Time Looped

"Merchant!" Will shouted as he performed a horizontal slice.

The weapon he used was especially effective against mirror copies, yet even it had trouble dealing with the amount. It also turned out that while copycat allowed him to copy class skills, the same couldn't be said for the ability to create infinite mirror copies. Even in the mirror realm, Will remained limited by the number of mirror shards he had with him.

The multi-colored merchant emerged amidst the sea of thieves, shattering dozens of them in the process. A few of them tried to fight back, but quickly found that the entity was effectively indestructible.

"I want a boost!" Will tossed the class token towards the merchant.

Knowing what that would result in, Alex's copies tried to grab the item, but each and every attempt was met with instant destruction. Another thing the merchant didn't appreciate was anyone getting between him and his deal.

"Archer," Will said right before the item found its way into the merchant's hand.

Messages appeared throughout the mirror realm.

Endless ammunition? Will wondered.

No wonder the archer was so powerful. Not only did it become severely overpowered at later levels, but it also got an unfair start. When it came to attack, none of the other classes Will had obtained came close. One could argue that the clairvoyant was more powerful in other ways, but even that wouldn't withstand the pain of constant death.

The weapon changed in Will's hands. Then, he performed his first true long-ranged attack. His hands moved quickly and precisely as if he'd been using the weapon for years.

A single arrow materialized in his fingers.

The rogue pulled the bowstring, aiming at the source of the mirror copies, then released the projectile. With a whizzing sound the arrow split the air, shattering through dozens of mirror copies as if they were nothing.

Quickly, Will pulled the bowstring again. Another arrow appeared.

This really is unfair, he thought as he let off another shot.

In terms of destructive power, the bow was definitely a lot more destructive than the whip-blade. The only shortcoming was that it wasn't a defense weapon. Although a large number of mirror copies had clustered around Alex to keep him safe, the rest remained on the attack. One good stab and Will's loop would be over. Thankfully, he had his own guardian as well.

Leaping up from one of the shadows, the shadow wolf emerged, shattering a mirror copy in the process. The presence of the black wolf instantly caused Alex to freeze. The creation of mirror copies instantly ceased, creating an empty ring in his immediate vicinity. Obviously, he still remembered his recent encounter in the school corridor.

"I saved you from the wolves," Will shouted. "You remember what that was like."

"Nah. I have no idea, bro."

Nothing in his behavior suggested that he was lying or even cared. The change of air currents coming from his nose, however, betrayed him. From Will's perspective, the goofball might as well have confessed.

"I just want to talk," the rogue pushed on, holding an arrow at the ready.

The suggestion had an effect. All the mirror copies spontaneously stopped in place. Now that they were still, they seemed even more than Will had thought they were. All of them were seemingly calm. Some held knives at the ready; others didn't. Yet, the boy didn't doubt for a single moment that they could charge at him at the drop of a hat.

"The nightmares you had. Do you remember what was in them?"

"Lots of things, bro."

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"Apart from the wolves, you remember Danny, don't you?"

The silence suggested that Alex did.

"Ely too?"

The original Alex narrowed his eyes just a fraction.

"What about—"

"I remember you, too, bro. You were with the wolves." He glanced at the Will's shadow wolf. "Just like that one. They were fighting."

"I was protecting you from the other wolf."

The explanation sounded so bad that Will regretted ever saying anything.

"The important thing is—"

"Nah, bro," Alex cut him off. "Danny warned me about you."

Cold chills ran down Will's spine. He was certain he had heard the full conversation between Alex and Danny. At most, a few seconds were missing. Although, it was also possible that more was said before that.

"You're with them, aren't you?"

"Who's them?" Will didn't like the way the conversation was going.

Did another power exist—an alliance that he had completely missed? Everyone he had spoken to in the future was adamant that the archer was the greatest threat. There was talk of other allied groups, but nothing indicated they were as dangerous. Spencer, the acrobat, even the lancer agreed on that.

"The creatures of eternity, bro," the goofball continued. "You're one of them. You look human, but you aren't. You don't even exist! You're just a fake reflection that isn't part of the world."

A lump formed in Will's throat. For a moment, he was concerned about being on the verge of something. Sadly, all that he witnessed was the actual result of Alex's true mental state. Whatever Danny had done to him, it had ripped out most of the knowledge he had in the past. Pieces were left, but they were mere fragments of what was, that his mind tried to glue together.

"Did you come to stop me, bro?" Alex asked.

"I came to stop Danny. He—"

"He did a lot of things, I know. The good's more than the bad, bro. You…" the goofball shook his head. "I've no idea what you really want. You don't fight to kill, but you're not safe either. Do you really know what you're doing?"

For some reason, the question struck a nerve.

"Big oof, bro." Alex laughed along with several dozen of his mirror copies. "Get that sorted first, then come at me. We'll continue this."

No, we won't.

The hundreds of mirror copies were gone, leaving Will standing alone. Logically, there was no reason for such a trivial encounter to hit him this hard, but it had. Gone was the goofball he knew, replaced by something he couldn't even describe. It wasn't hatred, it wasn't apathy, Alex was just like a wounded creature trying to survive. The worst part was that he felt more confident forming an alliance with Daniel than joining Will.

Will glanced at the rogue mirror. Within moments, Danny would rush in to claim his class, as he did at the start of every loop.

I always knew it wouldn't be easy, Will thought to himself as he stepped to the side. Having to face the person who had set him off on this whole challenge to the past felt off. And the worst part was that if that had happened to Alex, it could also happen to Helen. In fact, if paradox logic was to be believed, it already had.

"Merchant," Will muttered.

The faithful trader came into existence with a bow.

"Archer." Will took out his class token and tossed it to the entity.

Messages covered the floor and ceiling just as before.

The guide gave its two cents. If it was meant to serve as support, Will didn't see it. The reason he was forced to claim the archer class was due to Alex officially becoming his enemy… at least until Will managed to kill Danny.

Will set his mind on other things in the hope that doing challenges with Luke would take his mind off things. Whether it was a delusion or just postponing the problem didn't particularly matter because it worked.

The very first challenge the two of them set off to complete proved to be beyond the enchanter's current skills, requiring five redoes until he managed to complete it unharmed. The reward was a marginally useful skill, although for Luke, who had next to no permanents, it seemed like the best thing ever. Will, in turn, only was rewarded a relatively large amount of coins. Eternity was surprisingly strict when it came to granting him skills. Not that it mattered particularly. Thanks to his personal merchant, he had the option to exchange coins for a skill at any point. The only tedious thing was getting enough.

Each challenge the pair completed, brought Will's mind more at ease. Soon enough he had obtained enough money to extend his time loop for half a week. Buying skills was out of the question. Both the temporary and permanent available weren't particularly useful right now, and the ones that were, exceeded his price range by a factor of twenty.

Gradually, loops became a routine once more. Every loop, Will would start his prediction, then check the map for suitable open and hidden challenges and go fetch Luke. The enchanter was growing steadily, requiring fewer and fewer repetitions. The relationship changed from that of mentor and mentee to that of senior and junior partner. With a three-level boost, Luke only had to kill one wolf pack before they could set off on the real fights.

Every ten-fifteen loops, an unexpected bonus would emerge. The bonuses of the challenge reward would include a unique option to gain a class token, which eternity saw no need to convert into coins. Thus, Will had permanently boosted his archer to level three.

"This again?" Luke sighed as they sat in the familiar coffee shop.

It was clear that he didn't enjoy it particularly. His restlessness reminded Will of his first few loops.

"Rest is good," he replied, taking his chocolate croissant.

"Yeah, but does it have to be here?"

Accustomed to the reality of loops, the enchanter didn't bother being nice or polite. Being the type of person that spoke his mind, he didn't give much of a damn what other people thought, especially loopless.

"Okay, we'll take a walk. Have change?"

Luke shook his head, then handed Will a twenty-dollar bill. The cash made the barista more than understanding. Having worked in the service sector for years, he had seen all sorts of things. In his view, any day that he got paid was a good day. Everything else was merely a difference of opinion.

"You must slack off more," Will said as the pair walked aimlessly along the street. The new version of the pastry he had taken had a slight orange tang, making it much better than the plain chocolate one he had tried before.

"That's funny coming from you."

"You'll crash if you go too far. Eternity isn't a nice place for that."

"Talking from experience?"

"Yeah…" Will preferred not to go into details.

What he really wanted was to tell Luke to treat loopless better. Doing so, though, would open him to philosophical arguments concerning challenges. By now the enchanter had figured out that they were venturing into other realities, acting very much like the chaotic invaders the goblins had been at the end of the tutorial. Good and evil were getting more and more difficult to define when dealing with anything temporary, or permanent for that matter. Killing off a participant merely ended the loop, resulting in time lost. Only a permakill resulted in any consequences, which, ironically, was the very reason Will had rewound so many loops to begin with.

"Listen, Luke. The thing—"

Will had barely begun when he saw a glint in the distance. In a city this size, it could have been caused by a great number of things. Yet, after going on challenges for so long, he knew exactly what it was.

In a fraction of a second, Will drew the bow from his mirror fragment, then shot an arrow in the direction of the glint.

Ten feet away, two arrows crashed into each other. The impact wasn't precise, so neither of them splintered, but it was enough to veer each of them off course.

Luke threw a handful of coins in front of him, instantly creating a small swarm of scarabs.

"Don't!" Will shouted even as he had readied another arrow. "It won't help."

"Who are we against?" The enchanter looked around, trying to pinpoint the location of their attacker.

"Your sister."

Will had been avoiding this moment for quite a while. Finally, it had caught up to him.