The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop

Chapter 80: A Chaotic Start To A New Long Loop

Time had the tendency to pass quickly when one was doing something they greatly enjoyed. Consequently, Orodan went through many loops of stealth, training in light magic and slaying wicked creatures all across Inuan.

And as these loops went by, so did numerous battles against Alagameth and that Living Crystal which always hunted him down. Though, as the attempts continued. he began noting how the Embodiment-level spider interrupted his Teleport with less and less urgency. Mainly because Fate Disconnect steadily gained levels and his effects upon the tapestry were lower and lower.

To most, even other time loopers, fighting a Living Crystal which could control the mind and forcibly assimilate other beings sounded like a nightmare. Far too risky a method of training. For Orodan, it was the first day of his never-ending week. Even if he was slain in a singular strike, these battles were excellent training and a source of steady skill gains across the board.

A hundred and fifty-seven loops of this grind had passed. Orodan had slain vampires, cultists and necromancers galore. The number of repeats had allowed him to memorize the exact locations of each group of vermin at the start of the loops, so he usually went about dispatching them right away without needing to involve Silestor at all.

His light magic steadily improved, but besides the slaying of wicked creatures, Orodan also worked on something else from time to time. Especially since he began to get quicker and quicker at wiping out the separate groups of monsters across Inuan.

A recently acquired skill which had provided unexpected assistance when he most needed it.

“Hey, wait! That’s my rope-laying shed!”

“I know,” Orodan declared.

“You… mean to lay rope now?” Belina Botterson asked, surprised. “First you fix my broken fence and install an entirely new coop, and now you want to weave rope? Selric wasn’t wrong… you’re an odd one, aren’t you? Since when does a militia man know Woodworking?”

“Well… I won’t say no to that Orodan,” Belina said. Her face then took on an irritated frown. “Though, you could stand to divest yourself of that silly rag upon your head! The eye holes aren’t even on the right side!”

“Apologies… I forgot to remove it after the dealings I recently had,” he remarked as he slipped it off. “Never know when you’ll need a good disguise.”

Frankly, Orodan didn’t need the rag itself. But out of sentiment, he enjoyed keeping it on during his attempts at stealthily taking down the plaza; a reminder of his old attempts at sneaking about. And the only reason Belina knew it was him was because Orodan refused to use Incipience of Infinity on the woman or anyone he cared about for that matter.

There was something almost… cosmically ominous about his soul. Better to not casually use that aspect of the skill when it wasn’t necessary.

Belina let out a long and suffering sigh of resignation.

“…I’m not even going to question it,” she said. “Don’t know how you’ve managed to have that imp so closely attached to your shoulder either.”

Upon cue, Belina’s baby daughter peered over Orodan’s shoulder to gaze curiously at her mother, her little head titling to the side in inquiry. The infant was hanging onto Orodan’s back and watching him work, her wide and curious eyes taking everything in with an intelligence which seemed beyond her years.

“This one’s smarter than you think. She’s destined for great things,” Orodan remarked as he began the process of stripping the bark and soaking it. He then spoke to the infant clinging onto his shoulder. “As you can see, the first part of the process involves stripping the inner bark. Notice, I say inner. That’s because the outer layer isn’t suitable for making decent fiber. Weaving is your mother’s line of work, and while you may or may not choose to go down that path yourself… learning new things can only be a boon. Do you understand?”

The baby nodded, a serious look on her face.

“I hope you’re not alarmed at how smart she is. She nods to me and Selric as though she can understand what we’re saying,” Belina explained. “Never cries or throws a tantrum either. Almost makes me wonder if…”

“No, she’s not possessed. Nor is she reincarnated,” Orodan assuaged. “If you don’t believe me, feel free to get her checked at a temple any one of these days.”

After enough loops of weaving with this little observer upon his shoulder, Orodan had come to learn that the reason for her intelligence and inquisitiveness was tied to how strong her soul was. Where everyone else’s soul was like a candleflame, this child’s was akin to a burning house fire.

She was still an infant and not of developed intelligence, yet Orodan suspected even if she couldn’t read, she had an understanding of the System and already showed the early levels in certain skills. And most importantly, the child had some rudimentary ability to sense souls. Which when coupled with a three-month old baby’s lack of fear for unknown individuals, meant that she found some way to flounder over to Orodan in most loops he visited the house.

It wasn’t unheard of, for the rare individual to be born as the progenitor of a Bloodline or some unique ability. This baby, Orodan felt, was destined to become some legendary figure with proper guidance. The world was a big place. and just like his young friend Fenton Penny upon Lonvoron, absurd talent could emerge anywhere, even Ogdenborough.

Belina took her from Orodan’s shoulder, and the little one was clearly unhappy about that.

“No, you’re getting in Orodan’s way you little imp. Don’t give me that sour look,” Belina chided her daughter. She then relented under a most furious and intense look of pleading. “Fine! But you’ll sit in your chair and not cause any trouble.”

She nodded and obediently caused no fuss as she was sat down and secured upon a baby stool which was at similar height to Orodan’s workstation.

“As I said, smarter than you think,” Orodan remarked with a smile as he used his hand to subtly launch the Time Compression of the Smite of Abrupt Deliverance upon the soaking wood fibres. “Her soul’s quite strong. In time I can see her becoming a powerful figure.”

“Her soul? How can you tell?” Belina asked. “Never mind that… what do you mean by her becoming a powerful figure?”

“Displaying her abilities early on, bringing you and your husband much praise, making her peers jealous and catching the eye of the nobility in Trumbetton or Karilsgard,” Orodan said. “An Academy will do her good once she’s old enough.”

Left unsaid was that this baby’s soul strength was more than a little eye-catching for her age. Her parents being killed and the child kidnapped for grooming into a powerful asset was a very real possibility… if Orodan didn’t plan on eradicating anyone who tried such a nefarious thing.

Having lost his own parents to the manipulations of forces beyond his station, he would not allow such a thing to befall any other.

“An… Academy? We’re getting by and might even be able to move out of Ogdenborough soon, but Selric and I aren’t that well-off for us to afford such a thing,” Belina said, seriously considering the matter.

Orodan shoved a large purse into her hands.

“Should be enough. And even without it, I have little doubt that she’ll be singled out for a sponsorship rather quickly,” Orodan said. “Might I recommend presenting her to House Simarji in Velestok when the time comes? Less… politics.”

Nothing against Burgher Ignatius, but the Simarjis were a closer-knit and homelier sort who preferred to remain away from the more unsavory politics of the nobility. They had fewer enemies as a result.

Belina’s eyes widened when she peered into the mouth of the purse.

“G-gold coins?! At least two dozen too!” Belina said. “I… I cannot accept this. This is far too much! Maybe a quarter of it, sure, but the entire thing? I’ll get robbed within the day!”

“Just make a deposit at the bank in Scarmorrow. I can escort you if that’s what you need,” Orodan said.

“No need, I’ll drag Selric along when he gets off work,” the woman said. “…thank you. But I have questions.”

“Can’t promise I’ll answer them fully.”

She frowned but didn’t raise any further argument.

“First… how have you gotten this much money Orodan? Is Selric not telling me something about how much you lot in the militia make?”

“We make a single gold coin a year in salary, perhaps one-and-a-half for corporals and two for sergeants dependent on location.”

“Then how, pray tell, have you come upon so much money that you’re giving it away to me? Do I need to worry about the authorities kicking down my door for possession of stolen gold?” Belina asked. “And most importantly… why?”

“As for how, don’t worry about it. The amount in that purse is mere change to the man I borrowed it from. A little donation from him to aid the less fortunate given all the misdeeds he’s done,” Orodan said, recalling how he’d taken Baron Viglas Argon’s coin purse after resurrecting the man’s family. Not that the Baron cared about that at all given the new lease on life and second chance he’d received. “And as for why? I owe you.”

“Orodan, the only times I see you are when you and your troop come by for patrol and wave at the window. And you’re possibly the surliest of the bunch and never speak much,” Belina said. “I can’t possibly see how you owe me, unless you’ve come to repay something Selric did for you.”

She wasn’t wrong. The Orodan Wainwright before the time loops had been a singularly focused man, caring only about training and little else. Now though, alongside his goals, he also kept note of those who’d helped him and those he owed a debt to.

This woman was among that lot.

“You taught me Weaving,” Orodan answered with a smile.

The woman looked as though a practical prank was being played upon her. Particularly since Orodan weaved a finer rope than she could ever manage.

“Are you pulling my leg? I’ve never taught you anything,” she said. “That’s a nicer rope than I could ever make myself… how long have you been plying that trade for?”

“Close to half a year,” Orodan said, pulling the soaked wood fibres out and drying them with a quick Candleflame.

“Hold on, hold on! You’re giving me far too many surprises at once!” she exclaimed, shaking her head. “First you’re capable of magic, then the bark’s somehow done despite the fact that you put it in for soaking moments ago, and now you’re some master of weaving who’s been training for half a year only?”

“An Apprentice actually, only at level 48, and I’ve had some other forms of training that allowed me to rapidly acquire insights. I wouldn’t feel too bad about it if I were you.”

“Only level 48 he says… how can you be so talented? I’ve seen some of the Weaving those Adepts in the Academy are capable of, yours looks an awful lot like theirs,” Belina muttered, looking intimidated. “If you can get that good in half a year, what have I been doing with my life?”

“You’re too hard on yourself. Looking after Botterson and your two daughters while also running a chicken farm and weaving rope on the side is rather impressive. That you’ve made an economic living of it is even more so,” Orodan said. “You’d excel just as much as I with the proper support and resources.”

Belina Botterson was a resourceful woman. That she could make profit off of the wood scraps provided by Fodgarton’s and Westwater’s shops while also running a farm and caring for a family was downright fascinating. Orodan wasn’t arrogant enough to lack self-awareness of the fact that having no family and very few friends meant that he was quite unburdened in the time loops.

What if he’d had a child to care for? A spouse? He certainly couldn’t go about the loops the same way. It made him respect hardworking and resourceful folk like her all the more.

Orodan wouldn’t even say he was all that talented at Weaving either. Good at working hard and pursuing precarious avenues of advancement, yes. But outright talented at the art? No. The only reason his Weaving had progressed as fast as it did was due to his repeated battles against two Embodiment-level beings. His Transcendent Combat Mastery though, was the real multiplier for his learning speed. It helped bring skills he might’ve otherwise thought unrelated to combat into his fighting style.

Regular weaving was nice, and the basics would always have their place, but utilizing the principles of Weaving in combat to cast spells and guide the energy flows of his attacks was an excellent form of training itself.

“Come, better to focus on yourself than to dwell on what others can do,” Orodan said, gesturing to a nearby stool. “Want me to teach you some of these spells? I can’t promise you’ll be able to cast them all, especially the chronomancy. But perhaps we can get you to learn a Candleflame yet.”

“Magic? Me?” Belina asked. “Why I never…”

“And your daughter too, if she shows interest,” Orodan said, looking at the baby who was now looking intently at the small fire in his hands. “Anyone can learn magic; it’s just a matter of consistency and effort.”

And as he taught the woman a very basic spell, so too did he teach the child in the stool.

And at the end of it all, Teaching went up to 64, and he received a final message about Weaving.

[Weaving 48 → Weaving 49]

For a hundred and fifty-seven loops he’d battered his head against the wall.

This loop, he was going to break it.

#

It was late in the evening and Karilsgard was still bustling with activity. Foot traffic past sundown consisted of merchants, travelers, military patrols and tourists here to partake in late-night activities of a decadent nature. There were dangerous regions on Inuan where travel at certain times of day was ill-advised. Karilsgard and the surrounding area wasn’t one of them. The region was quite safe and its roads well-patrolled; tourists and travelers could walk along the roads in the dead of night alone and not worry about a thing.

Unlike his hometown of Ogdenborough, monsters and criminals had been all but wiped out from the surrounding ten miles of the city walls.

As Orodan walked up to the gates, the same capital guard corporal was on-duty, pulling a double shift. And although the man looked more than a little impatient and ready to head off-duty, he still immediately took note of Orodan the moment he entered view.

“Hold there, militia man. Little late to be walking the roads, isn’t it? Safe as they are, best not to cultivate such a habit lest your feet take you farther from Karilsgard than you should be,” the corporal said. “From which county do you hail? I don’t recognize the color pattern of your uniform.”

“That uniform belongs to the Volarbury County militia sir,” one fresh-faced guardswoman with a snappy voice and overly eager attitude said.

“Right, I’m from Volarbury County,” Orodan answered. “The Ogdenborough barracks.”

“Ogdenborough? Messy business that went down over there. You know anything about that?” the capital guardswoman asked, quickly pulling out a sheaf of papers and taking notes. “There’s a standing order out for any information relevant to that incident.”

The corporal looked about done however and gave his junior a sickeningly sweet smile.

“Avidia?” the corporal asked, a hand laid upon her shoulder.

“…yes corporal?”

“How many field interviews have you done today?” the man asked, his eye twitching.

“Seventy-two… sir?” the guardswoman muttered, growing more wary of the corporal.

“And have you considered, my hard-working guardswoman… that your corporal here has to sign off on and write an addendum for each and every one of these field interview reports?” the man asked, a dangerous smile on his face. “And that I’m at the tail-end of a twenty-four-hour stint of duty?”

“Er… I uh- I hadn’t considered that, corporal… sir…”

“Of course, of course… now then, would you like to perhaps continue this field interview?”

“…no sir.”

“Excellent! Glad we’ve come to an understanding,” the corporal said. “Off to the walls you go, can’t field interview anyone when there’s no one around to talk to.”

The poor guardswoman slunk off, defeated.

“She was just trying to do her job,” Orodan said. “But I suppose punishment is its own form of training.”

He’d gotten beaten black and blue enough times during basic and even a time or two after graduation. Good opportunities for learning and skills development.

“After the seventieth incident of her ‘just trying to do her job’, I think I’ve had enough. Besides, the time on the walls is as much a favor to her as it is punishment. Primarily so she can relax and not overwork herself. She’s not a bad lass, just very official and by the book. One thing they could do with less of in basic training are those damned field interviews,” the corporal said. “Or at the very least… less of the paperwork that comes with it.”

“A tragic state of affairs,” Orodan dryly said.

“Indeed! Glad to see someone understands my… ah, you’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?” the corporal asked. “Get over here so we can conclude this inspection. Orodan Wainwright the Apprentice Wainwright… real funny sort you are.”

“I thought it would be an amusing little jest.”

“Hmm… not concerned at all about being pulled aside for secondary inspection, are you?” the corporal asked.

“Should I be? If I’ve done nothing wrong, this should just be a formality.”

“Well… you’re not wrong about that. I’m certainly not one to enjoy pulling innocent people aside for no reason, it’s just that your Status raises some questions when you’re so obviously well-armed and look capable of defending yourself,” the corporal said. “Still, even if you’ve done nothing wrong, I’d advise caution on which shift you carry that nonchalant attitude into. Not all capital guards are above ruining someone’s day over a perceived slight.”

“Then they’re welcome to try.”

Something about the way he said it must’ve raised the corporal’s alarm bells. Looking closely, Orodan could see a flurry of System energy activity around the section of the man’s soul tied to his Legendary-rarity skill.

As he’d found during these loops, the corporal at the gates would almost certainly send word to Silestor about him. Perhaps it was the way he carried himself, or his well-armed appearance Still, no matter how many times he went through this, the man never once had any doubts about Orodan’s character, merely who his presence should be reported to.

If he acted too brusquely, the corporal would call for backup and sergeants of the capital guard would arrive. And from there a brawl of escalating proportions would ensue where Orodan beat up the captains and commanders and ended up cleansing Alastaia of the tyrant three’s presence early. Needless to say, doing all that before getting to meet Silestor was a bit inconvenient, hence he’d found this level of challenge to be appropriate.

“What’re you here for? You’re no militia man…” the corporal muttered.

“Just here to visit the Cathedral and meet a friend.”

“Cathedral’s closed at this hour of night.”

“I know,” Orodan replied with a smile.

“…go on then.”

No further words were needed. Though the guards near the corporal were more than a little curious about why Orodan had been let off so easily.

“You let him go sir? Surely he doesn’t mean to visit the Cathedral at this hour does he?”

“Sometimes it’s best to leave things above our station to our betters. Something about that man tells me he’ll do whatever he wants. Only reason I didn’t call the captains and commanders down is that my skill told me he’s not here to do any evil. Cathedral likes to handle its own business too, and I’m nobody to step on the toes of someone like him headed there,” the man sad. “I don’t know who he is, but he’s no man of the militia. I’ve told the watchers to follow, but if he’s headed for the Cathedral then Lord Lumenarin can sort the matter out.”

Past the gates, the streets of Karilsgard were bright and still active at night. Even though it was late, the main roads which saw commerce at least were chock full of foot traffic and nighttime merchants who looked to prey upon the lower inhibitions one might have when tired.

Guard patrols were still just as frequent though, and watchers on the rooftops of certain houses were watching him as expected.

The Cathedral of the Prime Five had its double doors closed at this time of night. The hours of worship and visitation were over for the day, with service set to resume in the morning.

A well-dressed but anxious merchant was sitting at the foot of the steps as Orodan began ascending the stairs.

“Don’t bother… I’ve tried petitioning them all day and they haven’t opened the doors. One of the faithful said they might open tomorrow,” the merchant who he’d once threatened said. “Something about the tapestry of fate, but I think they’re getting it under control.”

Which was all thanks to Orodan’s efforts in training across the hundred-and-fifty-seven loops. His Fate Disconnect now sat at level 71, and the chaos he caused upon the tapestry was dramatically lessened as a result.

“That’s quite the good turn for you then, isn’t it? Now you get to hear them tell you how Esgarius of Trumbetton will get one over you.”

The merchant’s face paled and then turned exceedingly red.

“You…! How do you even-”

Orodan ignored the man’s angry rant and walked up to the double doors.

“Cathedral’s closed for the day, come back- hey! Stop!”

The double doors were pushed open, and a light mage with a frown on his face was standing there, looking right at him.

“Leave him.”

“But my lord! he just-”

“I’ve been expecting his arrival,” Silestor said, shutting the armored guards of the faithful up. “Now then. Orodan Wainwright is it? Why are you here?”

In response, Orodan’s dimensional ring activated, and a flood came forth.

Not a flood of water, or the elements…

…but a flood of severed heads.

“I’m told you were looking for mercenaries to assist you with hunting undesirables,” Orodan said. “No need. They’ve all been dealt with.”

Silestor was in shock as the heads of the various cultists, necromancers and vampires that Orodan had slain rolled out onto the Cathedral floor.

“I’m Orodan Wainwright, here to learn light magic from you. And…”

“…I’m in a time loop.”

#

Within his private study at the bottom of the Cathedral, Silestor Lumenarin frowned, a look of disgust on the light mage’s face as the summoned imp in the spell circle scampered about the table only to then be caught by Orodan and sent back to whence it came via Dimensionalism.

[New Skill (Rare) → Summoning 8]

A rare occurrence, as he rarely ever acquired rare skills.

“This…! It goes against every moral fiber within me!”

“Is magic not just a tool whose morality is determined by the user?” Orodan asked.

“You learned the Demonic Summoning skill!”

“Summoning not Demonic Summoning,” Orodan corrected, causing the man to pause. “What? You didn’t think I was gallivanting about trying to find the best scrolls for no reason, did you?”

“Bah! You could’ve learned that from the spirit mages of the north or a specialized tutor in the Eastern Kingdoms,” Silestor said. “Perusing demonic texts researched through blood and agony was unnecessary. You summoned an imp too, the very definition of a demonic creature.”

Orodan felt it was more of a wild creature drawn into crossing the dimensional boundary because of Orodan’s call than a demon, but he didn’t bother correcting Silestor.

“Again, that’s not accurate. I’ve looked into the matter and the spirit mages of the north and the handful who congregate at Rubywater in fact have the Elemental Summoning skill,” Orodan clarified. “Not bad, but it would limit me to calling only creatures from the elemental planes. I want more versatility than that.”

And Orodan felt that merely calling something was rather weak and pitiful. His ambitions extended beyond just that.

“Prove it.”

Orodan did as asked and threw as much mana as he could into the spell circle while holding it strong and ensuring it didn’t break under the flood of his raw power.

[Summoning 8 → Summoning 15]

The circle trembled… and the room suddenly became a fair bit hotter. Orange flames licked at his face, stopped by his Fire Resistance. His clothes didn’t have that luxury and unfortunately caught on fire.

Orodan sighed as he patted the flames out.

[Galewind 32 → Galewind 33]

The wind spell kept the room at a safe temperature as Orodan viewed his latest summon. It didn’t have a well-defined shape to the naked eye, consisting of a spiralling gout of flame with a bright core. It was strong too, Grandmaster-level at least.

“Which ambitious mortal dares to summon Arasha the Ever-Smoldering?” it said, voice echoing with fiery power. “I have felt the raw mana as your powerful call resounded throughout the elemental planes… and I have answered. Gaze upon me now and tremble before the majesty of an elemental lord of flame! You may serve me and- urk!”

Orodan gave its core a light smack.

“Hey, focus. Turn the temperature down or you’ll burn this place to the ground.”

“Y-you dare?!”

“This building might be made of stone but the fixtures, furniture and books within are quite flammable. And I’d rather not see my friend’s private study burned down by the elemental I summoned,” Orodan said. “Matter of fact, I hadn’t even intended to summon you.”

An elemental, and a fire elemental at that. They were the most common type of elemental summoned by spirit mages too.

He’d seen a young spirit mage at the Inter-Academy Tournament also summon elementals, as well as spirit mages on Guzuhar. Orodan could now count himself among their ranks.

Brave and noble mages who summoned spirits to do their fighting for them. How brave and admirable.

“You couldn’t make your derision more apparent if you tried.”

Could he be blamed? Orodan had grown past his dislike of mages, but summoners, beast tamers and necromancers were among the groups he still had a low regard for; particularly those who sat back and commanded from the rear. He similarly had a low opinion of nobility and commanders who shouted orders from the back rank while shying away from the combat.

True strength came not from allies or fighting alongside others, but from within. In Orodan’s opinion anyhow. Though he would admit that at least those summoners who fought alongside their summons he could still respect.

“Arasha will not brook such insults from you mortal. You have struck her, and now you shall-!”

“I apologize, but I’ll have to send you back. Hadn’t planned on you actually answering the call…”

A quick bout of Dimensionalism sent the pompous fire elemental back to whence she came, which Orodan noted with his skill in the art… was the sun. Hmm, interesting.

Did Summoning grab the closest possible being willing and able to answer the call commensurate with the mana cost?

“You realize that nations would have gone to war in order to secure that elemental as a strategic asset, yes?” Silestor asked.

“What am I supposed to do with an elemental? I have enough allies capable of delivering snarky comments and criticizing everything I do. Let them summon it themselves if they want such a strategic asset.”

If they could manage the mana cost.

“Never mind that, try it once more, this time without enough mana to level a country,” Silestor said.

[Summoning 15 → Summoning 16]

The amount of mana poured in was minuscule this time, only what an average mage would put in. Something was on the other side, wanting to come in, but the feeling Orodan got was that it didn’t know how.

A problem solved easily enough with Dimensionalism, as Orodan gave it a slight nudge and a pull through the doorway of his own creation. The spell circle barely trembled before something appeared with a puff of smoke.

Green, gelatinous and in Orodan’s opinion, quite adorable.

“A slime, how amusing,” he said, petting its head and causing it to happily jiggle.

It tried affectionately molding around his finger and biting it off but was unable.

“An actual monster…? How can that be?”

“You seem oddly stressed,” Orodan said. “Beast tamers bond with slimes often, it shouldn’t be such a shock.”

“Yes, but you summoned one! That shouldn’t be possible!”

Orodan was used to breaking convention and doing what others saw as impossible, but even he had to admit the actual Summoning skill, and not Demon Summoning or Elemental Summoning, was quite valuable. In essence, he could call anything. Learning Demon Summoning or Elemental Summoning, both of which were Uncommon rarity skills, wouldn’t have taken him nearly as many loops or painstaking scroll hunting otherwise.

An overarching skill which let him call anything, from anywhere was incredibly valuable. Of course, it had to be capable of thought and then want to answer his summons. Furthermore, the skill was limited in that only something capable of dimensional or spatial travel itself could come through. Imps and powerful fire elementals fit that bill but not slimes.

Of course, Orodan had circumvented that limitation by knowing Dimensionalism himself and pulling it through anyways.

One more step towards acquiring the skill he wanted. He placed the slime to the side and then returned his attention to the scrolls arrayed before him still.

Various articles were before him. The primary one was the tome for the pillar of light spell, and the others were various scrolls of demonic summoning.

Across the loops, Orodan had found that cultists were a haphazard lot with differing techniques on demonic summoning; some functional, many useless. Hard to have a coherent and consistent method of summoning when cults were spread across Inuan, very rarely had contact with one another and were typically squashed with force once the Cathedral got wind of them.

Two cults could have entirely different methods of summoning a demon. And while this seemed like it was a headache to navigate and could lead to inefficient knowledge, Orodan in fact welcomed the diversity of ideas as it helped him develop his own Summoning skill.

The large group he and Silestor had dealt with on his very first loop of aiding the man, had some vaguely passable technique for devil calling, but it was far from the best. But that was where the benefit of the time loops made themselves known. Not only did a hundred-and-fifty-seven loops of hunting vampires, cultists and necromancers down allow him to memorize their locations for efficient disposal… but it also gave Orodan access to their nefarious techniques and rituals.

Most of them which involved the sacrifice of the innocent were useless to him. Sacrificial rituals which involved others, in Orodan’s opinion, were the way of the weak. Having to rely upon the life force and soul energy of the slain was basically admitting that one didn’t have the strength to empower the ritual themselves. Still, even in studying these useless techniques there was much to be learned.

The three scrolls on demonic summoning he had in front of him had been sourced from a three-hundred strong enclave of cultists near the Novarrian-Dwarven border. Of all the groups of wicked beings he’d slain, that had undoubtedly been the strongest; allowed to grow uninterrupted for a while due to the monster-infested habitat their hideout was in. Entrenched, well-defended and decently trained, their forces had even managed to successfully summon and bind two demons well before Orodan even got to them.

Needless to say, he gave the demons a light beating and let them return to the hells before wiping the whole enclave out. The scrolls he obtained from them were the most comprehensive ones he’d seen yet and, alongside all the other inefficient methods he’d read, allowed him to develop a holistic view of the art and acquire the overarching Summoning skill.

Silestor released an exhausted sigh.

“Anyhow, your actions have caused me quite the headache today. All these revelations in particular,” Silestor said. “Let’s start with the matters which concern me and my mission. You’ve caused quite an uproar by slaying every vampire, cultist and necromancer across Inuan.”

“I didn’t slay all of them. Some were just hermits living off the blood of hunted animals or starving themselves, and there was this one necromancer who raised the corpses of bandits and used them to protect remote villages on the Novarrian border,” Orodan clarified. “Didn’t see any righteousness in bothering them.”

There were also a few cultists who sought to summon demons with their own life force, with the stringent moral boundary of not using any sacrifices. Orodan considered them to be another flavor of mage than he did wicked cultists. He gave them a few pointers on how to develop vitality related skills to aid in fuelling their ritual and wished them good luck with their summoning and the subsequent fight they’d have once their target crossed over to the material plane.

“The necromancer I can understand… but there is no salvation for those who willingly embrace the call of blood,” Silestor accused. “A good vampire? If they were so noble they’d turn themselves over for the purging of their curse.”

“I’ll admit that most vampires I’ve met have been the foul bloodsucking kind who prey upon innocents, yet I’ve also met some who abhor such acts. I’m not about to go around judging the few for the crimes of the many,” Orodan replied, his tone brooking no dissent. “You and I both know that the Cathedral is full of corruption. Your arm of hunters and exorcists is but one part of the organization, what of the others? Should everyone turning themselves in to the grace of the Gods expect to be treated well? I certainly learned the hard way what happens when one places too much faith in divine tyrants.”

Silestor shook his head and remained quiet for a moment.

“You are not incorrect… your tale of being a time looper has made me doubt many things I once took for fact,” Silestor said. “Some of these things sound utterly unbelievable, in the realm of sloppy fiction and childish tales. And yet, your power and the improbable things you’ve done are no lie.”

“I figured you would appreciate the upfront honesty. That’s what you recommended I do when I met you for the first time,” Orodan said. “Now then, onto this pillar of light spell that I’ve been wrestling with for the last hundred and a half loops…”

“And as I must’ve doubtlessly told you before, you need faith.”

“Which I’ve heard enough times… but now I think I understand what you’re really using,” Orodan said. “Hit me with one of your pillars of light, will you?”

“Hit you? As you wish.

“Do it.”

Silestor was a no-nonsense man and didn’t need much convincing. It was a misconception that one needed to call the pillar of light down from the sky specifically. Perhaps that limitation was true at the lower levels, but for Silestor who was a Master, the spell could be conjured from above someone’s head or even from behind or below them. As Orodan had learned from asking the man once, Silestor preferred to keep knowledge of that bit to himself as a trump card.

The power above Orodan’s head roiled, ready to strike. And as the blazing golden light came down and impacted Orodan’s outstretched hand, he was proven right in what exactly the spell was powered by.

It didn’t look much different from any other light beam, visually that was. Yet, Orodan had been killed by this light more than enough times that when it struck, he knew from whence it came.

The power of the beam was low too, yet it still gave Orodan’s surface layer of cells a good singe, unlike what any light magic of the equivalent level should have been capable of.

Silestor however looked more than a little impressed.

“Remarkable… nobody can resist the light to that extent…”

“Matter of fact, your spell punches far above its level, capable of harming even me,” Orodan admitted. “No Master-level magic should be capable of it.”

“The power of light drawn from faith is most mighty indeed.”

“Mighty only because it’s borrowed from someplace else,” Orodan said, causing Silestor to frown. “Interesting to see that you draw from the same elemental plane that my enemy does. With this… perhaps I can get a good understanding of how to counter it.”

The light Silestor had struck him with wasn’t regular light magic, nor was it divine energy. It was light borrowed directly from an elemental plane. The same plane of energy which the Conclave took from, the same plane which the Prophet powered himself with and corrupted with the Eldritch.

Though, Orodan wondered why the spell required faith at all and not just skill in Dimensionalism? A mystery that called for further investigation.

Naturally, he discarded the thought of ever learning and using the pillar of light for himself. But that didn’t mean the spell was useless. Far from it in fact.

Now he knew from where the power was pulled.

And most importantly with his new Summoning skill in hand…

…the beginnings of a way forward began to foment in Orodan’s mind.

Though merely calling something wasn’t the height of his aspirations.

#

Destartes took a swig of the wine bottle he’d conjured from the dimensional ring and passed another to him.

Orodan also took a sip.

“I confess, I’ve never been much of a drinker,” Orodan admitted.

He had little time for gathering at the barracks’ mess hall for some beer or ale after shift. Before the loops, training and fighting were all he cared for. They still were, for the most part, but he could now appreciate some other things about life. Alcohol though, wasn’t one of them.

“Neither have I,” Destartes said, red-faced due to the alcohol. “As you can see, the wine affects me more than a little strongly.”

Orodan quirked an eyebrow at him.

“And yet you take the chance to unseal this millennia aged wine every time I recount the entire situation to you. It doesn’t even taste all that good…”

“In fact, I concur. I won this after a duel against some Novarrian ponce who thought my reputation to be unearned,” the old wizard said. “Out of spite I suspect he might’ve given me something shoddy… or something meant to poison me, hard to tell.”

“You really are a character when you’re loosened up with a bit of drink. While I have no interest in having you fight my battles for me, you do realize we’re about to enter the abyss and go someplace unreached by any other on Alastaia, yes?” Orodan asked. “Will you be ready to defend yourself when we enter?”

In truth, Orodan didn’t need Destartes to be capable of even that, nothing native to Alastaia could threaten him anymore. But it was the principle of the matter.

“Of course, of course,” the old mage said, casting a quick spell which cleared the redness from his cheeks. “There, all better now. You’ve asked me to come along for my mind and connections anyhow, have you not?”

“Aye. The world core and I need to have a talk,” Orodan said. “Best to have someone who’s familiar with the Republic’s military and defenses for what I’ll be discussing.”

Orodan had approached Destartes shortly after dealing with Silestor and purging all the tyrant three and Eldritch from Alastaia. The man and his conspiracy group across the Republic and Eastern Kingdoms would handle the transition of power. But, unlike prior loops, Orodan felt this to be one where he would succeed.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Consequently, leaving the matter of a certain descending comet unresolved would leave a foul taste in his mouth. Orodan felt responsible for the Eldritch Avatar. And while it didn’t matter much what happened to it in the short loops he’d been going through, in a potential long loop, he felt it his duty to take care of it.

The two of them were now stood in front of the entrance to Ranmere’s Folly, in the far western swamps of the Republic, where a clear path to the abyssal depths lay. Orodan didn’t need to bring them here, but it was mainly to give Destartes a chance to collect himself and shake off the alcohol.

The wizard shook his head and began glowing with all manner of energy, courtesy of Orodan’s Blessing.

“I am prepared if you are, Mister Wainwright.”

“Then let’s tarry no longer.”

[Dimensional Step 21 → Dimensional Step 22]

Orodan carried the two of them deep into the bowels of the earth. Spatiomancy would’ve been possible, if slightly more difficult due to the interference of all the world and System energy a planet’s core naturally had. And he didn’t want to risk a passenger’s safety even the slightest bit when they’d trusted him to ferry them along. Dimensionalism though, was well-suited to ignoring such concerns.

An uneventful passage through the porous dimensional boundary took them to a gigantic chamber, a familiar one where a massive, spherical object lay.

Their arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“Interloper!”

A giant, lanky and grey-skinned humanoid whipped an arm towards Destartes.

It was caught in one hand by Orodan, and the attacking Void Horror, a gate guardian for the world core and whose sibling was descending in six months, was thrown into the chamber wall.

It and the other two gate guardians in the chamber were ready to fight. The core guardian, who Orodan remembered was an early Transcendent-level creature, was nowhere to be seen. Likely gone after he cleansed the planet of all Eldritch and broke the controls over its mind.

A booming voice put all that to an end as world energy subtly flowed from the world core to the defensive gate guardians.

“Cease, loyal guardians. This one does not come meaning us harm, we owe a great debt… Orodan Wainwright.”

It was the world core that spoke, Alastaia itself. A world core was but the heart of a planet, but it wasn’t who was speaking. The land, its spirit, the very life suffusing it… Alastaia’s consciousness was the conglomeration of all these things. A consciousness that had come to being and gained sapience as life upon the world had begun flourishing so many billions of years ago. As the living things upon it grew and flourished, so did it. As civilization thrived and ideas spread, so did Alastaia gain knowledge and conscious ability to speak.

If anything, world cores and their consciousnesses were older than most living Transcendents and even some Embodiment-level beings. Orodan wasn’t sure if he could assign them a tier of combat prowess, as they were so unlike any other form of life he’d encountered. Frankly, were they even life themselves? Orodan didn’t know.

He stepped forward, raising two empty hands in a gesture of non-aggression.

“I’ve not come to have a brawl, not here,” he said. “You know of me?”

“Like a wave of warm water washing over a shivering cub in the winter, your power graced our lands and people, purging the foul rot of the plague and liberating our mind for the first time in many years. That same warmth we felt but a day ago, can be from you now, standing before us.”

He wasn’t aware that his skill had a ‘feel’ to it, but perhaps that was the feeling of his soul energy that the world was speaking of?

“Right, then we can put the hostilities aside,” Orodan said. “I’ve come to deal with the potential threats my world will face.”

“The descending darkness, a guardian stolen from us and lost to the corruption of the encroaching plague.”

“Yes, the Eldritch Avatar is but one of the things I will deal with today, but not what I came here to discuss,” Orodan said.

To the side, the Void Horror angrily exhaled and growled in outrage.

“My sibling is the deadliest threat this fledgling world will ever face! Corrupted by those dark powers, he is no footnote to be disregarded! To claim you shall deal with it is simply-”

He didn’t have too much time before he was due to meet Talricto upon the moon. He had fought the Eldritch Avatar more than a few times by now, but even then, on just their third battle, Orodan had pulled it down to Novar’s Peak, diverting its course. Now that Orodan’s Space Mastery had grown by leaps and bounds through facing Alagameth? The matter wasn’t in question at all.

Spatiomancy was also one of those skills he’d really focused upon during his stint of time as a Systemless being. That and the insights gained during his fights against Alagameth meant that freeform manipulation of something in space wasn’t difficult.

Orodan wasn’t sure how many tens of thousands of loops he’d been through in the totality of his existence, but by now he’d memorized the Eldritch Avatar’s starting position and path of arrival through the void quite well.

A spatial rift into the void opened up, and Orodan’s hand reached out to grab a foul Eldritch tentacle protruding from purplish-gray rock.

Confident that it could support its body weight, he tugged…

…and a gigantic meteor the size of a mountain was pulled into the cavernous chamber, no match for Orodan’s raw might.

Immediately it thrashed, breaking free of the rock and frantically looking around, wondering what had ambushed it. And then, its eyes narrowed in a most predatory manner upon seeing the world core right in front of it.

“Blessed fortune granted to us by the provenance… the intended recipient of our truth is right here.”

“Defend the world core! The plague has entered the innermost sanctum!” another gate guardian roared.

“…brother?” the Void Horror called, and then its eyes hardened, preparing for violence.

The other gate guardians were girded for war. Destartes glowed with power, ready to fight it. The Void Horror was unwilling but prepared to do what needed to be done, and Alastaia itself was in a state of sudden shock and quite angered and frightful of the possibility of corruption.

“You have brought the plague into our domain. Such a transgression will- what… is this?”

Everyone’s clamoring on the matter was brought to an end as Orodan’s body blazed with soul energy, emanating enough raw power to shatter the shield of fate around his soul and cause the tapestry of fate to tempestuously erupt. Power enough to outstrip multiple world core was brought to bear; all directed towards his broom.

Orodan wasn’t concerned about any corruption. His planetary purge of his home world had not only eliminated all the Eldritch but also fortified everything against further corruption forevermore. When even the Custodian, the greatest force of cleaning in the cosmos, had failed to achieve talent parity against him, what hope did the Eldritch Avatar and its puppeteering Gods have?

His broom, empowered to the utter limit as Incipience of Infinity had made gains throughout his hundred-and-fifty-seven loops of grinding, sailed forwards…

…and struck the corrupted champion of the Eldritch. And far more behind it.

[Domain of Perfect Cleaning 148 → Domain of Perfect Cleaning 149]

Normally, a level gain should have been a good thing. Yet even as Orodan’s purging wave of power wiped the taint from the Eldritch Avatar, off the three corrupt Gods and beyond even them, cleansing all of the divine dimension…

…he could only feel an ominous sense of foreboding. The familiar feeling in his gut which told him that an Administrator was on his tail.

Unlike last time he’d gained a level, this time he made sure to carefully keep an eye on the tapestry of fate, and he noticed a strange wave pattern emanating out throughout it. It wasn’t that he was producing any strange alarm throughout the System, but that the tapestry of fate itself seemed geared towards detecting when someone was approaching the Embodiment-level.

The System was powerful and held a store of knowledge that it granted individuals as they gained levels… but even if Orodan didn’t have the System everyone else used, the insights and effects he caused upon reality were very much noticeable.

Approaching and achieving Embodiment would only cause problems, just as the Custodian had warned.

“Now then. The Prophet is certainly aware of what I’ve done, likely stopped only by the fact that the tapestry is in utter flux,” Orodan said. “Shall we talk?”

He still had time enough to leave Alastaia. The Prophet was in Lonvoron and Orodan’s intentional shattering of his Fate Disconnect shield meant that the tapestry descended into chaos and tracking him based off the level gain would be difficult.

Still, with the divine dimension entirely purged of Eldritch, one thing was for certain…

…this upcoming loop would be a tumultuous one.

#

In the end, the main problem was the fact that even approaching Embodiment was a dangerous prospect. It wasn’t that Orodan cared about dying himself, but the thought of an angry Prophet descending upon Alastaia and shattering it wasn’t a pleasant one though.

Furthermore, the true problem would start after he attained Embodiment and went past level 150. At that point, he would be akin to a walking beacon any time he used his Celestial skill. He needed to find a method of stopping his - and by extension Alastaia’s - position being broadcasted across the cosmos every time he woke up at the start of the loops.

There was a reason why Embodiment-level beings couldn’t simply be found wandering on planets and living a leisurely life; they instead hid in the void between galaxies like rats. Even if they didn’t use their skill at all, Orodan had never seen or heard of one living within the bounds of a galaxy. Not only did other Embodiment-level beings hunt them down in the hopes of taking more of their insights and dominating the concept they were competing over for themselves… but Administrators too were a part of this hierarchy, and the stronger Embodiment-level beings were constantly pursued and hunted by them.

In comparison to the structuring of society and politics around Grandmasters and Transcendents, the Embodiment-level was a bloodthirsty pit of beasts. It was an entirely lawless ecosystem of dog-eat-dog where the mightiest beings would doubtlessly rise to the top and oppress those beneath them. A zero-sum game which incentivized the hunting down and killing of all competitors; even potential ones like Orodan.

He also faced the additional problem of being a little too talented at cleaning. The pinnacle of System space when it came to cleaning was the Custodian…

…and Orodan had overpowered even that Arch-Devil. Needless to say, once he reached Embodiment, everyone across the cosmos would be out for his head, which sounded just fine to him, but he had to consider the people of his home world who would get caught up in his mess if a dozen Embodiers decided to launch star-shattering assaults towards his planet.

Yet, he knew that it could be done. The previous time looper, though Orodan didn’t know who they were, was without a doubt at the Embodiment-level. Yet they managed to remain within Lonvoron.

Yes, they hid like a rat, paranoid and prepared with layers upon layers of plans and contingencies, but they had undoubtedly made it work. Living proof of the concept that it was possible to hide from other Embodiers. They’d even managed to strike out and acquire the Reject’s Administrator Mantle and evade the Prophet who’d been pursuing them

And while Orodan had no interest in hiding and welcomed the challenge, at the very least he didn’t want Alastaia to get caught up in the crossfire of an Embodier attacking him the moment the loops began.

To that end, he needed to make for Lonvoron not just for his existing goals, but also to potentially learn how to avoid pandemonium at the start of every loop.

And this time, that spatial spider would be taught a lesson. He was nearing a breakthrough and a duel against Alagameth would solidify the understandings Orodan held.

And then…

…good training.

“I won’t even question what you do anymore. Time and time again you’ve proven my derision for your ways to be wrong, therefore I’ll simply keep my mouth shut.”

“Is that why you’ve been so quiet? Because you’ve had enough of my effective methods of training?” Orodan asked.

“A few thousand loops ago would have been a good time to stop being surprised by the absurdity that is you, but now’s as good a time as any to start. Water is wet, fire is hot and Orodan Wainwright routinely engages in madness which somehow gives him exceptional results,” Zaessythra said. “All this is to say, I’m not even surprised by your latest plan. I refuse to be.”

Which was… good? Not like Orodan had ever asked people to act surprised or shocked by what he did. Was it not normal to seek advancement at every turn? There were other geniuses who also engaged in risky and innovative methods of training, yet Zaessythra never gave them half as much lip as she did him.

“That’s because you…! Never mind, I’m getting drawn into your game once again,” she said, sounding as though she’d reached some sort of enlightenment. “Carry on as you were, Orodan. Good job.”

He wasn’t even that weird! She was just being dramatic he felt.

“Finished having a conversation with the companion in your mind which only you can see and hear?” Talricto asked.

“You need not make me sound like I’m afflicted with madness… you noticed the oddity about my soul yourself,” Orodan retorted.

“It does stick out asquite the distorted and mangled thing. At first, I thought it a parasite which needs to be extracted and discarded, but then you started talking to it and I let go of that otherwise sensible notion,” the spider said. “Who am I to interfere with the affairs of my simple-minded and untalented student?”

“A parasite wouldn’t have saved my life multiple times at no real benefit to herself,” Orodan immediately defended. The spider appeared slightly taken aback at his intensity, and Orodan consciously brought his heat down a notch. “As you say, I’m quite simple-minded, so isn’t having someone capable of more advanced thought a good thing?”

“Hmm… with the amount of thought in that head of yours, you’ll certainly need all the help you can get,” Talricto off-handedly remarked. “Now then, shall we away? I do quite relish the thought of donning this odd hat and spectacle you say I was wearing.”

In fact, after kidnapping and talking to Talricto the easiest method of convincing the spider to come along to Lonvoron was the knowledge that there were plenty of riches and nice things for it to pilfer. As ridiculous as Orodan found the sight of a spider wearing a hat and single-eyed glass… it was an undeniably effective lure.

“Aye, let’s get moving.”

Talricto winked away, which left just Orodan upon Alastaia’s barren moon.

This time, he was determined to get one over Alagameth.

[Teleportation 94 → Teleportation 95]

[Space Mastery 98 → Space Mastery 99]

Normally, Orodan’s spatiomancy was straightforward, brutal and direct, similar to his mentality as a warrior. Now while it was tempting to say this was a weakness, Orodan in fact considered it a strength when backed by his ability to generate copious amounts of power. However, over the almost six months’ worth of looping, Orodan’s movements in space had grown incredibly fluid and seamless. To the point where his spatiomancy was beginning to approach the same league as Talricto’s Dimensionalism, where it was starting to become imperceptible.

When facing an Embodiment of Space who was Orodan’s superior in almost every aspect of spatiomancy, it was no lie to say that bridging that gap would require more than raw force alone. Having a brutal and almost violent style of spatiomancy had its advantages, but learning to also adopt deftness and agility in this field of magic could only be a good thing.

His Teleport continued on, entirely uninterrupted.

As he’d learned on the ninety-fourth loop of this grind, Fate Disconnect at the Elite-level caused his impact on the tapestry of fate to become mostly minimal. It was why the Cathedral on Alastaia was poised to open their doors by the next day. And it was why Alagameth had begun not interrupting Orodan’s Teleportation as well.

Why would it bother when he wasn’t causing such an upheaval that it was noticeable?

It would’ve been great news… if his Teleport was aimed at Lonvoron. Unfortunately for his target, Orodan’s first priority was having a good fight.

Alagameth the Silent Oracle was inside a pocket of folded space the size of a single particle, hanging off the bottom of an inconspicuous asteroid, sitting in quiet meditation and solitude when space almost imperceptibly rippled. It was skilled, still well beyond Orodan despite his training. Yet its beady eyes narrowed in fright as a horrifying force of nature rammed into the passive spatial defenses surrounding it.

Caught off-guard, it scrambled to defend itself as Orodan’s hand came in…

…and gave it a meaty smack upon the head.

“Greetings,” Orodan said with a feral smile. “Let’s fight.”

He allowed his opponent the courtesy of gaining some space, the opportunity to recover from his surprise attack and prepare for combat.

“Maddened interloper, how have you found my place of refuge deep in the void?” Alagameth asked, tranquil fury in its voice. “Your spatiomancy, while passable in skill for a youngling, does not explain how you’ve bypassed every measure I have in place against detection.”

It wasn’t wrong. The pocket of folded space was the size of a singular particle; an utterly absurd feat of finesse and control that Orodan couldn’t even begin to approach. He had raw power enough that he could use Spatial Fold to compress space into a tiny point, enough so that the backlash from its explosion could destroy planets with ease. But that was the difference between Alagameth’s hideout between galaxies and Orodan’s own Spatial Fold… he had no control over the Fold after letting it go, whereas this spatial spider casually maintained a pocket of folded space the size of a particle which it dwelled within.

“You’re right, I cheated. We’ve met before and I already knew where you were hiding,” Orodan said.

“I have met one individual in the last ten-thousand years and you’re not the paranoid mage I duelled against then. I change locations every week and after every occurrence of something passing by within two-hundred thousand light years of me. Your claim is both improbable and illogical,” Alagameth said and its beady eyes homed in on him. “Unless you are implying chronomancy, against which I have a plethora of defenses.”

Instead of just fighting from this point like he had the last thirty times, for once he decided, why not answer?

“I’m in a time loop.”

“…I see. Your overly brash behavior is now explained.”

“I was brash and happy for a fight even before the time loops came.”

“One of the reasons why they have selected you for the time loops no doubt, the honor of being the chosen marionette for powers beyond your ken to manipulate. You have my pity, for what little it is worth,” it said. “I suppose that paranoid schemer’s passive and overly risk-averse way of going about things has lost it the favor of the ones above. But to select one so… stubbornly imprudent, what were they thinking?”

“You know of the time loops?”

“I have seen your kind rise under the addicting power the time loops grant them… and I have seen them fall into eternal agony when that truculent wretch cast aside by the System comes for them. Knowing what it does to you time loopers, you are better served not carelessly revealing your true identity,” the spatial spider warned. “But enough of that… you wanted a fight, yes?”

No further talk was needed between the two of them.

Orodan’s full power was thrown into a Teleportation, and almost immediately it was re-directed with far more ease than he’d known Alagameth to be capable of in the past.

Strong.

Orodan’s teleport was re-directed not towards the void of space…

…but into a fiery blaze.

[Fire Resistance 53 → Fire Resistance 54]

The flames weren’t white or yellow… but blue. And it was only Orodan’s existing Adept-level Fire Resistance that allowed him to remain alive as the skin and surface layer of flesh on his body hissed and bubbled, melting off him even as his body continually regenerated thanks to Harmony of Vitality.

“You teleported me into a star…” Orodan muttered, standing up. Alagameth however, was nowhere to be found, though Orodan could still get a vague sense of the spatial trail the spider had left upon ditching him and departing.

A feral grin overtook his face. This was exactly what he needed!

Previously, his foe simply hadn’t wanted to kill him. But the knowledge that Orodan was a time looper changed things.

An Embodiment-level being was a daunting thing, an apex existence of the cosmos who was the definition of what skill it embodied. If it seemed as though he held the advantage before, it was only because Alagameth fought with two hands tied behind its back for fear of killing Orodan. The spider was far too nice.

Now however, not so much. In direct combat, Alagameth’s arrows of light simply weren’t enough to kill him, it was only Transcendent at these ancillary skills. And its primary skill of spatiomancy? It used it defensively throughout its fights thus far.

But when motivated and reasonably secure in the knowledge that Orodan was a time looper? Teleporting him to environments which were instantly fatal was just the beginning.

The very ‘atmosphere’ around and above him was a brilliant blue flame. If the need for breathing hadn’t been eliminated, Orodan would have suffocated for the lack of air. And as for the surface? Well, calling it a ‘surface’ would have been inaccurate, as it was more like Orodan was diving in fire, with the denser part at a lower depth allowing him to ‘stand’. Just like his visit to Alastaia’s sun, this blue star seemed to intrinsically reject his presence.

Just as Alastaia itself rejected and fought against the Eldritch invaders, this blue star considered him a plague. To it, Orodan was an unnatural life form not meant to remain upon it. And as various elemental beings made of blue fire began arising in the distance, he was certain that the core of this blue star had issued a Quest to slay him.

The first, a Transcendent-level living blob of pure liquid energy, approached and attempted to swallow him. It was far hotter than the surface and atmosphere he was within, and Orodan’s body was scorched far worse as he met it in melee.

[Fire Resistance 54 → Fire Resistance 55]

[Smite of Abrupt Deliverance 85 → Smite of Abrupt Deliverance 86]

Unfortunately for it, hot it might’ve been, but sturdy and built for toe-to-toe melee combat it was not.

His smiting slap, which compressed all the impact force into a singular point in time, sent it flying across the dense heavy liquid surface they were stood upon. Skipping it like a bouncy ball, bruised by the impact.

His sword and shield empowered by the light of his soul were held at the ready; they would disintegrate in an instant if his empowerment stopped for even the briefest of instants.

Three loud raps of metal on metal resounded throughout the loud bubbling explosions of the blazing blue battlefield as Orodan’s sword tauntingly smacked the steel boss of his shield.

“Is that all?”

More came forth, Grandmaster-level blobs of pure liquid fire. They were almost like the slimes he knew from Alastaia, though made of pure flame. And given how much the first one scorched him, these were all universally hotter than the star itself.

Like a juggernaut facing soft clumps of hot jelly, Orodan began battering and sending these fiery slimes flying.

A slime leapt at him, and a pummelling elbow buried into it, sending it flying into a dozen more. Another blob tried going for his legs, and a swift punt kick sent it flying into its brethren. More tried swarming him, and he simply slammed them onto the ground with the following waves battered with his shield and the flat and hilt of his sword.

They kept sending them, and Orodan kept knocking them down.

First, dozens approached, and they were scattered. Then hundreds came, and they were flung about. And finally, thousands tried hording him, and Orodan gave them a beating of such severity that the following ten-thousand routed and began fleeing. After just five minutes of battle, the will to fight had left his arrayed foes.

Throughout the entire engagement he gained many levels in Fire Resistance. The challenge in melee was utterly trivial; the slimes of Alastaia were far deadlier overall than these ineffectual blobs of fire. It showed in how Orodan hadn’t even needed to fight seriously and could afford to hold back and not kill any.

His home world was diverse, the slimes there were forced to fight all manner of creatures in the natural war for dominance between monsters. Whether it be the depths or the many wild biomes on Alastaia’s surface, the slimes of his world were used to fighting a varied roster. He’d read about them taking down gigantic animals, elemental creatures and even butchering parties of mortals in adventuring encounters gone bad.

These fiery blobs on the other hand had one trick, which was fire, and they were used to primarily fighting other creatures which used fire. It didn’t make their specialty any less deadly, and any adventurer encountering one of these would certainly be right to fear them. But once that trick was exposed and planned against, they didn’t have much else.

These were elementals, creatures typically summoned by spirit mages.

Frankly, Orodan didn’t understand how and where elementals came from. Alastaian society and education maintained that they came from the elemental planes or the spirit realm, yet here he was fighting on a star against an army of them.

A particularly angry looking elemental, human shaped yet composed of liquid blue fire like the rest, emerged wielding a greatsword. Two exchanges later, and the Transcendent-level being lay tired and in pain on the ground, granted the beating it asked for.

He hadn’t killed anything. Barging onto someone else’s home world, even if by the machinations of another, and then killing the inhabitants would’ve been rather villainous. Still, they could only blame themselves for the beating they’d received for immediately jumping to violence with nary an attempt at dialogue.

That final Transcendent-level being had likely been the star’s mightiest defender. This world’s equivalent of the core guardian defending the world core of Alastaia. With them battered, the planet had nothing else to send against Orodan.

Which meant his real opponent now awaited.

The spatial trail Alagameth had left was still traceable. And even if it hadn’t been, chronomancy to view the spatial spider’s path of retreat was an option.

He cast a Teleportation…

[Bulwark Physical Resistance 87 → Bulwark Physical Resistance 88]

…and immediately walked into a scaly fist which smashed halfway through his head, stopped only by his physical resistance skill and how tough his skull was. He hadn’t stopped to consider that the very obvious spatial trail left behind was a trap.

Though, taking punches to the face was something he was familiar with and good at, hence the return counterpunch slew the Transcendent creature of the void, some sort of scaly draconic biped, which sought to kill him. A dozen more were poised and ready to advance right behind it.

“First you throw me into a star, and now you’ve brought backup,” Orodan said, carving two more void beasts into pieces. “Rather devious of you. What next? You’ll throw me into a black hole?”

“Approaching a black hole is a death sentence, even I would not throw you there for fear of rousing an Administrator. From the look of things, I get the feeling you have battled me many times,” Alagameth remarked, pelting Orodan with arrows of light from a distance while the void beasts brayed for his blood and soul. “Are you surprised that an Embodiment of Space would fight in such a manner?”

It wasn’t even that these beasts of the void were allied with Alagameth. It was more so that Orodan’s soul burned far hotter, and he was in closer proximity to these blood-thirsted creatures than his opponent was. In such circumstances, they naturally went for the closer and tastier meal.

“It’s the first time you’ve ever fought like this…” Orodan muttered as he carved the remainder apart, only for his wily foe to summon a dozen more via spatiomancy and herd them towards him.

“Ah, I see. This must be the first loop in which you’ve told me you’re a time looper,” Alagameth calmly remarked while continuing to send arrows of light Orodan’s way. “Knowing you are one of those accursed fools, I now have no moral qualms about killing you. You will simply return, will you not?”

“You’re not wrong, but have my sort done something to offend you?” Orodan asked.

“Not at all, I simply wish to aid you by dispelling the poor mindset you’ve cultivated.”

“Poor mindset?” Orodan asked, smashing aside an arrow which entered a spatial rift mid-flight only to assail him from another angle.

“A mindset which will get you irreversibly harmed. It is plain to see that you’re one of those plucky and heroic time loopers who enjoys fighting and charging headfirst into danger. I intend to beat it out of you,” it said. “Better me than someone who would dispense a far worse fate.”

Orodan flashed a feral grin.

“Good luck. Neither of the Administrators have managed that.”

“…you fought them? You lie.”

“And you talk too much,” Orodan said, carving more void beasts apart and inching ever closer towards Alagameth. “If you think it’s a lie, why not beat me to get the answers? Win, and I’ll tell you everything.”

“A boorish suggestion… though I suppose I can deign to teach a rowdy brute some manners.”

Excellent. Good to see someone who knew what he wanted.

The beasts of the void rushed him, and they died. Yet more came, continually summoned by the spatial spider’s deft tricks of spatiomancy. It was a good strategy, overwhelm him with mounting pressure in melee that he couldn’t even think about manipulating space himself.

How could Orodan bring his spatiomancy to bear if he received absolutely no room in melee to do so?

A sensible strategy…

…against someone who fought in a conventional manner.

Attacks which sought to pressure him at every single instant were smashed through, deflected or sometimes outright ignored as he took them head on, suffering damage but using the opportunity to deliver more pain and destruction of his own.

Slobbering, bloodthirsty monsters all. Grandmaster and Transcendent level beasts of the void, many of them hungry for a tasty meal which wasn’t the same tough fare they were used to in the harsh and resource-starved ecosystem between galaxies.

Orodan fought a monster horde…

…and began to show them what a true monster was.

A swarm of fist-sized locust which could drill through mountains attempted to enter his mouth, only for Orodan to embrace the free meal and begin crunching them between his teeth. A dark centipede approached and attempted to overwhelm him through sheer volume of strikes, only for Orodan to turn his own hinges double jointed and strike multiple times in a singular motion, beating it at its own game via raw fisticuffs.

A mass of writhing black worms approached, the conglomeration of at least a hundred separate creatures yet all possessing one soul. Orodan’s fingers whipped about like a rubber band, each joint shooting back and forth to allow for multiple strikes in an incredibly small area and instant. A horrifying, grey-skinned ogre, emaciated and malnourished with its skin stretched taut upon its face charged him in melee, eager to taste his flesh. Yet its savagery borne of hunger was no match for his own rage and terror in melee. It locked his arms in a grapple and tried taking a bite out of his neck, only for Orodan’s headbutt to crunch its nose as he thentore its jugular out with his teeth.

[Combat Mastery 112 → Combat Mastery 113]

In a real fight where the only language was violence, everything was a weapon.

Pressure worked against those who cared about pain and damage in the first place. Orodan Wainwright would not be pressured by any swarm of chaff… instead he would be the one pressuring them.

His sword carved hordes of Transcendents. His shield smashed swarms of Grandmasters.

And slowly they began to break and falter when faced with his raw savagery in close-quarters combat.

The first to quail were the void monsters who approached him in melee. After slaying a few hundred the following ones in line to attack must’ve realized that damage trades against a perpetually healing berserker who bore an endless rage hotter than a star was suicide. Seeing so many die at once must’ve signalled something to them, but they broke and fled.

And with them, the rest of those trying to pelt him from range did too.

Orodan’s mouth, still stained from the blood of an ogre and the bits of the locust, beamed with a happy smile. His red teeth showing in a most unsettling manner.

“Have any more?”

The blazing white light of his soul began to envelop his body, and Orodan began preparing to throw it into one massively powerful teleport.

“How exceedingly violent. From where does that endless rage and power stem?” Alagameth asked, more than a little shocked and preparing itself to receive Orodan’s spatiomancy. “At this rate, our battle will attract far too much attention.”

“Good. I’m counting on it as I have one more score to settle,” Orodan declared. “You said once that brute force would not avail me against the skill, finesse and power of an Embodiment of Space. I’d like to put that to the test.”

Alagameth’s beady insect eyes widened, and its body shook in utter horror as it realized too late the magnitude of just how much power Orodan was putting into a mere Teleportation spell.

The gathered energy, greater than what he could have managed a hundred-and-fifty-seven attempts ago, enough to cause a star system to shake, was unleashed…

[Teleportation 95 → Teleportation 97]

[Incipience of Infinity 134 → Incipience of Infinity 135]

…and calamity began.

Teleportation wasn’t a destructive spell like Spatial Fold was. Yet, at the Transcendent-level, each level provided some mighty benefits, particularly for Orodan who had been ruminating on the meaning of infinity via using the Intimidation and Disguise aspects of his Celestial skill.

Needless to say, at level 135 of Incipience of Infinity, the amount of soul energy he could generate was monstrous, and his control over it iron tight, leading to less damage to his body. As a result, the raw power of the Teleport was capable of some things it normally shouldn’t have been.

Teleportation wasn’t a spell meant for grand-scale impacts upon space. It was neat, to-the-point and low-profile. It wasn’t a spell meant to take such power.

The soul energy shattered Orodan’s shield of Fate Disconnect, causing the tapestry of fate to dangerously tremble, and most importantly…

…it caused space to rupture entirely.

Through the field of ruptured space, the sheer amount of power Orodan threw into the Teleport allowed it to carry him directly towards Alagameth, and he was an instant from grabbing onto it when the spider fearfully unleashed its last trump card in a state of panic.

Never before had the spatial spider drawn from the very source that the Prophet and the Conclave also drew from. Whether it was because Alagameth knew of the Prophet’s true nature or whether it knew the corruptive properties of the light, was unclear. All the same, out of fear and surprise, it called upon the light, threatening to scorch Orodan.

But that was within expectations. After all, Orodan had spent a hundred-and-fifty-seven loops watching Silestor draw from the exact same elemental plane of light whenever the light mage used his Pillar of Light spell.

Yet the one thing that had truly bothered him about the spell was the fact that it relied upon faith to call something down from another plane. And in a similar vein, what truly bothered him about his latest skill, Summoning… was that it was a mere call for something to come down.

Two separate skills, one he knew, one he didn’t. And two weaknesses which irked him.

But what if, instead of a call…

…it was a demand? The warlike insistence, backed by sheer will, that something come down?

A roar tore free from Orodan’s lips, somehow carrying far through the airless void between galaxies. And as it did, he did not gently call or summon anything; it wasn’t his way. Instead, he commanded… demanded that it come down unto him or else.

Not faith, but the very brutal whip of willpower, issuing a decree that something come right down.

A Commandment of War.

[Skill Combination - War Cry 43 + Summoning 16 → Commandment of War 30 (Legendary)]

The light approached, and Orodan instead gave it a singular commandment.

To compress inwards… and ensure every little bit of the beam hit him fully. The commandment went a step further and pulled even more energy from the elemental plane of light, ordering, insisting, that it hit all of his cells from each and every angle.

His body was nearly destroyed down to the particle in but a singular beam of light.

“A skill with which you can summon things, and you use it to make enemy attacks hit you harder. A part of me wants to say it’s the most useless skill I’ve ever seen… but I’m beginning to learn by now not to question you.”

Zaessythra had grown in wisdom.

After all, to Orodan…

…this was simply good training.

Even Alagameth appeared in utter shock. Its attack had been gathered together, compressed and made even more effective!

“You…! You!” it uttered in pure shock.

“I know… you need not say it,” Orodan said, reforming like an unstoppable engine of battle. “This is a good training method.”

“I… I surrender. I have no interest in facing a crazed beast like you any longer. There is no saving you from your own mind! Even the Reject is not so disturbed!”

“Surrender? Why that’s simply unacceptable,” Orodan said, a bloodthirsty smile on his face.

“You… you will kill me? What have I done to offend you?” the spatial spider asked, more than a little terrified. An Embodiment-level being, caught before an existence that knew no logic nor restraint.

“…kill you? You seem to have it mixed up. No… you will attack me again.”

[Commandment of War 30 → Commandment of War 32]

The aggression and hostility were already there, a remnant from when his foe had decided to fight Orodan to start with. A bellowing war cry tore free from Orodan’s lips, commanding, demanding that this existing aggression be summoned unto him.

And the spatial spider suddenly became angry, launching yet another beam of light towards him! With a simple decree, Alagameth’s hostility had been summoned into targeting Orodan. The spider couldn’t help but want to assail him.

And yet again, Orodan commanded the light to compress, becoming even more powerful, and to strike him from every obscure direction possible.

[Body Tempering 71 → Body Tempering 72]

His body grew stronger, yes… but in watching the compressed light, he learned. He gained insights into how his own light magic could work better.

And at last… a beam of his own flew forth from him, striking the hostile beam which was continually burning him down to a smattering of cells.

[Light Beam 36 → Light Beam 37]

[New Skill → Light Magic Mastery 11]

His own beam of light, supercharged by all the available mana he had, actually reduced the power of the incoming beam by two-thirds. A resounding success and a great jump in power.

As Orodan reformed, not only had his body become stronger through directing the attack to hit him so thoroughly… but it was also quite the morale boost! For so long had he struggled to find consistent and effective ways of honing the quality of his physical form and his resistance skills. Enemies would either stop out of fear of making him stronger, or the din of battle would simply move on from such effective moments.

Yet now…

…he could control how he got his training in the midst of battle.

Each enemy stroke, each blow, each spell… they would all hit with maximal effectiveness and be made even stronger. After all, it was simply good training to make your enemies as strong as possible before defeating them.

“An insidious social skill! Have you no honor? Subverting the mind of another?!”

The spider… was not incorrect.

“I apologize, I got carried away in learning this for the first time,” Orodan admitted.

He decided then and there that this would only be used against enemies who wanted to harm him, or allies who consented to aiding him via sparring and not against any who wished to surrender.

“You are a maniacal and deranged being, Orodan Wainwright. When I threw you into the blue star, I expected you escaped via teleportation or magical means of cooling the temperature… tell me, did you brute force your way through?” his former foe asked.

“Yes. The flames were a good source of Fire Resistance training,” Orodan declared. “And whatever the star threw at me in terms of an eviction force simply wasn’t up to the task.”

“Fire Resistance? How have you obtained this? Were you born with this Bloodline or did you conduct experimentation or absorption to receive the skill?”

“What nonsense is that? I simply stood in place and allowed a pyromancer to burn me to death over and over again.”

His declaration was stoic, and Alagameth the Silent Oracle seemed even more taken aback. It was apparent to Orodan that the spider considered him an unhinged freak of staggering proportions.

“Your existence is utterly improbable. You generate power through the self-flagellation of your soul, fight with ferocity beyond what the human species should be capable of and then have no regard for pain as you power through all manner of adversity,” the Embodier said. “The more I look at you, the more reasonable the idea of you being cultivated to become the time looper seems.”

“Did you not say there were other ‘plucky and heroic’ time loopers like me? Surely there’ve been some mad beings who’ve done the same?” Orodan asked.

“Not to the extent of being burnt alive over and over to simply acquire Fire Resistance… is that the only one you have?”

“I have over ten resistance skills, all earned in a similar manner.”

Alagameth kept with its namesake and became rather silent after that.

“You mentioned a truculent wretch, earlier. Does he wield two swords and act all deranged?” Orodan asked. “I have dealt with him before, and he’s failed to break me. Just like your exercise in teaching me the dangers of my mindset has also failed.”

“You… are not lying, are you?”

“No. The Reject is a mighty foe, but his cage of eternal agony did not break me,” Orodan said and then turned away from the spatial spider. “Now then, I must thank you for teaching me all these things over the many loops we’ve battled, but something I have yet to avenge my losses against now approaches.”

Orodan had slain so many creatures of the void while fighting Alagameth that they didn’t dare to creep through the gaps of ruptured space to attack him like they did the first time he tore space apart. They’d gotten enough of a taste of him. The Grandmaster and Transcendent-level ones at least.

What was coming through the gaps though, was beyond anything else he’d faced in this battle thus far.

“A Living Crystal approaches! Flee you fool! Fly and end your own life before it comes!” the spider warned. “Long have I heard the tale of a time looper who succumbed to madness upon waking in the next loop due to assimilation by one of these creatures. Most Embodiers in the void will avoid them like the plague.”

“I shall be fine. I’ve faced it many times now,” Orodan said. “Farewell Alagameth… and thank you.”

“Orodan Wainwright… you are an exceedingly strange and mad being. The threads of fate tell me you make way for Lonvoron, into the jaws of that paranoid mage’s domain, do you not?” Alagameth asked and Orodan nodded. “Then… if you live, come seek the Conclave’s branch there. May we meet again.”

Alagameth faded away into the gaps between space, so great was its skill. Yes, Orodan had beaten the spatial spider, but that was through raw power. Embodiers were apex existences of the cosmos, and in no way did Orodan’s defeat of the Embodiment of Space imply that he could repeat the result at will. If anything, Alagameth could flee at will and strike at any number of times, with the outcome of a second serious battle being far from clear.

Yet now, a far more fearsome foe, one whose raw power exceeded the spatial spider’s by a large margin, approached.

Ur-Vah’sahn the Harmonious, a Living Crystal spoken of in hushed whispers throughout the cosmos. Even another Embodiment-level being seemed to fear it, and from what Talricto had said it was infamous.

It had been a hundred-and-fifty-seven loops of this battle so far, but even now, confident that he could put up a far greater fight than any time before, Orodan still felt this fight would take his all.

The ruptured canvas tore apart further as a gigantic crystal the size of a star system entered the part of the void Orodan was in, and he knew this was it. A true test of how far he’d come.

He was but a Transcendent against a being at the Embodiment-level. A man against a Living Crystal the size of a star system.

And as the long crystalline tendril approached, beckoning Orodan to submit and assimilate…

…he rejected it with a powerful reciprocal mental assault, returning it.

[Warrior’s Reciprocity 91 → Warrior’s Reciprocity 92]

And as it reeled for a brief instant, Orodan’s sword glowed with power unending. Incipience of Infinity, far stronger than it had been during his first battle against it, poured into the blade, preparing the mightiest of smites Orodan had cast thus far.

Shield slung across his back, both hands gripped his faithful sword tight, swinging downwards with horrifying power and a fell rage.

[Smite of Abrupt Deliverance 86 → Smite of Abrupt Deliverance 87]

A terrible impact rang out across the void. The force so great that ruptured space briefly became whole in some sections only to immediately crumble entirely, creating pockets of mangled space fatal for any weak beings. His attack was previously enough to destroy a large planet in a singular strike. It was now mighty enough that an entire star system would shake.

A horrifying wound was created upon the crystalline face of Ur-Vah’sahn, a deep gouge from which it would never heal. And immediately, Orodan pressed the advantage, activating Incipience of Infinity to confront its very soul with the unfathomable depths of his own.

The concept of Infinity was domineering, inevitable. Before the endless horizon of Orodan Wainwright’s soul, what chance did this creature stands? None at all.

Ur-Vah’sahn in particular was vulnerable to such psychological attacks as it was composed of not just its core consciousness, but many millions of assimilated beings who became part of the Living Crystal. These beings, when gazing into the depths of Orodan’s soul, suddenly had their free wills returned!

Not only was the Incipience of Infinity capable of terrifying and intimidating… but it could also rouse and give strength to the oppressed!

Immediately, cracks began forming within the Living Crystal, and this was Orodan’s chance.

But how could he even begin to hurt it?

The answer came quick.

He had harmed things far larger than himself before. If anything, from the previous battles he’d had against it, it was quite deft at forcing him onto the defensive at range, but up close once he truly closed the distance and began hammering it in melee like a man mining a mountain… its skills seemed far less effective.

He had a lengthy track record of fighting gigantic creatures. The depths worm beneath Jerestir in his early loops, a peak-Transcendent mutated dragon, and now an Embodiment-level Living Crystal the size of a star system. With nary a thought, Orodan dove right into the exposed cracks created by his mighty blow.

And as he did, he began commanding the consciousnesses of the assimilated to come to him.

[Commandment of War 32 → Commandment of War 33]

Its shrill shrieks, akin to the ear-piercing shattering of glass, were horrible. Orodan’s new skill truly ravaged it, and it was practically coming apart as more rebellious souls within started to break free of the assimilation.

Thirty more seconds of burrowing within passed, until it finally had enough and reminded Orodan exactly how and why it had lived for so long. He had never gotten quite this far in his fights against it before.

The first sign that something was off was when the cracks began widening. With a deafening crash, the Living Crystal separated into three pieces, ejecting Orodan. However, the bad news was when each of these three pieces retained their intelligence and suddenly homed in on Orodan with a deathly mind for vengeance.

He sensed that its offensive power had weakened too, but that didn’t solve the matter of the three separate Living Crystals now charging up powerful beams of destruction.

With nowhere to evade, Orodan held his position in the void. He closed his eyes and tightly gripped the sword with both his hands.

Win or lose, he would throw his all into this one.

And it seemed that his Transcendent-level Combat Mastery and a few of his skills had something to contribute to the matter as well. His mind split and mantled each of his skills.

Logistics, clamorous as usual, was insistent that the ingredients for success were now within Orodan’s reach. It excitedly petitioned the giant Incipience of Infinity for help, and the aloof driver of Orodan’s soul agreed, throwing all its power into Smite of Abrupt Deliverance.

And then… Logistics suggested something which surprised even him.

It roused the newly recruited Commandment of War into targeting Orodan’s own soul energy. The light of his own soul, the fuel for his power, it was commanded to gather most stringently, compressed into a singular edge on Orodan’s blade.

Immediately, he felt the blade shudder, his soul empowerment over it barely holding under such intense compression of energy.

And with that Logistics gave the order for it all to move forward.

Yet, Orodan halted at the last moment.

It wouldn’t be enough! His foe could shatter a star system while Orodan could perhaps cause one to shake, the power gap was too wide!

It was then, that Orodan added his own twist to the equation.

Weaving was thrown in, alongside his newly learned Light Magic Mastery and Recycling.

Elemental magic, something he’d always failed to use alongside his melee combat. Every time he tried lighting his fist up with fire for a punch either a regular fireball or a punch would simply be more effective. The fire either fizzled out and was useless, or his fist was blown backwards and didn’t contribute to the strike. Bringing the two together in harmony was something he always had difficulty with.

Until now.

He’d watched Belina Botterson weave for a long time. In that art, Orodan felt there were some profound secrets that could be applied to the flows of energy in his own body. And now, as he utilized the principles of Weaving alongside Light Magic Mastery to create tightly bound ropes and intricate fibres of light all around his attack, improving its structural integrity, he felt proven right.

The Smite of Abrupt Deliverance roiling to be let loose was bound with reinforced light magic at the points which would take the most stress. These points then were the target of Recycling as the wasted energy would be smoothly woven back into the attack.

As the three beams from the separated Living Crystals approached, he knew what he had to do.

His soul the driver, light magic the stabilizer and reinforcer, with Recycling the gatherer of wasted energy and Weaving tying it all together alongside the contributions Logistics had already provided. With this…

…Orodan unleashed his all.

[Combat Mastery 113 → Combat Mastery 115]

[Logistics 28 → Logistics 29]

[Commandment of War 33 → Commandment of War 35]

[Smite of Abrupt Deliverance 87 → Smite of Abrupt Deliverance 88]

[Weaving 49 → Weaving 50]

[New Title → Weaving Adept]

[Recycling 8 → Recycling 14]

[Light Magic Mastery 11 → Light Magic Mastery 18]

Doom and utter destruction.

Orodan felt every single part of his body reel, with even his soul quivering at the sheer amount of soul energy he poured in. His body was reduced to a number of cells which could be counted on one hand. Not by the enemy, but by how much raw power he himself threw into the attack.

He wasn’t sure just how much destruction had been caused, because he was in a void and because the titanic impact actually dazed him for a brief moment.

It was like a lightly armored rider with a spear hitting a target at full gallop, the polearm would simply fly from their hands and the rider would continue on unimpacted. Whereas if a heavily armored rider with plates and lance hand guard which forced the weapon and rider to remain in place hit the target… the impact would be severe for both target and rider.

Orodan’s Smite of Abrupt Deliverance normally bled much of the energy off, not impacting him as much. Now though, he’d sealed that egress for the energy off and also recycled it back into the attack.

As the moments passed, Orodan reformed, and his hands regenerated around his weapons once more.

The turbulent remnants and mist of power was slowly clearing, yet no further attacks came his way.

Finally, as it cleared…

…his eyes widened.

The three pieces of Ur-Vah’sahn were now two!

And they were fleeing!

“Hey! Get back here!”

Orodan immediately gave chase and noted with some annoyance that it was on a dead collision course for a singular target…

…the Vystaxium Galaxy.

Damn it all! He had hoped to enter his destination stealthily but his cravenly foe would now ruin those plans!

Any thoughts of satisfaction at having forced an Embodiment-level enemy to flee were relegated to the back of his mind as Orodan raced to catch up as it approached the galaxy edge.

It skipped through space, and Orodan launched teleports in rapid succession to catch up which it immediately fled from the moment he came out. In smaller form, these two separate pieces of Living Crystal were incredibly fast and nimble.

The moment he came out of a teleport, the crystal would suddenly change direction, reverse momentum or even catch him off-guard a time or two by ramming into him and then fleeing. And if he got near enough to one, cornering it, the other would come in and engage him for a scant moment to allow its siblings’ retreat.

Its escape tactics were utterly ridiculous and more suited to a comedy bit than an Embodiment-level being! But they were unfortunately effective at eluding Orodan for just long enough that the two crystals managed to reach the galactic boundary of his target galaxy.

And as they did, the first of many layered wards activated, confirming to Orodan that entering Lonvoron by himself would be no easy matter.

Still, the situation wasn’t entirely unsalvageable. Even if the Vystaxium Galaxy and the previous looper remained on high alert, there were two other suspects beside himself who had triggered the wards.

He focused in on the wards, using Vision of Purity.

Useless. It gave him barely any information at all since the wards were some of the purest he’d ever seen.

Accordingly, he switched to the mindset that all mana was dirty, and his body nearly exploded from the mental strain of accounting for the wards surrounding an entire galaxy.

[Vision of Purity 70 → Vision of Purity 73]

Still, feats of mental strain were no new thing for Orodan.

His mind stabilized, and slowly he began to acquire a complete picture of them. Still, the longer he spent dawdling here, the higher the chance a responding force would catch him.

The two parts of Ur-Vah’sahn had already fled deeper into the Yellow Moon Cluster where Lonvoron was too.

The good news was that Lonvoron and the Blackworth Collective were relatively near the galactic boundary. The bad news though, was that the wards were quite stringent, and had barely any gaps.

He smiled.

Barely, didn’t mean none.

He had done this once before, when infiltrating Novar’s Peak to render the crown of Balastion Novar defunct. The wards surrounding Lonvoron and its star system were of the same nature that the wards surrounding Novar’s Peak were.

Multi-layered and ever shifting. Impossible to get through sneakily via spatiomancy for almost anyone in the universe.

Sneaking through the barrier was one thing. But not having someone recognize that a new occupant had entered the space of Lonvoron was another. He had little doubt that the previous time looper was paranoid and had many countermeasures.

His eyes blazed with power as soul energy subsumed him. He prepared two spells. The overwhelming majority of it went into one spell, with the slim remainder going towards a simple Teleportation.

What was space? Orodan occupied space himself, his attacks filled it, it wasn’t a lie to say that he was a spatial being. Advancing his understanding of space then, required embracing the insight that he was as much a part of the canvas of space as the canvas of space was a part of him. Grand objects on the canvas could bend and influence the very canvas, such as planets, stars and on the high end, the black hole at the center of most galaxies.

Orodan too, was a grand cosmic force. He brought the concept of Infinity to bear and had shaken the very System and Boundless Ones themselves. And just like them, like a planet, like a galaxy… like a black hole. Orodan’s influence on the canvas of space was grand.

He was no part of the canvas…

…but a grand force that altered and shook it much like he did the tapestry of fate.

Even as his eyes bled and every cell in his body was on the verge of dying under the mental strain… he never let up on using Vision of Purity. The wards of the entire Vystaxium Galaxy were accounted for in his mind.

And at the narrowest instant, a moment of time so slim that only chronomancers or those with exceptional reaction speed could capitalize upon it, Orodan found the perfect gap that he was looking for.

[Space Mastery 99 → Space Mastery 100]

[New Title → Space Grandmaster]

[Spatial Shift 13 → Spatial Shift 25]

And he stepped through…

…as a single cell.

Nearly dead from the sheer expenditure of soul energy required to spatially shift an entire star system. The shield of Fate Disconnect around his soul had shattered once more during that moment before Orodan hastily reformed it, and the tumultuous activity on the tapestry of fate provided one more layer of obscurity to hide his arrival.

He reformed while falling through the air and crashed through a shanty slum roof of sheet metal.

He extricated himself from the pile of rifles he’d fallen into, looking up at an amused Talricto.

“I’m fairly certain the entire galaxy is aware of your entrance, my dim-witted student.”

“Aware that there was an entry perhaps, but not where the entry was or who it is,” Orodan said. “Though, I suppose the gigantic Living Crystal broken into two pieces isn’t difficult to find.”

“G-gigantic Living Crystal…! You could have suffered a fate worse than death! You absolute buffoon! You utter oaf and imbecile! Do you know how dangerous that-”

Orodan tuned out the rest of Talricto’s rant as he smiled.

The prickly spider liked to act as though it didn’t care for him, but if that was the case then Talricto would’ve never lectured him to begin with. In the context of the loop, the dimensional phase spider had met Orodan for only a singular day, yet it was clearly attached to the man who’d provided it enchanted trinkets, given it a Blessing and promised Talricto plenty of adventures.

“-and why in the name of all goodness and civility are you putting that ugly rag on?!”

“This? Why it’s simply because I’m not looking to cause any trouble.”

“Anytime you say that I’m convinced trouble is most assuredly right around the corner.”

“Oi! Who’s there?! Is that a vagabond I hear!”

And as Orodan’s hand went to clamp down upon the lad who was indeed around the corner, Zaessythra actually laughed.

“No vagabonds here. Just a traveller from another world,” Orodan said, releasing Fenton Penny’s mouth. “One who might be looking to take on a talented young student who’s trying to hide his Enchanting.”

The young lad was more than a bit taken aback; perhaps owing to the menacing rag Orodan had wrapped around his head if not the casual revelation of his secret. Still, things would turn out fine.

His entry upon Port Bellgrave had, from what he was seeing, gone entirely unnoticed. And this time he planned on moving a bit more subtly and learning the lay of the land and some skills first.

It was time for a long loop upon Lonvoron. To try and find this previous time looper and perhaps act in a clandestine manner for as long as he could. But most importantly, on the smaller scale aside from these grand targets…

…it was time to help Fenton Penny and the little folk, and to just spend some time learning what he could upon Port Bellgrave. After all, this island alone had plenty of people to learn from. And not least of all an absolute prodigy of Enchanting who would surpass even Orodan himself with some proper tutelage.

The divine dimension was entirely purged of Eldritch. The Prophet was undoubtedly furious. Orodan certainly had trackers on his tail, not only for entering Lonvoron, but also for approaching Embodiment, and he’d beaten up one Embodiment-level being and caused another to flee while grievously injuring it.

All in all, it was quite the chaotic start to a new long loop.

Not a good start to things if being stealthy was his aim.