You should already be aware of the existence of the outer gods. From what I understand about them, they exist in a realm entirely made of mana, preying on worlds. I don’t understand everything, in fact, I hardly know anything about them, but what I do know is that mana leaks into the world through cracks they form, or which potentially form naturally.

  — Excerpt from Notes For Newstar

  Day 1060, 4:30 PM

  “I found the crash site. You managed it on the first attempt.” The exalt’s praise, delivered in a serene monotonous voice, showing not a hint of excitement or surprise. It wasn’t that well-earned, and I said so aloud.

  “Sir, you have been taking me around the border of Summersweald for the past ten days. You can’t really say we found the ship on the first attempt.”

  The man gave me a flat look, and I decided that in the next loop we would need to find what was left of Newstar’s ship on the second attempt, to muddy the trail.

  “Any sign of survivors?”

  The exalt shook his head. “No sign of bodies or activity immediately after the crash. They could have jumped off, or they walked outside my search area. Strips forty miles wide and twenty-two thousand miles long make for a difficult area to search thoroughly while suppressing my power.”

  “We have the ship’s location.” I nodded. “That’s something.”

  Next we have to find Newstar.

  “Right, how deep inside the jungle was the ship, Sir?”

  “Eighteen thousand miles.”

  I frowned, doing the numbers even before completing the frown. “That means they flew less than two days before crashing. Something must have gone wrong.”

  Judging by his face, the exalt had reached a similar conclusion. Then I decided to ask something I had been wondering about for years.

  “Sir, do you know why we searched only twenty-two thousand miles deep into the weald?”

  He gave me a flat look. I could tell he was dissecting me again with his superior senses, but I remained calm, showing and feeling nothing but genuine curiosity.

  “The ship was graded for attacks from fifth realm manabeasts, which start appearing around sixteen thousand miles from the border,” he explained slowly. “Flying much deeper into their territory is a challenge to the manabeasts’ authority. Suicidal at best, starting an onslaught at worst.”

  I nodded. The arbitrary twenty-two thousand miles suddenly made sense. And since I was asking strange questions about arbitrary numbers… “You mentioned a deadline, Sir?”

  The exalt nodded without saying a word. Come to think of it, it was a wonder he gave as much explanation about the twenty thousand miles.

  I waited for him to speak, not offering a way out, and eventually, the poor little nuclear arsenal made flesh deigned me a few more words.

  “We have to find him before the noon of the solstice.”

  That meant twelve days left. I kept quiet, waiting for an explanation, but he just returned my intense gaze, the silence so pregnant, I expected a rain of babies.

  I looked at the sky, and to my amazement so did he.

  “In that case.” I caved, afraid I would burst into laughter if the silly situation continued. “How about you search this area here. Same as last time, but you must return in eleven days, Sir.”

  The exalt nodded and vanished.

  All right, now what am I supposed to do with you in the next loop?

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  ***

  Day 1047, 5:50 PM

  I did my con with maps and mystical calculations, just in case the apparently nameless exalt was silently watching, then came into the adventurers’ guild’s common room and sat at his rather empty table.

  “Please search this area here, Sir. I’m not absolutely confident, but you might find some clues. Remember, you must return in thirteen days, give or take a couple hours.”

  He held my gaze and nodded, then vanished.

  You would drive a normal person to alcoholism, Sir.

  The loop was a keeper. So, I withdrew enough manarium to pay for two weeks in the meditation chamber, then went over to the scribes’ guild.

  “Please call me out in twelve days.” I said just in case, not that they would let me stay any longer, since I had paid for exactly twelve days, but it never hurts to be cautious.

  I entered my realm, looked around, and drew a deep breath, then exhaled. While I knew many more things than I did when I reincarnated, I still had no clue what realms really were. A temple, an extension of our soul, the soul itself, or perhaps a tiny, temporary world that was actually real in a more literal meaning than most assumed.

  It could’ve been all of those, or none. Regardless of my ignorance, I found my realm appealing, and kept laboring to make it even more beautiful. When you do what you love, time flies. As such, it felt like a bare moment before the guilds’ attendant politely kicked me out of the expensive shared resource I was hogging.

  For the rest of the day, I ate, freshened up, and then went to sleep at the adventurers’ guild. The next morning, I went to the guild’s common room. I ordered breakfast and sat to scribble some seals I was contemplating.

  The serving girl dropped eggs, sausages, and fried gooders in front of me.

  I stared at them. Man, I wish I could get some cheese. It’s been ages since I had some.

  I reached for the fork and froze.

  Was there cheese on Everrain? There were bugs, loads of bugs. I shook my head. I couldn’t remember. Hundreds of years had passed, and food wasn’t that important to me.

  Why am I thinking about cheese then?

  I sighed. Humans weren’t meant to live as long as I have. Definitely not in multiple bodies. My old memories were getting scrambled, and I wondered when it would all fall apart.

  Great thoughts for a keeper loop. I savagely impaled an innocent sausage and hacked at it with a surprisingly sharp knife. The sausage was good, greasy, with a tad too much garlic in the spice mix. The fried gooders were fine too, cut into discs, thicker than chips…

  Maybe I could make some chips one of these loops—. There won’t be any more loops. Not intentional ones, nor unless Newstar needs it. I’m living my life like everyone else, more or less.

  The fifty years of looping in different towns doing different things did me good. It was more or less like I was a drifter with no friends and only casual acquaintances, who would forget me soon enough.

  Perhaps it was a cold life, estranged from society, but it wasn’t that different from a normal life.

  “No sign of them.” The exalt appeared on the bench across from me just as I was dipping the gooder into the yolk.

  Startled, I stabbed the gooder into the yolk with too much force, dipping my fingers. I stared at them for a moment before looking up at him.

  “I thought you would find some signs. In that case, the wreck should be a bit more to the west.”

  He vanished without a word, again.

  “May I have a beer, please?” I called the waitress while cleaning my fingers on a napkin.

  Right, I forgot about the deadline. Maybe that’s why he was in such a rush.

  I drank my beer and ate my breakfast, thinking about why the summer solstice was a deadline. After giving it some thought, I concluded the exalt had something to do, which he couldn’t delay more than that. If that was the case, I decided I would look for Newstar on my own once the exalt left. He saved me a huge amount of time by finding the airship’s crash site and eliminating more than half the border.

  Once I finished my breakfast, I went over to the counter.

  “Excuse me, if the serene exalt who sat with me returns, give them this note.”

  I scrawled a few words, saying I was at the alchemists’ guild, and then I went to mess around in the lab, making the minor second chance potions.

  After years of practice, my success rate was around eighty percent, and ten days’ worth of brewing saw four hundred and ninety-five vials packed into my spatial pouch.

  “Sir,” the attendant knocked on the door of my laboratory. “A guest is outside, waiting for you. The guildmaster is bowing to them, and I think you should go out now.”

  A very nervous attendant.

  I abandoned my project half-finished and went out.

  “I found the crash site, but they aren’t there.” For the first time, the exalt wasn’t perfectly balanced, his aura leaking a dreadful might, which seemed like it could incinerate planets. The silent approval I sensed from him the last time he found the airship was gone, replaced by anxiousness.

  “Thank you, Sir. I understand you have only two more days for this search—”

  “It’s not my time that’s limited. It’s Newstar’s. He’s going to die if we don’t reach him in two days.”