I'll stop the chapters on this and other websites because I'm preparing to publish this as a printed book. The story is still not complete and the name is subject to change. The chapters I've already uploaded here could serve as a preview of the rest of the story since these are just the first three major chapters. There are still at least 6 major chapters until the second volume.

I hope everybody who's read the book enjoyed it. Farewell.

REUPLOAD OF CHAPTER !. YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ.

One thing I’d like to write in this travel log is… I’m not from this world. Crazy, right? Imagine yourself in my shoes: You wake up in a forest with nothing to your name and only your memories of what was. Next thing I know, I’m looking around in a forest when I see a three-eyed squirrel looking straight at me.

Let me tell you something, you do not want to see that as soon as you wake up, so like any person would I started screaming and running away from the squirrel. That’s not even the end of it, the squirrel grew razor-like teeth and that might have scared me shitless, not that I’d ever admit it, after getting the squirrel off my trail I started to try and find my way to civilization, preferably a human one, since after that freak show of a squirrel chased, I realized that I was in fact either in another world or someone kidnapped me and I found a new species of squirrel. I was hoping for the latter more than the former.

After a few hours of searching, I had no luck and even had a grumbling stomach. With no food or water, I’d soon die, which I realized after my very loud stomach decided to have a tantrum. That’s when I heard it. *Drip* *Drip* Water. I went closer to where I heard the sound, and lo and behold, there was a small puddle of water under some rocks I missed. I drank some and tried digging a makeshift well around the puddle.

With the thirst problem on the back burner, I could focus on the food problem without worry. I searched around for… I swear I was here before.

xxxxxxxxxx:10

He looked around and saw a squirrel with three eyes. He decided to run again for the ‘tenth’ time. ‘Was this the tenth or eleventh?’

He couldn’t recall. ‘I got it off my trail again. Let’s test out more ways to trigger -it- whatever was keeping me here.’

‘I sat and waited until… since the moon was above me, I guessed midnight, and soon I heard footsteps. Wait… The loop didn’t set in? I spent ten loops just to learn that I needed to sit in place?’

His anger grew but bubbled down after breathing in and out a few times.

“Let’s set up camp here before we get the next shipment.” A gruff voice was heard.

“I still think it’s a bad idea to set up camp in the forest, Kell. Didn’t you hear the rumors of travelers getting killed off by monsters?” A feminine nasally voice was heard after.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“That’s all hearsay. I never, in my eleven years of shipping and guarding, found a monster in these woods.” The gruff voice said.

“That’s because the monsters don’t attack when we have our wizard on hand, but without him here we’re in danger. So just listen to Fie and leave this goddamn forest.” A female whisper was heard.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:19

A rustle was heard and the three-membered group went on guard. As soon as he stepped out of the bushes. He heard the gruff one whisper “It’s a mimic. Don’t fall for it, kid.”

“How do you know?” the tiny whisperer said. He was about to say his reason but he already knew from previous experiences that this wouldn’t work out and he let Kell finish.

“You can see his clothes are torn up and bloodied from a knife, no one can survive with those wounds.” He gave up and decided to just speak up and see what would happen if he told the truth without excuses.

“You might not believe me but I’m from another world and I’ve been in repeated loops so please just get on with this and either shoot me. Stab me, or just let me go.”

‘Finally, I got that out of my system. It feels good to let loose once in a while.’ Merlin, as the traveler decided to name himself after repeated loops, saw the look on their faces right before the loop set in and he woke up in the same location… the twentieth time.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:20

‘Hooray? I guess’ Merlin pondered how to get farther into the loops so he could meet a town at least.

He walked on and on until he could find the weirdly strong merchant group. As the merchant group’s carriage stopped near where he woke up, Merlin stole the grimoire like last time and tried to read the headache-inducing language. This was his second time trying to read this hoping he’d at least be able to use magic.

He went back to where he usually sat when he wanted to avoid people. The water-logged rocks. He kept reading until midnight an hour or two before the loop would set in.

He gave up trying to decrypt the grimoire on his own and went to look for the merchant group again to see if he could get any hints. ‘This is probably going to be the end for loop 20. Might need to steal a pair of clothes next loop if I don’t forget.’

He made sure the squirrels scratched him everywhere to look as he made it out of a monster attack. “Help… There are monsters nearby… Most of my group was killed off but some of us managed to run in different directions.” Merlin thought it sounded cheap but he was open to anything at this point.

“What monster? How many of you were there?” The timid whisperer, ironically, questioned Merlin without even a stutter.

‘This is a nice change of pace from being shot with a silver bolt to being questioned on how to help me and the rest of my imaginary group.’ Merlin laughed silently at his attempt at humor.

He continued with his act. “I don’t know where the others went but, in the morning, I could show you where most of the group died.” He’d most likely just send them to where he usually wakes up since he knows, from experience, that the squirrels can eat human bones.

After getting patched up, talked about his fake story to the group and some facts about himself like how he was illiterate, and how he was close to paying off his debt but still needed language books for himself and his made-up family which seemed to do the trick as the heroic whisperer pitied me and tried to give me a children’s learning book they had and promised me that she’d teach me herself.

I gave her a genuine smile. After some time, I finally drifted off ready for the next loop knowing I didn’t get any language help from this one.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:20

He was still in the 20th loop when he woke up…

‘I can’t believe it… Is there something with this group?’ Merlin didn’t know what determined the factor in increasing the loop’s timer.

Merlin realized he woke up before everyone else and pondered for a while on what just occurred.