Ugh. I wanted more Xvim. I really wanted more Xvim and Zorian interactions in this chapter. Well, at least we got more characterization and world-building. But still, please more Xvim next chapter.

 

Is the site broken for anyone else?

I guess not, as people are commenting on the update, but fictionpress just times out whenever I try to view it.

 

Dun dun duuuun.

Well, that's interesting. As always, his classmates are pretty interesting and distinct figures. Always love how we gradually learn more and more about them when he manges to engage them in the right circumstances.

 

Zach is Red Robe.
You heard it here first, folks.

 

I'm so interested in this story. It's so rare that I find something online that makes me want to continue reading.

The political landscape is so intriguing, and it all ties in so well with what we know. The Xvim progression was welcome, and the info about Zach at the end conforms somewhat to one of the theories about Red Robe I've seen posted in this thread.

 

They've both been "on screen" simultaneously, so unlikely.

 

They've got magic. I don't think that's a very convincing argument at all.

 

Nope, this guy is.

The author is an amateur and it's known he used chekov's gun in the past (cat, little girl and bike e.g) and he claims to have already have the story planned out. Mentioning the identity of the Red Robe in the first couple chapters would fit.

Second, we know that Red Robe was part of the school (and Zorian believed in his year) given his skill level even accounting for the time skip. This would also explain why the araenae scanning the students minds didn't find him, he was likely expelled before the start of the time loops. Third, from what's mentioned here Veyers clearly has the attitude necessary to be RR, and to learn the magics he has done. Plus a grudge against the school, although he simply could be using the invaders as a resource to learn, similar to Zorian with the araenae, with it being an interesting experience for him. This also explains why the Lich doesn't respect him, he's an unknown who decided to help 3/4 weeks ago.

Fourthly (even though I've thought it was him for a good time now with the above reasons) the politics angle that's finally being introduced. I wouldn't remotely be surprised to find House Boranova as one of the houses that has some holdings in Cyoria next chapter (although admittedly most magi noble houses should), which would easily explain why he was in the city itself during the attacks before he came into the loop. As for why he's in the loops; Zach confronts the lich head on loop after loop after loop, would it be pure chance that the same thing that happened to Zorian happened to another?

 

That's honestly not a bad theory. It makes more sense than Zach being RR, since the author has been "hinting" for several chapters that we should look more into Zach, and then in a "surprising" moment of misdirection it's revealed that it ain't Zach but some other guy.

 

Go read Ch26 again. Before RR even knows of Zorian's existence, he takes the trouble to go find Zach in the middle of the invasion, just so he can read his mind to find out who is countering the invasion. All of this takes place in front of Zorian. Clearly not the same person.

 

Uh, why do we "know" that?

it's totally this author's style to have Veyers Boranova pop up again and be significant later on, I just don't understand why you've assumed Red Robes is/was a student.

 

There was a whole storyline about it so unless the author was completely wasting his time on it, it makes sense that it was in some way correct. Red Robe was skilled but he wasn't skilled enough to have been an adult looper, given Zorian and Zach were students at Cyoria it made sense that someone else came from the school given how much he interacted with the students, and the Araenea couldn't find the looper among the student body nor could Zorian notice a difference from loop to loop about a specific individual which was the reason he first started socializing with others.

It would make sense that their belief was correct thematically about the student actually being a third year and member of Zach and Zorian's class, but he was expelled before the time loop so Zorian never socialized with him or noticed anything different from the original. It fits in with the chekov's gun that I mentioned earlier that the author has used in the past, the character's attitude would fit what Red Robe has been displayed to be, and now the politics angle is coming in and the character was mentioned as the heir of an noble house.

[QUOTE="Chapter 26]"I grow tired of this," the lich responded. "He is alive enough for your purposes, and this way he'll struggle less. And you should watch your tone, little whelp - you're not in charge here and I could kill you whenever I want without anyone batting an eye. Enough of your 'information' has turned out to be incorrect that your value is being questioned."[/QUOTE]
There is also this, note the mention of "little whelp".

 

While it fits as a Chekov's gun, I still feel like most of your assumptions are unjustified.

Eg- no, just because Zorian and the Aranea decided to investigate his classmates doesn't mean RR will be one of them, there's no indication that RR couldn't be an adult (in fact, I had assumed he was, but there's no proof of that either).

 

What happened was Zorian and the Aranea assumed that given the prolific amount of effort Zach mentioned having focused on his classmates (even anti-social ones like Zorian), and given that Zorian himself became a looper, it was quite likely that if there was a third looper it would have been from the school or their class.

This started the storyline of Zorian's attempts at socializing with his other classmates in order to discern any differences in them from loop to loop, with the Aranea reading all their minds to also check. They subsequently concluded it couldn't have been any of them.

There being another third year that neither of them checked, who clearly had an attitude problem and is also an heir to an noble house for the politics angle like Zach, thus appeals to me as I can easily see Zach interacting with him over the loops.

 

I completely agree with you. I have been thinking that Red Robe was this guy for a while now, for the very same reasons (we already know the author does this a lot). I mentioned it once before and I think someone agreed with me. Was that you?

Also, based on what Xvim mentioned about the time loop having a limited scope, I think the spell is limited to just barely beyond the reach of the solar system they live in, since the spell seems to be powered by the planetary alingment (and maybe The Hole?). I mean so far my theory about the spell is that it gathers mana from the planetary alignment and the various soul wells scattered around the world using the Bakora gates scattered throughout the world like a big giant network that channels all the power into the Sovereign gate, which would then act on whoever happens to be inside it at the time when the spell gets triggered. Also, the previous Ikosian Emperor, mentioned something about an heir. Is it to crazy to think that Zach is one of his descendants? If only the descendants of the Ikosian Emperor could trigger and be the focus of the spell, it would go on to explain why Red Robe hasn't tried to expel Zach from the time loop. Since Zach is the last surviving member of House Noveda, there is no replacement/substitute, and Zach is also easy to fool. Just my thoughts, what do you guys think?

 

Wow, some of the people here sure have some interesting theories on who Red Robe is. I also completely forgot about Boranova. I think he's a great candidate to be RR. He fits in pretty much every way.

 

Well, the whole concept of this time loop in the world that the author has built is in and of itself a paradox. Time travel is supposed to be impossible, and yet the time loop exists. Spells are supposed to drain mana, and yet this loop apparently doesn't run on mana, or if it does we've yet to figure out the source. So yes, I'd assume that it's not "running out of juice." If it were me, assuming that time loop does end, I'd go with the decaying theory, because if it's dependent on a syzygy or planetary alignment, then the loop should go on forever because the planetary alignment's gonna happen again and again for that month during the festival.

 

Who is boranova again?