Darren’s Perspective.

My eyes snapped open as the dim light of the pre-dawn sky filtered through the cracks in the stable walls and door. I pushed myself up from the musty bed of hay as the horse in the stable beside the one I had sneaked into to rest made a noise of discontent.

My muscles protested with a screaming blast of aches and stiffness.

Sneaking into the city and using my ‘meagerly nonexistent savings’ on a night's shelter was impossible due to their obvious lack.

So I spent a night in a stable of a nearby inn.

Because I had no money at all.

Spending a night without any food was never a new thing or a good thing.

But add a night where I had to sneak in to even sleep and push myself physically to even get to the place without being seen?

One that had left me with a gnawing emptiness in my stomach due to overwork?

Yes. This is the worst kind of new feeling.

The katana strapped to my hip that Kirin tossed at me offered a cold comfort when I was just about ready to starve and die of thirst.

It was a symbol of power and of potential, but it couldn't buy me a warm meal or a roof over my head unless I was willing to sell it.

Screw that!

I stood and a strange sensation coursed through my body.

Strength.

Despite my aches, my bode was stronger and I felt I could swing a sword with at least some skill.

My brow furrowed as I recalled the vivid dream that had haunted my sleep.

The ruined village and the relentless training under Kirin Edo's watchful eye- it had felt real and visceral.

Could it have been more than just a dream? It was a possibility that I couldn’t dismiss. I would have to question Kirin Edo about it if it happened again.

I slipped out of the stables and kept my movements silent and swift.

It seems like the footwork lessons that the dream stayed too.

The city streets were still shrouded in the pre-dawn gloom.

That was to my benefit.

I made my way towards the enlistment office of this Shin Empire city that Kirin had decided would be my starting place.

After all, how hard could it be to join?

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I eventually made my way there.

The recruiter was the same gruff and middle-aged man with a face like a weathered boot and hair that was gray from stress.

He barely glanced up from his paperwork as I approached.

"Name and age," he barked, his voice raspy and impatient.

"Darren, thirteen," I replied with my voice steady despite the tremor of nervousness that ran through me.

This body was thirteen again, and they have magic that tests the body for age.

They had used to filter out everyone below their majority from the village’s enlistment in the timeline that I’m almost sure won't exist anymore.

The recruiter's eyes widened, and a sneer twisted his lips. "Thirteen? You think you're ready to fight for the Empire, you scrawny pup?!"

He slammed his fist on the desk, scattering papers across the floor. "Your age disqualifies you! Get out of here and come back when you've grown some hair on your chest. Or prove yourself elsewhere, if you think you're so tough. Shoo!"

I stood there for a moment as my fists clenched.

My jaw Tightened.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The recruiter's words stung and ignited a fire within me.

I would find a way to prove my worth.

But not this loop.

I need to see how badly a relatively weak samurai stacks himself above me in strength after five hundred days of fighting plus a bit of actual training.

I also need to not have met him so I can come back and lie about my age.

With a defiant glare, I pulled my sword from my sheath.

This loop was a bust but starting another loop was fine.

"If you will not have me as an ally then we will fight. I will die but my honor will not be besmirched by a petty bastard of a soldier with no future.”

"Good," the recruiter sneered, his hand hovering over the hilt of his katana. "Then I'll show you the truth."

He stepped forward, his body shifting into the unmistakable stance of iaijutsu.

It was a blatant trap that who he was expecting to meet him would fall for.

I had learned a thing or two from Kirin Edo So his expectations were wrong.

Even in my brief time under his tutelage I knew how to counter something so blatant.

My muscles coiled like springs as I feigned a step forward and entered his range just long enough for him to pull.

I hid a smirk as the recruiter's eyes narrowed and his hand tightening on his sword hilt and it began to slide out.

He was ready to strike and he unleashed the deadly power of his blade.

But I was faster.

As his draw began to reach the midpoint of its exit, I sprang back with my body moving just out of the way.

His sword flashed the rest of the way out, a silver arc slicing through the air where I my neck had been a moment before.

Turns out this scumbag was actually trying to kill me.

Someone he viewed as a child.

But I was already gone.

My feet and legs moved across the cobblestones in a parody of competence as I circled him behind him.

His sword, now out of position, became my opportunity.

I moved my Daito forward as it snapping out to deflect his blade further outward, disrupting his balance and exposing his flank even further.

I redirected the Daito to attack-

But then, a blinding pain exploded in my head and the rest of my body ceased being felt entirely.

My vision went dark, and my body in front of me crumpled to the ground a moment before my head did.

I had failed to account for his second, longer sword, concealed beneath his flowing robes.

"Huh," the piece of shit chuckled, laced with amusement and disdain. "Kid surprised me. That's too bad, he might have been somet-"

I had expected him to try to detain me and have to end myself, but killing kids is fine to him, clearly.

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"Well," Kirin Edo's voice echoed in my mind, a sardonic edge to his tone that grated on my already frayed nerves. "That's one way to use the short loop. Maybe get some actual training with me before trying to get combat experience, though."

My eyes snapped open, and the familiar sight of the ruined village greeted me.

"So this is real, right?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that if the dream training hadn’t been real.

His brow furrowed in confusion, as if he had just noticed a very baffling thing in front of him that disgusted him.

"Ah," he said, a deadpan look that would make the most irritated of deadpans look tame etched upon his features like a mountain of ‘are you dumb?’. "You hadn’t figured it out? If that question is serious we need to think about future arrangements that involve you reading books about how to test for objectivity in reality.”

He shook his head and smirked with a face that made me want to punch him on principle. “Yeah, the resets and sleep – they're not just for show or normal rest. They allow us to train together, even when you're back in your own personal timeline. It's a bit of a cheat, but a crap one. Bending the rules of reality like that is all we got. It's all we've got and we gotta use everything we got in the most amazing way possible."

He clapped his hands together, his expression turning serious. "Now, let's start with some stretches. You're going to need all the flexibility you can get if you want to survive the next encounter. Trust me, those recruiters don't play nice. You shouldn't fight them at all, but you do what you want."

For the second time in the dream realm, I trained.

Instead of focusing on the relentless sword drills and lectures on how to cut correctly, I reminisced about his past. Specifically, my time with Anna at the orphanage.

The first time she became attached to me at the hip, I was eleven, and—

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I stalked towards the back of the orphanage, following the sound of childish taunts and laughter. Two older boys were tormenting Anna. They circled her, their words like venomous darts aimed at her heart.

"Garbage hair color," one sneered, his voice dripping with disdain. "Looks like bad grape flavor ice-cream sherbert vomit! It’s even the wrong color of grape!"

They kept laughing and shouting pointless barbs at her and I'd had enough. These bullies needed a lesson.

Anna, the quiet girl with the long purple hair deserved a protector. Besides, the protagonist had to be good and save kids who are in trouble right?

I approached them from behind and was silent as a shadow.

Then with a swift kick, I swept their legs out from under them with a clumsy method and sent them sprawling onto the dusty ground.

Before they could even react I was on them with continuous kicks to their rears.

MY voice was loud and demanding.

"What do you think you're doing?" I snarled,my words echoed and were as attention grabbing as possible.

With all the menace that my eleven-year-old frame and voice could produce, I punctuated my words with well-placed kicks to their backsides.

Just enough to sting and scare them and bruise their behinds without causing any real harm.

They scrambled to their feet with their faces pale with fear.

Then they bolted.

Their taunts were replaced by whimpers of terror. “We’ll tell the matron!” one last parting shot was sent and I smirked.

They were really trying to dig their own grave now.

I had actual evidence.

I palmed the recording crystal in my pants.

I turned to Anna with a triumphant grin spreading across my face. "You alright, Ms. Pretty?" I asked, trying to sound as cool and confident as possible.

She looked like a startled rabbit. I knew from a look that her heart was pounding in her chest.

She was adorable, her cheeks flushed crimson, her blue eyes wide with a mixture of gratitude and surprise.

She stammered out a “thank you, I am Anna. Pleaseto meetyoubye!” her voice barely whispers in a quick and almost unnoticeable rush.

Then, she bolted.

She disappeared around the corner of the orphanage, leaving me standing there as exhilaration washed over me. Protagonist Critical Success. Indeed, my protagonist level has increased. Come on system, isn’t that enough for you to start working?

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"Ey, pay attention!" Kirin’s voice snapped as his fingers did the same, snapping in front of my face. He pulled me back from the swirling vortex of memory. "3007 downswings is not 3000, and you need to switch to upswings now!"

I blinked as the image of Anna's startled face fading as I refocused on the present. I nodded as my muscles screamed in protest and I shifted my grip on the katana. Kirin only counted swings that were executed with absolute precision.

3007 correct swings was an actual surprise.

In a single training session I had gained control of my ability to swing the sword quickly and correctly.

“Wait, why the hell am I able to swing this many times without my arms falling off?!”

Kirin smirked, “Conceptual time nonsense, successor! It’s too complicated to explain in detail, but I’m accelerating the healing and refining of your body. You know that bit of food you had at the stall before approaching the samurai? Nice swipe, by the way, very stealthy. The stall owner entirely didn't just let you get away with it because he’s a good person. You didn’t get caught at all. Well, I’m making it last. You definitely do NOT want to know how, though.” He nodded with a condescending smile. “I can’t do this amount with just anyone though. You would fall apart if you start out too much with a low body-related talent. You’ll be really great with Ki.”

Did that mean I had talent after all? My attempts at magic had always fizzled out pathetically, leaving me with singed eyebrows and a bruised ego. But maybe the katana was my path to power.

A spark of excitement that I hadn't felt in what felt like a lifetime burned to life.

I adjusted my stance.

I locked my gaze onto the illusion of the imaginary opponent Kirin Edo had conjured for me.

It was something that looked like a shimmering humanoid doll that moved with a grace and speed that were my current limitations.

I inhaled deeply as I centered myself.

I channeled the frustration and grief that had haunted me into a single focused point.

Then, I swung.