They held a private party to celebrate making it into the round of sixteen. Everybody had snacks and drinks, from Freddy to the humans to Andronicus, to the demonic Minotaurs who were getting used to being part of the team.

Robert's limit on tame monsters depended on his mental capacity. Because his beast bond had an element of suppression, to keep the monsters under control. Usually, tamers took time, years even, to create natural bonds of friendship and to train the monsters to overcome its natural instinct to destroy and consume. Robert skipped all these parts. The Minotaurs were smart and that put too much strain on his faculties already. While he could mess with their minds to make changes, he was wary of ruining the creatures' minds.

"Cheers on taking first place on the winners' bracket," Andronicus toasted to Robert. "Now you'll get the fourth place from the losers' bracket. It will be a wash."

Amanda finished third by two minutes, because her last fight took too long. She would get the second place from the losers' bracket. The fifth to the twelfth places in the winners' bracket would face each other, pairing from the ends. They had an entire week to review their adversaries' fights and strategize. But Robert and Amanda needed to wait until Saturday evening to know who they would fight.

The winner's bracket ended up with twenty-seven deaths. Tomorrow, the Academy usually held a funeral service for the departed, remembering that one had to risk their lives to achieve greatness. Or have bad luck and get a shitty referee.

On the topic of the referees, it wasn't like they weren't doing their jobs. Nobody disclosed their full ability list to the organizers. It was impossible to know what trump cards the contestants had.

"Good news, Robert" Noah said. "The organizers finally settled on the time lapse to disqualify a contestant for teleportation into another realm. It's five hundred milliseconds. Next Monday, the shields will be calibrated to wait that long before throwing the fight."

That meant Robert could finally use his primary talent in a fight, since the time he spent in the liminal void was less than this. It depended on how long he stayed in the liminal void but even during his full ninety-nine days maximum stay in a single visit, it never lasted more than two hundred milliseconds.

The festivities went on for a couple more hours before everyone retired for the night. It was a stressful day, after all.

*

*

Robert didn't go to the Gurglock world.

He didn't spend his whole night tempering. No. He went back to Pittersville, to raid the library. That wasn't accurate. He didn't raid the library. He just took books from the shelves, flipped through them, used his primary talent. In the liminal void, he checked to see if the book was correctly copied to his intellect fortress. If yes, Robert crossed that book off of Veronica's list. Then he spent the rest of the time practicing with his acoustic guitar. Upon his return, he would go to the next book and so on. He wished he had the time to read them leisurely but Robert was a busy man. So many things to do, so many affinities to train.

A librarian approached. "Sir, what you—"

He stopped speaking with a glare from Robert as his two-star pressure unleashed. "I am not damaging the books. If anything, I am removing the dust from them and airing the pages. Is anything the matter?"

The librarian bowed. "No, sir. Forgive my intrusion."

Robert took another book, flipped the pages, blinked out of existence and back "No harm done. I am not so heartless as to take offense from a person doing their job and caring for these precious books." He said, then placed it back on the shelf.

"Is there anything I may help you with, sir?"

"Actually, yes. There are a few rare titles I can't find in here. Do you believe they would be in a storeroom or elsewhere waiting for maintenance?"

The librarian looked around, then nodded. "We have some damaged books that are waiting for repairs, yes."

"Would it be possible for me to take a look at them? There's a title on Space essence that's listed in this library's collection but it's not on the shelves accessible to the public."

"I am sure I can make an exception for the esteemed master, as an apology for my early transgression," the librarian all but groveled.

Robert felt bad but he wouldn't look the gift unicorn in the mouth. "Very well. Lead on."

The librarian took him into a back room full of books in several stages of disrepair. He took one such book. Its title was "Deep Meditations on a Zephyr’s Whims", and it appeared to be about the Wind affinity. The binding was failing and the pages were loose.

"Sir, what is keeping the library from repairing these books?" Robert asked. "Is it funds?"

"Our budget is strictly controlled, sir."

"Did you receive a donation of books from Ms. Amanda Samson?"

The librarian brightened up, "Yes, indeed. It was just a few days ago. We are still indexing and cataloguing the books. It was such a lovely gesture."

Robert knew what he wanted to do. Create a company specialized in repairing stuff. And pay to fix the books in this room. He had the money, more than he ever dreamt of having anyway.

He imagined himself using Time essence to rewind the book's condition but that idea had so many roadblocks between concept and reality it wasn't even funny. For one, humans couldn't convert Ether into matter permanently. And two, moving time backward was the stuff of fantasy.

He sighed. Was it a worthy exercise? He had the time to spend and repairing old books was something that tickled his fancies. Using his affinities, how would he go about fixing a book?

Time essence could glimpse backward and see how the book was before it was damaged. He could then make a copy of the pristine book in his intellect fortress. Then he could use Space essence to move or teleport minute amounts of materials to the place where they needed to be to bring the book back to its original state. He could apply the blink spell but at a tiny scale. Since it was the most basic forms of teleportation, it was easy to adapt.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Wait. A Time spell to see the book in the past? But if he could make a copy of the pristine book in his mind palace, why go through the extra step, and fix the book? It was the part that had the most variables and chances to fail.

He used his primary talent and went to the liminal void. There, he spent three days designing the spell to see an object as it was in the past, including its internal parts.

The new spell was called "Retrovoyance". Developing the spell would give him more details and allow to see further in the past.

He cast the spell on the book, and it was as if he was standing before the past version of the book, ready for his perusal. If he had to guess, he was seeing the book as it was a month ago, which was exactly the same as today. But he got the book's imprint in his intellect fortress all the same.

Robert returned to reality once his time was up. He placed the book on a table. Then he took the next and used his new spell. This one went on top of the Deep Meditations on a Wind's Fart, or something like that.

All the while, the librarian watched. Robert paused on the twentieth book.

"Say, good sir. Does the library have any repair association, friends group, or any organization that might take donations for the betterment of the collection?"

The man scratched his head. "I believe we do have a community association that promote events for the children, book club meetings, and so on."

"Can I bother you to contact them and see if they can branch out their activities into repairing the books, with the right financial incentive?"

He nodded. "Of course, sir."

"Good. When you have an answer from them, send it to the Samson arcology, at this PO box..."

*

*

Robert leaned on his chair atop Mount Kilimanjaro, watching the savanna below. He bit on his American sub sandwich and took a sip of genuine Chinese oolong tea. It didn't harmonize with the BLT but he was doing that to prove a point.

He spent his Tuesday traveling around the world. Robert felt rather stupid for trying to circumnavigate an alien planet instead of visiting his home world first. Save for the most inhospitable landscapes and some areas too dangerous even for him, he visited every place in this world. Every city, small town, and landmark.

It was rather easy. He could dive into the true void and emerge anywhere he had been before or could see with his naked eyes, so long the location was in the same realm. Though his Prime Vestige told him he could go anywhere, even other realms, Robert wasn't quite ready to attempt the trip yet. He vowed to do it sometime when he could afford to be lost for months tracing his way back.

Not months. Not with the Space spell he bought on Tokyo IV (it was their fourth time rebuilding the city after the angels... I mean the passages opened). Find the Path allowed him to see the shortest path to a place he either knew or has been before. It would point him to anywhere in the interspace. Right now, he knew that the shortest path back to the abandoned city in the Puffbloom Islands was through a passage in South Africa.

The only problem was that the shortest path didn't consider closed doors, blocked passages, or walking through a dragon's backyard. It only showed the shortest path regardless of obstructions.

He also found that his two newest spells had a synergy between them. he could use retrovoyance to see where an object was in the past, and then find the shortest path to that place. Crude and simple.

The Sun set in the west. Robert finished his sandwich and drank the rest of his tea, which was only kept from freezing because he used one of the heating plates they had carved back in the gravity ball workshop. With a smile on his face, he stored his chair and table, then vanished. If he hurried up, he could watch the sunset again, but in America this time.

*

*

Wednesday. He visited the District Twenty-Four shopping mall to pick up some items. The tempering baths were ready and so was his new suit. He entered Master Zaifyr's haberdasher shop. Moments later, the old man came from the back room.

"Mr. Blaze, welcome. You arrived just in time. Your suit is ready. Can this old man bother you with a visit to the fitting room?"

"Of course."

"This way," Zaifyr stepped to the side as he pointed toward the back room.

Robert entered the fitting room and changed into his new clothes. They felt odd to the touch, as if the fabric reacted with his Life essence. His hunch proved correct when he used sense life. The suit was alive. It was some sort of creature. He opened the door only to find Zaifyr smiling at him.

"I see you perceived the suit for what it is," the old man said with a friendly smile.

"A symbiote?"

"Yes. Though not one that will attempt to control your mind and turn you from vigilante to villain."

"Please explain."

"This is indeed a symbiote. Creatures that have no affinity but take on the affinities of those they wrap around. They grant their hosts many benefits beside protecting them with protection equivalent to light armor.

"First, they eat loose essence inside your body, from hostile attacks to leftover essence from tempering. It greatly accelerates the recovery process. Second, they provide a layer of protection. Third, they never need cleaning, ironing, or maintenance.

"They had a good regenerative ability and can be healed. Your Life spells will work on them just as they work on your own body after you attune with the clothes. Attunement takes only a couple of days of constant contact. Furthermore, the symbiote also adapts to your talents and spells. You won't need to worry about shredding your clothes if you use, say, living armaments."

Living armaments was an advanced Life spell that allowed the arch to turn their own body into weapons.

"I'll give it a try."

Robert went back to the fitting room and closed the door. He used Mind Blackout on the symbiote, forming a tenuous connection. The creature's mind was composed of extremely basic thoughts, mostly instincts. Robert made no changes. He studied those instincts and found that it was just as Zaifyr said. To make sure, Robert used beast bond on the living clothes. Though the Minotaurs were using most of his available bandwidth, this organism's mind was so simple that he could fit another three.

Assured it wasn't a trap or something harmful, Robert put on the clothes. He was puzzled how one organism could be split into distinct physical parts but that was a mystery for later. He felt the creature connect to his essence and clean his skin. Flakes of dead skin, sweat, and excess skin oils were eaten by it. The feel of the creature against his skin was like stretchy silk. After a few minutes, the creature adjusted to better fit his improved body. He had gained some weight mass and lean muscle in the last week of frantic development, especially after upgrading his spells and tempering techniques.

He walked out. Zaifyr examined him from head to toe. "I see it has already adapted to your body. How do you feel?"

"It's perfect. I used beast bond on the symbiote. I believe it expedited the bonding process."

"Indeed, indeed. Monster taming is, regrettably, a dying art," Zaifyr said and let a long pause happen. "I see you have questions."

"I do. Last time, you said that someone used a talent to cheat oblivion, leading to my second life?"

"I did say that. I also said I couldn't reveal more."

"But you might be able to comment on some insights I acquired since then."

"I might. No promises."

"I learned that I was once a powerful Void user."

"That is correct."

"And Time too."

"Indeed."

"And that my previous incarnation called in some favors to make sure some events happened at the right moment."

"That could be done. Hard to pull off but not beyond the realm of the possible."

"Did you meet my previous self?" Robert asked.

Zaifyr looked forlorn. "I did. It was someone very dear to me."

"I assume you can't tell me who it was."

"No. This conversation is already meddling with causality too much. Any more and a century of planning might go astray."

Robert felt like he would be missing a big opportunity if he let the conversation die. He tried one last shot. "Can you give me any hints as to where I may learn more about that?"

Zaifyr paused to think. He seemed conflicted. Eventually, he met Robert's eyes and said only three words. "The Void beckons."