I had been through the loop at least a hundred tis at this point.
I'd tried talking to my companions through multiple of those loops, but half the trouble was getting them to believe that it was actually happening, and then they never ended up having anything useful to say anyway.
In this loop I decided to do sothing that was actually useful.
After the last couple of fights I'd managed to accrue quite a few upgrade points, and so far I hadn't had the chance to go through the system to see what other abilities I could grab along my current job line. If there was sothing I could upgrade to now that would help get out of my current ti looping predicant, then I was going to take it.
I brought up my system nu and tabbed over to my abilities page. I had a whole 18 active ability points for to play with, which ant I could pick up one of the more midrange magical abilities that were open to .
I had a choice between an ability that would strike the area directly around with vast amounts of lightning, which would specifically target enemies rather than my foes, or an ability that would deal the sa amount of damage in the sa radius with the sa targeting but it would be the equivalent of being hit by blunt force trauma, like so kind of telekinetic wave around .
Considering I already had the ability to blast energy beams, and we were underwater in a tin can that was probably made of so sort of conductive material, I figured that picking up the lightning variation of the attack would probably be a pretty bad move. The blunt force version would be able to deal damage around without any risk of explosively decompressing the ship, and so I chose it.
The choice left with 3 more points, but that was nowhere near enough to pick up any other abilities, not that I wanted to waste my points on sothing low level anyway.
Then, after all that, I walked through the door
And back into the room, with Yr'Arl and Fal with once again.
"Hey guys, wait up a second," I said.
"What is wrong, Jacob Lyre, are you feeling well?" Yr'Arl asked for what felt like the millionth ti.
"Okay, so, you aren't going to entirely believe , but I've been trapped inside of a ti loop regarding this room for about well I've lost track of my own current ti, but it's been around a hundred cycles," I said. I put a hand up to stop either Fal or Yr'Arl from butting in, Fal usually had sothing to say around this point in ti.
"While going through the loops I've learned a new ability, and I'm going to try it now in an effort to stop whatever is causing the loop, so please bare with for a mont," I continued.
I moved myself into the center of the room under the concerned gaze of my companions. Hopefully, if everything went to plan, this would be the last ti I'd ever have to go through a ti loop. I used to love the idea of ti travel, but now experiencing a limited form of it myself, I never wanted to go through it again.
My new power activated. It felt strange, like none of the other powers I had used so far. I felt my perception shift outward to around a 40-yard diater, where I could sense every life form in the imdiate area.
The comforting feeling of Yr'Arl and Fal was obvious, they were two beings that held no ill will toward and so weren't being picked up by the skill as hostile. Other than them, there was only one other lifeform that my ability was detecting. And it was close, impossibly close, so close that it was right on my back.
Slowly, so as not to alert the thing, I peered over my shoulder.
It was a beetle? A giant stag beetle was latched onto my back, its sticky legs pinching into the blazer that Squadron Leader Belana had given . This creature, sohow, must have been what was causing the temporal anomaly. My ability was painting it as hostile, so I lashed out with a tendril of telekinetic energy and sent it soaring away.
The beetle crashed into the wall and left a heavy dent, but it wasn't done yet. Just like the Null Space Spider, this creature was so kind of Null Space hybrid, specifically tuned to latch onto soone and feed off their manna while trapping them in a ti loop that they couldn't escape.
I whipped out my sword and brought it down on the creature with a colossal crash. Fortunately, this thing had clearly been designed for stealth operations. Now that I knew what it was and where it was, the creature popped like a balloon that had been pricked by a needle.
I slipped my sword back into its sheath and turned back to my companions.
"Right, now that's been dealt with, shall we start making a move toward the bridge?" I said cheerfully.
"Uhhh, no, hang on, Jacob you're going to have to explain this one to us," Fal said.
I stifled a groan. Of course I'd have to explain the ti loop situation one more ti.
"Okay, I'll take it from the top considering you two haven't actually heard the explanation yet. I've spent the last whoever knows how long in a ti loop. I've been walking out that door," I pointed at the far door to illustrate before jutting my finger at the one behind , "and back in through that one. Are you with so far?"
The two aliens nodded.
"Right, good, well after all those loops I discovered a new ability that lets lash out at anything with hostile intent within a 40 ter radius. That allowed to detect the bug-thing on my back, which was another Null Space Hybrid that had an affinity for ti warping. Killing it has set the tiline back on track. Understand?"
The two blank stares I got in return told all I needed to know.
But really, they didn't need to understand. I had broken the loop, and I was ready to never see this room ever again.
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