Magiwatch has saved 24 hours.

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The Master welcomes you to Loopers Academy. You are expected in class in seven hours.

Rank: junior initiate class 1

Guarantor: XM9999

Lifespan: 23:59:49

It sucked to always wake up with the same nightmare of a dazzling blue flash shining in your eyes like a police torch, but when you do it fifty-something times it grew old. At first, it would feel like a bad dream, and then it would feel like any other dream, and even that would pale as time went on. At a point, you would just feel it wasn't a nightmare anymore. A few seconds would be all it took to clear your head and stir your determination. Gaus was more or less the same in this regard. Instead of a nightmare, he was just thinking about his physique.

He pressed the crown three times.

Physique

Speed: 8

Constitution: 5

Strength: 7

Sigh.

He'd lost it again. The skill used by The Master to bring people into the loop saved physique. He should be able to save his physique. Why was he still losing it?

This was challenging. If everyone, including the loopers in the academy, lost their physique as well then The Master or the loop would be responsible. But Gaus retained everything except his physique, and to make matters worse he was the only looper, as far as he knew, that was losing their physique. He couldn't be different from the others, could he?

He opened the skill tab and pressed on mana sense.

Mana sense activated.

Cost: 0.1/min

He would keep it up at all times until the next three days were over and Tyren was erased from the loop.

He waited for dawn to walk into the academy, occasionally blinking to shorten the journey. Two days had already passed since their meeting with Tyren. The other time traveler had time to report him to the academy, and although he couldn't be sure, his gut told him he didn't because if he did the academy would have done something about it by now. Tyren was either wishfully thinking they could agree to something, or he was planning to take him on. Gaus couldn't run away from him, he also couldn't ask for help, so the only option left was to fight and hope. With enough levels and determination, even a temporary looper wouldn't be invincible, right?

Once inside the academy, he went to the cafeteria. After ordering the same soup Tuwo he'd enjoyed from the other restaurants in the city, he picked an isolated seat far away from the chattering students at the center, wondering how lively the Academy was even at this hour. Nobody seemed to bother about being stuck in a time loop. They talked study and play like in a normal academy. What kind of assurance did The Master give them?

Being so absorbed in his thoughts, he barely noticed a couple coming over to his seat.

"You're the guy from yesterday," the boy said as he sat on the opposite chair, uninvited. "You must be starting the loop nearby if you can come this early."

Gaus had no idea who they were. The girl did look familiar though. He expected they attended the same class.

"Excuse me?" Gaus asked.

"I'm Bor," the boy said. "He pointed at the girl. "This is my sister - Nan. You're the guy who ended up in our class by accident, right? What's your name again?"

Both were short but their frail physique and tight uniform made them look a bit taller than they were.

"I'm Gaus," he said dismissively.

They should have silently left after that dismissive tone but for some reason, Bor decided to familiarize himself with Gaus just as he planned to do with the other members of the class.

"My sister and I were admitted because of our skill in taming spirits. You would be surprised to know that we can already tame a spirit. If it weren't for that Avianti girl in our class, I would say I'm the best in the school of spirits in the whole class," Bor said to his sister's annoyance.

"Must you tell everyone that?" She mumbled.

"Don't mind my little sister," Bor said, talking as if she weren't there. "She didn't want to come to the pilgrimage in the first place. She still doesn't want to be here. I can tell you she's only here because of what she'll gain when the loop is over."

Gaus smiled wryly. He really would prefer eating in silence but he would hijack the opportunity to ask some questions.

"How long have you suffered the LA syndrome?"

Bor smiled happily at the question. He wasn't used to getting a response this early. "Twelve days. My sister suffered it for eighteen, that's why we aren't in the same class. But I feel we've both done well. You may not agree since you are a genius but..."

He was interrupted by a groan from Gaus.

"You are a genius."

No, he wasn't.

"That aside," Bor went on. "You should know that Avianti took twenty-six hours. Antelina two days. Cara four. Gatan five. Hishan six. Bered six. Tiara ten."

And just like that, Bor listed all the members of the class and their scores. At some point, his sister grew tired and just left.

"Today is going to be fun," Bor said as they left the cafeteria after eating. "We are going to have a new class representative."

What?

"Why?"

"I don't know. That's why I even came to the cafeteria looking for Tiara. She is usually the first to have information like this. Nobody knows about her source."

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Tiara was also a member of their class. Noted.

"So how did you know about it and I didn't?" Asked Gaus. He didn't leave the school yesterday until the loop was over and he came very early today, so he should have heard information like this.

"You haven't joined the class group," Bor said.

Yes, he hadn't.

"Just go to the friend list of your interface and unfriend one person so you can get a free slot to join with."

"I have no friends," Gaus said.

"Er... sorry, I forgot you are just coming. Anyway, join the group and information like this won't pass you. I do have a slot left, I can add you as a friend if you want."

He could benefit from the boy's experience and it was good to have someone to talk to. "Yeah, please do that."

The boy put his hand around Gaus's shoulders to the latter's utter discomfort.

"Gimme your room number. We'll be friends. Good friends."

Urgh.

"How long have you been in the academy?" Gaus asked after successfully taking Bor's arm off his shoulder.

"Five loop months. Everyone in the class has been here for five months except you and Ariwen. We'd two weeks to adapt to the syndrome, two months to build a physique, and two months to learn the mundane before starting the actual courses."

Gaus jumped these classes all because of a slight mistake of getting into the wrong class. Sometimes mistakes could be a blessing.

Assigning class #2A to Interface...

Done.

You've 2/3 slots left.

That was all the warning he got after assigning the class to his friend's list before he started getting tons of messages.

Cara: Tiara, the fuck are u doin. Tell us who the new rep is.

Dilfa: I don't really care as long as it's a she. Don't like arrogant dicks ruling over us.

Gatan: hey, bitch, I'm the rep. Deal with it.

Jack: I thought I told you no swearing in the group. I swear I'm going to leave the group if you continue.

Gatan: you just swear, man. Why d u always wanna bother yourself? Besides, if you leave we'll be one man short and that's not good for the patriarchal brotherhood.

Gaus added.

Antelina: hey, welcome.

Gatan: the new guy is here.

Dilfa: I just hope he isn't the class rep.

Tiara: he isn't.

Dilfa: hey, Tiara, tell us who the hell it's before I cut off my hair.

Tiara: do that, pls.

Gaus: thanks, class rep.

Antelina: not anymore.

.....

.....

"Will you stop chatting on the way? You may trip and break something," Bor warned.

It was only now that Gaus realized he'd been on the chat wall for a while. The interface roughly translated your thoughts into writing and put them in the group. It was nice to see something new.

"I would like to have a training companion. Can we train together?" Bor asked.

"Yes, why not?"

On one hand, the boy was hoping to benefit from his demonstrated skill in mana sense, but on the other, he was also hoping to learn something from the boy since the boy had been in the academy for longer than him.

"When are we going to have a class about enchanting?" Gaus asked.

"Today," Bor said. "We'll have enchanting, swordsmanship, and how to tame a spirit, my favorite."

Gaus narrowed his eyes. "What about bloodline?" As a school of magic, it should have its class as well, he thought.

Bor groaned. "It doesn't have a class. That would have been terrible, considering how arrogant bloodline limiters are. Haven't you seen how they are behaving in school? Just observe how that Avianti girl looks at us. They don't bother with anyone who has no bloodline limit. To them, not even a pacifist can compare, or so they believed."

Slowly Gaus's face was turning into a frown. He still hadn't seen any bloodline skill and he'd no idea how it worked. Gaus was yet to see that extensive demonstration of many skills either.

"How many pacifists and bloodline limiters are in our class?" Gaus asked.

"Only one bloodline limiter - Ariwen. I don't know about pacifists. Some said three, some said four. Antelina is one but I don't know the others. If you want such information you should ask Tiara."

Was it safe to conclude that bloodline limiters were even rarer than pacifists in this regard? But what if someone were to combine the two?

"Is there anyone with both a bloodline limit and a magiwatch skill?"

Bor thought about it silently before he shook his head. "Theoretically, it's possible, but I haven't seen it."

Long ago, mages who weren't born with skills in their magiwatch were considered trash. They were given many names: nil set, blanks, manaless, forgotten, forsaken, back-sitters, among others. At a point, these mages formed an organization called blazers, they came together to create the four schools of magic to defy the pacifist oppression. They also made sure no pacifist could learn magic from the schools; it was purely intentional that pacifists like Gaus had zero affinity in enchanting, spirit taming, swordsmanship, and bloodlines. However, these mages didn't consider something like a time loop when they created the schools. By saving progress and carrying it over to the next loop, the loop helped the academy to devise ways to teach even the pacifists with zero affinities magic from the four schools. Because of these reasons, you would find a pacifist combining his skill with the schools. If someone was already born with skill in their magiwatch like Antelina and him, then it was entirely possible for them to also learn some bloodline skills and combined the two. Perhaps, at some point, the Academy would also devise a way to copy original skills from the magiwatch and teach it to the students.

"We are here." Bor pointed at the door of the classroom. It was still closed. "Lucky they don't lock it."

He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Twenty-four seats, one for each student. A quill and purple ink in a transparent bottle sat on the speckless tabletop at the front of the class. Honestly, speckless didn't do justice to the classroom. Everything was suspiciously clean that Gaus felt it wasn't real. Have you ever seen something so clean you expect it was made from the air? This was it.

"Who set the classroom this early? They must have been very diligent and organized to clean everything so perfect," Gaus said, amazed.

"I don't know who brought the quill and the ink but the school needs no cleaning once the loop resets. Handy, ain't it?" Bor said.

Of course, it didn't since the loop would renew everything. Gaus nodded his understanding.

After making sure none of the chairs or the walls was about to start talking, he walked to the back of the class and sat.

Not long after they were seated, other members came into the class. The last to come was Ariwen.

"Forgive my late coming," the girl bowed slightly to the class and suddenly Gaus realized her green hair was even darker than he'd thought and her ears were long and pointed upward with a sharp tip like a dagger, "you must have been waiting for me." She glanced at her watch with a sigh.

She wasn't late. It was 9:25 am.

Standing at the very spot where Linc stood yesterday, she turned around to face the class. "I still have thirty-five minutes left," she said.

"Can someone tell me what she's doing?" A bald boy asked in annoyance. A girl and two boys sitting next to him nodded in agreement.

"This isn't a drama outing and, in case you haven't noticed, we're all sitting not standing where the teacher is supposed to stand. Just because you've been brought into the class because of your bloodline doesn't mean you can speak so arrogant, or even stand at the teacher's podium," he added.

"Er..." Ariwen hesitated, looking very humble and collected. "I might have misread the guidelines but I swear seeing something that requires me to introduce myself to the class."

"You've already introduced yourself to the class yesterday." His voice softened a bit. "Look, newcomer, nobody is against you introducing yourself to the class, but we can't have you addressing us like you are the class rep."

"But I am the class rep," she said.

Huh?

"You? It can't be. You came just yesterday."

The class erupted into chaos.

"What did you do to get it?"

"I don't believe it."

"Me too. Let's confirm it."

Gaus watched everything in silence.

Several minutes later, Antelina came forward and asked everyone to calm down.

"Rules are rules. The academy has the right to appoint any student as the class rep. Ariwen took the alchemy challenge yesterday and she won. The academy rewards her by appointing her as the new class rep. Period."

So that was what happened. It wasn't just Gaus that was busy yesterday.

"Thank you, Antelina." Ariwen bowed. "I will need your cooperation to succeed in my appointment."

The class was suddenly very cooperative. Was a class rep position that powerful? Or maybe it was Antelina.

"But I'm afraid I'll have to make some changes to the timetable," Ariwen said and suddenly Gaus began to understand how powerful the position could be. "We've five teachers right now. Three told me they can start their classes as early as eight o'clock in the morning and the other two can make it to nine o'clock, so from now on classes will start at eight o'clock."

"It doesn't happen like that, girl. We are supposed to vote," the bald guy retorted.