Before the Moon King’s rise, the spread of knowledge was slow and exchange of culture almost nonexistent. When every river is an impassible barrier, isolation comes easily.

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After countless repetitions of the day, he narrowed down his options to a specific sequence of events that would allow him to single-handedly slay the dragon.

The next problem was surviving.

A dying dragon was even more dangerous than a perfectly healthy one to anyone unfortunate enough to be in its immediate vicinity, and Jair’s weapon required close proximity.

Jair crouched atop the tower, waiting.

Ran hid below in their tunnel.

Jair hadn't drawn Maelstrom yet, waiting quietly for the dragon to approach, not drawing attention to himself at all. Barely peeking out enough to verify the angle of the sun and position of the clouds. He didn't need to see the dragon to know where it was any more, he could picture its approach perfectly with even a single point of reference.

It dove with a snarl, claws out as it went for the wall, planning to topple it and crush its prey. Jair leaped off the tower, perfectly intercepting the diving creature.

Maelstrom flashed down into its back, driving through the vulnerable scales in the hollow of its back.

No ordinary blade could have cut so cleanly or so deep, even the relatively weak scales would deflect anything below Advanced rank with impunity, and even Epic rated weapons might struggle to inflict sufficient damage.

Legendary though? Even at 10%, whatever that meant, it was more than sufficient.

Maelstrom sliced deep into its vitals without opposition. It was a dead dragon flying.

Jair didn't have time to celebrate.

Before he could leap clear, the dragon's neck darted out and coiled around him, crushing like a steel python.

Again.

Jair slammed down onto the dragon, driving Maelstrom deep into its back. He released the hilt immediately, rolling free of the furious beast just in time to evade its deadly neck.

He wasn't quite fast enough to evade its tail.

Again.

Jair stabbed down into the dragon's back, rolling free the moment he impacted. He slid away from the neck, ducked under the tail, and recalled Maelstrom to his hand in time to slice off the wing-claw that dove for him.

The furious dragon kicked at him with its rear claws, tail lashing, and the only way to get clear in time would be to dive off the clifftop before he was thrown off.

Jair jumped, stabbing Maelstrom out to catch on the cliffside before he could fall too far.

The dragon would die, but not for minutes yet.

Still plenty of time to eat Ran. He couldn't let that happen.

Jair dragged himself up one stone at a time, his arms trembling at the weight. He wasn't used to this yet, his body had only had a couple days to try to adapt, and that simply wasn't enough to reclaim the physique he enjoyed in the future.

By the time he reached the top, the tunnel had been excavated and the dragon crunched down on something metallic and screaming.

Again.

Jair dove from the walltop, frostvine rope tied around his waist.

He slammed blade-first into the dragon's back, piercing through its soft scales and deep into its vitals. Rolled free before its neck could coil around him, ducked under the sweeping tail, and dove off the cliffside before its feet even left the ground.

He swung below the attack in an arc, dipping barely below the edge, then came up short as the rope ran out. Stabbed Maelstrom into the wall and hauled himself up, much easier with the rope as an anchor, and hurled his sword straight into the dragon's venom sac before it could finish tearing the wall apart.

He missed.

The dragon swiped at him with a wing, tangling it in the rope. On the one hand, it slowed and confused the dragon. On the other, it dragged Jair off balance and into reach of the dragon’s jaws.

Again.

Jair rolled free of the dragon, then ran up the wall, the pulley system dragging him upward.

The dragon's claw snagged the rope and tore through it, dropping Jair down. Before he could reorient, the dragon's head snapped out and crunched down.

Again!

Jair fell, net trailing him as he slammed blade-first into the dragon's weak point. He rolled free just before the net fell, covering the dragon's head and forelimbs and front wings in a mesh of frostvine.

The beast hissed, tearing at the entangling net, but that gave Jair the moment he needed to run up the wall and out of reach.

"Go!"

Ran burst out of the tunnel, racing for the teleport platform at the center of campus. One minute, eighteen seconds until he reached it. Three minutes forty seven seconds until the dragon succumbed to its injuries. As long as they could get out of reach by then, it would be over.

The dragon smashed through the wall, furious and screaming. Ran hadn't made it a dozen steps before its fire breath blasted out, sizzling against the spells in the academy and leaving a scar of death behind as it hissed across the grounds. Stone cracked, sand melted, bushes shriveled and turned to ash.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ran kept running, but his armor glowed red-hot. His steps were slowed and his movement unsteady.

Jair ran and jumped, yelling to attract the dragon's attention, but the furious dying creature would not be denied. It darted forward once more.

Crunch.

No! He’d come so close!

Jair screamed as he stabbed its venom sac, slashed its wing apart, savaged its dying body, but it was too late. Always too late.

This time, he didn't revert immediately. He tore the dragon's body apart until there was nothing recognizable, screaming his helpless fury to the heavens, then sat down amid the bloody ruin and stared out at nothing as his rage burned itself out.

Jair sat a while longer, his mind in turmoil. People came, people spoke, people tried to get him to move. Words and actions, all empty and meaningless.

Hours passed as evening ended and night fell. The dragon remnants were cleaned up and the plants replaced, the stones repaired, the constructs recast and the academy returned to normal.

Jair had seen it a thousand times and he hated it more every time. A student violently killed within their own grounds and it simply vanished overnight.

There would be letters written to Lord Serin, new constructs built around the Institute to provide early warning in future, and that would be the end of it. No scandal, no blame, no one caring that it might have been prevented. A fluke. An unforeseeable accident. A tragedy used to fund new wards and little else.

No one else would ever change anything. Only him. He had to find the way forward.

Jair ran through the most recent iterations, searching for anything more he could do, any new trick he could try.

The dragon would never fly low enough unless Ran was positioned directly under the wall. If they moved to any other part of the wall, the angle of its attack would change such that Jair couldn't jump on it himself. If they moved to another building, the situation would be even further out of control.

There was no way to move Ran from the tunnel to the transit platform any faster than one minute eighteen seconds. He was already utilizing multiple constructs to even go that fast. Any more and they'd all collapse. Much like how you could only pair spells together in the same space on your arms if they worked together, you could only use constructs together that were compatible.

He retried the sequence another dozen times, sometimes gaining a second or two, sometimes losing time, but none of it was enough.

He tried different alternatives, but none of them came close to matching this one.

Reluctantly, Jair had to admit he couldn’t actually do it alone.

Time to move into recruitment.

That stone mage would be a good place to start. Jair may not need more than one or two allies if he could find people strong enough to hold the dragon down for the minutes it would take it to die.

He slid further back into the timeline, tracing his steps backward into the second day. For his initial runs he'd focused entirely on himself and Ran, reclaiming their relationship and the rhythms of how they interacted. Now he was comfortable being that Jair again, time to move on to improving his relationships with others.

On the first day, he'd dealt with the immediate threats of Lian and his gang; they may come after him later, but he'd spooked them good enough to keep them off his back for at least until the dragon, probably longer.

The second day, however, he hadn't used for anything in particular. The morning was imprinting and exercising, things he couldn't skip, so he left them alone, repeating his previous actions closely. He did adjust his conversation a bit to ease Ran’s concerns and act a bit more like the Jair he’d expect, then once again attended classes in the afternoon, but with different aims in mind this time.

"Who can tell me the primary differentiation between water and ice manipulation?"

"Liquid versus solid," Jair mimicked squeakily, just as an over-confident noble girl said that very thing.

Ran stifled a laugh.

Professor Firdon gestured for her to sit. "Incorrect."

Ran raised his own hand. "One only manipulates the shape, while the other changes the substance."

"Very good. I see some of you are thinking 'why isn't he mentioning temperature', and that is because...?"

One of the other students answered this time, "Temperature is a result of the change, not the catalyst."

"Good. This week I'd like an analysis of the benefits and detriments of focusing on ice or water based spells."

Most of the teachers were pushing the 'analyze styles and why they'd be good or bad' thing very strongly now that their students had unlocked the class and could finally begin imprinting.

Jair hung back after the lesson ended, waving for Ran to go on ahead without him.

"Excuse me, Professor Firdon?"

The stone mage glanced up mildly, frowning when he recognized Jair. "Welburne? What now?"

"How would you go about slowing down an angry dying dragon long enough to escape?"

Firdon's sea-green eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're not trying to cheat on your other assignments, are you?"

"No, sir. This is a personal project."

"Then I'm sure you're capable of performing the research yourself."

"I have been," Jair replied earnestly. "But you're one of the strongest mages I know." A little flattery couldn't hurt, especially since it was true. At least at this point in the timeline. "Do you think you could stop a dragon long enough to escape?"

"Dragons aren't hunted alone. You'd have seven to twelve people with you, all specifically trained to handle the situation. If you did try to take it on alone, then you'll die."

"But imagine the others all were eaten already, the dragon is dying but very angry. How do you escape?"

"You should hurry or you'll be late to your next class."

He'd been through this all so many times, trying to ingratiate himself, trying to change their perceptions. One week couldn't undo years of prejudice and skewed information.

Time to break script.

"Sir, this is a very important question. It's related to how I ascended my sword yesterday."

Firdon's eyebrows rose the faintest bit. "How so?"

"The sword is reforged with dragon-tear pearls." He pulled Maelstrom out and displayed the central string of blue-shimmering pearl dust, then returned it to his soul before Firdon could try anything. "I have good reason to believe that one particular dragon has taken offense and will be coming after me in revenge."

Firdon's attentive look disappeared. He shook his head, laughing faintly. "Dragon-tear pearls aren't actual dragon's tears. You're in no danger." But he glanced back at Jair's empty hand, where Maelstrom had been a second before. "Ascended, you said? Truly?"

"Third form," Jair confirmed.

Firdon glanced at the clock, the empty classroom, then back to Jair. "Might I examine it? I didn't get a good look, but it seemed a bit... unusual."

"I think the term you're looking for is 'horrifyingly sloppy'." Jair smiled ingratiatingly. "I would be glad to let you look at it, but I have three conditions."

Firdon was an honorable man, from everything Jair knew. If he gave his word he would keep it, unless he thought it violated a higher law to do so.

The biggest threat would be Larenok. Firdon wasn’t likely to keep Jair's secrets from him if the headmaster convinced the teachers that Jair represented a danger to the school.

"You can look, but no using Inspect or any other ability. Second, you have to promise not to tell anyone else anything about it.”

Firdon's expression closed some, his interest turning to wariness.

“This is my soulsword that I'll be using the rest of my life,” Jair hurried to explain. “I don't want word of its strengths and weaknesses to get out."

Firdon slowly nodded. "Wise to remain discreet about your weapon’s details. Your conditions are reasonable. Agreed."

Jair held up a hand. "Third, I want you to meet me at the cliff wall tower an hour before sunset on the 18th. Ready for battle. That’s when and where I anticipate the dragon catching up to me. Just give me half an hour, and you–”

“No.” Any glimmer of interest disappeared as Firdon’s expression went cold. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but whatever it is I’m not getting involved.”

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