Player 0.4 [You have died.] [Reset in progress.]

“Now that you’ve grasped the basics, let’s implement your first mana core enhancement,” Augustus said.

The excitement in his voice was unmistakable.

As for myself, I felt exhausted.

Concentrating on my mana core and the rings took a bigger toll on my energy reserves than I would have expected. Moreover, the roaring fire within the brazier felt oddly even hotter against my skin, now that I had returned from my internal observation.

“Hold on,” I muttered. “I need a break.”

I reached into my bag and pulled out one of the Cat Nap Potions Augustus had given me earlier at the palace.

The liquid tasted akin to fennel honey, but unlike the one Nara provided me, it also had notes of citrus. I swallowed it in several quick gulps before immediately following it with plain, pure water from a large metal flask Augustus produced seemingly out of nowhere.

The cool water washed away the medicinal aftertaste of the Cat Nap Potion and helped rehydrate me.

I set the empty flask down beside me on the white marble floor. The metal clink echoed softly beneath the gazebo's dome.

“Feeling better?” Augustus asked.

“A little.” I nodded.

“Excellent.” Augustus clapped his hands together. “Now that your energy has been replenished, let us proceed.”

The flames in the brazier crackled loudly as though agreeing with him.

“Sit up straight and close your eyes. Maintain your breathing—filling your whole body with air, and do so slowly and controlled."

I obeyed and closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing technique again. By this point, I’d had plenty of training in this regard.

“Good. Excellent,” Augustus spoke softly. “Now, focus on the rings again.”

The marble beneath me was cool despite the heat radiating from the nearby fire. I straightened my back, exhaled slowly, and turned my awareness inward once more.

This second time proved to be easier. Now that I knew what I was searching for, finding the rings required less fumbling around in the dark. However, the sensation remained difficult to describe and still required significant concentration.

Gradually, the golden ripples came into view again. One after another, stretching endlessly outward.

“I see them.”

Augustus seemed keenly aware of how much concentration the process demanded. He remained completely silent until I spoke.

“It is very important where you draw potential from,” he said softly. “The first consideration is the size of the ring. The thicker rings generally contain more unrealized potential. Thus, I typically target the largest available rings first.”

I frowned at this.

“The rings… are all the same size,” I muttered.

Augustus didn’t reply right away, and the area fell into silence.

A light breeze drifted through the open arches of the gazebo. And somewhere in the gardens, leaves rustled. The fire in the brazier, meanwhile, continued to crackle.

“Well,” Augustus eventually said, “that certainly simplifies the decision-making process.”

He paused.

“Though it is peculiar…. How thick are the rings? Can you describe them to me?”

I concentrated on the rings.

“They're all thin,” I replied.

“Thin?” Augustus asked. “How thin exactly?”

“Very thin.” I searched for a better comparison. “They look like spider silk.”

This time, I heard Augustus inhale sharply, then click his tongue.

“Very well,” he said after a moment. “Let's establish a proper point of reference. There should be one ring directly connected to your mana core.”

I found it immediately.

It swirled inward, unlike a proper ring, connecting to the core.

“I see it.”

“Good,” Augustus said, “Compare the others to that one.”

That didn’t require much thought, and I replied immediately.

“It’s the same,” I said.

“The same?” he asked.

“Yes, the same thickness,” I replied.

~Hahhhhh…. So that’s how it is…. Apophis hissed from my shoulder.

I opened my eyes. By now, my concentration was completely broken.

Augustus was staring at me.

He wasn’t smiling. And there wasn’t any of that initial excitement. He was simply staring at me with a serious expression.

“What is it?” I asked, smiling nervously.

Augustus sighed and leaned back on his arms, gazing up toward the inside of the marble dome. The firelight from the brazier flickered across his face, casting sharp shadows beneath his cheekbones.

“All living beings have mana cores,” he began.

I nodded slowly.

He was stating the obvious.

“A being without a mana core is merely a shell,” he continued.

Again, obvious. I had learned that back at Lisa’s, and then again in my lessons at Rosel Academy in this realm.

“A corpse no longer has a mana core,” Augustus said. “Whatever faint reading remains comes from the minuscule organisms still alive within the body, not the person themselves. However, there are rare cases where a body can continue moving without a proper core. It breathes. It walks. It may even imitate the habits of the original.”

His gaze lowered back to me.

“But it is not truly alive. It has no soul.”

I felt a chill as Apophis shifted his cool scales across my shoulders.

“What are you getting at…?” I asked.

“In this realm, a mana core of four belden is considered to be functionally impossible for a living person,” Augustus said. “And yet, here you are. Alive as ever. And even practicing magic.”

I stared at him, waiting.

“You are extraordinarily efficient with what little mana you possess,” he continued. “That much is clear. However, pulling from your future potential will be dangerous. Given how thin those rings are, they are likely only a handful of belden as well. If you draw too much from any one of them, you risk reducing a future incarnation of yourself into exactly that.”

“A shell,” I said quietly.

Augustus nodded. “Not dead. But not truly alive either. A soulless being.”

“Oh.”

I felt somewhat uncomfortable with that possibility, even if it was not my current self, but a future rendition.

“Thus,” Augustus said, sitting upright again, “if you wish to tap into that potential, you will need to draw with microscopic precision.”

He rubbed his jaw, as some of his earlier excitement filled his expression again.

“However… there is one more peculiarity,” he said. “How many rings would you say you have? I understand you couldn’t count them fully, but if you had to estimate?”

I looked upward and to the right, attempting to calculate in my head what I had sensed.

“Two thousand…?” I guessed. “Maybe three thousand?”

Augustus’s eyes widened. “…Three thousand?”

“I’d need to look inward again to give a better estimate,” I added quickly.

And since I couldn’t see the end of the horizon, it was possible there were many more.

For a few seconds, Augustus said nothing.

Then a broad smile slowly spread across his face. He snapped his fingers and pointed at me.

“That is the upside,” he said. “Although each ring is thin, the sheer number of them is absurd. Truly absurd! If you learn to draw carefully—precisely—you may be able to pull an extraordinary amount of potential into your current self.”

His green eyes gleamed again in the firelight.

"Now, the night isn't getting any younger," he quickly added. "Let's put it into practice."

I nodded and focused back inward on the rings.

​

* ​~ ​* ​~​ * ​~ ​* ​~ ​* ​~ ​* ​~ ​* ​~ ​*

​

“Ah, I took too many liberties…” Chase muttered.

He stared down at the vivid red blood pooled in his palm, fresh and warm from where he had just coughed it up.

Chase’s expression held no real concern, despite his life evidently on the brink of being cut short. If anything, there was only mild irritation for having dirtied his hand.

He wrung his hand out, evaporating the blood using magic, and consuming more of his remaining lifespan.

The battlefield stretched before him, while he stood beside one of the few, not yet shattered windows of the palace.

Beyond the tall walls bordering East Genise, and within the capital city itself, smoke lifted into the blue skies, and bodies littered the streets. The fighting was still ongoing, with screams rising up and being cut short as Kobar’s army rampaged through the city.

Chase produced a small hand mirror and angled it toward his face. His reflection gazed back at him; it was too pale and his mouth smeared with blood like poorly applied lipstick. With a flick of his finger, he cleaned the red from the corners of his lips and adjusted a strand of his light violet hair back into place.

Not that it matters. This loop was doomed to restart soon anyhow.

Chase smiled and lowered the mirror, and looked out over what remained of Adovoria’s defensive line.

“It’s only been two years…” Chase said softly. “Five years before the usual ending point. And yet it has all crumbled so quickly.”

Adovoria had been better prepared than ever before. In any prior loop.

The Guard had been armed with magical weapons. The Mage Academy had cultivated more capable forces. Alliances had been strengthened, including the friendship of other nations and the all-powerful Daylan Dynasty led by his favorite sister.

And yet…. Adovoria had fallen to Kobar’s invasion in record time. It was faster than any of them had predicted or expected.

“Looks like you were right,” he said, turning his head toward Grandov.

The other-realm Player stood nearby, grim-faced, his clothes torn and blackened from battle, which he had escaped to avoid potential detection of not having the capability to restart the Game.

During the collective meetings between Micah, Grandov, Claude, Sedna, and the few others permitted into the strategy circle, Claude Noire had concerns regarding revealing too many of their cards before Luca returned. There was only one true final loop, he had argued. Showing too much now risked giving Kobar’s side more information than they could afford.

The opposing opinion that both Grandov and Micah shared was that being too cautious would prevent their own side from learning from actual experience, and gaining the ability to develop a final and winning strategy.

Grandov let out a bitter sigh.

“It goes to show just how much their side has only been toying with the Players all this time,” he muttered.

Chase shrugged, though even this small motion sent a fresh ache through his body. His vision was beginning to blur, stars gathering at the edges as if he were suffering from heat stroke.

“No worries,” Chase said lightly. “We’ll have many more chances to fail.”

Another coughing fit seized him before he could laugh properly.

His body folded forward, one hand bracing against his knee while blood splattered across the carpeted floor beneath him. The world tilted, and this time, Chase found he could not quite force it back into place.

How troublesome.

Grandov stepped toward him, but Chase raised a hand.

Or attempted to. His fingers barely moved at his command.

“See you in the next loop,” Chase said, grinning up at Grandov, despite the blood sliding down the sides of his mouth.

Then, without further ado, Chase’s vision went black as his body collapsed on the hard floor.

Not that he felt the impact.

Instead, he opened his eyes to smooth silk sheets, warm morning sunlight, and the familiar luxury of his guest suite within the Adovorian royal palace from day one of the new loops.

Servants moved quietly about the room, drawing open the curtains and letting in the morning light. Beyond the open balcony doors, birds chirped cheerfully as they announced the start of a new day.

A table was already being prepared on the balcony, covered with silver trays. There were fresh fruit, pastries, and a pot of fragrant tea whose scent flowed inside the bedroom.

Chase yawned exaggeratedly and stretched both arms overhead.

“Well, then,” he said, throwing off the blankets. “Time to go save a few lives.”

He jumped out of bed and glanced at his reflection in the tall, gold-framed mirror nearby. His pale violet hair was mussed from sleep, but otherwise, he looked well-rested for someone who had died moments ago.

Now… how should we go about saving Micah Frey…?

He tapped his chin in thought, but then shrugged.

“Whatever. I’ll wing it. I’m sure something fun will come to mind on the way.”

Satisfied with this level of planning, Chase nodded to himself and sprinted across the room.

Several servants cried out in alarm.

“Your Highness?”

“Prince Chase—!”

Ignoring them, he leaped over the balcony railing. The morning air rushed past him before he plunged straight into a thick flowering bush two stories below.

A chorus of alarmed voices rang from above, but Chase paid them no mind and transformed into the form of a pale-violet cat. He leaped out of the palace with a purple blur and toward the Frey Manor.

Getting into Frey Manor proved easy enough. Magical wards were troublesome for people. But Chase was a cat. A very luxuriously fluffy and cute cat, if he were to say so himself. And thus gained easy entry via one of the guards themselves.

Micah had helpfully informed him ahead of time which guards were more susceptible to cats, which servants fed stray animals behind the kitchen, and which side entrance received the least scrutiny before breakfast.

With his tail swishing lazily from side to side, Chase padded through the manor’s large main hallway. Its appearance had shifted once again with the reset. This time, the floor was black marble veined with white, while the walls were a deep emerald green, decorated with silver-framed portraits and beautiful landscapes.

His golden eyes caught his reflection in a large silver decorative urn standing near one wall. It was tall enough to hide two bodies, perhaps three if folded creatively.

The cat’s eyes sparkled at the delightful discovery of this object, which Chase could tell was very thick and very heavy.

Are we perhaps too early?

His tail flicked once.

Yes. Much too early. In that case…. I want to check on Luca.

With a graceful leap, Chase bounded up the stairwell and made his way toward the large bedroom doors of Luca’s room.

Henry Warren, Luca’s primary guard, stood outside. He raised a brow at the sight of the fluffy violet cat, then smiled faintly, but otherwise made no move to stop him.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Denise had just opened Luca’s door, carrying a tray with a fresh cup of poisoned tea, and Chase slipped in alongside her.

Chase considered tripping her, but decided it was not worth the trouble.

A little poison never really hurt anyone. Not this dosage, in any case. Besides, Micah will handle it later.

With Denise’s prodding, Luca Frey sat up in bed.

Chase paused.

The golden-eyed young man’s expression was completely blank. Empty. As if all the lights inside were off.

Even Denise seemed put off by this. “Young master Luca, is everything alright?”

However, despite the weird aura emanating from Luca, his body and mouth moved.

“It’s fine,” Luca said with no emotion to be found in his voice.

Luca’s body moved through the morning routine. He washed his face. Drank the tea. Allowed Denise to dress him and fuss over his hair.

How dull. And disappointing.

Chase flicked his tail and slipped back out of the room, following Denise into the corridor.

He knew that Luca was in another realm; he was curious if a version of him would exist in this new loop. However, while there was a version, it was merely a hollow shell.

No point in bothering with that puppet.

Chase leaped lightly down the corridor, paws silent against the polished floor, and bounded back toward the stairs just in time to see Micah and Kaiden turn the corner below.

Ah. Perfect timing.

He shifted back into human form in one fluid motion atop the upper landing. His pale violet hair settled over his head, and his golden eyes flicked toward the hallway where he had earlier spotted that magnificent silver urn.

With a snap of his fingers, the massive decorative urn appeared high above Kaiden’s head. There was no suspension or pause of it midair. It simply dropped. And the impact rang through the manor like a bell struck by a hammer.

Heavy silver crashed against black marble with a deafening metallic bang, cracking the floor beneath it. The sound was immediately followed by the wet crunch of bone and flesh.

Blood splattered outward in a bright, ugly spray. Some of it even reached Micah’s face.

However, as expected of his personality and nature, Micah calmly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face as his eyes landed on Chase. He lifted up his hands to stop the guards who had rushed into the room.

His green eyes were cold.

“Prince Chase Daylan,” Micah said.

The name drew sharp, horrified breaths from the Frey guards.

“What do I owe the pleasure of your presence…” His gaze moved briefly toward the crushed silver urn. “And the murder of my most-cherished attendant?”

Chase felt a shiver run through his body at the coldness of Micah’s words.

How ruthless.

A knowing smile spread across his face.

Just as I know him to be.

“I come on behalf of Luca Frey,” Chase said brightly. “The one you’ve been waiting for.”

He bounced down the steps of the staircase.

“He sent me to save your life,” Chase continued. “Kaiden had a demonic poison shard on him. Ah, and I have a few matters regarding future events to discuss with you as well.”

Silence filled the room, and Micah’s expression did not change.

Then Micah sighed and gestured toward the guards, pointing to the red mess spreading across the cracked marble.

“Clean this up,” he instructed. “And take Kaiden’s body—whatever remains of it—to the dungeon below. Handle it with care.”

The guards hesitated only a fraction before obeying.

“As for you,” Micah said, turning back to Chase. “Please follow me to my office. We’ll speak there.”

Chase wasted no time catching up, falling into step beside Micah as the young man continued wiping blood from his face with the now-soaked handkerchief.

“Is this your first time coming back to save me?” Micah asked coldly.

Chase smirked. “What gave it away?”

“Next time,” Micah said, “refrain from something so messy.”

“Ah. Apologies.” Chase tapped his palm lightly against his forehead. “I winged it.”

He glanced back at the shattered marble, the guards, and the slowly spreading red.

“And I agree," Chase said. "There were certainly more elegant and fun methods available, now that I’m more familiar with this time period.”

Micah’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing further.

As they passed a mirror on one of the walls, Chase caught his reflection and smiled.

Yes. Maybe next time, bees!

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