Or given how Red Robes doesn't seem all that smart what he did does not have the same effects as he expects.

 

In truth, the spell should have a cost in personal power that a don't know...

Not only that, but I think that any kind of magic that takes things from the timeloop suport its degradation.

If this is true, then RM has two reasons not to spaw that kind of attack without any restrain.

 

Well, the spell was supposed to have a long casting time. I guess they are getting something out of the time loop which is why they didn't use it on Zach but that they had no qualms in using it against time travelers that are no necessary to maintain it. The reason they didn't use the spell in all restart to slowly end the resistance would be that the bodies would appear one month before the ritual needs to take place and would warn the authorities that something is going on, making things unpredictable. The lich had no trouble using that spell on Zach because it wouldn't outright destroy the soul and thus wouldn't interfere with the loop.

 

I don't think the lich was aware of Zack at all (in that first encounter that brought Zorian into the loop) . He's out of the loop. Red robes hasn't told his superiors everything.

Red robes wouldn't want to use that spell on Zach because he isn't that big of a threat (simply because he's an idiot) and because Zach is the whole way that red robes has been able to time travel. Killing Zach would fuck everything up. I'm sure he's used mind magic on Zach though, to edit his memories.

 

He probably hasn't told the Lich as he possess's the skill to join in on the time loop considering he was the one that brought Zorian into it. There was already tension between the Red Mage and the Lich, so he most certainly doesn't want to inform him that Zach is the key to it and give up his trump card.

 

I had the impression that the Lich's spell bringing Zorian in to the time loop was a fluke, not really reproducible.

 

The Lich spell was meant to merge Zorian and Zack's soul because he thought that Zack was a Lich as well, how else do you describe someone as young as Zack who can fight anywhere near the Lich's level? He thought Zorian had something to do with it as well and tried to merge their souls. This caused the loop to reset before the spell finished which resulted in Zorian being dragged along for the ride. But he can't really repeat the process cause he's not the anchor.

 

My impression is that it was an unintentional fluke, because the lich didn't know exactly what Zach was, but if someone skilled in soul magic (lich or red robes) knew what about Zach and the loop they could potentially replicate it.

I'm thinking that's how red robes got into the loop. Zach was fighting him in one of the loops decades ago and like a total fucking idiot let slip information about time traveling souls and red robes did to Zach and himself what the lich did to Zach and Zorian.

 

I'm pretty sure Red Robes is implied to be the progenetor of the loop. I was under the assumtpion bad shit was going down which required the use of the spell in the first place.

Who's to say Red Robes and Zach aren't related, actually? It could have been a complicit scheme in the beginning, with a powerful time spell that required a good soul to use. Red Robes performs some ritual on his relative and uses it to try and conquer the world or something, only Zach can't abide by it after a few restarts.

 

New chapter

Haven't even read it yet so no comments aside from this filler.

 

Just read the new chapter, and it addresses (if not answers) a lot of our questions about Red Robes' 'soul-killing spell' and it's limitations. Not much else to comment, as it mainly deals with Zorian dealing with the aftermath of last chapter, but it looks like the next one will begin advancing the plot again.

 

Mostly tell... but there's a few interesting details I guess. Rather short too. Guess it'll be another month before anything new actually occurs!

 

I'm looking forward to seeing Zorian spend a few loops avoiding the Academy entirely. Should be a nice change of pace.

 

Eager to see him explore more of the world.

 

Yeah seems like it was pretty much the transition really but it dealt with the aftermath well enough and the change of pace looks like it will be interesting.

 

I honestly wonder if the author read comments about it and decided to address them, or if they had always planned it out.

 

The world may never know.

 

We'll probably know at some point. Most authors seem to drop in when they find out their story is being discussed as avidly as this one. I'd be surprised if the author isn't at least aware of this thread given how many of us are reading his/her story.

As for the update, I thought it was a solid (if somewhat shorter than normal) transition chapter and we got quite a lot more sense of some of the goings-on in the larger world. Not much action, which is a little disappointing, much of this being table-setting and new insight into Zorian's thinking and planning, but some of this is the effect of reading a serialized story. I suspect we'll see more balance (telling/showing) with the next chapters.

A possible point of concern is that if the Red Mage ever were to suspect a student as the other time traveler, then Zorian's continual absence from the academy upon restart may cast suspicion on him (as with Zach's absences early in the story).

 

As I see it, if Red Robes knew enough about the typical habits of Zach's classmates and what they do each loop, he could have figured out who Zorian was in the month between Zorian's suicide and the resetting of the next loop, and then Zorian would have been fucked from the moment he woke up this chapter.

But Red Robes didn't piece it together, so I think he just has never paid any attention to them. He doesn't know enough to know that Zorian has broken routine.

It's possible that Red Robes has that background knowledge but just didn't check the students that one particular month, and that some time several restarts from now he'll realize that Zorian is conspicuously absent.

But at this point in the story, if I were Zorian, I'd go ahead and assume he just won't figure it out from my absence and keep travelling the world.

 

Earlier in the story, we find out that Zach dying resets the time loops immediately for Zorian, rather than waiting until the month is complete. We don't know for sure, but I had assumed it would work the same way for Zorian committing suicide.