Aw, yiss. We're back.

>>6147182
>Go through the school as normal, maybe you'll get an opportunity to talk to your parents about something if they aren't angry at you for skipping.
Let's go solve the ?

>>6147185
+1

>>6147182
>Going through the school as normal doesn't do much, maybe you could skip classes while staying inside the school instead?
Glad to see this back. Btw did you ever talk about the summoning teacher's appearence before ? 'coz I've been imagining him like Caine until now.

>>6147182
Welcome back, CCQM!
>Explore the city with Claire
Maybe we can check out the anti-magic force, and see if they've ever heard of a situation like ours?

>>6147291
I think all we knew was that he was a rat-man. I've been picturing him as Spline tr from the Rogan animated TMNT movie.

>>6147385
Are there 4 turtle beastfolk students he can mold into the best portal ninja squad ever seen?

>>6147385
>>6147291
>>6147213
>>6147185

You go through the motions. Class is easy, mild bullying is inevitable, and the cafeteria food still could use some work. Poking Claire about who she likes hardly sounds fun, nor do you feel like punching back to whatever girl ruined her hair just yet. You'll come back to family dinner primp and proper with no detention or call from the teachers, because if you do, that's all they'll talk about.

The rest of the day goes as expected, you did practice some of your spells out of boredom, you can cast spark and wind guide now, it's strange though, it feels like there's a clear difference to how it's cast in this loop compared to how it's cast in the real world. It's not just your body being different, it's like there was a guiding force helping you make the spell before that's just not here anymore.

Whatever, you'll look into this later. Family dinner awaits you, with all the banter between your parents it implies. When you're not talking about magic, they do get along pretty well, which always made you a little insecure about the fact that any disputes between them were your fault. Would they be happier without you? Clearly not, since you don't think things changed that much between them after you left.

Your mom stops talking about an annoying customer she had this morning, it's followed by one of these short silences meant to be filled with another conversation subject, if there's a moment to start speaking for you, it's now.

>Show them you can cast spells.
>Mention that you want to leave the city.
>Say you want to join the anti-magic force.
>Something else? (Write in)

>>6147723
>Show them you can cast spells
That ought to lead nicely into telling them you want to leave, no? Their issue was that they didn't think Atlas would be able to achieve much...

>>6147727
+1
>there was a guiding force helping you make the spell before that's just not here anymore
Is "M" a.k.a. Truth from FMA the root magic enabler of the setting?

>>6147723
>Show them you can cast spells.

>>6147723
>Show them you can cast spells.
I am curious how they'd react... And if we're meant to reconcile our past in soem way, maybe this will help? Forcing a difficult conversation?

>>6147778
>>6147744
>>6147740
>>6147727

"Hey, so, dad, mom, I learned how to cast a spell today," You say flatly. They look at you in silence, expecting you to elaborate, and you do so by picking up a napkin, throwing it into the air, and controlling it with wind guide. They still don't say anything, so you set it on fire at the end, which does get a reaction out of them-- namely, putting out the burning napkin you just created.

"Don't mess with us, you just used a match on it or something," your mother us says, throwing your magic experiment in the trash.

"He could control the way it went though, looked like a normal napkin too, could be real magic," your dad takes your side. "Still, it's nothing more than a parlor trick, it's nothing we can't do with tech, you know?"

You're a little annoyed at his comment, he's not wrong, it IS a very weak spell, but that shouldn't make it any less impressive for a kid version of you to know how to cast not one but TWO spells.

"Dad, that's a big deal. That's basically better than the average anti-magic force user."

Your mom sighs. "Ooookay, but we got a lighter, you can use that instead of magic."

"Honey, it's just something he's passionate about, let him be happy. Besides, learning this much by himself is impressive, maybe he can join the anti-"

"I don't want to join them," you say outright. You understand the irony of your statement, considering what happened when you came back to the city, but it doesn't change how you feel about them, their 'magic' would never satisfy you in the long term.

Your mom pinches her forehead. "Then what do you want to do, then? You're growing up fast, one day you'll need to pick a college, and a job, and you can't live-"

"Honey, he's still 15, he has time."

"You've been saying that for 8 years! You said it would be 'just a phase', and look where that took him, we enabled him."

You stab your empty plate with your fork. Annoying, so annoying, what do they know? It worked out for you, didn't it? Why do they have so little faith in you?

"Listen, he's a smart kid, he'll figure something out, I'm sure. Yelling at him isn't helping."

Your mom's voice soften, she sounds irritated, but not angry. "I'm just worried about him. He has his head in the clouds, he hardly talks to anyone that isn't that girl, I just want him to have a good life."

"I'll be okay. I know what I want to do next," you reply. There's more hesitation in your voice than there should be considering your knowledge of the future.

"And how do you know that?"

"I just do," you mumble quietly.

>>6148034


You know they want the best for you. You know that even if your mom raises her voice often, she never does it to hurt you, if anything she's always been lenient to your antics. You wish you could show them, how good you became, how you've managed to get back a citizenship, how you're living your dream of learning magic.

You don't think you have enough mana to show them the Lighten rune, damn, it's the most impressive thing you can make, maybe they'd be impressed if you showed it to them.

Who are you kidding, they wouldn't care, there's no place for a mage in the city other than the anti-magic force, telling your parents that you don't want to join them might as well mean your magic talents are useless.

Unless you leave. Unless you tell them, they can't conceive of a future where your magic is of use. You should tell them, but you don't want to. What's the point? You've told them before, you know how it ends.

You go back to your room. You hear your phone buzz, a message from Claire, 'see you tomorrow!' she says.

Yeah, like you have a choice.

-- -- -- M X X X

Alarm, wake up, check the note, etcetera. You're not in a good mood anymore, but you'll live. You brush your hair this time so you don't need to deal with Claire's offer to brush them for you, and start walking to school.

>Going through the school as normal doesn't do much, maybe you could skip classes while staying inside the school instead?
>Explore the city with Claire
>Maybe you should treat Claire a little. You don't need to return her feeling, you can just try to be extra nice today.
>Something else? (Write in)

>>6148035
>Explore the city with Claire
What does "M" mean, I wonder. Anyway, there was some other stuff we didn't investigate last time. Let's check it.

>>6148037
Actually, you know what? We can always do that later. Changing to be
>Be nice to Clara
Atlas probably has an idea of something different to do this time, though, right?

>>6148035
>Explore the city with Claire
>Maybe you should treat Claire a little
Go grab something to eat and check out the antimagic force together. Maybe we can understand HER passion. It must be mroe than just sour grapes over us not reciprocating her feelings, right?

>>6148051
Well, isn't it more of a related thing? She doesn't want to come with us to the school, so she feels like us going out is abandoning her. We didn't even know she liked us, so I assume she never confessed to Atlas in the real time-line.

>>6148054
Maybe there's more to it? Atlas clearly overlooked a lot about her, growing up.

>>6148066
I guess, but it seems kinda logical to me. She likes magic, but she doesn't want to leave. The added facts that she can't do magic good because she's human and her childhood crush left her for the outside world probably made her real bitter. Like even before he left, Atlas seemed to drop their friendship over her mana battery idea

I wonder if convincing her to leave with us for the school would count as a win for this. Now that'd be a pretty nice time-line, don't you think?

>>6148051
+1

>>6148035
>Maybe you should treat Claire a little. You don't need to return her feeling, you can just try to be extra nice today.

>>6148418
>>6148118
>>6148051
>>6148037
>>6148040

It's fine, you're getting used to the cycle, and with those notes you can afford to relax a little. Maybe you should treat Claire a little nicer for once, that might lead to something you haven't seen before.

"Hey, Claire, want to explore the city? I don't feel like going through classes today," you ask.

"Really? Can't we wait for the weekend? It's not like there's anything special going on today, is it?"

You ruffle her hair affectionately. This doesn't feel as weird as you thought it would. Her hair isn't soft, quite coarse in fact, but it's fun to play around with. She averts her gaze, it's actually kind of cu-

You pull your hand out before finishing your thought. You can find something or someone 'cute' without finding them attractive in that way, but that's usually how deeper feelings start, so you don't want to take the risk. You thought that thinking of it as 'not the real her' would make things easier, but it just makes it more likely for you to succumb to the idea that it's not a big deal since this might as well be a long lucid dream.

Shit, you've been staring at her this entire time, get your head back in the game, Atlas. "I just don't feel like dealing with the bullying today, some guy said he was going to beat me up at lunch, and that sounds like a pain. You don't need to go with me if you want."

Claire brushes her hair back to normal, she's never been that feminine, but because other kids messed her hair a lot, she always had some basic makeup and grooming material to make herself look presentable after being beat up. "School without you is going to be a little hard. Do you have any plans in mind? 'Exploring' is a surefire way to get shot if we step where we shouldn't."

She's not wrong, you do want to check restricted areas, but bringing Claire along in dangerous spots feels like taking advantage of her. That doesn't mean you don't have options, though.

>The anti-magic force does allow visitors, it's more of a museum-like tour to encourage people to join, so it's unlikely you'll learn anything new. It could spark an interesting conversation with Claire however.
>You could check that store that (allegedly) sell items from the outside.
>There's a theme park, you know Claire always liked those, but she never got to try one since you never liked them yourself.
>Zero Zone: Dangerous place with no laws. She won't like it if you bring her here unless you have some very good reasons to.
>Something else? (Write in)

>>6148452
>The anti-magic force does allow visitors, it's more of a museum-like tour to encourage people to join, so it's unlikely you'll learn anything new. It could spark an interesting conversation with Claire however.
We. Will. Not. Cuck. Table! Say it with me, anons!

>>6148452
>The anti-magic force does allow visitors, it's more of a museum-like tour to encourage people to join, so it's unlikely you'll learn anything new. It could spark an interesting conversation with Claire however.

>>6148454
I wouldn't do her dirty like that, even if I hate how Claire got abandoned.

>>6148454
+1

>>6148452
>The anti-magic force does allow visitors, it's more of a museum-like tour to encourage people to join, so it's unlikely you'll learn anything new. It could spark an interesting conversation with Claire however.

>There's a theme park, you know Claire always liked those, but she never got to try one since you never liked them yourself.

We shouldn't worry about cucking Table, I'm sure Atlas won't do it now that he's no longer *too* forgetful about Table.

>>6148485
>>6148498
>>6148505
>>6148456
>>6148454

"I heard the anti-magic force allowed visitors, maybe we could check it out? Didn't you want to work with them?"

She shrugs. "I guess? There aren't a lot of other jobs that will let you use magic. The anti-magic force...ugh."

"What's your issue with them?"

"It's just, the cool part of magic, right? It's throwing fireballs, lifting furniture, making illusions and stuff. The anti-magic force, it SOUNDS like they'd be involved into, you know, FIGHTING mages, but they can't fight for shit. They're used for stuff like, border control, contraband investigation, maybe interrogations if you're lucky. Everything else cool is done by the other divisions, and let's be real here, how often is some mage from outside going to blend in and get past the border? Get past all the thermals, get a perfect shape-shift body that somehow bypasses the DNA checks, that doesn't get seen by any of the CCTV?"

It's really weird to see Claire be so critical of the anti-magic force. You wouldn't call her a total suck up to the government, but it was uncommon to hear her say anything bad about it, and when she did it was often prefaced by 'it's necessary' and 'there's no better way'. Maybe she dislikes the anti-magic force because she thinks it could be better, and magic as a whole has been mostly neglected by humanity compared to our technology. Maybe she's just annoyed at the fact that despite all that humans can do, magic seems to be something that is simply out of our reach.

"It shouldn't hurt to take a look at what they do anyway, right?"

She nods, even if she doesn't look thrilled at the idea of learning more about them. Finding an anti-magic force building that's willing to accept visitors isn't hard, and the few people that work here look elated to get to test their spells on you to check your humanity. You doubt they actually expect either of you to be outsiders, but it is their job to check nonetheless. You don't even need to buy tickets, the anti-magic force is so understaffed that they're more than willing to teach willing teenagers what they do if that means they might join later.

You're being led around long hallways by a guy working here. They explain the basics, what they do, how despite the fact they're not used for much more than border control as of now, they'll totally be invaluable if a war against outsiders break out. You chuckle at the idea of them getting their ass handed to them by a first year student. It's not that the human military is weak or anything, but acting as if our knowledge of magic was in any way comparable to that of outsiders is a joke.

>>6149077

Claire isn't too convinced either, if anything she looks even more disappointed than before. You feel bad for the tour guide, they looked really excited to share what they do, but it's hard to make 5 hours of daily paperwork and maybe 30 minutes of magic a day sound fun. They try to spin the magic use towards more practical application, simpler spells like Lighten and Pocket space, but the issue is that most machines and structures aren't really built with the idea of using shoddy runes and spells to function, so it's incredibly rare for the anti-magic force to be asked for anything that's usually easily solved by better tech.

You leave the tour, and they say they look forward to seeing you again. You now feel kind of bad for beating the anti-magic force recruits back then, they must feel self conscious with how hard you outclassed them in the one thing they're supposed to be counter.

Claire speaks first, "This sucks. I guess the pay's decent, and there's not that much work, but it sounds so boring. Maybe I should just keep that magic stuff as a hobby instead. I don't know."

She sounds uncertain about her future now, you wonder if you could push her in another direction if you pick your words carefully.

>"Maybe you could act undercover as a spy to the outside to steal their magic secrets? There's only so much magic you can learn secluded in there."
>"You could change the way the anti-magic force works from the inside if you climb through the ranks. I think you're pretty talented so it shouldn't be too hard for you."
>"Maybe you could join another division and try to use magic there?"
>"You could always leave for the outside, there's plenty of jobs that use magic here."

>>6149078
Hey, since we learned about the school while on the city, we could totally tell her about it without it counting as "breaking" the loop.
>"You know Claire, I'm not too sure about it, but I saw somewhere (wherever we learned it from) that there's a magic school on the outside that would accept even humans. Wouldn't it be cool to learn magic? Real magic? More than any of these guys know? Even if we're not the best at it?"
If she starts to say something about not being able to come back, just tell her how much the city would value the knowledge, and how her only other options are to join these paper-pushers or to find a boring, non-magic job. Finish off with something like
>If we both go out, then we'll have each other's backs

>>6149085
+1

>>6149078
>"Maybe you could act undercover as a spy to the outside to steal their magic secrets? There's only so much magic you can learn secluded in there."

>>6149085
+1

>>6149085
+1

>>6149078

>>6149085
>>6149089
>>6149090
>>6149166
>>6149232

"It's a long shot, but I did hear about a magic school outside that'd be willing to take humans like us. Specialize in those that are magically disadvantaged, and it has a good reputation of being secure so we won't get taken advantage of or anything."

Claire raises an eyebrow. "And you never told me? Wait, was bringing me here your plan all along? So I'd get disappointed, and then you could coerce me into joining a magic- outsider's magic school."

"What? No, I just learned about it recently. You know how I use drones to send letters outside sometimes? I got an answer back from it when asking what kind of magic schools they had."

"No, I didn't know you used drones. How does that even work, wouldn't the drones run out of battery real fast? And if anyone touches them, they melt because of the gene locks, so isn't that a waste of money?"

Right, you only started using those drones later when you could make your own money. They'd fly out of the city, and you used them to drop letters at pre-determined spots that you'd retrieve later. Although, it's more like you rented a drone service that dealt with outside communication rather than used your own drones. Your letters just asked for info about certain things, and you just hoped someone would reply, very conveniently someone did. That person was one of the teachers at the school, which sounds like a little bit too much of a coincidence in retrospect, they probably use some kind of divination to find potential students.

Surprisingly enough, not a lot of people use that drone service, probably because no one in the city knows anyone from outside, as far as you know it's almost exclusively used by companies and the government when they need to get a resource from outside they can't get in the city.

"It's a drone service," you answer, skipping the unnecessary details. "What matters is that there's a place where we can learn magic as much as we want, the only drawback is we'll have to be outside for a while."

To your surprise, she doesn't immediately object. She tilts her head to the side, her hand holding her chin before coming up with an answer. "That's still risking a lot, what if you're being scammed? What if they'll mind control you the moment you step out? Besides, we're still human, with our low mana, who would want to hire mages like us?"

Her line of thinking is a lot more practical than you, it's not just about being able to learn magic, but actually having skills being worth hiring for. It's true that no one in their right mind would hire a human mage over any other race, since they wouldn't be able to work as long and wouldn't know as much magic as the rest.

"Let's say none of this would be an issue, would you be willing to go there if it meant having to leave the city? We could have each other's back!"

>>6149922

She hesitates some more. There's an internal conflict going on in her head, weighing the pros and cons of it. "I- I don't know, what about my parents? Or video games? Or supermarket or- all that stuff! I don't know if I could leave without it."

"They have magic alternatives, and besides, you can always come back in the city. You won't be able to work our go to certain places, but life as a second class citizen isn't hellish or anything. Besides, wouldn't it be cool to learn magic? REAL magic? Even if we're not the best at it."

Your insistence is making her crack bit by bit. There's still one thing that bothers her, though. "But what if it's all fake? It all sounds good to be true, isn't it? Humans still don't belong outside, what if something happens to us?"

Almost there...

"What if I go outside first? Then I come back, tell you how it is, and you can get your general idea. Besides, humanity could use some fresh magic knowledge, don't you think?"

She groans. "Ugh, no! I'm not letting you go outside alone, you idiot! If something happens to you..." She grits her teeth, and make a high-pitched sound. "AAAAH. Okay, fine, I'll CONSIDER it. I'm not saying I WILL, I'll just get more info on that magic school you mentioned by myself and make my own decision based on my own research."

And now, for the finishing touch. "Yeah, I know Claire, you've always been the smartest of us two here, always thinking ahead. I'll respect whatever you decide to do."

She laughs awkwardly. For a split second, you can feel a future where things worked out, and yet...

That is not what happened, is it?

Does it make you feel better? Or does it make you feel worse? To know there was a better decision back then.

The path you are choosing is harder, and not as rewarding. With more power, maybe you could've changed things, made things better for everyone. Does it not bother you?

-- X X M X X X

You-

You wake up. Something feels off. It's like this last loop was more significant than the rest, but how?

You have nothing to prove your gut feeling, but this day might be the last. You should feel relieved, and yet there is some kind of fear in you. Did you do this right? You were just fumbling through all these loops, just trying to survive, could you have done some things better? Maybe it's best not to worry about it too much.

What will you do? You could just wait this day out, or talk to Claire, or go through school, or check the city. You feel like whatever you choose won't really matter in the grand scheme of things, what you value has already been made clear, after all.

>Anything you want. (Write in)

>>6149925
>Just try to enjoy your time doing stuff you no longer can and enjoying your time with Claire
It's sad that there were ways things could have gone better, but it's not as though we can change time right?

We got all Xs, except for that one M...Maybe it stands for magic? And it means that in that loop, we chose magic over the people we like? Our parents, in specific. I wonder what exactly the effects of each route are given the coin clearly made this loop go well past the "gain resistance to time metal"

>>6149940
+1
I hate vague shit like this. So bothersome. Let's just have fun for once before we're out

>>6149946
It's not that vague. Back when we were at the magical store, we were asked what we valued most between power, knowledge and love. We said that we needed all of them because the people we love had issues that required power and knowledge, like Table and her curse or how we got the parasite her new body. He gave us some sort of coin with an unclear power.

Then when we tried to gain loop resistance to wield the loopmetal armor, the coin clearly ended up activating and putting us here. I assume that the purpose was to test what we really wanted.

The question is, like I said, what the effects are. Because I doubt it'll just be as though we did the normal timeloop, given M himself appeared.

>>6149925
>There's a theme park, you know Claire always liked those, but she never got to try one since you never liked them yourself.
I'd go to tge nagic item shop to make more progress, but if it doesn't matter anyway...

>>6149985
That sounds like a good way to spend our time in specific.

>>6149985
Theme park is a great idea

>>6149985
>+1

>>6150110
>>6150073
>>6149986
>>6149985
>>6149946
>>6149951
>>6149940

Check notes, brush your hair, answer Claire. You tell her the same excuse as you did before, that you want to avoid getting bullied today, which works just as well as last time.

There are a lot of spots you want to check, but one thing you really want to experience is the theme park. The tickets are pretty expensive, but you still have some money left after that to spend, not that you're planning on buying any souvenirs, it's just in case you get hungry.

Because this is a work day, there aren't that many people in a line here, and you can get inside the theme park pretty easily. Most of the park is built underground, with only some parts of it poking above the surface, like some rollercoaster ramps. Claire is VERY happy about this, she can hardly contain her excitement. Most of the theme park's staff is robotic and automated, this isn't just for budgetary reason, the theme park itself used to be a government experiment--not the messed up kind where they test stuff on citizens without their consent, the kind where they tried to see if they could make a town work purely through automation.

The short answer is no, they couldn't. Even with today's advance in robotics, there was always a need for a few people to oversee the process, and making sure the robots didn't make things worse ended up more costly than just... using humans for some of those jobs.

Anyway, they repurposed that place into a theme park after it was bought by some corp. There's still plenty of human staff, but it's a lot more manageable for AI to handle a theme park than a place people are supposed to live in.

Oh, you didn't know about any of that yourself, but Claire certainly does. She's laying on you the entire history of the theme park to you, and how important it was for humanity as despite its failure a lot of advances in robotics were thanks to this project. You wonder how she'd react if you told her that the scrapyard experiment is real? She'd drool all over it, a robot's AI that went beyond its normal skill set thanks to magic. Claire likes magic for sure, but her love for magic has always been more interconnected with how powerful it could be when mixed with human technology. You see the appeal, even something as simple as a lighten rune could make a lot of designs previously thought impossible much more feasible; not like you think humans don't know about the lighten rune's existence, it's just that they don't like the idea of anything important in the city purely relying on mana considering that's the thing humanity has the least of.

>>6150599

"Hey, do you believe that rumor, Atlas?" Claire pokes your shoulder with a smile. "That the entire city is run by an AI?"

"Not really? It's a democracy, we change leaders almost every 5 years, and laws change all the time. Besides, do you really think we'd be able to make this smart of an AI that it could control the entire city without messing things up?"

"Okaaaay, but maybe it's the same thing as what the theme park did before, right? The AI is overseen by a few people to make sure it doesn't mess up, and it takes care of all the other boring stuff!"

At first, you found the idea itself beyond unrealistic; there's a clear difference between a generative AI; one which only tries to mimic intelligence compared to a true intelligent AI that can process and understand information into new innovative way beyond just brute forcing different outcomes until one sticks. However, you do know true intelligent AI have been made before, they were basic, and required a lot of processing power, but it's been a thing for at least a few decades, then for some reason everyone stopped talking about it as the tech was considered 'too dangerous' and 'a dead end'.

Suspicious? Possibly, but you're entering conspiracy theory level here, another popular theory is that every dead leader's brain is stored in jars, and they're all working as a pseudo-hivemind to lead the city. There's also the theory that this is all a simulated timeloop in some magic student's mind, haha, wouldn't that be silly.

You laugh at your own joke; Claire thinks you're making fun of her, making up wilder and wilder justification for her crackpot conspiracy theory. Maybe you shouldn't judge, everything you've seen from the outside would sound insane to anyone in the city too, there are a lot of things you don't know about the world yet.

After your small argument, Claire asks what attraction you should try out. You could pick a normal attraction, or you could sneak into restricted areas; Claire isn't much of a rebel, but you know she's also VERY curious about how this place works.

>Sneak into the workers only area of the theme park.
>The rollercoaster is a classic, you hope your guts can take it though.
>There's an AR laser tag arena. It makes it look like you're firing real advanced military weaponry, with recoil and everything. Reminds you of the simulated duels back at the magic school.
>There's a museum about the history of not just the theme park, but humanity's in general. Not really your thing, but you know Claire would love it.

>>6150601
(huh, didn't realize italics took away the greentext. The 'love it' isn't foreshadowing or ominous or anything, it was just supposed to be emphasis.)

>>6150601
>There's a museum about the history of not just the theme park, but humanity's in general. Not really your thing, but you know Claire would love it.
The whole thing we're doing here is tryin to enjoy our time with Claire, right? We can go to the attractions any time we want in the real world. The point here is to enjoy our time with her. If this makes her happy, then so be it.

>>6150601
>Sneak into the workers only area of the theme park.
She's curious, we're curious, there's no real consequences. It's a win win!

>>6150607
I'd be fine with that too. As long as it's something we can enjoy our time with.

>>6150603
>>6150607
I'm fine with either so +1 to both!

>>6150601
>The rollercoaster is a classic, you hope your guts can take it though.

>>6150601
>Sneak into the workers only area of the theme park.
If we have the time we should try one of the other attractions first incase we get kicked out

>>6150752
>>6150742
>>6150622
>>6150608
>>6150607
>>6150603

You try to convince Claire to sneak into the restricted area of the theme park. At first, Claire is against it, but it takes a suspiciously low amount of insistence on your part for her to go along with it.

You pay attention to the cameras, what area is watched and isn't, and what you learn is that this place is pretty understaffed--when it comes to living people, anyway. Plenty of bots around, but most of them aren't really programmed to act as security from what you can see, they clean, hold stands and whatever menial repetitive tasks people couldn't be bothered doing themselves. You think they're supposed to notify suspicious behavior, but they're not that smart, sneaking past them is as simple as noticing the timing for when they stop to look around, not unlike a basic video game stealth section.

You eventually find an unlocked door that, according to the signs, should lead directly into the mechanism of the rollercoaster itself.

There are more robots here and there, but all of them are as easy to avoid as the ones outside. The inside is like a long extended hallway with a lot of gears and moving parts, electronics littering everything that isn't the floor.

"It's weird," Claire whispers to you. "Is that really just for the rollercoaster? It should be mostly a bunch of simple mechanism, I don't get what all the electronics are for."

"Maybe it's just a bunch of measuring software to make sure nothing breaks? Don't want any nasty accidents or anything."

Claire frowns. She's always been better with machines than you were. She's not a genius or anything, but you assume there must be a good reason for her to be this thoughtful about the inside of this theme park.

One screen attached to the wall catches your attention. It shows a simulation of the rollercoaster functioning as intended for the day. However, the moment the rollercoaster's simulation reaches the end of the day, the screen flashes white and shows and an error message.

"Temporal anomaly?" Claire mutters. "What does that even mean? Does it have to do with gravity affecting time's speed or something?"

That's... the most logical explanation, but the fact it shows that at the end of the day is strange. How can it even detect that? And why would they even need that for a theme park of all things? Doesn't that sound like something that should be held in some government facility?

You hear someone step closer, it's not a robot, it's too fast and uneven. You quickly grab Claire and hide behind a bundle of pipes. There isn't a lot of space here, and you're sort of squished together, but it's better than throwing yourself under some machinery you don't know the purpose of.

>>6151816

The person is in fact, two persons, employees judging by how casually they're talking about what's going on here.

"Ugh, here too?" The first employee says. Her voice sounds a little bit robotic, but the tone is distinctly human. "Every attraction's acting weird today, gonna have to close the park early at this rate."

"I dunno, maybe having a few people go through the rollercoaster during whatever that 'temporal anomaly' is could get us some cool data points? If something bad happens, we can always sweep it under the rug." The second employee answers. You hear a few buttons being clicked.

"Yeah, I mean- fuck, I just hate the paperwork, that's all. I don't exactly enjoy putting people through surprise experiments, either. Revenge Insurance is a pain too, just- I'll call the higher ups to see if they can give us a few prisoners or some shit, no one will miss them."

"Didn't you used to be a prisoner too? Pretty willing to throw them into the mystery soup, aren't ya?"

"Whatever, getting executed in a theme park isn't the worst way to go. Let's get a move on, we still need to check the arena's back."

They leave, and you can get a glimpse of their stature from behind. The woman's tall, equipped with a cybernetic visor and a green, shimmering blade. The man's outfit looks simpler, like that of other employees of the park, the only thing of note being the two handguns strapped to his waist.

Once you're certain they're gone, you both slip out of the pipes; the rising heat of which was making it increasingly hard to stay hidden behind. You don't have time to catch your breath or learn more, you get out while you can.

Claire looks flustered, disheveled, excited, and scared all at the same time. "L-Let's just leave? Go back to my place, to talk about it, okay?" She stutters inbetween words, dragging you by the hand out of the theme park.

No one saw you, it's possible a few cameras did, however. You traverse the streets back to Claire's place, looking over your shoulder to make sure you're not being followed. You make it back safely to her room, she collapses on her bed, exhausted.

She squees, an unusual sound from her. "We just did that, didn't we? We heard stuff we shouldn't have, and they didn't find us, and- what if we're in trouble? Ah..." She sounds happy, she can't stop herself from smiling. Shouldn't this be terrifying for her? It's not like she knows the world will reset soon, right?

"Sorry I brought you into this, I didn't think-"

"No, no! It's great! Okay, it's bad, but it's like, we know something that others don't! And now, we're in this together." She raises her hand forward, gesturing for you to come closer. When you do so, she pulls you into a hug. "Associates."

>>6151817

She lets go of it, her smile fades, her eyes now look empty. "Ah, is it already over?" She says, her voice is the same, but the way she says it doesn't match the Claire you know. "I rarely get to enjoy the human city, it is a shame."

"Huh? What are you talking about, Claire?"

She tilts her head to the side. "Do you not know how this works? Here because of an accident, I presume. I'm not Claire, I am a spirit acting as her. I apologize if you feel as if I misled you, if it makes you feel better, I forget my true self when I start to act, I only remember it when the stage starts to fall apart. As such, I was for all intents and purposes your friend when the play started."

"Wait, isn't this like, an advanced divination spell? Isn't this all in my head? How does a spirit end here?"

"The more complicated something is, the hardest it is to simulate it. People in particular often require a lot of work to get right, this is why it is more efficient to let spirits like me act them out, we lose ourselves in that role, and the simulation becomes more accurate as a result, it is a win-win."

"But- But that's- Wait, so everything you did, it wasn't exactly what Claire would've done, right?"

She looks offended by that. "It is impossible to fully impersonate someone down to the most minute detail, but I will say that nothing I've done here was something your friend wouldn't have done. Now, the human city as a whole is quite hard to simulate for a variety of reasons, after all, so few of you use magic..."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

She pouts. You expected all spirits to act either mature or beast-like, but this one feels like a petulant child. She looks even angrier now, wait, can she tell what you're thinking?

"Your body language is so obvious. Yes, I can tell." She rolls her eyes, it reminds you of the older, more cynical Claire you know. "You may ask one question that I'll answer truthfully. Why? Because I truly enjoyed acting out a human for once, so I'm willing to give you this knowledge as a gift. I will not teach you any spells however, especially when you are already under another spirit quest."

She's annoying, but you're not going to skip out on free info. You should be careful about what you ask, though; you'd feel really stupid if a question you ask her could easily be answered by one of your teachers.

>Do you know of a way I could stop forgetting my girlfriend?
>Who is M?
>What was the 'solution' to this loop, anyway?
>Is there a way for me to rapidly gain mana beyond what I already have?
>What was up with that 'temporal anomaly' rollercoaster thing.
>You said humans were harder to simulate, why is that?
>Write in

>>6151818
Good question! I'm not sure, mhm...asking how we can stop forgetting Table or gain mana probably wouldn't help. I feel like we could ask something about the...nature? Of this loop. "M" seemed to have said that it showed we "valued" something. I'm a bit sad it wasn't an actual timetravel loop, though. Maybe we could have given Claire some better memories if it was.

Still, I don't know what we can ask her...would it be dumb to ask if there was even a purpose to this whole thing beyond checking out whether we valued our friends more than power and knowledge?

>>6151820
Okay, you know what, i don't think i'm gonna get much of an answer. So in case that nobod else has any idea.
>Write-in (Was there any meaning to this besides testing what i 'valued most'?)

>>6151838
That question feels too broad, she could just say she doesn't know.

M said that we "Chose a route", though. If the other route was power, what exactly does the one we chose mean? Just that we get nothing from this?

>>6151838
>>6151855
>You should be careful about what you ask, though; you'd feel really stupid if a question you ask her could easily be answered by one of your teachers.

>>6151818
As far as I'm aware our teachers have done all they can for us as a human by giving us Jack's book. Maybe they know of other ways but don't think we are ready. We could ask about the forgotten curse, that's something our teachers don't want to tell us.
>Is there a way for me to rapidly gain mana beyond what I already have?

>>6151872
Can they actually answer that though?

>>6151818
>Is there a way for me to rapidly gain mana beyond what I already have?

>>6151818
>Is there a way for me to rapidly gain mana beyond what I already have?

>>6151818
>Who is M?
I'm curious, damnit!

>>6151818
>"Do you want to form a contract?"
New spirit contract getto.

>>6152018
I don't think w ecan while we're "already under another spirit quest"...

>>6151941
>>6151919
>>6151884
>>6151872
>>6151838
>>6152018

You ask it if there's a way for you to rapidly gain mana beyond what you already have. She looks at you confused, blinking about three times before answering.

"I don't know? Have you tried the mana up method?" she answers with no sign of sarcasm in its voice.

"Yes, I have, it looks like pretty common knowledge in fact. It's slow, inefficient, and kind of a pain to set up every few days. I was expecting a method I don't know myself."

"I answered your question, didn't I? Mana up method. Not my fault you already knew it." She gives you a smug smile that looks very out of place on Claire's face.

"I asked how to rapidly gain mana beyond what I already have. It's not a proper answer if you're giving me a method that is neither fast nor unknown to me."

She opens her hand up and down like a sock puppet. So unbelievably childish. "Blah, blah, blaaaah. Fiiiine. There are other ways, normally getting M's attention is a good way to do it but I can tell they're already bored of you, not that it's a bad thing, getting their attention is much worse. Didn't I act out some guy with good mana once? Lots of memory to go through..."

She stops moving, her eyes somehow becoming even more devoid of life for a few minutes before suddenly coming back to life. "...weeell, do you want the ethical version, or the unethical one. Unethical is pretty easy and fast, just might need to break a few eggs."

"I'm smart enough to know the unethical one probably isn't worth it," you answer. "Just give me the ethical one; or both, if that's allowed."

"It's not allowed, only one. The ethical version is sorta... self harming? It's turning small bits of your soul into a wraith, then wait for your human soul to acclimate and turn it back to normal. You'll still get the added mana storage and generation of a wraith over time, but your soul will stay human!"

"What's the catch?" You narrow your eyes at her. There's no way it's that simple.

"If you mess it up, you'll turn into a wraith in the best case scenario, or something much worse if you're unlucky. Even if you don't mess it up, you should expect sudden mood swings, dreams of a past life, seeing alternate versions of yourself from other dimensions, and headaches."

"Do... do all wraiths get that?"

"There's a reason most wraiths pick up Divination magic, you know? It's to make their lives more manageable. Like a cancer patient becoming a doctor!"

"I guess I'll think about it. I don't even want to think what the unethical version consisted of."

"Murder," she says bluntly. "Anyway, that concludes our deal. Can I ask you a question before this all ends though?" Her hand reaches for your pocket, and pulls out that damn coin. "What's up with that thing?"

>>6152291

"Huh, you don't-" You don't get to finish your sentence, as the floor beneath you cracks and swallow you whole. You expected the world to slowly break apart, but maybe it was wishful thinking on your part for this nightmare of a loop to end with a proper light show instead of a whimper.

---

Your eyes open despite never having closed them in the first place. You don't wake up on the cold hard floor as you expected, but instead in a comfortable seat in a teacher's office. Of all the people to find you, the last one you expected was Suuri, your Intangible teacher.

He looks as imposing as always, a long tall cloaked figure with darkness hiding whatever true form it may have underneath. "You would have woken up even without my help, but I wished to be certain that your mental state was not altered in some way."

The sudden change in scenery from the human city to an office you've never seen before feels strange, but you wouldn't say you're panicking either, you did expect a teacher to check up on you after you woke up. "I think I'm mostly fine mentally. Although I guess I expected the loops to be more...straightforward? Like in stories, where there's a clear goal or way to break it?"

"The loops are not for you, they are for them. I'm sure you've met them before? Insufferable smile, cryptic messages, childish behavior."

"I...think I know who you're talking about? M, right? Who is that, anyway?"

Despite having no facial expressions, you can feel Suuri's anger at the mention of M's name. "A pest, yet a cornerstone of modern magic use. Nearly all spell you use pass by them in one way or another, not because magic needs them, but because it is convenient." You can feel the frustration in his last words, this convenience isn't something he approves of. "Why wouldn't they? Cheaper in mana, easier spells to learn, all they have to give up in exchange is this knowledge that should it strike its fancy, they could at any point be possessed and destroyed by their mysterious benefactor."

>>6152293

You're not sure how you're supposed to take all of that in. "How common knowledge is M, anyway? I never heard of them before."

"Well known by other spirits, controversial among everyone else due to religious bickering. Most mages have interacted with them once, but because of M's erratic personality and form, it is often interpreted as some form of angel from their chosen religion instead of what they really are: a leech."

"It's not like we can do much about it if so much of modern magic relies on it, right?"

It bends down to your level, the void where its face should be getting ever so closer to your eyes. "There is a way, but very few agreed with my solution. Perhaps you will find a better one? After all, humans are oh so very good at problem-solving." He points to the door. "I will not take more of your time, you will need rest, I simply encourage you to do your own research and come to your own conclusion, instead of listening to me. This is what this school is for, after all."

(there are no choices for this update, I kind of have to re-read a bunch of the last thread to make sure I get all the stuff you were doing before the time loop right since it's been a little while)

>>6152296
Fair enough.

I guess I was wrong about there being some deeper meaning or effect to the loop. Seems like it was just a dream and entertainment

>>6152307
There is to some extent, but it was more or less to decide M's disposition towards you among other things, the loop will still have an impact in its own way it wasn't all for nothing don't worry

>>6152293
>>6152294
Is killing Truth the only way to free the world from magic tyranny from behind the scenes? It sounds like then spells all become more costly and harder to learn worldwide

>>6152294
Huh, interesting...

>>6152296
Our reunion with Table is going to be awkward... We're literally not going to remember her for a bit, at all, which hasn't happened for a while.

>>6152342
But when she puts the bracelet on...

>>6152293
>Despite having no facial expressions, you can feel Suuri's anger at the mention of M's name. "A pest, yet a cornerstone of modern magic use. Nearly all spell you use pass by them in one way or another, not because magic needs them, but because it is convenient." You can feel the frustration in his last words, this convenience isn't something he approves of. "Why wouldn't they? Cheaper in mana, easier spells to learn, all they have to give up in exchange is this knowledge that should it strike its fancy, they could at any point be possessed and destroyed by their mysterious benefactor."
so he's the one being given mana to from the worms

>>6152404
He might not be. It still might be some forgotten god keeping himself completely invisible on purpose using the Forgotten race

>>6152294

You walk back to your room, unsure what to do next. Even though you weren't away that long, you're already starting to get lost, taking you half an hour to find your room again. You open the door to your dorm, collapse on the bed and-

"Ow- I was reading something, didn't you see me?" Someone says from under you. You didn't even see her; wait, isn't this your room? It has to be, right? You push yourself off of her, embarrassed. "So, you were in a timeloop, right? How bad was it? Didn't do anything weird just because you could get away with it, did you?"

She presses you with question you'd rather not answer. Who is she anyway? Your door was locked, and you don't think you gave anyone the ability to do anything other than knock on your door, the only person that should be able to do that is...

...is she? No, that doesn't make sense. Surely you'd remember her upon seeing her, right? That's how it's supposed to work, the only reason you were forgetting her was because she wasn't around, but that's reversible, it has to be. If you just jog your memory it'll all come back to you.

"It's fine if you don't want to tell me," she says after noticing your silence. "I trust you to not do something stupid just because you can." She smiles, you feel guilty, you feel like you don't deserve that smile considering you can't remember anything concrete about her.

"It was a few months of the same day, but far in the past, before I ever went to the school," you answer. You know you're lying, it was much less than a few months, but you feel ashamed of the fact that you may have forgotten someone so important to you in a matter of weeks. It's not like you didn't try, you even managed to keep the memory of the fact you even had a girlfriend at all, it's just a shame you couldn't remember anything else about her.

She looks at you, her eyes shrouded by something you can't perceive. "If that loop was before you got in the school, then be honest, did you forget about me?" She goes straight to the point. Maybe she saw the panic and confusion in your eyes, or maybe knowing the loop was in the past was all she needed to figure out what happened.

You look away. Even in this tense situation, why does every word that come out of her mouth feel so bland.

"Do you even feel anything when you look at me right now?" She asks.

You still don't answer. What does she want you to say? Should you lie? Should you be honest? Does it matter? You thought it'd all be solved when you came back, that true love would magically bring all these feelings and memories the moment you saw her. Yet all you can think of right now is that you'd rather be studying magic, or catch up with other friends.

>>6153623

She grabs something from under your bed, and gives it to you. Notes, all of them about things you supposedly did together. You glance at it, but you can't remember any of it, it's like looking at someone else's biography. Even so, it's undeniably you that wrote this, and what you wrote about her really does make her sound like someone you'd fall in love with but then, why?

Why can't you remember her? Even if you didn't remember her, shouldn't you at least feel something?

She- Table, puts a bracelet on. She feels clearer, more there than she was a minute ago, her dark, soft segmented skin revealed as her 'make up' falls off. You still don't remember her, yet she still feels familiar, a small sense of attraction that was dormant now crawling back to the surface of your heart. It's not strong, you could hardly call it love or even lust, but it's there, it's something.

She puts her hand on your shoulder, waiting for a reaction, waiting for you to say anything to ease her worries.

"I... do feel something when you're like that, it's not as strong as I thought it would be, but it's there," is all you can say. It's not what she wants to hear, but it's the truth.

She inhales, and slowly exhales. "I knew it was going too well, something had to ruin it all. It's fine, I still had more fun with you than any moment in my life, I can't say I regret any of it." She puts another hand on your shoulder, her grip tightens. "I still don't want to let you go. Maybe it's selfish, maybe it's not fair for you, or it's too much to ask but... can you give me another chance? Can we try again? I won't force anything on you, we don't have to have sex, or kiss, or even have dates. I just want to be able to hang out with you, and joke around and-" She's on the verge of tears, didn't you see her cry like this before? You don't remember the details, but you're sure you hated it back then too.

You get your face closer to hers, even though it feels wrong. You press your lips against hers. It feels rough, mushy, and...squishy. You run your hand along her hair, it's like her hair strands are glued to each other, but if you put just a little bit of effort you can separate them, as if they were lego pieces stuck to each other. You almost want to explore more of her body, but you're content doing something this simple for now.

>>6153624

Your lips part ways. She stopped crying, even if she still looks sad. "You don't have to force yourself, you know. If it makes you uncomfortable, I get it."

You shrug. "It's exciting to know you all over again, too, so it's not all bad for me."

She casts a few random spells to offload her mana, and takes off the bracelet. "Even now?"

You'd be lying if you said you felt that interested in her now that she put the bracelet back on, but you try out a quick kiss anyway. It doesn't feel as special, but it's not a bad experience either, you can see how your past self got used to this. Yeah, it's not so bad, it just means you get to make new memories with her.

You'll spend time with Table today, since ignoring her now could give her the wrong idea. What should you do with her, though?

>You can always hang out in the vault, you still have stuff to research in there anyway.
>Exercise is good, maybe you could jog with her outside the school for once.
>Playing video games with her doesn't sound bad, according to your notes she likes those.
>You want to do more research on M and timeloops, which means navigating the library with Table and the spirit's help.
>Something else (Write in)

>>6153625
>You can always hang out in the vault, you still have stuff to research in there anyway.
We ought to keep looking into the curse if we want to avoid this kind of problem. The forgotten heart in the lab should have healed by now, so we should be able to experiment on it again. Maybe we'll be able to find a way to improve the bracelet spell or to get ourselves a way to remember everything we forgot.

>>6153625
>Playing video games with her doesn't sound bad, according to your notes she likes those.
Plus tell her everything that happened in the time loops and how hard Atlas worked to remember she existed as it was slipping away, AND how we did nothing with Claire even before then

>>6153625
>You want to do more research on M and timeloops, which means navigating the library with Table and the spirit's help.
it sees like what an Atlas who has forgotten Table would focus on. Poor Table... :(

>>6153625
>Exercise is good, maybe you could jog with her outside the school for once.

>>6153625
>>You can always hang out in the vault, you still have stuff to research in there anyway.
We need to kill M for making us forget Table. I'm sorry, but it's the rules. He's next on the list after curing Table.

>>6153895
Attack and dethrone God?

>>6153895
I don't think it was necessarily his fault, though I could be wrong. We fucked with that metal, and continued to do so, knowing the time loop was a risk.

>>6153629
>>6153689
>>6153690
>>6153883
>>6153895

You remember the vault, but you don't remember a lot of what you did inside. You did some research in there about something, it's also where you met that spirit. You skim through what can only be called an autobiography of your time spent with Table, one that should never be published considering the excruciating amount of details it can go into. You reach the page related to the vault, you spent a lot of time here experimenting on the corpse of a forgotten; or what's left of it. To your surprise, you can remember a lot of that research after being reminded of it by your notes, which will make the process of catching up to your previous work a lot easier.

You make it to the vault with Table in silence. It wasn't complete silence, as much as it was attempts at starting a conversation that ran dry after only a few sentences. You don't blame her, it's just hard to act casually after things changed so suddenly for the two of you. From what you can read, she used to tease you a lot even before you got together; shouldn't she still be doing that despite what happened? Or maybe she's afraid it might come off as too forward for someone you just forgot.

"I'm going to..." Table gestures to the vault's library. "...read some stuff while you do whatever, okay? Don't want to bother you. Just call me if you need me. I don't want to... think about what you're doing down there, that's all."

You want to ask her if she's okay, but that sounds like a rhetorical question that's better asked somewhere else. According to your notes, you've been spending a lot of sleepless nights studying that forgotten's remains. You'll alternate between spending time with Table and experimenting so she doesn't feel left out this time around, even if it might come across as a little forced.

Now, as for the experiment, what can you do with what you know...

>Curse Embargo+: An upgrade to the bracelet. Lasts longer and any memories made with it will be much easier to remember even when it's off. (Requires help from either Kit or Ivy.)
>High Clarity: A spell designed to see forgottens very clearly and nothing else. The spell lasts for an entire day, and twists the mind into interpreting the curse wrong, making everything else feel boring instead. Shouldn't be cast more than once a week to avoid potential permanent mind effects. (Requires help from Dill.)
>Analysis Burst: A spell designed to compile any information you already know about a forgotten. Like a dream, the memories will be quickly forgotten if not written down, but it can help you remember info you may not have written down before. (Requires help from Nina, the Divination teacher.)

>>6154361
>Curse Embargo+: An upgrade to the bracelet. Lasts longer and any memories made with it will be much easier to remember even when it's off. (Requires help from either Kit or Ivy.)
Keep sticking to what works

>>6154361
>Analysis Burst: A spell designed to compile any information you already know about a forgotten. Like a dream, the memories will be quickly forgotten if not written down, but it can help you remember info you may not have written down before. (Requires help from Nina, the Divination teacher.)
Get back what was lost!

>>6154361
Question, would Analysis Burst work to help us remember the stuff we already did and forgot? Or did I misunderstand what it does?

>>6154393
It can help recover lost memories, but only for a short time, it'll still disappear once the spell wears off. (that doesn't mean an upgrade or another spell may not be able to work around that limitation though)

>>6154409
Another Spell? In that case, we should just ask Nina about it later. She'll probably know more. This one isn't good enough.
>>6154361
>>Curse Embargo+: An upgrade to the bracelet. Lasts longer and any memories made with it will be much easier to remember even when it's off. (Requires help from either Kit or Ivy.)

>>6154409
Hmm... Well, maybe I'll switch to back
>Curse Embargo+
then. That way, if it takes a while, we can at least make new memories... And if we can't fix what's been broken, at least Table still gets something out of it. ;_;

>>6154361
>>6154378 was my old vote. Formally changing it.

>>6153917
Yes.
>>6153922
It was just explicitly stated that the only reason the timeloop started was for his amusement. If we can't kill him then we'll break his fucking kneecaps.

>>6154361
>Curse Embargo+: An upgrade to the bracelet. Lasts longer and any memories made with it will be much easier to remember even when it's off. (Requires help from either Kit or Ivy.)
Then we can get the Analysis Burst later and recover our old memories. Heck, maybe we can talk about them with Table as we write them down to further cement them.

>>6154419
Dude what if Atlas could simply use his laptop to video record himself talking about his old memories as he recovers them with Analysis Burst? Why can't he and Table make videos about stuff they've done, including NSFW stuff? Sure paper notes are fine and all but he should still also get digital with them too. Backups nigga

>>6154423
Both, because if some dumbass touches our computer it melts. I will say that I THINK that Forgotten corrupt video footage that they're in.

>>6154425
I dunno if that's true, but I know Table is corrupting something of Atlas', if you get my drift...

>>6154442
>Timeline where Atlas keeps forgetting Table due to shenanigans
>Every time Atlas falls back in love with her as he gets to know her
>He views it as a tragic love story that redoubles his passion and drive to cure her every time he remembers her
>Table hates being forgotten but gets to indulge in her corruption kink multiple times so she doesn't mind as much as she thought she would

>>6154361
>Curse Embargo+: An upgrade to the bracelet. Lasts longer and any memories made with it will be much easier to remember even when it's off. (Requires help from either Kit or Ivy.)

>>6154449
>>6154419
>>6154413
>>6154412
>>6154378
>>6154373

Upgrading the bracelet is what you should focus on right now. 'Curing' Table is surely going to take a long time, and if you can make the bracelet work more efficiently, it means the risk of you losing interest or forgetting about your research in the long term will decrease. A big issue of the bracelet is that even if most of the symptoms of the curse disappear when she wears it, it doesn't stop you from forgetting her once she puts it back on, but these specific memories take longer to fade away.

You look deeper into it; with the help of your spirit friend and a lot of reading, you find what many like to refer to as the 'cognizant universe' theory. In short, it's the idea that the universe itself is aware of things and feel certain ways about them. Just like the seeker spirit says that 'some things wish to be found', the cognizant universe theory implies it's the universe that is putting emphasis on this thing. No one really seems to agree if the universe is an aware being like a god, or if it does things out of pure instinct. It's not something that is easily proven, especially with how inconsistent the results tend to be.

Now, the reason you mention this is simple: A forgotten doesn't erase their memory from your mind, they're either being hidden or forgotten by the universe itself by their curse, which in turn messes up how everyone else perceives it too. It's the same logic as that one illusion metal that managed to trick the universe into believing it's real. In other words, you need to make sure that the bracelet doesn't just stop the curse from spilling out, but to also protect it from being hit by the curse when it comes back.

You have no idea how to do that. Divination magic sounds like it would fit the bill, it's all about illusions, memories and prediction after all, but...

Wait, what kind of spell IS the curse, anyway? You were convinced it was divination, but the harder you look at it, the less sense it makes. Divination spells have a certain feel to them, and what they hide can usually be decoded and revealed in some way, this doesn't feel like the memories are being obscured, it's like they're just not here anymore, yet some traces are left behind.

>>6155402

>>6155403

So are the memories being outright deleted, not hidden? What about analysis, didn't that sort of work on her? So much stuff doesn't add up here. Out of ideas, you ask Table what she thinks, and she mentions Kit managed to remember her just fine, and that maybe you could ask him. He's one of the most available teachers, so you think there's no harm in trying.

Back to the school, you find Kit designing one of the dungeon exams for second year students. It looks...very complicated, from what you can tell. He quickly closes the portals that lead to the dungeons when he sees you arrive. "Hello, Hello! No peeking, alright? Not like you could figure out how to beat that one from a glance. Is this about your friend, still?" He points a finger at Table. He really has no trouble remembering her.

You get to the point and ask him how he can remember her so easily, along with some details you've found about her curse.

"Hmm, right, right. So you say that the memories aren't being obscured, and that they're not here anymore. Tell me, if you had to hide something, what would be a really good spot for it?"

You raise an eyebrow. "A place that people aren't likely to look into?"

He nods. "Correct, correct! But, if someone sees you hiding it, then they'll easily find it, don't you think? Now, let's say you stole something, and you cast a spell that made you very boring to look at, then you could easily find a place to hide that thing without being tailed."

Table speaks up, "And where would they hide that thing they stole?"

Kit smiles, and opens a portal. "Portals can store a lot of things, dear students! Yet, I haven't answered your question, how come I can remember it? What's my secret?"

"You said something about the realm of madness a few months ago, right?" Table answers. "Is that where memories are stored?"

He shakes his head. "Nooo, think about it harder. You can also remember those things, albeit not as well as me, yet the dimension you're in can't. The universe, they're like... a very overbearing mom, and you're like a child to them. A child listens to their mom, and they think their mom is always right, when your mom says something didn't happen, then you go 'ah, guess that memory I made is false, then' and wabam! It's thrown away. However, when you've been into an abusive household like myself and get...very used to gaslighting, you start to question your parents a lot more- that's a very long metaphor, you get what I'm putting down, don'tcha?"

>>6155410

"So... how do you not listen to the universe, then?" You ask.

"Do listen to your mom, please. Just because the universe is occasionally wrong doesn't mean it's not overwhelmingly correct most of the time. Disagreeing with the universe constantly also has consequences, what I'm trying to say is that my way of doing things isn't what you want. Now, with everything I said, what do you think the solution is? What's the best way to upgrade that bracelet of yours?"

A solution...

>What if you hid the memories you made with the bracelet in another dimension to hide it from the curse?
>If the curse isn't deleting the memory but moving them somewhere else, maybe you can try to apply an embargo on memories too?
>Could you develop a tolerance for that memory loss if you modified the bracelet to spread the curse to you too for a short time?
>Something else...(write in)

>>6155404
>If the curse isn't deleting the memory but moving them somewhere else, maybe you can try to apply an embargo on memories too?
Inflicting it on ourselves wouldn't work. Table doesn't have an resistance to other forgotten, after all. And hiding the memories from the universe...by putting it in a part of the universe, seems dumb. I'll happily take any other ideas though...

>>6155411
>What if you hid the memories you made with the bracelet in another dimension to hide it from the curse?
>>6155419
I'm curious as to why op deleted 2 doots

Wait, I have an idea. What if we could "seal" the memories? Embargo doesn't usually work on memories, right? Just portals. So if we can change it to make it work on memories, would it be possible to perhaps Seal them in place so the universe can't take them?

>>6155487
(it was a minor mistake, just an italic markdown I didn't close properly, which made everything in italics. No one answered at the time, so i wanted to change it while I could)

>>6155488
Like, can we suggest this idea? I'd be fine with going with 'embargo' if it doesn't work, I guess.

>>6155488
+1 suggest this

>>6155488
Support this possibility.
>>6155411
based teacher just saying "nuh uh" when reality tells him to forget things

>>6155411
I don't think the third would work, since Forgotten find EACH OTHER boring, too, right?

>>6155411
>>6155488 +1, and if that isn't possible
>If the curse isn't deleting the memory but moving them somewhere else, maybe you can try to apply an embargo on memories too?

>>6155567
>>6155537
>>6155541
>>6155487
>>6155419
>>6155488

"Would it be possible to 'seal' the memories in place? So that they can't be taken away?" You propose.

Kit doesn't shoot the idea down immediately, he looks up at the sky, deep in thought before making a dismissive gesture. "Not inherently a bad idea. However, sealing memories in place could make it rigid or harder to share. It wouldn't be a bad solution if you were trying to keep a secret or remember something forever and ever; but that has pretty nasty drawbacks if you don't know what you're doing. Another idea?"

"What about an embargo on memories. If the memories are being taken to another dimension, then stopping the memories from being moved would be a good thing, right?"

He nods. "That's more doable, yes. I wouldn't can the Seal method just yet, it's just something that I'd expect a third year to handle, ya know? Not like what you're doing now isn't much for a first year, not every student bother with...extracurricular activities like you do, one might say. Now, for that bracelet of yours, you didn't really use Embargo, did you? You'd have no reason to bother learning it in my class this month if that was the case."

Right, you were practicing the Embargo spell before that whole timeloop thing, weren't you? Basically, you only made an embargo version that only worked for one specific thing, instead of learning a more flexible version like the one you're learning right now. In other words... you're going to need to finish learning that spell first before making progress.

Kit notices your silence and speaks again. "I will say, doing an embargo on meta-physical concepts like memories can be hard with the base version of the spell, one might say you need to upgrade it to make it work."

He's not subtle as to what he's implying, but you wonder how he knows you can upgrade spells in the first place, it's not like Divination is his specialty, is it?

You feel someone squeeze your hand hard. Table was holding it this entire time, and you've only started noticing it when she tightened her grip; she doesn't look at you, but it's obvious she wants some attention too.

Rushing a project like this isn't for the best, especially since you promised yourself you'd alternate between research and spending time with her. You squeeze her hand back, expecting some teasing from the teacher, but all he does is smile gently, a sad look in his eyes.

"This school was made so that the circumstances of your birth do not dictate what will become of you," Kit says in an unusually serious tone. "But you won't be here forever, it might look like we're hands-off a lot of the time, but it's to prepare the lot of you to a cruel, uncaring magic world, you dig? However, as long as you're here, you don't have be afraid to try new things, magic is wonderful, and if you fail we'll be here to fix it right up! Enjoy it while it lasts!"

>>6156442

Table scratches her head, as if she's trying to understand some hidden meaning in his words. "Uh, thanks?"

He gives her a thumbs up, and jumps into a portal to who knows where. Strange guy.

"So, do you want to do anything today?" You ask Table.

"You," She answers with a straight face.

You flick her forehead. "In public, really? At least wait for us to get back into my room."

"Pfrrt, yeaaah dude, like you're not getting off to the idea of being caught." She says with a sly look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" You ask, confused.

"Wait, you didn't get to that part of your notes? Or did you already forget... oh boy, that's going to be great to revisit, I mean, if you want."

"I still don't know what you're talking about, Table."

"Wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you, would it?" She suppresses a laugh. It's nice to see her be comfortable around you again. "Okay, apart from that, I do need help with a few things. I wrote some more stuff that could use your editorial talent, I said I'd help Mirabelle catch up on some studies but we're in no hurry, quite frankly she probably already forgot I said I'd do it. I also want to mess with Aroth and Charlotte again, lots of teasing potential there..."

"Huh, you're getting popular, aren't you? So many people to talk to."

She shrugs. "Nah, only because you're around, they only remember me as 'Atlas's girlfriend' at most."

It sounds like she doesn't mind whatever you pick, she just wants you to be around when she does them.

>you could take a look at what she's writing.
>Help Mirabelle, that parasite turned wraith, in her studies.
>Mess with Aroth and Charlotte, Table really enjoys messing with people.
>Something else? It does look like she wants to hang out with other people if possible... (Write in)

>>6156443
>Help Mirabelle, that parasite turned wraith, in her studies.
She seems to want to spend time with other people too.

>>6156443
>Mess with Aroth and Charlotte, Table really enjoys messing with people.
Get some couples shenanigans going. Also tell Table EVERYTHING that happened in the time loop, plus M, plus the lizard helping to remember Table, etc. Stress how hard Atlas tried to not forget or cheat

>>6156472
I agree with telling Table about everything, including the parts about Claire. If we do try to eventually befriend Claire again later down the line, however unlikely that is, i'd want Table to know we have a reason for doing it.

>>6156443
>Mess with Aroth and Charlotte, Table really enjoys messing with people.

>>6156472
>>6156477
I have to disagree about sharing the particulars of what we did or almost did with Claire. Nothing good comes from explaining in detail to your current significant other that you had sappy or sexual dreams about an ex.

>>6156486
>Nothing good comes from explaining in detail to your current significant other that you had sappy or sexual dreams about an ex.
That's not what I meant. I meant in the sense that we should tell her about how we were stuck in the loop going through that day over and over with our former friend and tried everything we could to remember her.

>>6156443
>Mess with Aroth and Charlotte, Table really enjoys messing with people.

>>6156491
Oh, sure. Just not the "Magic Feel" situation or hair-brushing or anything else like that.

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(Sorry for the much slower update recently, been drawing some stuff on the side and generally getting distracted. Will update tomorrow.)

>>6157324
>three
no problemo. waiting warmly

>>6157324
>>6157334
>four
>three
I don't get it.

>>6157334
>two

>>6157339
>three
>I don't get it.
I wrote it wrong

>>6156443
>>Mess with Aroth and Charlotte, Table really enjoys messing with people.

>>6156564
+1, we should let her know that we at least tried to remember, as hard as we could

caught up with the quest after months. im happy that you anons made good and entertaining choices in my absence; and thanks OP for keeping the quality high.

>>6157537
>>6156559
>>6156486
>>6156491
>>6156472
>>6156448

"It's been a while since I've talked to Aroth, I wonder how his relationship with Charlotte is going?"

Table smiles. "Why? Interested in their threesome?"

"Not really. I just hope Aroth's happy with Charlotte, that's all. Speaking of... uh, you know, that time loop thing? Where I forgot about you?"

"All I had was the note you left behind before collapsing. You didn't explain much of what happened there, and it felt rude to ask. You said you were in a time before you met me, right?"

You nod. "Yeah. It was a normal day in the human city when I was about 15. I did try my best to remember you, but every note I took disappeared over time. By the time I was able to contact my spirit to make a time proof note, all I could remember was that I had a girlfriend, and nothing else about her."

She looks away from you with a pained expression. "How did you even know I was your girlfriend then? What if I was just some girl that was in your room, gaslighting you into believing I was the one?" Her tone isn't accusatory, she just sounds sad.

"Well, I didn't believe you when you just showed up in my room, but then there were simply too many coincidences for you to not be my girlfriend. I knew my girlfriend was someone that was easy to forget, which I could feel with your curse when talking to you, you already had access to my room, acting very casually, you also had notes I made that could've been fabricated, but were too in depth to have been made by someone that didn't know me intimately at the very least."

She looks surprised that you thought about this in depth. Maybe she did secretly expect you to have simply remembered her in your heart instead of using deduction reasoning. "...did you really not try to do anything with anyone when you were in that loop? It's not like I would've ever known."

>>6157929

You shake your head. You're not lying, but you do wonder how long you would've lasted if the loop went on for longer. Even with the notes, what if you spilled something on it or you just forgot to check up on it one day? What if the loop lasted for years? Wouldn't you have at least been a little curious to see what happened? Are you truly that strong?

Maybe it doesn't matter, you're back to your normal life now, and you'll be more careful when handling that looped metal. The conversation stops there, as you spot Aroth and Charlotte eating something on the campus grass.

Table gets back to her peppy self when she notices a teasing opportunity. "Aww, did your wife cook this for you, Aroth?" She sits down next to them. "Cute."

Aroth looks flustered, but Charlotte looks happy about it. "Don't tell anyone, but we've been together for a little while now..." Char whispers just loud enough for the two of you to hear.

Table gasps dramatically. "Really? I could've never guessed."

"Charlotte, you can't just tell the first person you talk to, we talked about that." Aroth pulls Lotte's cheek. You expected him to go for Char since she's the body who spoke, but it's likely he sees the two bodies as interchangeable when it comes to Charlotte.

"She's a friend of Atlas, so it must be okay." Lotte answer, speaking more slowly than her excitable counterpart. "How long are we planning to keep this a secret?"

Table mutters 'girlfriend', even if you think the fact that Charlotte was able to remember Table as a friend at all was impressive, or maybe she just deduced that her hanging out with you meant you must already be friends. You wonder how many people truly remember Table and how many of them just guess who she is based on context cues.

>>6157930

Aroth looks to his side. Turning to see what he's staring at, you notice the demon princess not so subtly looking at him still, only to shyly go back to pretending to read a book as if she wasn't caught red-handed. "I just don't know what she'll do if we make it public," he says, with a lot less stuttering than you expected.

"I talked to her, I don't think she'll do anything, she just can't get over you since you left a pretty big impression on her," Table mentions. "I tried to pair her up with a few classmates, but a lot of them are scared of her. She's strong and royalty, that's enough reason for people to avoid her unless she directly flirts with them, which she won't."

"Sucks for her, cause he's mine!" Char rubs her head against him like a cat. "Miiine." Aroth grabs her head with one hand and pushes her off. He's easily embarrassed by Table's teasing, but he has no trouble handling Charlotte's overt physical contact. Sure, they're a couple, but having a two bodied girlfriend must be a lot for his usually submissive self.

"Oh, he's yours is he? Do you own him? Do you walk all over him?" Table wastes no time grabbing the opportunity that Char gave her.

"Other way around," Lotte states. "It's true that there was that one time-" Lotte's mouth is covered by Aroth's hand, with Char laughing like an idiot. Table is right, this is kind of fun.

"A-Anyway. What was that about a timeloop, Atlas? Fet said something happened to you." Aroth tries to change the subject.

"Huh, Fet? I don't think I told anyone but the teacher and Table that I went through this, how does she know."

Aroth shrugs. "I don't know? She came to me and asked if I talked to you after a timeloop thing. I said I had no idea what she was talking about, and she left. She was mumbling something to herself too, it was weird."

You want to ask him more about this, but Table reminds you that your Material class is starting in a few minutes. You'll have to ask Fet later about this, you're sure it's nothing to worry about, but something about this doesn't feel right.

You sit down at your desk and listen to the usual teacher's blurb at the start of every class. To be honest you're not really listening, you know he's saying something about 'extra-material' where things that shouldn't have a solid form become possible to touch and manipulate. You already have some experience with this, you'll just review your notes about what he said later.

>>6157932

Now, the fun stuff, Material spells. Those new spells are a lot more destructive than those you've learned previously, but cost more mana. You remember that crystal guy using a lot of those spells very effectively when he was sparring against Ivy, so they must be very good for combat.

Learn a spell from the previous class:
>Gravity: A rune that makes everything gravitate towards it, its power scaling with mana. However, things will only gravitate towards the surface of the rune, and not other things around it. For example, a cube with a gravity rune on its right side will only attract things on its right side, while the other sides will not do anything. You can work around this by etching the rune over the entire surface of an object instead.
>Heavy: A rune that increases weight, often used offensively to make a weapon hit harder, or to keep someone in place with suddenly heavier restraints.
>Harden: Make something less likely to bend and break, at the cost of its flexibility. Can make something as simple as a shirt capable of tanking sword swings, but you won't be able to move as easily in it.

Additionally, learn a new spell:
>Crumble: A spell that rapidly accelerates the deterioration of a solid object. Most rocks and fabric will start falling apart, but destroying metal this way is very inefficient.
>Artificial Flaw: Creates a weak point within an object. Striking this weak point will severely damage the entire object. Unlike crumble, you have much less control over how the item is destroyed, but it is much cheaper in mana.
>Delivery: A large rune that can move a big chunk of solid material somewhere else. Only one rune needs to be drawn, the further away you want to move the material in question, the more expensive the spell becomes. The material is not teleported, but instead moved rapidly through any available free space.
>Kinetic Delay: A rune that stops the current momentum of a solid object. If the rune is activated again, the previously stored momentum will be released. The object can still move even after the rune has been activated, but whatever momentum it may have will be replaced by the previously stored momentum when re-activated.

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>>6157934
>Harden
This seems like it can be pretty damn useful. Especially when combo'd with Seal.
>Kinetic Delay
Wouldn't this literally allows us to pull a Kraftwerk? Like, imagine taking something like a bullet and then repeatedly hitting it while the rune is on to build up power, then releasing it during a duel or battle for massive damage.

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>>6157934
>>Harden: Make something less likely to bend and break, at the cost of its flexibility. Can make something as simple as a shirt capable of tanking sword swings, but you won't be able to move as easily in it.
Good for our armor.

>Artificial Flaw: Creates a weak point within an object. Striking this weak point will severely damage the entire object. Unlike crumble, you have much less control over how the item is destroyed, but it is much cheaper in mana.
Immediately made me think of picrel, and doesn't rely on adding more mana. Gotta vote for it.

>>6157934
>Harden
It just works
>Artificial Flaw
I sense something good about this. Kinetic Delay is cool and all but it makes Atlas feel too much like Weaver for me

>>6157939
Specifically, it stores the current momentum dead in its tracks, but it won't really float midair, it'll act as a regular object until the rune is reactivated again, and the momentum is released. The momentum doesn't stack as it is entirely replaced by the previously stored moment when it's released.

That would mean however that you could inscribe a rune on a bullet, shoot it, then immediatly store its momentum, making the bullet fall to the ground, you could then throw the bullet, reactivate the rune, and it'll suddenly move as if it just got shot.

Now there is a way to stack momentum with those runes, but you'll have to find that out yourself.

>>6157970
>Now there is a way to stack momentum with those runes,
Would that way perhaps be stacking the rune with Seal? Or at least some upgraded version of seal that can seal stuff mid-air.

I wonder how delivery and kinetic delay interact? I know we can only choose one.

>>6157934
>Heavy: A rune that increases weight, often used offensively to make a weapon hit harder, or to keep someone in place with suddenly heavier restraints.

>Artificial Flaw: Creates a weak point within an object. Striking this weak point will severely damage the entire object. Unlike crumble, you have much less control over how the item is destroyed, but it is much cheaper in mana.
interesting combo

>>6157934
>Gravity
>Kinetic Delay

>Harden
>Delivery

>>6158963
>>6158821
>>6158006
>>6157973
>>6157962
>>6157945
>>6157939

Harden gives you much needed defensive options, and Artificial flaw sounds like it has potential; it's also cheaper in mana, something that's always good to account for when picking new spells. It feels like it's been ages since you had a proper magic class again, but what you like to call your 'magic muscle memory' is as functional as ever, you have no trouble casting spells you couldn't in the loop. That doesn't mean you should slack off; taking a look at the other students, most of them are either learning spells you haven't, or figuring out ways to use them you didn't think of, one in particular is that crystal guy that has, allegedly, been on such a win streak in duels recently that he's now put against second year students to make it more fair.

From what you've heard, that hasn't stopped his win streak, and even worse than that, Ivy's combat and magic prowess has only risen as a result with how often they practice together. From what you're hearing, his main strength is being an unrelenting force that also adapts very fast to new information. Any trick on him won't work twice, and he always uses just as much magic as he needs so that any war of attrition is always ending in his favor. Weirdly enough, his incredible magic prowess only seem to apply during duels, as he seems unable to think through dungeon puzzles if there isn't anything to defeat. Apparently some students tried to use mind spells to convince him there wasn't really a fight in an attempt to win, but the moment a duel starts, nothing really seems able to change his mindset, you're pretty sure even Reinforce Belief wouldn't work on him.

The reason you're taking such an interest in him is simple, you really want to know how he does it. You're going to need to do that trip to that human vault one day, and you want to be ready for it. That means saving mana and being able to fight if you need to, two things he seems very good at.

Problem, he's a friend of Ivy who also surely said a lot of bad things about you, so you're not sure how good of an opinion of you he has. Of course, it's not like you need his help right now, you just want to make sure you're as prepared as you can be for that trip. There are other ways to get stronger, after all.

>You'll try to ask for help from the crystal guy, he seems reasonable, so it shouldn't be too hard.
>You were just told about a method of increasing your mana, but it sounds dangerous, maybe you could ask a Wraith like Mirabelle about it?
>You want to talk with Fet, how did she know about that timeloop thing anyway?
>You can put that off for later, you want to spend more time with Table and finish upgrading that bracelet before the end of the month if you can.

>>6159065
>You want to talk with Fet, how did she know about that timeloop thing anyway?
Very sus. After that we can finish the braceletm

>>6159066
+1

>>6159065
>You want to talk with Fet, how did she know about that timeloop thing anyway?
1st order of business, see why our friend had such info

>>6159065
>You want to talk with Fet, how did she know about that timeloop thing anyway?

>>6159255
>>6159196
>>6159123
>>6159066

It's weird that Fet knew about your time loop experience. Sure, there might be a rational explanation for this, like a teacher telling her or her noticing that you took away looped metal, but it still feels like something she shouldn't be aware of when hardly enough time has passed for a rumor to start spreading.

You won't jump to conclusions just yet. Table says she'll stay around you but won't reveal herself, something about wondering how Fet will act if she doesn't know Table is there. You wouldn't say Table is hiding as much as not bringing attention to her, but that natural social camouflage of her might as well make her invisible anyway.

You knock on Fet's door, no answer. You do it again, still nothing. You go to Mirabelle to ask her where Fet is, and she says she's probably up on the school's roof. There's no direct path to said roof, you sort of have to use magic to get there. You almost consider climbing by sealing and unsealing your shoes, but Table called your idea stupid and dangerous. She used gravity runes inscribed on rocks to use them as climbing tools instead, which you still think is unsafe for a variety of reasons, but you can't complain since you got to the roof just fine. Most of the school's roof are pointy and rectangular, but a few of them have flat surfaces that students can hang out on. You assume the reason the roofs don't have a more conventional way of getting to them to encourage magic use, and you can't say it's not working, there's more people up there than you expected, mostly second and third year students though; Fet is the only person you recognize over here.

She's standing at the edge of the stone roof, looking up at some clouds. She flinches when you call out her name, she raises a wing, motioning you to come closer.

"H-Hey, uh, it's a little- I mean, high for you, right? How did you get here?" Fet asks. It doesn't look like she noticed Table who sat down right next to you, as her gaze is fixated on you instead.

"I used gravity runes, Mirabelle told me I'd find you here. Let's get to the point, how did you know I was in a time loop? Aroth say you asked him about it."

She freezes up. "Uhm, it's b-because, you- you know. The, uhm, you said-" She closes her eyes, taking in deep, frantic breaths. "A...teacher told me?" She's nervously scratching her feathers.

"I didn't tell any of the teachers about this, though. And even if they knew, why would they tell you specifically," you lie. You did tell a teacher, but something tells you she doesn't know that.

"Uhm- I- it's just that uhm... I thought you'd tell Aroth, since he was your friend and, uhm, I was k-kind of worried about you, y-you know?"

"That doesn't explain how you knew about it, though. Fet, I'm not mad or anything, I just want to know how you figured what was happening to me, that's all." You smile to try and reassure her, you've gotten a lot better at faking empathy since the time loop.

>>6161654

"S-So, I've been through a loop myself in the- uhm, the past. S-So now when someone else is pulled into o-one, err, I kind of know? That's not quite right. I can see other loops in my dreams, uhm- I saw yours, is what I'm saying," she explains, bringing more questions than answers.

"Hold on, you could see my loop in your dream? How does that even work? It's something to have my spirit access it with a direct link, but what about you?"

"Uhm, uh, it's like- You've met them, right? The person that's uh, y-you know..."

"M. I've been told about them, yeah."

She nods. "Y-Yeah, they sometimes keep loops going on their side, to uhm, you know? T-Test stuff out, they just throw people in it sometimes for their amusement, or because the loop needs someone that's experienced the events directly."

You wait for her to elaborate, but all she does is dust off the stone under her talons, waiting for you to answer. "Sorry, but that still doesn't explain how you were able to 'see' my loop like this, surely it's not as simple as being in proximity to you."

"It's just that I- uhm, w-when I'm stressed, I like sticking myself in a small loop sometimes. J-Just a few days, nothing too bad, but sometimes you get pulled into other people's loops. I didn't see much of yours, felt intrusive so I uhm, I left, but you looked very distraught, that's why I wanted to ask if you were okay."

Didn't she say she could see other loops in her dreams? There's a pretty big difference between experiencing a loop yourself and 'dreaming' it. She might just be stumbling over her words though. "What did you exactly see, Fet?" You ask, with Table leaning closer as the conversation just got interesting.

"Y-You were hanging out with that girl a lot. I-I think I saw you going to some kind of school, but I couldn't navigate that place you were in, a-and, again, I wasn't here long! So I didn't see anything private or anything!" She sounds defensive, but you think she's telling the truth. "A-Atlas. Sorry if that's a weird question, but did you really hate it that much? Wasn't it, uh, kinda nice to not have to worry about consequences, or knowing how everything in the day would go?"

That is a weird question. No, it wasn't an enjoyable experience in the slightest, but...

>"It was nice to be able to talk to an old friend like this before things went bad."
>"It was awful, I have things I want to come back to in the real world, like magic and Table."
>"I wish I could have spent that time practicing magic, but it wasn't worth the price."
>"If there was a way to experience those loops without losing myself, I suppose it could be useful to try stuff I normally wouldn't."
>Something else (Write in)

>>6161655
>"It was nice to be able to talk to an old friend like this before things went bad."
After all, it's aort of what we players thought.

>"I wish I could have spent that time practicing magic, but it wasn't worth the price."
Glance at Table when we say this.

welcome back, OP!

>>6161663
+1

>>6161655
>"I can't deny I wish some things went like it did. It was nice having Claire as a friend again."
Let's not deny it, alright? We already showed we are totally loyal to Table, but that doesn't mean we have to act like we didn't wish we convinced Claire to come with us to magic school.

>>6161663
Trying to say that is just a plain lie, anon. We *had* plenty of chances to practice magic, but we kept going for Claire time and time again. It's foolish to deny it.

>>6161655
Changing vote from >>6161701 to backing >>6161705

>>6161705
We kept going for Claire because, at least in part, we thought it was the way to escape. We went with her to places that could be helpful in understanding how to escape. We practiced magic with her. We told her about the loop. A lot of this was out of a desire to GTFO, IMO.

>Let's not deny it, alright
Anon, the fiest part of my vote is an acknowledgement. The seocnd part is a reassurance to Table.

>>6161713
While our ultimate goal was indeed to complete the loop, we figured out pretty early there were multiple ways to go about it. In fact, when we chose to ignore Claire so we could talk to our parents about how we wanted to do magic, we even got an M instead of an X. Yet despite that we still chose to go about it through our relationship with Claire. Even when we were literally told we made our choice and the last loop was irrelevant, did we try to copy the perfect rune or something else? No. We chose to do the thing Claire wanted the most.

It's just denial to say we didn't ostensibly go through the loop for the Claire route. We may have kept our loyalty to Table, but still, between magic and claire, we chose Claire.

Anyway, we don't really need assurance. We already said we stayed loyal. If anything, the fact we didn't do anything despite the opportunity and friendship being there and us not remembering anything beyond having a girlfriend just shows how much we care for her.

>>6161734
>Anyway, we don't really need assurance.
Anon, of course Table needa assurance. This is her single greatest insecurity.

>>6161746
Table's greatest fear is about her being forgotten. She's not afraid of Atlas choosing to leave her. There was even that time she tried cosplaying as one of our teachers for sex before Atlas said no. She's definitely not insecure over that.

What she is insecure about is Atlas forgetting her, and being left alone. She got assurance for that when we still chose to kiss her after forgetting our memories in the loop.

I don't think she'd feel threatened by Claire, at least. Not when we had every opportunity to do what we wanted to her and didn't despite her literally being the "childhood friend"

>>6161655
>"It was nice to be able to talk to an old friend like this before things went bad."

>>6161778
>>6161746
>>6161705
>>6161701
>>6161663

"Fet, I can't deny I enjoyed experiencing what would've happened if I did this or that, it was nice having that person as a friend again, but it's not healthy to lose yourself in what ifs either, you know? That friend that I had she's... not the same person anymore, and if I have to talk to someone, it has to be the real her, not a past version of herself." You look back at Table, her expression is neutral. Somehow Fet still doesn't notice her presence despite you looking directly at Table.

"Y-Yeah, but... ah, no, you're right. We all have to face rea- reality at some point. If there was a way to..." She stares off into the distance. "...sorry. I-I need some time to myself. Can we, uhm, talk later?" She doesn't wait for you to answer, and jumps down the roof.

"That was sudden." You sit down on the roof with Table. "There's still something off about her, but it's not like it'll do much to harass her about it."

"Hey, if you didn't know me, what would you have done in that loop?" Table asks, staring deep into your eyes.

"I- I don't know? I mean, I guess I..." You don't finish your sentence. To be honest, having sex with Claire might have happened out of morbid curiosity, or maybe because you would've gotten tired of rejecting her all the time. Not having to think about Table would've made the experience less stressful too, so much of that time was spent forcing yourself to not forget her, it wasn't exactly a good time. "Table, I don't think that's a fair question."

>>6163119

"...so you would've done something if I wasn't here?"

"Table. If you never met me, couldn't you have also fell in love with some other guy? You can't ask me what I would've done if I never met you, because I wouldn't be here in the first place if that was the case."

"Is that really true, though? Atlas, at any point you could forget about me, and it'd be like you never met me, that's not-"

"Table, this isn't the first time we've had a conversation like this, is it? It's almost like you want me to leave you, here. Well, I don't, why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because I'm work, okay? Because you have to spend, SO much of your time to be with me, and sometimes I wonder if I'm just not being selfish keeping you here with me. I just want to be able to hang out with you without this feeling in my mind that you're putting so much mental effort just to have something resembling fun."

"Table, I'm working on fixing just that. Just give me some time okay?"

"But you shouldn't have to! You should spend all that time practicing magic or living your school life, not spending sleepless nights looking at a corpse so you can maybe, MAYBE get a normal future with someone like me!"

You cross your arms. "Table, I'll ask you this once, do you enjoy spending time with me?"

"What kind of- Atlas, this isn't what that's about, of course I do! A lot! But you-"

"Then be more selfish, Table. It annoys me that for some reason all you can think of is about my wellbeing, and not yours."

She curls up fists, struggling to come up with a valid answer. "It's- It's because I have something to lose now, okay? And because it'd hurt so much more to have this end without me knowing, than on my own terms. Every time I think I'm over it, that I went past it, that fear returns, and I don't know what to do about it."

>>6163121

You sigh, and pull her into a hug. It's no use getting mad at her, the issue is more emotional than rational, it's obvious you're going to have this conversation again and again as long as the curse persists, the best you can do is not confirm her fear. "You're squishy," you say, holding her closer against you.

"You used to say that a lot." She laughs half-heartedly. "I used to think that was kind of a gross, my body being so weird, but you always acted like it was nice to hold. I guess... I kind of get what Fet meant, if I could loop those moments forever, maybe I would. Actually... do you think it's possible for two people to experience a loop?" She changes the subject.

"I mean, yeah, Fet kind of did. The fact other people can be watching at any moment doesn't make this whole thing feel as safe to mess around in as she made it sound." You omit the part where other spirits are also acting as other people in said loops, making the experience even more embarrassing if you ever do anything weird in those loops.

"Guess you're right. But aren't you curious to find out the kind of stuff we could get away with, though?" She rubs her hand through your shirt. "Not even a little?"

You look around you, there are a few other students, but none of them are looking at you even with your previous, relatively loud dispute. You hesitate, but you figure that any distraction from her insecurities are worth exploiting, so you pull her into a deep, sloppy, embarrassing make out session. She's taken aback at first, but she gets into it fast enough, since it's not like she has to worry about her reputation or anything; you, however, can't help but occasionally open your eyes to see if anyone is staring, which they are not. You knew Table's curse often temporarily extend to whoever is directly interacting with her at the moment, but you didn't expect it to be strong enough for everyone to ignore you like this. For a moment, someone glances at you, but they look away not out of shame, but what looks like boredom.

You end the kiss. No one cares, your heart is beating like crazy, even if what you did was by no means illegal or even reputation ruining. Table on the other hand is smiling wide like an idiot.

"I know you're just trying to distract me, but I'll take your bribe, magic boy. But it won't work forever, you know? What will you do when a kiss won't be enough, hmm?" She's saying it playfully, but you know there's a hint of truth there, this conversation is far from over.

>>6163123

You slide down a wall with Table's gravity rocks, said Table not so far behind, or in this case, above you. She's placated for now, opting to tease you whenever she can instead, she says she's about to be a whole lot more selfish tonight, but knowing her that must mean a good time for you, you feign irritation anyway.

'Knowing her' feels weird to say. She still feels like a stranger, but at the same time you find yourself predicting what she'll say or do in advance without even trying. You wonder if the curse spares subconscious memories of someone? Shouldn't Table have felt more familiar when you first came back from the loop if that was the case?

"Anyway, Atlas, what are you thinking of for the internship?" Table pokes your cheek, giving you mana out of habit. "Teach said that they'll help me since my condition makes it pretty hard to find something by myself. Not like you'll have it easy either, not sure who would want to hire a human- no offense."

You look at her, cocking your head to the side. "Internship? Wait, when? Since when was that a thing?" You ask.

"You didn't know? You have to find an internship for the end of the year. Might want to see the advisor to see if you can get extra help finding something, or don't, you still got some time. You still didn't give me an answer, what kind of internship would you like. Actually, what would you even want to do as a job once you're out of there?"

You shrug. "A mage, I guess?"

"That's... not a real job. That's like saying you want to be an adventurer, that doesn't narrow it down at all."

A real job... you never really thought about this. As long as it's a job with magic, you don't mind, but it's true that having something more specific in mind could be a good idea if you truly want to integrate with the outside world or even find an internship that interests you.

>You could just keep working with the anti-magic force, humanity could really use better magic knowledge.
>Being a healer sound nice, even if you doubt it's comparable to being a human doctor, you like helping people.
>Despite what she says, being an adventurer sounds nice. Exploring the world and finding stuff, just like in the stories you read as a kid.
>Being a teacher could be nice. After all, if a human can become a magic teacher, then you can serve as an inspiration to other magically challenged kids.
>Something else? (Write in, this will affect the type of internship you'll search for.)

>>6163124
>Being a teacher could be nice. After all, if a human can become a magic teacher, then you can serve as an inspiration to other magically challenged kids.

>>6163124
Ah, that's a good question. It's not like 'magic researcher' is a thing, right? I don't think Atlas would fit as a healer. And while being a teacher might be nice, it feels like an utter waste to already jump to that. I feel like we should get *some* opportunity there, you know?

Hmm. When we were in the loop, one of the options we could have suggested to Claire was to 'chane the magic force' from the inside. You know, work with them, and then use that as a way to maybe change humanity's outlook on magic.

There's also the fact that i'm afraid that Claire might end up discovering about the forgotten pack stuff that Jack was able to find out...without another way to go through it, this would be such an easy way for humanity to abuse magic...but maybe we could help against that.

Yeah. It wasn't my first idea, but if *we* don't help humanity get better at magic, someone far worse than us will.
>You could just keep working with the anti-magic force, humanity could really use better magic knowledge.

>>6163127
I'd like to be a teacher too eventually, but going from student to teacher is kinda lame, isn't it? We'd have zero actually original 'outlooks' or 'field experience'

>>6163128
+1

>>6163128
+1

Btw, this isn't actually the internship, I'm guessing, this is just what we want to do after. We're not gonna have an internship with someone that knows less magic than us.

>>6163123
>"I know you're just trying to distract me, but I'll take your bribe, magic boy. But it won't work forever, you know? What will you do when a kiss won't be enough, hmm?" She's saying it playfully, but you know there's a hint of truth there, this conversation is far from over.
glad to see she's still our table
>>6163124
>Being a teacher could be nice. After all, if a human can become a magic teacher, then you can serve as an inspiration to other magically challenged kids.

>>6163128
Eh, fair. I can back this with teacher as an eventual end-goal.

>>6163124
Changing my vote (>>6163127) accordingly.

>>6163123
>aren't you curious to find out the kind of stuff we could get away with, though?" She rubs her hand through your shirt. "Not even a little?"
>you didn't expect it to be strong enough for everyone to ignore you like this
>No one cares, your heart is beating like crazy, even if what you did was by no means illegal or even reputation ruining.
>But it won't work forever, you know? What will you do when a kiss won't be enough, hmm?" She's saying it playfully, but you know there's a hint of truth there, this conversation is far from over.
It's gonna happen. Our boy is going to give in completely and it'll be in public and nobody will see or care

>>6163124
>Despite what she says, being an adventurer sounds nice. Exploring the world and finding stuff, just like in the stories you read as a kid.
We already have the other human bunker and Table's curse as our own adventure leads. could be useful to do an internship related to adventuring.

>>6163325
>diving into ruins and kicking ass and taking loot
>then fucking in said ruins afterward
Ah... the adventurer power couple life...

>>6163325
>>6163331
That sounds nice and all anons, but what's your plan once Table gets pregnant and can't do magic for a gokd while anymore? With how those two get off to riskiness, it's only a matter of time until they decide to play unprotected sex roulette.

Adventuring doesn't pay the bills on a house and children's clothing and whatnot. Dungeon diving is a hobby at best, not a full career.

>>6163343
Yeah, which is why Atlas will be the one to bring that up first

>>6163163
>>6163154
>>6163127
>>6163128

"I guess I could work with the anti-magic force, humanity isn't going to stay behind on magic forever, I'd rather be the one to bring that knowledge than someone worse. Of course, that's not really something I can do as an internship, I'd need to redact every single thing on my report if I did."

Table stretches her back. "Couldn't you get an internship as a guard or something? Isn't that what the anti-magic force is about?"

"Table, the anti-magic force hardly fights, a more apt comparison is the part of the police that takes care of all the boring paperwork and sometimes get off their ass to make themselves useful. I want to make the anti-magic force more than a gimmick if I can."

"That sounds fine. Not sure what I want to do myself, being a writer's out of the question, maybe something with material magic? Material magic is fun, design rune mechanism and whatnot."

"I could make enough money for both of us so you can write stuff at home."

She jabs you with her elbow. "No, I'd just feel guilty if you were to make all the money as I do nothing home. What? Want to come back from work, tired, as I take care of all the chores and say 'welcome back, master! The bath is ready!"

"Table, that's a maid."

"Right, would you be more the kind to come home, slap my ass and tell me to make you a sandwich?"

"Alright, fine, if you want to get a job I won't stop you. Anyway, what kind of internship could I even get? I doubt I'd be able to be a bodyguard or something."

"You said the anti-magic force was mostly paperwork, right? You could get an internship in magic classifications cases. Basically, something involving magic happens, usually a crime, and they send a few people to make a report on it. What kind of magic was used, when, ask around about any witnesses, the works. You're not expected to make some detective work or anything, just get as much info as possible. You also won't be the only one doing that, so even if they don't trust you to get the facts right, they'll be able to cross-reference with other people to make sure everything checks out."

You nod. That sounds easy enough, as long as you're not asked to figure out some advanced enchantment. You ask the advisor, and you're told there are options, although you'll need to ask them in person for an interview. To your surprise, this is actually a pretty common job in most places, since it's not always about crime, but sometimes just damage assessment or resource management.

>>6164845

You could pick something easy, or...

>Crime classification. Exactly what it sounds like, show up to the scene of crime, which can range from petty theft to outright assault, and note down what kind of spells were used.
>Middle school: Mostly meant to make sure none of the school's ressources have been stolen, but you might be asked to make sure to make a report on the runes around school too.
>Inventory ressource: Meant to check the store's inventory every night. You're expected to dispel illusion, or search for any signs of theft if possible. Simple, boring job, but it'll leave you a lot of time to do other things during the day.

>>6164846
>Crime classification.
Already discussing their home plans? Might as well just kneel and propose to her.

Also, merry christmas!

>>6164847
Merry christmas! I got a mousepad and some chocolate for christmas. Pretty good.

>>6164847
There's no way they won't get engaged before magic school ends

>>6164846
>Inventory ressource: Meant to check the store's inventory every night. You're expected to dispel illusion, or search for any signs of theft if possible. Simple, boring job, but it'll leave you a lot of time to do other things during the day.
since the AA squad also has to check for hidden spells and stuff, this fits
>>6164862
Merry christmas everyone

>>6164846
>Crime classification
It's the most interesting.

Merry Christmas, QM!

>>6164845
>Crime classification

File: Monaorsomething.png (143 KB, 578x817)

143 KB PNG

Sorry for the slow ass updates, just feeling really lazy recently, will update tomorrow.

>>6166314
Alright! nice art, btw.

>>6166314
Thanks for the art and waiting warmly

>>6165217
>>6165169
>>6164847
>>6164925

You ask the advisor, who look like some kind of wooden automaton, about crime classification. Despite their artificial appearance, they speak and act like a normal person, so you don't doubt their ability to help you when it comes to internship, they wouldn't have been put in that job if they weren't. After a little bit of digging around, they point you towards different places that may be interested. The outside doesn't exactly have the same megacorporations you have back in the city, but that doesn't mean companies don't exist out there. From what you're given, not a lot of them would accept humans in their midst as their requirements are pretty mana intensive, all except one, the city's security, specifically a detective that needs an assistant to get info for them. You'd think being a detective's assistant would be a pretty popular job, but apparently no one has really bothered.

The next day, you check out the detective's office, which is situated in the same building as the guard's armory. Although the armory is more general magical artifacts, potions and scrolls than swords and iron armor. You didn't bring Table with you, as she had class today, but it's not like you'll forget her just because you spend a day without her around.

You knock on the detective's stone door. Stone, it turns out, isn't great to knock on with your fists, so you call out to them until they answer. They eventually do, and a tired, surprisingly young looking dark haired dark elf ushers you in. The room is really dark, but you can still see his face clearly.

Dark elves are a very rare sight on the surface, but they're actually one of the races humans interacted with the most before. Since humans had to hide underground for so long, we inevitably bumped into them, and despite the dark elves reputations as ruthless killers, they instead just ignored humans and left us to do our own thing. You'd think that the two underground races would have a lot of common history, but we really didn't apart from a few trades and peace deals here and there. Well, officially anyway, you're sure humans did a lot of shady stuff with dark elves, but that's sure to be redacted information.

"I've been told you'd show up. I've also been given your general capabilities by the school, nothing too personal, don't worry. You don't need any fancy tricks for what I want you to do, but that doesn't make it easy. You know mana feel, right? Simple spell, but invaluable. I was asked to look at some strange stuff that's been happening recently, but I'm not dumping a murder case on you just yet or anything, I just want to teach you the basics to see if it's for you. Internship lasts for about a month, doesn't it? Whatever long it lasts, it's not as easy as it sounds."

>>6166813

You just nod along, he's a lot more talkative than you expected, you've heard dark elves like to only speak in a few words, but maybe this one was raised on the surface, who knows.

He doesn't waste any time, and brings you outside to a recent 'case'. He brings sunglasses and even offers you a pair, you tell him that humans don't mind sunlight as much anymore, and he shrugs. The case is... a knocked over trashcan, along with the trash inside it knocked over.

"So, what do you think happened?" The detective asks you seriously.

"A trashcan got knocked over? Vandalism? Criminal mischief?" You reply.

He shakes his head. "Look closer."

You use mana feel on the trash can and its disgusting, squishy contents, mostly food. You notice the trash can uses a rune with pocket space inscribed on it to store whatever trash is in there, which means the trash can should have nothing inside it in most cases, it only has space just in case a few things spill here and there. In other words, knocking the trashcan over wouldn't do anything by itself, you'd need to activate the rune again to make the trash go out. This wasn't an accident, but made on purpose.

Isn't that just still vandalism, though? You look around for anything else. There's claw marks and spit, but it could easily have been some dog digging in the trash after it's been emptied by the culprit. The spit doesn't look magical, but the claw marks have some mana left on wherever it landed, even if you can't link it to any particular spell.

>>6166814
You note all that down. "So, it's like... a creature is opening the trash portals to eat?" You hazard a guess.

"Possible. Now, your job won't be to find an answer, you just need to give me accurate hints. Usually there's more than one person to help you with this, but we're short-staffed ever since... well, it doesn't matter, it is what it is. Cases like this may seem like nothing, but they matter in that we don't know what caused them. It could be some weirdo summoning a creature to find the trash of someone they're obsessed with, it could be something we've never heard of that's slowly growing eating everything we can find, or more than likely, it's just some asshole who opened the trash and knocked it over. Now, as I've said, it isn't your job to find who did it, but you still need to classify that crime if possible. So, how would you get more clues than what's in front of you? Remember, time is a resource, we can't do everything at once, especially for a small case like this."

You try to use your analysis spell on the trashcan and its content, but you're not getting much info, looks like that spell is only useful when you have more context clues to fill you in.

>Couldn't you ask around for any witness that saw the trashcan get knocked over?
>Look for any similar cases to this one, if there's the same claw marks on each one, there's definitely a correlation.
>Ask the victim first, maybe they have enemies willing to mess up their trash?
>You do research in the library about any animals that would leave these kind of claw marks.
>Maybe there's some other spells you can use to get a better idea of what happened? (Write in which spells)

OP, you should probably post the rentry page you made with all the spells for ease of access

also the previous thread

I think? It has all the spells now
https://rentry.org/carzyq9g I almost thought I lost the edit code but google remembered it for me, so there's that, I usually keep it in a notepad but lost it

>>6166815
>Look for any similar cases to this one, if there's the same claw marks on each one, there's definitely a correlation.
As a starting point, see if it's even part of something bigger. IF this is the only such incident, or other possibly-related incidents are different in particulars, it's more likely to be one-off vandalism.

>>6166815
>>Maybe there's some other spells you can use to get a better idea of what happened?
What if we were to use Mana Analysis, then Mana Tracking. That should work, rihgt?

>>6166815
>Look for any similar cases to this one, if there's the same claw marks on each one, there's definitely a correlation.

>>6166851
>+1

>>6167149
>>6166853
>>6166851
>>6166845

"Couldn't we look for similar cases? If there's the same claws everywhere, then it would narrow down our guesses as something that isn't targeted, right?"

The detective nods. "It would, yes. How are you planning on finding similar cases, checking every trash can in the city?"

"Don't you have reports on these kinds of things?"

"We do! It's also part of your job to deal with the paperwork and research if it's relevant, but that takes time, doesn't it? We need to work efficiently in that kind of job, I'm sure you understand." It doesn't look like he's saying this in a rude way, instead, it's like he's challenging you to come up with a way to do your work faster.

You figure out that if you use mana tracking, you can try to sense similar claw marks around you. You wonder if you should make a wide or focused search. Wait, you can just do both.

You first start a wide search, which should give you any mana similar to the one you found on the claws. You find a few similar mana signatures, but all of them are moving, and they're FAST. You do find one other trashcan with similar marks too, but none of them are knocked over. What's strange is the inside of the trash can is full, someone, or something activated the rune inside, then left. Wouldn't that require a lot of dexterity for an animal? And besides, it can't really be called vandalism if they don't even make a mess, right?

You try a focused version of mana tracking. The two trashcans have been meddled by similar but still different animals. Unfortunately, the mana tracking leads deep into the forest. You share your findings with the detective, who listens to you thoughtfully.

"That sounds about right. Good job." He pats you on the head.

"So? Is it solved? It's some animal that did that, right?"

He readjusts his sunglasses. "Maybe, maybe not. What you did do is give me a bunch of useful info, something I'll investigate later. I doubt it's anything worth fretting over, but you did a good job for a first try. Sure, I'm willing to take you for an internship, besides, I'd rather work with a human anyway, the others tend to assume stuff about me."

>>6167486

"Can I go now? Or do I need to do more?"

"You're done, just be careful on your way home, alright? I'm sure this case is just some new breed we haven't accounted for, but sometimes you make enemies trying to look into stuff you shouldn't. I picked this case since it looked safe for you to help in, but now... bah, forget it, that's for me to deal with. See you in a few months when your internship REALLY starts, kid."

He turns to stare at a dark corner, your mana tracking is still active, and you can tell one of those things is hiding in there; yet you can't see it with your eyes at all. The spell fizzles out, but not before you see the mana signature retreat somewhere else.

"Guess I won't have much time for lunch today, nothing can ever be simple around here, cozy job my ass..." the detective mumbles. You don't ask him what's going on, mostly because you don't want to get more involved than you need to, you already have plenty on your plate as is. That doesn't stop you from casting your mana tracking again to make sure you're not being followed back to your dorm. Thankfully, your spirit is the only thing sticking close to you. It said it helped with your mana tracking a little bit, but instead of enhancing the effect, it just reduced the spell's mana cost for convenience. You didn't know it could do that, and it says you shouldn't rely too much on it, it only plans on doing it for things it may find interesting.

Table is playing on your laptop in your bed. It's that RPG you played before, although...

"Table, are you playing on my Claire's save?" You point at the character name.

She stares at the screen, the mouse hovering over a random item in her inventory. You wait, and wait, but you still hear nothing from her. Eventually, she leaves the inventory and keeps playing as if you didn't say anything.

>>6167487

"Table, I'm not mad or anything. You can play on that save if you want."

She clenches the mouse tight, before slowly releasing her grip. "I just, wanted to check their builds, that's all." She saves, and goes back to the main menu. You don't want to assume she got jealous, after all if she wanted to check for more stuff about Claire, she had the entire computer at her disposal. It's likely she just wanted to play the game and got curious about Claire's save since she didn't know much about her.

"Did you get your internship?" She asks, patting the spot next to her. "I imagine it must be a pain to find one as a human."

"Yup, got it first try. Although that job doesn't look super safe. We might have to be careful when going to the vault from now on, weird stuff in the forest."

"There's always been weird stuff in the forest." She crawls under your shirt. "Not too sweaty today, do you want me to die of thirst?"

"You're such a freak."

She stops at your comment. You said it in a playful tone, but you wonder if she took it personally. "Do you prefer purer girls?" She mumbles under your shirt.

"I prefer you, idiot. Get out of here, my shirt isn't rent-free."

"Okay hold on." She opens a pocket space above you, a small bag of coins falls off from it. There are 10 coins in there, you feel like you're being undervalued a little. She laughs as she squirms her way to your shirt's collar, her head squeezing her way past your neck. "Is that enough for you, my lord?" She gives you quick kiss. "Mwah, extra payment for you."

"Dork. What did you do while I was away, anyway?"

"Class, tried to play matchmaker with that demon girl a little more, no success so far, and played games. Not much, really. Dill also asked if you were still up for that clarity teaching thing, since you didn't ask her for a little while."

Oh right, clarity is really a spell you have to learn sooner rather than later. You think you were pretty close to figuring it out, too. You could also practice magic with Table instead, with the exam right around the corner, it couldn't hurt.

>You really want to figure out that clarity spell before the exam comes around.
>Table needs to study magic too, you should help her with magic so she's ready for the exam and the duel.
>Even though you really shouldn't, you sort of want to investigate this whole trashcan claw thing with Table.

>>6167489
>You really want to figure out that clarity spell before the exam comes around.

>>6167489
>You really want to figure out that clarity spell before the exam comes around.

>>6167489
>You really want to figure out that clarity spell before the exam comes around.
Magic Boy is Magic Boy. Poor Table, though. This shift in our dynamic is clearly eating at her.

>>6167517
This wasn't really about that though, as Atlas said, if she wanted to learn more about Claire she could have.

Honestly, with how Table is interested in tech, i wouldn't be surprised if she managed to find a lot in common with Claire..you know, if the whole outsider hatred wasn't an issue.

>>6167520
Outsider hatred and jealousy around Atlas.

Table's also being antsy about what kind of woman we prefer again, though.

>>6167517
+1

>>6167522
Still, I think that if it wasn't for the animosity they'd get along well. Table seems to like material tech, but Claire is also more interested in Magitech than standard magic, right?

>>6167489
>You really want to figure out that clarity spell before the exam comes around.
>>6167517
>This shift in our dynamic is clearly eating at her.
it is, but thankfully we're healing

>>6167599
>>6167527
>>6167517
>>6167507
>>6167503

"I'll have to spend some more time with Dill, then." You hug her closer, pressing her rough back unto you. "That Clarity spell's means you won't have to use the bracelet as often. Speaking of Dill, did you try making friends with her, should be easier since she can remember you and everything."

"I don't think she enjoys talking to me that much. It doesn't feel like she dislike me, but our conversations are always short, never feel like there's anything to talk about. I tried to talk to her about material magic, but she looked annoyed when I corrected her on something she was wrong about."

"Dill's insecure about her skills, so that makes sense, I wouldn't take it personally." You cup one of her breast and squeeze it. She doesn't react much, only stretching back into you. You go a little lower, which causes her to freeze in place in anticipation. "Your breasts aren't that sensitive, but the spot under it is, interesting."

"My breasts are more for aesthetic reasons, they're basically inflated sacks of skin, you could stab them and I'd feel fine. I could shove more nerves in there if I wanted, but that might deprive me of my sense somewhere else."

"Wait, you can do that? How does that work?"

"The tendrils inside me, they carry nerves, but I only need a couple to keep the chest looking like that, maybe a few more to make it look bigger. Cause I know you like thaaat~" She pinches your cheek, some mana flowing back into you. "I hope you do, anyway. Putting too many tendrils in one place makes me hyper sensitive in one spot too. I'm not all tendrils, of course, some of it are organs that I can't change, but I can move them around here and there as long as it's not too far." She contorts her lower body so that her legs wrap around your head despite her upper body still being constrained under your shirt. "No bones either! It's closer to strings being tied together and forming one strong, big tendril." Her legs let go of you, and come back to a more natural state.

You look at her in amazement. "You're really fascinating, Table."

"I hope you don't just like me for my body, I got more to offer. Like..." She leaves your shirt, you already miss her, but you don't want to sound needy. "The build I just came up with! I was able to beat the game pretty fast with it." She opens the laptop with that RPG again.

It's impressive that she managed to beat the game that fast. Even more impressive considering her relative lack of gaming experience for what was supposed to be a game for veteran players. "You're great at this, how did you get the hang of this game so fast?"

>>6169795

"It uses a similar system to those tabletop games, so I got the idea. I only ever read the manuals though, didn't exactly have anyone to play with."

"There's tabletop games on the outside? Why, you already have magic and monsters and everything, can't you just go outside?" You ask.

She turns around, looking at you as if you were a child that asked a stupidly obvious question. "The game we're playing right now is set in the city, right? Where you lived your whole life? Why didn't you just go outside, hmm? Huh?" She's poking you with mana infused fingers, taunting you with her smug smile.

"Alright, alright, I get it. Stop poking me."

"What are you going to do about it, hmm? Big dumb idiot, stupid, idiot, dumbass..." She sighs, her insult don't stop, but the way she says it makes them feel like compliment. "Look at your dumb face, stupid nose, you're...stinky and... AAAAAAAAAH-" She shoves you down against the mattress. "I love you SO much, how? Why? What's your secret, huh? Gonna play dumb with me? Gonna stare at me with those stupid blank eyes of yours? How did I get you to like me, how did I bag you? What's MY secret?" She rambles as she smells your hair. It's sudden, so sudden you're not sure if she's freaking out or not. You decide that it might be time to flip the tables in more ways than one.

You've never been good at showing overwhelming emotions about anything but magic. Even when you're afraid for your life, or exceedingly happy, most of those feelings tend to stay hidden under your neutral expression. You're not sure how much of it is due to bullying making it harder to be yourself in public, or if it's just how you are as a person, but right now you want to try a little harder for her sake.

You grab table and turn her around until you're on top of her. She's surprised by your sudden initiative, staring at you like a deer in headlights. "What's your secret, Table? Maybe you're just fun? Maybe I like that you're nice, that you're blunt, but never mean. I like that you always try to do so much for others without expecting anything in return, I like that little bit of extra oomph you add to each day, with each, stupid, smug, teasing comments you make." You're bombarding her with compliments, all the little things you enjoy about her, which makes her look simultaneously happy and embarrassed beyond belief.

"Uh- w-wait, I didn't compliment your personality yet, you're uhm-" She's trying to find the right words, but you're not giving her grounds anymore, you've been spoiled too much, it's her turn.

"What, can't take what you dish out? Can't accept that you're the only person making me feel like this? That you deserve every single bit of me? Actually, you deserve so much better than me, but I'm not letting you go that easily, you smug, annoying... furniture." You falter at the most decisive moment of this confrontation. Sensing weakness, Table strikes back.

>>6169801

"Ha, getting shy now? You're too soft for this! You're too... uh oh." She moves to the side, revealing the laptop under her. The screen is cracked "Oh no."

You click on the power button, and it comes back to life. The cracked skin makes it a little hard to tell what's going on, but you can still use it. You turn it off, then try to use magic to seal it back together. It takes a little bit of sealing and unsealing, but eventually you get something that... sort of works, you just need to ignore the top left part of the screen that's for some reason entirely black now.

Table looks apologetic, but you reassure her it's fine. You spend the rest of the day watching her play games on the laptop, mostly to make sure the laptop functions correctly.

>>6169805

The next day, you finish your Clarity lessons with Dill. The hardest part in casting that spell is emptying your mind right at the moment of casting. Casting a spell often requires some concentration, you need to focus and guide your mana in certain ways, but Clarity requires you to simultaneously do that while thinking about nothing, not even picturing the mana in your head is allowed. Eventually, you manage to cast it by guiding your mana through pure muscle memory and letting it flow naturally without thinking about it.

Your spell isn't perfect, the most noticeable thing is that you didn't fully empty your mind before casting it, causing you to instead be way more sensitive to your own mana since that's the last thing you were thinking of when casting the spell. Dill says that Clarity is a spell that's nearly impossible to cast in a stressful scenario like a duel, so it's better to use it in a calm, safe space first like your dorms. Clarity also tends to make emotional thinking a little harder, for better or worse. You might feel a little more distant from everything, so you need to reaffirm yourself often. It's fine in small doses, but if you do it as often as Dill does, you need a tight grip on your actions so you don't do something stupid. This is easy to do, but it's also a more 'manual' way of living than normal. Dill says you might need to modify the spell further to make it fit Table's situation more, since the spell in its current form might make it harder to feel things like love and lust. You don't mind though, messing and modifying spells is one of your favorite things to do, it's like making it your own.

(Choiceless update, but the next one will be the dungeon. I try to finish each update with a choice, generally because I like seeing people have a reason to comment or argue on what's better, but I think it led me to make slightly less significant choices recently, so I'll try to make more direct, voteless updates so I can actually put on something more regularly instead of holding it back. Also happy new year!! did I forget to say that? Happy new year, new year, old me. I don't know what to say, so I'll just say that while I dont answer people directly that much, I want to say I appreciate people still sticking with me despite being more irregular and slow recently, I appreciate every little nice comment, I'm just not always good at showing it. Anyway, time to finish designing the dungeon for me.)

>>6169815
I'm curois now how much of Atlas' emotional situation is self reflection, the way you put that, lol.

Anyway, thanks for running such a cool quest in such a colourful and well-thought-out setting, with such reliably-good character writing. Keep it up. Happy new year!

>>6169815
Good shit QM, don't ever flake or die on us

>>6169815
I see. Happy new year and thanks for still updating despite it all.

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>>6169808

It doesn't look like you can make a lot of progress with that spell before the exam. You consider casting it on yourself before it begins, but it might be better not to since you don't know what the exam will entail, it could be something where the clarity spell works against you for all you know. This time, you do however have one more trick up your sleeve to make the dungeon easier... mana runes! Now, normally you can only hold 4 at a time, for a total of about 100 mana stored in there. It's because keeping mana runes too close to each other in too high of a number messes with the mana flow. However, you can work around this by putting 4 mana runes in your pocket space, and 4 mana runes in your actual pockets, for a total of 200 mana! Add that up to your current mana, and your mana has effectively tripled!

You fist bump the air, a stupid smile forming on your face. You didn't exactly get to truly test out the mana storing runes before since Table was always available, the timeloop didn't allow making much use of it either for obvious reasons. You impatiently wait for the dungeon portal to show up. This should be a piece of cake now that you've got mana to spare.

The teleportation is a little bit more sudden this time, you don't even feel the portal form under you, it was like a more direct form of teleportation, as if your body just blinked into the dungeon, huh.

You check your mana storing runes, they're still here in your pocket, good. You wait for Kit to say his usual opening line, but nothing comes. Looks like the tutorial phase is over, gotta figure things out entirely by yourself now. You're in a room with 4 doors. Each door has something written on them, one says 'speed and wit', another 'strength', then 'mental and physical', finally, 'endurance'.

Are those supposed to say what kind of challenge there will be behind the doors? What does physical and mental mean, though? Isn't endurance a form of physical prowess too? What about strength, isn't that also physical?

You analyze and mana feel the doors, they all seem to trigger...something when being opened, but as far as you can tell nothing stops you from opening any of them right away. All the doors are also linked to what looks like a chalk board on the roof, of all places. The board only has 'difficulty: 0' written on it, does that mean they made it easier for you because you're human? No, that doesn't make any sense, if this is connected to the doors, then surely the board will be affected if you open one of them, right?

It's tempting to open every door, but you don't think this dungeon is on a timer, so let's take things one step at a time, what will you do first?

Current mana: 100/100 (200 additional mana stored in runes.)

Available spells: https://rentry.org/carzyq9g

>>6171821
Alright, time for a test!

See, my guess is that, rather than a single challenge, each door will have its own challenge. So the strength challenge will be strength.

BUT.

Every time you do a challenge, the difficulty increases: so the if you leave a challenge for later, it'll be way harder, and the last one will be the hardest of all.

So what we need to figure out, is what exactly we want to do first: which challenge would we have a harder time doing later, and which would cost more mana? Obviously, if we do the harder ones first, that'll leave us an easier challenge later. So the question is: what do you guys think would be the *hardest* to do last? The one you'd least want to do when we're short on mana.

>>6171821
>Endurance
Get our weakest point out of the way first.

>>6171823
>>6171824
What if difficulty is 0 by default, and picking these challenges are add-ons? Then the wisest move is to pick none

>>6171824
But I'll +1 this in case my idea in >>6171831 is false

>>6171831
>What if difficulty is 0 by default, and picking these challenges are add-ons?
What do you mean? There's not a normal door for us to leave. We have to pick *one* door at least.

>>6171835
>There's not a normal door for us to leave.
There could be one we don't see. We haven't checked the walls or floor

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>>6171824
>>6171833
>>6171835
>>6171838

You open the endurance door first, you figure that if it's at difficulty 0, then it should still be pretty easy. You're presented with a remarkably small hallway leading to another door at the end of it. However, no matter how long you walk, you can't seem to be able to reach it; you try to run instead, you feel like you're getting closer with a sprint, but the moment you stop you're back at the start.

Instead of going for a sprint, you go for a light jog, which yields much better result. The door opens very easily, but you find out there's another similar hallway near the end, it's not the same one, so not a repeating hallway, but you notice very quickly that stopping in this one brings you all the way back to the very first door too.

It takes a while to reach the end of it all, maybe 30 to 45 minutes of nonstop running, but humans are pretty good at running for long periods of time, and you've been doing cardio for long enough that it's not too much of an issue. You find a stone button at the end of it, scared that you're going to be pulled back if you take too long to think about it, you press it the moment you see it.

Your hunch was right, and you're brought back to the starting room. The board now says "difficulty: 1". You see a dark red rune-like pattern formed on a wall that wasn't here before. The rune doesn't look complete, and judging by its color, every challenge must add their respective color to that rune.

You need a few minutes to catch your breath, but other than that, you're just fine. This challenge didn't cost you any resources other than you stamina. Still, wasn't this a very physical exercise? You wonder what the physical challenge is supposed to be, then? Maybe they forgot humans were such good runners, who knows.

What to take on next...

Current state: A little sore, but not too tired after a little bit of rest.

Current mana: 100/100 (200 additional mana stored in runes.)

Available spells: https://rentry.org/carzyq9g

>>6171853
>Mental and Physical next.

My plan is to do it in the order of:
Endurance (done), M&P, S&W, S.
Because saving speed for last is just plain gonna result in us not being able to go fast enough.

>>6171859
I say Speed/Wit, Strength, Mental/Physical in that order

Did my post get eaten?

Anyway, my point is, we should do

S&W -> Strength -> M&P

Speed and Wit is obvious because we don't have that many spells that could help speed, if any at all. Strength is because we actually *do* have spells that help - Strength and Juggernaut and Heal Skin - BUT we don't want it to become so hard that even that isn't enough.

Mental and Physical should be last because thinking creatively is Atlas's strongest suit.

>>6171859
+1

>>6171853

>>6171859
If you think that Speed shouldn't be saved for last, why would you do mental and physical now? You should be voting for speed and wit *now*

>>6171879
Because I think that Speed and Wit is more doable at a higher level than Mental and Physical at a higher level, obviously.

>>6171883
But we don't have any speed spells. We do have general 'physical' spells and are pretty good at mental.

>>6171884
I think Slippy can go a very long way in making us much faster.

>>6171885
You're kidding me right? Have you ever *tried* running on slippery ground? Atlas ain't no ice-skater.

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>>6171887
It literally says it's likely to make you fall over

>>6171887
As a matter of fact I have. You don't run, you glide. Enough of your nonsense, cease replying to me and return to your cave you yakubian ape.

>>6171889
"If i just make stuff up and ignore the literal description of the spell then i'm right"

>>6171890
Ok retard.
You're literally ignoring an entire genre of sports that rely on minimization of friction to achieve high speeds.
An entire set of activities that even children use just to have fun.
Hell, you don't even have to be on your feet to achieve high speeds with this shit, even though that's entirely possible as long as you maintain your balance (which again, even children are capable of doing). Ever heard of a Slide? Or the more horizontal arrangement of a slip'n'slide?
Stop being a smoothbrain just because you desperately want to be right.

>>6171892
"So, the spell says that it's likely to make you fall and it's a challenge. Clearly that means that our protagonist (who has no experience in such a sports) will manage to easily start sliding like he's a canadian!"

>>6171894
It's almost like it's written with the idea of someone being unprepared for the slippery surface as opposed to knowing full well what they're stepping on and can take measures to keep themselves balanced. And you're still ignoring the part where you don't even have to be standing to take advantage of a low friction surface's properties to go faster. Neck yourself for the gene pool.

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>>6171899
Okay, at this point i just think you're trying to troll on purpose and voting badly out of spite or something.

>>6171905
At this point I'm certain you have a sub 80 IQ given how you blatantly refuse to understand logic.

>>6171907
Whatever, anon. I'd say i would tell you i was right when your 'idea' didn't work but that's probably what you want.

>>6171899
>>6171894

As for slippy, it is possible to use it to gain speed, however it's very unreliable on anything that isn't a flat surface and does tend to take practice. Like most spells, it can be modified (or improved) to be better at making someone lose or keep their balance. The floor here is mostly flat, but it does have a few bumps here and there, usually near doors among other things.

The main issue with it is gaining speed and being able to stop when you need to, especially in dungeons where corridors tend to be pretty tight.

So in short, yes you can use it as an attempt to gain speed, but it'd be much better in a room with a lot of space, and most importantly, practice or another spell to help steady yourself.

>>6171910
Yeah, that's about as expected.

okay so I believe in terms of votes it's
M&P 2
S&W 2
for what to do next. I'll wait a little, but if it stays a tie I'll flip a coin or something

>>6172075
I voted before on mobile, but mine is >>6171863

>>6171877
This is me on mobile.

>>6172080
I did account for your vote yeah, but I don't think anyone else voted something else to break the tie

>>6171853
let's go with Speed and Wit now.
>reads all that chit chat
did we really get ~2hrs of anons bantering and no other vote coming until now ? wtf

>>6172238
"You retards will argue about anything"

>>6172238
>>6171859
>>6171863
>>6171866
>>6171877

Speed and Wit, you're pretty confident in the wit part, but speed is another issue. You open the door, your gaze still locked in on the roof to see if the board will increase the difficulty number, but it does not. Maybe it only increases once you press the button? But the doors themselves are linked to the board too, so surely opening the doors does something to it.

Now, the speed and wit challenge is... Simon says. There are symbols that flash in a certain order on the wall, and you assume you must hit the corresponding runes across the hall.

Problem, not only is this timed, the hallway is long enough that you can't hit all the runes right. The symbols along with the runes also change a tiny bit on every new pattern, so it's not even as simple as running to the right rune, you need to tell subtle differences every time.

Is this really wit if a computer could do it better than a person? To you, wit is more about puzzle solving than just practicing something until you get it right. Then again, maybe you're thinking about this wrong, maybe there is a pattern you're not seeing?

You look at the symbols, one looks like a bird, another like sword, one like a staff... you look back at the runes, there's multiple staff shaped ones, but only one is the exact staff the symbol has. You need a way to quickly figure out which one is right and how to activate them fast; runes only need your mana to activate, maybe you don't need to touch them directly to activate them?

Current state: A little sore, but not too tired.

Current mana: 100/100 (200 additional mana stored in runes.)

Available spells: https://rentry.org/carzyq9g

>>6172436
Can we cast clarity or reinforce belief on ourselves to hyperfocus on the symbols?

>>6172439
You can, it'll just cost a little bit of mana, reinforce belief is a little tricky because of its short duration and drawback, but if you finish it fast enough you can make use of it

>>6172444
We should probably try that, then. If we finish this we'll be halfway through the tests. Since we don't have a speed spell, the best we can do is shorten our reaction time so we figure out what we have to press immediately.

>>6172436
Can we use Mana Feel to predict qhen a rune is about to light, or to try to find pattern of the mana's flow to detect a pattern? Then maybe either set a rune with stired mana on each to trigger remotely, or use Mana Displacement to cast remotely?

>>6172439
Also a cool idea. I can get behind this is mine isn't viable.

>>6172501
Well, if there's no limit, we can try your idea first.