It's nice to see a bunch of people began to read this thing! I mean, it's kind of a dumping ground for my need for a time-travel story, and for IF. I mean, as fun as Neptune is, IF's been one of my favorite characters, so this is my little love letter to her character.

Anyways, important stuff! The schedule's not set yet, but I'll try my best to get an update every week or so. Each chapter's length won't be set, but they won't be too long. Don't have that much time anymore.

Enough from me. Enjoy!


[2] - Re: Learn


"Thank you! Please come again!"

IF gave the nice lady a wave and turned to leave, dearly hoping the lady hadn't caught the tears that nearly spilled from her eyes. It'd been far too long since she last saw her. She could still remember the way the store was, with smoke rising around and the building reduced to nothing but stone and rubble.

Remembered the single hand that stuck out from a pile of rubble, as if the person was trying to escape.

She'd died. She dIeD jUSt LiKE thE resT-

She grit her teeth. She was alive. She was back. What'd happened in that futute-past was gone. It was just another possibility this timeline could head towards. She just had to make sure that wasn't the road destiny was taking.

She gave her new daggers a quick twirl, feeling the familiar way they settled into her hands. She didn't get a tri-pronged dagger; the lady wasn't selling those yet, so she'd settled with buying a pair of steel daggers. They were bigger, heavier than the kitchen knives, and fit her hand just right.

She sighed as she placed her new daggers into her Inventory. What should she do now? She'd gone and raised her level, got some Credits, and bought a new pair of daggers. There were still a couple more hours before the sun set.

…Should she try to get another skill? She only had one active and passive skill, and that simply wouldn't do. But what would she even get? There were so many she could pick from.

She could ponder over it as she searched for a clearing, she supposed.

It took her an hour to find a clearing for her to use. Ironically, the clearing was right behind her apartment. She somehow forgot about it.

Oh well.

She sat down and sifted through her memory. She had quite the repertoire of skills in the past, and there were many more she could take. She'd learnt a lot of special physical skills, but she could technically jump ships and turn into a caster. She had more than enough base Int to accomplish that. Or she could go both ways.

She stood up and closed her eyes. Electricity pumped in her ears, and the familiar weight of her new steel daggers settled in her hands. Her legs parted, arms crossed just under her chest, and she remembered. She remembered what went through her mind as she thought of this, of the desperate need she futility needed to fulfil.

She slash horizontally, then vertically, and then stabbed. The three steps echoed in her mind, and she repeated them, over and over. She burned the way it felt into her mind, seared it into her muscles through repetition. Her swings grew faster, harsher, and she could feel a spark beginning to grow in her chest.

It was like an ember, waiting for the fuel it needed to spark into a bright flame.

She pulled her arms back, took a breath, and repeated, growing faster.

Horizontal. Vertical. Stab.

Horizontal. Vertical. Stab.

Horizontal. Vertical. Stab.

The spark grew and grew, and soon her chest began to burn. Words flooded through her mind, and her tongue burned with words she needed to say. With a breath, she opened her eyes and moved.

All three at once.

"CROSS IMPACT!"

A shockwave exploded forward from her simultaneous strike, tearing the soil apart and sending it flying into the air. Sweat poured down her forehead. Her arms ached. Her mind slowed as the adrenaline faded.

She smiled weakly.

[ Cross Impact* ]

Rank: Starter | 01%

For a whole is greater than a sum of their parts. A combination of three simple strikes, all launched in a singular moment. This skill can damage any monster type.

Costs 100 MP to cast

Strikes penetrate through (10%) of the enemies' Vit

Damage is increased by (+200%) if this skill is executed with a sharp weapon

There it was. Cross Impact, a skill whose sheer speed transcended natural laws, turning it supernatural. The sheer brute force one's mind would need to endure to even think of something this ridiculous was tremendous.

She grinned, when she suddenly felt someone's gaze on her.

She quickly turned to where she felt the gaze coming from, but there was no one around her. She frowned. Had she imagined that? Her instincts had never led her wrong. She frowned. She better head back.

Placing her daggers back into her inventory, she turned and went back to her apartment, unaware of the wide eyes of her spectator.


[Gained 55 Exp and 30 Credits]

The Real Gamer gave a pitiful whimper before it shattered into motes of light. IF ignored it, her eyes were taken by the kitchen knife in her left hand. Or what's left of it anyway. After much use, one of her kitchen knives had finally given in, shattering and sending shards straight into that Real Gamer's head.

Her other kitchen knife wasn't looking so good either. Visible cracks stretched across the blade, and it'd probably break after a couple more strikes.

They lasted far longer than she thought they ever could, and she was grateful. She wouldn't have been able to buy her new steel daggers if it wasn't for these two knives. So she placed knives back into her inventory, giving them a fancy name and letting them be for the time being. Her new steel daggers took their place, and she continued running.

She mowed through hordes of monsters, her steel daggers cleaving through them like a hot knife through butter. Notifications continued to ring in her ears, but she ignored them.

Suddenly, the ground shook, and she had only a moment to leap away. The ground shook again, and IF looked up to see a Grandogoo, its giant body trampling over the trees. She gulped. The thing was bigger than even a building.

Had she jumped a second too late, she would've been crushed.

She could escape, but the grandogoo would keep chasing her, trampling over trees and reducing the place she could hide in. The giant dogoo had created a small clearing around it, and that clearing would grow in time.

She needed to take it out now.

She spun her daggers, and took a deep breath. She was still level 3, her stats were nowhere near enough to take down a boss monster like this. But-

But-

She'd gone through worse. This was nothing.

She leapt forward and her knives blurred.

"Cross Impact!"

The grandogoo cried as three strikes slammed into it at once, its sheer power kicking it up into the air as bits of slime were torn apart by her skill's sharp shockwave. She quickly moved back, only to slip on a bit of slime that was blown off the grandogoo. She could only cry out as the grandogoo slammed down onto her.

She weasled her way out, panting and aching all over.

HP: 79/250

A single slam took out over two thirds of her HP pool. She couldn't let another hit in. She couldn't.

She couldn't lose now. ShE CoULdN't dIE nOw.

She took a deep breath, and struck. "Cross Impact!" Another shockwave blasted the giant dogoo, sending it skidding back as chunks of slime flew into the air. It turned to meet her, but her arm was already moving. "Cross Impact!" Three more strikes slammed onto it. Even more slime flew into the air.

It wasn't enough.

"Cross Impact!"

It cried. The giant size it once had was reduced drastically, but it wasn't dead. Her attacks weren't enough, and she didn't have enough MP to cast another Cross Impact. She took a deep breath, and ran forward.

The grandogoo tried to slam into her, but she quickly jumped and landed right onto its top. Had it still been its original size, she wouldn't have been able to reach it. But it'd lost a lot of its mass, and jumping over it was no longer impossible.

The grandogoo tried shaking her off, but she held onto it as she began stabbing it. Its shaking grew, but she held strong, stabbing into the giant dogoo's head over and over. Slowly, its shaking weakened, but she continued stabbing. She wouldn't stop-, couldn't stop until she saw this damned thing explode into shards of light.

A full minute later, the dogoo finally stopped, before its shaped body melted down into a formless puddle of goo. It gave one last whimper before it turned into motes of light, and IF let herself collapse onto the earth.

[Gained 850 Exp, 500 Credits, and x1 Grand Jelly]

[Gained the Title [ Dogoo Slayer ]]

[Level up!]

IF groaned. To think she'd let such a simple enemy hit her so easily. Neptune would've laughed herself into a coma if she ever heard of this. How embarrassing.

The drop item and new title were nice though.

[ Dogoo Slayer ]

You've become talented at slaying those adorable slime mascots. You monster.

Deal (+30%) damage to dogoo-type monsters

Take (+30%) damage less from dogoo-type monsters

She equipped the new title and stood. Her body ached all over. It probably wasn't wise to continue on like this. Her HP was getting uncomfortably low, her MP was nearly empty, and she wasn't confident enough to encounter another boss monster.

With a small sigh, she began running back.


She was being watched, and followed. The moment she stepped into Planeptune, she could feel someone's eyes latch onto hers. She tried looking for who it was, but her searches always came up blank.

She didn't mind, strangely enough. The one watching her didn't feel hostile. Just curious, and slightly excited. She didn't have much to hide anyway. If this person wanted to watch her as she went about her life, that was fine. She just hoped she could hold herself together.

Initially, she planned to sell the Grand Jelly she got from the grandogoo, but ultimately decided not to. She didn't have a crafting skill to make use of it, but she'd probably find someone in the near future. It'd sell for a lot, but she wasn't hurting for Credits at the moment.

…what should she do now? There were still hours before sundown. She could go and grind some Exp for her Dagger Mastery, but she didn't feel like moving too much after that near-death experience. She wanted to do something…relaxing, she supposed. She mulled over her options as she sat down on a bench, humming a nameless tune as she watched people pass her by.

Hmm.

She got up and began walking. She followed along the paved roads, her eyes snapping from one thing to another. She took it all in, seared the image of a standing Planeptune into her mind and forced that other one into the back of her mind. This was her present now. This was what she had, and she would hold onto it with all her might.

Ah, she was beginning to tear up again.

Subtly wiping her eyes, she continued walking until she reached a small library. She would've normally gone to the Archives, but she needed to be a guild member to do that, so she had to settle with this. Not that she had any reason to go to the Archives. She was here to relax, not to sift through ancient text.

She walked in, the bell by the door chiming as she entered, and was greeted by a kind old lady sitting behind the desk. She waved at her. IF put on her best smile and waved back, before she began walking around. Books after books were laid onto the cases, and her eyes scanned past their titles.

There were a strange number of cooking books, but that wasn't too odd, she supposed.

She eventually settled with an old fantasy story she remembered reading when she was young. A tale of a woman, cursed and left to rot by a fate cruelly forced onto her. A story of her rebellion against the world, of her battle against the heavens for the people she called family. A tale of retribution and loss.

She pulled the book out and sat down. The cover was the exact same as she remembered, and she smiled. She remembered how much her edgy self loved these kinds of things. She still liked them, certainly, but romance had taken its place as her secret guilty pleasure. Reading a romance novel never failed to make her swoon.

So she began to read, flipping through the pages as the comfortable silence of the library wrapped around her.

She was a third of the way through her book when she heard the bells by the door ring. She didn't think much of it at first, but she then saw who it was, and she stopped.

Long blonde hair. Deep blue eyes. A body that Blanc would genuinely kill for.

Her eye twitched. Wasn't that Vert!? What was she doing here!?

"Ara, there you are!" She said, and her heart exploded with memories.

Not now.

IF silently pushed down her feelings. Vert was alive. Focus on that. "You're the one that's been following me." IF said, internally wincing at how cold her words sounded. She didn't mean to sound like that.

"Mhm." She easily confirmed, and IF rose an eyebrow. What was Vert trying to play here? "Do you know who I am?"

IF stared. Of course she did, but should she say that? Was there a reason she should? She and Vert were strangers at the moment. There was no reason she should know her, and she didn't think she could hold herself back if she said her name out loud.

So she stifled back a sob and shook her head. Vert seemed to think for a moment, before she smiled. "My name is Bianca."

Her eye twitched again. Wasn't 'Bianca' the main character of her-

"I'm IF." She said evenly. "What do you want…Bianca?" Why would Vert want anything to do with her? She knew being a CPU was boring and all, but she doubted that'd lead to them searching for random people, in another country.

"Just curious." She said, and IF internally sighed. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. "Are you an adventurer? Your skills were quite impressive!"

Impressive? She doubted that. There were many people who were stronger than her. There were legends that roamed the Hyperdimension at this very moment. She could hardly compare to them. Still, that was nice of her, IF supposed. "Thank you." She said back. "But I'm not an adventurer." At least, not yet.

"Really? You're so skilled though!"

Once again, doubt. "Not skilled enough." IF said back, not quite able to keep bitterness from seeping into her voice. After all, if she was more skilled, wouldn't she be free of all this mess in the first place? Wouldn't the future still exist?

WoULdN't eVEryOne StiLL bE alIvE?

Vert's smile grew awkward, but she didn't care. She was getting tired of this, and she dearly needed to sleep. "I see." Vert finally said, and the sheer warmth in her voice nearly made IF flinch. What was the woman playing this time?

"Here, you can have this." Vert said suddenly, handing her a small…card?

She carefully took the card in her hands and stared at it. The back side had…Vert's phone number? The numbers were written in gold and everything. The other side-

Her eyes nearly popped.

T-This was an Exclusive Basilicom Card. If she went to Leanbox, she'd be able to directly enter the country without needing special documents, and she was granted full access to the Basilicom. A CPU giving this out was essentially a show of absolute trust. Why the hell would Vert give this to her!?

"If you need to call, don't hesitate, okay?" IF numbly nodded at her words. Seeing that, Vert smiled and bid her goodbye, the bells chiming as the woman left the library.

IF just sat there for a couple minutes, jaw hanging open as she stared at the card in her hands. Then, slowly, she placed the card into her inventory and sighed. It'd only been a day since she jumped back in time, and things had already changed.

Why was Vert here in the first place? Why did she follow her around? What did she find so interesting about her?

IF ran a hand through her hair and sighed. She needed to rest.