"Alright, it's done," said Fredrick.
Gaus frowned. "What's done?"
Fredrick took a step closer and put a hand on his shoulder. He gave him a reassuring smile. "Breaking the soul bond. Wait for just a few seconds and you'll be whole again. Your lost lifespan will be returned to you."
Gaus glared at him. "You didn't tell me you were starting."
Fredrick looked at him, surprised. Why should he?
"You may be penniless now but you don't have to worry about that. You see, I have been looking for an apprentice to do my chores for some time now. How about you work for me for a decade as a payment?" The man was convinced he'd done a great favor to him. In a way, he was right. He had gotten rid of the soulbond and Gaus didn't have to lose 5 MP every time the loop reset. But without it, there would be no second time loop. All the opportunities that came with it were gone.
Sigh.
"In 3... 2... 1. It's done," Fredrick said, proudly. "You can now..."
Gaus's immortality is assessing the severity of soul damage...
You'll be returned to 20 seconds before sustaining damage.
ERROR.. skill was interrupted.
Assessing ERROR...
The Error has been evaluated.
You'll be returned to 20 seconds before sustaining damage.
ERROR.. skill was interrupted.
***
"Vuiblooour!"
He was back again. Fredrick's 'unauthorized' attempt to rectify the problem didn't work. It did cost him 5 MP though.
Mana: 280/280 (0.5/min)
25 MP less than his original reserve. He must justify this mana loss else everything would be in vain.
After some consideration, he decided to use the next two or three restarts to level up as fast as possible. He would then get rid of the loop.
He spent five hours practicing enchantment. His current project was to create portable explosives that could be controlled remotely. XM9997 gave him the runic syllable (which he learned instantly by using runic tongue) and he had already inscribed it using runic writing. It could even be considered a rune if only unrefined (and unnecessarily big). To make it work, he first had to compress it into a manageable size. The cost of compressing it was 5 MP and at his current level, he could only channel a maximum of 2 MP per inscription. He needed to level up both mana insignia and compression to channel enough mana into the inscription.
He turned to levitation. Despite learning how to levitate multiple objects at once and how to throw objects like a catapult, he still couldn't pull out a dagger from the ground. It just required more force than he could wield at the moment. One alternative was to level up levitation which would inevitably raise the range and possibly the weight of the objects affected by the skill. But to level up, he required combat experience. Something he could only gain by killing beings with more experience than himself. He needed a dungeon.
An hour later, Gaus visited the academy's dungeon commission.
"Good evening, senior, my name's Gaus, I came here a few days ago about my..."
The impassive man at the reception sneered at him. "I'll tell you as I told you before, the academy doesn't allow initiates below level 20 to step into the dungeon unless they've got a spirit companion ten levels above them."
"I understand, sir. All I'm saying is..."
"No way." The man cut him off.
He bolted out of the office. Hands clenched into a hard fist.
***
"Abbas, what about the old dungeon?"
"What about it? You aren't planning on going there, are you?" Abbas asked with a frown.
Gaus shrugged. "I'll admit I'm considering it."
Abbas turned around in his seat with a serious expression. "Stop right there." He pointed a finger at him. "The old dungeon is out of bounds for a good reason. The guards there have orders to shoot on sight. It's one hundred percent prohibited. Don't even think about it. Why don't you check out other dungeons in Little Lang or Teht?"
"Well," Gaus said with a sigh. "Those are just sub dungeons and I don't feel like leaving the holy city for a subdungeon."
"What alternative do you have...?" He paused as he suddenly realized why Gaus was asking about the old dungeon. "No, no, no. You can't be serious."
***
On the outskirts, just beyond the city walls, the old dungeon rested peacefully under the close watch of the marines.
Gaus stood before the black gate. There will be no turning back once he stepped inside. Keep off. Trespassing will attract a strong penalty. Gaus read the words silently. Sure, it was a risk, but if the academy wouldn't give him a dungeon then he'd no choice but to come here. He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
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Several marines laid on the ground, lifeless. There was no sign of battle. All of them were dressed in clean white coveralls and black hats with fancy blades and bows in their hands ready to attack. It appeared as if someone (or something) had killed them so fast they couldn't react. Now that he thought about it the place was unnaturally quiet. The gate wasn't supposed to be open as well. And he didn't meet a single scout on his way there. What happened?
After a short debate, he started identifying their swords. He felt bad for raiding corpses but the dead didn't need a blade. One marine had a blue sword that read common; 2% pure. After a short debate, he put the blue sword in his inventory. He picked a few fancy armors and spears and 'fruits' before he fled. He wanted to bury them but someone would eventually find out about this and he didn't want to be there when it happened.
A couple of minutes later, the soil turned black. An array of carefully arranged tunnels ran into the underground. The opening of the tunnels ranged from three to four-meter wide with numbers written boldly on them. According to the scripture, deep into the ground, the tunnels came together to form a massive network of caves that housed the infinite denizens of the old dungeon. A few tunnels went further down into the world below, or so they said.
A place of peril, the inhabitants called it. Stay away from the old dungeon for the sake of all, the marines warned. One reporter published a story about a city full of sentient corpses in the old dungeon. This and many other tales all spoke about the dreaded old dungeon. But Gaus was determined. As long as the loops existed, he would explore the old dungeon and see what it's made of.
Mana sense activated.
----------------------------------------
Stealth activated.
He retrieved two swords from his inventory and jumped into a nearby tunnel.
Quickly retrieving a torch from his inventory, he looked for something to hold on to. Unfortunately, the walls of the tunnel were smooth and there was nothing to grasp. Luckily the ground was in sight, so he just blinked there to avoid colliding with the hard ground.
Currently, he was standing at a crossroads. Each road extending as far as he could see. They looked the same. The ground was dry sand like a desert and the walls were painted black. At intervals, there were different-sized holes in the wall, looking like they were dug by a squirrel.
Now, which road should he take...?
A blade flashed through his vision. He blinked away just in time to avoid losing a neck, but when he reappeared he was missing a chunk of meat from his right arm. He still couldn't see his attacker. They carefully stayed just outside his range of mana sense. He tried longevity sense but still nothing. It was as if they didn't exist.
He Rewound.
Magiwatch has saved 3 sec.
You've Rewound for 3 secs, effectively erasing everything in the said period. Only you will remember.
He looked into the memory. The blade came from behind him. His attacker had three pairs of legs, each ending in a sharp appendage that was made purely out of metal. The rest of the leg although flesh and blood were armored with similar steel.
1 CP was used to identify the target's weak spot.
The only part of it that wasn't covered by armor was its torso - a rounded bulk of flesh and black hair. It was the only weak spot the save library could identify. A pair of big robotic eyes stared at him from behind. The thing somehow looked like an overgrown cockroach.
Construct, level 5
Also according to the save library, the construct didn't teleport to attack him, it was just so fast he couldn't see it. In three seconds, it would attack again. He would blink away and still lose an arm. His only chance was to get it just before it attacked.
In three... two... one.
He blinked above it just as it attacked him and stabbed its torso from above. The construct didn't dodge, it turned one of its legs around and blocked his sword. Metal screws embedded within the flesh of the leg screeched against the sharp turn. Just what kind of an abomination was that? Not only did it block his attack, but it also used its other legs to attack him. He blinked just in time to avoid the deadly swipe and appear beneath the construct. He stabbed again. Somehow, the construct dodged to the side. Its reaction and speed were so fast it was impossible to even keep up with it.
Magiwatch has saved 2 seconds.
You've Rewound for two seconds, effectively erasing everything in the said period.
He reappeared beneath it again. From his future memories, he knew it would dodge to the left if he attacked from the right, so he threw a sword using javelin from the right, simultaneously attacking from the left to block its escape route.
The construct blocked the flying sword with one leg and turned around midair to avoid him. At the same time, slashing with its other legs. Everything was just a blur. It didn't matter what he did, the construct was just way faster than anything he'd ever seen. Its armor and appendages were hard enough to defy his swords. Dammit. He was at level 10, why couldn't he trash a level 5 enemy with ease? Levels were important especially for specialization, but looking at it from another perspective they contributed little to the overall strength of a mage. A level 5 construct with higher tier skills in the four schools of magic and a better physique could defeat a level 10 mage with no skills. The other skills were as important as the primary skill.
Gaus ran around, escaping deadly attacks with Rewind and blink. After trying all his skills and still failed, he realized the only way to beat the thing was to cut through its armor. But his swords couldn't cut through its armor. Although, he did have a blue sword in his inventory.
He Rewound to appear just beneath the construct. Holding the blue sword felt right. He slashed at the construct. It blocked it just like before and even slashed at him with an adjacent leg. Gaus blinked away.
Come on. This should work... Huh?
He caught an amputated leg twitching on the ground. His eyes followed the construct as it carefully pulled back into a corner. It was missing a damn leg. The blue sword had cut through its armor like butter.
Smiling, he blinked above it and slashed again. The construct blocked his attack but at the expense of another leg. Gaus blinked to the side to avoid another swipe from the frustrated construct. He took another leg again. In a few seconds, all the legs were gone. The construct sat there on the ground, listlessly looking at Gaus.
Blinking above it, he stabbed two swords in its torso. Green blood splashed on the sand. The construct screeched and threw Gaus off. Its many stumps trying to remove the blades but to no avail.
It took a full minute to stop moving. And then it... exploded. Flashes of red and blue filled his vision before everything went blank.
***
Magiwatch has saved twenty-four hours.