Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

Zorian ran a trembling hand through his hair and started to clean his glasses with the hem of his shirt to calm himself down. He really, really hoped he was wrong and that there was no soul bond between him and Zach. Zach had 6 times larger mana reserves than Zorian’s theoretical maximum, was naturally more outgoing and confident, and — thanks to being in the time loop far longer than Zorian — was probably decades older than him too. No points for guessing who’d be the dominant one between the two of them!

The worst thing about it was that he couldn’t even go to someone for help. He was pretty sure the soul bond, or whatever it was, was responsible for him looping around along with Zach. If he asked someone for help, they’d insist on severing the bond (an understandable sentiment and something he’d eagerly agree to in normal circumstances), which would cause him to lose everything he had gained inside the time loop, memories included, once Zach started over at the end of the month.

Yeah, he was totally screwed.

He took a couple of deep breaths and put his glasses back on. Maybe he was looking at things too fatalistically. Considering the sheer size of disparity between him and Zach, he should have experienced some pretty massive personality shifts by now, and he didn’t notice anything of the sort. He certainly wasn’t feeling submissive towards anyone, least of all Zach. Obviously things weren’t as bad as they seemed. He could very well be overreacting and overlooking some other, perfectly reasonable explanation for the unscheduled restart…

Someone was knocking. Who could possibly-

Oh. Right. Taiven.

He sighed heavily. Just what he needed right now. The knocking turned into banging, prompting him to finally open the door.

«Hi Roach!»

«Hi Taiven,» Zorian said in a slightly suffering tone. «How nice of you to visit me. Do you want to come in?»

Taiven promptly did what she always did once he let her inside — she jumped on his bed and made herself comfortable. Zorian shrugged and went after her. Best to get it over with quickly.

«Didn’t you graduate?» he asked. «You said you were going to go into exploration after you graduate, what happened to that?»

She gave him a sour look. «It’s not that simple. No expedition is going to take a complete beginner like me with them. I need an established explorer to take me as an apprentice. I’m working on it.»

«Funny, I heard you’re working as a class assistant to Nirthak,» Zorian remarked. «Isn’t that going to interfere with searching for another master?»

«Well, sort of,» she admitted. «But I’m not literally searching for another job at this point. I’m actually trying to build up my reputation and get people to notice me by doing missions and such. In fact, that’s what I came to talk to you about — I’d like you to join me and a couple of others on a job tomorrow.»

«Sounds suspicious,» Zorian said. «What could a measly third year help you with?»

«Um, fill out our numbers?» Taiven answered. «We can’t take the job until there are 4 or more of us, and we’re one short of that.»

«Well, why does the job require four people?» asked Zorian, knowing from previous restarts that this was the fastest avenue to shut down Taiven’s excuses. «Surely the employer didn’t put that there just to be mean to groups like yours.»

«It’s supposedly dangerous,» Taiven huffed, folding her arms across her chest. «The old man is overreacting. The spiders aren’t even that big from what he told us.»

«Spiders?» prodded Zorian.

«Yeah,» Taiven said hesitantly, apparently realizing she probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. «Spiders. You know, hairy eight-legged—»

«Taiven,» Zorian warned.

«Oh come on Roach, I’m begging you!» Taiven whined. «I swear its not as dangerous as it sounds! We’ve been in the tunnels hundreds of times and it wasn’t that dangerous at all! We can protect you easily!»

«Hundreds of times?» asked Zorian dubiously.

«Well, a dozen times at least,» she relented.

Zorian was just about to tell her no, like he usually did at this point, but then he stopped himself. He probably wouldn’t be able to do anything remotely productive for at least a week, what with the possibility of a soul bond between him and Zach weighting heavily on his mind and all. A nice distracting stroll through the sewers might be just what the doctor ordered, so to speak.

«Sure,» he said.

«Really!?» she squealed.

«Yes, really,» confirmed Zorian. «Just tell me where to meet you tomorrow before I change my mind.»

A few minutes later Taiven left, thanking him profusely and kissing him on the cheek ‘for being a friend’ before running off to… wherever she had been going, he supposed. He didn’t ask, being too shocked by her kiss, innocuous as it may have been. He was a bit angry at himself for being so affected by a silly kiss on the cheek, but he supposed he shouldn’t be too hard on his subconscious. She was his former crush, after all.