"I'm telling you this is my real body," he said. "It's your choice to believe it or not."

"Tell me five places in America; towns, cities, anything," she said.

"Really? Vermont, Florida, Los Angeles, New York, Massachusetts, Chicago, Texas, Pa... Do I need to go on?"

Unconvinced, she wrote something on a paper and gave it to him.

"Read this and I'll believe you," she said.

It was written in English.

"I'll tell you what this means but I'll ask the next question. Do you understand?" He said.

She nodded in agreement.

"Okay. This is English. It says 'Rachel from America was here'. I believe I saw something like this in the old dungeon."

"You did?" She said. "I didn't expect to see anyone any time soon."

To his utmost disbelief, she spent the next minute 'inspecting' his body. She pinched and rubbed every part of his body she deemed appropriate for examination.

"You are an earthling?" She asked, unable to believe it.

"Yes, I am. Look, it's my turn to ask the questions. Did you leave the writing in the old dungeon?"

"Yes, why?"

"What do you mean why?" He said, frowning. "You told me you are Cinder. So what is it? Cinder or Rachel or Minorita or Helsinbird or whatever?"

"No, I'm Rachel. Cinder is just a nickname from my favorite movie - Cinderella."

So she was Rachel from America and she left the writings in the old dungeon. But something still wasn't clear.

"Why London? You are an American. You could have used any other city but you choose London and William Wilberforce. Is there something else I should know about?"

"I died in London," she said. "As for William Wilberforce, it wasn't my doing. Another earthling was here before me."

Another earthling? Now he wanted to know how many earthlings were in the Multiverse.

"How long have you been here?" She asked.

"About three months now," he said. "You?"

"I was here 21 years ago," she said.

"Twenty-one years?" Gaus said. "What have you been doing all this time?"

"Fighting the slavers, living my life, making friends, and many other things." She shrugged. "So, you were thrown into the loop as soon as you came?"

"Yes," he said. "Anyway, how many of us are here?"

"Just you and I," she said. "I haven't seen anybody else since I came here. Long before me, there was Silvia from England. Before her, there was Hinditri from India. They all died in London so the name had become somewhat of a code for me. I believe you've also come from London."

"No," he said. "I have never been to London."

She frowned in confusion. "You are redefining everything we know about transmigration. First, we believed the human body can't cross over and yet you did. We've also believed our transmigration is directly related to London (since that was where we've all died) and you have never even been to London. We have also believed our transmigration has something to do with this body," she pointed at herself, "apparently not."

She paced around the room, murmuring to herself.

"I understand why you would relate everything to London, but why your body? Is there anything special about it?" He asked.

"I guess there's no reason to hide it from you now," she said. "This is not my body and I'm not the first earthling to have it. The other two that came before me all used it."

What the hell...?

"The first to come was Silvia Javier from England. After she died, Hinditri Helsinbird from India inherited the body. And then there was me - Rachel Salesal. The body originally belonged to Minorita. Very few people know the truth about this and most people call me all the four names."

Holy shit. So all of them shared the same body. Rachel would be forced to live with the choices made by her predecessors. He was lucky to have his body.

"By the way, was it helpful?" She asked.

"What? Oh, it was," he said. "I wouldn't have survived the staircase without it."

"That's good to hear," she said. "I was planning to help the next person that will inherit my body, assuming they will come from an English-speaking country. I have left a couple more in other places."

Gaus hadn't thought of helping 'the next person that would come after him'. He didn't even know there were others.

"Thank you," he said. "I'll be sure to repay your kindness."

"Don't mention it. Helsinbird and Minorita and Javier have all left a lot of things for me too. I wonder if they knew about the time loop before they died. By the way, can you tell me more about the time loop? I'm really confused about a lot of things."

"The time loop is not a safe zone," he said with a sharp tone. "There are others in it. They are all-powerful and from what I have seen so far they have armies to back them."

He told her everything he knew about the loop. He told her about Tyren and the marines and the academy. In the end, the only thing he didn't tell her was the second time loop. That was something he would keep to himself at all cost. It was his last defense.

"What is the purpose?" She said. "There doesn't seem to be any purpose in all of these."

A purpose? Gaus narrowed his eyes. He didn't consider it.

"Am I missing something?" She asked. "Is there anything happening beneath the surface?"

Rachel believed whoever (or whatever) created the time loop must have something in mind. They must have a reason for it. Was he so blinded by Tyren that he forgot about it?

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"But there's nothing out of the ordinary happening anywhere in the seven worlds," Rachel said. "I have agents in many places."

"I need to go to the academy," Gaus said. It was thirty minutes past nine already. "Let's continue the discussion in the evening."

Rachel nodded.

***

Linc dragged him to his office as soon as the class was over.

"We can't afford to slack off," Linc said, "I have seen what you can do and I believe you can do better. You just have to try harder. Have you made any progress since yesterday?"

Gaus could barely restraint himself from rolling his eyes at the man.

"No, sir, I haven't," he said.

"It's okay," Linc said. "At least, you have tried."

No, he didn't try it, not that he was going to tell the teacher that, of course.

"I'll start by throwing stones over your left shoulder," Linc said. "Are you ready?"

The next two hours were torture. Gaus couldn't deflect the stones and he ended up with a swollen arm.

He returned to the forest hoping to continue his lessons with Minorita, instead, he was dragged into another question and answer session.

"So a temporary looper is at the bottom of the food chain?" The woman asked.

"Well, yes, if you exclude the initiates," Gaus said.

"And this temporary looper called Linc mentioned my name?" She asked.

"Yes," he said. "But he didn't just mention your name. He told me they killed you. It probably wasn't you anyway. By the way, I want to know if these soul-pillars of yours can stop the soulbond from activating."

"Of course," she said. "You have nothing to worry about."

He would have to wait and see. If she was right then the second loop would be gone for good.

"I would worry more about the purpose of the loop if I were you," she said. "Let's assume something terrible is happening and the time loop was created to help us stop it. What will happen if we don't stop it?"

"And don't you think we will know if something terrible is happening?" Gaus asked.

"That's not the point," she said. "The point is we have to find out what the purpose is before it's too late."

She spent the next few minutes hypothesizing the possible purpose of the loop and predicting possible outcomes. Was the loop created for or against them? In the end, there was nothing definitive.

His training was focused on identifying mana veins and how to differentiate active from inactive veins. There was a very faint, almost invisible glow seen only in the active veins. He still wasn't anywhere close to finding the vein that supplied the lightning bolt.

The next three loops were uneventful. Minorita was eager to teach him and she didn't get angry even when he failed repeatedly. Linc, on the other hand, remained as brutal as ever. Gaus had tried to leave his tutelage several times without success. Once you signed the mentor-mentee program then you'd have to bear with it for a minimum of one month.

He was excited the restart was coming to an end. He would finally see the effect of the soul-pillars. If everything worked out then Tyren would have a little surprise.

When the final day came, he went to bed as early as he could. The soul-pillars didn't work if he woke up in the enchantment class. At least then he would get rid of Linc. But if he woke up in the alley with the blue flash in his eyes then the soul pillars had worked.

***

Magiwatch has saved twenty-four hours.

It was a new loop. It worked. The soul pillars had protected him.

Just how would Tyren feel when he woke up in the morning and he realized his plan didn't work?

Gaus stayed low for three days. Every day expecting to find himself suddenly pulled back to the beginning of the week. Nothing happened.

As the days went by, he started to relax. Linc was slowly losing interest in him which was the best thing that had happened to him in the whole week. Antelina had agreed to help him with the training.

"This is dangerous," she had said during their first session. "How about I target the wall instead and you try to deflect it? That way even if you missed it I wouldn't hurt you."

That was what Linc should have done from the beginning. But the man thought targeting him would be better.

Four days later and Gaus was rewarded with:

You've learned space levitation.

This is a variation of levitation that affects the range of targeted objects. You don't have to be close to the target anymore.

Cost: 5 MP per meter.

Two days later and he was rewarded again.

You've learned weightless levitation.

This is a variation of levitation that affects the weight of the targeted objects. You are no longer restricted by how big the target is.

Cost: 5 MP per kg.

Space levitation allowed him to target the projectile as soon as it was launched, unlike before when he had to wait for it to enter his range. Whereas weightless levitation allowed him to affect bigger projectiles.

A week later, he got another one. Antelina was wonderful.

You've learned mana levitation.

This is a variation of levitation that affects mana-charged objects. You don't have to be bothered by mana-charged arrows and swords anymore.

Cost: 5 MP per second.

Linc was the worst teacher ever. He didn't tell him levitating mana-charged objects required a skill. The tablet Linc used during their training was charged with mana, no wonder he couldn't get it.

"Antelina?"

"Yes, Rep?"

"I want to buy you dinner in the most expensive restaurant in town," he said.

It was to show his gratitude and he could swear on everything he held dear there was nothing more to it.

"It's fine. I would understand if you don't want to go."

She had always been reserved. Not to mention the wave of rumors that Tiara would start as soon as she spotted them. He wouldn't mind if she turned him down.

"I... would like that," she said.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said.

The following day came and he took her to Niama.

"I want Pasta, cherry, starfish, and a bottle of red beer," she said.

"That's about three plates, you know," Gaus said, trying to sound normal.

"Girls at my age need to eat a lot to grow," she said. "My brother told me men don't like slender women."

Huh? He chuckled softly. He was unaware she was concerned about what men would think about her.

"No, I didn't mean..." She stuttered. Her face flushed with embarrassment.

"No beer," he said. An attempt to change the topic and allow the girl to regain her composure.

"Why?" She asked.

Gaus sighed in exasperation. The girl wasn't old enough to drink. Somehow the Multiverse didn't feel it was appropriate to stop kids from taking alcoholic beverages.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"I'm sixteen," she said.

"See? You are still too young to drink."

She frowned. "What does my age have to do with drinking?"

"Age and health are closely related, " he said. "You have to be legally responsible to drink. Even then I wouldn't advise overdoing it because of the potential damage to your liver."

"What are you talking about? What's... lever?" She asked and then suddenly came to a realization. "Is the beer too expensive?"

"What? No. That's not why..."

"Hey," the man sitting on the adjacent seat chimed in. Gaus could have sworn there was nobody on the seat up until now. "Take my advice and give her what she wants."

Noble Antelina

"You heard the man," she said. "You should let me have it."

It's just one bottle.

It wasn't a big deal. Most girls in her hometown learned how to drink from a young age. But for some reason, Gaus didn't like it.

Gaus looked upset. He probably didn't like the stranger barging in.

"Noble Antelina?" The stranger said.

She had never seen him in her entire life. How did he know her name?

"Do I know you?"

"No, I'm afraid not," he said.

His voice was strange. It was... girly, totally not compatible with his muscular build.

"Then how did you know my name?" She asked.

"That's not important," he said. "What's important is I know you and I know your boyfriend."

The class rep had been silently staring at the man. Something was off.

"I'm not happy about your recent actions, Gaus," the stranger said.

She looked at Gaus and back at the stranger. They didn't like each other. Gaus looked angry and frustrated. The stranger, on the other hand, gave off no feelings. He seemed like he didn't care about the world.

"What you did was both dishonest and cowardly," the stranger told the class rep. "I want you to cut all your ties with Minorita. You have until the end of this loop. Is that understood?"

"It's well understood, mister Ayurvada," Gaus said. "Do you have any other thing you'll like me to do for you? Perhaps, dust your shoes?"

"You don't get it, do you?" The stranger said, frowning. He looked more dangerous than he already was.

"Antelina?" He called her name. His voice thundering like the storms of her worst nightmares. How could a voice so weak become this terrifying?

"Yes?" She answered, unable to stop herself.

"Your friend is not honest with you. Did he tell you how he joined the loop before he joined the academy? Ask him about it when you go back."

Somehow she knew he was telling the truth. But how was that even possible?

"This is just the beginning," the stranger said. "Every day you remain with Minorita is another day I'll involve one of your friends. Should I tell you who's next?"