Well if it killed him, you'd still have a situation where the next thing he remembers is waking up, but that's unlikely given the presence of a necromancer when he "died".

 

Zach must be very confused right about now. I figure this is one of the main reasons Zorian is going to avoid the city for a few loops, too.

 

I agree he must be confused, but it would be really amusing if after waking up he said, "So that's what that feels like."

Since Zorian is leaving the city, I would like for him to finally continue his side-quest with Silverlake, but it doesn't fit with what he wants to achieve right now.

And I really like how badass Zorian is slowly becoming. It's one thing that the author does really well, not rushing it, but allowing him to slowly level up and show how what once would be an impossible battle is now just another skirmish with an enemy. Interesting enough, even though he's magic skill still needs an improvement, with the amount of fights he did in his loops, he's probably one of the most experienced fighters around right now. Aside few old mages who could be involved in old wars, I doubt anyone found themselves in a middle of serious battle as often as he regularly does.

 

It could be a switch to start a new cycle, or it could just rip off his soul and hold it in storage until it's time to rewind time. I'm assuming that's what happens if he dies before the end of a cycle.

 

If he did trigger a reset... how nervous will Red Robe be once he discover it?

Just think, he probably erased the knowledge about the loop controls from Zack's mind... and now someone used those controls to end a loop

 

Think I need to take a break from this fic for a few months - love the overarching story, but taking it in at just a chapter at a time leaves me totally unsatisfied.

In other news, the author just crossed $350 per chapter on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/nobody103?ty=h - good for him, deserves the $$$.

 

Nice chapter, always feel a bit bad about his classmates and friends though. Generally like all of them and wish they would also profit from the loops. More so than those that already do, I mean.

Still, with Zorian being able to trigger the restarts on his own, should bring in more conflict in the long term. Especially after his meet-up with the Necromancer, who was also in the looping, right? Or was that only Red Robe?

 

I did read the latest chapter. My reasoning stems from the fact that every time Zorian died, he instantly reawakens with Kirielle waking him up again. Therefore, even if he doesn't trigger a restart, he'll feel like no time has passed from death to waking up again. This was most clearly shown with his encounter with Red Robe. We know that the restart didnt instantly begin with Zorian blowing himself up, rather it restarted when Zach died or the restart ended.

I honestly believe that the switch that he found is merely a failsafe, a "kill yourself when in danger" so that he wouldn't be like tortured into giving away key information.

But maybe I'm wrong.

On a totally unrelated note, I'm gonna miss Taiven.

 

I'm sure there will be more opportunities for awkward Taiven interaction.

 

I think you are forgetting that Zorian already has a suicide failsafe with his explosive cubes. In his fight with Red Robe, he wasn't just trying to kill himself, but was trying to kill himself in a manner that prevented Red Robe from getting his body. The problem with necromancers, like the mayor, is that dying just leaves you defenseless against them.

Well, Zorian will certainly be willing to fight against Red Robe more often. But the conflict will be half-assed because he won't be risking much during the fights. Being able to reset the loop on command removes the danger in the conflict. I am not sure I like the idea of it.

Also, the Necromancer/Mayor is not looping as far as we are aware.

 

The main reason Zorian killed himself AND left nothing for Red Robe to find wasn't because he was afraid of necromancy. It was more because he was afraid that Red Robe would "kill his soul" like he did to the aranea, thereby either permanently killing him or removing him from the time loop. Since, as you said, the necromancer is not looping, Zorian should not have the same worry. Also, there was barely any, if at all, time left in the restart when Zorian confronted the necromancer, meaning that I doubt the necromancer would've had much time to do anything with his body. Thus, I stand by my idea that the switch is just a kill yourself failsafe.

 

when Zach and Zorian are talking in chapter 7 necromancy is mentioned specifically as something they need to watch out for because it's effects can travel thru the loops. Hell, the spell that the lich cast was necromancy and it was done in less then a minute. Zorian has several means to kill himself quickly in a rush, but him being dead doesn't stop anyone from messing with his soul and having a permanent impact on his abilities or life.

 

Okay, let's assume for a moment that you're right and the switch really does reset the time loop. It still doesn't make sense to me that he would use that instead of just blowing himself up, because if you're right and the switch resets the loop, then using it is a big tipoff to anyone inside the loop that someone knows how to reset the time loop. Since the time loop resetting used to be tied into Zach's death, and Zach is presumably still alive, shouldn't that tipoff others about Zorians existence within the loop? True, nobody would be able to know that he reset the loop inside the necromancers house since no one knew he was there, but it definitely shouldn't be used in the future at the very least.

I'm just not sold yet on this whole Zorian can now reset the loop thing because it gives him a lot more power and could make him be a lot more reckless with his actions.

 

He was facing a necromancer. Of all the people you do not want to have access to your dead body/soul, they are at the top of the list. Resetting the loop is the only safe way to get away from someone like that.

 

Here is the meaningful excerpt from chapter 26.

As for Zorian letting others know that he can control the time loop a bit... yeah, I can see that as being a bit stupid. But not nearly as stupid as fighting the necromancer when he had a viable exit. Zach isn't his enemy, and Red Robe doesn't know who he is, so it isn't as if someone is going to come by and curbstomp him for meddling with the loop mechanics. Frankly, RR is more likely to believe that Zach got himself killed again.

 

Does anyone else wonder if this passage is a little bit of foreshadowing that will explain Zack's impossible (200+ magic missile) levels of mana?

I mean, how often do stories behave in exactly the ways their protagonists expect? (especially if they say their expectations out loud to the reader)

If there's some sort of mechanism in the time loop that lets you expand your capacity beyond what you would naturally be able to achieve, that would explain Zack's weirdness and make the mention of his mana capacity into a kind of Chekhov's Gun

 

Well, Zorian's theory was that Zach was chosen because he was suitable for that purpose. Big mana pools with high potential but that he'd need time to unlock - ala a Naruto time loop. Zorian is the random nameless genin who got pulled in and is actually figuring out how to fix everything while Naruto turns into a dragon to fight Orochimaru.

 

It's quite likely that there's way more to Zach's story than we know. After all, we barely know anything about him other than that he's become a powerful mage that Zorian suspects was the original target of the time loop (project?). There's also that significant detail where he was rapidly improving through a few loops until he slayed Oganj.

However, I don't think Zorian's improvement will be related to Zach's. Zach seems too crude in his magic usage to be increasing his capacity by improving mana efficiency. I think it's mentioned at some point that there's an inverse correlation between mana efficiency and capacity.