The next morning, after finishing breakfast with Rosvisser, Leon headed for the training ground in the back courtyard of the sanctuary.
Noa had already arrived there early.
But today, the only ones throwing snowballs at her were Muse and Xiaoxue.
Where had Aurora gone?
After a few days of diligent practice, and without Aurora’s auto-aiming hack on the field, Noa could now dodge nearly all the snowballs.
Even though it wasn’t entirely her body’s natural reactions yet, it at least showed she was adapting to this new bodily awareness.
In the starting stage of training, the most important thing was to catch that feeling—that lightness, that ease, that sense of the body moving as naturally as thought.
Leon walked toward the girls, looked around, and asked:
“Why is it just the three of you today? Where did the other two rascals go?”
Xiaoxue put down the snowball in her hand and said:
“Uncle Leon, Aurora said she was finishing her new research project today, and she asked Hefei to help her.”
At that, Leon raised a brow, curiosity pricking in his chest.
“New research project? What strange thing has she come up with this time?”
Xiaoxue shook her head.
“That I don’t really know, Uncle Leon.”
Leon turned his eyes to Muse.
The fourth daughter shook her head just as blankly.
Finally he had to look farther off toward Noa.
Noa came over, brushed some lingering snow from her clothes, and said:
“I think it’s still related to that memory-retracing magic from last year.”
The overachiever princess scratched her temple, recalling, and added:
“Before winter break, Aurora mentioned it, said she wanted to do some kind of... improvement based on memory retracing?”
“It’s an upgrade, big sis.”
Muse corrected her from the side. “If third sis really went to do what she said today, then it would be the so-called—”
Muse cleared her throat, imitating her third sister’s cheerful tone:
“An unprecedented, era-defining upgrade to memory retracing magic that no one could ever expect!”
“Trust me, sisters, this is going to be the most most most exciting fun—cough, I mean, upgrade, upgrade—in all Samael history.”
After saying it, Muse inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, then switched back to her own voice:
“That’s it.”
Leon listened quietly, not too surprised.
After all, he and Rosvisser had already guessed that once Aurora advanced further in grasping time’s power, she would definitely whip up something new.
Rosvisser even told him the two of them had better be ready to act as her lab mice.
So this so-called era-defining up(gra)de(fun) was probably tied to her stepping closer into awakening her time ability.
But as for what exactly, Leon couldn’t guess.
And if Aurora really was earnestly developing her time powers, then it only confirmed what Leon had told them before:
That his daughters would one day surpass them and take their place in guarding this world of countless beings.
“All right, Dad knows. You and Xiaoxue go play for a bit. I have something to say to your big sister.”
Muse nodded obediently. “Mm-hm.”
Xiaoxue took Muse’s hand and led her out of the training ground.
Watching them leave, Noa drew her gaze back and looked at her father.
“What is it, Dad?”
“I just saw you dodging those snowballs with ease. That means our training can move to the next stage.”
At that, Noa’s eyes lit up.
“Great! What do we practice in the next stage?”
Leon half-squatted in front of her. Not so long ago, even when he hunched over, he still loomed above Noa
Now, squatting down meant he had to look up to meet her eyes.
“The next stage, we practice perception.”
“Perception?”
“Mm.”
Leon said:
“Dad told you at the start—learning super-sensation isn’t about long practice hours, but about grasping the ‘artistic conception.’ Once you can feel that subtle ‘conception,’ you’ve touched the threshold of super-sensation. The first stage of dodging snowballs was to let your body gradually adapt to high-frequency evasions. Next, we need to strengthen your body’s ability to perceive sudden changes in the environment.”
Noa tilted her head. “So it’s about dodging faster attacks?”
Leon laughed and waved a hand. “No, just the opposite.”
He raised a finger toward the sky.
“You need to use every sense in your body to perceive the snowflakes drifting down. Not one must escape you. No need to dodge them. Just pure perception. Let them fall naturally onto your body. When you can precisely sense every snowflake, this stage will be complete.”
Snowflakes were lighter than feathers. For an ordinary sorcerer, it was nearly impossible to feel them landing—unless they specialized in perception magic.
Even then, only if they actively activated their perception spell.
The difficulty of the second stage of super-sensation training far surpassed the first.
For normal people, it might never be achievable at all.
“How about it? Challenging, isn’t it?” Leon asked with a smile.
Noa nodded.
“It is hard, very challenging. But... I’ll definitely do it, Dad.”
Leon smiled warmly and ruffled her hair.
“Good. Then start right here.”
“Okay!”
Noa sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and focused every sense in her body, trying to truly perceive the path of each snowflake and the feeling of it landing on her.
Leon knew she needed absolute quiet for this part, so he didn’t disturb her, but silently moved to a nearby bench to sit.
Watching her, the father felt gratified, but also powerless.
Not powerless about teaching Noa new techniques, but—
His gaze shifted toward the silvery-haired light, falling upon the other sister.
Powerless that he couldn’t help Aurora master her time powers faster or more fluently.
That vast, mysterious power could only be slowly explored by Aurora herself.
He wondered how she would reveal her newly developed ability.
Leon was already secretly looking forward to it.
...
“Ta-da! Sorry to keep everyone waiting, my new magic is complete!!”
That evening, in the sisters’ room, the family once again sat before the fireplace as they had yesterday.
Aurora was brimming with excitement as she introduced her latest masterpiece—
It looked similar to the equipment she used when activating memory retracing magic:
Two rimless glasses, and a recording crystal that displayed the scenes of the memory world.
The whole family widened their eyes curiously, waiting for Aurora’s explanation.
“As you all know, big sis’s memory retracing magic could let one person enter another person’s past memories, and construct a complete world and unfolding events. After many improvements, the memory retracing spell became more and more refined. Over the past few years it could already perfectly restore a story’s beginning, middle, and end. For the one under the spell, it was a way to mend regrets... For you, it was just a way to watch endless fun.”
Noa muttered her complaint on the side.
Aurora rolled her eyes at her and ignored her, continuing her impassioned explanation.
“But the magic had such a big limitation. Just as its name says—memory retracing. As the name implies, no matter how real or accurate the reconstructed world was, it was still only things that had happened in the past. Based on memory, branching into another development. But! After Lord Alterra’s night-and-day research, I finally broke that limit!”
She proudly set her hands on her hips, deliberately pausing.
The parents and sisters all played along, eagerly asking,
“What is it, what is it?”
“Can lots of people enter the memory world together now?”
“Or can you freely construct whatever world and development you want?”
“...”
“Ahem~ quiet, quiet~”
Aurora coughed twice and waved her hand.
“I know you’re all impatient, but hold on, listen to me slowly explain~ The new improved magic is no longer limited to past memories. With my newly awakened time power, I use the Web of Time, which records all possibilities, to construct another world at a given moment!”
Her words were vague. Everyone looked at each other, not really understanding.
Standing behind Rosvisser, Xiaoxue obediently raised her hand.
“Could you explain in more detail?”
“It was Dad who said that,” Muse pointed to the taboo tome already sprouting moth-eaten holes beside her, “and even second sis, who helped third sis perfect the magic, already understood.”
Aurora hurriedly said:
“All right, let me give a simple example:
When you all walked into this room just now, you each chose your seats. Dad and Mom sat together, Sister Xiaoxue stood behind Mom, second sis and Muse sat opposite Dad, big sis sat alone in the rocking chair—that’s what happened, and it’s recorded in the Web of Time. It truly exists. But in other strands of the Web, there’s one where Dad sat with second sis, one where Sister Xiaoxue sat with Muse, all sorts of combinations. All those different seatings, all those possibilities, are recorded in the Web of Time too, but they never really happened. Here’s the key point!”
Aurora spoke each word with weight:
“The biggest upgrade of this new magic is: it can make one of those possibilities real! And that alternative reality, once derived, will naturally unfold within the memories of the two under the spell. It won’t affect our true reality at all. In other words, like before, the two under the spell experience it as a dream. No side effects. When the magic ends, it’s like waking from a dream. Now do you get it?”
Silence for five seconds.
Moon quietly got up. “Good night Aurora, good night everyone.”
“Second sis, don’t go! It’s fine if you don’t get it. In a minute I’ll demonstrate with Mom and Dad and you’ll understand.”
Leon & Rosvisser:
“So casually treating Dad and Mom as your lab mice? Not even shy about it, huh, our little fox sprite?”
“Oh~ I see. Put simply, the same thing can have many different developments in the Web of Time, but only one of them becomes the reality we’re in, right?”
Noa said:
“So your new magic can, in dream form, using the subject’s memory world as a base, spin off a possibility that never became reality, right?”
Aurora nodded rapidly.
“Exactly, exactly! Just like big sis said.”
“In that case... then it really is interesting.”
Even Noa, usually disinterested in novelties, couldn’t help glancing at her parents.
Feeling their daughters’ stares, the two ‘lab mice’ looked at each other.
“Ah, fine, fine. All for our daughter’s sake.”
“OK~ Dad, Mom, put on these glasses. Then, like before with memory retracing, just lie here and sleep soundly.”
Aurora had Leon and Rosvisser lie on the carpet in the sitting room, placing pillows for them.
Once they settled, Leon asked:
“If it’s another timeline that never actually happened, will we still retain our existing memories in it?”
“Yes.”
She paused, then corrected herself.
“But not entirely. Compared to memory retracing, where you had full control of your memories, in this new world’s development, even if you wanted to act by your present will, you almost couldn’t.”
At that, Rosvisser arched a brow and turned her head.
“If we can’t act by our present will, then how do we move the events forward?”
“By your will back then,” Aurora said.
“Back then?”...
“Hehehe~ that’s for you to explore yourselves. Dad, Mom, ready? The magic’s about to begin~”
The couple still exchanged uneasy looks.
But since they were here, they accepted it. Silently, they squeezed each other’s hands, and slowly closed their eyes.
On the side, the recording crystal began to show images.
Noa whispered:
“Aurora, I forgot to ask—which event’s alternative possibility did you pick for them?”
Aurora didn’t answer immediately, but asked in return:
“Remember what Dad and Mom told us about how they first met?”
Noa nodded.
“Yes. Dad led troops to attack the sanctuary, but it was forced. He ended up Mom’s prisoner. That’s when they met.”
Aurora smiled proudly.
“Then, the timeline I chose for them is... the one where Dad was never captured.”
Moon blinked her big eyes blankly.
“Dad wasn’t captured? Then who was?”
“Well, who else, second sis? Of course...”
