“No idea.” Aurelius replied after deliberating for a while.

  “Maybe I’m in a ‘simulated’ reality?” Aurelius pondered.

  “I mean, the energy requirement for a physical timeloop must be insane, right?” Aurelius said.

  “It would probably be physically impossible to loop the whole universe, yes.” Sage Yeltz replied, nodding at Aurelius’s suggestion.

  “What if this is all just in my head then? Maybe it's some sort of mind magic that simulates reality.” Aurelius proposed.

  “I mean, sure, think what you want. But from my perspective, I’m clearly sentient and self-aware, so I am of the opinion that this loop is physical.” Sage Yeltz responded, raising an eyebrow at his question.

  “...But I could just be rationalising this in my head. Or maybe He just put all of us into some absurd form of mind magic together.” Aurelius replied candidly, pointing at his head to demonstrate.

  “I can’t refute that.” Sage Yeltz replied, shrugging at the absurd suggestion.

  “That’s why I brought up the principles of limitations and energy in the first place.”

  “If we can identify the limitations of your loop, we can probably reach a reasonable conclusion that you are stuck in a physical time loop and understand further the nature of the loop.”

  “While you cannot defy a divine being such as The Lost God, you surely want to understand the spells that keep you bound to his will regardless. Right? Plus, this is the kind of research that will grant me the right to gain a seat as an Archsage.” Sage Yeltz said, nodding at her reasoning in satisfaction.

  Aurelius digested the sage’s words with a bitter heart. While he had not prioritised understanding the exact mechanics of the time loop, Sage Yeltz made a lot of sense. The knowledge could even prove to be a good bargaining chip in the future…

  “Hi guys~ You’ve been here for a little too long~ I think we need to ask you guys to leave soon~” The waitress interrupted, approaching the table cheerfully and smiling professionally at them.

  Sage Yeltz narrowed her eyes at the waitress, clearly annoyed by the interruption, and glanced at her watch to check the time. She glanced at the almost untouched meal next to her, and sighed irritably.

  With a snap of her finger, she conjured a gold coin onto the table, and stood to leave the establishment, beckoning the two students to follow along.

  As they stepped into the chilly mountain air of the night Tiberius managed to introduce a very critical input.

  “H-Hi, another question here.” Tiberius stammered, raising his hand again like a child.

  “Why are we not more concerned about the Fae right now?” He asked, his eyes hollowed out of any semblance of life.

  “Ah, good point.” Sage Yeltz replied almost cheerfully, and followed up her acknowledgement with the single most absurd statement.

  “We’re going to ignore the issue.”

  ???

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “Good morning Dr. Wilkens.” Aurelius greeted, entering the office nervously.

  The Headmaster, Dr. Wilkins had an office above the staff offices in the central building of the Academy.

  The office stood where the attic of the old Greenwich Castle was, renovated to become tastefully decorated and well lit. Parts of the roof had been replaced with windows, and lovely landscape paintings lined the walls.

  The bookshelves were full of rare collector’s items and books and the carpeted floor brought everything together to give the room a sense of cosiness.

  Dr. Wilkens was a former Commissioner, one who had apparently worked in the Magical Education department for several decades.

  He had gold rimmed glasses, greying hair tied up neatly into a ponytail, and always insisted on wearing a comical bowtie that peeked out of the undergrowth of his scruffy white beard.

  Dressed in the modern Aethernean robes, he welcomed Aurelius into the room happily.

  “Welcome Mr. Vennor! It’s always excellent to get to know new Academy students better, especially at my age.” He announced, his voice booming across the room cheerfully.

  Aurelius bowed to return the greeting, and bowed once more at the other familiar figure in the room.

  Sage Yeltz gave a dismissive wave at Aurelius, reading one of the headmaster’s books with interest, and leaned lazily against one of his bookshelves.

  “As you may know, Sage Yeltz here has requested for a special apprenticeship programme with you for the next 3 months directly with me.” Dr. Wilkens said cheerfully.

  “I am incredibly delighted to find that you have picked up such an amazing mentor in the pursuit of the wonders of magic Mr. Vennor.” He continued, glancing with interest at Sage Yeltz.

  “An honour indeed.” Aurelius managed, forcing a smile on his lips at the comment.

  This arrangement was most certainly not his idea.

  Sage Yeltz had unilaterally informed him after their dinner the previous night to report to Dr. Wilkens immediately in the morning for a simple reason.

  He was going to act as the sage’s apprentice.

  “Usually the application would take a couple weeks to process, but it was not quite possible to turn down the… enthusiasm that Sage Yeltz had shown us.” Dr. Wilkens said, chuckling awkwardly to himself.

  …Did she threaten the man?

  “Indeed.” Sage Yeltz said knowingly, snapping the book shut and sauntering towards Aurelius half-heartedly.

  The woman had come up with an interesting plan after their discussion the previous day.

  Given that the Fae only moved after the exposure of Dr. Varian in the third loop, and kidnapped Aurelius through Varian in the first, Sage Yeltz theorised that minimal damage could be sustained if she simply brought Aurelius out of the equation entirely.

  That would mean that Aurelius would fall outside of the notice of the Fae, and would be unable to act as a catalyst for their actions.

  Therefore, Sage Yeltz had come up with the idea to bring Aurelius to the Commission directly under the pretence of a direct internship under her and excused Aurelius from the Academy altogether.

  As for Tiberius, the sage left him with a few anti-divination charms to keep him safe and settled within the Academy to report any changes as a ‘spy’ keeping an eye on Dr. Varian.

  This had come with a bunch of wails of despair from Tiberius. Completely fair given that the mission would entail reporting on an actual bonafide lich.

  “...She’s late.” Sage Yeltz sighed, jumping onto the guest couch irritably, and glancing at the antique clock on the wall.

  She? Who was the sage referring to?

  “Bang.” The door opened dramatically, revealing a very flustered year 5 student in its outline.

  She wore a slightly crumpled shirt, together with ill-fitting pants. A clear sign of the rush that she had been in to report to the office.

  From her breast pocket, a red nose peeked out, observing the scene unfolding in front of its beady eyes.

  “Shite. Sorry about that.” Seraphine said apologetically, checking nervously to see if she had damaged the door at all.

  “...No worries Ms. Dwayne.” Dr. Wilkens said through a small grimace, acting as much as he could to hide his concern for the doors.

  Aurelius was almost sure that the doors themselves were antiques, from the kind of taste that this man has demonstrated so far…

  “Anyway, meet your new… colleague?” He continued, laughing heartily to break up the tension, pointing at Aurelius.

  “Colleague?” Aurelius blurted, horrified at this revelation.

  “Did Sage Yeltz not inform you, Shaman boy?” Seraphine said cheerfully, adjusting her collar nonchalantly, and taking a confident seat right next to Sage Yeltz.

  Crossing her legs, she declared a bombshell to Aurelius.

  “We’re going to intern together.”