Scream.

At first light, Gaus woke up with a resounding scream. His body trembled under his sweat-soaked underwear.

Magiwatch has saved 24 hours.

The Master welcomes you to Loopers Academy. You are expected in class in seven hours.

Rank: junior initiate class 1

Guarantor: XM9999

Lifespan: 23:59:49

It sucked to always wake up with the same nightmare, but when you do it for fifty-something times it grew old. At first, it would feel like a bad dream, and then it would feel like any other dream, and even that would pale as time went on. At a point, you would just feel it wasn't a nightmare anymore. A few seconds would be all it took to clear your head and stir your determination. Gaus was more or less the same in this regard. Instead of the nightmare, he was just thinking about his physique.

He pressed the crown three times.

Physique

Speed: 8

Constitution : 5

Strength: 7

Sigh.

He'd lost it again. The skill used by The Master to bring people into the loop evidently saved physique. He also had a skill book that allowed him to save skills. He should be able to save his physique. Why was he still losing it?

This was challenging. If all the skills lost their levels then it would be because rewind didn't save skills. Also if everyone, including the loopers in the academy, lost their physique as well then The Master or the loop would be responsible. But Gaus retained everything, even the free points from defeating the boss, except his physique, and to make matters worse he was the only looper, as far as he knew, that was losing their physique. He couldn't be different from the others, could he?

After a few minutes of deliberating, he decided to move skywalk from his skill book into the loopers book. Since the loopers he'd seen in the academy were using the loopers book to save their skills, not their personal skill book. He even tried to move the whole physique into the skill book but there was no such function.

Next was mana.

Mana sense activated.

Cost: 0.1/min

He would keep it up at all times until the next three days were over.

He waited for dawn to walk into the academy, occasionally blinking to shorten the journey. Two days had already passed since their meeting with Tyren. The other time traveler had time to report him to the academy, and although he couldn't be sure, his gut told him he didn't because if he did the academy would have done something about it by now. Tyren was either wishfully thinking they could come to an agreement, or he was planning to take him on. Gaus couldn't run away from him, he also couldn't ask for help, so the only option left was to fight and hope. With enough levels and determination, even a temporary looper wouldn't be invincible, right? 

Once inside the academy, he went to the cafeteria. After ordering the same soup Tuwo he'd enjoyed from the library, he picked an isolated seat far away from the chattering students at the center, wondering how lively the Academy was even at this hour. In fact, Gaus had already wondered how cheerful the Academy was. Nobody seemed to bother about being stuck in a time loop. They talked study, and play like in a normal academy. What kind of assurance did The Master give them?

Being so absorbed in his thoughts, he barely noticed a couple that just came to his seat.

"You're the guy from yesterday," the boy said as he sat on the opposite chair, uninvited, "you must be starting the loop nearby if you can come this early."

Gaus had no idea who they were. The girl did look familiar. He expected they attended the same class.

"Excuse me?" Gaus asked.

"I'm Bor," the boy said, "he pointed at the girl, "this is my sister - Nan. You're the guy who ended up in our class by accident, right? What's your name again?"

Both were short but their frail physique and tight uniform made them look a bit taller than they actually were. 

"I'm Gaus." He said dismissively.

They should have silently left after that dismissive tone but for some reason, Bor decided to 'familiarize' himself with Gaus just as he planned to do with the other members of the class.

"My sister and I were admitted because of our skill in taming spirits. You would be surprised to know that we can already tame a spirit. If it weren't for that Avianti girl in our class I would say I'm the best in the school of spirits in the whole class." Said Bor to his sister's annoyance.

"Must you tell everyone that?" She mumbled.

"Don't mind my little sister," Bor said, talking as if she weren't there, "she didn't want to come to the pilgrimage in the first place. She still doesn't want to be here. I can tell you she's only here because of what she'll gain when the loop is over."

Gaus smiled wryly. He really would prefer eating in silence but he would hijack the opportunity to ask some questions.

"How long have you suffered the LA syndrome?"

Bor smiled happily at the question. He wasn't used to getting a response this early. "Twelve days. My sister eighteen, that's why we aren't in the same class. But I feel we've both done well. You may not agree since you are a genius but..."

He was interrupted by a groan from Gaus.

"You are a genius."

No, he wasn't.

"That aside," Bor went on, "you should know that Avianti took twenty-six hours. Antelina two days. Cara four. Jack six. Hishan six. Bered six. Tiara ten."

And just like that, Bor listed all the members of the class and their scores. At some point, his sister grew tired and just left.

"Today is going to be fun," Bor said as they left the cafeteria after eating. "We are going to have a new class representative."

What?

"Why?"

"I don't really know. That's why I even came to the cafeteria looking for Tiara. She is usually the first to have information like this. Nobody knows about her source."

Tiara was also a member of their class.

"So how did you know about it and I didn't?" Asked Gaus. He didn't leave the school yesterday until the loop was over and he came very early today, so he should have heard information like this.

"You haven't joined the class group," Bor said.

Yes, he hadn't.

"Just go to the friend list and unfriend one person so you can get a free slot to join with."

"I have no friends," Gaus said.

"Er... sorry, I forgot you are just coming. Anyway, join the group and information like this won't pass you. I do have a slot left, I can add you if you want."

He could benefit from the boy's experience and it was good to have someone to talk to. "Yeah, please do that."

The boy put his hand around Gaus's shoulders to his utter discomfort.

"Gimme your room number. We'll be friends. Good friends."

Urgh.

"How long have you been in the academy?" Gaus asked after successfully taking Bor's arm off his shoulder.

"Five loop months. Everyone in the class has been here for five months except you and Ariwen. We'd two weeks to adapt to the syndrome, two months to build a physique, and two months to learn the mundane before starting the actual courses."

Gaus jumped these classes all because of a slight mistake of getting into the wrong class. Sometimes mistakes could be a blessing.

Assigning class #2A to Interface...

Done.

You've 2/3 slots left.

That was all the warning he got after assigning the class to his friend's list before he started getting tons of messages.

Cara: Tiara, the fuck are u doin. Tell us who the new rep is.

Dilfa: I don't really care as long as it's a she. Don't like arrogant dicks ruling over us.

Gatan: hey, bitch, I'm the rep. Deal with it.

Jack: I thought I told you no swearing in the group. I swear I'm going to leave the group if you continue.

Gatan: you just swear, man. Why d u always wanna bother yourself? Besides, if you leave we'll be one man short and that's not good for the patriarchy brotherhood.

Wilberforce added.

Antelina: hey, welcome.

Gatan: the new guy is here.

Dilfa: I just hope he isn't the class rep.

Tiara: he isn't.

Dilfa: hey, Tiara, tell us who the hell it's before I cut off my hair.

Tiara: do that, pls.

Wilberforce: thanks, class rep.

Antelina: not anymore.

.....

.....

"Will you stop chatting on the way? You may trip and break something." Bor warned.

It was only now that Gaus realized he'd been on the chat wall for a while. The interface roughly translated your thoughts into writing and put it in the group. It was nice to see something new.

"I would like to have a training companion. Can we train together?" Bor asked.

"Yes, why not?" 

On one hand, the boy was hoping to benefit from his demonstrated skill in mana sense, but on the other, he was also hoping to learn something from the boy since the boy had been in the academy for longer than him.

"When are we going to have a class about enchanting?" Gaus asked.

"Today," Bor said, "we'll have enchanting, swordsmanship, and how to tame a spirit, my favorite."

Gaus narrowed his eyes. "What about bloodline?" As a school of magic, it should have its class as well, he thought.

Bor groaned. "It doesn't have a class. That would have been terrible, considering how arrogant bloodline limiters are. Haven't you seen how they are behaving in school? Just observe how that Avianti girl looks at us. They don't bother with anyone who has no bloodline limit. To them, not even a pacifist can compare, or so they believed."

Slowly Gaus's face was turning into a frown. He still hadn't seen any bloodline skill and he'd no idea how it worked. Actually, Gaus was yet to see that extensive demonstration of many skills so far. What he saw from the arena was far from enough and it was from another perfective.

"How many pacifists and bloodline limiters are in the class?" Gaus asked.

"Only one bloodline limiter - Ariwen. I don't know about pacifists. Some said three, some said four. Antelina is one but I don't know the others. If you want such information you should ask Tiara."

Was it safe to conclude that bloodline limiters were even rarer than pacifists in this regard? But what if someone were to combine the two?

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Is there anyone with both a bloodline limit and a magiwatch skill?"

Bor thought about it silently before he shook his head. "Theoretically, it's possible, but I haven't seen it."

Long ago, mages who weren't born with skills were considered trash. They were given many names: nil set, blanks, manaless, forgotten, forsaken, back-sitters, among others. At a point, these mages formed an organization called blazers, they came together to create the four schools of magic to defy the pacifist oppression. They also made sure no pacifist could learn magic from the schools; it was purely intentional that pacifists like Gaus had zero affinity in enchanting, spirit taming, swordsmanship, and bloodlines. However, these mages didn't consider something like a time loop when they created the schools. By saving progress and carrying it over to the next loop, the loop helped the academy to devise ways to teach even the pacifists with zero affinities magic from the four schools. Because of these reasons, you would find a pacifist combining his skill with the schools. If someone was already born with a skill like Antelina, then it was entirely possible for her to also learn some bloodline skills and combined the two. Perhaps, at some point, the Academy would also devise a way to copy original skills from the magiwatch and teach it to the students. 

"We are here." Bor pointed at the door of the classroom. It was still closed. "Lucky they don't lock it."

He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Twenty-four seats, one for each student. A quill and purple ink in a transparent bottle sat on the speckless tabletop at the front of the class. Honestly, speckless didn't do justice to the classroom. Everything was suspiciously clean that Gaus felt it wasn't real. Have you ever seen something so clean you expect it was made from the air? This was it. 

"Who set the classroom this early? They must have been very diligent and organized to clean everything so perfect." Gaus said, amazed. 

"I don't know who brought the quill and the ink but the school needs no cleaning once the loop resets. Handy, ain't it?" Bor said.

Of course, it didn't since the loop would renew everything. Gaus nodded his understanding.

After making sure none of the chairs or the walls was about to start talking he walked to the back of the class and sat. 

Not long after they were seated, other members came into the class. The last to come was Ariwen.

"Forgive my late coming," the girl bowed slightly to the class and suddenly Gaus realized her green hair was even darker than he'd thought and her ears were long and pointed upward with a sharp tip like a dagger, "you must have been waiting for me." She glanced at her watch with a sigh.

She wasn't late. It was 9:25 am.

Standing at the very spot where Linc stood yesterday, she turned around to face the class. "I still have thirty-five minutes left." She said.

"Can someone tell me what she's doing?" A bald-headed boy asked in annoyance. A girl and two boys sitting next to him nodded in agreement.

"This isn't a drama outing and, in case you haven't noticed, we're all sitting not standing where the teacher is supposed to stand. Just because you've been brought into the class because of your bloodline doesn't mean you can speak so arrogant, or even stand at the teacher's podium." He added.

"Er..." Ariwen hesitated, looking very humble and collected, "I might have misread the guidelines but I swear seeing something that requires me to introduce myself to the class."

"You've already introduced yourself to the class yesterday." His voice softened a bit, "look, newcomer, nobody is against you introducing yourself to the class, but we can't have you addressing us like you are the class rep."

"But I am the class rep." She said.

Huh?

"You? It can't be. You came just yesterday."

The class erupted into chaos.

"What did you do to get it?"

"I don't believe it."

"Me too. Let's confirm it."

Gaus watched everything in silence.

Several minutes later, Antelina came forward and asked everyone to calm down.

"Rules are rules. The academy has the right to appoint any student as the class rep. Ariwen took the alchemy challenge yesterday and she won. The academy rewards her by appointing her as the new class rep. Period."

So that was what happened. Apparently, it wasn't just Gaus that was busy yesterday.

"Thank you, Antelina." Ariwen bowed. "I will need your cooperation to succeed in my appointment."

The class was suddenly very cooperative. Was a class rep position that powerful? Or maybe it was Antelina.

"But I'm afraid I'll have to make some changes to the timetable," Ariwen said and suddenly Gaus began to understand how powerful the position could be, "we've five teachers right now. Three told me they can start their classes as early as eight o'clock in the morning and the other two can make it to nine o'clock, so from now on classes will start at eight o'clock."

"It doesn't happen like that, girl. We are supposed to vote." The bald-headed guy retorted.

"I didn't see that in the guidelines. Perhaps, I should check it again." Ariwen said, confused.

"Shit. It ain't in any guidelines but this is what we do. This is what most classes do. This is what Antelina did."

"I'm not Antelina. On the First World, we do everything by the book." She countered not at all looking angry.

There were some angry murmurings but nobody was big enough to speak up.

"What if someone starts the loop far away from here?" Gaus finally cut in, "you've got to consider others."

A red-haired girl by his side nodded vigorously. "Honored class rep, please reconsider. I start the loop on the Fifth World southern hemisphere. It's pretty far away. I spend two hours just from my hometown to the gate. From there, I have to climb the water dungeon to come to the Seventh World. They commonly drop me in east Little Lang where I've to take the morning wagon to come here. It really isn't possible for me to come here by eight." The girl complained.

"What's your name, please?" Ariwen asked the girl.

"I'm Raya, I come from a small town on the Fifth World called Misky, honored class rep."

"Raya, have you ever been to the First World?" Ariwen asked.

The girl shook her head.

"Well, I can promise you it's much farther away from your place. If I can come from there on time, why can't you? Devise a way to teleport yourself from the Fifth World to this place."

The class fell silent.

Ariwen went on when it appeared there were no more questions, "I'll talk to my dad and see if we can get extra teachers so we can start taking night classes. I want everyone in this class to graduate as a veteran looper. One day when I become Queen I can be proud of my classmates."

What?

It actually didn't stop there. Ariwen brought three more rules before she finally allowed them to breathe. One was having compulsory group discussions for one hour every day.

"What if we refuse?" Antelina asked.

Gaus was furiously trying to figure out the shithead that made these rules.

"I've no power to judge anyone. All I'll ever do is by the book." Ariwen said with a shrug.

"And what does the book says?" Gaus asked, frowning.

"If you can't stand your class rep you can change them. But to do that you have to challenge them to a duel and win, or at least do something worth that the academy can recognize and recommend you as the next class rep. Alternatively, you can file a complaint to the teachers or to student affairs. Your complaint will be evaluated thoroughly and if the class rep was found guilty they will be removed." Ariwen explained.

"I fear the class may revolt against you if you push them too far," Gaus advised.

Ariwen just smiled and shrugged. "The academy doesn't mind graduating one student from every class." She said.

Now, that was a challenge. The girl thought she alone carried more weight than the rest of the class.

The class was angry.

"You think you are something just because you are from the First World?"

"Even if you are a Longevity Child you can't talk to us like this. We are all brought here because we have qualities, you know."

"I'll take the alchemy challenge and defeat you, today."

"I'll take it."

"Me too."

It was at this moment that Linc showed up.

"Can someone tell me what's going on here?" He asked and it was chaos because everyone wanted to speak.

"I want one person to speak."

Antelina stood up. "Sir, Ariwen is bringing unreasonable rules as soon as she becomes class rep and the class doesn't like her."

"Hold on right there, Antelina. Who dare say they don't like their classmate?" Linc asked.

"Er... nobody, sir. It isn't as if they don't like her, it's her matriarchy that they don't like." She corrected herself.

"She's just appointed, Antelina, be easy on her. Everyone has their style and she comes from the First World. You all know how they do things there. We are one big family, remember?"

Antelina seemed to consider his words unlike the rest of the class which immediately erupted into shouts of 'we don't want her'.

"Alright. Everyone silent." He thundered, "Ariwen is your class rep and you should try to obey her. The teachers are here to monitor her, if she does anything against the book we'll call her to order. Understood?"

"...Yes." They answered reluctantly.

"You are just lucky you don't have to live under her rule anymore," he went on, "shortly after appointing her as the new rep, the academy received another meritorious service by another member of the class. The academy has no choice but to appoint them as the new class rep effective immediately."

Tiara jumped from her seat. She kept tabs on everything going on in the class and the academy in general, how did she miss it? "Who is it, sir."

Linc frowned. "Sit down, Tiara, the only person I want to see standing is the new class rep."

The members of the class stared at each other, anxiously waiting to see the newly-appointed rep.

"Stand up," Linc ordered, looking at the ceiling.

Now, that was confusing. If he were looking at someone (not the ceiling) then that would be it.

"If you don't want the title then Ariwen can just take it, she probably won't reject," Linc added.

"Whoever you are, please stand." Raya, the girl who was earlier complaining about distance, whispered.

"Must I call your name?" Linc asked.

Meanwhile, in the class group...

Tila: Tiara, who do you think he is?

Tiara: I have no idea. I even asked my friend from the upper echelon and he told me that yesterday only the guy who conquered Nascentos did more service to the academy than Ariwen. But he can't be in our class.

Dilfa: I hope it's a lady.

Gatan: I hate you, Dilfa. It's patriarchy whether you like it or not.

Raya: please, show yourself whoever you are before Linc decided to let Ariwen continue.

Antelina: who are you?

Gaus: hey, be a gentleman or lady and speak up?

"According to the student motivation act, the academy can appoint any student the position of class rep at any time based on their meritorious services to the academy. I've been asked to inform you that our student, Gaus, is the new class rep. Congratulations on your appointment. Will you please stand?" Linc finally called it.

Everyone turned to Gaus, including Ariwen and Antelina. He also turned around to see if there was another Gaus in the class.

Just what the hell was going on? He did no meritorious service at all.

Amid the commotion, a silver-haired, old woman wearing a necklace of red stones around her wrinkled neck walked into the class. She took one step at a time, waiting for three to five seconds to catch her breath before she took the next. Linc and everyone else turned to the woman with wide eyes. Gaus was immediately relieved to see the attention turning away from him.

Linc practically ran forward and bowed to the woman like a child. "I welcome you to my humble class, honored teacher."

"Little Linc, how are you doing?" She asked. Her voice was so strong and healthy you wouldn't believe she was the one speaking. 

"I am fine, teacher. Thank you." He turned to the class. "This is my teacher and mentor - XM9997 - who taught me enchantment. It has been so long since she teaches anyone but you guys are lucky. She has decided to take two enchantment classes this year, yours included."

XM9997? That would make her a senior member of the upper echelon. In fact, only two people, XM9998 and XM9999, were above her in the entire academy. 

The class stood at once and greeted the teacher. Linc exchanged a few more pleasantries with her before he hurriedly went out.

The old woman who was supposed to be their enchantment teacher suddenly said something in an unknown and incomprehensible tongue. It sounded like the babbling of a seven-months-old child who was just learning how to speak.

Rewind has saved 3 seconds.

You've Rewound for 3 seconds, effectively erasing everything in the said period. Only you will remember.

Are you sure you want to use CP on the saved memory? Y/N?

1 skill detected.

He pressed yes.

Runic Tongue of Old

Rank: archaic 1

Years come years go, the language that was first spoken on the multiverse remains. It was used to create the first magic the world has ever seen. Learn it for in its pronunciation you will find the magic that is forgotten.

Cost: 0

Choose the skill? Y/N?

Note that this is an unusual skill in the sense that its exp comes from the words you learn. You may be required to master both the letters that form the word and its pronunciation.

He pressed yes.

You've learned the Tongue.

Runic Tongue lvl 1/80 (8/100 words)

"Purple Meam butterfly," the teacher said. That would be eight words if you combined these three with the five she spoke earlier. Apparently, the skill couldn't just install the whole language in his head; he had to learn every word as he leveled up. It was still useful since it made learning the words trivial. He just had to figure out a way to get someone to speak the right word and the skill would interpret it and install it in his mind.

He looked around him and saw the confused looks of his colleagues. None of them knew what the teacher was saying.

The teacher somehow took so long to realize none of the students was getting her before she changed to the common tongue.

"I've spoken eight words of the Tongue." She said and then she used the quill and the purple ink on the front desk to draw on the board. "This is what I've just said in writing." She pointed at the drawing.

It might sound confusing to call it 'a drawing' but that was as close as it could get. Half of it was flowers, shrunken flowers mind you, and the other half was Chinese, Arabic and Persian alphabets slammed together to create a certain... artistic something that just couldn't be described with words.

Just when Gaus was thinking about how utterly complicated the whole thing was, the drawing turned into a purple glow, which then turned into a real butterfly before flying to the other end of the class. It slammed on the opposite wall before dissolving to produce the same drawing.

Gaus Rewound the whole process, hoping to pick something. He was at first reluctant to Rewind within the academy and in front of the teachers, but he later realized how much he would be losing if he refused to use it. Besides, he'd already used it on XM9999, the man who was considered the strongest in the academy, so using it just to save skills wouldn't make much of a difference.

"The three basic enchantment skills are runic tongue, runic writing, and mana insignia," the teacher went on, "you learn the Tongue first. Then you learn the skill runic writing that will guide your hands to write it. When you achieve this, I'll teach you mana insignia so you can imbue your mana into the letters to make an actual enchantment."

"Just as you did, honored teacher?" Ariwen asked, apparently not as confused as the rest of the class.

The teacher nodded. "Yes, Ariwen, just as I did."

"Honored teacher, how long will it take to learn the skills?" The bald-headed guy asked.

"One loop month if you've talent of 90% and above in enchantment, two months of vigorous studying for anything between 50-89%, and up to six months for any affinity between 10-50%. There's no study done on affinities below 10%. Some of them can take years and some just can't make it no matter how much loop years they spend on it." The teacher explained. Apparently, Gaus and any other who had zero affinity in enchantment had fallen into that last category where they would need several years to learn the three skills. But, somehow Gaus was already learning the skills even before the class began.

Are you sure you want to use 2 CP on the saved memory? Y/N?

2 skills detected.

He pressed yes.

Runic writing

Rank: rare 1

For so long the languages have lost their meaning together with their innate magic. In this era, magic is treated as a separate entity from language when in fact they are one. Use runic writing to channel the magic contained in the Runic Tongue of Old to the intricate design of the blessed letters to create magic.

Cost: up to 1MP (increase by leveling up)

Choose the skill? Y/N? 

Mana insignia

Rank: rare 1

Enchanters create magic by transforming their mana into skill, unlike other mages who just used mana to power an already invented skill. Many magi of Old believed that enchanters are the first order of magicians because their magic is unique and unadulterated by any outside force. They learn how to speak the words, they learn how to write them, and they use mana insignia to put life into the words by binding them to their mana for all eternity.

Cost: up to 1MP (increase by leveling up)

Choose the skill? Y/N?

He pressed yes.

You've learned runic writing.

Runic writing lvl 1/30 (0/100)

----------------------------------------

You've learned Mana insignia.

Mana insignia lvl 1/30 (0/100)

Now, it wouldn't matter how long it would take others, Gaus had already paved his way to enchanting.