Ran returned first thing the next morning, as soon as Jair had slept to Notek’s satisfaction for the night.

“We didn’t finish our conversation.”

“Any time you like, I’m at your disposal. But first,” Jair sat up, unable to restrain his excitement. “You have to see this.”

“Don’t think you’re going to put me off–”

Jair summoned Maelstrom, grinning as he showed off its new status.

2% closer to full legendary. Ancient dragon’s venom effect added. Plus another unknown attribute, which he assumed Aethron would know how to unlock once they got that far.

“What? What!” Ran summoned his own sword and glowered at it, as though expecting it to upgrade itself on the spot.

It did not.

─ Soulsword

─ Rank: Common

– Class Requirement: Mageblade

“This is so not fair. Your legendary sword after one week can absorb powers from monsters? Why has no one told me that’s an option!”

“No one told me either. I think it’s an aberration that would be difficult to replicate, but we can get pretty close with Aethron’s help,” Jair promised merrily. “Everything I did was thanks to his instructions. Well. Apart from the dying part at the end. That was… accidental.”

Ran raised a finger and pointed at Jair. “How about we start there. Tell me everything.”

“Everything? That’ll take months.” Assuming he abbreviated things to their most basic form. Any details or questions would stretch the story out to years.

Ran didn’t relent, so Jair began to speak. He started at the end, the final week, narrating as he carried the reforged but still incomplete Maelstrom step by weary step through the occupied lands of the invaders. Ceaseless tension, never able to relax for a moment.

He’d been assassinated more than once before he finally reached his destination, forced to revert and do it all again and again. Every misstep, every mistake, any single moment imperfect inevitably led to his death.

He told of the desperate run up the slopes of Mount Sanctum, the beastlord and its underkin hot in pursuit. Burning through his manabody completely setting traps along the way, powering the ascension from Mount Sanctum’s mana well itself, pure power searing his empty manabody as he forced it through anyway.

Reshaping Maelstrom according to its exact specifications, then the disastrous end as the pursuit broke through and Jair died, bleeding out across his incomplete sword, locking the ascension into place in his last desperate moment.

The weeks spent back at the academy, repeating the same four days to save Ran, finally culminating in the battle and Jair’s own poisoned status.

Ran leaned back breathlessly when he finished, visibly relaxing from the intensity of the retelling. For a long time, neither of them spoke.

Then Ran broke the silence, almost timidly. “You ascended your sword in the future, then somehow brought it back with you to the past. Can you bring other things back? Like… my sword, for instance?”

Ah. “Sorry. Only things that are a part of my soul are carried back with me. My body stays the same as it was in the past, my soulspace forcefully ejects whatever’s inside, often destroying it in the process. Even Maelstrom couldn’t survive the trip back until its ascension bound it to me fully.”

Ran’s disappointment lasted only a moment. “But you can hunt down the locations of rare ingredients, right? So we can do the reforging and ascension properly.”

“That, I can do. The exact same ingredients as Maelstrom, actually.”

“Yes! Let’s do it. When can we start? What should I call mine? Sandstorm? Hurricane? Or, no, something completely unrelated. How about… Bloodshard. Nah, maybe… Mirrorcleft.”

Jair chuckled. “Don’t get your hopes up too high. I had no part in naming Maelstrom, it appeared like that when I inspected it. I didn’t even consider trying to name it myself.”

"So, where do we start?"

“Right now, there’s nothing you can do but continue as the Institute advises. Until your sword is reforged, any attempts at ascension would only interfere with the bonding process.”

Ran deflated again, his dreams of getting a legendary ascended sword in the next few days ruthlessly shattered. “Then what’s the plan?”

“For the immediate goal? Research into the composition of dragon blood, and treatments of the more common and curable types. I’m sure you know some booksellers who can obtain rare and highly technical documents for us?”

“I might know someone, yeah.”

“I also have a list of investments for you to make. There’ll be some major trade upsets in the coming few years. Nothing immediately profitable, but as long as you start buying now we’ll be in an excellent position to make a fortune once the conflicts escalate.”

"Renting storage space for commodities won’t be cheap, and I don't have as much money to invest as you seem to think. My father already spent a fortune paying off Larenok. Even if it wasn’t directly my fault, it’ll have an impact on my allowance."

"Then make a deal with him. Tell him you want to get into trading. And I'll use my contacts to collect money myself." He'd hoped to simplify his participation in noble scheming this time around, but if that’s what it took. “I should probably try to wrangle some Terluna invites, or at least arrange to meet up with people at the market."

"Wouldn't they all be busy with their own affairs?"

"They can make time for me. Besides, a lot of our classmates aren't from around here. Several are even from coastal fortresses."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Wouldn’t that only make it more likely that they’re visiting friends or family? Why would they include someone they've despised until a week ago?"

"Despised? Harsh." Jair feigned offense.

Ran kicked him.

Jair kicked him back. "But, yes, there isn't a good reason for them to include me at the moment. Which is exactly why I need to establish a reason over the coming weeks."

"So your social calendar is going to be packed with shmoozing. Here I thought after slaying a dragon for me we had something special."

"Don't be silly. You're my best friend and will always remain so. If you want me to come with you on terluna I'll do it. I still owe you more than I can repay."

"Shouldn't that be the other way around? You're the one who put yourself in harm's way to save me - Aelir, if you weren't a time mage you'd have sacrificed your life for mine."

"Oh, I've done that too, more than a few times. I'd rather we both live."

"So none of this owing business."

Jair waved away the declaration. "Fine. Neither of us owes anyone anything, but if you ever want anything I'll do it anyway, because you're my very best friend and that's never going to change."

"Not even this Aethron person you're always talking about?"

"Pfah, no. He's more like a grouchy uncle than anything. He knows more about soulswords than anyone I've ever met - he's the one who walked me through both the reforging and ascension of Maelstrom. I'm sure he'll be able to help repair it to its full potential and get yours upgraded too. But our relationship has always been more professional. Would I call him a friend? Sure. Burn down fate itself on his behalf? Nah."

"I'm... not sure what to say to that." Ran looked a little guilty, as though ashamed he couldn't honestly reciprocate.

"If it bothered me that you have other friends, that I'm not the absolute center of your universe, I've gotten over it long ago," Jair said bluntly. "You've done more for me than you had any reason to. I've done the same. As far as I'm concerned, that settles things between us. You don't need to worry about my jealousy getting in the way." He hesitated then. "Unless you get married to someone loathsome. Then you might find yourself widowed quickly."

"Ah, I see." Ran smirked. "So you get veto privileges on my wife, now? Aelir, a guy saves your life one time and starts to think he owns you."

"Don't I?" Jair waved his hands mysteriously in the air. "I control your finances, I control your future, what's missing?"

Ran snorted and looked around for something to throw. The only things to hand were pillows, so that's what he used.

Jair didn't bother evading, taking the pillow full in the face. He flopped over onto his back with exaggerated groans, clutching the pillow to his chest like he were trying to staunch a deadly wound.

"So that's the plan?” Ran sounded vaguely disappointed. “Read, talk to people while waiting for more books, then read more?"

"Pretty much. Most of the day to day won't be much different. Attend enough classes to get away with skipping the rest, run around in circles, stab things, repeat."

"I guess it just feels a bit... boring. After spending a week desperately preparing to be eaten by a dragon, this doesn't seem nearly as exciting."

Jair smiled mischievously. "Oh? You want exciting?"

Ran's eyes widened in sudden fear. "Not necessarily... maybe attending classes would be--"

"Too late. I know just the thing."

"I'm afraid to ask."

Jair only smiled at him, refusing to answer until he asked.

Ran finally gave in, scowling. "Okay, what's your plan for making things more exciting?"

"I was thinking we could go on a little trip tomorrow."

“Dare I ask, trip to where?”

“Somewhere I can get the details no one here will tell me. The specifics of how my body reacts to the dragon blood, the rate of decay, I need all the full and exact measurements if I’m going to solve this thing, and Notek isn’t willing to share.”

Ran’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“But, that’s a decision for tomorrow. First, we need to try every ordinary avenue for information. As soon as I can escape, we should go shopping in town.”

"Yes, we’ll do that.” Ran’s voice was distant, clearly still puzzling through the question. Then he paled as comprehension dawned. “Tomorrow’s Dark Night. Jair! You wouldn’t."

"You want things fast, you go to the people who can get around fast. Terluna isn't for another two weeks. Day twelve, I'll already be feeling the effects of this." He gestured down at himself. "If I'm going to get in contact with anyone willing to undertake drastic research, it'd be better not to wait that long."

"You want to hire ghostmoon doctors to perform unethical experiments on you?"

"Why not? We need to figure out the right balance somehow."

"You're completely insane.”

Jair only grinned. “I know, isn’t it exciting?”

“Even if you can revert time, that doesn’t stop you being killed if you’re unconscious!”

“I’ll be fine. Dying tends to wake you up quite quickly.”

If something killed him, he’d instinctively revert before the damage became lasting. The soul was far stronger than the manabody, which was sturdier than the physical body. He'd already been through far, far worse than anything that could be necessary here.

His soulspell could only be damaged by catastrophic dissipation, and not many creatures could do that kind of damage short of killing him. Those few he knew well enough to sense them from miles away. He’d once spent eight years trapped in one such timeline after an encounter with a Star Hydra, unable to revert while he agonizingly restored his soulspell.

Other times he’d been too slow to revert after death, leaving him with non-catastrophic but soul-deep damage as his very self began to dissipate. Damage like that followed him unforgivingly across time, impossible to revert away; damage that took decades to heal. He’d endured it twice before and had no desire to do it again.

More dangerous still, if the post-death soul damage ever broke his soulspell it would leave him unable to revert. Not that the option hadn’t been tempting a few times, when the pain of pressing on seemed hopeless, the obstacles insurmountable, the future bleak and empty. Yet ultimately, Jair couldn’t bring himself to accept defeat, regardless of the obstacles.

When he set his mind to a task, he would see it through.

Compared to what he’d already endured, a little intrusive testing and examination would be nothing.

Ran disagreed. "No way. We are not going to the ghost moon to recruit people to experiment on you!"

"Aw, so innocent..." Jair made a baby face at Ran.

Ran threw another pillow at him.

Jair caught it and tucked it under his elbows, leaning forward earnestly. "It’s not like they say, you know. There aren’t really whispering spirits of damnation lurking behind every boulder.”

“There are criminals lurking behind every boulder. You might be able to get away with traipsing around like nothing can hurt you, but I’m a noble heir! I can’t go someplace like that!”

“Then I promise I'll revert if anything even looks like it'll happen. You'll never be in any danger."

"That’s so weird to imagine. What happens if I do get hurt? Then you come back, when, to now? To earlier today? Will everything we've talked about disappear? Will I have to discuss this all over again? How many times have you had this conversation already?"

"This specific one? Never. This is the first time I’ve been in this condition and you’ve survived. New territory. But in general, there's not a lot left that we haven't discussed one time or another." Jair shrugged. "I try not to remember them, honestly. I prefer to react in the moment than try to re-enact some idealized version. Worst case scenario, you throw something at me."

Ran looked like he very much wanted to throw something, but restrained himself. Plus there were no more pillows ready to hand.

“If you don’t want to come, I’ll go alone.”

“I definitely don’t want you to go alone.”

“Then it’s settled! Book shopping in the morning, networking in the afternoon, ghost moon in the evening. Perfect way to finish out the week.”

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