Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

"Finally!" I cried out as I watched the spell in front of me pull the ambient magicules and strip them of their elemental charge before storing it in the storage spells it automatically creates when there isn't one of that specific element.

I was mentally exhausted. I didn't even know how many loops I spent changing stuff around and basically throwing things at the wall and seeing what stuck, I had lost count after 20. But I had finished!... sort of. I still needed to improve the absorption process and the ending part that I would use to finally close these loops once and for all.

I collapsed on the floor as the stress of that never ending problem left my mind. If my body didn't reset after every loop I was sure I would be passing out at the moment, so spent the rest of the loop doing absolutely nothing as I just watched the night sky as the moon slowly passed over way above my head and the sun slowly coming up from behind the horizon, lighting up the sky as the millions of stars I could see slowly vanished as they were outshined by the light of the sun.

I could sense the feeling of the world starting to hold its breath creeping up my spine. I wasn't sure when I started feeling it again, but according to [Knowledge Library] this feeling is something called "sotobro effect", something that happens when the timeline is disrupted by something and I would call the end and start of the loop a pretty disruptive thing.

The pain in my soul was mostly gone as well, something I'm thankful for. After so long feeling like there was molten metal in my veins every time I used a skill was too much.

As the feeling rose into a crescendo, I felt a wave of magic wash over me. It was that calamity elf doing something that triggers the boronita reaction, ending the loop. I still didn't know what these "calamities" stuff are, and [Knowledge Library] isn't giving me answers to it, but whatever. I closed my eyes as I felt the wave of blinding light consume me and everything around.

I immediately Jumped and landed safely on the ground, managing to stop only a few meters from when the loop started. I learned how to not fall to the ground and have my mouth full of dirt after so many encounters with the forest floor.

Turning back into my true body, I walked towards Gareth and Mavi, and when I reached their detection range I started speaking.

"Hello, humans. I've seen you have set up tent near here. I'm away from the myriad palace doing a self-discovery journey and would like to ask you if you could help me?" I lied with confidence, which was enough for both of them to stop dead in their tracks and after a bit more of talking, I had memorized what they would say based on my own answers, they led me towards their camp.

Before they led me to the healer's tent, I asked if they would have anything to eat, as I had flown from so far away and wanted to taste human cuisine. It was all lies, fabricated after numerous iterations of the same conversation to avoid wasting much time. They brought me to the same tent I ate various meals with Henry and was asked to wait for they would let the cook know to prepare something for me as well as bring Henry here as they always do.

After eating the food they brought me and answering Henry in a way that led him believe I would be in favor of his noble household I left saying that I was thankful, which I was, but only for the food but they didn't need to know that, but I would need to go back to the forest to train and that they wouldn't be able to follow me.

Overall it took around 3 hours for me to go to their camp, eat and go back to the cave entrance. It was already routine for me to do it like this as it would minimize the time I spent with that entitled noble brat and allow me to continue adapting the spell, which was why I was so exhausted after finishing the core of the spell. I was working on it without sleep for days, if you consider the non-linear time of the loops.

I entered the cave and cast the spell, observing it through the monitoring spell and my own [Magicule Detection]. Thankfully it was stable enough that it created several containers that started to crystallize pure elemental energy. I saw the emerald green one of the time elements, the ruby red of the fire element, the blue of the water, the cyan of wind, and several others. I even had changed the spell a little so there was now a pure pale blue crystal forming in the center of the spell. It was pure magicules. Whatever magicule wasn't used up, was stored in it. I had to come up with it after seeing that the spell would lose stability if there were too much magicules flowing through it.

I let it run for a while, getting bored and jumping on the lake inside the cave after a while, right under the light of the various pure elemental crystals casting a iridescent light that reflected from the disturbed water, creating a kaleidoscope of light in the walls of the cave that was, honestly, one of the most beautiful things I had seen.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

When I saw that there was barely any magicule entering the spell, I sent the termination signal, which made the spell self absorb, releasing the crystals safely on the lake water. I picked them up and walked, rather awkwardly as I had to use one hand to hold them and walk on only three, and moved towards a series of small corridors in the cave system, reaching the boronita after fifteen minutes of walking.

The cave was being illuminated by the colored light of the crystals, but I still could see a lingering emerald green mist in the air. My spell had absorbed every bit of temporal energy in here, causing it to be at least five times larger than the other crystals, but my presence near the boronita caused the temporal energy from the timestream to seep in again, causing this thin mist of energy. At least it wouldn't cause the boronita to explode, yet.

Placing the various crystals on the floor, I picked up the time crystal and approached the boronita. Pulling up [Magical Programming Language]'s code editor, I created a spell using a piece of one of the original absorption spell's code. As I cast it and placed the temporal crystal in place, I saw the boronita turning white and the loop ending.

"First test, failure" I said after landing on the ground once more to avoid getting a mouthful of dirt. "...." I slapped myself on the face as I noticed I should have tested it outside and not directly in the nuclear bomb. The safety of the loops made me lose the sense of security and I would need to bring myself back to play it safe for when I closed the loop.

I went back to the crystal cave and cast the spells, waited for it to absorb as much as possible and then collected the remaining crystals before exiting the cave and going towards where I start the loop.

"It's probably a safe distance away" I said as I then cast the spell I would use to close the loops. As I cast, I saw how a pulse of magicules emanated from it, which was what probably caused the reaction, so I dispelled the spell and cast again, this time using [Magicule Manipulation] and holding any magicules that tried to pulse outwards… Success, I now had the spell and there wasn't any pulse of magicules.

I then placed the time crystal in the open spot of the spell, which then held the crystal floating in place. I sent a small pulse of magicules directly to the spell, as I wasn't confident enough I could code a pulse that would only target the spell and not make contact with the boronita.

The crystal started to spin in place as I saw energy coursing through, being fed into the spell and it shooting four small beams that connected in the middle before fusing and turning into a single beam that shot forwards, hitting a tree that I was aiming for.

The beam spread through the tree and covered it like a blanket. The spell was pulling a lot of magicules, but I saw the tree fading away, becoming more and more transparent. The only thing lacking was the sound effect and it would be a perfect Tardis dematerialization sequence.

My thoughts were interrupted as a headache came over me, hitting me like a moving truck and making me black out for a few seconds. When I came back I saw the spell fading away and the tree coming back. The time crystal fell to the ground and broke, spreading a green mist as it faded away instead.

"...I guess I'll have to use these, then," I said as I looked at the pure magicule crystals. "...Can I recharge using them?"

I picked one up and tried to absorb the magicules in them, which actually worked! Only for a few seconds, though. The problem was that I had exhausted both my magicules and mental energy, so as I tried to absorb them using [Magicule Manipulation] I felt my vision starting to blackout and I immediately stopped. If I kept going I was going to pass out.

I picked up the remaining crystals and went towards the camp. When I reached the edge of the anti-monster field, I shouted out towards them, which attracted the attention of a few knights, if the horror figures that I was seeing, the distortion effect of the field, were knights in patrol.

I waited for maybe 10 minutes, I was really considering just entering the camp despite the field, when Henry and half a dozen knights came outside the camp.

"Oh, sir dragon from the Myriad Palace. I am Henry Darnas, currently representing Duke Darnas at this encampment. How may I honor you?" Henry asked as he made a slight bow.

"I'm here on a self learning journey and as such I would like to offer a trade" I said.

"A trade?" Henry asked, slightly confused.

"I would like to offer these in exchange for a meal and a place to sleep" I said as I placed the crystals in the ground.

Mavi, who was in the group, whispered something in Henry's ear. "May we examine them beforehand?" He asked, which I promptly agreed to, as I didn't actually care enough about the crystals, but they didn't need to know that.

One of the knights that was holding a staff picked some of them before placing them back in the ground and whispering something in Henry's ear, whose eyes widened before he placed a neutral expression.

"Of course. Allow me to guide you towards our banqueting tent" Henry said before one of the knights gave me one of the medallions and explained its function.

They led me to the tent I already ate countless times, and after eating there, Henry showed me his tent before saying I could sleep there.

I didn't actually want to, but I couldn't do anything while my mental energy was so low, so I had no choice, and so, if I had to sleep, I would sleep on the best bed I had slept on so far, even though I would encounter that elf in the morning. If anything, I will at least learn which loop I was on, as I had lost count many, many loops ago. With that thought, I went to sleep