To stop the soul bond, Gaus needed three defensive skills: mind blank, the summoning of the soul-pillars, and cord shedding. The goal was to have at least one skill before the end of this restart. Hopefully, that would stop Tyren or at least extend the loop beyond the current seven days thereby minimizing the cost of the restarts.

So he began with his preferred method of learning - self-studying. Exploring the topic of the dark arts using self-studying was rather difficult. There were only a few books available that talked about the topic. And the few that did were poorly understood due to their archaic wording and excessive use of graphics. Linc and every other teacher in the academy had refused to teach him anything related to the dark arts. They all said the same thing: tame your mana first. He could tell them about the soul bond. That would get their attention but it was unlikely going to end well. If they knew about the soulbond then it was only a matter of time before they found out about the Rewind and consequently Tyren. It was too much risk.

The next option was Fredrick, a police detective. Before meeting Fredrick, Gaus had met another practitioner called Heinsman through his old friend Abbas. Gaus wanted to learn the art from them but, unfortunately, it spiraled out of control to involve the marines. He got killed.

Now Gaus was left with few options.

Amid his desperation, he decided to seek out the library receptionist. The woman was strong. In one restart, she singlehandedly took down the marines guarding the old dungeon. She had been escaping the marines for two years now even though she wasn't in the loop, Gaus had confirmed it before contacting her.

Now Gaus was currently being interrogated in a cave. The receptionist asked the questions while three men stood behind him with unsheathed blades. Another curious woman stood just behind the receptionist, staring at him with her brown cat-like eyes.

"You can call me Minorita," the receptionist said. "Tell us about this future of yours. Remember, you only have five minutes to convince us."

Gaus decided to go straight to the point. Either she believed him or not, it wouldn't be the end of the world and he could always look for help somewhere else when the loop restarted.

"You and I and everyone else have already lived through this day," Gaus said. He half expected the woman to burst into laughter but she just glanced at the woman behind her who looked away.

"If we've already lived through this day then why are we here? Did you or someone else send us back?" She asked.

Gaus shook his head. "No, ma'am, I didn't send us back. I don't know if someone else did but considering this isn't the first or the second time we are reliving the same day, I don't think so. The truth is we have lived through this day several times already. I only became aware of it recently but the loop has been going on for some time now."

Minorita narrowed her eyes. "That's... big."

"It's ridiculous," Gaus corrected with a long-suffering sigh. "I couldn't believe it at first. I still don't know why or how the day keeps repeating. I don't even know if there's anything special about this day. All I know is we are trapped."

"And only you can remember what happened?" She asked.

"I thought so in the beginning." He shrugged. "I thought I was special. That everyone is forgetting everything except me. I was damn wrong. There are others in the loop."

There was some silence as he allowed them to contemplate his words. It might be some well-cultivated facade but the receptionist didn't look disturbed at all. In contrast, the woman behind her looked... frightened. She constantly looked through the door and checked something in her magiwatch. Whenever Minorita glanced at her, she would look away with an apologetic smile.

"It's not something I would expect you to believe without experiencing it yourself. All I'm asking is a chance to prove myself," he added.

For her part, Minorita just stared at him. She would probably tell him to scram as soon as she opened her mouth but he somehow didn't get the feeling she would do that.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked.

"I need you to do something for me. If you do it, I'll bring you into the loop," Gaus said. There was no reason to dilly-dally.

"What do you want?" She asked.

Gaus knew exactly what he wanted. But he was having difficulty with how to say it. The system classified defensive skills as either internal or external. As the name implied, internal defenses came from the body itself whereas external was made from elements or objects. A typical example of this was the mage who summoned a sheet of ice to block a fireball and the mage who turned their body into ice to neutralize the fireball. The former used an external defense as the ice didn't come from their body. Unlike the internal defense, a mage could use an external defense both to protect themselves and another. Summoning of the soul-pillars, unlike mind blank and cord shedding, was an external defense and Minorita could do it for him as a shortcut before he learned how to do it. She could probably teach him the other skills as well.

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"Can you summon the soul-pillars?"

Minorita grimaced. "Soul-pillar summoning?"

Gaus nodded. "That and mind blank and cord shedding. I want to learn all three. But in the meantime, I need you to summon the soul-pillars for me."

She crossed her arms on her chest. "Tell me how you found out about me," She asked, frowning.

Gaus decided to play along in the meantime.

"That's the hard part, isn't it? Do you remember the sentinels I talked about in my letter? They follow me around. Something about my time magic affinity and all. And I..."

"You led them to me," she completed his sentence.

"I did. It was unintentional. I didn't know who you were and I didn't know they were following me. I didn't even know I have this high affinity for time magic. I was just coming to the library to study and the clones followed me."

Minorita glanced at the woman behind her again. The woman quickly looked away.

"If it makes you feel any better the marines accused me of diverting their sentinels as well. You and I have a common enemy"

"So the Marines are also part of this loop thing?" She asked.

Gaus nodded. And for the first time, Minorita smiled. She looked exceedingly collected for a woman in her situation. Gaus began to get suspicious. He knew it should be the other way round but he just couldn't help it. Nobody should take in this much information and remain composed.

"You still didn't tell me how you joined the loop." Her tone was now elated. Gaus pretended he didn't notice it and just continued answering her questions.

"I have a skill that allows me to both remember what happened in the previous loops and retain my skills."

"What of the marines? How do they join?"

"I don't know."

"Say I believe everything you've said up to now, how do you plan on letting us join the loop?"

"I will carry your written notes from one loop to the next. Anything you want to remember when the loop resets just put it down on a piece of paper and I'll bring it back to you in the next loop."

Minorita fell silent for several seconds, scratching her temples thoughtfully and occasionally tapping the table. This was the point where she would pull the prank on him. He knew it. Judging from experience, she would probably just ignore him or maybe even attack him. She was rude and he wouldn't be surprised if she was violent as well.

"Mister Gaus," Minorita turned to him with narrowed eyes, "I'll summon the soul-pillars for you."

What? Gaus blinked several times in confusion. Did she believe him? No, she wouldn't believe him this easily unless she was already aware of the loop. But he checked her out in several restarts. She was not in the loop. In one loop, he even counted the number of times she blinked in a minute and compared it to other loops. A human couldn't fake these things.

"You look surprised," She said.

"I would be lying if I say I am not. Hell, I wouldn't believe what I'm saying if I didn't experience it first-hand. And judging from experience, you would probably just ignore me or do something worse. Forgive me, but you don't always see eye-to-eye with strangers despite working as a library receptionist."

She furrowed her brows dramatically but Gaus got the feeling she wasn't angry. "What did you say? I'm always nice to people. Sure, I don't like slavers and most of the people living in the city are slavers anyway, but I still try to be nice to them. The few occasions I decide to be rude is when I meet an educated slaver."

"No, you've always been rude to me. Do I look like a slaver to you?" Gaus pointed at himself angrily.

"You... do."

"What?" He wanted to punch her. "Shut up."

"Okay. I'm sorry if I mistook you for a slaver and I treated you poorly. Most people who come to the library in fancy clothes are slavers and I don't like them."

Gaus frowned. She didn't sound sorry at all.

"I said I'm sorry." She shifted in her seat so she could face him directly. "I want to join the loop. But your plan to carry my notes over to the next loop is bullshit. I won't believe a mere note from my future self just because a stranger says so."

"Wait, why are you so welcoming to the idea of the time loop?" He decided he wouldn't keep quiet any longer. Something wasn't right here. Most mages would first accuse him of being a spy or something. Even if everything was brought to the table, there were still several variables to be considered before time traveling. So why was she willing to entertain him?

"Of course, I have my reasons. But for now, it's just a trade. You have a story and I have the means and willingness to buy it. By tomorrow, we'll know if you're telling the truth."

She was right. He just didn't think it would be this easy.

"Let's talk about how I can help you to join the loop. You don't want me to carry your notes over. What then will you suggest? I don't have any other way of bringing people into the loop so don't even ask."

"I'm suggesting a memory package that will carry all of my memories from this loop to the next." She gestured toward the woman behind her. "Lilat here can put the memory package safely in your mind. All you have to do is bring it to me in the next loop and I'll believe you."

No. That would involve some serious messing with his mind which he wasn't comfortable with at the moment.

"You've every reason to freak out." Minorita raised her hands in surrender. "Putting a whole package in your mind is something. And I know I'm asking for a lot. But I'm also offering a lot."

"What are you offering besides some skills that I can get anywhere?" Gaus asked. He didn't mean to sound so mean but she deserved it.

She shrugged. "Then why are you here if you can get what you want anywhere?"

There was some silence as they both considered the situation. Gaus had the second loop and Gaus's immortality to back him up if things went south. But he still didn't want to take things for granted.

"It's not as bad as you think." She complained. "Look, I'm taking as much risk as you. What if everything you've said is true? You're here only to learn about these three skills and you will likely abandon us as soon as you get what you want."

Gaus chuckled. The receptionist was not taking as much risk as him. Especially when he knew he was telling the truth.

"Can I think about it?"

"Yes, of course. Come back whenever you are ready. Or should I say in another loop?"

Gaus was escorted out of the forest. He wasn't sure how he felt at the moment. Minorita wasn't what he expected her to be. She fought against the marines which could become very useful soon. Something about having common enemies. He didn't trust her, of course. It's just he didn't have to trust her to get what he wanted.

He went to the city library and asked Abbas about the memory package and its effects. He also read everything he could find on the topic. He went to a private facility and asked about it. Everyone told him it was advanced mind magic that was 'semi-invasive'. It didn't hurt, they said, but if left for long it could degrade and spill impurities into your mind. These impurities could cause temporary hallucinations and psychosis. A few people had been reported to have amnesia with varied effects.