The endless fields were blurry in front of me, and the empty carriage was silent except for the rhythmic roar of the train machinery. He looked calm and relaxed, but that was only on the surface.
His stoic mask may be silly since there's no one around to judge him, but Zorian has discovered over the years that appearing calm can help him find peace of mind more easily. He must maintain his inner peace because he is about to panic like a headless chicken.
Why did this happen again? He was convinced that the lich was to blame. The spell hit him and he woke up. cause and effect. However, this time he was not hit by any mysterious spell - unless someone sneaked into the car while he was sleeping. No, he just dozed off and woke up again, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
Troubled. After all, why would the lich cast a time travel spell on him? This seems to be counterproductive to the whole "Secret Invasion" conspiracy. Time travel seemed too purposeful, and he seriously doubted the Lich had used a spell whose effects it couldn't understand. Even a novice like him knows how scary the idea of using spells he doesn't understand in an uncontrolled environment is, and he's already defeated several imps. No, there's a simpler explanation: The Lich isn't responsible for his time travel problems. He's been trying to kill them all, and Zach is also a target.
That Zach was suddenly very good in all classes. It was Zach who was wandering around the city. He was armed to the teeth with combat magic, which should be unmatched by any academy student.
Maybe Zack cast the time travel spell instead of the Lich?
Zach is a time traveler with immense abilities and unexplainable academic advancements. Since this particular method of time travel only seems to transport a person's mind into their younger body, could it be possible that his age is a hundred years old? A mage with decades of experience would no doubt find the third year curriculum ridiculously easy. ha. Can't laugh. Will I still laugh when I synchronize it next time?
If Zach was the one who cast the time travel spell, one question still remains: why Zorian was thrown back as well. It was most likely an accident - he knew catching a mage in the middle of a teleportation spell might drag you along with them, while they were entangled with each other - but that didn't explain why Zorian had Second time traveling again. Zach had been out for a whole month, so there was no chance to unleash anything on Zorian.
He didn't know what to think.
"The Xhosa has arrived," a disembodied voice said. "I repeat, now parked in Xhosa. Thank you."
He half-tempered to get off and spend the whole month screwing around and forget about the whole time-travel thing, but quickly dismissed the idea. Canceling the start of the school year like this is truly irresponsible and self-destructive, even if going through the same curriculum for another month is unappealing. It's possible that the third time he'll be thrown back in time, of course, but that's not something he should rely on. After all, the spell couldn't keep him going back indefinitely - sooner or later it would run out of mana. Probably earlier, since time travel must be pretty high level.
…correct?
"Um……"
Zorian snapped out of his thoughts and finally noticed the boy peering into his box. He frowned. He had chosen this compartment specifically because it was completely empty during his... second attempt at life. He'd come here to find some peace and quiet ever since he left the green turtleneck girl to her cackling fate, so this time he decided to take the initiative and be here from the get-go. Apparently it's not that simple. He thought his presence alone attracted the boy -
Zorian said politely, hoping the boy just wanted to ask him something and not find a seat.
He was wrong.
"Do you mind if I sit here?"
"No, go ahead," Zorian said, giving the boy a wry smile. Damn it.
The boy smiled brightly at him and quickly dragged his luggage inside. There is a lot of luggage.
"First year, right?" Zorian couldn't help but ask. He planned to remain silent and quietly lead the boy out of the car. Oh well.
"Yes," the boy agreed. "how do you know?"
"Your luggage," Zorian said. "You know the academy is far from the main station? When you get there, your arms will fall off."
The boy blinked. Apparently he didn't know. "Well, it's really not that bad, right?"
Zorian shrugged. "You better hope it doesn't rain."
"Haha." The boy laughed nervously. "I'm sure I'm not that unlucky."
Zorian smiled. Well, the benefits of having a foresight. Or is it hindsight?
"Ah! I haven't introduced myself yet!" the boy suddenly blurted out. "I'm Burn Evalin."
"Zorian Kaczynski."
The boy's eyes immediately lit up. "like-"
"Like Damon Kazinski, yes," Zorian said, suddenly finding the window very interesting.
The boy stared at him expectantly, but if he expected Zorian to elaborate further on the subject, he would be sorely disappointed. The last thing Zorian wanted to do was talk about his eldest brother.
"So, um, are you related to Damon Kaczynski, or is your last name just a coincidence?" the boy asked after a long pause.
Zorian pretended not to hear, but picked up his notebook from the seat next to him and studied it attentively. It's almost completely empty, as all his previous notes about the invasion and the mystery of his "future memories" are now gone, lost in the future he left behind. That's not much of a loss, since the vast majority of these notes are worthless—empty speculations and dead-end leads. Still, he wrote down some of the things he remembered from his previous notes, such as the incantation the lich uttered before killing him. Yes, Zach is probably responsible for all of this…
"Huh? Did you say something?" Zorian pretended to frown slightly, as if he really didn't hear the question he was asked.
"Uh, that's okay," the boy took a step back. "It doesn't matter."
Zorian gave the boy a genuine smile. At least he could take a hint.
He chatted with the boy for a while, mostly answering the boy's questions about his first-year classes, then started to get bored of it and started pretending to be interested in his notebook.
"What's so interesting about that notebook?" he asked, either failing to notice that Zorian was not interested in continuing the conversation. "Are you studying?"
"No, these are just personal notes," Zorian said. "It didn't go very well, so I was a little frustrated. My mind kept wandering to it."
"College Library——"
"The first thing I tried," Zorian sighed. "I'm not stupid, you know that?"
The boy rolled his eyes at him. "Do you find the books yourself or do you ask a librarian to find them for you? Mom is a librarian and they have these special divination spells that allow them to find something in minutes if you search by title and just browse , it could take decades.”
Zorian opened his mouth and closed it again. Ask a librarian for help?
"Well... I don't want to bother the librarian with this topic," Zo
ia
tried. It's true, he'll give it a try eventually. "Maybe I could find the spells themselves in the spell repository? But no, if they are anything like other divination spells, it's the correct use of them and interpretation of the results that's the problem, not casting them..."
"You can always find a job in the library," the boy said. "If academic libraries are anything like the library my mother worked at, they're always in desperate need of help. They teach their staff how to use these spells as a matter of course."
"Really?" asked Zorian, intrigued by the idea.
"It's worth a try," he said with a shrug.
For the remainder of the journey, Zorian stopped trying to avoid conversation. Byrne has certainly earned some of his respect.
-. . . . two. . . . .
"Of course! We're always looking for help!"
Well...that's easy.
“We can’t afford to pay you much, understand! – but our hours are very flexible and we have a very friendly atmosphere here…”
Zorian waited patiently for the librarian. At first glance, she looked like an inconspicuous middle-aged woman, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he found that she had an indescribable vitality. Just standing next to her, Zorian felt the same pressure as when he was trapped in the crowd, and he had to control his instinct to retreat as if from a raging fire.
"So I guess you didn't get many job offers?" Zorian tried. "Why is that? Shouldn't people work hard in a place like this? This is a pretty famous library."
She snorted, a hint of mockery and bitterness in her voice. "Academy regulations state that we can only hire junior circle mages and above. Most graduates have better salaries than that," she waved to the surrounding rows or bookshelves, "which leaves us with no choice but to hire students. Who are …”
She stopped suddenly and blinked, as if she remembered something. "But anyway, that's enough!" she said, clapping her hands and looking at him with a smile. "As of today, you are a Library Assistant. Congratulations! If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them."
He had never promised anything, only asked about the possibility of employment... something she undoubtedly knew. But oh well, he did want the job, and not just because he wanted to learn some nifty new spells and translate the lich's chant - he suspected library staff had access to parts of the library that Sections are usually restricted to him as part of the library. The first Master Yuan, this is really a temptation that is hard to refuse.
"Question one," Zorian said, "How often do I come to work?"
She blinked, momentarily surprised. No doubt she expected him to protest her self-righteousness. "Well... when can you come? Most of our student employees work one or two times a week between classes, study time, and other commitments. How much time can you set aside for this?"
"The current curriculum is very simple," Zorian said. "We're basically doing a review of year two, which I know all about. Leave a day out just in case and I can come here four times a week. My weekends are mostly free too, if you need help if."
The librarian didn't blame him. On the contrary, when she heard this, her eyes immediately lit up and she shouted loudly.
"Iberi!" she shouted. "I found you a new partner!"
A girl wearing glasses jumped out from the information desk to see what was going on. oh. In the same carriage as him was the girl in the green turtleneck sweater
...Only this time he chose a seat on the other side of the train, so they never met on the train.
"Anyway, I believe some introduction is in order," the librarian said. "I'm one of the librarians. This beautiful lady," she pointed at the girl in the turtleneck, who blushed at the compliment and shifted uncomfortably, clutching the stack of books tightly in her arms. "It's our resident busy bee, Ibery Ambercomb. Ibery has been working here since last year and I don't know what I would do without her. Ibery, this is Zorian. "
The girl immediately became energetic after hearing this. "Kazinski? As in..."
"Like Damen Kazinski's brother," Zorian said, unable to help but sigh slightly.
"Um……"
"In fact, I'm pretty sure she meant your other brother," she said with a sly smile. "She was in class with Toph and had a bit of a crush on..."
"Oh, relax," Kirishishli said. "No matter what, Zorian will work closely with us. Go tell him what to do."
Just like that, he was hired at the library. Only time will tell if he is wasting his time.
. . . . . three. . . . .
Like last time, Zach didn't come to class. Zorian was looking forward to this, which reinforced Zorian's suspicion that Zach played an important role in this chaos, but Zorian has been unable to confront him. What should he do now?
If his guess is correct, Zach is likely to travel through time specifically to prevent the invasion - what other reason does he have to appear frequently in this specific time period? Also, he had been in the city fighting guerrillas at the time of the attack, taking out the attackers, or maybe there was already a more experienced time travel mage doing the job and he was just getting in the way?
It's just a guess, I don't know if it's true or not. If he doesn't take action and relies on a boy who doesn't have faith, he could destroy himself and the city. Zach reminded him of his brothers. And besides, didn’t Zack lose to the Lich?
At present, he can only devote himself to his studies and library work. Of course, having experienced this for the third time, the only problem he had with his homework was Xvim's insistence that he had a bad grasp on pen-turning and that he had to do it all over again. again and again. His time in the library, on the other hand, was...interesting, though not quite as much as he'd hoped.
But two weeks later, he began to understand that it would take him at least several months to achieve a high level of librarianship, and he did not have that ability. . Summer vacation is getting closer.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you a small favor," Zorian began.
"Go ahead," Kiri said. "You've helped us a lot, so I'd be happy to help if I could. It's not often you find people as capable as we are."
"Eh!?" Zorian hesitated. "Competent? I barely know what I'm doing - without your and Ibori's help, I'd be deadheaded."
"That's why I paired you with Ibori - to learn. Boy, you learn so fast! Definitely faster than when I first started this job. To be honest, I usually only give student employees the easiest, The most tedious work, but since you are more dedicated than them, I will give you advanced courses."
"Ah," Zorian said after a moment of silence. "I'm flattered." He was. "Anyway, I'd like to know something about divination. I've been looking into a rather obscure topic."
"Ah!" Kiri said, slapping his forehead. "How could I forget!? Of course I will teach you, but it will take a while to learn. Ibori will tell you how. But, what exactly are you looking for, I will try to help you. I am very interested in this book You know everything about the museum, do you know that?”
Zorian debated the benefits of showing her the Lich Chant, as he suspected it might get him into a lot of trouble, but he had no choice.
He took out his notebook, tore out the corresponding page and handed it to her.
Kirisi frowned, and Ibeli turned his head to read the content on the note.
"This is an unknown language," Zorian clarified. "I don't know which one, really."
"Well, it's a little tricky," Geary said. "A difficult task, even for divination. If it's important, you should find a linguist to help you."
"You should try Zenomire," Ibéri squeaked.
"Our history teacher?" Zorian asked in disbelief.
“He also taught linguistics,” Ibery said. "He was multilingual. He spoke 37 languages."
"Wow."
"Yes," Ibery agreed.
interesting.
. . . . Four. . . . .
"Ah, how can I help you?"
The teacher is really old. He wears blue robes, like the mages of old - and sports an elaborately carved white beard. Despite his age, he has a spring in his step and a sharp eye. Zorian did not take linguistics as an elective, but he knew from history classes that Zenomir was very dedicated to his subject.
"Do some translation," Zorian said. "I have a rather fragmentary record of speech forms of an unknown language that is unlike any language I have encountered to date."
Xenomir became excited and carefully took the note with the Lich's Hymn written on it from Zorian's hand. In less than a second, his eyes widened.
"Where did you get this?" he asked softly.
"I was attacked by someone not long ago. They used a spell based on that chant. I just wanted to know what it did."
Xenomir took a deep breath and leaned back. "You're lucky it didn't hit. It was some kind of soul magic."
"Soul magic?"
"Necromancy," Xenomir clarified.
Zorian blinked. Necromancy? But what does necromancy have to do with time travel? there is nothing. This all but unequivocally confirms that Zach is the main reason for his predicament.
"So, wait, what language is that?" Zorian asked.
"Huh? Oh! Yes, that language... is the ancient Mazaran language, spoken by many of the cultures that shared the Myasina continent with them before the rise of the Ikosians. Many of the ruins of Kos are was written in this language, and sadly many of the darkest rituals and necromancy spells were formulated in this language. You won't find any books written about it.
But let’s get back to this attacker. This is the darkest form of magic they use, and they would be very vicious if they used it on Academy students. "
Zorian decided not to mention time travel and decided to make something up. He told Zenomir that he overheard plans to invade the city during the summer festival. At first, he thinks it's some kind of prank, but he becomes worried when two cloaked figures notice him eavesdropping and start throwing spells at him that he doesn't recognize. Xenomir takes him far more seriously than Zorian thought and tells him to go home and leave everything to him from now on.
hehe. It went surprisingly well - at least Xenomir didn't drag him to the police station. He was pacing nervously in his room, unable to sleep. Smart or not, the deed was done, and now all he could do was wait. ,
There was a knock on the door, strong and confident, but lasting only a second or two—completely unlike any knock he had ever heard from anyone he knew.
"The future!" Zorian shouted.
Zorian stared blankly at the sword protruding from his chest, opened his mouth and let out a silent scream. He barely had time to look at his attacker - a short man wearing baggy black clothing and a white mask - before the blade was painfully pulled from his body and immediately plunged back into his chest. again and again……
As darkness engulfed his vision, he was actually glad he was dying. Being stabbed repeatedly in the chest hurts. pain!
. . . . five. . . . . .
Zorian's eyes flew open and a sharp pain shot through his abdomen. His whole body twitched, and he resisted the object that fell on him. Suddenly he was completely awake, and there was no trace of sleep in his mind. Ha ha.
"OK--!"
El's words were interrupted, and Zorian stood up abruptly, his eyes widening in horror, and he was panting. He was killed! They killed him! He told someone about the attack and that night he was killed! How did they find out so quickly! ? Was Xenomir involved in the attack or were they well informed! ?
"Nightmare?" my sister asked.
Zorian took a deep breath, ignoring the phantom pain in his chest. "Yeah. An absolute nightmare."
Zorian knew he should focus on what Ilsa was saying, but his brain would never stop thinking about what was happening. In retrospect, he shouldn't have been so surprised by this particular turn of events - an intrusion of this magnitude couldn't have been kept secret without some strong inside help, so of course they would have found out someone had alerted them!
7 This was his second death, and he had only experienced it three times this month. He looked like he was dying. Didn't Zach say that if he didn't take action, he would always get blown up in the initial barrage?
He returned to the real world when he realized that Ilsa had stopped talking and was looking at him intently. He looked at her questioningly.
"Are you okay?" she asked, and Zorian noticed that she was looking at his hands. Why would she-
oh.
His hands were shaking. He rubbed his hands together and balled them into fists to regain control of them.
"Not exactly," Zorian admitted. "But I will. You don't have to worry about that."
She stared at him for another second, then nodded.
"Very good," she said. "Want me to teleport you to the Academy? I can't imagine you'd be pleasantly surprised by the train ride."
Zorian blinked. Such an offer was a godsend at the time, but... why?
"I don't want to inconvenience you..." he tried.
"Don't worry, I'm going to be there no matter what," she said. "Coming to you so late and depriving you of your choice of mentor is the least I can do."
Well, that's the truth. Xvim is truly a terrible, useless mentor.
He was actually a little excited because he had never teleported before. He would have been more excited, but the memory of being stabbed to death was still disturbing and dampened his enthusiasm somewhat.
"Ready?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Don't worry," said Ilsa. "You can't be trapped inside a solid object - that's not the case with this spell - and if something goes wrong, I'll know immediately and disrupt the spell before the dimensional ripples tear us apart."
Ilsa began to sing, and Zorian stood up straighter, not wanting to miss—
The world rippled and then changed. Suddenly, they were all standing in a well-lit circular room, with a large magic circle carved into the marble floor on which they stood. There's no disorientation, no flashes of color, nothing - almost disappointing. He studied the room they were in more closely, trying to understand where they were.
"This is the teleportation redirection point," Ilsa said. "For security reasons, the Academy Wards are diverting all incoming transmissions to this location."
She looked at him sharply. "Teleporting to a protected space is only one of the many dangers of this spell. Do not attempt it yourself."
"Well...I'm pretty sure the teleportation is well above my access level," Zorian pointed out.
She shrugged. "Some students are able to reconstruct a mantra after seeing it once. Once you become familiar with the slogan and hand gestures, 80 percent of the work is already done for you."
"Would you mind casting the spell again?" he asked innocently. "Purely for academic purposes, you see..."
She giggled. "No. If it makes you feel any better, I doubt you have the mana reserves to cast this spell even once."
"I can get used to this kind of travel." Zorian said to himself, opened the door to the room, breathed a sigh of relief, and threw the luggage on the floor. "
In fact, everything he knew about magic told him that this couldn't be true - whatever spell was cast on him would run out of mana at some point, and then there would be no starting over, no second chance ...no return. die. He must treat every restart as if it were his last, because it might very well be the last.
Although he had to admit that it ended with him being stabbed to death, the previous reboot hadn't been a complete disaster - at least he'd all but confirmed that it was Zack and not the Lich who was responsible for it all. Rather than researching unknown languages and time travel, it might be smarter to find out where Zack disappears each time.
But not yet. After rising from the dead, he should take a break.
. . . . . six. . . . .
Zach is the sole heir. Still a member of the family, the rest of his family were killed during the Secession War. When Zach reaches adulthood, he will inherit a huge financial empire and the legacy of generations of mages, and everything about him has received a lot of attention. Therefore, his disappearance was a big deal and many people wanted to know where he had gone. Zorian is just one of them;
A month passed with no results. The summer festival is approaching, and Zorian once again boards the train from Cooria. The night is getting darker and the time is passing by. He is awake and alert. This time he brought a pocket watch and looked at it from time to time, silently praying that he wouldn't start over again, but also wondering when he was thrown back, just in case. Sure enough, his prayers went unanswered. At about two o'clock in the evening, he passed out and woke up to find Ki
i lie down on him and say good morning to him.
He restarted four more times before he accepted the truth of his predicament: he was stuck in some kind of time loop, and it was painful!
Yes, it's pretty boring, but what if this particular reboot is the one where it ends? On reboots, the consequences of his choices don't magically disappear at two midnight on the night of the festival (he checked, and yes, they are consistent across all 4 reboots).
Enough was enough - he couldn't go on like this, this month had even been boring. The first time, he had experienced it eight times. By now, he had mastered the first month of classes, getting perfect grades in all subjects, even the wards. He discovered that his abilities were well known and his grades had always been very good, so if he aced all his exams or cast the perfect spell effortlessly in his first combat magic class Missiles, people are not surprised. This is what people expected.
Akoja is becoming even more annoying now that she has apparently found a kindred spirit, always insisting that they check their work and asking for help whenever she doesn't understand something.
Xvim believes his outstanding results show he should be held to a higher standard. As a result, instead of claiming that his pen-turning ability was good enough to do other things, he returned to regular levitation practice. Honestly, Zo
There is no doubt that he is just practicing with some minor changes based on the basic three items.
All in all, it's impossible to go through another boring month like this. He took different electives this time - Astronomy, Architecture, and Global Mana Flow Geography - fully intending to get his academic performance back up to par so that Xvim and Akoja could remain their normal, more tolerable selves .
He also plans to skip some time-consuming homework to focus on personal study, and he will spend a considerable portion of his savings on alchemical supplies. If this reboot was the last, he would be severely inconvenienced, but it wouldn't be the end of the world, and he suspected that the chaos following the invasion would render many worries moot.
As he walked into the prayer room on the first day of school, he realized his plans had to adjust.
Zach finally returned to class.
