Zorian stomped into the room and slammed the door shut, a soul bond he didn't know before? But after a day in the library, it was still annoying to go home empty-handed.

The books all repeat the same warning he received in his first year: Soul Binding is a dangerous and little-known branch of magic that can cause some rather dire side effects if used recklessly. Every once in a while, some well-informed couple thinks that soul union is the most romantic thing ever,

But a few months later, when the problem arose, it all ended in tears and lawsuits.

The main problem is that one of the participants usually dominates the other mentally, making them more like themselves in mind and soul, not to mention the disturbing obedience and deference.

This is a good thing when animals are bound to demonic beings, because it is always animals that are dominated by humans, however, sentient beings usually have their entire personality and worldview magically subverted because of someone. Until the soul bond ends, turning them into slave clones,

Zorian combed his hair with trembling hands and began to wipe his glasses with the hem of his shirt to calm himself. He really wished he was wrong, that there was no soul bond between him and Zach. Zach has 6 times the mana reserve of Zorian's theoretical maximum, is naturally more outgoing and confident, and – due to being in the time loop much longer than Zorian – may also be decades older than him. There is no need to guess who will dominate between the two of them!

The worst part is that he can't even ask for help. He is very sure that the soul bond, or whatever it is, is the reason why he and Zach are cycling together.

If he asks someone for help, they will insist on cutting off contact, which will cause him to lose everything he gained in the time loop, including memories, once Zach starts again at the end of the month.

Yes, that's complete over.

He took a few deep breaths and put his glasses back on. Perhaps he was too fatalistic in his approach to things. Considering the huge gap between him and Zach, he should have gone through quite a personality shift by now, but he won't be submissive to anyone, especially Zach. Apparently things are not as bad as they seem. He may well be too sensitive.

There was a knock on the door. Who might—oh. Right. Thai.

He sighed heavily. Just what he needed right now, he finally opened the door.

"Hi Roach!"

"Hi, Thai," Zorian said in a slightly painful tone. "It's great that you're here to visit me. Do you want to come in?

As soon as he let her in, Tevon immediately did what she always did - she jumped on his bed and made herself comfortable. Zorian shrugged and chased after him. It's better to end it quickly.

"You haven't graduated yet, have you?" He asked. "You said you were going to explore after graduation, what happened?"

She gave him a sour look. "It's not that simple. No adventure activities will take beginners with them. I need a full-fledged explorer to take me as an apprentice. I'm looking for it. ”

She admitted. "But I'm not really looking for a job at this point. I actually wanted to build my reputation and get people noticed by doing tasks. In fact, that's what I've come to talk to you about – I hope you'll be able to work with me and a few others tomorrow. ”

"Sounds suspicious," Zorian said. "How can a mere third grade help you?"

"Well, fill in our number?" Thaivin replied. "Only four people can accept this job, and now there is one shortage of three."

"Why do you need four?" Zorian asked, knowing from the previous reboot that this was the quickest way to stop Thaivin's excuse.

"It's said to be dangerous," Tavein huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "The old man overreacted. From what he told us, the spider wasn't even that big. ”

"Spiders?" Zorian urged.

"Yes," Tevin said hesitantly, realizing that she shouldn't have mentioned it. "Spider." You know, the hairy eight-legged—"

"Thai," Zorian warned.

"Oh, come on, Roach, I beg you!" Tevin wailed. "I swear it's not as dangerous as it sounds! We've been in the tunnel hundreds of times, and it's not dangerous at all! We can easily protect you! ”

"Hundreds of times?" Zorian asked, confused.

"Well, at least a dozen times," she softened.

He probably won't be able to do anything productive for at least a week, as his soul bond with Zach weighs heavily on his mind. Suffice it to say, a distracting walk in the sewer may be just what the doctor ordered.

"Of course," he said.

"Really!?" She screamed.

"Yes, really," Zorian confirmed. "Before I change my mind, tell me where I'll see you tomorrow."

A few minutes later, Tevin left, thanked him deeply, and kissed him on the cheek, "because he was a friend," and ran to ...... Wherever she was going, he guessed. He didn't ask, because her kiss was so shocking, even though it was harmless. He was a little angry with himself because he was so affected by a stupid kiss on the cheek that he was still too sensitive. After all, he had a crush on her.

Fed up with the day, he drank a bottle of sleeping potion. Hopefully, things will become clearer after a good night's rest.

。。。。。 Two......

The next morning, he woke up with a clear head and things didn't seem as hopeless as the day before. He had been rushing to conclusions and needed more information. He would love to skip class for a day and go to the library again, but he doubted that there would be no access to properly address a restricted subject like soul bonds. Besides, there's one person in his class who definitely has to talk to - Brian, the guy with the dragon envoy. Of course, one already has a soul connection with another animal and can tell him more about those damn things.

"I see you have a fire dragon of your own," he whispered, sitting beside Brian, ignoring the dragon's menacing hiss. I don't know why, in the previous reboot, that grumpy beast wouldn't attack him,

"Is he someone you know well?"

"Yes," Brian confirmed, apparently pleased with it. "In fact, I only got in touch with him this summer. It's a little weird at first, but I think I've got the hang of it. ”

"Strange?" Zorian asked. "Why?"

"Well, mostly because the bond is there, you know?" Brian said.

"So is this connection felt?" Zorian said thoughtfully, trying not to get excited. He didn't feel anything. "Is this normal? Can everyone who has a soul connection feel their connection? ”

"No, not everyone," Briam said with a laugh. "Only a handful of people can, and no one knows why. But I can. I think I've been lucky in that regard. ”

"You know," Zorian tried, "I've always had a ...... for the Pet and the Soul Bond Academic Interests......"

Thankfully, Briam didn't find anything suspicious about Zorian's interests and was happy to satisfy Zorian's curiosity. What Burian told him was funny, to say the least. According to him, soul binding spells are actually some sort of ritual that takes at least 10 minutes to cast properly, and often more time. Not something you're projecting as a regular call. And, when this bond is properly fastened to the participants, they will feel something.

A lot of what Zorian has experienced in the time loop so far can be seen as signs of the development of the soul bond.

For example, he has slightly more mana reserves than he did at the beginning of the time loop, but there's nothing special about the increase. This is most likely the result of his regular combat magic practice, rather than the result of the soul bond distorting his soul to be more aligned with Zach's. The spells the lich cast on them are definitely not ...... But then again, that's a lich. Who knows what kind of magic such a creature possesses?

All in all, the connection between him and Zach is very weak, maybe it's only half-formed? According to Briam, this connection requires physical contact and a lot of interaction between participants to mature. That's why he takes his fire dragon with him wherever he goes at this time.

He's only had one interaction with Zach so far, and with almost all of the boy's reboots away from the Academy, he'll avoid contact with another time traveler from now on until he can figure out what's going on.

Admittedly, it will take a while. He really should make a study plan for himself. So far, what he's learned has been fairly casual. Moreover, before breaking through the time loop, he also wanted to grow a little more in terms of mages, because he never had such a chance again. But this kind of chaotic approach is no longer appropriate - he wants to break the soul bond as soon as possible and find a way out of the time loop as soon as possible.

Wait a minute, he'll have to meet up with Thaiwen and her friends in the evening. Why did he agree again? Oh yes, he had a moment of madness. He would have at least some help from her in doing so. Oh, live and learn.

Thaivin chose an extremely distant meeting place, so Zorian needed to travel a long way. Apparently, there was a meeting place for chess players in a park in Theoria, and Thai was a regular visitor.

A few minutes later, when he stumbled upon a small bridge in the park, he realized why it was familiar. Here he meets the crying little girl whose bicycle fell into the creek, which was before the time loop. He looked curiously at the stream under the bridge, wanting to see if the bike was still there. Unsurprisingly, this is not the case. Yesterday's heavy rain turned the creek into a raging rapid, and the bike was undoubtedly swept up and swept away by the current.

There was a kitten, probably a very small cat, looking lonely at the raging stream. The cat turned its head to look at him, and when their eyes met, he was struck by a strong feeling of sadness and loss, and a little uneasy, he quickened his pace and hurriedly left the strange little black cat behind. He doesn't want to play with the cat just yet. Let's do it!

Finally, he found the meeting place. Quite and almost all old people here. Real old people. A group of teenagers from Thaiwen stood out, and Zorian decided to approach cautiously.

Thaiwen's friends are a pair of rough, muscular boys who should go to the boxing ring. Ha.

One of the old men was frowning at the chessboard in front of him, contemplating his next move, while Thaiwen and another boy sat on either side of him. Thaivin was visibly impatient and bored, and at one point he really tried to grab a statue from the board to pass the time, only to be thwarted by the players.

The other boy was more relaxed, lazily observing his surroundings like a watchdog. It was the other boy who noticed him and pointed him out to two other people.

"Cockroaches!" Thaiwen waved his hand. "Thank goodness I'm starting to worry that you'll never show up!"

"I'm not late," Zorian protested.

"Roach, I want you to get to know my two minions, Gollum and Mamble. Gollum, this is my good friend Roach. ”

Zorian rolled his eyes. At least he's not the only one who gets this stupid nickname.

"Damn, I told you not to introduce us like that!" One of the boys protested. It's more out of the power of habit.

"I'm Zorrian," he replied, so why did he tell them his last name? Ha.

"That's right!" Thai said enthusiastically. "Now that we're done, shall we begin?"

"I'll wait until I'm done with this game." The chess player said lightly.

"I hate that game," Tevin complained. "Get a seat, Roach. This may take a while. ”

Zorian smacked his tongue in exasperation. He wasn't much of a chess player.

。。。。 Three....

The dungeon is an extremely dangerous place. Also known as hell, labyrinth, or whatever, it's a huge network of caves and tunnels spread beneath the surface of the world. At first glance, this place seems to be every mage's dream come true - the deeper you go into the endless depths of the dungeon's cave system, the higher the level of mana around you, and all kinds of monsters live in the tunnels, and the deeper you go, the more powerful and strange they become. Even the archmage tries not to go too deep when exploring the dungeon, a must!

Like many other cities, Kooria made use of the dungeons beneath it when building its city. The uppermost part of the dungeon was cleared of anything offensive and then systematically isolated from the deeper levels with walls. These tunnels were then converted into shelters, storage rooms, flood control systems...... and urban sewer systems. Human settlements have long used dungeons as sewers, and humans often transplant them from one city to another when building new settlements. Of course, separating the top of the dungeon from the deeper parts is never effective - especially since the inhabitants of the dungeon are very experienced diggers.

There are more holes than sponges in the dungeon border here. It was a young city, and its dungeons were particularly expansive. It's getting too big, too fast, and it's going from layer to layer. That's why the invaders were able to sneak an entire army of monsters into the city by having the monsters pour out of the tunnels - perhaps the invaders accurately mapped the deep dungeon and found a route large enough for the army. Zorian thought how well prepared the enemy was.

Despite the obvious danger, Zorian wasn't too worried about following Thaiwen into the tunnels. The underground of Cyoria is not the safest place in the world, but it is by no means a death sentence. And he suspected that the invaders were there now, because it was absolutely impossible for a huge army of monsters that lived underground in the city to hide, no matter how good the organizers of the invasion were-

Unfortunately, "This is the fourth member you've found?" The old man asked incredulously. Did he graduate? ”

Zorian looked at the old man who was waving at him with a frown, why didn't he hire a professional? Oh yes, he doesn't want to pay professionals!

The job is simple - the old man lost a pocket watch in the tunnel while dodging two giant spiders, and now they must get it back. Zorian suspects that the watch was eaten by a metal eater in the tunnel, but the old man insists that it is still intact in the spider seeds. How he knows, no one can say. What would a swarm of spiders do with a watch? Do they like to collect shiny items?

"No," Zorian said, "I'm in third grade. ”

"It's the third year!" The man screamed. "Do you think you can survive there? Do you even know combat magic? ”

"Of course," Zorian confirmed. "Magic missiles, shields, and flamethrows."

"That's it?"

"You get what you pay for," Zorian shrugged.

"Do you have any questions?" Tevin interrupted. "There were four of us against two large spiders. I'm enough for one person! ”

"Just because I've only met two doesn't mean there aren't more." The man grunted. "I don't want you to be slaughtered. Those things are fast. And it's stealthy - I haven't noticed them yet, they're on me.

"Well, we have four pairs of eyes," Tevin reasoned. "We'll keep an eye on each other and wish us the best of luck"

"It's none of your business," the man retorted. "It's worthless, it's not a thing, I just want to get it back for emotional reasons." He shook his head. "I think this kid is right. I've got what I can given considering the rewards I've offered. It's just that...... Don't be careless. When I finally died, I didn't want the lives of a bunch of kids to weigh on my soul. ”

After a few minutes, Thaiwen finally led everyone to the entrance of the nearby dungeon. There are guards stationed there, but Thai has an entry permit and can bring people in, so they are free to pass. This is at least reassuring.

The tunnels aren't all that treacherous, with smooth stone walls, there's nothing more dangerous than rats roaming around. The stones in the hallway reflect well, and there are four floating lights hovering above them, illuminating the tunnel. No signs of missing watches or giant spiders were found.

Thaiwen was able to track down the spider easily with a simple "locate the creature" spell—it was all empty, and she was stumped.

Taiwen and her two friends are very good at combat magic, and once their basic divination attempts fail, they simply don't know how to track down a watch or a spider. Just wandering around, hoping to stumble upon a spider's nest, repeating divination to no avail.

About two hours later, Zorian was ready to finish. He was about to advise them to give up and come back tomorrow when suddenly he felt very, very sleepy.

Zorian was still awake and desperately fighting the sleep spell instead of falling to the ground and falling asleep. In front of him, he saw Thaiwen and one of her friends staggering on the spot, trying to resist the spell, while the other boy was already lying on the floor on all fours.

He struggled with the spell for a second or two, and then the sleep effect was ...... Gone. Before he could do anything, he was forced to his knees by a series of memories and images that went straight into his mind.

Confused. He remembered staring at a particularly puzzling spell formula problem and tapping his pen on the table in frustration. An image of two floating water balls connected together by a set of changing currents flowing from one ball to the other. An alien memory torn apart by a war troll with delicate white walls that appear to be made entirely of cobwebs. One question.

[Are you-] The voice rang in his head, and then fell into another collection of psychedelic images and extraterrestrial memories. The flood water abated for the time being, as if waiting for a response. And then it started again. Setback. [I think-] brotherhood. The net stretches in the lightless cracks, and the ball of light is trapped in the net. [- Don't understand what I mean, do you?] Grief. Regretful. More frustration.

The images in my mind suddenly stopped pounding. Zorian covered his head to alleviate the severe headache in his head, and he looked around. Thaivin and her two friends lost consciousness but did not appear to be injured. No trace of the attacker was found anywhere. He tried to wake them up, but they wouldn't budge.

He immediately cast a floating disc spell and piled three unconscious teammates on top of it, then made a beeline for the entrance to the dungeon.

He only hoped that by tomorrow his mind wouldn't kill him again.

。。。。。 Three.....

And very confused. What he was doing in the hospital, on the other hand, surprised that he didn't wake up at home, his sister wished him a good morning, just like he did every time he started again. After a few seconds, his mind cleared and he remembered what had happened yesterday. He didn't start over because he didn't die in the tunnel – he just had his brain messed up. This is actually more worrying than death, because any damage to his spirit will continue after the reboot and he has not suffered any permanent damage.

He vaguely remembered that when he was brought in yesterday, the doctor pushed him into this room and told him to get a good night's sleep.

They were still completely unconscious when he stumbled out of the dungeon entrance, and the guards took them all to the nearest hospital.

"Finally awake," Ilsa said in the doorway. "Can you speak?"

Zorian asked. "What are you doing here?"

Ilsa said as she walked over to his bedside. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Zorian shrugged. He doesn't even have a headache anymore. "When you're done asking me, I'll go home."

"Confronting you?" Ilsa asked. "Why should I question you?"

"Uh, uh......" Zorian stammered. In my experience, the police tend to be harsh with witnesses. Just in case they are hiding something. ”

But she just shook her head and chuckled.

"Well, I'm not a policeman," Ilsa said. "Although I'm here to ask you what's going on. Your friend doesn't remember anything anymore because he was hit by the Sleep Charm at the beginning of the attack. ”

"Are they okay?" Zorian asked.

"Yes," Ilsa confirmed. "They woke up yesterday without any ill effects. From a medical point of view, your injuries are much more serious. She gave him a wry smile. I think their self-esteem has been hurt the most. In the third year, they couldn't resist the spell, and you saved them. Theoria is notorious for its dungeon borders...... Porous. If it weren't for you, they might have died in the morning. ”

However, he had never heard of any sentient spiders capable of using psychic magic.

"I'm not quite sure what's going on," Zorian finally said. "Immediately after the failure of the sleep spell, I was bombarded with a series of images that almost made me faint. Very painful. When it stopped, I tried to orient myself for further attacks, but after about a minute, decided to flee there. I don't know why the attackers stopped. ”

"Hmm," Ilsa snorted. "There are a lot of possibilities. Perhaps, they will take action to incapacitate you so that they can slip away without being detected. Maybe it's a spell trap, and then you trigger the trigger. Maybe you've resisted two spells in a row and scared them away. I think we'll probably never know. ”

"Oh, what about Zorian?" Ilsa continued. "Access to the tunnel is prohibited until further notice. I know you want to help a friend, but it's still a stupid thing to do. ”

"Uh, yes, Professor," Zorian agreed. "Understood."

10 minutes after Ilsa left, the nurse came and told him he was ready to go home.

。。。。。 Four.....

"It's boring!" Tevin complained.

Zorian opened one eye so he could stare at her.

"You said you wanted to compensate me," he reminded.

"But I mean to teach you some powerful spells, not ......" she frowned as she looked at the bowl full of marbles in front of her. …… Throw marbles over your shoulder. Shouldn't I aim at least a few on your forehead? I bet you'll be more motivated to get things done. ”

"If you do, I'll suffocate you in your sleep, ha," Zorian threatened fiercely.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a few seconds, he felt the mana-filled marble pass near his face, but couldn't determine which shoulder it flew over.

"To the left," he tried.

"No, yes," Thai. "Now you're just guessing, aren't you? Take a break today. ”

"No, I just need a few minutes to calm down," Zorian sighed. Tevin called out in response, and he opened his eyes so he could stare at her properly. "Why the hell are you so this? You know I can't ask someone else to do it for me, right? I don't know anyone else who can throw marbles with enough precision.

"Teach you how to fight, of course!" She smiled.

"I hope it's a magical way," Zorian warned.

"Of course," Zorian said.

"Alright, let's see them," Tevin said, waving to the two men on the other side of the room.

She rolled her eyes. "The whole reason I've asked you to come here is because we can train here. The entire room was guarded, especially the dummies. You won't even scratch them, trust me. ”

Zorian shrugged and quickly cast a magic missile, shaping it into a piercing device, a force that quickly traveled through the room and struck the dummy in the forehead. The dummy's faceless wood bends backwards under the force of the blow in a way that is enough to break a real person's neck, but then quickly returns to its default position as if nothing were there.

"Not bad." Thai praised. "I love that you can cast without a spell focus - I guess that's the first thing I'm going to teach you."

Her hands were blurred in a dazzling display of skill, and the chant was so soft that he could barely hear it. A swarm of real magic missiles erupted from her hand, flying towards the dummy at a much faster speed than Zorian's piercing and striking it with enough force to lift it up and crash into the wall behind it. Although they were just shredders, Zorian knew they were much more dangerous than the piercing machines he made.

"So, is there any purpose in doing this other than to let me know how far away you are?" Zorian asked. "Firing so many magic missiles, even if they are fired continuously, my reserves will be depleted on the spot. I don't think I'll repeat your feat anytime soon. ”

"Uh, really?" Thaiwen asked. "I want to assume that your mana reserves are huge, just like your brother. How many magic missiles can you fire at once? ”

"11," Zorian said, deliberately ignoring her first sentence. "It was 8 at first, but then I added a few."

"Eight!?" Thaiwen stammered. "But this ...... Actually below average! ”

"Does that mean you admit defeat and we should get back on track?" He asked, feigning joy.

"No!" She screamed. "No, I'm ...... I'm just surprised, that's all. I'll teach you how to cast multiple magic missiles at once, but I guess it won't do you much good with such a small mana reserve. You should make every one of your spells work, not go after the quantity. ”

She immediately pulled a spell stick from her belt and fired a small purple projectile at the shield. The sudden attack made Zorian's eyes widen, but the attack splashed harmlessly on the translucent field and dissipated in a cloud of purple smoke.

"What is this!?" Zorian asked.

"I'm just checking the shield," Tevin told him. "The spell is harmless, just a colored bolt with some power."

Zorian wanted to tell her that his shield was used against a hostile mage who was actually trying to kill him.

Truth be told, combat magic is just a side hustle at the moment. He began to realize that he could no longer make mistakes blindly. As much as he wanted to continue his magical research, he couldn't ignore the dangers of soul binding—the longer he stayed inside, the better the chance that soul bindings would be fully activated. and devour his will and personality. The psychic assault he has recently experienced highlights that the time loop has its own dangers.

A plan was being formed in his mind. He needs to find out everything there is to know about the time loop – how it came to be, how it works precisely, and how he got out of it. Also, What is the nature of his connection to Zach? What's the deal with the invasion - time seems to be too coincidental, so what does it have to do with the time loop? Finding answers to these questions requires skills such as divination, information gathering, and infiltration, so that's his main focus.

Of course, he also wants to learn other things, but these three things are necessary and prioritized.

He must complete his semi-apprenticeship in the library and learn all the tricks he can within the confines of the time loop. The college library was an incredible resource, and he had to make extensive use of it.

The first thing he did tomorrow morning was to go to the library and apply for a job.

And, although it was too late in this particular reboot, he once again impressed Ilsa and chose divination as the focus.

Then, when he climbed the stairs inside the apartment building, everything went dark, Kiri jumped on top of him and wished him a good morning, and he woke up. Apparently Zach is dead again. It's only been a few days since the restart. Hopefully, Zach will soon be able to master everything he's trying to do, because being forced to restart without warning could get old quickly.