One moment, she was struggling. It was for just an instant, but Olivia was able to do something at the very end of her life. She had always felt so weak, so helpless, so… useless.
Growing up, she watched as other people rapidly rose above her, and she fell behind because of the magic she had been born with. Her own father even abandoned her so he could run off and do whatever it was he wanted, without having to look after someone as worthless as her.
It felt like no matter what she did, it was never enough. She struggled, she fought, and she lived, all so she could push forward and do it all over again the next day. Only one thing had even forced her down this path in the first place.
A chance encounter with a witch that had hair the color of silver. The woman who saved her life was the one who opened the door for her. The one who caused her to want to reach it. The goal of becoming an Arcane Knight.
Maybe in a way, it was a curse. Perhaps it was a dumb choice from the beginning. Very few mages that didn't come from noble families had what it took to become a Knight, and even fewer had a type of magic as terrible as hers. She had been dealt a bad hand. Still, though, isn't it her duty to play with the hand she was dealt?
That's what Davi Hawker taught her, at least. A mage born with mana so dark that people assumed he was a magical mutant. His best spell reminded people of one of the greatest villains in history, and on top of all of that, he was from the same land as that villain.
A lot of her thoughts went through her mind in the heat of the moment, but the one that stood out above all others was that she was about to die. If she was dead, then she failed, and if she failed, none of it mattered anymore. Her story would be over.
So, with nothing left to lose, Olivia used her final spell and formed a dome of blood around Garon and herself. She was only able to do this by using the last bit of her pathetic life, which had only surged in her final hour due to her body's natural regeneration.
She didn't even know if this counted as a sacrifice. The others would likely be caught in the blast still, but it made her feel a bit better knowing that she at least did something in her final hour, even if that thing was just as useless and worthless as her own life.
Olivia squeezed her eyes shut and felt everything come to an end. A second later, she felt something under her. She was no longer lying down. Instead, she was sitting. It was a wooden log, and as her eyes cracked open, she found herself looking at trees. They were scattered all around her as far as the eye could see. She was in a forest. She also wasn't alone. They were behind her, seated on the same log she was, and her back was pressed into theirs.
The other person was much bigger than her, and Olivia realized that she was also much shorter. She glanced down at her hands in shock, finding them to be small and pathetic. She was a kid? The sound of a quill touching down on paper made her want to turn her head, but she couldn't. Her body didn't want to respond to her. It was like she was dreaming, watching the world go by through her young self's eyes.
"That last dungeon wasn't it either." Olivia would have gasped if she had control over her body. She recognized the voice that was coming from behind her younger self. It was the voice of her father. Suddenly, she knew what memory this was. "Finding the right dungeon is going to be a lot harder than I first thought. It could be anywhere on this small rock. Any place, any time. I knew going in it would be an incredible feat, yet I still didn't expect it to be this bad. It seems like I'll never be able to undo the mistakes that I made."
Olivia wanted to scream. She tried to yell or throw a fit, but her body wasn't responding because she was just watching all of this unfold. She couldn't change the past after all. Was her life flashing before her eyes as her brain ceased to work? If so, why did it have to be this memory?
Any other moment would have been better. This was the only one she didn't want to remember. This was it… The final conversation she had with her father before he left her, abandoned at the entry to Fri village.
"How are you doing, Mary? Are you okay?" Olivia felt a hand touch the top of her head as her father ruffled her hair, but her younger self still refused to look in his direction and instead was focused toward the forest floor. "That last dungeon was intense, huh? I almost wasn't able to protect you." The other her still did not respond. "What are you looking at?"
Olivia felt her arm jerk up, and she pointed toward the thing that was on the ground that had her young self's full attention. On the floor of the forest was a hawk. It had been trying to hide, keeping itself tucked low on the ground in a crouching position. Its feathers were specked with bits of blood, and its beak was cracked. The worst damage, though, was on its side. It was missing a wing.
The mighty creature of the sky had been brought low, forced to dwell with the critters on the ground and hide lest it be discovered by a stronger predator.
"Oh? What's this?" Olivia heard shuffling, and she finally saw her father again. Or at least, she saw part of him as he walked toward the bird.
Her younger self was more focused on the bird, so she was only able to see her dad from the neck down. Unlike her, his skin was healthy. He was also decently well built with lean muscles that were hidden behind the white buttoned-up shirt he wore. He had a thick jacket and a backpack filled with all sorts of junk, and his hood was pulled up, blocking the back of his head as he crouched down to look at the animal.
The hawk let out a sound that was close to a hiss and tried to back away, but her father's hands were faster, and he scooped up the bird, looking down at the injured animal.
"It's hurt." Little Olivia muttered.
"So it is." Her father hummed and ignored the way the bird tried to claw and bite itself out of his grip. "That's okay, though. Nothing a bit of polymorph can't fix, just like I do to you when you get banged up. Let's fix this little guy up."
Her father finally turned to her, and she was able to see part of his face, which had a smile on it now. He placed a hand on the part of the bird that was missing a wing, and his hand glowed with a faint gold light. He didn't mutter a spell or focus his mana at all. Instead, magic surged out of his palm, and the golden glow began to envelop the bird. When the glow was done, her father raised his arms and let go.
The hawk's wings fully outstretched and opened, its form totally healed. It looked to the sky and let out a screech, and then lifted up and began to fly away. Olivia watched it fly, the bird getting smaller and smaller until it became impossible for her younger eyes to make it out anymore.
"See, it's just like when you get hurt, and I always fix you up." Her hair was ruffled once more as her dad placed his hand on the top of her head.
Olivia wanted to say something. She had the strong urge to give a bitter remark or at least look up and fully see her father's face, but still her body did not obey her. She had no clue why she was seeing this memory again or why it was coming to her at the end of her life, but she did know what was about to happen next.
"Arthur."
A sudden voice made her father's hand pull away from her, and the younger Olivia turned around. A dark-skinned man hobbled forward, holding a cane made of ice. Rosco's eyes narrowed slightly as he saw the young Olivia and her father.
"Yo, long time no see!" Her dad let out a chuckle and raised his hand. "It's been a while!"
"Not long enough, if you ask me." Rosco let out a sigh. "Alright, let's talk." He gestured with his cane and pointed to a section of the forest that he and her father began to walk toward. "Why are you here, Arthur? Don't tell me that child is yours."
"I came to talk to you about Olivia, actually. That little girl is her child, and I would like if you could…"
Unfortunately, she couldn't hear what was said next as the two men moved further away and their voices dropped low. She couldn't remember what came next either, but she knew the aftermath. Tonight her father would leave her at the steps of Fri village, making her Rosco's problem.
In the present, she wanted to know what her father and Rosco discussed. However, her younger self was simply not interested, still unable to even process the fact that her father would eventually leave her behind.
Olivia watched through her eyes as her younger self stood up and walked over to a tree. She didn't remember any of this and was a little confused as to what she had found so fascinating about the tree. Her younger self reached out and placed her hand on the bark. It was old and worn down with a large gash coming across it, leaving a splintered cut in the side of it. The tree had no leaves and was withered and old, looking to be at the brink of death.
Despite that, the little girl let out a soft giggle, and suddenly her hands lit up with a faint golden glow.
Olivia's eyes went wide, and suddenly she wasn't seeing through her young self's eyes. In an instant, she was in her own body. She was still in the forest, but she was herself. Her older self was in front of her, and so was the younger her. It was like the dream had shifted, or in another way, the memory had stopped, and she was seeing something else. This wasn't a memory she had, and instead it was a Path, a different road untraveled.
Olivia watched the other her giggle, and that strange golden glow seeped out and began to crawl up the tree. It blanketed the entire thing in a bright light, and then in a flash, the light ended, but the tree was different.
No longer was it dead and worn down. Now the slice that had been across it was fully fixed and mended, and the branches were greener than any other tree within the forest. A new form, a new reality, a new Path, had been selected for the tree.
Polymorph had been used.
"See. It's simple, right?" It took Olivia a moment to process the fact that her younger self was talking to her. She blinked and looked down at the little girl who was staring at her. "Do you understand?"
"I-" Olivia felt her throat go dry. "What is this? What are you? This isn't a memory? What's going on? Am I dead? Are these my final thoughts?"
"You could be dead." The little Olivia hummed. "Or you could live."
"I can live?"
"Of course you can, silly." The little girl giggled. "I just showed you how, didn't I? All you have to do is live. Do you want to live?"
Olivia stood there awkwardly in the forest, feeling the cool breeze on her body. "Of course I want to live? What sort of question is that?"
"So then live." The forest began to fade away slowly. Everything started to thin out and grow dim, and Olivia felt as if she was about to wake up from a dream.
"...I will."
"You will?"
"Yeah… I will! I'm going to live!"
"Good girl."
"Huh?"
And then everything broke.
The forest entirely vanished and was replaced with an inky black void. Time instantly kicked back in, and suddenly Olivia felt her body. It ached and burned worse than it ever had before, and in real time, she could feel herself being burned alive. That memory had happened in an instant, while in the real world, her body was being ripped apart by Garon's blast. Somehow, her Quick Regeneration skill had kicked in and was keeping her alive even after all of her blood was gone, since the brain would still function for a few more seconds, but it wouldn't be enough. Not when her body was being destroyed in such a rapid way.
Everything began to turn black, and Olivia felt her consciousness start to fade as, for the second time in a row, her world was ending.
What had been the point of all of that? In her dying state, she had seen some vision urging her to live only to instantly be shoved straight into hell!
What gives!
Just when everything fully turned black, there was a new color that forced its way into the empty void—a flicker of blue. Olivia found herself staring at the screen. The magical blue status window that would appear that was connected to her grimoire.
It had seemingly appeared to her in her subconscious. She knew it was her subconscious because in the real world, her eyes had exploded and melted, so she was blind.
Text began to rapidly form across the screen as her grimoire updated, and the magic that connected to her decided this was the best method to inform her.
'At the brink of death, the trait "Determined" has activated. You have searched for a Path that leads to survival. An outcome has been gained. Your trait will be activated.'
The text suddenly stopped. The box flashed.
'You do not have the trait required for this Path-'
Another flash.
'Determined has been activated. The trait Polymorph has been added.'
'At the brink of death, the trait "Determined" has activated. You have searched for a Path that leads to survival. An outcome has been gained. Your trait will be activated now.'
… What the hell just happened? Was that normal? That didn't feel normal? What the hell was the Determined trait? Had her stats upgraded? She hadn't looked at them in a while since she'd been distracted, but that one sounded new. Had she gained it while traveling with Davi? Why? How?
Either way, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The black void suddenly started to break, replaced with a golden light.
Then Olivia felt air hitting her lungs as she took in a big gasp and shot up to a sitting position, her eyes wide. She heard screaming all around her and looked over, finding Ash, Nori, and Emma were all yelling as they stared at her in shock, and even Sune looked freaked out.
"Olivia!" Ash asked in shock.
"How the hell did she survive that?" Nori dropped back onto his butt. "She was at death's door, right? Was she holding back?"
"Her outfit changed?" Besides Sune, Emma was the first to fully calm down. "Olivia, are you okay?"
Olivia stupidly nodded her head and looked around, more confused than ever. She was still in the dungeon along with the others, and she was exactly where Garon had tackled her. The ground beneath her was scorched black and still hot to the touch, and ash scattered around her. What was weird, though, she was fine. Better than fine, actually. She wasn't just alive but fully healed. Her blood was back, her gut wound was gone, and her mana was flowing more than it ever had through her body.
"What happened?" She finally asked.
"I was kind of hoping you could tell us." Sune still looked to be in bad shape, missing an arm and part of her side, but Nori's magic had ensured she wouldn't bleed out. The woman looked tired and was leaning on Ash for support. "You formed that blood dome over yourself and Garon. I thought you were dead for sure, but then suddenly, as the blast went off, I saw a flash of light, and when the dome faded, you were lying there, fully healed and complete with a new outfit."
"New outfit?" Olivia glanced down at herself and then let out a squeak when she saw what she was wearing. "Davi! What did you do?!"
She was in the witch outfit again!
Although the more she looked at it, the more she realized it wasn't the same outfit Davi had put her in. His had been shadowy and black, forged out of darkness like his armor. This outfit was actual cloth and was a mix of different colors. It also thankfully covered her up a bit more, having a slightly longer skirt. The outfit had long boots and some ribbons that were tied along the dress piece that she was in, and even if it was more modest, it still felt embarrassing to be in the outfit.
As a kid, she used to be into magical girl comics, but she had thought she had grown out of the phase… She had no clue why this outfit had appeared on her, but it was better than being naked.
"D-Do you have some spell that fully heals you?" Emma asked after a moment. "That would be advanced magic, but it's the only explanation I can think of."
Ash bit his lip, suddenly feeling pissed. Had Olivia been holding back? If she was able to fully heal herself through an explosion, then that easily meant she had more mana than any mage he knew. What had Davi done to her to get her so strong?
Olivia shook her head at Emma's question but then stopped and frowned. She flicked her hand and summoned the blue box once more. It shimmered into existence with a list of her traits, and sure enough, there was a new one.
'Traits—Blood Core: Grade C+, Knife-Wielding: Grade C, Scythe-Wielding: Grade C, Poison Resistance: Grade A, Venom Resistance: Grade A, Hand-to-Hand: Grade D, Sprint: Grade D, Stamina: Grade D, Quick Regeneration (Physical): Grade B+, Determined: Grade A. Polymorph: Grade D.'
"Polymorph?" She quietly clicked on it, and the box opened.
'Polymorph: Reality is what you make of it. Select the outcome that best represents you. Polymorph is currently activated. Time until it shuts off: four minutes and six seconds. Four minutes and five seconds. Four minutes and four seconds—'
She had no clue what the timer meant, but if Polymorph was the reason her outfit existed, did that mean when it faded, her clothes would vanish? Not to mention, she felt strangely stronger. Not by a lot, but her mana felt more intense and free. As if she was breathing in good air for the first time in her life. When the timer reached zero, would it fade away?
Was it like a buff spell where the power-up would only be temporary, and she had a total time limit for how long she could keep it up for?
These were all questions she was wondering, but they were pushed back to a secondary problem as a loud roar pierced through the dungeon. She, along with the others, turned to see that even though Garon had blown himself to bits, he was somehow still alive! The monster was right back where he started on the other side of the dungeon, stepping out of the double doors as if he had respawned or something!
He glared across the room, his eyes fully fixed on her, and he let out another roar, fire and ice exploding out of him as he tore forward.
"Can we just run?" Nori squeaked out.
"Yep!" Sune turned and pointed toward the exit. "Go!"
They all took off running and jumped through the doorway right as Garon reached them and launched a wave of fire in their direction.
The air was superheated, and Olivia winced, feeling her skin burn, but then it all faded as she stumbled out of the doorway and exited the dungeon.
Everything turned white, and she now stood in a vast, empty void of light. The others were scattered around and looked just as confused. This wasn't the first dungeon? Where were they?
There was a loud buzzing sound, and the void rumbled as text flashed in front of them.
'Congratulations! You finished the third exam! The simulation will now come to an end.'
Olivia stared at the box, and slowly her expression darkened. "Oh, you have got to be shitting me!"
It had all been a simulation…