Gaus

He walked Antelina to the academy in silence. He had tried and failed to start a conversation with her. Apparently what just happened was too much for the girl. He decided to let her sleep on it. Maybe she would be ready to talk in the morning.

More importantly, how did Tyren know about his relationship with Rachel? Only two or three people knew about it and Tyren wasn't one of them. This wasn't the first time something like this happened. In the first restart, when he chased after the red-haired girl, Tyren showed up. It was as if he could see what he was doing. He would have to find out about it.

Tyren could be bluffing about exposing him but it mattered little to him. Bluffing or not, he had no intention to give in. If he left Rachel just because Tyren said so then the guy could just threaten him every time he wanted something from him.

The following loop came and he delivered the package to Rachel first thing in the morning. As far as he was concerned, nothing had changed. If Tyren wasn't bluffing then he should go ahead and do his worse. He expected nothing less.

Next, he went to see Linc in his office. The teacher stared at him for an extended period before he sighed.

"What are you doing here?" Linc asked.

"You are my mentor," Gaus said. "I'm here for my private training session."

Linc scratched his forehead. He had been frowning ever since Gaus stepped into the office.

"Didn't I give you a compulsory leave?" Linc asked.

"Yes," Gaus said. "But that's supposed to last until I can do advanced levitation."

"So why are you here?" Linc asked.

Gaus shrugged.

Linc picked one of his mana-charged tablets and threw it at him. Gaus focused on the stone. He applied everything he'd learned so far and tried to levitate the stone midair. At first, nothing happened. But when the stone was a meter away from his face, it stopped midair and then went up just above his head before it continued its trajectory to hit the wall behind.

Congratulations, you have learned advanced levitation.

You can now use pure mana to move objects at rest or change the trajectory of moving objects. It doesn't matter if said objects are mana-charged or big or far away as long as you have the mana.

Cost: 10 MP per second.

Next, the overzealous teacher fired an arrow at his leg. Gaus deflected it just as easily as with the tablet.

"How...?" Linc said. "Just a couple of days ago you were struggling with it."

Gaus just stared at him as if to say he didn't know.

"Were you by any chance playing dumb?" Linc asked.

"No, sir," Gaus said. He was secretly enjoying the look on his face.

"I'll make up a new lesson plan for you," Linc said. "Come back in one week. In the meantime, you should level up all your mana taming exercise to level 10."

That done he went to see Antelina in her room, hoping she was ready to talk about it now.

"Hey," Antelina said. "How did it go?"

He earlier told her he would be seeing Linc today about the 'pelting exercise'.

"He was impressed," Gaus said. "Thanks to you, of course. He even said he would make a lesson plan for me. Hey, can I come in?"

She looked around nervously. "Yes, come in." She didn't sound so confident.

"Nice room," he said as a way to steer the mood.

"Thank you. How's your friend?"

"What friend?"

"The one from the restaurant."

So she was finally ready to talk about it.

"I don't know how he is and, trust me, he's not my friend."

"Is it true?" She asked. "That you joined the loop before coming to the academy?"

"It's true," he said.

"So why are you here?" She asked. "They will kill you if they find out."

"I know," he said. "But I have no other option. If I leave the academy the observers will find me and I will have to deal with another situation like this."

He told her enough to convince her he was the victim. He had to earn her trust.

"Aren't you afraid this Tyren guy would tell others if you don't heed his warning?" She asked.

"He needed me," Gaus said. "I'm the only thing keeping him in the loop. If I die or lose my place in the loop then he would go with me. He was bluffing."

"He told me," she said with a shrug. "It didn't look like he was bluffing."

"It doesn't matter," he said. "I will not be cowered into forsaking my friends."

Gaus wondered if he was doing a good job at convincing the girl.

"Are you the archmage that joined the loop last year?" She asked.

"No, I'm not. I don't know anything about any archmage."

She stared at him with narrowed eyes, probably wondering if she was to believe him or not.

"The best thing is to report you to the authorities," she said. "At least then I won't be killed alongside you when they ultimately find out."

"I can't allow you to do that," he said.

"I didn't ask for any of this," she said. "I don't want any of this. Can I just unheard everything?"

"I'm afraid not," he said. "But you can keep your mouth shut and pretend as if nothing happened. In exchange, I'll owe you a favor."

"I don't want any favors," she said through her teeth. "If I'm going to risk my life then I won't do it because of favor. I'll do it because you are my friend."

A friend? He didn't expect that.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, just make sure I keep my head."

It was funny how a looper who had died at least a couple of times could still be afraid of dying.

Once Gaus made sure Antelina would keep her mouth shut, he went to see Rachel. His training on identifying mana veins continued. He could now identify the veins supplying the lightning bolt in about two hours. It was still too early to be used in battle but he believed it was a good start.

"Instead of searching for the active vein," he said. "Why can't I just occlude all the major veins at once? I mean, the vein I'm looking for is a tributary from the major veins, right?"

"That's not possible," Rachel said."The major veins are too big. You need a smaller vein you can occlude. But you can try it and see for yourself. I don't know, maybe you can discover a new skill."

Ignoring her sarcasm, he pushed his mana into the 23 major veins that made up the cord. His mana mixed with the latent mana in the veins and the veins shrank. It was just a fraction but it was there. The lightning bolt dimmed. Half of the heat coming from it disappeared.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Congratulations, you have learned promana block.

Rank: rare 2

Use your mana to suppress the veins. You can not shut a major vein down but you can reduce its efficiency by polluting it with foreign mana.

Cost: 1 MP

"What just happened?" She asked.

"I have promana block," he said.

"Promana block?" She didn't sound like she knew about it. "I see. It suppressed the bolt by about 1.3%. Let's see what happens when you level it up to level 10."

Promana block has reached level 10.

Cost up to 10 MP.

Repeated attempts at suppressing the bolt revealed the new suppression rate to be around 6%. In other words, he could now suppress every attack from his enemies by 6%. It may not seem much now but it would improve every time he leveled it up.

Another hour of training was gone.

"Is everything okay?" She asked. "You seem disturbed."

He had been trying hard to hide it but he wasn't doing as good as he thought he was.

"Is it something you would like to discuss?" She asked.

"Tyren came yesterday," he said.

"He did?"

"Yes."

He told her what happened.

"But it doesn't make any sense," she said. "Tyren should be gone from the loop. The only thing keeping him in it is the soulbond and the soul bond is gone."

"Maybe the soul bond isn't gone," Gaus said.

Rachel shook her head. "No," she said. "The soulbond is gone. I'm sure of it."

"Then why is he still in the loop?" Gaus asked.

"I don't know," she said. "But there's only one way to find out. We have to capture and interrogate him, or better just kill him."

"Fine, let's do it."

Somehow he didn't have a problem with killing Tyren.

"Hold your horses," she said. "We have to know everything about him first. Do you think we can get something from his friends in La Magia?"

"Yes, maybe. Go there I will check out the academy."

Tyren shouldn't be difficult to find. Every looper had their number. Tyren was XM0911. There must be someone, a classmate or a teammate, who knew him.

The next loop came and Gaus started his hunt. The temporary loopers who considered themselves as the upper echelon wouldn't answer any question without a real incentive. He gifted several high-quality swords just to get their attention. But in the end, he got what he wanted.

Tyren Ayurvada Onis was in class 87. After he graduated, he was sent to the arena to represent Thaha. Why Thaha? Nobody knew. The loopers didn't ask why or how, they just got the job done.

Tyren couldn't finish the job even after trying for two years. He was meant to reach the semifinals but he couldn't pass the quarter-finals and that was why he was erased.

None of his classmates knew where he came from.

"He might have come from the First World," a former teammate of Tyren said. "I saw him talking to the First Worlders a couple of times and they seemed close."

Dr. Arna from La Magia didn't know much about Tyren. As far as she was concerned, Tyren was just a talented and kind battle alchemist.

"He gave all his money to charity and rehabilitation homes for slaves," she told Rachel and even showed some receipts.

Rachel went to Thaha and did a door to door check on Tyren. After three days, nobody in the city knew about any Tyren. There was no family with the Ayurvada name.

Tyren was a ghost.

"I regretted not going with my decision when you first came to me," Rachel said with a sigh. "I wanted to attach a clone to the soul-pillars just to keep an eye on you. You know, just in case..."

"A clone?" Gaus said. "Just say it, you wanted to send a spy after me."

"It wasn't for naught," she said. "By attaching a clone to you I will minimize the cost of the soul-pillars and I'll be able to keep an eye on you in case something like this happens. If I did, I would have been able to catch him the minute he showed up."

"Then why didn't you?" Gaus asked.

"I didn't want to create any mistrust between us," she said. "And I thought you can protect yourself. I was wrong. You can't protect yourself."

"If you are trying to make me feel bad then congratulations. You've done a good job."

"No, I'm serious. You are weak. You should be able to kill this Tyren guy on your own. Why didn't you focus on your magiwatch skill and level it up to level 50? You told me it's the most powerful skill you have. It's also the skill that allows you to join the loop. Why are you not taking advantage?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Gaus said. "I'm still struggling with level 15 opponents. If I level my main skill up to level 50 then killing anything below that level won't grant any experience."

"That's true," she said. "But you are different. Your skill is different. I believe every specialization skill you get will be game-changing. Besides, if killing a level 15 opponent won't give you any experience then you can just kill a level 50 opponent. That's not to mention that every other skill you may want to level up is far inferior to your main skill. You told it's ranked as archaic 3, right? Well, that's as far as any skill can ever go."

Gaus didn't think about it this way. He should probably give it a try.

"You told me you use swords, right?" She said. "It's a good choice but swords don't work without superior mana taming exercises. You have to focus on your mana. If you are strong enough to beat the hell out of him then you won't even need me."

Now, that made sense especially when she said it with clenched fists.

"How does the clone work?" He asked.

"It will be invisible and undetectable by mana sense, longevity sense, mind sense, and soul perception," she said. "But it will be conscious and alert. It will inform me the moment Tyren shows up and I'll teleport there. I'll capture him myself so you don't have to do anything."

This would work. At least for the meantime.

"I want it," he said. "The next time Tyren shows up I want it to be his last."

"Okay," she said. "But you can't always rely on others. You have to get strong enough to beat your enemies on your own. I'll make sure of that."

From that day on, his training became aggressive. 13 hours every day: 5 hours in the morning and 8 hours in the evening. Sometimes he wondered if Rachel didn't have any other commitment. She made sure a clone 'guarded' him every moment of the day.

Antelina was... fine. She didn't ask for any answers and most of the time he just forgot about her.

After one week, he went to see Linc again. He wanted more exercise. He didn't allow how the teacher treated him the last time to hold him back.

Linc put his hand on the table and stabbed it with a dagger. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work. At least, the man was practicing on himself now.

"Would you like to try?" Linc asked.

Gaus grabbed the dagger with more force than necessary. It was time for revenge. He held it with both hands and stabbed the teacher. But for some odd reason, despite all the energy he put in the process, it didn't work. He made contact and he was sure there was no barrier protecting Linc from the dagger. But somehow the tip of the dagger just couldn't penetrate his skin. It felt as if he was hitting metal.

"Try again," Linc said. It was a challenge.

Eager to have his revenge, he stabbed the man again and again until he couldn't do it anymore. But Linc was fine. He had not a single bruise. Hell, he was enjoying it.

"It's called mana armament," Linc said.

Gaus rewound the process. If he was lucky he could just save it without having to undergo another painful experience.

Save library has saved 1 skill

Mana armament

Rank: rare 2

This skill enables you to harden your skin by condensing mana just beneath the surface of the skin. The more mana you use the stronger the defense. Pain and temperature sensations will be suppressed.

Cost: 1 MP (will increase by leveling up)

He didn't expect to copy it this easily after what happened the last time he tried. It appeared the main reason he couldn't copy advanced levitation was it wasn't just one skill. It was a combination of space levitation, weightless levitation, and mana levitation. Unlike mana armament which was just one skill.

"Are you ready to begin the training?" Linc asked. He sounded genuine but Gaus knew better than to expect any decency from the man.

"Yes, " Gaus said. "Let's do it."

Linc looked at him with raised brows as if expecting him to back out.

Ignoring the teacher, Gaus placed his left hand on the table in a challenging way.

"You can start at any time," he said. His face was indifferent but he was rejoicing inside. What would be the expression on the teacher's face when he saw it? When he realized he couldn't hurt him anymore.

Linc picked the knife and went for his arm. He was merciless. He didn't even consider the possibility that Gaus was unarmed and he could rip his flesh at any moment. The dagger hit his skin and bounced. He felt as if he was pricked by a needle but there was no wound. He was perfectly fine. Linc was dumbstruck. He couldn't believe it the first time so he tried it again, and again.

"Did you perhaps refuse to learn advanced levitation?" Linc asked.

"No, sir, I didn't refuse to learn advanced levitation," he said with as much sarcasm as he could muster.

Linc stared at him silently.

"No matter," Linc said with a sigh. "You have done an excellent job. I would like to see what classification you will have."

"Is it time already?" Gaus asked.

"Yes, it's time," Linc said. "You have ten skills in mana taming alone. What are you waiting for?"

The system didn't give classification until your mana was tamed.

Gaus shook his head. "I'm just not ready yet."

Although he could only have one classification, the system would give him two options to choose from if his skills were good. In the First World, there had been reports of people having three classifications to choose from. The more skills you had at the time of taming your mana the more classifications you would have to choose from.

"Trust me," Linc said. "You can never have enough skills. Some people spent their entire lives without a classification. They always think they can cheat the system by prolonging the process so they can gather more skills to have a stronger classification. It's futile. Your classification will be derived from your mana and one or two of your most powerful skills. It's as simple as that."

Still, Gaus wanted to have all the advantage he could get.

"I'll come back in two days," he said.

"Okay, " Linc said. "I'll be waiting."

He went to see Rachel. It was time for his evening training.

"Rachel?"

"Yes?"

"I have a secret skill," he said.

"Yes, you have a secret skill. You've already told me about it, remember?"

"No, not that one. I have another secret skill."

Rachel stopped flipping through the papers and looked at him.

"I have a skill that allows me to copy other people's skills."

She frowned which made him hesitated. Was he making the right decision?

"I... want to copy your skills. If it's okay with you."

He wouldn't blame her if she refused. Who would want to hand over their skills to you for nothing?

"You have a skill that can copy other people's skills and you wait until now to tell me?" She asked. Her frown deepened.

"I... didn't think it was a good idea to..."

"Hell no," she said. "It's not a good idea. Why are you telling me about it now?"

"I'm about to tame my mana and earn a classification," he said. "This will be my last chance. Any skill you give me will be crucial."

A whole minute of awkward silence passed.

"I have a better idea," she said.