I hope that the author doesn't use Chekhov's gun for the identity of Red Robe. It would be very disappointing.

 

I think he's been established now as that old classmate of theirs that got expelled, or at least he's connected to it somehow. I was a hundred percent certain it was Daimen when I started reading this though, so don't trust what I say.

Also I don't think you understand the concept of Chekhov's gun. It's about efficiency of storytelling, so saying you don't want that is asking for bad writing.

 

Icecold probably means that it would be a shame if every plot twist was hamfistedly forced to be foreshadowed like Rowling's silly "Nagini is the Brazilian python that harry set free" statement. I don't think many people argue against conservation of detail.

 

Updated.

Spoiler

This chapter really feels like an "update" chapter, not much really happened per say, except a bunch of threads are shown to be in progress and moving forwards. The character interaction between Zach and Zorian is still entertaining, and the revelation about the key is not surprising at all.

 

Another update.

 

Spoiler

The soul perception potion seems to be the most important part of this update. I suspect arc 2 is going to end with another large revelation and this is a massive Chekov's gun.

 

We're already in arc 3 though, no?

 

They interact with a lot of other people who can see souls, I'm not sure what Zorian would see that others wouldn't.

 

I think it's just Zorian starting on soul magic. He mentions it might help him retain his memories from the time loop so maybe it is the start to them trying to trick the interface for getting out of the loop. Maybe this is the road to them separating their souls and Zorian merging with his non-time loop self.

 

Yep, I'm sure that Zorian is suspecting he may need a soul magic to be able to escape the loop with Zach instead of staying behind by personally figuring out how the Marker works. The Chekhov's gun is these twins with a soul bond.

Other possible Chekhov's gun to the escape from the loop is Ilsa's research about creation of matter though I'm unsure if it wasn't just a hint of the loop's nature in the early chapters. Though it would be nice to have this older Zorian and maybe Zach interact with their teacher.

Something I considered before, but now I'm quite certain is that the end game for Zorian's battle magic is becoming an 'Army of One' (as opposed to 'One-Man Army' Zach) with his simulacrums controlled by an artificial hive mind. That the golems can be used to sustain them confirmed it to me.

Any bets that Silverlake will turn out to be very hot in her young form, but the effect will be destroyed by keeping her annoying character?

 

No bet. Any bets that Silverlake is Zorian's great-X grandmother?

 

I liked this chapter better than the previous one. The chapter before this one had a lot of telling and not showing, and a lot of things happening throughout the story. I guess the author realized that if he went over what happened in that chapter at his usual pace, he would have to spend many more chapters on it, and it would take forever to reach the end of the series.

This last chapter is kind of the opposite to that. We get 'showed' a lot of things, but very little happens. The whole chapter is basically about 1) hunting the Grey Hunter and 2) interacting with Silverlake. And I just have to say: "FINALLY!!! FINALLY we get to Silverlake!". I was wondering when we would get to it.

t's also funny to find out that Zorian actually got scammed the first time he met her, with him basically giving away something that was just as important to her as the Grey Hunter eggs for free. On the plus side, he might be able to recreate the events that led to him meeting the Giant Salamander, and maybe even scan its memory to see where it was at the beginning of the time loop, to consistently get it every time. I would also like to see how Silverlake reacts when they show up with the 2 main ingredients she needs to make her youth potion.

Also, once Silverlake accepts the time loop, I would like to see how she reacts to the knowledge that a Primordial is going to get summoned at the end of the month and that her only hope to survive would be the boys she has been messing with and treating like brats! She has basically shot herself in the foot there. All her delaying of teaching them magic has only made their chances of getting out of the time loop lower. She can't even touch them! If they don't get out of the time loop, she will never know that a primordial is about to be summoned and will likely die, despite being immortal and maybe eternally young.

She has also shooed away from her doorstep people who have 1) a basically infinite cash reserve, who wouldn't mind giving some to her for potion making practice, 2) access to rare ingredients that will be replenished every month, 3) a way to make any potentially crippling/disfiguring failures null and void, 4) a way to rope in experts to be her assistants without the risk of them spreading her secrets.

So far, we have 3 vexing teachers:
-Alanic
-Xvim
-Silverlake

Will there be any more? Will Zorian ever tell the rest of his family about the time loop? With full control of his parents company and knowledge of lucrative events in a 1 month time period, he could stand to make a lot more money than he's presently making, and expand his activities by throwing huge sums of money at everything.

 

I am so bored with this story. Almost nothing happens for how many words? We've done the "I'm in a loop and you won't believe me" conversation how many times? It's so very bland

 

In a reserve order.

I doubt Zorian will ever tell his parents, but I expect there will be some interactions with his other brother before the loops are over and he may tell him.

I'm under impression that by now he has ways of getting more money than he can spend within one month, even with all projects he has.

As for the other teachers, my old guess is that Ichl will be one in soul magic. All Zorian needs to do is exactly what Red Robe did (though with a plan to betray him before the month ends) and additional bonus is getting more inside take on the Invasion.

We would finally get more about that vampire girl because I was pretty sure she would be relevant somehow, but I'm starting to doubt that guess by now.

 

I am actually a bit confused about how Zorian is making enough money to purchase other mage's secrets the way he is right now. The only method I can remember is him collecting crystalized mana from the dungeon, but I find it hard to believe that he can gather enough to trade for decades worth of research from mages who are disinclined to trade in the first place. Did I miss something?

What is leading you guys to believe soul magic will help him escape the loop? The key may let him take the original's body, and he is studying dimensionalism with the hope to tear a hole out of the pocket dimension and walk out. I think he wants soul magic to deal with the lich, since that was the only method that let him win in the past.

 

Spoiler

I think Zorian himself mentioned that he wants to study soul magic to get out of the loop. As it is, his soul is branded with some sort of mark to Zach. He figured out what he can do with it (like killing himself) with the help of soul magic, so more knowledge of soul magic will surely help him. I believe the third mage also used soul magic to leave the loop. Moreover, he studies pocket dimensions to get a better understanding of the orb. The study of dimensionalism also helps with creating teleportation gates or something. The Lich is definitely a reason to study soul magic, but the primary reason is to study the mark and figure out a way to bind himself to Zach so that he can leave the loop with him.

I can't quote these from the story, it's been at least a month since I caught up the current update, but I'm pretty sure. And it makes sense to study soul magic, since it was the Lich's soul magic that forced him into the loop.

EDIT: I just remembered. It was also said that the third mage didn't kill the spiders, but forced them out of the loop via soul magic.

 

I think most of his money is not from crystals anymore. Sometime in the loop he began to steal all the money and wealth from the people supporting the invasion. Don't quite remember when that was said, but this seems to be the main part of his income. And the main thing about the crystals is, that he has a map where all of the ones he found are and can therefore collect a big amount in very little time.

 

This. Additionally many deals are most likely paid in his own research and information like he did with Silverlake and that's an offer that gets better with each loop.

 

Eh, that conversation has gotten a lot less frequent. Only reason its come up again for the first time in like 30 chapters is Silverlake is actually getting a fairly significant role and she hasn't had it before. From here on out it will probably be skipped.

 

Ah, thanks I forgot he was robbing the invaders, that makes his income a lot more plausible.

The spiders were not ejected from the loop, they were marked so that they would not be recreated when it resets. And Red Robe presumably escaped the loop by having the guardian eject him. Both of these were discussed in chapters 54 and 55.

But where are you getting the idea that Zorian is trying to use a soul bond with Zach to allow him to escape? I'm pretty sure I would have remembered that. It also wouldn't require the level of soul perception Zorian is trying to get. It was mentioned in the beginning that stupid couples will occasionally do it because of how romantic it is.

Having reread 55 though, it seems that even with the key, Zorian may need to eject his original's soul personally to possess his body when he leaves. Soul magic would help him there.