Chương 56: Chapter 53: Chaotic Assimilation

Doom. Impending doom. Stars poured into his eyes with the information of a peaceful yet bittersweet conclusion. Nolotl could only be happy that this deathless return hadn't been accompanied by unfathomable malaise. It was a sudden change. One moment he was burning his retinas peering into the bright expansion of the aligned eclipse and the next one his eyes were filled with a peaceful and clear firmament.

Because he was hyperconscious and there hadn't been any death this time around, Nolotl managed to cancel his divination ritual of the start of the loop.

"I think that the ritual is interacting weirdly with the time loop," he realized after now having several instances of circumstantial evidence. This was an effort to not think on what had just happened, on his cowardice.

"I think what happens is that I'm seeing the previous loop… Is that why the butterfly effect allowed me to survive during the zeroth loop? But if that's the case, what happened for me to react so violently?" Even after having looped back in time now for 270-ish days, the diviner couldn't fully comprehend the sense of impending doom that periodically assaulted him.

"Wait…" The terian ran some quick calculations on his mind.

"So I will be already 20 around the start of the next loop…" That number didn't make him feel all, but rather, it made him feel… weird.

"How is it that I'm almost one year into the loop…? It doesn't feel like it at all. I've learned a fifth-tier spell, cast two enchantments, leveled twice, and a handful of more miscellaneous things, but it really doesn't feel like I've done that much." It didn't help that any progress that wasn't bound to his status had been completely reset. Nolotl stretched his arms on the cold stone floor of the Observatorium. It was rather comforting how empty the installation's roof was at the start of the loop.

He truly had lucked out; otherwise, people would be hearing his screams and rumblings every single time. And saying that would be awkward was an understatement.

"But I should do something with the progress thing…" He finally stood up and rubbed his reddened skin from the frigid contact.

"Enantyum did say that I could share the information about the loops even if I didn't do so because… well, I wasn't quite ready last loop. But now… I should try something." The start of the loop was rather peaceful. For the first time ever, his periodic meeting with Enantyum had been all business without any threat or act of violence. Nolotl reported that he was making progress, Enantyum nodded at his words, and then he removed himself from the office.

All in all, a comfortable exchange that took less than a minute. The same could be said when he saw him a handful of hours later at the status offices. Yet again, Enantyum had failed to gain any significant amount of mana like that first time, so he just made his way out without any additional comment. As weird as it was having a peaceful loop start that wasn't presided with inherited pain and rage plus any physical violence, Nolotl had to admit it just felt good.

Perhaps I did exaggerate a bit by saying deathless loops were worse. Beta's death had left a bad taste in his mouth and it certainly still lingered, but he had already seen her alive the previous loop, and in this one he could interact with her again without any remorse. Or so he would like to do. Just in case, Nolotl did repeat the events of the first 'Void' loop by first building the Simulacrum's hylomorphism. The divination was too powerful not to use it, but it was veritably tiring having to do so each coil.

Arcane assimilation progressed by 1%. Though this time an interesting notification alerted him as he finished with the enchanted wooden board.

"Hmm, I guess this does count as enchanting, but that was certainly a random notification. Not that that I'm complaining but… why didn't I receive one for all of those dozens of mines I built? I mean, the Simulacrum's hylomorphism is way more complex, but what about quantity versus quality?" Chaos assimilation progressed by 1%.

"…you must be kidding me…" The words came out of his mouth without any passion whatsoever, his body simply deflated on the chair.

"Why does this keep happening with…" Chaos assimilation progressed by 1%.

"…Chaos?" Nolotl sighed after he finished uttering that sentence.

"Okay, like, I'm not really protesting, I'm not, but why does this keep happening with…" He waited for a moment but no notification came.

"…Chaos?" He continued.

"It truly makes no sense at—" Chaos assimilation progressed by 1%.

"Motherfucker!" Nolotl shouted and slammed his fist against the desk. The Alignment was proving to be as annoying as its Empyrean.

"Can I get some starless explanation why this shit keeps happening?" Arcane assimilation progressed by 1%.

"…I guess that works, but this only puts me more at a loss," he rubbed his temples.

"I can understand it from Chaos, but why is Arcane so petty?" The gnosiamancer knew better than to personify the Alignments. They were aspects of reality, not petty humane things that squabbled and bickered. There was simply something that he was failing to understand. That had to be it. Nolotl proceeded to continue with the script, but because he was being haphazard about it and he had finished the Simulacrum's hylomorphism faster than before, when he went to have breakfast next day, he didn't find Nina out there.

To be fair, he was being the odd one out at this time by having breakfast at four in the morning.

"If I could have the Simulacrum from the start of the loop, I could save up a handful of hours without not needing to work on the status offices…" He mused whilst peacefully enjoying. A massive outburst of paranoia assaulted Nolotl and he hurriedly looked around, but nothing happened.

"I don't know if it has been those prior notifications that have unsettled me, but I do expect Chaos at every corner now…" The diviner sighed. It didn't help that their Empyrean of Chaos was capable of simply appearing at will, or rather, by random chance.

"But about that Simulacrum hylomorphism… I don't have enough hours to ready it at the start of the loop, and it doesn't help that I always start the loop tired because I hadn't been sleeping for a whole day by then." This was one of the few instances where Nolotl could tangibly feel the consequences of his actions. Though instead of being those that occurred in the loop, they were those of his previous self.

"The solution is either getting really proficient at making the Simulacrum or… make a spell to make Simulacrum hylomorphisms…" The idea wasn't that farfetched. The reason why there weren't spells to print book and gnosiamancers instead relied in printing presses was because those types of spells mandated printing the same structure all the time, which wasn't an optimal way to reproduce thousands of different books.

A mage could easily learn to print the same unchanging page like a standardized status sheet was, but the same couldn't be said about the status information of a person. That logic could be extrapolated to books.

"This idea has merit," he pondered whilst walking through the Archives after having eaten. He still had some time before his meeting with Beta originally occurred. The only reason why he was waiting was because it was confirmed that the akyromancer would be present at her bedchambers and awake.

"The thing is, what would that type of spell be considered? A divination or a transmutation? It's bound to be at least first-tier because it's creating something complex, perhaps as far as second-tier…" Nolotl didn't even ponder that the spell might already exist as it made no sense whatsoever. If someone could cast the fifth-tier divination that was Simulacrum, they could make the hylomorphism in no more than two days. And if that enchanted board didn't break, then they would have it for perpetuity.

"Am I ready for true spellcrafting? That type of subject is reserved for the latter years and even then those are introductory classes…" As prolific as Nolotl had been so far, he was still in the mid-point of his education as the full course of the Empyrean Academy extended from the age of 15 to 25. Though was mostly the expected curriculum and people could easily graduate beforehand. If he had to assign years to the grades, he could be around 22 one.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Good, but far from excellent. Far from correctly being classified as an Empyrean, a peerless paragon. Considering he had some time, the terian prince asked a librarian where could he locate the textbooks for Introduction to Spellcraft and he swiftly got his answer. Few people were grateful of the bibliomancers of the Empyrean Academy, but Nolotl was prideful to loving them with all his heart.

"May your whole life be bountiful!" He said in overflowing joy before walking away to his target. Which, if anything, only weirded out the librarian in question. Sometimes there was something as too much gratitude. Maybe I should start learning their names and give them mini-surprises like I do with Yaxkin. Nolotl hummed in good mood. Though I hope these ones are positive for them. Technically speaking, spellcrafting wasn't anything new to him.

Spells, at least in the theory, were just an amalgamation of spellcircles. Whilst those spellcircles could be designed and be unique, mages tended to use existing ones for the sake of standardization, even if they weren't the most optimal or efficient ones. Ignoring the whole subject of spellware optimization, Nolotl knew most of the common spellcircles used for divination and gnosiamancy up to the four-ish tier of casting.

For starters, Nolotl attentively but swiftly parsed through the pages of the introductory books so they became lodged on his Perfect Recollection. Memorization wasn't understanding, but having the book always available to him was a too big of a plus to pass by. Especially now that he could materialize him for a more hands-on study session. Hours quickly went by as he went over stuff that he knew from second-hand but had never tackled headfirst. A lot of the disciplines of magic could be described like that.

It was like calling him an enchanter instead of a diviner because his most complex spells had been enchantments. He knew how to enchant as it was a mandatory course for gnosiamancers, but he knew little of the school of enchantment. The only reason why he got so far with the rituals was because they were just that: rituals. That requirement basically traded perfect preparation and conditions for an easier cast.

And they also tended to have their own personal requirements, could only be cast once, or any other arbitrary restriction that did make it easier for people to cast them. Otherwise, the Second Mind ritual should have been seventh-tier at earliest. In that sense, enchantment was what divination was to gnosiamancy but with taximancy. There was a clear overlap between the two, but in the sense of inheritance rather than substitution.

Enchantment inherited the geass of Arcane and their ability to put limits and conditions to strengthen a given result. But that was enough rambling. Nolotl made his way to the Void Tower.

Unlike his first Void loop—that would be the official classification from now on as Nolotl liked the thought—he went in person to the Void Tower, no need for the Simulacrum as the latter part of that loop had showed him that he had built enough resilience when using Vacuous Filtration to withstand the sidereal reality of the enchanted tower. Nolotl opened the door leading to the Void Tower and was met with nothingness instead of the cosmos, just like the first time.

But the moment he stepped inside and he resisted all of the negative effects of the… You have resisted Suppression. Well, he still had resisted that effect, but that was the only one that had been strong enough to get a notification. That made the diviner nod in satisfaction and he closed the door behind him before walking were the gravitational elevator would be. Still, he waited for a moment. Where's Tramma Dol? He should have appeared by now, shouldn't he?

The Void Tower's nondescript head was nowhere to be seen, but at the same time, it wasn't like Nolotl could see anything beyond the infinite vastness of space. When compared to the accurate firmament of the private room Beta had used for the total celestial alignment, the tower was truly nondescript in comparison. Just like its Tower Master. It was more of what an approximation of the cosmos should be done by someone with a great artistic vision rather than the actual cosmos they lived in.

"You aren't here just for sight-seeing, are you?" A voice asked next to him and Nolotl jolted on the spot, only holding a powerful curse because he knew who the speaker was.

"No, Tower Master Dol," the Empyrean of Information explained after he regained his composure.

"Hmm, and here I thought I was being cheeky." Space warped to reveal a figure, nondescript as the cosmos that surrounded them. It was indeed a person, but it would be impossible for one to come up with a suitable and stable description.

"Not many diviners have been able to detect my presence, let alone discern it. As always, this generation of empyreans is proving to be monsters of their own kind."

"You flatter me," Nolotl chuckled with some nervousness. Time travel could be considered some kind of divination, but that compliment lost a lot of its value when the sole responsible of the loop was Enantyum. I already failed to detect Tramma Dol in a previous loop, this was only a shot in the dark. Heh, dark.

"So, what's a non-akyromancer doing here? The tower's aura must not be comfortable for you?" The Tower Master that merged with the sidereal background asked.

"I'm doing some studies on Void, and—before you suggest it—I'm not going to become an obscuramancer." Archmagi Dol raised his brow—or so Nolotl intuited he did—at the sentence.

"How many akyromancers have asked you that already?" You, mostly. Nolotl kept that to himself.

"Not many, but their despair for having someone that facilitates their discipline is rather burdensome."

"Understandable," the expert akyromancer nodded.

"Obscuramancer Boons are really powerful from a didactic point of view. You know the Cognitive Stimulation Boon?" The gnosiamancer raised a brow of incredulity upon hearing such an absurd question. Of course he knew the Boon as it was the only one of two Boons that level 3 gnosiamancers could choose. Alas, Nolotl realized it was just a rhetorical question, so he simply nodded in affirmation.

"Well, that one has a small area of effect by default, but when combined with the Obscuramancer Title and their special resistance Boon, it basically makes it so it stimulates both learning and understanding of the Void."

"That… is a very interesting fact to know," the Empyrean mused with curiosity.

"Alas, I was veritable with being unable to become one. My Information Alignment is 76%." That made the Tower Master's brow lift up.

"I've seen archmagi with less Alignment in their respective element than you."

"Well, I go to great lengths to keep myself a pure gnosiamancer," Nolotl said with a diplomatic smile.

"Now, not to be rude, but was there anything you needed to know or could I…?" He pointed with his eyes at the tower's spire, the well deprived of gravity.

"Not much, I just was surprised to see a non-akyromancer around in the flesh. I think it was vastly more interesting to see that guest being one of our limited empyreans," Tramma Dol commented.

"Though that takes me back to my original question: you aren't here just for sight-seeing, are you? How do you intend to pursue these Void studies of yours?"

"I mostly intend to ask my fellow Empyrean for help in exchange for my own." A smile suddenly crept into the Archmagi's unreadable visage.

"And what makes you think Methasome will aid you?"

"Not to boast or anything, but I might be able to act like a pseudo-bibliomancer."

"Oh, so you aren't going for the path of obscuramancy because bibliomancy interests you more?" The old mage accused, but it was mostly a lighthearted jab.

"Not quite. If I'm honest, obscuramancy does sound like the more interesting field, even if casting magic through grimoires certainly sounds like the mage archetype made real." A young part of him wanted to be one of those mages of stories with a staff and a grimoire but foci could harm one's growth and grimoires could only be used offensively by bibliomancers who commanded the magic of the books.

"I was literal when I said 'pseudo'. I can collect books from the Archives with divinations and then summon them at will with illusions."

"Ah, I see," the nondescript mage nodded.

"That might interest Methasome, yes. Well, it seems I have stolen much of your time already so I'll let you go." Before Nolotl had the chance to speak again or say goodbye, the Tower Master simply vanished as he melded with the cosmic background and he didn't appear again. The diviner shrugged at that and made his way to the gravitational well. By now he knew the way through the place by heart, even when there were no frames of reference whatsoever. Divinations did still help guide him, though.

Nolotl waited for a handful of seconds so he would knock at Beta's door at the same time he did during the first time." Tower Master?" Beta asked as she came out of nowhere with the previous vacuous background become a window to a real space.

"Did he bring you here?" She asked Nolotl after spotting him.

"Yes," Nolotl affirmed confidently even if Tramma Dol hadn't guided him this time around. I should not follow the script to the letter when I'm not acting it; otherwise, it might lead to weird situations.

"So, what brings you here, Nolotl?" The Empyrean of Void asked as the diviner had been too absorbed on his thoughts and he lost the window of opportunity to ask the original question that followed his affirmation. Not that it mattered asking her if she was stronger than the Tower Master this loop. A claim that still surprised him.

"I've obtained a new Boon that requires a greater understanding of Void, so I came here seeking tutelage," the Empyrean of Information explained the brunt of the situation with the same original cadence.

"I see…" The pale woman blinked slowly.

"And why should I waste my precious and limited time on this earth on you?"

"Compassion for your fellow Empyrean?" He blurted out by reflex, completely forgetting about his previous thought of not following any script.

"I see, good day," Beta proceeded to pick up the knob on the door and close it.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Nolotl frantically shook his arms around but without extending them. Not only was he of flesh and blood instead of visual information this time around but touching the door might severely annoy Beta. And these last two loops had shown him that he couldn't take kindness for granted. Relationships were complex and a simple misstep might be something deeply important for someone else.

"… I'm waiting," she added tiredly, looking at him with derision as there was no Simulacrum to amused herself with this time. Nolotl pondered for a moment his next words. I've already antagonized her by mistake. I don't think she might tolerate my assistant speech even when I give her this 'bibliomancer' bonus. And… well, I technically failed at that speech before, I only convinced her because I rushed inside of her room, but that was only possible because I was a Simulacrum.

I cannot do that now without making her way angrier… The diviner found himself at a crossroads. Not only did he need Beta's help, but she also wanted to help her. But similarly to the events of the previous loop, he didn't want to antagonize anyone. Perhaps everyone else would forget of the events of the loop, but he wouldn't. A perfect memory meant a perfect recalling of all the pain he inflicted upon others.

Perhaps the terian prince didn't doubt to brutalize the ambushers, but any torture he inflicted would live inside him forevermore. I think there's only one way to convince her without needing to get physical, he told himself before taking a deep breath.

"Beta," Nolotl's tone was both regal and confident.

"I come from the future and I'm here to help you." It was certainly a heavy statement, and he didn't know how the akyromancer might react to it, but it was bound to get a better reaction than a haphazard offer. Beta's response? She slammed the door in his face.