The thought hovered in Emma's mind, fragile, like a dream at the edge of waking.

  Then she exhaled softly, shaking her head. I haven't learned my Power Manifestation ability to an advanced level yet…

  The logic of it was simple. The execution? Impossible. At least, for now.

  Still...

  "It wouldn't be a bad idea to try."

  Her voice barely carried, yet Matana reacted instantly, even in the midst of battle. She sank down onto the dark green tiled floor of the time world, crossing her legs fluidly. The tiles beneath her were strange, smooth yet cold, reflecting an unsettling glow as if something pulsed beneath their surface. Closing her eyes, she reached outward... not with her hands, but with her mind.

  Matana, keep any danger away from me for a moment.

  Even as she projected the thought, she felt the answer in the deep recess of their bond. A silent agreement.

  And then...

  A dense, sphere-like veil formed around her, a perfect globe of nothingness. A shield. The air inside was still, utterly silent, like a void untouched by time. She opened her eyes slightly, catching sight of the faint shimmer of the sphere, then murmured, "Thank you," before closing them again.

  And then, she sank inward.

  Darkness.

  A vast, weightless void, stretching endlessly in all directions. But it was not empty. No... within this darkness, there was presence, thought, motion. She was here. She was inside herself.

  Emma took a slow, deep breath. If I had the ability to merge all infinite fate strings into one, and then snap it,

  The idea unfurled, filling her mind with something close to awe.

  She imagined the shape of it, the way it would feel. A single, unbreakable thread, stretched thin between her fingers. A thread that ignored rules, that rejected dimensionality, that turned impossibility into finality.

  The sensation became real.

  A book flickered in her mind’s eye... Dimensional Calculus. A memory surfaced, pages turning in her thoughts, words forming.

  In this world, each newborn is a five-dimensional being.

  At birth, a child’s Ki Core was black.. impure, untouched. As they grew, so did their dimensional nature.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Red Ki Core: 6D (Ages five to ten)

  Orange Ki Core: 7D-8D

  Yellow Ki Core: 9D

  Green Ki Core: 10D

  Silver Ki Core: 11D

  White Ki Core: 12D or above

  And then, the final state...

  Colorless Ki Core: Outside of dimensionality....

  Her thoughts sharpened. The deer-like entities were outside of dimensionality. That was why they were untouchable. Why they remained unbroken, no matter how many times they were defeated or killed.

  Her fingers twitched slightly.

  But if their existence makes them impossible to kill…

  Then she would create something that made that state irrelevant.

  A rule, forced upon them. A skill that did not care about dimensional layers, did not acknowledge infinite fates.

  Emma felt her own breath quicken, her pulse steady yet charged with something she rarely felt... excitement.

  Her mind reached further, stretching toward something just beyond her grasp. She imagined it, let it take form, let it settle as if it had already existed.

  And then.... Suddenly.

  Everything inside her stilled.

  The world inside her thoughts seemed to pause, caught between reality and something else entirely.

  She stood there.. inside herself, inside the void of her mind.

  Darkness pressed around her, not suffocating, but vast. Unknowable. And yet, she was aware of it, aware of herself.

  Her golden eyes gleamed in the nothingness, reflecting a light that wasn’t there.

  "Wow…"

  The word slipped from her lips, barely above a whisper.

  Even though everything around her was dark, it was not frightening. It was… wonderful. A feeling unlike any other. The knowledge that she was inside herself, within the depths of her own mind, shaping something that had never existed before.

  Her hands clenched slightly, her breath steady.

  This is possible.

  And as the realization settled, so did the world around her.

  A weightless sensation embraced her, the absence of gravity shifting the way her body moved. Emma tried to take a step, but instead, she hovered, gliding through the strange space within herself. A chuckle slipped past her lips, quiet yet filled with fascination.

  She floated, her silver-white hair drifting like silk in slow motion, her limbs barely needing to move as she willed herself forward. This place, this deep, interior world... was surreal, more than just a mental construct. It was as if her consciousness had fully entered an unseen dimension, one layered beneath her own existence.

  Her golden cat-like eyes flickered, sharp with curiosity as she gazed down at herself or rather, what lay within her. Her Ki Cores.

  Two orbs of pulsing energy drifted in her , their glow illuminating the inner space like distant suns. The first was veiled in a hazy blur, its details obscured as if hidden by a fog she wasn’t yet meant to part. The Dragon Ki Core. Its color remained indiscernible, making it impossible for her to determine its level.

  Her gaze then shifted to the second core. The Human Ki Core.

  The moment she saw it, her mouth parted slightly in surprise.

  "What?" she muttered under her breath.

  The glowing sphere radiated a deep, warm hue. Orange.

  She blinked, trying to process it. That’s already the Orange Stage…? But she hadn’t done anything that should’ve triggered an advancement so soon. Progressing a Ki Core wasn’t something that happened out of nowhere... it required effort, energy, battles, breakthroughs. So how…?

  Her fingers twitched slightly as she instinctively floated closer, her breath slowing as she studied the orb. It gleamed like a polished marble, light rippling across its smooth surface. The temptation to reach out was immediate, almost overwhelming, her fingers twitching at the thought of touching it, of feeling its warmth against her skin.

  But she hesitated.

  Would there be consequences?