blasting their companion in the face with ice, leaving Ra momentarily dumbfounded that his attack was dodged. Not wasting anymore time, Si dashed in with her phantom paws extended she punched at Mia, only for her to dodge by a minimal margin “La!”

The frost stopped, seemingly satisfied Mia tossed the cat to the side, both seeing La bounce off the ground behind her “Ding~” Mia chimed, mist forming around her hands and solidifying as two solid knifes made of ice.

“Y-you bastard!”

“No Ra wait!” Si shouted but was too late. Ra had charged forward, slashing randomly in rage but to no avail as Mia managed to barely dodge each time, but not only was she dodging, but she was also going in for a counter e very time Ra made a wide swing, as if she knew it was coming.

Mia countered, shortening the distance and cutting into the small cat’s face before leaping back. The girl looked towards Si, her expressionless face stretching into a yawn “You coming? You will die this time at this rate.”

“What?” Si said in disbelief, she couldn’t comprehend what was going on, why did this child they had saved, taken under their wing, and were escorting out of this dangerous place… why was this child now attacking them? Even killing on of her comrades, this…this…bitch! “grrrrAAARGH! MIA!!” Si joined the fight, punching when Ra left himself open, covering him as they attacked.

Mia still managed to unnaturally dodge, despite the random nature of the attacks, it was truly as if she knew when the attacks were coming and where from. “That’s more like it.” Mia’s face stretched out in a wide smile as she still managed to sneak in an attack “Faster, go faster!”

Ra grunted “Is this seriously the kid we rescued?!” he said.

“Does it matter?! She killed La! She killed…”

“You are right, it doesn’t matter.”

They both paused, watching as Mia stepped back, her smile replaced with a frown “Doesn’t matter?! What the hell do you mean!” Ra shouted.

“Please do not stop, continue.” Mia said, waving her ice daggers towards Ra in an aggressive manner.

Si raised her weapon, what in the world was she on about? Was this just a game to her?! “Mia! Why are-“Si leaped back, dodging the thrown ice dagger, landing she slipped on a frozen surface and fell backwards “M-Mia!” she yelled, before her head hit the frozen ground, blacking out.

She came to moments later, hearing the pained grunts of Ra she slowly got up “Ra? What is…” She stopped, her eyes going wide at the scene before her. Mia had frozen Ra’s limbs in blocks of ice, and was cutting away at the exposed skin. “W-what…” she then noticed how cold she was, looking towards her limbs she found out why, Mia had also frozen her in place.

“Right on time.” Mia said “Ra will be dying soon; I still haven’t shaved off enough time to really get a lot out of you but…”

“Why… why are you doing this…” Si asked, she couldn’t imagine an eight-year-old ever being this cruel, but the expression on Mia’s face right now.

“What? This?” Mia gestured around herself, the almost dead and cut up Ra, the currently dead ice sculpture that was La, and to Si who was frozen in place.

“I’m just grinding.”