My plans for this loop are fairly normal, so before that normal thing happens, I have to do some other normal stuff. It’s because, however normal that thing is, it’ll still... incapacitate me a bit and make some tasks more difficult. But it is very normal, so it’s okay.

I’m the normal one here, after all.

A theory that’s only further confirmed as I gather more information on the Professors and any Assistant Professors who might be able to teach me a thing or two. The Head Accountant is quite willing to share details and has been very... talkative? Simply said, the man just seems to love gossip.

Thanks to him, I also conclude that my shards are best spent taking lessons with the Vice Director, the Trait Grandpa, Professor Feran, the Head Crafter, and possibly Professor Elian. The problem is that Professor Elian doesn’t offer such personalized lessons.

In the end, Sophie will deal with the Head Crafter as she has before, and I will pay. I don’t think I need any more lessons from the Vice Director. Even though I’ll miss watching cute Lulu, I doubt the Vice Director has anything more useful to show me. And even if she did, I suspect it would be things I don’t really want all that much, since I’m not directing my growth that way.

So that leaves Professor Feran and the Trait Grandpa, whom I currently find myself watching once again, sitting on his bench.

This time, I amuse myself by creating a tether high in the air and teleporting stones through it so they fall from that height into the lake. Gradually, I move that tether higher and higher and pick bigger and bigger stones.

I tear up the beautiful lawn and start digging for more stones buried under the ground. When I finally let them fall into the lake, it takes a few seconds before they hit the water with a huge splash.

It's actually starting to get really fun, and deeper underground, I detect a boulder the size of a small room, so I start digging in that direction.

That's when the Trait Grandpa wakes up, just to ruin my fun.

Listening to a reaction that is nearly word-for-word the same as before is still eerie. As much as I think the main objective of this floor is to identify the true Candidate and not the loop itself, the setting remains unsettling.

Then he sees the mess I've made of the lawn and hurls a fresh round of insults at me.

For me, it doesn’t really matter much, since I’ve kept my distance from most of the natives from the start. But I’ve seen Community logs from Izzy, Lily, Min-Jae, and the twins, who have been a bit shaken by it at times. It’s not surprising, since this is one of the rare opportunities for them to interact with someone their age and have some fun.

Watching that person loop over and over without recognizing you, and having to force yourself not to act too familiar with them, can be disturbing, I would guess.

As the Professor starts once again working through his tirade about how traits are the best, I keep thinking about how interesting it is that, even though I have my own experience of this floor, the others have something entirely different. I think I even sometimes forget that this is a loop with how much I change what I do or who I interact with. Only sometimes.

I throw in a few words to avoid the impression that I’m just dozing off, and having learned more about what to ask and how to behave to gain his approval, I get more useful information this time around.

I learn he’s the sort of old-guard person who doesn’t care much about the knowledge contained in books or mana stones and has his own set of terms he and his comrades once used on the battlefield. Their own trait categorizations used to be Cognitive Domain, Structural Domain, Interface Domain, Vital Domain, and Cross-domain traits. Knowing even one of these details allowed them to face the enemy with confidence.

Even such a seemingly 'small' bit of information can be extremely important when dealing with people over level 400. It can help you prepare countermeasures, making the fight much easier and often ends up saving a lot of lives.

He tells me about the most dangerous people on the battlefield, how to deal with them, who to focus on, who to kill at all costs, and who to ignore.

There also used to be challenges before each big clash, where the most powerful people from each side fought rather than risking the many deaths that would be caused by a person like that forcing their way through. Often, fights ended after such a challenge.

He complains to me about how much of a pain a proper healer can be, or how a good detector can mess up all your plans.

After that, he rattles through a number of stories: Champions throwing entire mountains at people, and by entire, he means entire. Miles-tall colossi. Or another Champion freezing the sea so more units could cross.

He also speaks with a high degree of respect about one of the most dangerous Champions he met, a person capable of orbiting the planet and, with the support of an entire unit doing calculations, launching projectiles at targets with perfect accuracy.

Like some crazy old-guard grandpa, he talks excitedly in the same rough tone, his speech littered with curses.

I think I should feel a bit ashamed for not pushing him to tell me more about traits, but I just can’t help my curiosity and end up listening to all these stories.

This time, I don’t even think he’s exaggerating. At least, not too much.

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Soph (Hell, group 4) - I'm sure our stats reset because of the system. Imagine if they didn't, if Rulers could create places like this, where you could abuse the loops and level up by killing Champions or people just under that level.

Knight (Hell, group 4) - It makes sense, but we're not in the original loop made by the Ruler. We're in a copy that's more closely monitored by the system to be used for tutorials.

Soph (Hell, group 4) - My logic still stands.

NotDennis (Hell, group 4) - So we’re in a copy of the copy of the copy?

Soph (Hell, group 4) - More or less.

NotAaron (Hell, group 4) - So even most of the natives aren’t just fake, but were copied for the loop and then copied again by the system for the tutorial? Poor guys.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Dennis usually talks first, and Aaron follows. That means NotDennis is actually Dennis, and NotAaron is actually Aaron.

NotAaron (Hell, group 4) - Suuuure. I'm confident we wouldn’t expect that, and totally didn’t make countermeasures.

NotDennis (Hell, group 4) - Maybe we actually didn’t, just to confuse them.

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Be not afraid!

Soph (Hell, group 4) - Nat, what are you teaching Biscuit?

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Be not afraid!

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) -

 Be not afraid!

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Be not afraid!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - I got bored. I swear, when you hear it outside of the Community, it sounds much scarier and more impressive. He’ll stop when you feed him.

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Food!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Sure, but next time try saying it in a deeper voice, with no emotion, and slower.

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Food?

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Yes. I'm sure it’ll get you more food.

Knight (Hell, group 4) - Biscuit, he's lying. Don’t listen to that guy.

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Friend!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Don’t bother trying. Me and Biscuit are inseparable. By the way, do we already know who got to the 8th floor from the other groups? Is it that cowardly guy?

Soph (Hell, group 4) - No one talked yet, but he seems like the most reasonable option.

Noname (Hell, group 4) -

 Well, whatever. By the way, our deal still stands?

Soph (Hell, group 4) - Sure. I’ve already transcribed the design onto a mana stone. I’ll be visiting the Head Crafter today. You really want to go through with your plan?

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Yup. See you later.

For the last time, I check my surroundings and stop my mind from focusing on mental exercises. I still don’t understand how it’s possible for me to feel pain just thinking of these shapes.

Why am I like this?

Maybe at the end of the tutorial, it’ll be 8th Floor Nat who proves himself to be the craziest. Even though the 3rd Floor Nat still feels unbeatable. Creating constructs on his heart, condensing tricolored mana, and black mana.

What a legend.

If he had only managed to hunt one of those goddamn sparrows, I probably would have declared him the winner right away.

With Sophie’s confirmation that she’ll handle getting the design to the head crafter and picking it up later, I'm ready. After the last round, the design is already improved, so the guy will have a better start. It might be awkward if he recognizes his own work, but I believe Sophie and I changed it enough to prevent that. And if he still does, she can come up with excuses or try to mindblend him.

I take a deep breath and focus on my Ignition Heart.

Then I lift the first seal and part of the second. I could probably lift the second fully, but I don’t like doing it. Each time I do, it hurts terribly, and only my passives keep me alive. Even then, I can keep it lifted for just a few seconds before risking death. The aftereffects are terrible as well. Even with healing, there’s damage to my circuits and body that takes weeks to fully restore, and in the meantime, I have to work around it.

It’s a good thing.

As I like to say: if it does this much damage to me, imagine what it’ll do to the other guy.

It’s the second day of the loop when my golden flames seep out of me and burn my room, the tower’s walls, and a few neighboring rooms. Just like when the toxin hit me, I damage the tower, the defensive arrays, and probably scare the shit out of a few people.

When it’s all done, I stop and look at the destruction around me. This time, I even manage to keep my clothes on, though slightly burned.

To perfect the impression, I smudge some coal on my face and tear my clothes a bit more.

Then, while the alarm rings and the guys with the professors start getting closer, I lift my arms into the air and walk toward them, trying to look as innocent as I can. I make sure to look weak and shocked.

I just barely survived an attempt on my life, after all.

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Sitting there, the Vice Director adjusts her wide-brimmed, pointy hat and says, “So, you were poisoned, cursed, something like that, and the only way you could keep yourself alive was by using your passive along with, as you put it, ‘a shitload of thermal energy,’ which caused all the damage to Academy property.”

“Yes,” I confirm with a nod.

“Feran, what do you think?” she asks, turning to the demon professor.

The man takes a moment to answer, and I can sense him examining me before he responds.

“I noticed remnants of thermal energy at the site. I have also been observing him since we arrived, and I do not believe he is lying.”

The conversation continues more or less like it did last time. The only thing that changes is my behavior toward the demon Professor. I keep glancing at where his demon heart is, not subtly, and every now and then, I let a slow, deliberate smirk curl across my face. Just enough to make a point without saying a word.

Obviously, he notices. His heartbeat becomes more aggressive in a clear contrast to his otherwise composed exterior. He’s still sitting straight, still calm on the surface, but I can feel it: the irritation building.

While I speak with the Vice Director, I keep the act going, confident, almost dismissive, like I’m not just explaining myself but putting on a show for him. Every sideways glance, every measured pause, is designed to make him feel like he’s being sized up... and found lacking.

It turns out I'm surprisingly good at playing the arrogant asshole.

It’s a gift.

And damn, if he doesn’t look pissed off beneath the surface.

When they finally leave, it doesn’t take days for Professor Feran to come back to fight me. It only takes a few hours.

Both the bracelets and the metal loop are already down and taken apart for examination, and he finds me there, in the middle of that huge chamber.

Just like before, it takes ten minutes for him to walk slowly over to where I am, but this time his heartbeat is different, more angry.

Our conversation is much shorter than before, and we fight almost right away.

I will use this loop and the fights to learn from him as much as I can.