Chapter 99: Chapter 99

It was now loop number three of bringing people along. And the training was hellish.

Not for himself—who enjoyed it far too much—but his students who were now truly beginning to feel the sheer intensity.

“Damn-damn! I-urk! Grk! Bwah!”

Orodan’s fists came in via dual overhead hammer blows, Edrosic’s shield barely catching them. And just as the militia man did successfully block, a knee came in and knocked the wind right out of him. A right cross, an elbow in the same motion and then a shoulder check to the jaw all came in, like a continuous chain of movement which had Edrosic battered and unable to understand how he was getting hit so many times despite Orodan holding himself back to the man’s level of strength and speed.

“You’re letting me beat on you a little too much Edrosic. You aren’t even a satisfying punching bag to abuse,” Orodan said while continuing to deliver a beating. “Return some aggression of your own. Show some grit and stop letting me do this to you.”

“You’re a little too strong for that Orodan! Urk!” the man protested as he was knocked onto his rear. “I’m not built for this sort of fighting like you are!”

“I’m matching your level of strength and speed in fact,” Orodan said.

[Smite of Abrupt Deliverance 92 → Smite of Abrupt Deliverance 93]

The skill gain came from not an attack, but the fact that he was holding a bubble of compressed time across the surrounding two-hundred metres of space around him. The Time Compression aspect of his Smite of Abrupt Deliverance was being used, and he felt that this was the limit of how many levels he could gain in the skill by working that part alone.

But it helped quite a bit when each second of time within the bubble was a hundred-and-fifty seconds outside of it. This, Orodan felt, was the greatest extent to which he could compress time without drawing undue attention. After all, last time he’d compressed time excessively, the Mage had noticed. And while he would’ve normally welcome conflict with an Administrator, training his students and Alastaia was also a priority.

Plus, if he pushed things too far, burning everything and everyone around him with the excess of soul energy radiating off his form was a real risk too.

“Well, I can’t fight like you do!” Edrosic protested as he got up and resumed his stance.

“And the enemies you might face will certainly not care for those complaints, Edrosic. Come, we’ll make a proper fighter of you yet.”

They clashed a dozen more times, with the militia man eating dirt each and every time. The man had gotten worse at fighting, not overall, but due to the circumstances of having a perfect dimensional seal around the area, courtesy of Orodan deciding that Systemless training was superior to the regular sort.

It was an area of a half-mile he had formed in a relatively barren stretch of wilderness on the Novarrian side of the border than Balastion had ordered prepared and evacuated of any wildlife for that purpose. Ozgaric had tried having his Avatar walk through, only to immediately be banished from the host, denoting the shocking effectiveness of the dimensional seal.

And Talricto, Destartes and Tegin were already discussing potential methods of dealing with enemy Gods or cutting off the Blessings of enemy troops using such a method in battle.

Still, the real purpose behind such a barrier was training. And just before Orodan could dispense any more of it to Edrosic, a shrill alarm went off.

“Switch partners! Switch!” a supervising time keeper cried out.

These men and women, time organizers and aides, had been sent en masse to this stretch of the forest by Balastion. Their job was a simple one. To keep the training going at as high an intensity and in as efficient a manner as possible throughout every second of work.

And Orodan followed that, immediately locking blades against Balastion Novar, taking care to limit his strength and speed to the first emperor’s level.

“Like a dragon incarnate your flesh is stronger than any mortal man’s could ever hope to be! How do you do it, Orodan Wainwright?” the ancient ruler of Novarria asked, attempting to push him back but utterly failing.

Even with strength and speed limited, Orodan exploded like a whirlwind of violence. Attacks flowed one into the other, his style of terrifying aggression and raw brutality honed over the loops to leave no openings, was brought to bear upon his opponent. For every motion Balastion made, Orodan performed three. Strength and speed were equalized so this was just pure efficiency and attack-minded technique. Sword cuts flowed into hilt bashes which flowed into fists, elbows, shoulder checks and then rotations for backhands with the other arm.

In less than a second, Balastion was utterly outclassed and overwhelmed worse than Edrosic had been. Mainly because Orodan had been holding back a lot of his technique against the militia man, whereas here he was truly cutting loose.

“Body Tempering, Physical Fitness and perhaps Absolute Body Composition as well,” Orodan answered raining blows down upon Balastion, attempting to pressure the first emperor enough that the man would be forced to struggle and push his limits in order to escape. “Combat Mastery helps too. Knowing the right spots and angles at which to apply my strength makes me stronger than someone with the same strength who doesn’t know where, when and how to utilize their might.”

“Grk! You are monstrous… I admire that!”

He wouldn’t have normally been giving people a savage and overwhelming mauling in order to teach them, but this specific drill was a form of pressure testing. A basic test for martial combat specialists. Adeltaj and Arvayne had run him through it themselves, and now Orodan was pushing everyone he fought against in melee with it.

The goal was a simple one. Adapt to the pressure and innovate to secure some breathing room. Melee combat was a deathly and brutal affair after all, and if one couldn’t handle the weight of it, then death in battle when drowned by real pressure would be the result.

Before Orodan could continue running Balastion through further paces, a cavalcade of elemental spells came his way, courtesy of Destartes. With one hand continuing the beating, he had only one other hand free to launch counterspells.

It would have to suffice.

[Draconic Fireball 84 → Draconic Fireball 85]

[Light Beam 38 → Light Beam 39]

[Flash Freeze 41 → Flash Freeze 42]

[Galewind 34 → Galewind 35]

The Draconic Fireball struck the giant ice lance headed for him, turning it into steam. A Galewind followed, sending the hot vapor flying back towards the caster before the wizard could somehow take control of it. Two Light Beams struck and caused the orbs of darkness headed his way to implode and a Flash Freeze iced the eviscerating jet of water which threatened to hit him, causing it to fall onto the ground and shatter.

With one hand, he had a full spellcasting exchange with Alastaia’s greatest human mage. And with the other he was giving Balastion Novar a savage beating upon the ground. Although the latter was soon to end as the first emperor’s eyes were filled with rage and determination as the man finally slipped in-between a strike and pressed forward with his own aggression.

[Teaching 91 → Teaching 92]

A mad laugh left Balastion’s lips.

“Hahah! I’d nearly forgotten about the press of battle and the crushing weight of an enemy’s blows! Thank you for reminding me, Orodan Wainwright!”

An aide threw him his club, and he quickly sheathed his sword and shield to begin using the new weapon. Balastion’s longsword met Orodan’s club, and like a brutal arm of blunt destruction his attack rammed through the sword swing. Even while holding back to Balastion’s level, the club was a heavier weapon which synergized better with raw muscle.

[Club Mastery 29 → Club Mastery 30]

[New Title → Club Apprentice]

All of his skills in general had improved across the board over the past two loops. And the newly acquired Club Apprentice was the first of some gains he was seeing in them now.

Unlike everyone else who was sparring one-on-one against each other or a designated aide, Orodan was forced to multitask. Everyone had agreed, his development was the most important. The Embodiers coming for him and Alastaia were the primary roadblock and couldn’t be beaten by anyone but him. In fact, this entire phase of him training others and cycling in-between spars wasn’t direct training for his combat skills, but his Teaching ability. And the hope that he would be exposed to different styles even at a lower level and perhaps take a thing or two away from it.

Orodan’s own dedicated training period was upcoming.

He bullied Balastion, switched partners, pressured Adeltaj, switched partners and then ended up matched against Destartes in the sparring cycle.

“Ready for it, old man?” Orodan asked.

“It’s hardly my first time facing martial specialists, Orodan,” Destartes replied, the wizards hands crackling with power and spatiomantic armor forming across his body.

“Correct. But the purpose of the drill isn’t for you to casually beat the melee fighter, but to endure the pressure. Even mages should be prepared for close combat.”

At Bluefire and the other academies he’d been to, one thing he found somewhat deficient with the curriculum was that mages never went through any real pressure drills to prepare them for extended close-quarters combat. It made sense, after all, these academies were more focused on churning out powerful mages who were proficient at their fields of magic. What use was there for a mage to learn melee unless they were some sort of hybrid combat specialist?

This, Orodan knew, was a critical error. All throughout the loops he was the nightmare of almost every enemy mage he had met. How many spellcasters had died at his hands, terrified in their last moments as he closed in after revealing that their spells were ineffective? How many mages had died, not directly at his hands, but from just the death zone of collateral damage as he fought their melee specialist allies?

The problem with Bluefire and every academy on Inuan was that mages, by virtue of what they studied, were pain-averse. A child who grew up learning magic wasn’t encouraged to play fight with sticks or get into brawls. Soon as the talent was noticed either by virtue of a large mana pool, naturally strong affinity for a particular element or just quick study for magic, that child would be marked for admission into a magic academy. And the county academies during joint-exercises with one another, would simply have mages participate in formation fighting, mock battles or spars against martials.

And these spars often ended with the mages’s victory, their defeat or some sort of first contact. Which meant, in training, the average spellcaster just wasn’t exposed to close combat pressure over an extended period the way a warrior was. Unless they were a hybrid who utilized magic and martial abilities in tandem—which was extremely rare—most mages always followed the ethos of maintaining distance and defeating warriors without ever letting them get close.

This was the ideal of course. It was smart. But real battle was rarely if ever so ideal. And Destartes needed to experience regular close combat over an extended period of time if the wizard intended to help defend Alastaia.

Restraining himself to the point where his physical strength and speed were on par with the Eldritch Avatar, Orodan blurred into motion. His target’s eyes widened as he closed the gap instantaneously and Destartes immediately backpedaled.

This was fine, tactical even. In a real fight the mage would of course be best served with continually attempting to gain distance. It was how the Fallen Void Archon he’d encountered in the abyssal depths had slain Orodan of course. However, he had no intentions of allowing the triple-Grandmaster a moment of breathing room.

An aide had tossed a halberd earlier and Orodan guided Destartes along its path before catching it himself and launching a shearing downwards blow.

[Halberd Mastery 57 → Halberd Mastery 58]

The strike hit the wizard’s spatiomantic armor and immediately shattered it, cleaving Destartes’s arm off at the shoulder.

In but a single strike, the battle had turned and the old mage wasn’t looking too good; his face pale and in a rictus of pain which he was valiantly holding back. That being said, Destartes was no fledgling who had never seen battle or injury. One didn’t get to the level of a triple-Grandmaster by being soft. Thus, the old man used the momentum of Orodan’s amputating swing to spin around and cast multiple ice barriers between them.

At the same time, a short range Spatial Fold was poised to take the old wizard away. Of course, Orodan’s combat speed was far faster than the old man, and the Eldritch Avatar was too. So when he simply smashed through the ice and lashed out with his own space magic to rupture the forming Spatial Fold, Destartes could only sigh and accept that this was going to be a gruelling melee exchange the wizard would not be able to get out of.

The rules were simple; while Destartes was allowed to use magic and even attempt to escape, Orodan would simply keep coming and pressuring him in close quarters. To his credit, the wizard truly innovated and began utilizing all sorts of tricks to try and shake off the terrifying melee berserker that was Orodan. Spatial rifts, teleports, elemental spells, illusions of light and darkness, bursts of mind magic and even attempts at hitting him with soul magic.

Orodan genuinely approved of all this. However the entire point of the exercise was that shaking the melee attacker off was meant to be impossible. It was a conditioning session meant to train him on how to grow used to enemies reaching him in melee with no escape in sight. And while Destartes was doing fantastic, the wizard seemed to be under the impression that the exchange would end with success.

That wasn’t the case.

Ten minutes of fighting later, the old wizard’s face was even paler. He had pulled out every trick in the book that a mage was capable of in order to try and shake Orodan off, but it was of no use. He clung to the mage like a blanket, wrestled him to the ground like a ragdoll, beat him like a drum and even lopped a foot off.

And just before Orodan could knock Destartes out, a shrill alarm rang.

“Time! Switch! Switch partners once more!” the time keeper called. “Healers! Elder Destartes is in need of healing! Quick!”

“Not bad, old man. You really surpassed my expectations on this one,” Orodan said. “Who knew you had it in you to hold out for so long with an arm and a foot gone? Most mages I know would have been writhing in agony from the first second.”

“I… am not…” Destartes choked out as his limbs were magically restored by a Grandmaster-level healer on standby. “most mages.”

That much was true. The sheer diversity of spellcraft, tricks and stratagems the old wizard had used was astounding. But the power and ability to truly explode for an escape was a bit lacking for some of those options, as was Destartes’s stamina and mana pool. Certainly, the mage had the largest pool of mana he’d seen in a human, but that still wasn’t enough for the high-diversity, high-intensity style of spellcasting the old man engaged in.

Orodan would have to rectify that.

“You’re going to be put through rigorous training to expand your mana pool and regeneration,” Orodan declared as he moved away to fight Aliya. “No Blessing from me, no forced churning of your soul to improve the mana regeneration capability. Just hard work, technique and a dash of madness.”

For even if he did give Destartes his Blessing like he had during the Anthus conspiracy loop, what use would it be if the old mage couldn’t draw upon the power too freely lest he burn himself out from energy overload? Better to manually condition the body, mana pool and the soul’s ability to recover it quickly.

Blessings and tricks were nice, but hard work and sweat were the only way forward that was truly reliable in the long run.

Still, those thoughts could come after he gave Aliya a good thrashing. The girl had improved, but her ability to fight against human opponents was still spotty. She was a genuine weapon prodigy with that staff, and as additional training had proved, a halberd and spear too. But her Combat Mastery noticeably lagged behind.

She was fantastic at fighting monsters; the more animalistic and mindless ones at least. Against things which were cunning and had a level of instinctual intelligence or against human opponents though, she struggled.

“Teacher! I’ll show you what I’m made of today!” she boisterously declared as though she hadn’t cleaned the forest floor with her head the prior three times in this sparring circuit whenever she came up against him. Still, he could always respect a good work ethic.

Orodan said nothing as he closed the distance, keeping his strength moderated to the Apprentice-level as he probed her defenses with light thrusts of his own spear.

Unlike Edrosic or Destartes who required pressure testing and continual close combat drill, for Aliya and Zukelmux that was their strong point. Even before Orodan had encountered her, she was sneaking off to infestation sites and fighting Initiate and Apprentice-level monsters for experience in the hopes of gaining strength. It wasn’t that pressing her with brutal aggression would be useless, but that it was one of her strengths and would only continue to improve as the girl enjoyed fighting against mindlessly aggressive monsters.

Her ability with polearms was frankly prodigious, to the point that Orodan’s current Spear Mastery of 44 was only six levels ahead of her. He was the better warrior in terms of overall talent, but she was the far superior wielder of polearms. It wouldn’t surprise him if she surpassed him in the use of polearm-related skills at some point.

[Spear Mastery 44 → Spear Mastery 45]

As he and the eight-year-old traded blows, his understanding of the spear improved. This sparring circuit with no breaks was working out quite well. In forcing such rapid combat against a variety of opponents, he himself was improving.

And he focused not on brutally overwhelming the girl, but confusing her with feints and things which would trip up someone unused to fighting.

His thrust his spear up high towards her head, only to retract it at the last moment and come in for a strike with the butt of the polearm instead. This, she saw clearly. Her skill with polearms was high enough now that she could read and react to any moves performed with them ahead of time.

But what Aliya didn’t expect was for Orodan’s foot to kick up a spray of dirt and twigs, sending them towards her face. She sharply gasped as her vision was obscured, and before she could react to it, a fist crunched her nose.

Some might have considered it excessive to pummel a child in such a manner, but Orodan thought these sorts were idiots. After all, they wouldn’t be around to hold her hand in real battle when the enemy did far worse. Better to harden oneself in training than experience the shock of violence unprepared when in a fight to the death.

Still, she was getting better. Aliya’s spear whirred about and covered all further possible approaches for him to take. Even with dirt in her eye and her vision blurry from the broken nose, she used her spear as a feeler, using it in lieu of actual sight. And it was a good move as she caught Orodan coming in from the left and swiftly engaged.

Her attacks were swift, brutal and aggressive. She sought to press towards him. It was one of the traits he really liked in this student of his, that she responded to violence with violence of her own just as Zukelmux did. But…

“Ironic as it is for me of all people to say this. You could probably stand to backpedal and utilize the reach of the spear more,” Orodan instructed as he punished her coming forward by managing to grab hold of the haft, trip her feet and throw her down to the ground. “Nothing wrong with trying to fight like me, but that depends on having a whole host of other skills and decent Physical Fitness on top. If that’s what you want, we’ll be training in unarmed combat and wrestling more often.”

And if she was as good with polearms as she appeared to be, then perhaps a war scythe would suit her well too?

Orodan decided to give that theory a test and gestured for an aide to throw him a giant scythe which he promptly shoved into Aliya’s hands.

His demand was short, but the expectation carried through as the girl understood the assignment and began getting a feel for the unfamiliar weapon. Orodan lowered his strength and speed just a smidge in order to give his student the time to bridge the gap and gain some skill with the new armament. However, he needed not have held back too much, as another one of his training partners decided to make their presence known in the form of a whip of dimensional energy. Reminding Orodan that his regimen was harsher than the others since he was expected to fight and engage in ancillary training every other spar of the circuit.

His focus was split as he barely created a thick and gel-like substance made of dimensional energy just in time for the whip to sink into it, dispersing its energy.

“That’s a new one,” Orodan competitively growled, fending off Aliya’s war scythe which was getting increasingly better by the second.

“I couldn’t stand watching you bully an unfortunate child, and of course… the opportunity to remind you of my superiority is as always, irresistible,” Talricto declared with flourish and far too much arrogance in its voice.

Superiority? Why this eight-legged…!

Soon enough, Orodan’s attention was occupied with the dimensional phase spider as Talricto not only sent assaults his way, but also periodically moved to tamper with the perfect sealing of the dimensional boundary around the area that Orodan had implemented. It was maddeningly frustrating to have to focus on training Aliya while also having to quickly reinforce the seal, defend himself, or send an attack of dimensional force of his own towards the spider to keep it from getting too comfortable.

But one couldn’t say it didn’t come with benefits.

“Oh, look! I spot a pitifully constructed dimensional seal! Would be a shame if something happened to it…”

“Damn you, Talricto!”

Orodan’s anger fuelled his insights as he wove multiple layers of dimensional power into a rope, utilizing the concepts behind the Weaving skill in a manner which caused Edrosic to get distracted from his own spar and eat a smack from Zukelmux.

The woven rope reinforced the seal even further, successfully stopping Talricto’s dimensional carving slice which would have otherwise slit the boundary open. Follow current novels on Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

[Dimensionalism 90 → Dimensionalism 91]

And at the same time, Aliya whose movements with the war scythe had gotten better, swiftly had her swing met with one of Orodan’s own with the spear haft. The two weapons collided, and his self-moderated Apprentice-level strength meant his spear was knocked backwards.

But this was fine as he allowed her scythe to come in, barely avoided the tip, stepped past and caught her weapon handle on the swing as it passed to pull her in for a reverse strike with the butt of his own polearm.

[Spear Mastery 45 → Spear Mastery 46]

He saw a tooth go flying alongside spittle as she ate dirt yet again, although with how good she was becoming with polearms, Orodan doubted he could make the same trick work again.

“While I’m a strong advocate of saying that brute force is always the answer, you still need to consider that many foes will use that force against you or to their advantage to get you overexposed,” he instructed. “Good job. Don’t fall for that trick again. Wrestling, Unarmed Combat Mastery and Physical Fitness will be priorities for you moving forward.”

In almost every exchange they had, it wasn’t her lack of skill with the polearm which did her in, but someone deciding to grab it, grapple her or trap the weapon to pummel her with unarmed strikes. Having been knocked down yet again, she could only nod in thought.

Orodan then collided a series of sharp needles of dimensional force against a series of unstable dimensional orbs cast by Talricto when the shrill alarm went off.

“Switch! Switch! Break time!”

And by break time, the head time organizer meant it was ancillary training time. And the one thing he had to give Balastion here was that having every expert under the sun across Novarria gather here was of greater help than he realized. Mages and mana experts immediately flocked to and surrounded Zukelmux, Aliya and Wainroach, with Destartes taking the lead in showing them magic while other instructors of certain elements the wizard was weaker in gave the man pointers. Edrosic was surrounded by Elites and Masters of Calligraphy and Drawing; supposedly there was no known Grandmaster of the latter skill, but Orodan had faith the militia man would be the first one. Balastion and Eldarion were sitting across from one another, the first emperor in a state of deep focus as the elf slowly helped train the emperor in fortifying his mind. The ancient ruler of Novarria, even without the crown, was hells bent on acquiring Eldritch Resistance. And with a time loop now on his side, the man was in a far better position to do it than before. And Talricto took a rest while studying tomes on chronomancy, hoping to address its one weakness.

No travel time, no back and forth with having to give introductions and secure tutelage. The best of the best were already here and there would be no real breaks. It was an intense regimen for everyone involved.

And if Destartes had to teach people of magic even as he learned, and if Eldarion had to help Balastion with fortifying his mind… then it only made logical sense that there was nobody more qualified than Orodan to direct physical training.

“Stand and bear the burden, Adeltaj Simarji!” Orodan declared, putting a giant boulder the size of a house upon the old halberdier’s shoulders and watching closely to ensure there was no slacking off. “How can you tolerate your Mythical skill for longer periods of time if your body remains weak? Go on, up and down, we must strengthen you through physical conditioning.”

“Hrk! These old bones aren’t meant for such rigorous work nowadays… why this brings me back to my youth…” the old man muttered, struggling but still bearing the weight if barely.

Orodan watched stringently to ensure that the man didn’t pull upon any assistance via the Burden of the Hero. It would have made the task easier but would have been a cheap cop out. The old man needed to manually strengthen his body. No shortcuts would be allowed.

Still, wielding a halberd meant that Adeltaj was a martial specialist, which put his Physical Fitness at a decent level to begin with as the old Simarji had likely been training that all his life as any self-respecting martial should. Destartes however, would receive no quarter in his training.

“Now focus Wainroach! Channel the flames through- urk!”

“Don’t stop on account of me, old wizard. Keep giving your lecture,” Orodan spoke as he put a heavy rock the size of his torso upon Destartes’s back.

“Y-yes! Now as I said, Wainroach, you must push the flames along your mana circuits in an… o-optimal manner.”

He respected the fact that the old mage was committed to teaching and learning at the same time. Destartes had at least some levels in Physical Fitness already, hence he was able to bear the load and even begin pushing himself up and down, off the ground, with his arms.

Soon, all of his students were engaged in physical conditioning while still undergoing their own lessons. But this didn’t mean that Orodan himself was exempt from his own training. In fact, the tell-tale clunking of a familiar mule drawn cart drew his attention.

“Well? What are you waiting around for you rockhead? Unload this cart and get to work on cutting and polishing the stones,” Old Man Hannegan barked. “In fact, you know what? I’ll have you cut and polish the stones these sorry louts are carrying upon their backs first.”

An interesting exercise. To cut, polish and prepare a stone as someone was doing physical exercises with it upon their back. Naturally, Orodan chose the struggling Parthus Edrosic as his first target.

“Hmm… how to reach the the top… maybe if I stood upon the rock?”

“And add more weight when I already struggle?!” Edrosic protested, eyes widening with fear.

The man was forced to do one-handed push ups with the rock on his back while the other hand was busy sketching a drawing under guidance and intruction from the various Calligraphy and Drawing experts.

“Are you calling me fat Parthus?”

“You…! Have you seen how big you are?! How am I meant to bear the extra-”

Orodan tuned out the man’s protests and hopped on, beginning his work.

This… this was excellent training.

And no number of unflattering drawings of him that Edrosic drew in retribution would change that.

The remainder of the loop went astonishingly well.

Orodan made steady gains thanks to the training with no breaks. His crafts, weapon skills, magic and others improved all across the board. And Balastion was encouraged enough with the results that he and everyone else agreed that this method of training was for the best.

Rare resources such as special items which could only be used once—worth more than an entire city—were used to help Adeltaj and Destartes acquire special insights not found anywhere else. Rituals which either weakened a specific attribute or wiped certain memories from the mind temporarily were used to train Orodan’s students so that they could clear the mind and arrive at an insight far easier. And overall, the building of the ancient machine went far smoother than it ever had before with the Republic, Novarria, Guzuhar and Eldiron’s resources being pooled together.

He also made sure to enter the divine dimension and train with Ozgaric, although how much the God of Illusions and Trickery benefitted from the sort of martial training Orodan put him through, he didn’t know. Still, some of the other exercises and tips he gave the divine, such as how Orodan worked with absurd amounts of power, did seem to help quite a bit.

It had also been a bit of a shocker, seeing that Ozgaric’s actual form was that of a young child.

Apparently Gods and Goddesses stopped aging after becoming divine. Although that begged the question of just how young the God had been when he’d ascended to divinity. It certainly explained the fondness for mischief and tricks he was known for.

The remainder of the loop, his battle against the first of his rival Embodiers and the subsequent activation of the ancient machine went as it typically did. And he died using Balance Maker against the Eldritch Boundless One, bringing the skill to 75.

And Orodan knew that this would be an endeavor that took many loops.

It was time to get to grinding.

Loops four through seven were spent training.

In combination with the Time Compression aspect of his Smite of Abrupt Deliverance, the amount of time they had on-hand to train, make plans and better themselves was monstrous.

And although the thought of functionally having years worth of training for each loop was enticing, the fact was that there were some limitations which prevented that.

A 1:150 time compression ratio was intense. While his soul could bear that strain, as could Destartes, Balastion and Eldarion, the others could not. The numerous aides and supporting staff among them. Even the strongest time dilation chamber he knew of in Novarria had usage limits for that reason. Not just for the energy cost of running it, but also because the souls of unprepared users were put under a decent amount of strain.

The real problem was that besides Orodan, everyone else had the System empowered by the Eldritch Boundless One. Their very souls and essence had a part of that unfathomable being. Thus, putting oneself in such a time compression which separated them from the influence of the Boundless One caused strain, as though an integral part of the soul was cut off from its root.

Furthermore, the various experts and people still wanted to go outside the bubble of Time Compression. They had families, ventures and the like. And while Balastion commanded them, the first emperor wasn’t cruel enough to keep them separated from their affairs and loved ones for so long. And entering and leaving time compression was another thing which put strain upon the soul. It was the equivalent of going from stillness to faster than sound at a moment’s notice. The soul took a lot of pressure in doing that.

While his students and those in the loops could get used to it, the other aides they brought in would not. And everyone had agreed that it was better to just let a loop pass instead of trying to force more time out of it by any means necessary.

All this combined meant that he could only do one eight hour session per loop, which was still a lot of time. Almost two months’ worth of extra training per loop.

And loops four through seven were spent chipping away at training, exploring the elemental plane of lightning and working with Ashganruk to understand the intricacies of spider dragon silk and how to make his own soul weave good enough for what he wanted to do.

Furthermore… the reality was that such things took time. Not everyone was as monstrous as Orodan Wainwright. His willingness to embrace endless pain and death, to confront the most horrid foes and challenges? Even the most devoted of his students couldn’t quite match up to him in that aspect. Orodan had advanced to Transcendence and then Embodiment in less than a hundred functional years of fighting and training. Even with a time loop, who else could match him?

Almyra had been a time looper for how long? Her loop was ten-thousand years old, and she still just an Embodier whereas he had not only reached that level but also conquered the concept of Cleanliness utterly and fully.

What this meant now was that in three loops of training, Destartes, Adeltaj and Balastion weren’t about to bridge the gap so quickly. Although Eldarion certainly had. The elf had reached it on loop five right near the end, and that had been an interesting battle where the Hegemony descended and then promptly ran for their lives once the goat-woman Embodier showed up and began fighting Orodan.

It was an interesting thing, to see that once he had Transcendence in one loop, the elf wouldn’t be bothered by the trial or the Hegemony’s descent in following ones.

Still, the three loops of training went well and everyone had improved.

Orodan most of all, particularly in his ability to work on rock.

It was now loop eight of this, and today…

…he intended to earn the respect of that dwarven master at the quarry.

Old Man Hannegan accompanying him had a smile of anticipation upon his face. The old man was an enigma, in Orodan’s opinion. He wouldn’t force the old foreman to fight, he wasn’t exactly one of his students and his role in no way necessitated it. But even then, when it came to training he had no idea what Old Man Hannegan did.

Although the old supervisor from Ogdenborough seemed unassuming at first glance, once one got to know him, that changed. Balastion, Adeltaj, Destartes, Eldarion and hells, even that prickly jerk Talricto respected him. It was downright uncanny how Old Man Hannegan seemed to know things about the small parts of society, about where to find certain ingredients, about how to direct a task of labor, and the like.

What had really astonished him though, was when the old foreman had accurately known where to find a certain type of wood…

It had shocked Eldarion just as much too, and ever since then Orodan had been giving Old Man Hannegan the side eye a lot more often than not. How the hells had the man even known where to find that particular species of three on an entirely different continent? Where and how did the old foreman even train? The old man never participated in the combat portion of their training, only coming in to help Orodan train his crafting skills, but outside of that nobody exactly followed him around when he was unaccounted for during large stretches of time.

In fact, it was safe to say that aside from the designated training times or when Orodan needed guidance on how to best go about training a craft, the old man’s activities were entirely unknown. And while Orodan wasn’t the sort to pry into another’s affairs, it did leave him curious as to how the hells the old man knew so much.

“Alright. I have to ask. How the hells did you know where that specific species of elderwood tree was on Eldiron? You’ve never been there,” Orodan blurted out directly.

The old man simply laughed and shook his head in response.

“Don’t read into it too much. I worked with some elven arborists back in the day, and useful information tends to get around once people are sharing drinks at the tavern after a hard day’s work. Not that you would ever know, running off to train or get into a fight after shift when you used to work with me.”

That both made sense and sounded as absurd as possible. As though such a simple explanation could account for the old man’s extensive knowledge. Why, it was almost as ridiculous as suggesting that Orodan could acquire a Celestial skill just from cleaning his hovel.

“For a rockhead, you’ve been thinking an awful lot nowadays. Come on, quarry’s up ahead. Let’s get to work,” the old foreman said as they walked up the hill for the overseer’s spot.

The overseer, the same woman who always headed the House Stenguard quarry of Scarmorrow, was happy to see Old Man Hannegan and while a little mistrustful and perhaps jealous of Orodan, saw no reason not to allow him to work the cliffside.

Before she could even finish her explanations, Orodan was down by the cliff face, his section the one where two other martial types were working already.

“Haah! Feel the sting of Haragos the World-Spli-” the man’s boast was cut off as he made a strangled noise. “By the Gods! Landslide!”

[Mining 49 → Mining 52]

[New Title → Mining Adept]

Before the loud mouth could even finish his proclamation, Orodan’s pickaxe hit the cliffside. And with it came insights. He had not only been working on Mining, but Jewelcrafting alongside Griok. That elderly goblin, soon as Fenton was back, would be getting one of the first spots onto the loop. The techniques he had learned from the oldest of the Rising Spear Tribe had been profound.

And as a result, here and now, the pickaxe didn’t just crush the rock into rubble, but it instead caused a series of clean lines to crack along the cliff face, causing solid and high-quality blocks and chunks of granite to begin falling down.

“By Halor… how the hell did he hit it like that? Quick! Get the carts and mules over here right away!” a nearby supervisor yelled.

Orodan of course denied any and all help. That being said, there were some extra steps involved in carting the stone when he had successfully broken off solid, useable chunks from the cliffside instead of mere rubble. For starters, it was heavy, and it could stack much more efficiently. Which meant that not all the carts they brought would be capable of bearing a full load.

He produced a set of tools, forged by his own hand earlier in the loop and began to work upon the carts to strengthen them so that they could bear the increased load. There were twenty carts in the quarry and Orodan had demanded they all be brought over to section four where he smashed the cliffside into useable blocks of granite. And over the course of fifteen minutes of labor, a combination of Wood Communion, Wainwrighting and other skills saw the carts reinforced to be capable of bearing far heavier loads.

[Wainwrighting 37 → Wainwrighting 38]

[Wood Communion 71 → Wood Communion 72]

[Repair 26 → Repair 27]

[Maintenance 39 → Maintenance 40]

Those were the final set of messages he got as he finished work on the last cart. Following that, he began hurling the blocks of stone with precision onto the carts.

Like the slam of the crusher pulverizing rubble, the blocks crashed down onto the space within the carts with booming noises, arraying themselves quite neatly.

“S-sir! You’ll break the carts!” the supervisor frantically warned.

“Not at all. Do you hear any ominous creaking? Any sounds of the wood splintering or breaking under the load?” Orodan asked as he finished loading the stone and began tying each of the twenty carts to himself. “I haven’t worked on these for nothing.”

And before their eyes, shocking them with the sight of a singular man pulling twenty stone-laden carts along the road himself, Orodan began pulling the carts along.

The carts were incredibly heavy, and any dirt or even regular cobbled stone road would have failed. But thankfully the quarry’s overseers weren’t stupid. It was common practice to carve the road leading up into the cliff itself. A granite roadbed which made the twenty incredibly heavy carts roll along smoothly.

Unlike last time, the difficulty of pulling the carts wasn’t quite so steep now. His Towing and Walking skills had improved, as had Laboring. So the gains from pulling them this time wasn’t quite as pronounced.

[Towing 24 → Towing 25]

[Walking 15 → Walking 16]

[Laboring 64 → Laboring 65]

As he crested the top, dragging all the blocks up, the overseer couldn’t help but gape at him having secured so much construction-worthy granite. And before she could make a peep about how he’d done it and who he was, Orodan simply walked up to the pile of rubble assorted near the crusher and used Domain of Perfect Cleaning to cleanse it all.

“W-what in the name of the Gods!” the overseer shrieked, utterly surprised as the rubble became purified.

And Old Man Hannegan burst out laughing, the sight not having gotten old for him at all.

“Stonecutting. I want to learn that here. Will it be possible?” he asked calmly.

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“O-of course! Anything! With this much construction grade granite… we’re ahead of demand by a whole month! In terms of raw material at least. The processing can catch up soon enough!” the woman said and then sharply gestured for two supervisors to come over. “Take Mister Wainwright here to Master Varnok. Have Kalin show him the ropes for Stonecutting, whatever he wants, help him with. And tell the rest of the workers to forget about mining for the next two weeks. Processing duty only.”

Orodan was led to the familiar work area of the stonecutters. Rows of workstations crewed by hardworking men and women covered in rock dust. And at the center, the dwarven Master stonecutter whose assistants were helping him shape a particularly pristine boulder.

“Kalin,” Orodan greeted one of the dwarf’s assistants. “Your daughter is growing quite strong huh?”

“Oh! Mister Wainwright? How odd to see you here. Have you been teaching Aliya the ways of the Cathedral’s diviners? The girl has been oddly accurate in predicting how my day will go today… down to the eeriest detail such as your arrival.”

“Nothing like that. She just seems to be having a little too much fun abusing the situation she’s in,” Orodan replied, leaving out the part about the time loops. If Aliya wanted to tell her parents about that, that was her business and not his.

Of course an eight-year-old would be chomping at the bit to abuse the foreknowledge a time loop provided. Frankly, he was somewhat impressed that the girl hadn’t been causing more of a ruckus with her increased powers and knowledge of what was to come. Then again, Orodan repeatedly worked her to the bone and had her eating dirt with every training session, so perhaps she didn’t have much energy left to get up to mischief.

“Eh? Some sort of divining artifact you possess perhaps? In any case, she’s safe and growing stronger by the day so I won’t ask questions… even if she has this exceptionally mischievous look on her face nowadays,” Kalin said. “We had the Burgher come by the house yesterday asking if she wanted to join Bluefire, but she outright refused saying her teacher taught her better than any stupid academy could.”

“Heh… which is funny considering she detests all the reading and mana exercises she’s being forced to do,” Orodan replied. “Now, I’ve come to practice my Stonecutting alongside you, if you’ll have me?”

“Oh? Is that why you two are here as well?” Kalin asked the two supervisors accompanying Orodan.

“Right. Boss’s orders, whatever the lord wants, he gets.”

“Not a lord. But come, let’s begin.”

And so he got to work.

Over the past seven loops of this, if there was one craft skill Orodan had been specifically focusing the most on, it was Stonecutting. Not only did a number of his existing skills such as Mining and Jewelcrafting contribute to his understanding of it, but he also considered the skill to have the potential for great use in combat once he finally got around to activating Combat Mastery. Chiefly though, he had some ideas about helping take some of the burden off of the ancient machine’s metal and enchantments during its activation. Although that would take much more work and self-improvement still.

Consequently, when Orodan began carving the slabs of rock meticulously and with a focus and steady hand that none of the other assistant stonecutters could manage, eyes began to turn his way.

[Stonecutting 46 → Stonecutting 47]

His practice in Jewelcrafting with Griok had paid off massively. That elderly goblin’s ability to handle a precious gemstone was masterful, and the practical tips, tricks and techniques he’d learned in the craft from the Rising Spear Tribe were in many cases superior to whatever conventional Jewelcrafting in the human nations of Inuan taught in the academies.

Equipped with these special techniques from the goblins, Orodan’s stonecutting was immediately and noticeably superior to that of anyone else around him save the dwarf working on the rock at the center platform.

“Good Gods… I wasn’t aware you were such a fair hand at Stonecutting too, Mister Wainwright,” Aliya’s father spoke with envy. “And here I thought I had one thing…”

“Once things are settled, I know of a goblin who’d be more than happy to teach you,” Orodan spoke, thinking of how he had much to do before Alastaia was ready to defend itself, but even after that there would be much work.

The senior most assistant stonecutter was frowning at his work, unhappy with the attention Orodan was getting. Of course, such petty jealousy was pushed to the side when the dwarven master turned his way and looked at the stone with appraising eyes.

“Human, who taught you that?”

“A goblin. Griok of the Rising Spear Tribe,” Orodan honestly answered.

“A greenskin? Not many associate with those savages.”

“And not many would insult my allies in front of me so brazenly. Recant your words lest I give you a beating here and now,” Orodan warned with a clenched fist.

In response the dwarf’s eyes widened and he took a step back before giving him an approving nod.

“Aye, I’ll retract my words. Not too often I get to see a man in these human nations stand so strongly for his friends. I can respect that,” the dwarf said and then looked even closer at the well-worked rock. “Your skill… it’s passable, but the most impressive part about this polished slab is the technique. I… suppose I can put my prejudices aside to admit that some of the goblin tribes I’ve met have had phenomenal craftsfolk. They have a way with intricacy and the smallest details that dwarven hands are too stout to enact.”

“Then will you teach me Stonecutting?” Orodan directly asked. “There is a device I’m working on, and I hope to take some of the burden off of its metallic skeleton and enchantments.”

“Teach you? Does it look like I have the time for that nowadays? I have my own pursuit of mastery to focus on,” the dwarf grumbled. “What would I get out of teaching you?”

“Gold? Power? Protection?” Orodan tried, but even he knew the dwarf wasn’t interested in any of that.

“I left that damn under-mountain because I didn’t give a mole’s arse about those things. I just want to be left alone to work on stone. Do you think gold, power and security mean much for me? I get that through the Burgher and the Republic.”

“Then what about an opportunity to improve your craft?” he asked.

“And what sort of opportunity could you give me? You look like the fighting sort. I’ve built a third of the castles in the Republic and more than half the ones in Novarria. What else could I make that would help?” the dwarf asked pointedly.

“So you are a Grandmaster… and you’re seeking the path beyond that, aren’t you?” he asked, and the dwarf gruffly nodded his head in affirmation. “Then… if you’re tired of building castles… how about building a mountain?”

Varnok Grimbreaker, because of course such a Grandmaster stoneworker was related to the under-mountain line of kings, wasn’t too hard a dwarf to convince once Orodan had begun laying out the plan he had.

One which involved not just rebuilding the ancient machine, but to rebuild and reinforce the entirety of Mount Castarian itself so that the very stones of the mountain could contribute towards bearing the load of the machine’s activation. It was a grand and ambitious plan, and the dwarf had only tentatively agreed after Orodan’s revelation of the time loops and all the allies he was gathering.

Needless to say, Varnok had made no direct commitment yet, but had said that he might come by near the end of the loop to see what this ancient machine was about and to meet everyone. Which was all Orodan wanted anyhow.

Now, on the snowy plains of Guzuhar, with the Valley of Spires visible to their west, Orodan and This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons were waiting.

“This one wonders why the lightning-bringer puts so much investment into the formative ones.”

“Does your elemental plane of lightning stand by itself? Are the mightiest Embodiers the only ones keeping vigil there?” Orodan asked in turn. “Alastaia must stand on its own two feet. This world must become capable of defending itself with or without me if it’s to prosper.”

“The lightning-bringer’s analogy does not equate. Who will invade the endless lands of stormlight? Where the mere presence of the currents reduce any beings not of the thunder to ash and energy?” the elemental lord said. “Only aberrant beings such as yourself may survive and perhaps thrive. But not for long. Even with the most curious skill of Lightning Resistance, most do not get as far as you do without the ability to heal themselves and perpetually generate energy.”

He had asked the elemental lord why it considered the Lightning Resistance skill curious once, and it had simply replied that to it, Lightning Resistance was as curious as he would consider a being with Air Resistance. And to that he had no reply and could only wonder what sort of void-dwelling being would require Air Resistance in the first place.

Still, the This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizon’s words weren’t wrong. Even if someone had higher Lightning Resistance than he did, what did it matter? They couldn’t live within the elemental plane of lightning indefinitely. Lightning was still hostile to the physical form of anyone who wasn’t an elemental of the same energy type. Over time they would suffer damage, and even if they healed, over time their energy would run out or their mental willingness to keep living in a perpetually hostile environment would erode.

Although, it was wrong about anyone not wanting to invade its dimension.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about the invulnerability of your elemental plane. After all, look what happened to the dimension of light.”

The elemental lord immediately recoiled and looked angry. But mainly, fearful and anxious.

“The lightning-bringer speaks falsities yet again!” its voice boomed. “We of the thunderous domain would not succumb the way those of the light have! Our ears are blocked from treachery against… against…”

“I did not intend to dredge up worry in you, I apologize,” Orodan spoke softly. “Rest assured, I shall not allow the Prophet, nor any Eldritch for that matter, to invade your home.”

For the elemental lord, the topic was a touchy one. For the mortals of the cosmos the news wasn’t very well known, but the fire and lightning elementals knew that long, long ago… elementals of light had existed, and for some reason unknown to them, had simply stopped appearing in the material universe. And when Orodan had revealed to This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons the truth of the matter, that the Prophet had somehow escaped the bounds of Godhood by merging itself with the dimension of light and corrupting it with Eldritch? The elemental lord hadn’t taken the news well and had vowed to wage war against the Prophet immediately.

Of course, it had taken much arguing and insistence from him that Orodan would be the one to personally take that vile zealot’s head off for the elemental to finally lay off. That and the reminder that he was in a time loop and could simply choose to not remind the elemental lord of this knowledge in the next loop. Mainly, his grand ambition to purge System space of Eldritch had given the elemental some measure of reassurance.

“The lightning bringer induces feelings of anxiety within this one… they are most unwelcome. May the lightning-bringer speak of less troublesome things? Such as when my next meal is coming?”

Orodan rolled his eyes at the greedy elemental and hurled a mighty Lightning Bolt its way.

[Burst Casting 47 → Burst Casting 48]

[Lightning Bolt 45 → Lightning Bolt 46]

[Lightning Magic Mastery 24 → Lightning Magic Mastery 25]

Over the past few loops Orodan had been stringently training his Lightning Bolt and Burst Casting. Hard not to when one’s teacher was a triple-Grandmaster mage with exacting standards on maintaining perfect control over a spell. And to add to that, feeding a hungry elemental lord on the regular also helped.

It definitely answered the question of why it was so hard to summon and contract powerful elementals on the material plane. Why would they want to come to some random world where their food would be extremely limited? Orodan though, could sidestep that problem by hurling powerful lightning magic at it.

It still complained that the quality of his lightning was dodgy, likely a nudge at the fact that he had Lightning Magic Mastery which used mana rather than Lightning Mastery, which used soul energy and was far stronger. But the sheer quantity of lightning Orodan could now produce with a Burst Cast of Lightning Bolt was no joke.

He had actually needed to hold back on this cast lest he genuinely overfeed and injure This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons. Last time that had happened, it spent an entire hour miserably sputtering and letting out uncontrolled arcs and bolts of lightning everywhere. The elemental equivalent of eating too much and throwing up.

“Delicious! This one thanks the lightning-bringer for a most filling if low-quality meal,” it spoke. “If only the formative ones possessed the same propensity for endless energy as you do.”

Orodan ignored the backhanded compliment and its increasingly ‘polite’ attempts to imply he should acquire Lightning Mastery and stop playing around with mana. Gluttonous elemental.

“Even still, they are progressing well. Zukelmux gave the head of swordsmanship at Bluefire an even fight a few days ago. Aliya has moved onto fighting Adepts now, and Edrosic beat the strongest student at Oxhead.”

And Wainroach? Orodan had a happy grin on his face as he recalled how he’d thrown her into the monster horde surrounding Anthus only to watch with pride as the place began getting lit on fire. It had been a thing of beauty and horror in equal measure. With the horror being experienced by the monsters who were on the receiving end of her pyromancy.

For a monster, fighting a regular mage was already fraught with peril enough. But to fight a target the size of a human thumb which moved as fast as a javelin and hurled all manner of horrid pyromancy? A nightmare scenario.

A good third of the casualties had been caused by friendly fire among the horde, and the other two-thirds as Wainroach roasted a good portion of them alive. Hells, more than half the time the monster horde couldn’t even see her, lost in the press of bodies as she was. Her pyromancy was advancing incredibly quickly, and she was even beginning to grow capable of making Zukelmux take her seriously if she got off to a good start.

In a fight, the strongest was Zukelmux, and then either Aliya or Wainroach depending on who was having a better day, with Edrosic now being outpaced. But that was fine, for the militia man’s ability to draw was a far more profound and horrid thing than even Zukelmux’s combat skill.

Evidenced by when Edrosic had unfurled a canvas and shown it to the goblin in the middle of a spar.

Zukelmux had remained frozen in place, utterly captivated by the portrait of a beautiful female goblin for a whole ten seconds. During which Parthus took the opportunity to press his sword against the vastly superior warrior’s neck.

Orodan had felt the emanation of soul energy from the drawing. It had been no ordinary thing.

All this was to say that his students were doing incredibly well. And as he ruminated upon that, space fluctuated and multiple beings stepped thtorugh the rift.

“Apologies for keeping you waiting. Finding a suitable item to help resist tremendous amounts of lightning was a bit of a challenge,” Eldarion spoke.

The elf was now a Transcendent and among the mightiest beings of Alastaia. The first among all the people Orodan had brought along to reach Transcendence too. He had high hopes that with Eldarion having crossed over, the remainder of them would also follow suit. The first of a spearhead group meant to defend the world.

“Given the duration we shall be there and the sheer volume of it, that is understandable, Lord Eldarion,” Adeltaj spoke, hefting his halberd over his shoulder and wearing a number of enchanted rings, bracers and an amulet. “I do hope you’ll keep us shielded from the worst of it, honored Destartes. And you as well, elemental friend.”

“This one shall draw the ambient currents away from the fragile beings of flesh and bone,” the elemental lord spoke.

“And the dothril rod I ordered forged should bear the brunt of the arcs away from us,” Destartes spoke.

“Oh… to be inexperienced in wandering the planes again. How I yearn for those days when I knew nothing and all the sights were new to my eyes…” Talricto spoke, lament in its voice. “Come. I suppose someone must keep you all alive, and if needs be, it shall be the mighty Talricto the Wanderer.”

“Thief lord, the Aged-Skyfire-Who-Explodes is still unhappy about your non-consensual taking of their frozen lightning core. Perhaps you should reconsider accompanying us,” This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons spoke.

Orodan sighed and his forehead met the palm of his hand.

“Of course you stole something from the lightning elementals too, why am I not surprised? And with my luck we’ll be right on the cusp of uncovering something critical when this victim of yours decides to come on by,” he said. “Is this aged skyfire an Embodier?”

“Correct. An elemental progenitor responsible for the birth of the skyfire type of our kind,” the elemental lord answered.

Why not? Orodan had already given one Embodiment-level elemental a beating during the fight against the Prophet. Why not add another?

Just as he was determined on setting out, one more individual came through a rift, and Orodan immediately frowned.

“No. You’re not a fighter.”

“You damn rockhead, who said anything about me fighting? You weren’t a craftsman initially either, were you? Who ran you through your paces and introduced you to that side of life?” Old Man Hannegan asked, bearing a pack which looked massive, and even then Orodan could sense the spatial storage inside as being far bigger.

He had to bite his tongue and stop the instinctive arguments that threatened to spill forth. Damn this old fool for being right. He did owe Old Man Hannegan for everything the man had taught him. Not just throughout the loops but even before.

“If you’re interested in learning how to fight, I can’t safely teach you while in an elemental plane of lightning.”

“I don’t care for that brutish side of things. I’m coming along for training.”

“…training? What sort of training is this?” Orodan asked, baffled.

“What else? Got some jobs to do.”

What? What in the hells?

“Lightning-bringer, this one has enlisted the aid of the fragile and elderly mortal to see some things mended within our home plane. If any are to bear the blame for this hasty decision, let it be this one,” the elemental lord added.

“First of all… how in the hells is Old Man Hannegan supposed to mend anything? How does he even know how to help you? Why did you even agree?” Orodan asked all at once.

“And most importantly, who’re you calling fragile and elderly you cloudhead?!”

“The wise and elderly human knows much.”

Orodan’s eyes narrowed at that answer.

“You’re reading far too much into it again. I just-”

“By the System, if you say you worked with some lightning elementals back in the day I’m going to hurl you through this dimensional opening,” Orodan interjected, refusing to believe any of this nonsense.

“Bah! Nothing like that, quit getting your head twisted up into knots. Knew a few spirit mages long ago is all, and met another pair when I was catching a drink in Vorskard.”

“You were there?” Orodan asked.

“Of course! The wizard was nice enough to give me a ride and I spent some time helping out around the city. Nice people these northerners, not deserving of the bad reputation the raider tribes get them.”

“You seem concerned, Mister Wainwright,” Eldarion spoke. “You realize that Gregory Hannegan gaining in knowledge is only a good thing, right? If it’s his protection you are concerned about, worry not. Talricto’s primary role will be securing us an exit if anything goes wrong.”

Orodan was well-aware that it was a good thing. In fact, for a while now he’d suspected that the old foreman had a real talent for this sort of handyman supervision work. Not only had the Republic always hired him instead of any outside supervisor to help clear the Mount Castarian tunnels of rubble, but even Lieutenant-General Tegin Carrotfoot had commented on how useful and knowledgeable the old man was. But, revelations of the man’s talent aside, what gave him pause was his natural protectiveness towards Old Man Hannegan.

The man was not a combatant, and in entering the dimensional plane of lightning would be subject to the real risk of death. It wasn’t the same as when an ally or student of his who could fight demanded to come along. As a warrior, Orodan could only respect their decision even if it worried him. But this was a different matter. They would have to protect him in a hostile environment where Embodiers were present and who knew what else?

“I have my reservations about this. But no part of your words is incorrect,” Orodan allowed, exhaling his concerns away.

“And if the worst should happen, just hit me over the head with that orb next loop and I’ll be fine. Feel free to tell me you told me so then,” the old foreman said and then barked out a laugh.

Truly, this shameless old fool was a little too cavalier about the notion of his death.

With their party of seven assembled, they set forth and entered the dimensional rift. They would’ve liked to bring Ozgaric along, but until Orodan figured out a method of getting the God of Trickery and Illusions out of the divine dimension reliably, that was a no-go. He was still experimenting with and learning about that divine realm of the Gods himself, so he didn’t want to act prematurely and cause any harm.

“Do as you wish old man. We’re going in; I hope you’ve come prepared,” Orodan said, moving through the dimensional rift.

He went in first, crossing the open rift which This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons had opened, and the remainder of the group followed after him.

The moment he crossed the threshold, lightning and the currents of volatile blue energy were all he knew. His Lightning Resistance warded the ambient electric arcs off and prevented any actual damage, but despite having been here three times by now, the change was still jarring and unnatural. One moment prior, in the cold plains of Guzuhar; in the next within an elemental planeof eternal thunderstorms.

That being said, Orodan was not alone.

The very next thing to come in after him was a giant metallic spire. It flew past him and out into the sea of seemingly infinite lightning. As it flew, the very arcs of electricity, the roiling currents of volatile blue… they were drawn towards it.

The metal began to glow hot as the energy of the surrounding three miles of thunderstorm began assailing it directly, and Orodan was certain that the metal was close to melting and then failing in its purpose. Those worries were laid to rest as a series of metallic golems crossed through the dimensional rift and entered too. These animated hunks of metal strode forward like brave soldiers charging an impossible position, and one-by-one they began taking the elemental load off of the lightning rod as many of the arcs of energy from the thunderous sea omnidirectional sea around them instead hit the golems.

“There we are. A far more manageable level of hostility in these environs,” Destartes said as he walked through. “I don’t think I’ve ever ventured someplace so ridiculously hostile to human life before. Or directly into an elemental plane for that matter.”

“Not enough time? Gold?” Adeltaj asked, stepping through next, his feet finding purchase upon no ground as there was nowhere to stand. So he floated in the gravity-less void which looked quite unnatural within the otherwise perpetual storm.

“Both. Alongside willing colleagues of course. This dothril lightning rod cost almost the entirety of Karilsgard’s reserves of the metal to forge… but when one is in a time loop and has the research opportunity of a lifetime, what does that matter?” Destartes replied. “Council wasn’t too thrilled, but when are they ever?”

“We must get to teaching you the ways of dimensional travel, mage. With the inter-planar forces at your command, such environments are not difficult to traverse,” Talricto said, happily floating right into the sea of energized lightning and outside the lightning rod’s area of safety.

The spider had a strange layer of dimensional force around it which caused the lightning to travel elsewhere entirely. Possible only because of the high-level of skill Talricto possessed. Given how the eight-legged wanderer had spoken of traversing many elemental planes prior, it came as no surprise that it would be well-adapted to this one.

Then, This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons and Eldarion came in through the opening.

The elemental lord’s very presence caused the ambient lightning to gather towards it, feeding it a steady natural thrum of energy. Inferior to what Orodan could provide through a Lightning Bolt hurled via Burst Casting, but still enough that he could understand why elementals found Alastaia unattractive.

Eldarion though, as befitting a Transcendent, simply spoke a singular word, soft in its volume.

And the storm around them noticeably lessened in its intensity.

“Well it’s good to see that your Transcendence is paying dividends,” Destartes said. “Balastion must’ve felt jilted, given his refusal to come with.”

“Or he simply wished to remain upon Alastaia to coordinate things in case anything were to happen?” the elf replied, not lowering himself to the level of insulting a former rival. Within a few loops, the first emperor and the Transcendent elf had genuinely begun to understand and appreciate one another better. “Not all of us can go gallivanting off into an elemental plane. Someone has to stay behind. He is also closer than you think to reaching my level.”

And if anyone was the authority on attesting to that, it would be the elf, as he regularly trained with Balastion the most out of anyone present save Orodan.

Still, there was one more member of their little group, and that man made his presence known as a ring of air propelled him through the void of the elemental plane of lightning and towards them.

“Clumsy little thing! How do you even operate this reliably?” Old Man Hannegan complained as he flailed about, floating in the void and struggling to stay oriented.

“Helps if you keep an eye on certain objects to start with and try to remember their orientation towards one another. A feel for three-dimensional, gravity-less movement will come after,” Orodan spoke, recalling his first few fights in the void between stars where it was all too easy to lose bearing and be stuck wondering where the enemy and his destination were.

“Alright, I believe we’ve wasted enough time. We should move on. I for one, am excited to explore an elemental plane. For too long have the resources to do so been denied to me, and my potential expeditionaries unwilling or woefully lacking in preparation,” Destartes spoke, a genuine smile of excitement and wonder on the old wizard’s face. “But no more. Today, in this loop, we shall explore. And we shall document the phenomena Mister Wainwright is seeking to study.”

“And assist this one in mending some of the abodes,” This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons booed cheerfully.

Finding one’s way in the elemental plane of lightning wasn’t easy. It was not a forest, marsh or snowy winterscape which could be navigated through skilled knowledge of the wilderness and good Pathfinding. It was an entirely non-human plane, ubiquitously composed of an element which was quite hostile to biological life as he knew it.

The lightning elementals of course had great senses for how to navigate their home plane; being in tune with the electrical currents and arcs of energy. This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons was capable of reading the currents. But Orodan certainly wasn’t. That being said, he had been here four times now and had a relatively passable understanding of the foreign environment.

And traversing an elemental plane radically different to anything he’d known on any planet he’d been to was great for a certain skill.

[Pathfinding 68 → Pathfinding 69]

Unlike the others who remained within the ‘bubble’ of safety provided by the combination of multiple people working together, Orodan instead ventured out into the lightning, not bothered by it.

“This one sees that the lightning-bringer is familiar with our home. How many loops of travel have you spent here?” the elemental lord asked.

“Four so far,” Orodan replied. “And it’s not too bad once you learn to identify the differing power in each arc and the patterns in the landscape.”

[Vision of Purity 93 → Vision of Purity 94]

Vision of Purity, a skill he hadn’t improved in a while, was being put through some excellent training here. Not only was the majority of the lightning here pure, but there was just so much of it that his sight was being put through much just to function. Furthermore, using the skill, he could differentiate the levels of power between certain currents and others, and using that, had identified patterns such as which thunderstorms in the distance certain electric currents came from and whether the thunderstorms would be of requisite power to have those soul-creating spheres of lightning near them.

He didn’t do anything quie as fancy as ‘sensing’ the lightning, although there was certainly a skill for that which most if not all of these elementals had. But he was reading the trends, noticing the patterns and making very accurate estimates based off of that. It was a set of probabilities, one after the other. A fantastic exercise for Pathfinding and Vision of Purity.

“Oh, look. Frozen lightning of the energized sort,” Old Man Hannegan spoke, drawing everyone’s attention to it. “More of that can be found around the centers of certain perpetual storms. In fact, since we’re seeing one here, I think we’ve got one of those nearby.”

“What? How do you even know that?” Orodan asked, befuddled. “I’ve been around these parts four times now and have yet to see any perpetual storms.”

“Even this one is not aware of any perpetual storms in the area… perhaps the wise but frail one is mistaken?” This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons suggested.

“Ah… just keep going forward. Let’s find this lightning sphere you’re after,” the old foreman spoke, floating along at the center of the party.

As they moved, Destartes took many readings, Eldarion spoke to the many small but friendly elementals which flitted by their group, and Adeltaj often practiced shadow drills with his halberd, taking inspiration from the lightning.

Of course… the real problem of traveling with a party soon became apparent.

“Orodan, we must help these elementals!” Adeltaj heroically declared.

The pitiful-looking wisps of lightning, young and looking malnourished, complained of their regular feeding grounds being overtaken by a group of older and stronger ones. Needless to say, Orodan and Adeltaj were rather similar in their outlook of making a problem their problem if they encountered one.

Which naturally meant they diverted course, gave the big elementals a beating and told them to stop bullying the younger ones.

“Mister Wainwright, we must study the profound arcs of energy running between these two spires of frozen lightning. Look how the energy roils… in observing this you might improve your own Lightning Bolts further,” Destartes said, capturing still moments with a scrying eye orb.

Orodan’s gaze, which hadn’t even considered those sorts of currents before, now fell upon them and noticed the profundity of the natural phenomena. He left with an additional level in Lightning Magic Mastery for it.

“My friend, could I trouble you that we might stay a moment and converse with this elder elemental? It appears to know some of the younger elementals we have contracted to our spirit mages on Alastaia. An opportunity for great cross-cultural exchange,” Eldarion spoke.

And this too, Orodan obliged as the elven Transcendent spoke to an odd sort of lightning elemental which wasn’t composed purely of lightning, but of frozen lightning, perpetually energized with currents from within. Not all lightning elementals were the same type. This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons was a storm elemental, a sub-type. Similarly, there were other sorts, such as the skyfires and the energized frozen lightnings.

And the elf’s conversation had inadvertently taught Orodan much about the plane as Eldarion asked questions and drew out answers about the particulars about their customs and way of life.

And of course… although it should not have surprised him by now, was Old Man Hannegan.

“Say, Orodan, got a minor job I need to lend a hand with around these parts. Got a moment to make a detour?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t we?”

And so they went off-course again and he was treated to the ridiculous sight of the old foreman meeting with a group of lightning elementals attempting to construct a sphere of frozen lightning for a well-respected elemental lord to sleep within. The elemental lord was frustrated with how slowly the construction was going and these elementals in general didn’t look as though they were any good at manual labor or planning the way the mortal races of the material plane were.

A problem solved within moments as Old Man Hannegan got to barking out orders.

“You! With the spiralling arcs, focus on keeping that section energized and only move onto the next section after your fellow’s done treating theirs!” the old foreman yelled. “And you! With the wobbling bits of frozen lightning! Yes, I’m talking to you! Get your head out of the clouds and make sure the grooves are mapped before you let that one carve them out! By the hells… does nobody around here know how to work fulgurite? This is an embarrassment! Move over!”

Even Destartes was watching with rapt fascination, moving his dothril lightning rod forward so that the old man could safely step forward. The wizard, he and everyone else in the party could only watch as Old Man Hannegan brought out a coal marker and began sternly lecturing the lightning elemental on what the correct sequence of work was and how to properly do its job.

Orodan frowned in confusion as against all odds, the elemental began to do a proper job after the explanation and rebuke. It wasn’t that the old foreman knew how to do its job better than it could… but rather he simply directed it to work correctly and efficiently. He… supervised them.

“How long have you known of this?” Orodan asked the wizard who was now smiling.

“Since the first loop you brought me along. He pulled me aside and asked for help in getting to some rather… far-flung places. I did not think much of it then, but once I saw what he was doing…” Destartes muttered. “Let me just say, Mister Wainwright, that while Edrosic’s drawings are well and good, I think this foreman who you’ve known for so long might be the true monster.”

Orodan had to wonder… could he have even built the warehouse as quickly as he did without the old man being around each time? Had his crafts gained levels as quickly only because of his presence? In his mind he began comparing how quickly his crafting skills rose in level while working with Old Man Hannegan versus when training elsewhere. How he had acquired the Legendary Wood Communion early on, something he really had no particular talent for. How he had always brought new techniques and crafts to bear in building the warehouse and gained levels while under this taskmaster’s supervision, even while befuddling him from time to time in early loops.

Was Old Man Hannegan perhaps… the real prodigy of Alastaia?

“Or he’s simply the most reliable supervisor you’ll ever find,” Zaessythra remarked. “Even in another dimension.”

A point that was looking truer by the second as the sphere of frozen lightning meant for an elemental lord saw visibly quicker progress towards being made.

“Orodan! Get over here! I need someone who can work a chisel to smooth out some of these grooves.”

What else could he do but comply? Especially when the prospect of free training was involved.

It was a hollow sphere of fulgurite, meant to house a storm elemental so that it could rest. He didn’t understand how their bodies worked, but supposedly it was quite relaxing and rejuvenating for a storm elemental to enter and let itself loose within one of these hollowed out structures. Furthermore, the rock was energized, with arcs if electricity running through it and pulsing at all times, which meant that not only did he have to consider the regular side of Stonecutting, but also the notion that carving it wrong could lead to energy leakage; something quite undesirable for any elemental dwelling in one of these. Unfortunately for the elemental lord commissioning the structure, its kind didn’t have five-fingered hands and opposable thumbs like the mortal races did. They weren’t very good at craftsmanship of this sort and importing something from the material plane was expensive.

But that was why Orodan was here.

Over the next thirty minutes, he worked on smoothing out the interior and even the grain pattern of the frozen lightning sphere as best he could.

[Stonecutting 47 → Stonecutting 49]

Two levels gained by the end of it. Working with energized rock was harder than he thought it would be and he had to be careful to avoid working the rock incorrectly lest he create a leak.

But he had done it. And in just thirty minutes he had gained two levels in Stonecutting. Progress which outstripped anything else.

Further proof of the fact that Old Man Hannegan was the difference-maker.

“Such smooth granulation to it… this one feels invigorated just looking upon the abode you have created, lightning-bringer. If you reveal too many of your talents too freely, then the elemental progenitors might not allow you to leave,” This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons spoke.

The elemental lord who commissioned the structure though, was ecstatic too

“Walkers of the energy-less plane… you have greatly pleased me today. Might I keep this wise old human with me?”

Orodan’s reply was immediate and got it to back off.

From there, the group finally moved on and began nearing the spheres.

The dimensional boundary subtly shifted in a familiar way and with a grace he only knew a certain spider to be capable of. He felt eight legs plop onto his shoulder, shifting through the dimensional boundary to appear.

“I noticed you went off to go sightseeing earlier. Seen anything useful?” Orodan asked.

“Besides the fruitless bickering of elemental lords, a duel between two elemental kings and the progenitors slumbering in their usual spots, not much. Though I’ll admit, the boundary does look a little more frayed than I’m used to. The timing does coincide perfectly with the start of your loops,” Talricto spoke.

“Oh? You were not aware? As you know, the System is hardly everywhere. Even in the material plane, but also within the elemental dimensions. Just like when you were thrown out of its bounds in the material plane during that miserable loop you spoke of, so too does a boundary exist here within all the elemental planes,” Talricto explained. “And that boundary is tested quite often.”

Orodan knew that a foreign and hostile Boundless One was continually attempting to breach System space right from the start of his loops. Ever since he had empowered the time loop mechanism himself and supercharged it to the point that it encompassed all of reality, that had started. Of course, the System encompassed many dimensions, and the material plane was only one of them.

It made sense that things attempting to breach the sanctity of the space carved out by the Eldritch Boundless One would try other dimensions as an avenue too.

Which Administrators defended the bounds of these dimensions? Orodan could only wonder that as the party finally reached the nearest sphere of lightning that he knew of.

It was a meeting of two gigantic, perpetual lightning bolts. No mere flashes like many of the other currents in the ambient environment of this dimension were. The bolts came from somewhere deep within the plane of lightning, and two of them just so happened to meet head-on, creating a perpetual but volatile sphere of pure electric energy.

A sphere within which new elementals were periodically born.

“Genesis… the meeting of two primordial bolts against one another, and from it… life,” This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons spoke.

“You know… I don’t think I ever asked where these primordial bolts come from. Almost everything else in here pulses or goes out after a singular flash, but I’ve never seen these things fade,” Orodan said, staring at the perpetual bolts of energy coming from… somewhere.

“This one does not know from where… but the elderly ones often say that it came from a time before the life we know. A breath of life from the very first of our kind. A first-born of lightning itself,” the elemental lord answered, as though speaking of a myth.

“Like veins… we passed a few of these primordial and perpetual lightning bolts, and they seem an awful lot like the veins running through a human body. But, that is going off-topic,” Destartes spoke and then inclined his head at him. “Mister Wainwright, for long have I dreamt of exploring an elemental plane, a dream I thought impossible with the circumstances of my life. But it is a dream you have helped me realize. In fact, you have helped each of us find something in here. Now, it is our turn to help you. Let us peer into this sphere whose inner-workings elude even you.”

Orodan dismissed the gratitude in the old mage’s voice, not deeming the praise necessary. But this… this was what he had sought power for all along. Each time the loops ended, it would all reset. But with Fenton’s orb that was no longer the case. He could truly be the pillar upon which the dreams of others could become reality.

Perhaps for even more than just these people once the mad idea in his head came to fruition.

“You give me too much credit. You could have entered this dimension just fine yourself,” Orodan brushed off.

“And die to any number of hostile elementals who would see me as a human intruder and not a guest under the protection of our elemental friend here?” the wizard asked. “Anyhow, let us focus on the matter at hand. You mentioned that actually seeing what is occurring is the problem?”

“Aye, and despite what Adeltaj suggests, I have no interest in visiting a brothel,” Orodan firmly reiterated while glaring at the old halberdier who only smiled in response.

“We will spare you the horror, Mister Wainwright,” the wizard spoke, producing a device from his spatial ring. “Let us see if we cannot peer past the elemental interference and see exactly what is occurring.”

The problem with observing the phenomena was twofold.

One, the sheer amount of lightning radiating off of these primordial lightning bolts was tremendous. It was absolutely titanic in a way even Orodan hadn’t seen before; nowhere had he seen lightning of such quality. Hells, even This-One-Who-Electrifies-Horizons had said that it couldn’t properly absorb or digest the primordial lightning due to it being too high-quality for it. But despite the sheer amount of it, the actual lethality of the electricity wasn’t very high or else he’d have been diving in to train Lightning Resistance. But… that he suspected was by the design of whoever or whatever was responsible for producing them. If meant to be lethal… Orodan wasn’t sure if he would survive even with his existing resistance skill.

The first problem meant that actually seeing how the soul formed via Vision of Purity was a tall task. In fact, a solid portion of his gains in the skill came from attempting to peer past the sheer amount of lightning. It was as though new elementals were just appearing from within it, pushed out of the sphere of collision between the two primordial bolts of energy.

Second, was that the newly created souls didn’t tell him much about how they were made. Like the soul of a newborn babe, these newly formed elementals were entirely pure, completely undetectable via Vision of Purity unless he switched to seeing everything around him as dirty. And they had no distinguishable features on their souls at all. Which, like newborn infants, meant they were a blank slate. Possibly even more so since a newborn infant had some interaction with its mother’s womb and the voices of those outside. These creatures were completely and entirely fresh, knowing nothing at all.

But the wizard he had brought along seemed to have a solution for that.

“What’s that?” Orodan asked, looking at the series of metal cubes Destartes brought out.

“Dothril from the abyssal depths. From the poorly fated expedition to those depths the Republic attempted a few centuries ago,” Destartes explained, surrounding the cubes with magic before sending each one out to a very specific spot near the collision sphere. “Quite possibly the strongest metal we have available. Although even it won’t last for more than a moment. But that’s not a problem with your abilities, correct?”

Orodan caught on quick.

“Chronomancy? Or my quick eye?”

“The former. These cubes have been very carefully calibrated by an artificer to draw the excess primordial lightning away from the sphere. They will not last long… but with the excess cleared away from the surface…”

“I can properly see the inner workings. And reverse time to bring the cubes back as needed,” Orodan finished. “Alright, this seems a smart plan.”

Destartes nodded, sending the cubes out via Telekinesis to surround the sphere of primordial lightning as closely as possible. Although the old man looked to be under visible strain and his mana pool draining quickly under the tremendous effort of keeping the magical barriers surrounding the cube intact. The primordial lightning, naturally, wanted to strike the metal. And keeping a barrier up to prevent that natural attraction was straining him greatly.

“Now, Mister Wainwright! I cannot hold on for more than a few seconds!”

Orodan nodded and gestured to Destartes to let go of the barriers surrounding the cubes. And almost immediately the arcs of primordial energy left the sphere of collision and struck the dozens of cubes surrounding it.

The cubes, reinforced as they were, did worse than expected and vaporized almost instantly. But for the briefest of moments…

No Time Reversal had been necessary. RIght away as he saw it, he realized it. Almyra’s theory had been true. That the soul could not form in a vacuum. It needed two things: the conditions for life, and the presence of another soul. There were other things which influenced it too, such as any significant events around the soul, memories, life experiences and the personalities of those contributing to the life portion. Hells, a child could supposedly even be conceived in an alchemical vat, according to some of the experiments Almyra wrote about the blood mages of her galaxy doing. But even in those cases, events, objects or memories of significance needed to be around. In a vacuum, without at least one of those things, the soul couldn’t be birthed from nothing. The previous time looper’s conjectures had all proven true as Orodan watched the formation of the lightning elementals.

The conditions of life for a lightning elemental were simple enough within this collision of two separate primordial lightning bolts, the lightning itself was abundant… almost living. And the soul?

That, Orodan realized now… as the bolts of primordial lightning weren’t actually lightning. No, they were extensions of something’s soul.

Something which was now looking very squarely at him. Just as he had noticed it, so too had it noticed him. And by the hells was it massive.

“Talricto get them out. Now.”

The command in his tone couldn’t be missed, and the spider complied, immediately shifting the other six out of the area and hopefully back to Alastaia.

But Orodan? The primordial bolts of lightning separated from their slumbering collision against each other and suddenly moved. They shifted and traveled with frightening speed, making way for him.

His sword erupted and cleaved against the first, a Smite of Abrupt Deliverance, but it was of no use at all. It simply overpowered his attack and pushed past. Yet oddly enough, it didn’t even seem intent on harming him, simply wrapping around him…

The moment the primordial lightning touched his soul, he felt the enormity of the presence. Its soul was now in contact with his own, and he could truly gauge just how powerful it was and where it lay.

His mind strained, but managed to comprehend how veins of its massive thunderous form were spread all across the elemental plane of lightning. How old it was, having existed long before the Eldritch Boundless had even sealed System space away and begun empowering it, and how portions of its form were trapped between the boundary of System space within the elemental plane and the remaining majority of the elemental plane outside of it.

In the same league as that thing he’d met which had shattered his System entirely and forced him to create a new one.

[Lightning Resistance 51 → Lightning Resistance 62]

Electric power enough to destroy portions of a galaxy flowed through its touch. And despite it not even trying to harm him, Orodan was nearly killed on the spot.

The knowledge and insights his allies had gained during this loop… it would be lost if he didn’t get back and managed to absorb it into Fenton’s orb. He refused to go quietly.

His own soul energy erupted, and it appeared surprised. As though a child looking at a bug which could glow in the dark. It recoiled backward giving him some space, not even having realized how tumultuous its power was.

And before Orodan and it could converse any further, he felt the stirring of the dimensional boundary.

A familiar face, one he despised, came through wielding a scepter and holy book full of lies. As did another, wielding a mage’s staff and covered with enough elemental power and an array of spells which would cause any Alastaian mage to faint on sight out of awe.

Two Administrators. The Prophet and the Mage.

“Tch! Who has awoken the slumbering child?” the Prophet asked, angry.

He detested this sick zealot. But its crimes did not erase the fact that it would defend the sanctity of System space from outside invaders.

But before the two of them could see him; just as he thought to engage in battle then and there, he felt the irksome pull of a dimensional bubble encapsulating him, and eight legs pulling him back to the material plane.

Orodan would have normally fought it, struggled to remain in such a fight. But he needed to think of more than just himself.

His allies’ memories needed to be preserved. And this new Boundless One hadn’t even been hostile.

But more importantly was all he had learned from this critical expedition. The sights had been brief, but he had seen them clearly. He had understood what needed to occur.

The secrets he had seen regarding the creation of the soul within that sphere. And the profundity of that Boundless One’s soul which could extend out into veins reaching far.

Perhaps he had been approaching the process of replicating Action Increases incorrectly.

Maybe it was time to revisit his training with the spider dragons from a new perspective.

Like that… five more loops passed.

Five more loops where he had the resources of all three continents of Alastaia funneled towards developing him and the people of importance alongside him. Five loops where he compressed time and got fifty extra days per loop totalling two months per loop total.

It added up to just under a year altogether.

Orodan trained, taught, died and repeated like a madman. Except this time he wasn’t the only one.

His students had grown strong… very strong. And the Grandmasters who were with him? They had all achieved Transcendence under hellish training. And throughout it all, Alastaia’s nations had grown efficient right from the start of each loop as Balastion, Eldarion, Destartes, Adeltaj and Ozgaric had all focused on developing their respective nations and continents. With endless tries, which ruler couldn’t figure out the optimal ways of organizing and making efficient the various systems and institutions of their countries?

As for the God of Illusions and Trickery himself, Orodan had big plans. He had plans for all of Alastaia’s Gods and Goddesses who were interested in defending the planet and not wreaking havoc upon it. The bonds between all of them who had been brought along via Fenton’s orb, had grown. Many odd friendships among them too.

Now, sitting in the war room of Anthus once more, everyone was present. Some of them, glowing with power and new abilities.

“Mister Wainwright?” Tegin Carrotfoot asked. “I wasn’t quite expecting you to bring such a deadly ensemble into my city today.”

“Apologies, General. But I think this loop… this loop we are ready.”

Orodan looked up, reviewing his current Status screen.

Name: Orodan Wainwright

Title 1: Wainwrighting Apprentice

Title 2: Weaving Adept

Title 3: Alchemy Elite

Bearer Of A Celestial Skill

Wielder Of A Mythical Skill

One Who Has Experienced Death

Embodiment ofPerfect Cleaning

Embodiment of Cleaning

Infinity Transcendent

Unarmed Combat Transcendent

Dimensionalism Master

Construction Apprentice

Wainwrighting Apprentice

Lightning Magic Apprentice

Domain Of Perfect Cleaning 178 (Embodiment - Celestial)

Incipience of Infinity 149 (Transcendent - Celestial)

Warrior’s Reciprocity 97 (Master - Mythical)

Smite of Abrupt Deliverance 96 (Master - Mythical)

Balance Maker 89 (Elite - Mythical)

Reality Alteration 86 (Elite - Mythical)

Eldritch Resistance 68 (Adept - Mythical)

Divine Resistance 58 (Adept - Mythical)

Dimensional Resistance 31 (Apprentice - Mythical)

Elemental Living Enchantment 45 (Apprentice - Mythical)

Absolute Body Composition 10 (Initiate - Mythical)

Harmony of Vitality 100 (Grandmaster - Legendary)

Endless Blitz 99 (Master - Legendary)

Vision of Purity 98 (Master - Legendary)

Unassailable Fortress 97 (Master - Legendary)

Bulwark Physical Resistance 92 (Master - Legendary)

Time Reversal 89 (Elite - Legendary)

Draconic Fireball 89 (Elite - Legendary)

Fate Disconnect 85 (Elite - Legendary)

Body Tempering 81 (Elite - Legendary)

Wood Communion 76 (Elite - Legendary)

Mana Resistance 72 (Elite - Legendary)

Commandment of War 60 (Adept - Legendary)

Dimensional Step 48 (Apprentice - Legendary)

Time Mastery 96 (Master - Exquisite)

Dimensionalism 95 (Master - Exquisite)

Iron Body 93 (Master - Exquisite)

Psionic Resistance 90 (Master - Exquisite)

Draconic Mana Channelling 82 (Elite - Exquisite)

Fire Resistance 76 (Elite - Exquisite)

Lightning Resistance 71 (Adept - Exquisite)

Burst Casting 64 (Adept - Exquisite)

Vitality Destruction 61 (Adept - Exquisite)

Ice Resistance 50 (Adept - Exquisite)

Wind Resistance 43 (Apprentice - Exquisite)

Water Resistance 42 (Apprentice - Exquisite)

Spatial Shift 34 (Apprentice - Exquisite)

Light Resistance 26 (Initiate - Exquisite)

Curse Resistance 9 (Initiate - Exquisite)

Space Mastery 100 (Grandmaster - Rare)

Teleportation 99 (Master - Rare)

Acid Resistance 85 (Elite - Rare)

Fate Mastery 38 (Apprentice - Rare)

Gourmand 29 (Initiate - Rare)

Spatial Fold 92 (Master - Uncommon)

Mana Manipulation 85 (Elite - Uncommon)

Shield Intent 84 (Elite - Uncommon)

Shield Throw 76 (Elite - Uncommon)

Fate Reading 64 (Adept - Uncommon)

Lightning Bolt 60 (Adept - Uncommon)

Halberd Throw 53 (Adept - Uncommon)

Wainwrighting 46 (Apprentice - Uncommon)

Flash Freeze 45 (Apprentice - Uncommon)

Light Beam 42 (Apprentice - Uncommon)

Earthen Construct 34 (Apprentice - Uncommon)

Waterstream 30 (Apprentice - Uncommon)

Gunsmithing 28 (Initiate - Uncommon)

Combat Mastery 145 (Transcendent)

Unarmed Combat Mastery 111 (Transcendent)

Shield Mastery 99 (Master)

Sword Mastery 99 (Master)

Physical Fitness 99 (Master)

Enchanting 94 (Master)

Wrestling 92 (Master)

Woodworking 84 (Elite)

Tool Mastery 83 (Elite)

Blacksmithing 80 (Elite)

Pathfinding 72 (Elite)

Fire Magic Mastery 70 (Elite)

Jewelcrafting 68 (Adept)

Halberd Mastery 65 (Adept)

Stonecutting 59 (Adept)

Engineering 54 (Adept)

Spear Mastery 54 (Adept)

Club Mastery 53 (Adept)

Artificing 53 (Adept)

Surprise Attack 51 (Adept)

Candleflame 48 (Apprentice)

Construction 43 (Apprentice)

Maintenance 42 (Apprentice)

Sprinting 39 (Apprentice)

Gathering 39 (Apprentice)

Mana Bolt 38 (Apprentice)

Galewind 38 (Apprentice)

Lightning Magic Mastery 36 (Apprentice)

Towing 32 (Apprentice)

Logistics 31 (Apprentice)

Stealth 30 (Apprentice)

Calligraphy 28 (Initiate)

Swimming 27 (Initiate)

Smelting 25 (Initiate)

Recycling 22 (Initiate)

Walking 21 (Initiate)

Butchering 19 (Initiate)

Light Magic Mastery 18 (Initiate)

Magical Rituals 18 (Initiate)

Masonry 18 (Initiate)

Observe 17 (Initiate)

Deception 15 (Initiate)

Identify 15 (Initiate)

Lumberjacking 14 (Initiate)

Skinning 13 (Initiate)

Parkour 12 (Initiate)

Thievery 6 (Initiate)

He had grown strong over the last five loops of focused training. Every sort of specialist had been brought in to help him develop, and it had paid off. His skills had grown all across the board. And with the insights he acquired and the concept he was developing and holding in reserve… he had a real fighting chance at beating back his pursuers and securing his world this loop.

The Embodiers? Orodan had, over the last five loops, gotten closer and closer to beating them. He had managed to push the goat-woman so far that other Embodiers began showing up as well. Among these foes, were some truly mighty and eccentric characters. But even them, he was beginning to give a run for their gold.

True, the current him was inadequate to face the challenges coming his way. But with the concept he had been slowly meditating upon this entire time… it would be a different matter.

“I… I see. The real question then… is are you ready?” the halfling asked.

“I am. It is time to head to Lonvoron and bring Fenton Penny back. It is time to earnestly prepare the defense of Alastaia. This loop, we will win and carve out our own place among the cosmos.”

And with it… the return of someone who had been sidelined for far too long.