The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop

For once, it was nice not to be stared at and have people mutter about him within earshot without any care for subtlety.

There were still some mutters about a big and mean looking martial student carrying weapons and waltzing into the ‘Alchemy Basics 100’ class, but these students were for the most part the milquetoast scholar types who wouldn’t dare say anything to his face.

Unsurprisingly, the crafting classes at the academy were filled with mostly crafters. And while the drama and gossip between the two groups still overlapped quite often, the topics of prime interest were quite different.

For example, instead of gossiping about who the strongest student was, the crafters would understandably care more about which student was the greatest crafter of their generation in specific fields. Unlike combat specialists, there was no unanimous title of strongest student when it came to crafting, only who the best was within the specific field, and even then, some were good at certain aspects of a craft.

When it came to combat specialists, fields overlapped, and students of differing martial schools and fields of magic could still fight one another to answer the question of who the strongest was.

Among the non-combatant crafters however their discussions were more focused on the field itself. The alchemy students’ gossip involved talking about who the best alchemist was. There was no cross-comparison between the best alchemist at Bluefire and the best enchanter for example, nor were there any urgings or desires to see the two fight. It would make no sense.

There were still monstrous geniuses of crafting of course, who excelled at multiple fields. But even these crafting prodigies still had a particular field they focused on primarily, and the gossip surrounding them was mainly about their chosen specialty.

But, removed as the crafting students might be from the gossip of the combat specialists, they didn’t live under a rock. And given that the beginner’s alchemy course had at least some combat-specialist students who took it, they could still tell that Orodan was perhaps someone of decent fame given how these few combat specialists looked at him.

Nobody quite wanted to sit next to him, which was just fine by him.

Until a familiar face came along.

“Orodan! You’re here?! I didn’t know you liked alchemy!” spoke a very enthusiastic dark-skinned girl whose hair looked disheveled as though she’d spent far too long riding through the skies on a pegasus.

“Well, I can’t spend all my time hitting things, so this is a rather good distraction,” Orodan spoke. “I’m actually quite looking forward to this if I’m being honest.”

He really was looking forward to it. Growing up he had always looked at the alchemical concoctions for sale at the stalls of Eversong Plaza with wonder. The glowing colors of the bottles, the magical auras surrounding the products, the things he had heard they were capable of. He truly wanted to learn how to make potions himself… and perhaps delve even deeper into the arts.

“That’s right, I heard everyone talking about you beating someone up or something, I wasn’t paying much attention to be honest,” she remarked. “But me too, learning alchemy is quite important for an aspiring pegasus knight. We have to feed our companions and ensure they stay in good health, and mixing growth enhancing concoctions into their feed is an important part of supporting the pegasi.”

“That sounds quite interesting,” Orodan remarked. “For me, growing up I’ve always seen these fancy glowing bottles, so I want to learn how to make some myself.”

And Mahari looked at him and giggled.

“You really are as simple as just wanting to make ‘glowy’ potions of your own huh?”

“Well, there’s more to it than just that,” Orodan replied while feeling a small bit of embarrassment. “I have certain… exigent circumstances that require me to get my hands on potions that will strengthen my soul and thereby indirectly strengthen my physique or other attributes. Potions that simply affect the body won’t do.”

“Must be quite the set of circumstances, sounds complicated, so I won’t pry!” she happily exclaimed with a grin. “I also want to make potions to help my pegasus grow and get stronger.”

“What’s his name anyways?”

“Oh, he’ll choose for himself once he reaches the Adept-level and can start talking,” Mahari explained. “Choosing one’s own name is a big deal in pegasus society, and I’d offend his clan and the elder pegasi back home if I dared to take that away from him.”

That sounded quite fascinating to Orodan. He never really heard of creatures having their own societal customs like these pegasi seemed to have. A pegasus clan and elders? Perhaps Orodan would have to pay them a visit in one of the loops when he decided to venture into the Eastern Kingdoms.

“Perhaps I’ll visit one day when I have the time,” Orodan said, knowing full well that he had time, but other priorities took his attention currently. “Why’re you and your brother here at Bluefire anyways? Surely there’s an equivalent academy in the east?”

“Oh, we’re a border house in Ravastaran, and given our close ties and friendship with the Republic our house decided to send us here for our education,” Mahari explained. “Plus… we can’t all be the talented golden children of the main line of House Vedharna who get to go to Rubywater Academy at home.”

Orodan sensed a bit of bitterness in the young woman’s tone as she uttered the last part, but he decided not to pry.

Soon, the assortment of instructors arrived amid their chatting, and class was officially in session. Much like the first-year martial classes there were at least a thousand students, thus the instructors were a dozen.

Even though one hour was officially allotted, thanks to time dilation wards on the building the class would be six hours in practice.

The head-instructor was a Master-level alchemist, and Orodan would be sure to thoroughly pick the man’s brain today. Unlike the martial class where a Master-level instructor was perhaps a bit unqualified to teach him, here he was but a complete beginner. Who had not a single level in Alchemy whatsoever.

Orodan sat near the front alongside Mahari, which wasn’t too hard to get a spot in as crafter students tended to be a notoriously anti-social lot and many preferred sitting farther back. This of course meant the head-instructor could see him just fine.

“Ah… Mister Wainwright! We are glad to have you with us today. When I heard of your interest in our class from the administrative department, I was pleasantly surprised,” the man spoke. “I’m Castillius Van Estrados, Master-level alchemist at your service. Might we help catch you up on the curriculum with an instructor of your own?”

Orodan gladly agreed, by now used to and accepting of special treatment. Alongside him, Mahari was also invited to have a personal tutor and she happily accepted.

Alchemy was not what Orodan was expecting. Initially, it required reading books… and Orodan hadn’t read a single book since he started the time loops. Frankly, he had gone so long without reading anything besides the morning paper that he was almost certain to have developed a level of rust.

Thankfully, Orodan wasn’t illiterate. He would sometimes read the morning paper in the barracks in Ogdenborough before shift start. But this textbook was decently technical. However, the textbook did explain everything in great depth, which was critical for Orodan’s basic understanding.

Frankly, what actually intimidated the instructor… was Orodan’s reading speed once he put his endless willpower and focus into reading the text.

Most scholarly students, even fast readers, could read quite fast. Taking in and comprehending information was their bread and butter after all. And while Orodan wasn’t as smart as them, what he did have was the reaction time and permanent action increase.

Thus, began the ludicrous sight of a man reading a book, multiple pages at a time, at inhuman speed.

It was utter insanity.

His minds were quadrupled, and they read four pages at a time in the same instant of time. There was a slight delay as his brain made sense of the information, as reading pages ahead was a little confusing. But he adapted soon enough. Furthermore, this was amplified by his Combat Mastery and Physical Fitness that allowed him to think and react faster than any crafter in the Republic ever could. If he could launch hundreds of attacks a second, then why could that speed not be applied to reading?

This book, it was nothing more than an opponent. And Orodan would demolish it.

In less than ten minutes the fifteen-hundred page thick textbook was finished. And Orodan spent another five minutes pondering on everything he had read and committed it to memory.

Orodan didn’t even know he could do this! Were books truly so easy? Had he been so utterly intimidated by the prospect of learning from them due to his poor experiences in the orphanage that he was held back from trying a book all this time?

It really was as everyone said…

…Orodan was stupid.

But he wouldn’t be for much longer!

“That was it? Is this the only book you have? Bring me another and I’ll destroy it too!” Orodan almost demanded like a madman, and the instructor who watched his frankly insane reading speed and strange magic that made it look as though there were four books and four sets of him in the same space, was utterly intimidated but complied.

“M-mister Wainwright… what you just read was a theory textbook for beginners on the fundamentals of alchemy. Here is the next book which details the introduction to applied alchemy, and another book after that on a glossary of herbs and common ingredients used in Initiate and Apprentice-level potions and concoctions,” the man explained while handing Orodan two more textbooks.

Orodan happily got to work, once again treating these two thick books as though they were foes that he would outlast. How could the thickness of a textbook compare to the willpower of a man who held on against the corruption of an Eldritch Avatar for a whole year?

His speed of comprehension wasn’t anything special, rather it might even be below average. But when one could think at speeds far surpassing the untrained scholar, a low level of comprehension speed wasn’t as hindering as one would expect. Plus, he took to what Adeltaj had suggested in their first meeting.

To strain and struggle like a dog and apply maximal effort in every waking moment.

And as his four minds read and focused and comprehended, he learned. He learned, so very much.

It was as though his eyes were opened to a whole new world. Alchemy was such a complicated subject even from just the introductory textbook he had read. The book described all kinds of fundamental theories, assumptions and terminology which one needed to know in the Imperial tradition of alchemy.

It spoke of measurements, of equipment, techniques and recipes. It even gave economic breakdowns of the standard values of potions dependent on their purity and potency. This section must have been a draw for those from poor backgrounds who were looking to better their lots in life.

Orodan wasn’t too economically knowledgeable himself, so hearing that a perfect Apprentice-level health potion was worth a full gold piece, was quite eye opening. He could have a whole year’s salary in the militia if he made just one of those. Although making a perfect potion of anything was incredibly difficult.

The key take-aways Orodan had learned from the textbook, was that the Imperial tradition of alchemy used standardized equipment at the lower levels. The Eastern system however was more focused on cauldrons and made different products. Higher levels of alchemy in both systems started to look similar, however.

Furthermore, alchemy was a magical craft. Mana was used to synthesize even the most basic potion, whether the mana came from the alchemist, or an item or aid didn’t matter. It could get rather intricate at higher levels where mana was used to purify ingredients, emrich them, and potentially even empower a finished potion itself right before imbibement.

Potions were differentiated on two factors, the purity of the potion, and the power of its effect. Sometimes, a potion could even drastically increase in value if the alchemist managed to add secondary or even the incredibly difficult tertiary effects. As an example, a healing potion that also gave one improved regeneration for a duration of time would be highly valued compared to a regular healing potion.

Orodan however, was reading books which dealt merely with the Initiate and Apprentice level of alchemy. At this level, Initiate and Apprentice-level potions used mainly herbal ingredients, with the exception of a few rarer recipes. This was a good thing for beginners as it meant the quality of the ingredients would always remain consistent, as the majority of the Republic’s supply of alchemical herbs came from standardized herbal gardens and preserves where the quality was strictly controlled.

Wandering alchemists who sourced their ingredients from the wild for instance, were often subject to inconsistent potion power as the ingredients could either be very good, or rather subpar. Which made potions trickier to make sometimes as certain recipes required ingredients to have similar levels of power.

There was much in the textbook that Orodan had perused.

However, prodigious as his reading speed might have been, his ability to retain information and comprehend had its limits currently. Which would be something he’d have to rectify later once he moved deeper into alchemy as the textbook mentioned that higher-level recipes involved a lot of memorization, hence high-level alchemists used memory skills.

Another twenty minutes passed, and he finished the glossary of herbs he was handed. It was a good source of knowledge on what each herb was, the relative rarity, the types of effects it had and the common potions it was used in. Given that it was a Republic textbook, the glossary also listed where in the Republic one might find such herbs, and for the herbs that came from elsewhere, where the Republic sourced them from.

Finally, Orodan started on the textbook which dealt with the introduction to practical alchemy, which was a guided textbook meant to walk the reader through their first steps and acquiring the alchemy skill.

Upon seeing Orodan open this book the instructor who was assigned to him interjected. “Mister Wainwright, I can help guide you through this textbook personally, as every page involves practice experiments and guides you towards creating a potion for the first time and hopefully acquiring the alchemy skill.”

Orodan accepted the aid, and soon basic alchemical equipment was laid out before him. Beakers, flasks, tubes and a mixing container. Alongside a neat package of abundant basic ingredients for concocting the very basic healing potion of Initiate-level.

These potions were mainly used by civilians, non-combatants and occasionally mages with weak bodies. The bodies of combat specialists on average were too powerful to be healed by mere Initiate-level healing potions, as the energy required was much higher. For patching up the cuts and scrapes of a civilian or non-combatant however, these were more than sufficient. At high power and purity, a healing potion at the Initiate-level could perfectly heal all wounds and maybe even ease the wounds suffered by an Apprentice-level combatant with a strong body.

Thus, under the guidance of the instructor, Orodan began his attempts at carefully preparing the ingredients. His Tool Mastery skill genuinely helped him in this endeavor as the process of finely chopping up an astragon plant into small pieces and grinding the stem of a hogginsmere flower into a powder were things the book expected people to struggle with if they were doing them for the first time.

Which he was, but Tool Mastery helped ease this first-time process.

The prepared ingredients were poured into a water-filled mixing container and the heater was turned up for a solid five minutes. Finally, came the important step, which was pouring one’s mana into the mixing container, which was designed to accept mana easily and assist in mixing it into the contents. The mixing container was meant to assist beginner. And even people with no talent in mana could use a device to feed mana into it.

The Initiate-level healing potion was quite popular as a result for its accessibility.

Orodan however, had the Mana Manipulation skill. So, he managed to direct a steady flow of mana into the mixing container. Frankly, he almost felt as though his Mana Manipulation might allow him to forgo an artificer-constructed mixing container entirely and instead freely manipulate mana himself into whatever he was concocting.

“Say, why does the recipe mention not to put too much mana into the mixer?” Orodan asked. “I know the book mentioned that it ruins the potion with an oversaturation of mana… but what actually occurs?”

“That is a good question Mister Wainwright, one not written in the book. But I can answer that,” spoke the head-instructor - Castillius Van Estrados - who was watching Orodan’s progress out of the corner of his eye as though he was an honored guest. “Oversaturation of mana can cause unwanted growths in the ingredients and can even change the very nature of the potion itself. The chopped astragon plant inside can mutate to possess poisonous properties for instance. While very rarely a mutation from excess mana can enhance a potion, it’s still quite random and most of the time leads to undesirable changes.”

“I see, but what if there was a way to prevent the unwanted growths from the mana? Perhaps if the ingredients were forced to remain in their natural states while still receiving only the benefits of increased mana?”

“That… sounds impractical if I’m being honest,” Castillius replied. “At least without higher-level alchemical aids and a warded and enchanted workshop to assist in such a thing. At which point you have equipment and a workshop of very high expense, and you’d be wasting time and money by not concocting high-level profitable potions instead.”

“So, what if… I used a skill like Weapon Aura on the contents of my potion? To force it to maintain its natural properties even as my mana flows through it?” Orodan asked.

The Master-Alchemist had a pondering look on his face. But he didn’t outright deny it.

“Hmm… in truth, we so rarely get martial students of your caliber in classes such as this, Mister Wainwright. Despite this academy’s structure encouraging such cross-experimentation, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone trying such a thing. Or if they have, I haven’t heard of any successful result,” the man answered. “Additionally, from what I know from my colleagues in the martial disciplines, Weapon Aura is incredibly difficult to wrap around things that are not weapons.”

This, Orodan thought, was blatantly untrue. Unless he had been doing something completely different and outside the norm with his own Weapon Aura, it was definitely possible and not too hard to extend it to things that weren’t conventional weapons. He had extended it to trees, saplings, bushes and grass. How hard could extending it to a liquid within a container be?

The answer, was very, very hard.

Castillius was on-board with this cross-training experiment and Orodan tried wrapping his Weapon Aura skill around the entire liquid solution that was in the mixing container.

And it was incredibly difficult, like attempting to hold onto sand without letting it slip through your fingers. The amount of focus and concentration this would require, was unfathomable.

Unfathomable for anyone who wasn’t Orodan.

Sweat dripped down his brow as he made the attempt.

He had to use his action increase and actually have another mind working in concert to succeed. The liquid solution was so difficult to wrap Weapon Aura around, because not only was it a liquid, but it also had finely chopped pieces of astragon plant and a powder of the hogginsmere flower within it. Mentally, Orodan had to wrap his Weapon Aura around everything in the potion. Every single piece of the astragon plant, every single grain of the hogginsmere flower’s stem powder. It was a truly ridiculous feat of assiduousness and mental capacity.

But eventually with enough titanic willpower and two straight minutes of raw concentration, it worked!

Mentally conceiving of the liquid solution as a weapon in his own mind was the final step to succeeding.

[Weapon Aura 64 → Weapon Aura 68]

And the mixing container shattered and exploded due to the insane amount of mana Orodan was pouring into Weapon Aura to make it work in a manner so outside the bounds of the skill. And the liquid splattered onto the desk.

It was a tremendous gain of four skill levels in two minutes.

“I think this can work, the only issue was that the mixing container took my mana and converted it subtly while pouring it into the mixing container. Of course, when my mana from Weapon Aura and the slightly altered mana of the mixing container combined, my Mana Resistance skill didn’t agree with it,” Orodan explained. “Can we try one more time?”

“Mana Resistance? T-that’s quite the skill,” Castillius remarked nervously. Orodan had lost himself and said that a bit too casually. “But of course! Let us attempt this again, as many times as you like.”

The next attempt was made in a very reinforced container. One meant for the concoction of Master-level poisons of a dangerous nature. That it held the ingredients for an Initiate-level potion would have undoubtedly offended its creator if they ever knew.

The process of preparing the ingredients was done the same way. This was the easy part.

Now came the hard part, as the heat ran for five minutes and reached the critical point. It was time to pour mana into the liquid concoction.

Despite having done it once, it was still a chore to wrap his Weapon Aura around the entire liquid contents perfectly. But it was done all the same, netting him one more level in Weapon Aura due to the incredibly difficult nature of the feat.

If anything, this experiment was surprisingly good training for Weapon Aura.

Finally, he began generating soul energy and rapidly converting it into mana. And this was then poured into the solution. It was his own mana poured in this time, and not by using the mixing container as a medium.

He almost instantly reached the level of mana where the recipe warned one to stop at, and then soared right past that threshold.

Immediately, the ingredients within sought to rebel, to change into something else. The astragon plant pieces roared at his control, outraged that he would dare to prevent their ascension to a higher form. The powder of the hogginsmere flower trembled in fury, almost violently shaking as it sought the freedom to change and use the mana to grow in a way it desired.

The very nature of the ingredients was desperately leaning towards changing. Towards growing in their own way as the amount of mana was so high.

But Orodan’s iron willpower kept the vice grip of Weapon Aura tight around it all.

Weapon Aura was essentially meant to strengthen his weapons, to toughen them up and prevent any damage. Or prevent any change of a manner he didn’t like.

If he didn’t have experience with Wood Communion, he would’ve also prevented the positive growth that he did want from occurring, but Orodan allowed for it, even as it truly taxed his mental willpower.

He had to activate his two other minds in addition to the two he was already using and bring himself to his current limit of a quadruple action increase.

Thirty seconds passed as mana continued to flow into the concoction, and no unwanted changes were allowed by Orodan’s imperious command. The entire classroom had gone dead silent.

Finally, even this container began to creak in a concerning manner.

“The container can’t take it! It’s best if you wound it down now Mister Wainwright!” Castillius exclaimed, and Orodan begrudgingly complied, if only to see what he had achieved.

He stopped pouring mana into the concoction, and once all the mana was absorbed, he cut off Weapon Aura. The skill was now at level 72, it had crossed into Elite purely from some extreme experimentation.

[New Skill → Alchemy 11]

What a high-level gain at the acquisition of this new skill. The potion he created must have been better than he thought.

The liquid within the container was glowing a brilliant color of green and almost seemed to crackle with arcs of green mana across the surface. From what the textbook had written as a fun fact, glowing potions were often a sign of the power of the concoction as it meant they had a high amount of energy coursing through them.

He took out a ladle and was about to put it in to scoop a portion out to place into a potion flask, but Castillius stopped him.

“That ladle will melt, and an ordinary flask won’t do. Use this,” he said as he handed Orodan a ladle made of a strange black material similar to the cauldron.

He took it and gingerly scooped up a portion to pour it down the mouth of a gold tinged glass bottle which seemed to be of superior make. A fancy stopper was shoved into the mouth after, sealing it in.

“Master… what does Identify show it as?” asked one of the other instructors.

The man peered closely at the ornate looking glowing green potion…

…and his eyes widened.

“T-this is…!” Castillius exclaimed while grabbing it furiously and looking it over like a man who was sure a trick was being played on him. “This is an Elite-level healing potion… how? How did you make an Initiate-level potion jump three whole tiers? How did you do this Mister Wainwright?!”

“What else? I used Weapon Aura to demand the potion not change except how I wanted as I poured mana in,” Orodan answered. “Want to try drinking it to test?”

“If a non-combatant like me drank such a thing I might need a trip to the healer or even die due to the excessive power in this potion!” Castillius replied. “The purity isn’t even all that high, yet for such raw power… from Initiate to Elite. What if you had an even higher ceiling of ingredients to work with? Would you mind helping me test something?”

“I don’t mind, this is legitimately good practice for Weapon Aura. I crossed the Elite-level in the skill just from this,” Orodan remarked, shocking Castillius silent once more.

To the side, Mahari who was watching all this time finally spoke up.

“Well at least you got to make a ‘glowy’ potion of your own, Orodan!”

Orodan had a beaming smile on his face in response.

***

The rest of the concoction turned out to about nineteen more potions, which Orodan had little use for, so he had a staff member send them back to the Burgher. He was sure the man would appreciate them as a gift.

Orodan was brought to a back room which had an elaborate alchemical workshop. He was accompanied by Master Castillius and two other instructors who were Elite-alchemists.

“Mister Wainwright, we’ll handle the preparation of ingredients for this potion. All I ask is that you attempt your unique method and perform the infusion of mana into the potion at the critical juncture,” Castillius spoke. “Not only is your method unlike anything I’ve seen done before, but the sheer reserves of mana you possess are… well I won’t pry into how you managed to create that potion. You combat specialists are a different breed when it comes to certain things.”

The average alchemist would need to chug mana potions of their own or have pre-prepared a mana battery to feed mana into the concoction, particularly for higher level potions.

“Alright, but before we do this, might I know what the potion is, what the ingredients are and in what form they’ll go into the liquid mix? Extending Weapon Aura over a liquid is harder than I thought it would be, and I have to account for everything within it. Each individual piece and grain of powder.”

“The amount of mental power that would take is ridiculous,” Castillius muttered as he shook his head in disbelief. “But to answer your question, we’ll be making an Elite-level concoction, a potion of overflowing mana. It’s meant to give the imbiber a temporary boost of incredible mana reserves, and unlike many other potions at the Elite-level, this one has a rather simple mana empowerment phase much like the potion you made earlier. Unlike the water base of your last potion, this potion uses dragon tears as a liquid base. A hydra’s heart which will be boiled in the concoction during the heating phase to have its essence spread. A unicorn’s horn which will be ground down into powder and a crushed estrigus mushroom sourced from the depths of the energy well at Anthus.”

If they were the source of ingredients used in Elite-level potions, then Orodan could see why energy wells were treasured commodities now. The one at Anthus must’ve been quite heavily guarded.

“I see, we can begin whenever you’re ready,” Orodan said and watched the process closely.

A Master-level alchemist operated quite efficiently. His two Elite-level assistants were there to assist in handing him things, feeding him mana potions as he magically prepared the ingredients, and in helping move and prepare some of the alchemical equipment which Orodan hadn’t read about in the textbook. High level alchemy was quite the art.

Within fifteen minutes the ingredients were prepared and carefully mixed into the liquid. The three alchemists worked very well together as a team, as certain equipment pieces were almost designed to be operated by two people. Even the cauldron that held the concoction looked incredibly expensive, with numerous glowing enchantment lines etched across it.

The heating began and one of the assistant alchemists was in charge of managing the fire, which changed color and temperature constantly. He was reading a sheet of paper with sequential directions for temperature changes, almost as though he was conducting music. It was a constant job which he couldn’t step away from.

Another was in charge of monitoring the concoction itself, and this woman almost acted as a spotter for Castillius, who she was periodically muttering changes and directions to while she peered into the concoction with a magical monocle. Castillius’s ladle moved in different directions, and he occasionally squeezed a drop of what Orodan knew was a single-use catalyst, making the reactions within the container speed up as needed.

Castillius himself took charge of what looked to be the hardest part, which was mixing the ingredients correctly and giving directions to the temperature controller as needed.

Finally, as the heat reached a critical level, it was time.

“Mister Wainwright, in ten seconds the mana will completely disappear from every other source in this concoction, then the stage is yours,” Castillius explained, and Orodan got ready.

As warned, over ten seconds all the mana from within the concoction disappeared, and the three alchemists backed away. It was now Orodan’s turn to direct this creation.

He put all four minds to immediate work in furiously getting Weapon Aura around the liquid as quickly as he could.

It was difficult, far harder than when he was doing this with the other potion.

The heart held vitality which also needed to be wrapped around, and the unicorn horn powder held traces of soul energy. He had to account for and somehow wrap Weapon Aura around the energies themselves as well as the ingredients.

A full minute passed, and his four minds worked so intensely that he bled a little from his eyes as the sweat dripped off his brow.

Weapon Aura levelled to 74 over the course of that minute, but he finally got a proper wrap around the concoction.

And then he began pouring his own mana into it.

To call it a titanic rebellion would be an understatement.

Once he passed the threshold of mana empowerment where the recipe told alchemists to stop, the sheer volatility of the ingredients was nearly overwhelming. Orodan’s Weapon Aura almost lost control.

The estrigus mushroom from the depths of the energy well was the most well-behaved ingredient. It was the other two that were not.

Orodan came to learn that ingredients from living creatures were far more volatile and hungrier for change in a mana oversaturated environment than plants and herbs were. The hydra heart and the powder grains of the unicorn horn waged a true war against his Weapon Aura.

It was some of the most concentration Orodan had ever had to exert. His head hurt in a way comparable to his mental bludgeoning at the hands of Ilevida Balmento. Blood leaked from his eyes as he activated Death Rage to give himself improved reaction time which translated to even more focus crammed into each instant of time. And he had to flare Eternal Soul Reactor to feed the greedy demands of this mana-hungry potion.

This was devouring energy comparable to a Grandmaster’s mana pool if Orodan had to make a guess.

The mental war raged on for ten whole minutes as more and more mana was poured in, but his Weapon Aura retained its grip and levelled up to 75.

Finally, a built-in enchantment within the container gave off an alarm, and Castillius bade Orodan to stop lest the very expensive cauldron be damaged.

He stopped supplying mana into the concoction, and the sheer amount of mana coursing through the liquid still took a while to die down even after he cut the supply off.

Finally, once the mana within completely ran dry, he dispersed Weapon Aura from the alchemical concoction.

[Alchemy 11 → Alchemy 16]

The liquid was almost blindingly bright, a beacon of pure cyan radiance which lit up the entire workshop. The three alchemists in the room couldn’t even look at it, but Castillius immediately marched up to the cauldron almost desperately, not even waiting for the concoction to be bottled.

And he used Identify.

The man began to tremble and nearly fell onto his behind if not for Orodan steadying him.

“Well? I think it achieved at least something right?” Orodan asked.

“It… it’s a Grandmaster-level potion… what even are you?!”

***

Old Arvayne Firesword had come by shortly after accompanied by an old woman who was the headmistress for the school of alchemy. This woman took half of the potions from the batch for herself, and the remaining half was split between Orodan and the three alchemists who had worked on the concoction.

Orodan had no issue with this given that the ingredients were provided by the man, and it was his recipe and formula. Plus, while he could sense a tremendous amount of mana within the potion… he really had no use for potions of the sort. Given his Eternal Soul Reactor, mana wasn't an issue for him.

So, he gave his share to Arvayne, which made the old man’s eyes shine with covetousness for once at the ludicrous gift fit for a Grandmaster.

The woman was Elona Bursimi, a Grandmaster-Alchemist who informed Orodan that he would be learning alchemy directly underneath her moving forward.

Orodan thought this was becoming something of a trend but decided to keep his thoughts to himself on the matter.

They dispersed shortly after with Arvayne lecturing Orodan a bit and simply sighing and looking disappointed at Orodan’s utter inability to lay low.

The other crafting classes thankfully weren’t anything crazy.

Enchanting went decently, and Orodan discovered he had an average talent for the craft but still managed to gain a few levels in the skill raising it up to level 12.

His ability to maintain concentration for an endless period of time, alongside his bottomless energy allowed for him to enchant without interruption and the breaks that other students needed to take. He wasn’t a prodigy by any means and performed no ground-breaking achievements like he did in alchemy… but he still progressed a decent amount over the span of just six hours of a class. His endless reserves and concentration, however, did impress the instructor who was personally assigned to him.

For now, he was practicing in the Imperial tradition of mana-based enchanting, but the head-instructor who was a Master-Enchanter assured him that once he reached a certain level, the man would introduce him to Gormir Eltros. The Master-level enchanter who Orodan had heard of prior, who was capable of such things like body enchantments and enchantments using soul energy instead of mana.

Orodan could have used his reputation to ask for it right away, but he felt that getting a deeper understanding of Enchanting and pushing its levels up the standard way first was better than jumping ahead too quickly.

Blacksmithing, however, was an interesting class.

The class probably had the highest number of combat-specialist students who were cross-training that he had seen. The idea of forging one’s own equipment was a popular sentiment among warriors. Even many enchanters were participating in the hopes of learning how to create a superior product to enchant upon. After all, the better the initial base, the greater the enchanted item that could be made.

He also made the interesting discovery that natural fires, which weren’t mana based, did in fact burn. Even if all his defensive and vitality skills gave him a body sturdy and healthy enough to ignore the burns from the forge, it still raised a good point that Orodan would probably get burnt when he encountered enemies using natural fires or non-mana empowered flames in the future. Still, it was fun sticking his hand directly into the forges to pull things out or adjust the things he was smithing. Perhaps he would obtain the Fire Resistance skill if he did it enough?

His talents in blacksmithing weren’t bad. His Physical Fitness allowed him to do some unfair things such as simply pounding metal with his bare hands and bending it into shape. He quickly gained the Blacksmithing skill and raised it all the way to 14, aided by his existing Tool Mastery and Laboring. Additionally, cleaning up the forge and workstation actually gave him two levels in Cleaning! Cleaning up a different environment for once must have spurred the level gain.

Woodworking went quite well.

The class also held a high number of combat specialists looking to make their own weapons. Mages wanted to make wands and staves, archers wanted to make bows, and warriors wanted to make weapon hafts and shields.

He was marked as a decent talent upon entry as the instructors were content with his existing Apprentice-level Woodworking skill. Tool Mastery aided him as per usual, and he actually managed to level Woodworking to 44 and Tool Mastery to 49.

His Wood Communion skill was looked upon with incredible favor and the headmaster of the school of Woodworking came down near the end of class to meet with him and spoke for a bit revealing that he too possessed the Legendary skill and offered to give Orodan personal lessons in cultivating it. Apparently, the Exquisite-rarity Wood Whispering skill was common among prodigies, but Orodan was the first student he had seen with the Legendary Wood Communion skill aside from himself.

Headmaster Osolon Velrayn was a man of half-elven descent. He openly claimed this, for otherwise Orodan would not have known as half-elves didn’t have any uniquely elven features that made them stand out. Only in very rare circumstances did the elven blood dominate and the pointed ears appeared in half-elven folk. A fact that allowed them to blend in rather seamlessly within human society.

The man was quite happy to have a martial student of Orodan’s caliber in his school who took Woodworking so seriously and invited him to come by his parlor in the Bluefire tower for tea sometime.

Finally came the Politics and World History classes that Orodan had dreaded. He was assigned personal tutors in each of these classes, but as he had come to learn, the reading wasn’t as bad as he’d feared.

He’d learned some interesting things about politics.

For starters, although he heard it from Cyvrosdyr in a prior loop, dragons had their own society and groups known as dragon flights.

They had cordial relations with humanity but had tense relations with the dwarves who were a race notorious for dragon slaying. Hence the lack of dragon flights near the Dokuhan mountains to the south.

The dragons’ one point of contention with the humans of Inuan was the insistence on worshiping Ilyatana, the Goddess of Fate. The dragon race viewed her as a historical mass genocider of their kind. The politics textbooks noticeably did not mention the fact that Ilyatana was once a mortal many millennia ago, but he recalled Cyvrosdyr saying this to him during his loop on Guzuhar.

Orodan felt he would get along well with the dragons due to their mutual hatred of that conniving Goddess.

Additionally, the Republic had pretty good relations with the local Time Wind dragon flight which flew between Karilsgard and the Eastern Kingdoms. In fact, the two dragons he saw flying about many loops ago in the aftermath of the war machine’s destruction of Volarbury County, were actually the famed Master-level dragons Ulrusdun and Arkulnir, who were honoring an old pact between the Republic and the Time Wind dragon flight to render mutual aid to the other in times of need.

There were friendly dragon flights throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and elven continent as well, however the Novarrians were infamous for enslaving dragons, and thus there were constant tensions on that front. The only thing stopping outright war was the fact that the ‘dragon flights’ of Novarria were willing to defend the Empire’s practices. The textbook painted Novarrian aligned dragons quite negatively.

As for Cyvrosdyr… the World Guardian was quite famous indeed!

Orodan could now finally tell the dragon that he had read books about him, even if they were very old legends. The Eternal Winter was quite revered as a guardian of the world and was respected for descending onto the elven continent fifteen-thousand years ago and slaying a terrifying Eldritch invader from the stars after the hero of the elves had failed.

There were at least two other known World Guardians like him.

Sarastuga the Blazing Light, a beloved lion of epic proportions which prowled the Eastern Kingdoms and kept humanity safe. And Elydia the Returning Fire, a phoenix that flew above the Dokuhan mountains and the arid badlands to the south where no civilized life could thrive.

Orodan recalled both of these World Guardians bravely fighting to the bitter end against the Eldritch Avatar.

Aside from the humans on Inuan and the elves on their own south-eastern continent of Eldiron, were the dwarves. The stout race had a better relationship with the Novarrians than they did the Republic or Eastern Kingdoms, thanks to their shared greed and dragon slaying tendencies. But the under-mountain dwelling race was at frequent odds with the drow who they were steadily beating back in a cold war that had been going on for a few years now.

The dwarves were gaining ground on the drow thanks to the intervention of the Novarrians on the dwarven side. The unfortunately isolated drow were losing a slow struggle as they were without allies nearby.

Finally, there were the minor races which didn’t hold any significant power on the same level as the major races. Such as the orcish tribes of the Dokuhan mountains who lived above the dwarves and struggled to eke out a living. Wandering goblin tribes who were a constant annoyance throughout the wilder regions of Inuan and were to be killed on sight. And the communities of halflings who had essentially integrated into human society in the Republic and Eastern Kingdoms.

Orodan was embarrassed to admit he did not realize that Lucille Carrotfoot was a halfling when he first met her. Apparently Carrotfoot was a halfling surname. He just thought she was a very small woman in their first meeting. Probably helped them integrate rather smoothly.

There were also some destinations of note he eventually wanted to see.

Energy wells being one of those things. The energy well at Anthus in the Republic was only one of many. And even the one Orodan discovered, while deep, still wasn’t the deepest known in the world. The two deepest ones in the world were unclaimed by humans, but were instead wild and surrounded by some of the largest monster hordes known to man.

The first being the one at Suicide Point in the arid badlands south of the Dokuhan mountains. None of the mortal races dwelled in the badlands. Even the hardy dwarves went no farther south than the mountains.

It was a completely wild and uncivilized area that even dragons didn’t want to fly near due to the presence of some rather ferocious beasts in large numbers. The energy well at Suicide Point was the second deepest one in the world. And there were rumored to be some monsters down at the bottom that even an Avatar empowered World Guardian would be afraid of.

The deepest however, was north of the northern continent, within the Great Zalabian Ocean. It was underwater. The closest spot that any golem exploration attempts had gone, was marked on the map as the Ocean’s Edge.

This energy well was the sole reason any northward exploration of the ocean past Guzuhar was impossible. The hordes of sea and flying monsters surrounding this energy well were simply too numerous and strong.

One day, Orodan wanted to try his hand at delving it. But that day was a long way away.

His World History and Politics classes thus went by without too much suffering. He learned some interesting things about the world, political relations and Republican and Novarrian society that he would no longer be surprised by.

His skill creation and applied skill combination classes had been cancelled. It would be handled during his training period with Arvayne, so the only class he had left for the day was ‘Monster Studies 210’.

“So that hundred headed sea serpent that occupies this section of the Sea of Uxumar, it’s called a hydra?”

“Yes, Mister Wainwright, that is the term for it,” the instructor answered. “Although historical records from a hundred years ago note it as having ninety heads, not a hundred.”

Well, the historical records were historical. He had killed it a while ago in a prior loop and could attest to the fact that it now had a hundred heads.

“And the rumors about them being able to grow new heads once one is cut off?”

“Not at the Master-level at least, but the ocean is quite massive... I’m certain there are stronger hydras out there in the deeper parts that hypothetically could do such a thing,” the woman replied. “Monsters have access to the same System we do and could definitely learn a skill for it.”

Monster Studies was an interesting class. There were textbooks detailing a massive variety of monsters, but the class was focused more on theory and as an information hub for students who aspired to become adventurers upon graduation.

There were provided textbooks which detailed all known monsters, and there was only one instructor, a Master-level swordswoman who was supposedly a famous adventurer who retired a decade prior and was now teaching students at Bluefire. He recalled reading the name Belinda Arwell in his World History books but had never heard of the woman in conversation.

“What about Demonic Berserkers? How strong are they?” Orodan asked, genuinely curious. “If a Master-level necromancer were to have a reanimated one as their pet… how strong would it be in life?”

“Unfathomably powerful, definitely near the high end of the Master-level. You’d need some very heavy ranged or magic firepower to deal with it. Melee combat against a living Demonic Berserker would be suicide for someone on the same level as it, mortals just can’t match that sort of ferocity,” Belinda explained.

Not without a lot of death and an unshakeable drive at least. He had absolutely matched its violent ferocity blow for blow while unarmed and even forced it to quail when he was but an Adept himself. The Demonic Berserker, even as an undead minion, had been a great teacher that taught him the value of true savagery and fury.

“And how about worms that dwell deep underground?”

“You would be a better teacher on the subject than me Mister Wainwright,” Belinda remarked. “My old adventuring friends wouldn’t stop talking about the rumors of someone killing a Dweller Worm in an energy well. And I couldn’t stop hearing about the tremors that lasted for over two weeks.”

Orodan thought the woman was being a bit melodramatic, but he appreciated her slightly snarky answer all the same.

“To be fair, it refused to die easily,” Orodan replied.

“I wouldn’t expect a Dweller Worm - notorious for their cockroach-like survivability - to die easily in any scenario. Two weeks sounds about right for how long it would take a team to kill it while working round the clock. Usually, a rampaging Dweller Worm of sufficient size is the subject of a Quest.”

Belinda continued fielding questions from various students, all of whom kept a healthy distance from Orodan. Either due to being intimidated or just minding their own business.

“Then… in terms of toe-to-toe melee combat, can you recommend which monster you know of that would be utterly suicidal to fight?” Orodan asked.

“You ask some very strange questions that make me concerned for your safety and mental state, Mister Wainwright. I almost suspect you’ve either fought or plan to fight the monsters you’re asking about,” Belinda quipped with an amused smirk on her lips. “But I’ll do my best to answer. Some of the deadliest monsters up close? The Demonic Berserker you’ve asked about is one of them of course, but it can only be summoned nowadays, which is quite difficult given how averse demons are to our world. Or you’d have to join the crusade the Cathedral is organizing into the hells next year. Even then the crusaders are reporting that they’re getting rarer and rarer due to the constant incursions we’re making each year.”

“Alright, but surely that can’t be the deadliest? Is there not something more… ferocious in melee?” Orodan asked.

“A towering muscle-bound freak with eight clawed arms, horns, sharp teeth and a rage that lasts for weeks isn’t ferocious enough for you?” the retired adventurer asked. “Well, let’s see… and I strongly recommend you don’t do this. But given your predilections for delving the depths you should at least be aware of Death Roaches. They aren’t even listed in the textbook, but they’re horrifying.”

“Are they related to Malzim perhaps?” Orodan asked, a bit hesitant to kill something related to his favorite God.

“No, we just named them that for how utterly unkillable they are and how much death and devastation they cause. People talk about regular cockroaches as if they’re tough, but wait till you meet their angry and mutated relative in the deep depths,” Belinda remarked. “It’s a terrifyingly fierce bug that fights with a level of fury beyond even a Demonic Berserker. At least the demon’s big and you know it’s coming. The Death Roach is almost man-sized and even tougher. All that power packed into a small frame means it’s deadlier than a Demonic Berserker in melee. It’ll sneak up on you without you realizing it too.”

“So, are we likely to ever fight one?” a random student interjected and asked.

“No, and I pray to the Gods that you do not. I’m indulging Mister Wainwright’s questions because he’s an outlier that can wrestle Dweller Worms in the wild depths for two weeks straight. He’s apt to make the sort of questionable life choices that might lead to him encountering one,” Belinda spoke. “But as for the rest of you, unless you’re likely to reach the Master-level, don’t get arrogant. Death Roaches and Dweller Worms, outside of unique circumstances such as an energy well, typically begin to occur from the deep depths and below. There are records of hundred-man strong heavily armed expeditions composed of Master-level adventurers and soldiers being wiped out after they ran into a Death Roach while unprepared. Reach the Master-level first and then think about such creatures.”

The rest of the class went on as usual, and at the end as students were filing out Belinda gestured to Orodan to remain behind.

“Mister Wainwright, Arvayne Firesword speaks highly of your ‘determination’,” she remarked. “He also told me to avoid insulting you lest the backlash from a skill of yours makes me regret it.”

Now that was just excessive. He felt as though he acquired a slight bit of control over Warrior’s Reciprocity at level 2. He could maybe tone it down and actually hold back if she decided to make a comment about his intelligence.

But would he?

No.

Therefore, it was good advice the old man gave her.

“As long as you don’t make any comments about my intelligence to my face, I think you’ll be fine,” Orodan clarified.

“That won’t be an issue. Despite my carefree attitude I’m not so stupid as to directly offend someone who fought a Grandmaster-level Dweller Worm in the depths by himself. Avatar assistance or not, you’re a monster and I respect that,” she spoke with a level of sincerity. “I actually wanted to speak to you about your last question.”

“About things that are stronger than a Demonic Berserker in melee? Death Roaches are one of those things, right?”

“Yes, but what I didn’t say in front of the other students is that Death Roaches are particularly powerful Grandmaster-level monsters. Even though they're of the same level, a Death Roach would tear a Dweller Worm in half if they fought, so be careful. With your monstrous talent at your age, I think with at least a few more decades of training and adventure you’ll be ready to face one, maybe even by yourself,” she answered. “But… there’s something even stronger. It’s probably the most dangerous thing we have records of. The only reason I’m telling you is because Arvayne Firesword explicitly told me to not withhold any knowledge from you like we usually do when it comes to overeager youth who might otherwise run into the depths to prove themselves a prodigy.”

“Oh? I’d be interested in fighting such a thing,” Orodan excitedly said, a happy grin on his face.

“I assure you; you will die. Even a Chosen One Avatar is but prey before it… at least give yourself a few centuries before you try your hand against it.”

“What is it?”

“It’s called a Void Horror,” she replied. “The last known sighting of one was maybe… thirty-thousand years ago? It’s what reportedly led to the collapse of civilization on our continent. It’s an old legend that speaks of a tall, gray humanoid with terrifying white eyes. Its savagery was unmatched in the legends.”

Tall, grey humanoid with empty white orbs for eyes? Why did this sound so familiar?

“Where can it be found? What happened to the last one?” Orodan found himself asking, even though he had an inkling he knew exactly where it could be found near the end of the year.

“The legends say the last known Void Horror came crawling out of the abyssal depths and caused the collapse of civilization on the entire continent, the Gods then had to send multiple Avatars down to suppress it, and it was sealed into a rock and thrown out into the vast expanse between worlds.”

Where it must have undoubtedly encountered the Eldritch Gods and mutated into something utterly horrendous which was now being returned to the sender.

What a fantastic show of responsibility and forward thinking by the Gods.

“So, these Void Horrors… there are more of them down there?” Orodan asked. “Also, while I guessed there are depths lower than the deep depths, the books don’t talk about the abyssal depths. Can you tell me about them?”

“I’ve never been there, but I would assume there are more down there, yes. I would be unqualified and likely wouldn’t even make it to that point. The only people that dare to enter are Grandmasters, and even they would only do so in force. The last time such a thing happened was at least a thousand years ago,” Belinda answered. “From what my mentor tells me, the abyssal depths aren’t as densely populated with monsters, but even the weakest one would be a Death Roach or something similar in power. There are some utterly kingdom-shaking treasures to be found… but even Grandmasters don’t want to enter for fear of what horrors lurk down there.”

“You know… you’re awfully forthcoming about such a dangerous topic. Aren’t you supposed to warn me away or something as a teacher?”

“Would it stop you if I did?”

“Not in the slightest,” he answered with a cheery smile.

The depths held some powerful foes. It was an attractive prospect and made his blood boil for combat at hearing about the abyssal depths. But currently he wasn’t sure he could even get through the entirety of the deep depths.

Death Roaches that could tear a Dweller Worm apart like a chew-toy? Void Horrors that caused the collapse of civilization on an entire continent? Orodan was eager to go smash his head against this wall immediately!

But it would be wasteful and inefficient to do so right this instant. It was better to let this loop naturally run its course first and see how the battle against the Eldritch Avatar changed.

Would he spend a series of loops just battering against the horrors of the deep? Absolutely.

But for now, his last class of the day was over and it was time to go training with Arvayne Firesword.

***

“Isn’t this too big of a pile? What am I even supposed to do with all this?” Orodan asked.

“Who else am I going to use these natural treasures on? I’ve been stockpiling these for a thousand years, and now’s the time to see them used on the single most monstrous talent I’ve ever seen,” Arvayne spoke. “So, get to work, pick up that black orb.”

It was an orb of pitch-black color, the size of a palm sized fruit.

“What’s this and what does it do?”

“It’s an endless gravity core, I found it while adventuring in the deep depths when I was younger. The machines warriors use to train their Physical Fitness use artificial ones created by artificers to work. But this one is naturally formed and is the most powerful one in the Republic,” Arvayne explained. “Hold on and channel your mana into it, it’s excellent for training Physical Fitness.”

The most powerful endless gravity core in the entire nation? Arvayne was a wealthy man.

Orodan did as the old man asked, and almost instantly, the gravity upon him grew immensely and even Orodan’s powerful physique was strained.

It felt as though each muscle in his body was bearing the weight of a small mountain.

Arvayne told Orodan to hold onto the endless gravity core and practice as much as he could.

After an hour, his Physical Fitness increased by a level to 66!

But something still felt slow. Something about this sort of training dissatisfied Orodan.

It was too safe.

“Old man, this is nice and all. But it isn’t enough, I need more,” Orodan said.

“What do you mean you need more? You want me to throw another gravity core at you?” Arvayne asked with a raised brow.

“No, as in we could be doing multiple things at the same time,” Orodan answered. “Why don’t we fight?”

“That core requires constant focus, contact and a source of energy to remain active. If we sparred, the gravity effect would just stop, thereby rendering it a waste,” Arvayne explained. “If you’re this eager I’ll add some intense exercises to your training after your session with the orb.”

Orodan did not like this explanation.

So, he pondered and came to a decision.

The orb required constant contact and focus? No problem.

“What… what are you doing?!” Arvayne asked in shock as Orodan’s mouth opened wide and one hand shoved the orb in as far as he could.

It wouldn’t go down comfortably, but it was a good thing Orodan had Pain Resistance.

His other fist slammed the orb into his mouth, and a quadruple action increase session began where multiple hands were pounding the solid orb down Orodan’s throat even as his teeth shattered, and his mouth became bloody.

It settled uncomfortably in his stomach, as though it was grossly unnatural and quite painful. But he had done it. Orodan had successfully swallowed the palm sized endless gravity core.

He flared Eternal Soul Reactor to empower Regeneration, only to make a painful discovery.

The endless gravity core could also be powered by soul energy.

And any activation of Eternal Soul Reactor naturally had soul energy run through his body. Which thereby naturally activated the core.

Orodan nearly fell to the ground as the orb was empowered beyond any levels it had previously been. His soul energy was potent and far stronger than his mana. The core’s gravity increased to the point that it was tearing apart the muscles of his stomach and was on the verge of ripping right out of him.

He flared Eternal Soul Reactor to empower Regeneration further only to realize that it was making the pressure on his body and the weight of the orb even heavier.

He immediately activated Death Rage and the increased strength allowed him to hold on a bit easier even as his life force drained, and blood leaked out of his pores.

Now this… this was real training!

“You! Orodan Wainwright! What are you even doing?!” the old man roared. “No! My lord, do not praise his buffoonery!”

Agathor must have been telling the old man how he approved no doubt.

The pain was quite high, but nothing his Pain Resistance couldn’t handle. Slowly but surely, he continued making minor adjustments.

First, he began thinking economically. How could he empower Regeneration with the least amount of soul energy for the most buck?

Eternal Soul Reactor began to gain levels as this self-mutilating training continued and he began to fine tune the skill. Regeneration improved as well as he learned to do more with less fuel.

All the while, his Physical Fitness gained another level and rose to 67 as he strained each and every muscle to the limit and continued honing himself. It was effective training and Orodan couldn’t forget to train the skill the endless gravity core was meant for.

He wanted more vitality, but he couldn’t get it from soul energy lest it tip the critical balance. So Orodan experimented and drew upon the reserve of Vitality Black Hole and threw all the excess vitality into Death Rage.

Both skills began gaining some very rapid levels at this unique experimentation, and for a moment Death Rage was beginning to get strong enough that the burden of gravity upon him was beginning to feel light.

So, he simply cranked up Eternal Soul Reactor once more to increase the weight even further. There would be no slacking off.

Furthermore, Orodan began to attempt a unique experiment. His muscles were genuinely being destroyed under the fierce pressure of the now deadly gravitational force of the endless gravity core. So why not flood the destroyed muscles with vitality?

He experimented and worked on different methods of acquiring what he wanted.

Even as his destroyed muscle cells were annihilated, any new ones that came to be due to the vitality were still subject to the same pressure. But they needed to adapt, the weak needed to be destroyed to give birth to the new. The pressure on his body wasn’t merely downward, but it felt as though he was being pressured and squeezed into a meatball. Crushed from all directions, every single part of his body was under pressure, even the interior.

He increased the soul energy empowering the core to an almost fatal level.

Ten minutes passed and as he was keeled over, bleeding everywhere and felt as though his innards would explode, he finally achieved the adaptation that he was looking for.

[New Skill (Legendary) → Body Tempering 3]

It started off at level 3, no doubt due to the extreme circumstances in which he acquired the skill.

His muscles which were being constantly destroyed and rebuilt, were finally being regenerated stronger. His physique was improving as he constantly destroyed his own body and tempered it to be stronger. It was forged anew.

Within the next ten minutes of this, Body Tempering reached level 11, and Orodan felt as though each and every point of Physical Fitness went further. He felt as though he had nearly doubled in strength with just this. As though he had a fundamentally superior body like a monster naturally did.

He finally had enough strength to get to his feet. The omnidirectional gravitational pressure from the core was now bearable.

He looked at the old man and drew his sword.

“Old man! Let’s not waste time! Spar me while I continue practicing with this endless gravity core!”

Following his declaration Orodan once more empowered the core to the limit of what he could take. It put him under severe pressure and limited his battle power, but from now on Orodan decided he would keep the endless gravity core at its maximal limits at all times.

It seemed like quite a good training tool.

In all his years, the old Grandmaster had never seen or heard of anyone using a gravity core like this for training.

Arvayne Firesword could only look at Orodan as he finally understood.

It was one thing to hear the boy talk about the time loop and everything he did. But it was another thing to see the madness, the insanity that was Orodan Wainwright.

To witness what the mad fool considered real training.

He now understood how this lunatic had come so far.

Who was Orodan Wainwright?

As a Flash Strike from a desperately straining warrior - bloody grin on his face - approached, Arvayne Firesword now understood the answer.

Orodan Wainwright was a warrior. A madman.