My Servant System

"Well, before we do any additional speculation or discussion I think we should take a step out of the city... Time is rather important considering the ratios with which you've told us it flows. The last thing we need is to spend a few days just discussing our next move."

Everyone began to move instantly, not discussing that either as they instead grabbed our stuff, pulled the carriage out of the stables and made our way towards the edge of the landmass, hopefully leaving the time shenanigans behind us for now.
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In fact, we figured out we had left it behind rather easily considering there was a clear surge in the mana around us that we felt for a split second when we reached a certain point, proving that time was being altered in a way that didn't necessarily benefit us just yet.

The second we were settled outside of the city everyone gathered around the carriage and took a look back down towards the lands below, getting a feel for just how high up we were before turning back to just bask in this incredible place we had found ourselves in.

"So we have these trial door things that offer incredible rewards spread throughout an empty, time capsule of a city with no idea on how or why it is the way it is. Additionally, we have no actual idea on if those trials have been appropriately scaled based on the number of people, what sort of difficulties lie within, and if they are truly worth the risk..."

Everyone nodded, and again we looked at Lilith as we contemplated what to do without really taking what she might want into consideration, only to come to the same conclusion; it definitely was worth the risk if the rewards were on the scale of acquiring an entirely new Core or being able to inverse your mana.

Those were utterly insane and would turn someone from just a skilled and powerful mage into a one of a kind, absurdly powerful mage that could take and rule a large number of cities or even some Kingdoms for themselves; elemental strengths and weaknesses would no longer matter since you had so much coverage, and having a whole other Core to draw mana from would just be like cheating.

"The time is going to be the real issue here. We can't be in these doors for too long, can't be wandering the city for too long, and yet... clearly there is much to explore, so much we need to discover. How can we manage to not be here for months, if not years? I mean, some of these trials might take us multiple days to complete, and a single day is just over an entire MONTH on its own!"

Draka was the one to bring that up, and instantly we were faced with the largest problem of this entire place; with time moving so quickly inside of that bubble, doing anything would cost us way too much in the short term.

If this had been before Alessandra and Lakshmi had been born, Mom might have agreed without much hesitation to head on in and clear whatever was possible; Draka might as well if her own children hadn't been born, though likely not considering she wasn't as power hungry and greedy as we were.

So long as I had Anput, Leone and Jahi with me I was completely fine letting time go by quickly outside, but now... with two little ones waiting to hear from us again, with Mother not knowing what was going to happen to us, with the looming threat of the Fiends and so much more happening outside, could we really afford to do anything here?

One trial, sure, but past that... was there anything at all that was worth all this time, or were we just-

"It's a good thing the trials themselves are in their own separate instances of time then, right~? I gave it a little bit of a test after I did the first one; I made an enchanted hourglass that would take a year to empty completely and went into the door I had located, wasting as little time as possible inside of the bubble.

With an hour inside being roughly two and a half days, I only took a half hour to get into the trial before I was sadly there for a week, fighting against hundreds if not thousands of ravenous monsters and bloodthirsty undead, and yet the hourglass hadn't emptied out at the rate it should have.

And before you ask, I made sure it worked properly, calibrated it perfectly, tested it multiple times and even made sure nothing could mess with it, so time passes at the rate that I've said before, I know that for a fact."

Instantly the cloud of worry that had fallen over us was dashed away, and now we were able to breathe a little easier as Lilith told us that time wasn't going to be as much of a worry as we feared, though we still needed to keep a very close track of it.

"How long are we willing to spend here? If it takes us a week to leave and return to the Empire, how long are we going to remain in this city? Would it be prudent to only do three to five trials before heading back to resupply and bring even more people here? To inform the Empress about this and think this through a little more clearly?"

My question got everyone to think for a little longer, only for Leone to be the one to say "I think we should split our time between doing these trials and figuring out what this city is before we go back. If time is really separated from reality inside of those trials, one group can go in and complete a trial while the other combs through the city and searches for... anything."

Draka surprisingly agreed with her, the Dragonkin crossing her arms and saying "We might as well be here for a little while, because the moment we return to the Empire I won't be leaving again. We're here, so I'll take what I can before settling for whatever I got. Lady Lilith, you made it clear there was a specific reason I was brought here, so I'll help fulfill that purpose... but don't expect me to sacrifice years of my child's life for your endeavor."

"Oh, don't worry~! I understand the value of your children's younger years~! It might lose its luster after the first dozen, but I understand wanting to be there nonetheless~! So don't worry, we don't need to be here forever, just... need to hunt down a few doors that said something about Dragons and Ice. Specifically Dragons."