"Do you need to rest?"
Daylan forced a smile, though it felt strained.
"Don't worry, Lady Astara. I'm just finding it hard to read this. I thought I had fully mastered it," he said, scratching the back of his head nervously.
"Don't call me Lady." Her expression darkened.
Daylan smiled. "Sorry…"
At that moment, he decided to take things seriously and figure out exactly what had happened to Daylan. But before he could do that, he had to free his mother. Despite his racing heart and the fear that gnawed at him, he knew he had to see everything through.
"Have you been on a tour yet?"
Daylan shook his head. Astara reached out, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet. "Let me show you around, then," she said, her voice firm but not unkind.
Astara introduced him to the training centers, the cafeteria, and his room. She also pointed out a few other rooms—ones that were strictly off-limits to ordinary people.
After more than an hour of touring, they finally returned to the library.
"You can sleep here if you want. The library is off-limits to most, anyway," Astara said, her voice calm. "I sometimes sleep here."
Daylan was relieved to hear he could sleep over—getting from the library to his room was quite the journey, and he was far too exhausted for that.
Daylan continued reading intermediate books, filled with grammar rules, sentence flow, and clarity techniques. He spent hours absorbing the content, determined to stick with his lie. Their meals were brought over on Astara's orders, and eventually, exhaustion overtook him—Daylan drifted into sleep among the pages.
Despite the late hour, Astara quietly left for the nearest training center. There, under the dim glow of lanterns, she began sharpening her combat skills and reflexes with focused intensity.
She trained through the night until morning, her body drenched in sweat and aching from exhaustion. As the first light of dawn broke, she made her way back to the library to wake Daylan.
She helped Daylan to his feet. "Get up, Day. We've got a quest to embark on."
Daylan rubbed his eyes and stretched his body. "Sure."
"You've changed a lot. Today will be hectic, and from now on, you'll be training with me too… go freshen up."
He knew Astara was right. From everything they'd said about Daylan, it was clear he was a hard worker, even without an ability. As he walked to his room, he pushed himself to stay active and adapt. If he was going to take over what Daylan had left behind, he couldn't rely on intelligence alone.
Daylan reached his room quickly, wasted no time, freshened up, and headed straight back to the library.
"Demonic monsters have been lurking in the dungeons at the far end of the city… This wasn't originally my quest, but I think it will give you a good sense of what we do here."
Astara said, tightening her waistcoat.
"Let's get it done."
Daylan nodded and followed Astara as she put on her overcoat and left the library.
As they walked down the corridor, people shot disgusted glances at Daylan, practically warning him to stay away from Lady Astara.
As soon as they stepped out of the monastery, a carriage was waiting patiently for their arrival. They quickly climbed in, and the carriage began to roll away.
Astara began briefing Daylan on the demonic monsters they might encounter—ghouls, lamias, and, if luck wasn't on their side, even hellhounds.
Daylan barely registered a word she said—his mind was preoccupied with testing his abilities and uncovering their potential.
Loop sync—he snapped.
In an instant, they were thrown four seconds into the past. Astara repeated her earlier words, and—most importantly—Daylan remembered the rewind. Still, his body felt slightly off.
He knew he had three loops, but he wasn't willing to risk using the full twelve seconds—he might jeopardize the mission.
Daylan rose to the seat opposite Astara, pretending to be intrigued by her chatter, he locked eyes with her and eased his mind.
Fractal Echo
First, it took ten seconds to activate. He couldn't read Astara's mind—only loud noises that nearly burst his eardrums since she was talking so much. This meant his target must either have fewer thoughts or, perhaps, their mind must be at ease.
Soul Spiral
In an instant, he held a piece of paper.
I said 'from scratch,' but I didn't mean it quite so literally… It's more like a blacksmith and forging. I need to understand everything—from the temperature at which metal must melt to the texture of what I want to create.
Looks like I have a lot to learn.
Before long, they arrived at a forest shrouded in thick, dark mist. The mist enveloped them as they stepped out of the carriage, which immediately rolled away as soon as they disembarked.
Daylan gestured toward the carriage. "How will we get back?"
"It will be waiting in the city. We must hurry before the driver grows frustrated."
Astara extended her hand, and a sword materialized in her grasp. It had a long, glowing blade that emitted a soft, bluish-white light as if imbued with a star.
She took her stance, and in the blink of an eye, ghouls charged toward them. With a swift swing of her sword, a blade of light struck them, reducing them all to ash.
It happened so quickly that by the time Daylan raised his guard, their ashes were already filling the air.
Astara's sword instantly vanished. "There's one closing in. Deal with it."
Daylan swallowed nervously, clenched his fists, and took his stance. Astara stepped back, leaving everything to him.
The ghoul charged at him, swinging its massive arms with razor-sharp claws and snapping its deadly teeth.
It lunged at Daylan, and he narrowly dodged its grasp. As soon as it landed, it charged again, swinging its arm. Daylan had no time to avoid it and blocked the blow with his hands, but the force sent him crashing to the ground.
It had no intention of giving Daylan enough time to recover. As soon as Daylan was slammed into the ground, it hopped on him and attempted to bite its head off. But Daylan forced himself off its grasp, leaving him with scratches on his hand.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
You have received a new mission.
Objective: [Kill the ghoul]
Duration: [Thirty minutes]
Reward: [?]
Penalty: [?]
What? I think I'm beginning to hate this system.
Daylan had no other option, but to take the mission seriously.
Just as Daylan was distracted, the ghoul lunged at him. He dodged by a hair's breadth. As soon as it landed, Daylan rushed in, landing a blow to its gut. The ghoul remained unfazed, but Daylan quickly followed up with four more strikes, the final one sending it crashing to the ground.
Five jabs, huh?
The ghoul quickly rose to its feet, panting and growling.
As Daylan stood there, trying to think of a better way to defeat the ghoul before his time ran out, Astara watched from the sidelines, her arms folded across her chest, carefully observing the fight.
Daylan dashed toward the ghoul, barely evading its strike, he visualized an arrow.
Soul Spiral
The arrow appeared in his hand in an instant. Using the tilt of his body to boost his momentum, he spun slightly and drove the arrow into the ghoul's neck.
Blood splattered from its neck, splashing Daylan's face as it clawed at the wound and stumbled backward. Before it could collapse, Astara struck it with a beam of light, turning it to ash.
Daylan bent over, hands on his knees, his heart racing as he fought to regain his breath.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Task Failed
Penalty Applied: [100 pushups, 100 squats, 30 minutes shadow boxing]
Duration: [3 hours]
What? Failed? How?… I killed it, didn't I? And how am I going to do all that in three hours? I can barely do ten push-ups!!—he thought, furious, his teeth and fist clenched.
Astara patted him on the shoulder. "You did well, Day. But next time make sure to kill it properly."
Daylan turned to her, his face etched with confusion. "What do you mean by 'kill it properly'."
Astara gestured for them to leave. ''You killed it, but the proper way to deal with demonic monsters is by aiming for their hearts or burning them to ash. It will come back to life in a few hours.''
Daylan slapped his forehead in disbelief. He knew it was going to be a long day. He had to complete his penalty in three hours, and as Astara had mentioned earlier, he would be sparring with her. Just the thought of it made his lazy self want to cry.
"Hurry up, Day. We need to heal your wounds."
Astara's words made him realize he was injured, and his mind filled with dread at how physical the day would become. He gripped the wound on his hand tightly.
Jezz… That hurts. Dexter would have forgotten a fever because of this.