Zach finally learns he's not alone in the time loop. Indeed, he also traveled through time and became the rebirth of a typical female warrior, but due to her delayed development and motivation, it is better for Zach to go back to school and do what he likes to do!
The other boy had no idea that Zorian was one of the time travelers - the matriarch had already described herself as a time traveler and made no mention of Zorian - but it was only a matter of time. Now that the idea of other time travelers existing in Zach's mind is no longer completely ridiculous, there's no way Zorian could have deceived the other boy for more than a few reboots. Assuming he even wants to. After all, if their plan worked and the third time traveler was eliminated, there would be no reason not to immediately introduce themselves to Zack.
[So,] said Zorian. [How did Zach react to your... introduction? ]
[Confused, surprised and angry,] the matriarch responded. [He's almost discovered that there are others circulating around him - which is the only way to explain all the massive changes that have occurred in the last few reboots.
Anyway, when I told him there was a third time traveler and that he had been mind-wiped by them. ]
[Understandable,] Zorian said. [I know spiders think memory editing is normal, but humans tend to get mad at things like this. Do you think he believed your story about you being another time traveler? ]
[Actually, what I’m talking about is that there are several Alanian time travelers. I have a way to put other people into time loops. ]
[Not sure if this is really necessary,] Zorian mused. [Or even sensible. What we've planned should be enough to annoy the third time traveler into confronting you. ]
[You think too much,] the matriarch said. [We try to set traps rather than engage the enemy. Since our enemy has so far not responded to our provocation, I think it's more important to let him take the bait than to worry about what will happen if he takes the bait. As you said yourself, and as Zack learned the hard way over the course of this time loop, there are only so many things a mage can handle on his own. No matter how capable our opponent is, he will never escape from a well-prepared ambush. ]
[Yes,] Zorian said doubtfully. He was far less certain than she was about this plan, but he didn't have any better ideas either. Plus, maybe having one of her plans blow up in her face will make her more willing to come forward with information in the next reboot. [So do we have Zach’s support on this? ]
[He will help, yes,] the matriarch confirmed. [I didn’t actually have to offer anything to get him to cooperate. He even asked us to provide a list of targets to help us weaken the invasion force before the actual invasion date. This kid is serious and straightforward. I might add that this is nothing like you and your rampant paranoia. ]
Zorian narrowed his eyes and grasped the stone plate in his hand tighter. is that so? Does the matriarch want to replace him with Zach? Is anyone more trustworthy and easier to manipulate?
Once the third time traveler threat is gone, will Zorian be the next to be axed?
That settled it - whatever the outcome of this ambush, he would soon reveal himself to Zack. Yes, there is a benefit to anonymity, but it's outweighed by the danger of being allowed the Arab matriarch exclusive access to Zach. This could end up being very bad for Zorian.
[You've been silent for some time,] the matriarch pointed out. [Do you know I'm just teasing you? 】
[I was just thinking,] Zorian said, how happy it was to think that they were communicating through the repeater at the moment - making it nearly impossible for the matriarch to read his thoughts unless he specifically sent them to her. It wasn't a protective measure he had consciously installed, more a result of their shoddy construction, but Zorian was still pleased with the end result. 【Where's the money? You know, my savings will be running out soon. ]
[I'll be able to get you about 20,000 by the end of the week. Is this enough? ]
【Element? Of course,] Zorian confirmed. [But what if we have to hire experts? I am not sure. Good experts are expensive, especially if you hire them under a tight schedule or expect them to play it safe. Hopefully Kyle will agree to help us, otherwise I might have to hire an alchemist. ]
[I'll leave this to you,] the matriarch said. [You know this better than I do. 】
There was a brief silence as both Zorian and the matriarch considered what to say next.
[Listen,] the matriarch said suddenly. [Did you know that spiders sometimes scatter little memory packets into the brains of males? ]
Zorian blinked. What? What does it matter?
[No,] Zorian said hesitantly. [I can't say I did. ]
[Well, they did,] the matriarch said. [This is a great way to leave a secret message if you know what you're doing. If you break the messages into small enough chunks and embed them into the target carefully enough, it's nearly impossible for anyone without the key to find them, let alone piece them together into a coherent whole. ]
[Why are you telling me this? ] Zorian asked.
[Just in case,] the matriarch replied. [Male spiders are much smaller than females and very timid. Like any other animal, they are afraid of fire and loud noises, and most divination spells designed to track spiders will not register them as the same type of creature. Most of the time, when an Alanor settlement is destroyed, many males survive the destruction. Encode information in their minds. ]
[Why don't you just tell me? ]he asks.
[Probably nothing,] the matriarch said. [And you do worry too much. This is really just a precaution to prevent the worst outcome. Novelty will give you the key the next time you meet. ]
Before Zorian could continue the discussion, the matriarch cut off contact.
"Very mature," Zorian muttered, tossing the disc onto the bed beside him. But as annoying as the matriarch is now, she's been nothing but helpful so far.
After this restart, though, maybe he should start taking his own precautions. in case.
- rest -
At the train station in Theoria, Zorian is waiting. Kyle and his daughter would have to wait a while to arrive, while Zorian amused himself by teasing the pigeons that milled around on the platform.
Paradoxically, animal minds are both more difficult and more susceptible to psychic forces than human minds. Harder because it is harder for simpler minds to perceive and pinpoint, because once the psychic finally succeeds in connecting with them, their ideas are easier to discern and subvert.
Pigeons are not difficult to detect - if one can see one directly and can focus all one's attention on the task - so there is little that a pigeon can do to protect itself from Zorian's experiments. He just sat on the bench and systematically targeted pigeon after pigeon, practicing his technique. Sometimes he just tries to understand their basic thoughts without alerting them to his intrusion, other times he tries to hijack their senses or manipulate their bodies. Neither mission went too well, but it was something to pass the time and he did have some success. After number 50 pigeons or something like that, he could differentiate between pigeons that were hungry, sick or in pain and pigeons that were not hungry, sick or in pain. He can make pigeons stumble or freeze for a second, or scare them until they run as far away from him as possible.
In fact, the last one is pretty simple. He shouldn't have been surprised, considering the effect was nearly identical to the Ghost Animal trick he'd learned the following year. It did give him an idea though... Psychic spells affecting animals weren't as strictly restricted as spells targeting humans. Hell, some of them are available for free at the college library!
For now, though, he's focused on another idea - instead of fully manipulating the pigeon, he's trying to simply reduce its fear and influence it to approach him on its own. This is much more difficult than scaring the birds away. Pigeons are already prone to fleeing at the slightest provocation, so it doesn't take much to get them to escape, but allowing them to approach a strange man without food and keep staring at them goes against their instincts.
It took him more than twenty attempts, but he gradually learned how to direct the pigeons to fly toward him. Finally, on the 24th try, he found a fearless pigeon that matched his game. It slowly snaked closer, then flew briefly, landing on the same bench Zorian occupied.
It cooed and stared at him, making no move when Zorian reached out and picked it up.
success! Zorian reached into his pocket and handed the docile dove some bread. For such a cooperative experimental subject, it is reasonable to reward him.
His achievement also comes at the right time, as Kyle's train is about to arrive at the station. He placed the pigeon on the bench and left to help Kyle out of the car.
"Kyle Tverinov? I am Zorian, one of your classmates. Miss Zileti sent me to help you settle in and show you around the city. Don't worry about your daughter, I know what to say, ha."
Kyle gave him an appraising look and nodded. "I appreciate your help, Mr. Kaczynski. And your silence. Please lead the way, if you will."
"No problem at all," Zorian said as he created a floating force plate and moved the other boy's luggage to the platform. "We live in the same place after all."
"Your sister?" Kyle asked, holding Kana in his hand. The little girl looked at everything around her with bright blue eyes, but she always remained quiet. "How did you bring her here, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Our parents were traveling to Kos and someone had to look after her. And, well, in this case, that person was always me. I didn't really mind too much, and the owner of the place seemed to be great with the kids."
"Well, that's a relief," Kyle said. "To be honest, I had reservations about coming here and I was a little worried that Miss Zileti was exaggerating her friend's fondness for children in order to get me to agree to enroll."
Kyle looked at him with sharp, questioning eyes.
"Too sudden?" Zorian asked. "I'm sorry, but I want to get this out of the way first. I know some people can't stand having their private emotions known to them, but I don't think I can keep it a secret from someone I'll be sharing a roof with forever."
"If you're not worried about living with the Morlocks, I guess I have no right to complain about you being an empath," Kyle said, shaking his head. He looked at his daughter with a sad look on his face. "To be honest, I'm a little jealous. Kana is quiet most of the time, and sometimes I wish I could peer into her head and see what she's thinking."
Kana immediately put her little hands around Kyle's head and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Kyle snorted disdainfully and ruffled her hair, a smile forming on his lips.
After a while, time passed, and the two boys continued talking without restraint, successfully breaking the deadlock.
- rest -
Imaya's kitchen was packed with people. Crowded and noisy. Between Zorian and Kiriel, Kyle and his daughter, visits to Ilsa and Tyvin, and finally Imaya herself, the room was packed with people, at least two of whom were going on at any given moment. dialogue. Oddly enough, Zorian felt comfortable there. In the past, such gatherings annoyed him and he would find an excuse to leave as quickly as possible.
Of course, he remained comfortable in silence.
"...and then Grant and Mumble hit it with an Aurora Beam and froze it solid," Tevin said excitedly. "I don't know if it actually killed it, but it took it out of the fight long enough for us to go after it. The most painful experience of my life, let me tell you. I'm really happy Zorian was there—if I had chosen any other third-year student as filler, I don’t think I would have survived that encounter.”
"While it is indeed impressive that Zorian can contribute in such a battle, I must insist that you do not take him with you to explore your dungeons in the future," Ilsa said with a smile. "He is my apprentice now. If I let my apprentice be killed by a rampaging troll or other monster after I sign the contract, my record will definitely be bad."
"Uh, yeah..." Taiwen faltered. "Well, I don't want to go there just yet. I reported the incident to the police, but cleanup could take months, and the place is currently too dangerous for me and my team."
"Of course." Zorian agreed immediately.
"I want you to consult me before you do anything similarly dangerous in the future," Ilsa warned. "Is there anything else I should know?"
"Not exactly," Zorian said. Ilsa gave him a sharp look. Well, maybe he should throw her a bone to distract her before she starts actually spying on him. "Well, I see my spider mentor regularly, but she's completely harmless. Despite being a giant spider, it wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Ah, yes, spider," said Ilsa with obvious disgust. "Don't worry, Imaya has already told me about your... situation. I want to talk to you about it, but I'll wait until we can meet in a more private setting."
"I'm curious," Kyle said. "If your teacher doesn't hurt a fly, what does she eat? I'm pretty sure all spiders are carnivores."
"Mainly rats and stray dogs," Zorian said.
"Rat?" Kyriel asked in disgust.
"I was told that rats grow very big," Zorian said.
"Oh my god, can they do that?" Tevin confirmed. "I swear I once saw one of them stalking a cat, not the other way around..."
"She was just telling the fisherman's story," Imaya quickly assured an uneasy Kiriel. "I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen anything like this."
"How do you know the tramps aren't eating their food too?" Ilsa asked.
Zorian replied. "It's not that spiders are harmless, far from it, but if they kill me it won't be because they want to eat me."
"Novelty?" Kyle asked.
"That's the name of the spider who mentored me," Zorian shrugged. "Well, technically her name is Passionate Novelty Seeker."
"The name sounds stupid," Kiriel said.
On second thought, Zorian opened his mouth to tell her that "Kiriel" was a stupid name too. On the one hand, it's better to have immature arguments with her when you're alone. On the other hand, he's just come up with a funnier, more sinister idea.
"Want to meet her?" Zorian asked.
"What?" Kirill asked.
"Novelty. Do you want to meet her?"
Kiriel remained silent, thinking about this issue. "I don't know. I don't like spiders. They're so gross."
"Okay," Zorian shrugged. "I just thought you'd jump at the chance to meet a member of a reclusive race of magical creatures that few can boast of conversing with. Once in a lifetime opportunity and all. But I think I get it—"
"Uh, uh..." Kiriel said hesitantly. "Actually, I changed my mind. She doesn't want to touch me, does she?"
Of course she would try to touch her. Novelty wants to touch everything. By her own admission, she once stuck a leg into an open flame to see what would happen.
"I'm sure she'll keep her distance if you ask politely," Zorian told her.
Kyle showed up and knocked on the door frame to get his attention.
"Did I interrupt anything?" he asked.
"No, I was just thinking about what to do. Do you need anything? Zorian asked.
"I'm just here to tell you that you don't have to dance around mind magic anymore. I've discovered that you're more than just an empath."
"Kirel told you, didn't I?" Zorian sighed.
"Frankly, Mr. Junior Necromancer, it's a bit hypocritical of you to shun me because of my dabbling in forbidden magic."
Kyle immediately recoiled in shock and stared at him with wide eyes. "W-what!? Impossible..."
Zorian motioned for him to be quiet, and Kyle immediately shut up and stared down the hallway to make sure no one was listening. Zorian knew they were not back, he could feel all the other residents still back in the kitchen. After careful inspection, Kyle quickly walked into the room, closed the door, and leaned heavily on it.
"How?" he asked. He sounded more alarmed than threatening at the moment, but Zorian knew that could change at any time if he didn't get a satisfactory answer.
"Do you know the 'Arcane Lock' spell?" Zorian asked.
"I...yeah," Kyle said, still sounding rather dazed.
"Then, lock the door," Zorian said, immediately beginning to cast a temporary divination ward around the room.
It's nothing fancy, but it can thwart simple probing attempts and hopefully notify him if something more sophisticated is targeted against them. Not that he really thought they needed it, but it was good practice and you could never be careful enough.
Five minutes later, Zorian had secured the room at such quick notice, and Kyle was looking increasingly impatient. Zorian decided to keep going. He opened his mouth and began to speak.
"Let me tell you a story about lost time and a month that never ends..."
- rest -
As Zorian trudged toward class, half an hour ahead of the rest of his classmates, he reflected on the fact that life is rarely ideal. In practice, many of the jobs given to apprentices are chores or various busywork tasks that their mentors consider unsuitable for them. For example, class representative duties are largely a huge waste of time. In previous reboots, that fact didn't bother him that much - the job was fairly easy as long as you didn't take it as seriously as Akoja - but this time around, he's got too much to fight for His focus, to the point where he resented the extra responsibilities stacked on top of it all. Maybe he shouldn't have convinced Ilsa to take him on as her apprentice this time around, but, well, it was done.
He yawned. He's just grumpy today, he didn't sleep much last night. His conversation with Kyle literally took hours as the other boy wanted to know everything and kept asking for details. While Zorian wasn't jealous of the other boy for wanting answers and thought the time was well spent, he half-planned to use the time to read the research assignments he'd collected from classmates on Ilsa's behalf. Today he had to give Ilsa homework, including corrections and grade suggestions. He had thought that the knowledge he gained from the previous reboot would make the task a child's play, but apparently the drastic changes they made to this reboot resulted in Ilsa being given a completely different research topic that he actually had to Read everything from the beginning.
Looking into the classroom, Akoja was already inside. He rolled his eyes at her excessive punctuality. The blackboard was covered with horrible drawings, love confessions and other rubbish, but he knew better than to wipe it clean now - a clean blackboard was completely irresistible to some of the idiots in the class, who would surely stain it again What a mess. When the teacher finally showed up. Who knows, maybe if he puts it aside long enough, Akoja will take the initiative to deal with it
Briam, Naim and Edwin were marked as the next to attend. Brian waved to him as he passed by, holding his familiar fire dragon in his other hand, but Naim and Edwin were too absorbed in their conversation to notice him. Zo
ia
Didn't mind, he didn't know either of them very well. Naim is a first-generation mage, like Zorian and Akoa - the children of soldiers who rose to the rank of general after the devastation caused by the Schism War. Edwin's parents were both puppet makers, and they clearly passed on their passion for their craft to Edwin - he was always tinkering with various mechanisms and making blueprints, even during lectures or when he should be focusing on something else time of things.
Next up is Rainey, the red-haired mystery guy who transferred into their class last year. She is introverted, polite, extremely attractive, a good student, and absolutely refuses to tell anyone about her family or origins. The only person who has a concrete understanding of Reni is his other female classmate Kiana, who is taciturn and resolute.
And so it went, one student after another, until the list was complete, and he absentmindedly erased the blackboard with a revision spell, causing the chalk to peel from the surface to the floor, and sat down to wait.
- rest -
"No, Ben, you can't turn in your homework after a week," Zorian growled. "The deadline was yesterday. I have to get them to Ilsa today. Don't you see the problem here?"
"Come on, Zorian, that's what friends are for," Benicek complained. "What's the use of having your best buddy be the class representative if you can't ask your best buddy to let you off some classes?"
"You're not asking for help, you're asking for the moon," Zorian told him, looking him level. "I can't help you with that."
"But I really, really can't afford to be written off anymore," Benicek said, giving him a hopeful smile. "
"Can you hand it over now?" Zorian finished.
She nodded sharply and handed him the paper.
"No," Zorian deadpanned.
"Seriously?" Jed interjected. "Do you want to make a big deal out of this?"
"Yes?" Zorian asked.
“Why don’t we leave this here,” Kiana said, placing her homework on his desk, “and after Benicek has finished annoying you and you have calmed down, you can decide whether you want to disturb them or not. "
"Hey!" Benicek protested.
"Of course," Zorian shrugged. "You do it."
Zorian watched patiently as the three of them placed their homework on his desk and filed out of the classroom, waiting until Benisek finally gave up trying to convince him... to write Benisek's homework for him, he guessed? Then he calmly took out a pen from his backpack, wrote "Assignments not handed in by deadline" on each piece of paper, and unceremoniously stuffed them into his backpack with other assignments. There, let Ilsa decide what to do with them.
"Ako, why are you still here?" Zorian sighed and turned to the last person left in the room. "If you're worried, your mission is perfect."
"I'm glad you've decided to take my place," she said. "I didn't think I would be able to go through another year. When I accepted the position in my first year, the teachers said it was an honor. There are benefits to being a class representative. It deserves respect. But it was all a sham, and when I realized Until no one is stupid enough to take this position away from me.”
"Hey..." Zorian protested softly.
"I'm not saying you're stupid for accepting it," she immediately clarified. "You accepted it because it was tied to Ilsa's apprenticeship. You are much smarter than me in that regard."
"More like less naive," Zorian said. She flinched at his words. Apparently he was hitting too close for comfort. "If you hate it, why are you putting so much effort into it? Why not boycott the whole thing?"
"Because it's wrong," she said fiercely. "You should not run away from your responsibilities. I also accept my responsibility as class representative."
Zorian looked at her in disbelief.
"What?" she challenged. provocative. Encourage him to tell her she's wrong.
"Nothing," Zorian said. He didn't want to argue with her. Ever since he started developing empathy, he'd become more and more certain that she liked him. It's small, but it's there. Although he didn't reciprocate her feelings at all, he didn't want to hurt her emotionally either. He would be hurting her if he started talking to her honestly - they are two very different people with different worldviews and ideals, even though Akoja seems to think they are similar.
"Listen, Ako," he said, standing up from his seat. "I spent most of last night reading for my assignment, but I'm not the best person to have a philosophical discussion right now. Can we discuss this some other time?"
“You shouldn’t procrastinate until the last day,” Akoja said. "It's almost as bad as what those three guys did."
"No, it's not," Zorian disagreed. He picked up his backpack with one arm and stood up from his seat. "It's not polite to preach like that. Goodbye, Akko."
- rest -
"Do you want to see me?" Zorian asked while looking into Ilsa's office.
Ilsa motioned for him to come in, too busy drinking tea to respond verbally. Zorian sat down in the visitor's chair and immediately handed her all the homework he had collected from his students. She glanced at them, then set them aside and took another sip of water.
"I wanted to talk to you about your experiments with mind magic," she said, tapping her fingers on the table. "I'm sure you're aware that most mind-affecting magic is of a rather illegal nature, but since it's the product of innate abilities rather than access to restricted spells and literature, there's some consideration. The Society of Empaths takes pains to distinguish between fellow Thinking about psychology and mind-reading, and claiming that one is just a logical extension of the other... is novel. And somewhat controversial. Nonetheless, my careful investigation of the subject has revealed that there is indeed an existing relationship between the two abilities. knowledge, so your story holds up.”
"Technically speaking, empathy and mind-reading are indeed different. Empathy is a passive skill and does not involve mind intrusion, whereas mind-reading requires one person to actively intrude into another person's mind."
"It's just that every empath is capable of mind reading with the right training."
"Oh? Interesting," Ilsa said. "I'm surprised more mages haven't stumbled upon this fact, then."
"Actually, I've thought about that," Zorian said. "Spiders are born with this ability. They talk to each other telepathically, which is their normal way of communicating, they also have telepathic scuffles as children, they use telepathy to hunt prey and can do almost anything. They are very It is natural to refine and develop this ability, taking it to its logical extreme. Human empaths, on the other hand, are rare and isolated, so one could say that most of them had to rediscover the wheel alone. It doesn't help that few people are willing to have their minds read, so any "training" would almost certainly be illegal. As a result, most people who discover their potential telepathic abilities either stay silent about it or become outright criminals. There are probably quite a few empaths who have discovered this fact,
"Excellent reasoning," Ilsa praised. "Actually, what I'd particularly like to discuss with you is the issue of training partners. I know your sister has agreed to help you with your training, but I've learned that it's better to have a variety of targets to practice on, right? ?”
"Yes," Zorian agreed.
"Okay, I'll give it a try. Who am I going to work with?"
"A classmate of yours. Tinami Opie," Ilsa said.
Zorian blinked. Tina Mae is...wait, of course it's her. Opp is rumored to be involved in magic and other fields. Not all rumors are malicious nonsense. If you think about it, this would explain why Ilsa knew about the request in the first place.
Besides, didn't he promise himself to introduce her to Spider-Man sometime and see what would happen? Yeah, he's totally fine with that.
- rest -
"Hello, Tinami," Zorian said, walking into the empty classroom Ilsa had reserved for their "lessons." "Did I interrupt something?"
"Yeah," she fidgeted. "I'm actually waiting for someone..."
"To practice spiritual magic, right?" he asked. Her eyes widened in response. "That's me. I'll be your partner today, if you will."
"Well, ah, I'm...I don't want to be rude, but I kind of wish there was an expert..."
Hmm, so Ilsa didn't tell her who would teach her? Strange.
"I am a born mind mage," Zorian said. "I'm the closest thing in the academy to an expert on the subject. How about we try this and if I don't satisfy you, you can leave, okay?"
She immediately blushed and looked away, her mood cycling between embarrassment and anger. Well, maybe he should have phrased it better...
"Similarly," Zorian said. "And I won't allow you to look into my memories."
"Y-yeah," she agreed. "I mostly just wanted to practice my telepathy and mind reading. These spells are not difficult to cast, but it takes a lot of practice to actually use them."
"Okay, you go first," Zorian said.
(The next chapter is to enter the body of a cat and experience her mind? After all, this book originates from the legend of Cat Eye. Do you like it? But our main line is still the exploration of time loop! Thank you for watching, keep going, brothers!))
