That was more fitting of the image Arlen had of Ilfres. He was an eccentric man, closer to bordering insanity than any form of rationality—perhaps that was why he held no bias in regards to talent. Everyone was equal as long as they put in sufficient effort.

With his introduction, many aggrieved faces still remained but the rage had been cooled. What was said…could not be stated as wrong. Indeed, we were the trash of the Bastion, but who wanted to hear it in such a forceful way by their professor no less? 

Ilfres had no regard to those meagre feelings, however, as he began to start his lesson.

“You are dismissed.”

“...?” It hadn’t even been 5 minutes yet, but the lesson was over? Although there was a good chance I wouldn’t understand much I was still interested to hear more about mana and the capabilities I would need to get to root out ‘evil’. 

Perhaps it was due to my defeatist mindset I simply sighed and exited the room. Some students had been reignited into their indignation, though I didn’t stay long enough to know what they were saying exactly.

For a brief moment, I made eye contact with Ilfres, noting the amusement he was conveying.

Whilst sprinting towards my dorm, I muttered to myself. “It's some theory lesson next, right? Let’s just focus on that for now.” 

Only at the exact time I had to arrive for the next class did I try and leave my dorm. Once more taking a seat in the center, I lamented at the double misfortune of sitting alone. The new professor who came in wasn’t anyone I recognised, nor did she give us any sort of introduction. 

Merely telling us to start making notes, she began to speak what I could only describe as gibberish.

“What defines mana? Now reaching your 4th year, many of you will begin to control your innate attribute and apply it to your mana rings. Exactly because of this, you must now start to truly understand the fundamentals of what mana itself is. Simply seeing it as a source of energy is no longer sufficient…”

Words rambled without end, and also without meaning.

What the hell was she saying?

Looking around me only revealed the intense face of others who had taken a book out and started to scribble things down. My hands had habitually found themselves scratching my hair as I realised I was the only person without a book.

“Arlen Droder, are you already aware of everything I am teaching?”

…Ah, what a phenomenal timing.

Feeling the heat on my face, I tried to ignore the subtle stares that had directed themselves to me from multiple directions of the room and answered through stutters.

“N-No, it’s just that I forgot. I forgot to bring in a book. Sorry, it was a mistake.”

However, before I had even finished my sentence, she resumed the lesson, completely ignoring what I had said.

Well, perhaps, it wasn’t that she ignored it entirely, but just thought that it wasn’t worth responding to.

Like that, 3 mind numbing hours passed. I walked out the room in a daze, fearing for the future that was to come. The only saving grace was that according to the professor, this was the only time we had to come for the week. Had I been forced to attend another one of those nonsensical lessons…I didn’t think I would be alright in the head.

On the other hand, there was practical combat in 5 days. In the first week of the new academic year, they were making us fight.

“Fuck my life…”

Mixing in a few curses towards the Bastion, I began my sprint towards the dormitories with my head held low, chanting protective measures whenever I got tired of cursing the Bastion.

My success rate had been so high I had almost thought that it was working. A dream that was cruelly shattered.

Slithering through the air, a sharp voice had wormed itself into my ear.

“Ah, Arlen! You didn’t even greet me at the start of a new year? I’m kind of hurt…”

My natural instinct was to turn around. I had nearly, everso nearly, gone along with my instincts. But I knew better. Without any hesitation, I tried to up the speed and rid myself of the fiend behind me.

Just.

A kick had landed on the side of my stomach, sending me stumbling down to the floor. Unlike the last time, I had fallen on my back, allowing me to see the face of my perpetrator.

Bright vermillion hair that had spread its roots all around his face, matching with his ruby eyes. Certainly, it was a familiar face.

The same fucker who had done it last time.

…Such absurd bullshit.

[Damage Inflicted!]

4 days of my life had been wasted all because of the whims of this wastrel.

Before I left this life, I checked up on the only sprinkle of hope I had.

[Leeching process: 42d: 12hr: 12m: 34s]

This too, was useless.

[Human: Arlen Droder will be sent back!]

—

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! You shitty bastard! I just wanted to go home peacefully you stupid fucking bastard! Ahh!”

The memory of that tear inducing lecture was still deeply engraved in my mind. For no reason, I had to go through that again?!

Just before I slammed my hand onto the wall, I pulled back and replaced it with a scream. 

Still, as I vented my emotions out, rationality began to re-enter my mind; this situation was what I had always known to be the reality. This was exactly what I had to be scared of—was there any point getting this frustrated about something that I knew would happen?

Consoling myself with such words, I once more went to the spire and was promptly transported into the Bastion. No delays were made. As fast as this body could possibly go, I sprinted towards the dormitories whilst sincerely chanting.

My knees had become weak with relief after I assured myself I was safe within my dormitory. What I had to do now…was confront a reality.

I wasn’t exactly sure when I saw Sunny and implanted my parasyte. One day before the official start of the year, that was sure. But the exact reason was unknown. My eyes winced at the realisation. Furthermore, there was no way to confirm if the 6 month cooldown had applied over to this next life.

Another risk would have to be taken. 

Like that, I hid within my room for 2 days, satiating myself with nothing but the old bottles of water and crackers that Arlen stored in his room. In such an unstimulating environment, my mind couldn’t help but wander towards some of the more peculiar occurrences that had happened recently.

Azin Dembres, that crazy fucker was someone who even thinking about brought chills. I quickly extinguished the uncanny thought.

A small seed of interest had grown at Headmaster Li’s demonstration, but I struggled to find any excitement—the real question was if I would ever live long enough to understand what she did.

Scrunching my face, my mind recalled the damned red head that had ruined not one but two of my lives. 

“Damn…” 

The time had come. In the fear that thinking of the red head was an ill omen, I made a short chant to prevent our meeting and dashed towards the second year dormitory. Hiding next to a bush, I waited until I saw the familiar figure.

Bingo. 

Staggering out of the bush, I rushed towards Sunny and gave him encouragement.

“Hello, Junior! May prosperity come your way! I hope you live a great life! Breakfast was great, right? Haha, many more blessings are coming your way!”

Shaking his head with my hand, I once again used [Memory Parasyte].

[Traces of past parasyte remains…]

[Parasytes merge.]

[Leeching Process: 42d: 12hr: 12m: 33s]

…Huh? 

Sunny passed me a strange look. “Um, excuse me, do I know you? Why are there leaves on your face? No, who are you?”

Snapping out of my daze, I shone a wide smile. 

“I am a fated encounter. Stay safe, junior.”

Like that, I made my exit. I didn’t have the leeway to try and make a good excuse, nor did I want to at the current moment. The parasyte had ‘merged’. What did that mean? Well, one look at the leeching process revealed the answer.

It carried over! Every parasyte would carry over to the next life! 

The significance of this development was something worthy of major celebration—I had acted under the presumption that every reset would restart my leeching process, but if it was like this…

In the worst case, I would be done with this parasyte in 42 resets. The cooldown had wholly been nullified due to my [Infinite Regression].

Much of the anger towards the redhead had dissipated; knowledge always had a cost, and if it was just a few boring days, then I had no complaints. 

Ecstatic at this discovery, I went through the motions of the next day with a small smile. Professor Illfer had recited the same speech word for word, clearly revealing that he had intended to rile everyone up.

For the next lesson, I would never know if she had repeated the lesson since I hadn’t a clue on what was said, but at the very least, there were no complaints that I didn’t bring a book.

Here was where I decided to act differently. Rather than head straight to the dormitories, I made a tactical decision.

“Greetings, my second home.”

Once again, I would camp out in the toilets. Every hour would help out the parasyting process.

…Really, a day would come when Arlen was someone none could touch easily.

Around the time the sun had entered its slumber, I slithered into my dormitory and tucked myself in. Somehow, I was victorious in surviving the first day inside the Bastion. Waves of comfort washed over me under the weighted blanket, but I resisted the temptation to fall asleep.

Searching through the few drawers in my room, I managed to find a weary notebook, the often use being evident through the small tears. There wasn't much to my actions—I simply wanted to formulate a more solidified plan. Time was limited. If that precious resource was spent without direction, the only thing I’d leave with was regret.

“...Oh? He had a journal?”

Turning a page revealed a date, followed by small details about his days.

“304, 8, 22. Today I met with him. He brought along a strange woman. It felt like she knew me from before, but she denied it when I asked. I’m totally certain that I’ve met her! She must be lying! For this though, I don’t mind going through a few strange things. The truth will get revealed soon.”

Indeed, a small figment entered my head recalling Arlen meeting a friend; even the act of writing this down was in my head. Over in this world, I concluded that the year would be written first, followed by the month and finally the day.

However, the next sight wasn’t as easily explainable. Pages had been carelessly ripped out, and not in small quantities; although not the entirety of the journal, a fifth of it had simply been torn. 

Flipping further into the book, I found another entry. 

“304, 11, 13. I’m a little hesitant, if I’m being honest with myself. It sounds great. Too great. Isn’t that what father said? No. What matter is it to me whatever that man has to say? An imbecile who ruined his own family and vented his anger out on me. A fool. Change is always scary. This has to be the way.”

Little pangs of discomfort invaded my head as I attempted to remember what this event was recalling. One thing was certain—Arlen was a horrible writer. Hardly anything could be understood unless I had the memories of the day itself, and unfortunately, nothing had come. 

As I reached further in, the size of the entries became smaller and smaller. Each word became more and more erratic, and I sometimes noticed droplets of cracked blood on the pages.  

“I’m lost. I’m really lost. I need help. Should I really do it? Is that right? Ignoring even that, can I do it? I am but a mortal. A pitiful one, at that. Fear is consuming me. I don’t know. I really, really don’t know!”

Slowly, the details Arlen added reduced. No more did he neatly add the date at the top, nor did he sign off. He merely scrambled his worries into the book.

“I made a mistake. I should’ve persevered. I should have accepted their beatings for a little longer. I knew there was something wrong with it. He fucking tricked me.”

“Everything is meaningless. Ha, hahaha! T■■s ■■ a■l a■ ■l■■si■■.”

“305, 1, 1.”

Flicking to the very last page in the book, I saw a sight similar to the first entry. A crisp handwriting, perhaps even surpassing what I first saw. What caught my eye wasn’t the orderly writing, but the change in colour. He had written only in black so far, so what had prompted the change to red?

My eyes trembled as I read the paragraph that followed. 

“To you, whom reads.”