Silence reigned for a moment. Gaus thought about using his 'insane' affinity for time magic and also keep it hidden from the rest of the world. A task which was already difficult because of the two girls in front of him. To Rewind and erase their memories would be the easiest and the most effective way to deal with the situation, but even if he went all out and Rewound for 76 seconds straight he still wouldn't erase their memories completely. Initially, Raya tested his affinity and thought the tester was broken. She then tested Antelina four times just to confirm. When they realized the tester wasn't broken, Antelina tested him again and then asked him some protracted questions about himself and vegetables before she tested him again several times. Later on, Raya told him about her uncle before she also tested him again. The whole ordeal had taken more than five minutes which made it impossible to just Rewind.
"What now?" Gaus prompted.
"Now you're more than qualified to join the ranks of the elite," Raya said excitedly. "If my uncle is here he will probably ask you to marry me and have.. ha.. h..." she choked and just fainted. Antelina supported her before she hit the ground.
"Hey, what's wrong with her?"
"She's fine," Antelina said.
Gaus looked from the unconscious girl to Antelina and frowned. "She doesn't look fine to me."
"She's fine. Give her a few minutes and she will wake up just fine except she won't remember what happened in the last five minutes."
What?
He slowly stood up, observing Antelina's unperturbed expression. "Did you knock her out?"
"I did."
He took a step back, hid his hands behind his back and Rewound.
Magiwatch has saved 16 seconds.
You've Rewound for 16 seconds, effectively erasing everything in the said period. Only you will remember.
----------------------------------------
Do you want to turn memory into a book? Y/N?
Warning: no skill detected.
"May I ask why you feel the need to knock your friend and training partner out?"
She sighed as if struggling to explain herself. "Who will you suspect if the academy suddenly finds out about your affinity? It's either Raya or me. By erasing her memory, I'm doing her a favor. Now it's just you and me. If word about your affinity or about my skill goes out then its either you or me."
This girl is dangerous.
"What skill was that anyway?" Gaus asked.
Antelina smiled. "It is my watch skill. You did say you want to see it, right? In exchange, you'll let me lead the team into the spirit realm."
"The more you show your desperation the less I'll be willing to give up the role. But you know that, don't you?"
"I do," she said, shrugging. "Does it matter? A deal is a deal. I show you my watch skill and provide the information you requested about every class member in exchange you will let me lead the class into the spirit realm."
"If I remember correctly we didn't reach an agreement and we left it to consideration," Gaus said thoughtfully. "However, it's your lucky day, I don't feel like backing out now. A deal is a deal, right? However, you still didn't show me your watch skill."
"What do you think that skill was? It was my watch skill, rep. Do I have to spell it for you?"
"It's not your watch skill, ex, so don't lie to me. I was observing you closely and I didn't see you touching the watch in any way while executing the attack. I may not be attending any elite class but even I know you have to touch the watch to activate a watch skill."
Antelina frowned and murmured a few curses about intelligent people and class reps. "Alright," she said, adjusting the girl in her arms and looking around to make sure no one was looking or eavesdropping. "I'm sorry I lied."
"You owe me two more favors for lying," Gaus said nonchalantly.
"Huh? That's unfair. I just..."
"A deal is a deal." He interrupted.
"Ok, let's settle it, here and now."
Gaus sighed. The girl was too smart for her age but he was still winning.
"If I were you I wouldn't be attending the elite class to prevent others from finding out about my affinity." She said, looking at him inquisitively.
"I have no plan of attracting any unwanted attention to myself if that's what you mean," Gaus said.
"Good." She smiled. "Then how about I tell you gossip and in exchange, you'll forget about what just happened?"
"A gossip? Haha.. you think I'll settle for gossip when you owe me two?"
She moved closer and lowered her voice. "Look, this isn't just gossip. I've confirmed it myself. It has something to do with time magic." She paused to gauge his reaction. "Do you want it or not?"
"You can speak but I have the right to reject it the moment I realize it's bullshit."
"What? That's unfair. What's bullshit to you may be gold for us girls. I want you to promise me you'll only reject it if it's totally worthless and it won't benefit your time magic in any way."
"Just speak we don't have all day." Gaus snapped.
She hesitated.
"Ariwen always comes to the academy with two babies," she finally started, "there are currently two rumors about her: one, she is accused of being a young mother; two, she is accused of drinking baby's blood and using it for rituals. It was disturbing, so I went to check it out. To be honest, I don't believe either rumors. I mean, it's bullshit to even think she will be drinking baby's blood openly and there's no way a noble girl like her will have a baby at this young age. But as it turns out, she takes a one-on-one class on chronomancy. It's very suspicious, isn't it? Besides, a time magician training with babies does ring a bell, right?"
No, it didn't.
"Oh come on. Stop giving me that look like you've never read Introductions to the Dark Arts by Snulshatt."
"I haven't."
"Really? I have a copy if you want but it's going to cost you."
"Just tell me what she's doing with the babies."
"Don't be hasty," she whispered as she looked around again to make sure they were alone. "I saw a passage in that book where the author describes something called 'immature cord' that allows mages to practice time magic. It's like the umbilical cord or something like that, I don't really know. Apparently, babies have this immature cord thing and it's much easier to connect with than adults' mature cord. I think she's using the babies to train her time magic. Ariwen lives in district 7, room 12. You should find some time and pay her a visit. Are we good now?" She ended her explanation with a question.
Gaus scratched his temple, staring at the ground. "Give me the book."
She retrieved an old, paperback book from her inventory and gave it to him. "I'll need it tomorrow."
She glanced at the unconscious girl. "You should leave. She's about to wake up."
"What are you going to tell her when she woke up?"
"Leave that to me."
After asking about the book and where he should pay more emphasis, he left for his room thinking about Antelina and how to appropriately deal with her. Once inside, he closed the door, lay on the bed, and opened the book.
The book provided an extensive review of affinities and their relationship with mana, and it also introduced the darks arts and explained some basic skills.
Like in every field of magic, the dark arts were also controlled by mana. But unlike in other specialties where the mana was pure and automatically regulated to suit the cost of every skill, the dark arts required the mana in the body to be channeled and mixed with the surrounding world essence before it could be used. 1% affinity for any branch of the dark arts would allow you to channel 1% of your mana to control the same type of world essence, so did 2% and 3% affinities, up to 50% affinity. The law changed when an affinity exceeded 50%. In such a case, the attraction between the world essence and its corresponding mana would be too strong that the mana would be naturally flowing out of the body and into the surrounding world essence to maintain the equilibrium at 50% affinity. Hence any mage with affinity above 50% didn't need to learn any channeling skill because their mana was in a natural connection with the world essence.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Mana was meant to be in the body and it would resist any attempt otherwise. As such, learning how to successfully channel mana from the body and mix it with the surrounding world essence was a difficult task that could take months. Gaus and any mage with an affinity above 50% were spared from this, but they would also have to pay by constantly losing some portion of their mana to the surrounding world essence. For Gaus with 79%, he was constantly losing 29% of his total mana to keep his affinity at 50% at all times just in order to maintain the so-called equilibrium. In other words, his total mana was more than the 305 MP in his status. It would be around 480 MP if you included the 29% he'd been losing unknowingly. This was a huge downside of having an affinity above 50%. But because their mana was in a natural connection with the world essence, constantly enriching it, any being that needed world essence as a growth factor or was solely powered by world essence would be attracted to them. Call it natural favor if you would.
Many scholars would consider you a practitioner if you could fully connect with the world essence. The only thing left was to pick a specialty depending on your affinity. For Gaus, it was obviously time magic. The book gave two basic skills for time magic: longevity sense and cord pulling.
Longevity sense was similar to mana sense but it focused on the person's longevity instead of mana. The root of longevity in the body was in the umbilicus and the longevity energy there was greatly higher than in other parts of the body. For newborns, the energy was so blatant it could easily be picked by anyone who could connect with the surrounding world essence and had an affinity for time. But as you grew up, the energy matured and it became increasingly difficult to sense. Probably that was what Ariwen was doing with the babies.
Cord pulling was even more impressive. It allowed you to create a set of invisible hands using pure world essence and use them to pull a person's longevity root in the umbilicus. A successful pulling would destabilize the person's longevity and prevent them from using their skills. Apparently, longevity was the building block of everything - it supported the soul, powered the mind, and replaced lost mana. A well-executed pulling would not only stop a person from regenerating their lost mana but it would prevent them from launching any attack by disrupting the connection between their mana and longevity. And although a time mage wouldn't be able to temper with the mind like a typical mind mage, they could knock you out by severing the connection between your mind and longevity. Even the soul wouldn't function properly if the longevity was destroyed.
Gaus was a natural time mage, meaning his mana was constantly and effortlessly connected with the surrounding world essence, and he didn't have to learn any skill for that. All he needed was to learn the skills.
With that goal in mind, he knocked on his neighbor's door. Not the bard, his other neighbor. A dark, middle-aged man with sleepy eyes.
"Hey, did I wake you up?" Gaus said apologetically.
"You didn't. Whasup?" The man answered annoyingly.
"Oh, I thought you were sleeping since your eyes are looking..."
"My eyes are naturally like this," he snapped. "Tell me why you are here."
"Can't a neighbor greet their neighbor just for the sake of it?" Gaus asked with a shrug and a slight frown.
The man gave him a half-hearted smile before he 'thanked' him and went back inside. All along Gaus was trying to sense the guy's longevity energy around his umbilicus but to no avail. It seemed he needed a push. With that in mind, he went to the female dorm and looked for district 7, room 12.
He knocked three times and waited by the door. While waiting, he opened the class group to see if there was anything of importance. It had been hours since he opened it.
Tiara: is it true?
Cara: what is?
Tiara: that the new class rep is hitting on the former class rep?
Cara: what? Antelina?
Tiara: no, Ariwen of the First World. My sources just saw him well-dressed and knocking at her door. He's been knocking for ages but Ariwen didn't respond.
Cara: oh my God, he went to the female dorm? Then it is true.
Gatan: stop destroying the patriarch's good image.
Cara: er... it's not a lie if Tiara saw it.
Tiara: point of correction, I didn't see it myself it was my source living in the district. And Gatan is right we need to ask the 'patriarch' tomorrow to confirm it.
Gaus gritted his teeth as he furiously looked around to see if there was anyone spying on him. He almost bolted out of the building when the door creaked.
Ariwen peeped through the narrow opening with an expressionless face.
"Hey, can I come in?"
She didn't frown, which Gaus took as a good sign, but there was some tension in the air as she scrutinized him and considered letting him inside. After what seemed like a long time she gestured for him to enter with her head.
"Thank you."
Once inside the brightly lit room, he saw the famous babies on the bed. One looked to be around two years and the other three. Gaus went directly to the bed and picked the closest baby in a friendly gesture. Little did he know the baby would cling to him and refused to let go even after Ariwen had decided to chase him out.
"What an adorable kid. Who's the father?" He asked, curiously looking at Ariwen through the corner of his eyes.
Ariwen didn't frown. Her answer came as good as any natural response. "You."
Gaus stopped pecking the baby and looked at her.
"Me?" He giggled. "Where I come from girls rarely give birth at your age."
"Where I come from they do."
Another silence.
"Tea?"
"No, thank you. I was just saying hello to my classmates and someone told me your room is nearby."
"That's touching."
Gaus frowned.
"You woke me up." She complained.
She didn't look like she was sleeping at all, after all, how could she sleep fully-dressed and with a bow strapped to her back?
"Sorry for disturbing your peace. I never thought it was a problem since I rarely sleep because of the time loop." Gaus said, stalling as he tried to sense the baby's immature cord.
"I wasn't sleeping when the loop started so it's only natural to compensate and sleep early." She explained.
Huh? But he was also starting the loop fully awake. Why didn't he need any sleep?
"I must sleep for at least two hours every loop." She added.
"I'll take my leave then." He tried to put the baby down but the baby refused to let go.
"Hey, my adorable, you should go to sleep now before your mama gets angry at me." He playfully tried to put the baby on the bed near the other baby but it refused to let go.
Gaus turned to Ariwen. "Help." He mouthed.
Ariwen sighed softly and walked towards him. "You really want to get in trouble, don't you?"
Gaus was starting to dislike this girl just for her arrogant tone.
"Don't frown," she said in response to his look, "you go around pumping your mana into the surrounding world essence and affecting everything around you, including my babies, I would say you are looking for trouble."
Okay. That was slandering at its finest. He wasn't pumping anything; he was born like this.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Gaus said.
Ariwen touched the baby and he immediately let go of Gaus.
She lay the two babies back on the bed and Gaus was surprised to see them go to sleep almost immediately.
Congratulations, you've successfully learned longevity sense.
----------------------------------------
Longevity sense
Rank: rare 1
What if mana sense doesn't work or is too limited? You've to remember that mana sense is a common skill that everyone can use. Mages, especially assassins, have developed many ways around it over the years. In order to differentiate yourself among your peers, you need to go beyond what is common and be ready to use something very few mages are willing to use because of the fear it will drain their lifespan. Use longevity sense to feel the very energy supporting the lifespan of everyone.
Range: 10m square area for every 1 MP mixed with the world essence. Your range is naturally over 2000 meters.
Cost: 5 MP per minute (will decrease with leveling up).
Having successfully learned the skill, he decided to leave before Tiara started another gossip.
"Okay. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
He was almost at the exit door when he suddenly felt an insurmountable pressure weighing down on him like a thousand mountains. Using longevity sense, he saw the uncaring, endless, dark void known as the world essence and in it there were areas of warm energy welcoming him, signifying his mana. His longevity energy was concentrated around the center of his abdomen in the form of a long, coiling chain, hanging from his umbilicus like a demonic tail. A pair of gigantic hands made of world essence was trying to pull this demonic tail out of him.
With but a single will, he used his mana to create an even bigger pair of hands from world essence and he went directly for Ariwen's tail and pulled it with all his willpower. Just before he wrenched it out the girl used an unknown skill and severed the connection. She fell on her knees bleeding from her nose and mouth.
Gaus stared at her with the same expressionless face she'd been giving him.
"I... am... sorry," she stuttered, "I didn't mean to hurt you; I was just... testing.."
Testing, huh?
Gaus took a handkerchief from his jacket and cleaned the blood at the corners of her mouth.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that either."
After a moment of silent stare, Gaus headed to the exit. "See you tomorrow in class."
The first thing he checked once outside the room was the new notification blinking at the corner of his eyes.
Congratulations, you've successfully learned the skill cord pulling.
----------------------------------------
Cord pulling
Rank: rare 1
A natural time mage shouldn't bother with petty attacks that will only hurt the physique. Longevity was the origin of all. Touch it and everything will crumble like a house of cards. Use longevity pull to destabilize a person's longevity by pulling their cord and consequently stop their mana from activating any skill and even knock them out.
Range: 1m square area per 1 MP. Your range is naturally over 200 meters.
Cost: 15 MP (will decrease with leveling up).
This done he went to Nascentos in hope of doing some raiding and leveling up. The keeper promptly told him he was banned from entering the dungeon. What was even worse was he was banned from entering any of the remaining sub-dungeons. According to the keepers he'd interrogated, the academy had 'recognized' his efforts and had rewarded him with a permit to enter the dungeon beneath the academy. One keeper went 'out of his way' and gave Gaus a registration plate in the form of a tablet that would allow him to enter the dungeon beneath. Gaus couldn't help thinking the keepers had been waiting for him to come back and had planned everything beforehand. They did give him food (which he didn't take) and allowed him to train skywalk and raise his physique to the peak of level 1 again. He hoped he could retain it when the loop restarted.
After leaving the sub-dungeons, he ran around the academy hoping to see something he could copy but there was no one throwing spells in the academy this late.
Enough for one day. It was already eleven o'clock and the world was about to end outside the holy city. One day, he would go out of the city and see what was really happening. Was it so apocalyptic that The Master would forbid anyone from seeing it?
He used his key to open the door and stepped inside. The lesson of the day was there were skills he just couldn't copy. He didn't know what they were exactly but he suspected watch skills and the dark arts. Also, he knew how he ended up with clones as 'bodyguards' after reading the book and he was ready to investigate further after dealing with Tyren, but he still didn't know why the stick didn't (couldn't) hurt him. Was he immune to anything plant? Did it have to do with affinity as well, or was it something else entirely?