I left Arien's room an hour before dawn. Not because I didn't want to see her wake up; in fact, I would have greatly enjoyed watching that. The reason for my unannounced departure lay elsewhere. I had done something she utterly despised. I'd gone through her notes and even altered them slightly without her consent, an act that, from what I "remembered," could send her into an indescribable fury. Even though she had spent the night with me because of a lost bet and not of her own accord, her annoyance at that would pale in comparison to the wrath she'd unleash if someone tampered with her papers.

Undoubtedly, once she realized my scribbles were not mere gibberish but hints, the Future Goddess of Spontaneous Magic would calm down a bit. But that moment when she'd glance at her desk in the morning and see unfamiliar lines on her papers would be the most hazardous. "Knowing" Arien's temperament, I understood that being far away at that instant was my best option. Over time, she'd cool off, decipher my notes, and might even thank me. However, that initial burst of anger would happen without a doubt, and considering all that had transpired earlier, it could lead to her viewing me as an enemy. Not only did I not want that, but I also simply couldn't afford to have such an unpredictable and soon-to-be powerful person as a foe.

Heading to the exam the previous evening, I was afraid. My knees shook more violently than when I encountered Reygyana. I was sure if I had looked in the mirror at that time, a white-as-chalk face would stare back at me. If not for Miranda, it's uncertain whether I would have made it to my destination or fled halfway. This girl, who in the Last Cycle considered herself my enemy, unknowingly prevented my retreat by simply walking beside me, holding my elbow, and incessantly chatting. The source of my fear was the feelings "the past me" harbored for Arien. It wasn't love in its fullest sense but a bright, all-consuming passion. Even though these feelings "then" burned out quickly, like a fire doused in gasoline, any thoughts of Arien still caused an emotional surge within me.

If I approached this objectively, the beauty of Arien, which my "memories of the future" praised, was somewhat exaggerated. No, the girl looked magnificent indeed. She had an elegant, lithe, but not skinny body. Her long legs had pronounced curves. Her chest wasn't particularly large, but it was perfectly shaped. Her face was hard to describe because, depending on the emotions Arien was experiencing, its features would slightly change. In some ways, she reminded me of a young Sophia Loren, but with a lighter chin and a wider eyebrow arch, and, of course, the finer features didn't fully align with the famous Italian actress. Besides, Arien possessed an innate, natural sense of style and dressed not according to standards but as she personally liked, always looking good as a result.

Yet, all of this undeniably striking exterior is instantly forgotten the moment you look into her eyes. I had never encountered a gaze like hers, where the fire of incredible sensuality and the pure depth of a cold intellect were mixed in equal measure.

Nevertheless, if I set aside my bias, Arien's beauty doesn't eclipse everything around. There are more beautiful women. Miranda, for instance. Their figures are very similar, but Miranda's facial features are more symmetrical, and her bust is almost one and a half sizes larger.

However, there's a saying: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." For example, I don't perceive Miranda as a sexual object, not at all. Yes, she is beautiful, passionate, and has a figure that makes everyone turn their heads, but I never thought of spending a night with her. Even if she weren't, as she put it, "into girls," the thought wouldn't cross my mind. I can imagine trusting her to cover my back in a fight, but spending a night with her – no, my imagination draws a blank there. Perhaps it's because, despite her external femininity, her inner nature is more of a tomboy? Such girls have never attracted me, not even for a one-night stand. It might be the case, or perhaps this perception deformation was due to what she said about "me" in the Past Cycle? I don't know why, but the fact remains.

In the pre-dawn light, I walked through the city with a smile, maintaining a slow pace to avoid the attention of the night guards. I smiled because the worst hadn't happened. I hadn't lost my head, hadn't fallen in love again. And that was an incredible relief. Nonetheless, what I had planned was very difficult for me. The present I - without considering my "memories" - had never felt like such a scoundrel as I did last evening. In essence, if we throw away all the excuses and look at it soberly, I spent the night with a girl against her will. And even if it benefited her in the end, and she took pleasure from it, perhaps even more than I did, from the perspective of my morals, such an act is undeniably heinous. Frankly, I thought of abandoning my plan until the last moment, especially after seeing Arien in person. To be entirely honest with myself, I probably would have left if it weren't for Miranda. For this, I owe her a big thank you the next time we meet.

According to my "memories of the future," Arien and I were very open with each other. Of course, this was the truth, but not all of it. Observing the scene unfolding during the exam and listening to Miranda's biting comments, I clearly understood that in the "previous cycle," Arien had altered the truth somewhat. Not maliciously, of course, and not with selfish intent, but altered nonetheless. The emotional trauma Arien suffered due to an encounter with a local man was actually supposed to happen that night. It wasn't as she had narrated in the "past," claiming it occurred after the exam while omitting all the details.

I watched Arien's dialogue with Om Rallizor with a blank stare, incapable of thinking at that moment. Miranda was thinking for both of us. From her sharp comments, I clearly understood that Arien had "melted" and was ready to leave with that fop. At that moment, I was prepared to kill. And this is not a play on words; I would have killed that aristocrat right there at the exam, consequences be damned. Not out of jealousy but because Miranda had laid it all out.

While my mind was in a state of panicked lethargy, the girl calculated the situation in real time and came to an unequivocal conclusion that Om Rallizor was sent by the local king to seduce the magician who dared to reject the prince. Hence destroying the prince's infatuation and simultaneously humiliating the insolent girl who rejected the royal son. These assumptions might seem far-fetched to someone else, but I felt Miranda was right. The pain and fury with which Arien spoke to the "past me," labeling the local men as bastards, jerks, assholes, and hundreds of other unflattering terms, was not the typical reaction of someone merely recalling an unfortunate night. More precisely, it might be for some, but certainly not for Arien! This girl, despite her volatile character, actually has nerves of steel. To hurt her, genuinely hurt her, something out of the ordinary must have happened. And public humiliation, reinforced by losing in a magical duel, looks very much "out of the ordinary."

After Miranda's words, it became clear to me that Om Rallizor from the Last Cycle was the one who brought Arien to tears and caused her months-long anger towards the local men. In that non-occurring past, she left with him, but in this Cycle, for some reason, she refused. It seemed that was it, and I was already getting up from the table, my hand on the dagger's hilt, when Arien's behavior suddenly and drastically changed. "She refused, and now she'll smear him across the shore," Miranda said then, making me sit back down. Miranda didn't understand the reason for Arien's abrupt change of mood, yet she immediately read her reaction and was proved right. Without this girl, without her skilled play, it's far from certain that I would have managed to bait Arien into another bet, the price of which was a night with her. Far from certain!

Immersed in these thoughts, I reached the inn where I had rented a room. As I began to ascend the staircase to the second floor, the night servant called out to me.

"Master Raven?" He addressed me. "I'm not mistaken, am I?"

"You're correct. I am Raven from Seattle. Was someone looking for me?"

"There's a message for you."

I approached the counter and took the paper envelope sealed with wax, the kind Arien's paper workshop started producing five days ago. With a swift motion, I broke the seal and opened the envelope. On the clean white sheet, written in hasty yet elegant handwriting, was just one word: "Airhead!" Inside the envelope, I found the Lightning Ring and the Clasp of Pure Mind, which I had forgotten about amidst all these emotions.

My debt to Miranda was growing rapidly. I wasn't sure how I would repay it during our next encounter. But I had no doubt that we would meet again. I was also certain that Miranda had left the city yesterday, which the night watchman confirmed.

I thanked the servant with a silver coin and headed to my room. Kicking off my slightly tight moccasins, I fell onto the bed and covered my face with a firm pillow. Despite everything having gone easier than I anticipated, the previous evening and night were far from effortless for me. The kindest comparison that came to mind was that of a lock-picker. This present Arien didn't know me, but I remembered her excellently. The sensitive girl who enjoyed a romp in the sheets stood no chance. I knew all her secrets and "hiding places," including the irksome ones best left untouched. I even knew those she hadn't yet realized existed. I had cracked her body's defenses, bypassing both the conscious and subconscious safeguards. I wasn't sure what to call myself in this situation.

Yet, looking from another angle, I had essentially saved Arien from severe emotional trauma and advanced her research by nearly a month, saving both her energy and, more importantly, precious time.

We didn't know the true name of the ritual that Arien had deciphered, but amongst ourselves, we called it the "Halves Transformation Ritual." All its twenty-five participants were given the opportunity to redistribute the halves of their Talent Stars in Elemental Magic as they saw fit and received half a Star as a bonus. For Miranda and me, for instance, this would mean incredible progress. My plan was to remove the halves from Water, Fire, and Air. This would allow me to gain four Stars in Lightning and three in Earth instantaneously, not after years of training, which none of the earthlings, including me, had the time for. As the Conductor of the Ritual, Arien had the opportunity to invest halves from other sections of Magic into Elemental Magic. Last time, she took these halves from Mental, Runes, and similar non-Elemental types of magic and invested them in the Elements, turning her four-and-a-half in each into full fives! And this doesn't account for the adamantium Achievement she received for the Ritual as well as enough core growth energy to Elevate immediately.

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

Since I didn't want to miss the ritual, I left Arien a note and one of the communication artifacts. This redistribution of Halves was vitally necessary for me. Without it, without a four in Lightning and a three in Earth, my entire development plan would be dust. These thoughts made me a little sad, for Miranda would miss the ritual in this scenario. I'm not sure how the fate of this girl - whom the "past me" considered an enemy for a long time and the "current me" wouldn't mind seeing as a friend - will change now. I hope she finds her own Path, different from Arien's. I'll need to make offerings at the nearest temple of Sundbad to ensure things work out for her.

As far as I remember, Arien was one of those who liked to luxuriously lounge in bed in the mornings, but since arriving in Ain, she changed her habits and woke up at dawn. I sincerely hoped she would sleep in today. And I had every reason to hope so; after all, the night we spent together was, to put it mildly, stormy.

Having slept very little, barely half an hour, I got out of bed with the first rays of the sun and changed clothes. I placed the city attire at the bottom of the bag and descended to the inn's hall dressed in clean yet mended old clothes. I settled the bill with the manager and was about to leave when three earthlings called out to me. I vaguely knew one from my "past life," but the others were strangers. And even the one who seemed familiar did nothing noteworthy in the Last Cycle, dying long before the Last Battle. Nevertheless, he survived until midway through the invasion, so he must have achieved something.

"Excuse me," a somewhat plain girl with a button nose, a stranger, called out to me. "You are one of us, aren't you?"

"One of us? A Sortudo?" I clarified and then added in English, "An earthling?"

"Sortudo?" One of the earthling trio, the one I "remembered," expressed surprise.

"That's what the questers call us," I explained.

"Call us?"

"Questers?"

Two questions came at once, but before I could answer, the girl from their team angrily hushed her companions and, turning to me, asked:

"Excuse me, have you seen two of ours around the city or its outskirts: Olmer and Dwalin? One is tall and skinny as a stick, easily recognized by his forever messy hair. The other is stocky with a flat, eastern face, and his legs are bowed."

"No," I reply after a brief contemplation. "Haven't seen them. But I've only been in the city for a day. What happened?"

"Our team is based in the neighboring city, and, hearing about some exam, Olmer was eager to participate, and Dwalin volunteered to go with him. They left five days ago and should have been back three days ago."

"They disappeared?"

"Yes." The girl replied succinctly, and I understood that she was very tired and likely hadn't slept for several days, sustaining herself with alchemy. "They were seen here. Olmer tried himself in the Ainuminati exam but failed. All we know is that they were last seen four days ago, and then their trail seems to have evaporated."

"Did you visit the marshal?" I clarified the obvious.

"Yes, no one detained them, and they weren't put in jail."

"Give a few coins to the gate guards; maybe they'll remember if your friends left the city," I suggested another option.

"Already did," sighed a slightly chubby-looking guy peeking from behind the girl's back. "They either didn't leave, or the guards forgot."

"Katiyer is a far-from-small city by local standards, but by earth standards - it's a backwater with a population of about fifteen thousand, so they couldn't just disappear without a trace," I said, then added, "especially earthlings who came for Arien's exam. The locals remember such people."

"We fear they got into something," the girl said quietly, her eyes lowered to the floor. "Those two are always eager to help everyone. Damn gamers, they hear any request and immediately shout: 'Hooray, we got a quest!'"

"And I told you I should go with them," a short young man with predatory, wolf-like facial features and a stubby beard clicked his tongue angrily.

The earthlings immediately started arguing, and it seemed they had been doing this more than once over the past few days. After listening to them for about a minute, I waved my hand and, with a brief farewell, left the inn. I certainly wasn't planning on looking for someone or figuring out where someone had disappeared to. I had my own heap of problems. And if I don't leave Katiyer before Arien wakes up, massive troubles might await me! Of course, they might not, but I really don't want to test that. It's one thing to win a duel against the Future Goddess of Spontaneous Magic by exploiting a loophole in the rules and another to face Arien's wrath head-on. The encounter with Scully clearly showed that I'm not yet a match for Shards.

I started by visiting the cobbler's workshop that had just opened, where I picked up my order and finally changed into proper footwear. What a relief it was! The short, mid-calf hiking boots made from wild tarnag leather fit perfectly, chafing nothing. The second pair of shoes resembled boots more, with tight lacing and a thick, inch-thick sole. They were meant for combat and dungeon ventures. I would have ordered moccasins "for casual wear" as well, but the master wouldn't have been able to make them by the appointed time. I'll have to thank Gianni, as he was the one who took my old boots to this workshop and placed an order on my behalf. The guy clearly knew where to turn; I couldn't be happier with the new shoes.

The next stop was the branch of the Artifactors' Guild. They were just opening at dawn, so I went in and retrieved my avalonium. I lingered a bit, eyeing the quite useful items displayed on the counters, but eventually, I waved it off and didn't buy anything. The prices here, to put it mildly, were biting. Due to the low trade connectivity - compared to Earth - the price tag of the same product in different parts of Ain could vary greatly. For example, I paid Norton twenty gold for his old chain mail, but the same one in Tries wouldn't pull even fifteen, and in Deytran, they wouldn't give even ten for it, even if it was new. So, the cost of even the simplest household artifacts in the Katiyer branch of the Artifactors' Guild seemed overly inflated to me. Apparently, it was primarily because the city had no Transition Gate.

With these thoughts, I reached Armani's shop. Unlike the other small stores on the street that were already open, its door was locked. Since waiting for Gianni to wake up and deign to open wasn't in my plans, I began to knock persistently. After the fifth knock on the window, a frightened servant peered out.

"Wake the master; tell him Raven has come for his belongings."

The servant immediately nodded and disappeared from sight. Evidently, Gianni loved to sleep in because I had to wait almost twenty minutes for him. And when the doors of the shop swung open, the look on the designer was, to put it mildly, displeased.

"You've come," he grumbled angrily instead of a greeting, opening the door.

Letting me in, Gianni immediately locked the door and, shuffling demonstratively with his luxurious slippers on the clean floor, made his way to his favorite chair, where he collapsed as if exhausted.

"You're early," he said, yawning widely.

"Time presses," I spread my hands apart.

"Time presses, he says..." Gianni grumbled, wincing, reluctantly rose from his chair, and went into the storage room without another word.

He returned in just a couple of minutes and started throwing my belongings onto the floor at my feet, right over the counter!

"What the hell are you doing?" I exclaimed, unprepared for such a cold reception, as the neatly rolled chainmail fell right onto my toes.

"Look who's talking..." Gianni retorted angrily and looked me in the eyes defiantly. "Pay up and get out."

"What?!" My fists clenched involuntarily.

"You heard me, pay seventy gold and get lost!"

"You got extra teeth?" I whispered, cracking my knuckles.

"And do you have an extra half a year?" A bell to summon the guards appeared in Gianni's hands. "Make a move towards me, and you're assured half a year in the local clink."

Of course, he was exaggerating; even if I knocked all his teeth out, I'd just pay for his treatment and a solatium, but I wouldn't end up in jail. Nevertheless, he wasn't joking. He was clearly furious at me, even seething. It seemed that he would have attacked me with his bare hands if not for understanding that he couldn't handle Steel.

"Fine," I said, bending down for my things. "But what's this seventy gold about? We agreed on forty!"

"Agreed?" Gianni chuckled. "Did we shake hands, making a deal? Have we signed a contract, perhaps?" He shook his head. "No such thing."

And indeed, it was just verbal, not even sealed with a handshake, which, by local standards, isn't considered a final agreement.

"If you don't have enough, leave the doublet and pay forty." What's wrong with him?

Of course, I could raise a complaint. And most likely, after the demonstration of my Affinity with Light and the Brooch of Nobility to the local court, Gianni would lose. But court proceedings are a slow process, and besides, Armani was in Arien's initial team, and if she takes his side at the hearing, everything can turn out differently. And I'll lose at least a week. After counting seventy gold, I demonstratively put them in stacks on the floor at my feet.

"You'll regret this," I hissed like a snake. "I'm not vindictive, but I'm far from kind, and my memory is good."

"You're an animal, Raven! Just an animal!" he yelled. "Get out!"

"Not even going to let me change?" I smiled.

"Change outside," the designer bared his teeth.

Picking up the bags with my belongings, I straightened up, looked into Gianni's eyes, and behind the outward rage and malice, I saw deep pain.

"You love her..." I whispered.

"Just leave, Raven, just leave," Armani shook his head, laying out a crudely made, but even by the look of it, a very powerful crossbow on the counter. "Don't tempt me to sin."

Most likely, he'll come to his senses one day and realize he was wrong today, but for now, his head is filled with jealousy and anger. By the twitching of his fingers on the trigger, I can tell he might just fire. He won't kill me, and he probably won't hit me either - because a Wootz warrior can move at such a speed that they become a blurred spot to the average person's gaze. However, it's still not worth the risk. I don't know Gianni's Talents, and he might just surprise me unpleasantly.

Without turning my back to him, I back away with my belongings in hand, and only after stepping out of the shop door and closing it do I allow myself a heavy exhale.

Then again, what did I expect? That my departure with Arien would go unnoticed and that no one would be affected by it? The answer is - I hadn't thought about the consequences at all. And I'm still lucky that Gianni turned out to be more straightforward than someone like Miranda. Everything could've ended much worse for me, like a shot in the stomach through a slightly open door instead of a mere "hello."

I must get out of Katiyer and do it as quickly as possible!