The question I needed to know was whether the System gave me this quest because of the loop, or I had gained this loop because of the quest.
A world quest. The system had given me a world quest on the very first morning, before I had died even once, before I knew that the loop existed, before I understood that the end of everything was coming. The system had looked at a sixteen-year-old Acolyte with more threadwork than sense and had handed him the fate of the world.
Now, I was wondering if I had unconsciously forgotten or something else, maybe even the System had held back this knowledge from me until it felt that I was ready.
Without this loop, even if I were given forever, I would not have been able to solve this impossible quest, and I wondered if the loop had just happened to me or if it was aimed.
The System was something that could be manipulated, but to what extent, I did not know. What I did know was that I had a plan to stop the world from ending, and whatever I discovered along the way was to aid me in this journey and not delay me.
Perhaps the System saw something in me when it gave me this quest, but it no longer mattered; my purpose was clear.
I closed the screen. The notification would still be there tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. It would be there until I succeeded or until the engine failed and the loop stopped and the world ended.
With all the power that I was gaining, it was becoming clear that the fate of the world did not rest entirely on my shoulders, and I would do my best to win, but if the loop shatters, I would not be able to stop it.
My hope would be that it holds on long enough for me to reach the Sovereign of the Stars, pull out his spine, and beat him to death with it.
I reached for my staff, leaned against the tent pole, and as it flew towards me, the charms rang softly, but it did not do much to reduce my bloodthirstiness. The bond was still there, and I did not let Staff Resonance change my Staff. I held it to ground me, not to use it to cast spells.
"You’ve seen me through a lot," I said to the staff. "You’ll see me through the rest."
Hooking the staff behind me, I pushed open the tent flap, and I watched the camp move according to its usual rhythm. I had spent too long in the tent, and if I did not delay it, then there were fewer than twenty minutes before the eruption.
Bari and Dara sat by the cookfires, and Bari was talking to Dara about me. He was whispering, but I heard him clearly as if he were standing by my side.
"... worries me, I think the pressure of the expedition is beginning to take its toll, he practices more than you would believe, and I would have expected him to be the first here."
Dara shook her head and smiled, "You worry too much for him; he has been the first to wake up for the last four days."
"I know, but..."
"No buts, Elric is a talented Mage, and I believe you should be the one who is worried; if you are not careful, he is coming for your position." Dara looked up and caught my eye, "Speak of the devil and..."
She froze, and her body went still; she was not even breathing. Bari noticed what was happening and turned towards me, and like her, he froze.
I cocked my head to the side, surprised, before looking down at my Acolyte robes, and they were still the same as I remembered, no glowing lights, even the hair hat that fell across my eyes was black. What was causing this strange reaction from them?
Looking back up, I noticed that they were still frozen, and then I remembered the last words of Orath before he died inside the pyramid, "Your eyes..."
What was wrong with my eyes?
I blew out the breath I was holding in my lungs, and it created a soft mist in front of me from the lingering chill of the morning. My breath was filled with lightning essence, and channeling my thoughts with Lightning Edict, the mist in front of me rippled into a mirror.
A soft whimper emerged from my side, and I did not need to glance to know that one of the Porters had just collapsed after he laid his eyes on me. However, I did not turn to check on him because I was entranced by my appearance in the mirror.
"Hey, what is happening here?" I heard the voice of Rex, who was coming from his tent towards the cookfires. He must have eaten and then left, but something drew him here.
"Voss, is this the right time to leave your..." I glanced away from the mirror and looked at him, and he froze in place, and his eyes widened in shock and horror.
Seeing that look in his eyes, I did not know if I should laugh or cry. I had been pleased when I used my spells to recreate my clothes and change my hair, but these were the two traits that I was able to easily observe.
What I had failed to take note of was that my eyes were no longer the same... they burned golden with the light of the tribulation lightning, and the skin of my face was almost transparent, and you could see my glowing channels within.
I did not look like a boy; instead, I appeared as if I were lightning wearing the flesh of Elric Voss.
All the changes inside me, from my Legendary Spells to having more than a thousand transformed channels inside my body. I had foolishly believed that dying my hair black and changing my clothes could hide what I had become from others.
By the heavens, I still believed I was still a mage.
I turned back to Bari and Dara, and I smiled. I don’t know what they saw in my face because they were no longer frozen, and Bari tried to speak, but he hesitated, and Dara was looking at me with a peculiar glow in her eyes.
Rex turned around and wanted to run, and I said, "Stop."
His body was still in a running posture when he collapsed to the ground, frozen in place.
In the few seconds that I was out, my senses had touched every lightning essence present in a radius of eight hundred meters, and it was a simple thing for me to freeze Rex in place.
"Elric, what happened to you?" Dara whispered, and I shrugged before I smiled more widely, "Oh, you know, just became an Adept."