Now a bad love story, Spider-Woman is an impulsive chatterbox who doesn't seem to have the concept of personal space, always hovering around him, poking him with her front legs. Zorian wasn't afraid of spiders, but this close physical contact was just too much.

Basically, she's a spider's version of El. And the only reason he was able to tolerate Al's antics as much as he did was because she was his sister.

Still, Zorian was actually happy to meet her. But she still has a wealth of information about psionic powers and Alanya. Every explanation given by the matriarch seemed to Zorian like an undisguised attempt at manipulation, without any deception. Most of the time, she's outspoken.

[Humans have built many strange things,] announced the novelty after examining the glass bottle visually and tactilely. Zorian wondered if spiders generally liked to touch things so much,

How did you do that? This and the transparent rock that you use to make "window" stuff is that this transparent rock is called glass, and it's not really a carving. It is made of sand, which is heated to melt and therefore malleable, and then a long tube is inserted into the resulting melt and air is blown into it to shape it. ”

Novelty turned, all eyes focused on him.

[In the name of Grandmother's crumpled egg bag, how did you come up with the idea to do this?] Do humans have some kind of magical stone sense or something? ]

"Uh, no," Zorian said patiently. It's annoying to explain such things to Novelty, but it makes her more willing to share things with him in turn, so he will continue to work on it. "Humans have been using a wide variety of tools. Our natural forms are very fragile, so building things is a matter of survival. We use crude tools to make better tools, and then we use those better tools to make more precise tools, and so on. I don't really know how glassblowing came about, but it's not like it magically pops into someone's mind out of nowhere......"

[I don't really think you're vulnerable.] Novelty said suspiciously. [You have incredible magic, with which you have almost conquered the surface world.] ]

"Not all humans use magic," Zorian said. "There are only a small number of mages.

"Alright," Zorian sighed. "We're off track again. Let's focus on the course again. ”

[But those classes are so boring!] Novelty grumbled. [You already know most of it; It's just a matter of practice, and you can't do it here anyway. You're practicing, right? ]

"Of course," Zorian agreed. "I spend most of my time trying to feel my classmates and other students in the building. I don't get anything useful from class these days. Everything was going well, but I still had to be highly focused to get to any range. I've also tried to sense their emotions, but it's still quite accidental. Are you sure no one will find out I'm doing this? Because if someone finds out that I'm messing with people's minds, I'm going to be in trouble. ”

[Oh, of course,] confirmed the novelty. [The basic masking spells that mages like to use will almost destroy your ability to use empathy with them.] Too many distractions. On the other hand, it becomes easier to detect them. Any spell that affects the mind will make the mind "noisy", even for telepaths. Especially defensive, now I remember. Well, except for a notorious spell called "Void of the Mind", which actually causes the mind to be disconnected from the great web, making a person completely imperceptible to psychic perception and completely unaffected by the effects of the psyche's magic. Pretty scary stuff, that. ]

Zorian knew the spell she was saying. Mind Blank is a well-known "ultimate defense" against mind magic, but the spell is notorious for causing psychological problems if used incorrectly or excessively. Some mages are paranoid about someone intruding into their minds and become insane after opening it permanently.

"It's weird," Zorian said innocently. "The matriarch told me that no amount of fragile human magic could protect me from her if she was determined to capture me, but you are here to tell me that I can learn a spell that will completely insulate myself from psychic powers."

[Ah, well, look......] novelty fumbled. [She's actually right because these are completely different things, aren't they?] A shield is one thing - we can knock it down completely or bypass it. But if you leave the big network, it's as if you don't exist at all! You first need to perceive a mind to connect to it, if you can't connect to it—]

"I see," Zorian interrupted. "No telepathy, no Alain psychic magic. And you can't connect to something that can't be perceived telepathically. Well, apparently the creators of the Void of Hearts know a thing or two about psychic powers - it sounds like this spell was specifically designed to defeat them. ”

"All right," Zorian said. He had no intention of causing trouble for Novelty's family, so he stopped pursuing the topic. In any case, their super-secret defense plan probably boils down to "destroying the entire tunnel above them." "So the Mind Blank is a mind skill that is transformed into a spell. I guess that's not surprising – mages love to harness the abilities of magical creatures and transform them into spells for their own use. ”

[Really?] Novelty asked. [But I think human magic is so good that there is nothing to learn from others.] The matriarch always says how amazing your magic is, no one can beat it......]

"Totally wrong," Zorian said.

[Of course!] Who do you think of me? Novelty protested. [If I can't fight telepathically, I'll be eaten while I'm in the hatchery!] ]

Zorian blinked. "What, seriously? Like, is it really eaten or is it ......? ”

[Uh, no, not really eating.] We haven't let the baby turtles eat each other since...... Uh, actually, let's not talk about that. It's just a metaphor, and that's what matters. Anyway! The novelty quickly changed the subject. [I don't know how it works in humans, but newborn spiders are confined to hatcheries for the first few months of their existence.] There are usually a lot of us, and we're all locked up in this boring little room with nothing to do but pester the caregivers to tell stories and fight each other, and the caregivers don't like the hatchlings to fight. with each other. They are interested in ...... Experiments are more forgiving...... With the power of our hearts, though. Some telepathic roughness is to be expected, so you'll soon learn the basics of defending your mind. ]

Zorian tried to imagine the scene that Novelty had just described, and then tremblingly abandoned the idea. He mentally made a note to avoid going near the spider hatchery at all costs, in case this problem arose in the future.

"This ...... Interesting...... But not exactly what I'm asking. I'm asking about counter-attacking defense, not defending yourself," he concluded.

"I think I've always forgotten that psychic power is not a discrete spell, but multiple manifestations of a single holistic ability," Zorian admitted. "Revenge doesn't have to be mental, though – if I can stop your psychic attack long enough, I can hit you or cast a spell on you to stop. Considering I don't know anything about telepathic combat, this is probably the wisest option for me. This brings me to my suggestion – I want to see how my magical defense abilities can counter yours. I'm going to cast some psychic shields, and you're going to do your best to take them apart. What do you say? ”

Still, Zorian was happy with it. He has gotten more from Alanya than he ever imagined.

"We're not going to 'improve my schoolwork' because you're not going to teach me anything," Zorian insisted. "It's just an experiment. I want to see what my spell does to you. ”

[Okay, then I'm totally interested!] Novelty agreed, and suddenly became enthusiastic. [But, uh, you can't physically attack me in response, okay?] ]

"It's kind of defeating the purpose of the experiment," Zorian agreed.

[Right.] So are we assuming that I was ambushed or that time was of the essence? Novelty asked.

"What's the difference?"

[Well, if I were attacking from an ambush, I would try to bypass your shield completely with superior skills.] It's very effective when it works, but it's slow to set up, so it won't work if the target isn't too busy with my stuff or doesn't know what I'm trying. On the other hand, if time is of the essence, I will use brute force to break the shield. It's faster, but the mana is more expensive. Oh, and it's hard to judge the exact force needed to break through the defenses without compromising the mind it's defending, so, uh...... Let's assume I'm attacking from an ambush, shall we? ]

"Yes, let's do it," Zorian said with a blank face.

The next hour was both frustrating and enlightening. Although Zorian tries in vain to perfect his defenses with repeated spell casts and spell combinations, the novelty treats the whole thing as a game that continues to improve over time. It's embarrassing to see an overexcited, absent-minded spider go through his spells in 30 seconds as if those spells didn't exist. Admittedly, those 30 seconds would be enough for him to burn her in real life, but only if he has the ability to do so, which may be an unfounded assumption. What if she hid it from him? What if she's behind some kind of ward? What if she wasn't the only attacker?

-Rest-

Zo

ia

Before he could sit down, Xvim decided to talk to him.

"I hear you've been casting fireballs," Xvim said. "Really?"

"Yes, I can cast spells," Zorian said cautiously, as if slowing down his speech would help him avoid the minefield that Xvim had set up for his problem. "Admittedly, only at minimum power, but-"

"Well, that's no," Xvim said with a blank face. He stared at him, as if to challenge Zorian to contradict him. Luckily, Zo

ia

Too wise not to be thrilled by Xvim's statement, so they just stared at each other in silence for a moment. Eventually, Xvim broke the gaze with an exaggerated sigh. "The mages nowadays are always in a hurry to do something immature. I have better expectations for you. There's nothing wrong with being interested in combat magic, but it's not wise to immediately go after the most gorgeous and highest-rated spells you can reach. A half-power fireball is not a fireball at all. You should concentrate on laying a solid foundation until you can do it well. ”

"Well," Zorian said calmly, "then why don't you tell me how this is done?" ”

In response, Xvim wordlessly pulled out a stack of cards from a drawer and threw them at him. Zorian instinctively grabbed them before they hit his head, too used to his antics to be surprised by the move.

"Cards?" He asked, flipped them into his hands. They look just like regular playing cards, except that their decks are replaced by squares, lines, circles, and other geometric shapes.

"Cards." Xvim confirmed. "Specifically, it's cards made with mana-absorbing materials. Seemingly decorative runes on the corners expel any mana gathered by the cards and radiate it into the surrounding environment. It takes a lot of mana to want to influence them in any way. ”

"Will I affect them?" Zorian guessed.

"I'm sure you'll try," said Xvim lightly, not looking at Zo

ia

, but deliberately re-fiddled with the pen on the table. "It's hard for a mage like you to have weak skills, it's hard for them to influence. In short, you'll try to burn the shapes drawn on the cards – and only the shapes. When you feel ready, it's time to go. ”

Zorian stared at the cards for a moment. He doubted that he knew what the point of this exercise was - he had to use a lot of mana, and he had to use it immediately, otherwise the runes in the corners would just radiate his mana. This is the basic challenge of almost all combat magic: quickly shaping a lot of mana without disrupting spell boundaries too much.

So he took a deep breath and picked one card that was easiest for him (just a circle in the middle, how hard could that be?). and put considerable magic into his first attempt.

Nothing happened except for the slight glow of the corner glyphs.

Damn it. It may be a little more difficult than he thinks.

-Rest-

Several times without success in influencing the card, Zorian eventually succeeded in burning some of the blurry shapes that were apparently inspired by what was drawn on them rather than being drawn. An irregular hole burns out in the center of the card. Unsurprisingly, Xvim said something very disparaging about it.

Of course, during the summer festival, they still do their best to fight the invaders.

The next two reboots were much the same – Alanea gathered information about the invaders, sometimes asked Zorian to speak for someone when they had to interact with them publicly, and launched a limited assassination campaign among the cultists and other invaders, which they managed to confirm. Zorian learns combat magic, Alanya mind art, and tries to survive Xvim's lessons without punching that man in the face. Their efforts are steadily bearing fruit, and with each restart of the invasion, the invasion becomes increasingly chaotic, and the matriarch hopes that their mysterious Third Traveler will soon appear.

Let Zo

ia

The most surprising thing is that Novelty actually remembers their interaction during the previous reboot. Apparently, the matriarch did not have a monopoly on memory transfer, as Zorian imagined, but instead gave him 6 different memories of Alania in her memory pack.

Novelty, who was now Zorian's personal trainer, was considered important enough to be included in that elite company, something that young Spider was very complacent.

But now, Zorian felt it was time for a change of pace. Two Xvim-filled reboots would be enough for him, and Thaiwen had already taught him most of what she knew about combat magic.

He knocked on the door of Ilsa's office and waited for her to invite him in.

-Rest-

"Good morning, Mr. Kaczynski." Ilsa said with a hint of amusement. "I didn't wait for you until Friday. I think you've heard some stories about your mentor, right? ”

"No, I already know what kind of person Xvim is. That's not why I'm here," Zorian said. "No, I'm here because I want to learn how to teleport."

Ilsa blinked in surprise. "This ...... Quite ambitious. Leaving aside the question of why I should take the time to teach you, what makes you think you are capable of casting such a spell? Even the simplest teleportation spell is very difficult. ”

"It's a fair question," Zorian admitted. "How's the demonstration?"

"Anyway," Ilsa smiled and motioned for him to continue. Zorian didn't need sympathy to know that she didn't think he had what it took to impress her.

Then – accept the challenge.

Every difficult shaping exercise, every complex spell he learned in the time loop – he showed it all. Every written or theory question she asks him, he counters with perfect answers – sometimes because he really knows the topic, sometimes because she tends to ask the same questions every time he tries to impress her. Then, while she was still shocked that his technique was good enough to graduate from the academy at this moment if he wanted to, he took a few magical items out of his backpack and began to explain his spell formula experiments to her. While Zorian isn't a formal spell formula teacher, she knows from previous reboots that she has a good understanding of the field and is able to understand the difficulty of the feat he showed her.

"I'm surprised you didn't apply to transfer to a Tier 1 team with these skills," Ilsa said when he finally finished.

Ah yes, the first level group – the college's answer to students who are too advanced for a normal course. Sadly, the prestige of belonging to one of these groups means that many people go to great lengths to put their children into it, which means that the actual curriculum is unlikely to be much more advanced than the normal curriculum, otherwise all the people who buy or otherwise arrange for the presence there cannot keep up. Zorian had heard all sorts of things about these groups, for better or worse, but the general situation seemed to be that a group of climbers looked down on the others. Zorian didn't want to get involved.

"I believe I can accomplish more with independent study," Zorian said. "If I really don't think there's anything I can offer in my course, I'm going to take the test."

"Don't rush it," Ilsa warned. "I'm sure you'll find that the academy resources will remain useful for the next year or so. You're not that advanced yet. ”

The academy doesn't like people to test. They openly pride themselves on being able to help adult mages, not to mention gifted children. Graduating early means that the student has nothing to learn at the academy, which can be regarded as a slap in the face to the student. You also don't get any money for finishing early.

Ilsa continued to think silently for a while, having to try another approach in the next fix-

"Well, that's my proposal." Ilsa said suddenly. "I will transfer your guidance from Xvim to myself. I'll guide you in advanced aspects like illusions, shapeshifts, animations, and spells. If I'm impressed by your dedication, then I'd include dimensional spells on that list if you prove yourself good at those...... Then I'm going to teach you the basic teleportation spells. ”

Zorian blinked. What? This is far more than he could ask for! He's not complaining, he's ......

"It sounds better than I would have liked," Zorian said. "Any questions?"

"Well, first of all, I want you to be my personal assistant," Ilsa said. "I've been trying to find one for the past two years, but the principal refuses to pay them, and it's surprisingly difficult to find a technician who is willing to work for free. Either way, you'll mainly have to deal with the sheer volume of tests and assignments I receive every day, and I may also ask you to take over some of the teaching responsibilities for my first-year course. Or any other random task I think is lower than mine, really. ”

Annoying but reasonably priced for what she offers. In fact, the whole thing sounds very much like -

"You're officially going to be my apprentice," Ilsa continued. "If I'm going to teach you advanced magic and trust you and my work, I'd like to have some sort of legitimate control over you."

… Like that. Normally, Zorian would be very cautious about signing an apprenticeship contract with someone he barely knew, as their main aim was to screw up an apprentice if they broke their agreement with the mentor, but this contract would only last until the end of the semester. Reboot, so what.

"Oh, by the way, you'll be the class representative for your group." Ilsa said suddenly.

Ilsa smiled. “Zo

ia

, the reason I'm giving you this position is that Akoja doesn't want it anymore. She said she hated the position – everyone shunned her because of it, and I should give it up to someone else. Unfortunately, I haven't received any invitations to exchange with her. Not from anyone I trust anyway. She glanced at Zorian knowingly. You are one of the people she recommended for this position, but I don't even bother to ask you about it. Everything I hear about you indicates that you will not accept this position. ”

"You're absolutely right," Zorian agreed, still a little shocked. Akoga doesn't want to be a duty representative? But this girl lives for these things! Anyway, if she doesn't want to, then why is she so committed? If Zorian is stuck in a job he hates, he will do as little as possible, or even deliberately mess up, so that Ilsa will feel pressured to replace him as soon as possible. Why can't Akoja do that? "The only reason I'm accepting this now is because your offer is so good."

"So we made a deal?" Ilsa asked for confirmation.

"Yes, but I have a question and a request," Zorian said. "First of all, why are you teaching me these specific subjects? Second, I want to learn teleportation magic before the Summer Festival. ”

"It's a dream of mine to be able to do this," Zorian shrugged. "In my opinion, teleportation has always been one of the most typical examples of what a true mage can and should be able to do."

"Interesting. Out of curiosity, what else can a true mage do? Ilsa asked.

"Make a force field, create a magic item, create a fireball, repair the damaged object and become invisible," Zorian said. "I can already do the first four, and the fifth is illegal without a special permit."

Anyway, he was already working on the invisibility spell, but she didn't have to know it.

Ilsa gave him a knowing look, and if Zorian wasn't sure if he could detect any random intrusion into his mind, he was worried that she was reading his thoughts.

"To answer your first question, I chose these disciplines because they are my own specialty," Ilsa said. "It's only right for an apprentice to learn Master's expertise, isn't it?"

"Of course," Zorian agreed. "I'm not sure what all these things have in common though. Shouldn't the profession be more focused? ”

"Well, when I was a young mage, I also had a dream," Ilsa said. "Specifically, I want to master the real spell."

Zorian blinked. "Like creating real matter out of thin air? Isn't this a myth? ”

"Yes, that's where the academy stands," Ilsa agreed. "Pre-cataclysmic sources claimed that powerful mages could accomplish this feat, but all the spells that could do so have been lost, and no one has been able to recreate them in modern times. Many mages believe that they never existed, and that old records simply made up or described something other than the actual physical creation. Anyway, it had always been a dream of mine to recreate these spells as a young mage, so I researched any avenue I thought could make it happen. Modern spells are basically creating physical illusions, so it's a bit natural to start with illusions and then progress to spells. Then, since real spells involve real matter, I turned to alteration spells that deal with item making. ”

"That'...... Have you succeeded? Zorian asked curiously.

"Depends on your definition of success," Ilsa shrugged. "My ultimate goal was to design a spell that could summon materials from somewhere else, without the caster having to know exactly where the materials came from. This is how I imagine how the ancient Ikos "faked" material creation. I was considered successful, but the spells I cast only worked in specially prepared rooms, and the mana cost of the spells varied greatly from cast to spell, depending on what I wanted to summon. There is also the embarrassing incident of the gold creation part of the experiment stealing these ancient coins from a nearby museum......"

She shook her head. "I'll tell you this story next time. In any case, I have to go to class as soon as possible. I'll have an apprenticeship contract for you to sign tomorrow, so be sure to come and see it when I have time. ”

-Rest-

The next five reboots were hectic and boring. Busy because there's always something to do, and boring because there's almost nothing really new in it. He is constantly improving his various skills, and the spider becomes very good at fighting invaders in various ways,

Zach seems to have finally accepted the background neutrality

Something very unusual is happening, and it's not caused by him.

It is almost impossible for Zach to think that Zorian is the cause of these changes, as the sheer extent of these changes tends to drown out what Zorian does personally. With each restart, Alanea was always very aggressive in providing anonymous reports to the Theoria Police Department, assassinating some people, and even spreading some rumors around.

As a result, by the time Zorian entered his first class, the change had spread throughout the city, including the faculty and students of the academy. Zach doesn't seem to suspect that Zorian or any other classmate is the ultimate cause of the affair.

In this regard, Zorian begins to agree with Zach that whoever the third time traveler is, he certainly doesn't belong in their class. Zorian spoke to all of them under various pretexts - he didn't find anything implicated with any of them.

All in all, it seemed to Zorian that things were going fairly well. In Zorian's case, the last reboot was especially good - he finally managed to learn the teleportation spell from Ilsa, Zach actually started to fight back against the invaders smartly, rather than simply trying to use his combat skills against them, and the last invasion attempt failed to capture the main academy building or the student vault, as the spiders somehow managed to influence the academy leadership to adjust their protective protocol.

But the matriarch was getting impatient. She became more and more nervous with each reboot, and she refused to tell him what it was, giving some flimsy excuse every time he asked. She seems to be focusing most of her energy on some sort of personal project, which she describes as "information gathering" and "following her gut instincts", which clearly unnerves her regardless of the results she gets. Zorian strongly suspects that she has discovered some kind of important information about the nature of the time loop, but she refuses to share it with him for some reason. To be honest, he was a little bitter about it. What could be more disturbing than what they already know about this phenomenon?

Regardless, the matriarch insisted that a third time traveler must be found, and that the sooner the better. Once Zorian confirmed that they weren't in his class, she was sure that they, like Zach, were out of the city most of the time. It's likely that they just provided key information to the intruder at the beginning of the reboot and then went about their business. If they wanted to get their attention, the invasion would most likely end in a fiasco.

As a result, the matriarch made a plan for the next restart, which is definitely not to be ignored......