Mother of Learning [Web Novel]

[NotteBoy97]

Does anyone think somewhere in the future Zorain will get a familiar? Because if he does it would allow Zorain to have an ally unaffected by the time loop. Honestly I doubt the story will go down this route but I wanted to bring up the possibility.

[bludvein]

Originally Posted by NotteBoy97

Does anyone think somewhere in the future Zorain will get a familiar? Because if he does it would allow Zorain to have an ally unaffected by the time loop. Honestly I doubt the story will go down this route but I wanted to bring up the possibility.

The author shot that possibility down. Unless Zorian knows absolutely how the loop functions and how his link with Zach works, he wouldn't risk anything that might pull him out of it. Aka nothing permanently altering his soul in any way.

Here's a Q&A I posted on jcafe...

Spoiler for ...:

Originally Posted by Me

We have been discussing this on jcafe(if you didn't know there was a thread there), and some questions have popped up. Please answer what you can...

1. Is it even possible for Zorian to become a shifter within the loop? I PM'ed you before about getting a familiar before and you said it was unlikely, since it involves a soul bond and Zorian wouldn't risk it with how it could affect the loop. From what I understand, becoming a shifter is more of the same. So do the same restrictions apply?

2. Has tacking on part of Zach's soul increased Zorian's theoretical max mana pool?

3. Do all psychics have the same basic abilities, or are there individual abilities within that skillset? The matriarch talked about abilities that were unique to a single aranea, but was that just based on the structured magic they chose to pursue?

4. If the primordial isn't a spirit, why can't the summon succeed while in the loop? It's supposed to be on the material plane. Do they just not try because they don't know what they're dealing with? Does the loop end before it finishes? Or does the summoning just not work that way?

5. Why hasn't Zach dropped in on Zorian by now?

6. Would time dilation work in Zorian's situation? He complains about Red-Robe being years(possibly decades) ahead of him and that never changing, but the obvious solution is to haste himself for a few restarts to make up ground. He needs a more solid core of things to practice first though.

Thanks so much for your great story btw.

Originally Posted by Me

Oh, and about this part from chapter 29..."An alchemist specializing in transformation magic was torn apart outside his village by a pack of unusually aggressive boars." What exactly is transformation magic? Is it shapeshifting spells or some kind of material alteration? Not sure how that ties into soul magic either.

...and here's the reply.

Originally Posted by nobody103

1. The same restrictions apply, basically. Without an assurance that he won't mess up his time looping, Zorian wouldn't do it.

2. It has affected him, certainly. But no, it did not have much of an effect on his mana reserves.

3. They all have the same abilities, adjusted for individual knacks and availability to particular mentors/associates.

4. It totally can be 'summoned'... saying anything else would be a spoiler.

5. It's a bit of a spoiler, but not much so... Zorian isn't the only one who panicked after the events of 'Soulkill' and bugged out of Cyoria. Zach is currently hiding and considering what to do. He isn't reaching for Zorian because Zorian hasn't tracked *him* down yet and he assumes Zorian has a good reason for that.

6. Yes. The logistics of time dilation are much more complex than people usually posit, though. I cringe every time someone write in a scene where a character spends a few months in their personal dimension (double cringe if they spend all those months alone; how are they not insane by the end?) like it's nothing. Later, when Zorian actually gains the capabilities to do that, I intend to explain why Zorian can't just casually abuse that idea.

7. Transformation magic = shapeshifting. Shifters are using a fancy version of it, but you can also transform into other things without an intrusive, permanent and dangerous soul magic ritual. Usually through potions, but also with some less powerful rituals and invocations. It's related to soul magic because such magic works by overlaying some kind of template over the target's soul, allowing them to temporarily change shape.

[NotteBoy97]

Thanks for letting me know that their is a jcafe thread for this bludvein.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by bludvein

So anyway, how do you all think the next couple loops will go? Will he focus on the dungeon while honing his ward-breaking, or will he investigate the missing/dead mages?

the dead/missing mages are soul magic specialist and the 3rd time traveler use soul magic. I think we already got a good idea what happen to those guys.

i like him to go kill the gray hunter and give baba the egg.

btw anyone else think Novelty might not be dead?

The Matriarch doesn't strike me as the type to put all her eggs in one basket type and Novelty was recently assign to baby sit the young ones.
Two big IFs here. if Novelty was in one of the egg chamber at the time of the attack and if the Red Hood guy didn't find all the egg chambers.

[bludvein]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

the dead/missing mages are soul magic specialist and the 3rd time traveler use soul magic. I think we already got a good idea what happen to those guys.

i like him to go kill the gray hunter and give baba the egg.

I wouldn't be so quick to assume it was Red Robe's doing. I doubt he shows up every loop to eliminate the evidence, and what happens to his victims is kind of obvious. They'd just drop dead all at the same time with no injuries. Also, some of them disappeared before the loop actually started. The only one that seems could've been his doing is the priest.

The grey hunter seems to be on hold for the immediate future, since Zorian really doesn't have the expertise or a clever plan for killing it yet. He needs to trial run some ideas at the end of his loops first.

[Xacual]

I assume it to be Red Robe's doing as well. We know now that Red Robe is not someone at the school, otherwise Zorian's absence would have been noticed. Which means Red Robe is not a student or otherwise. That leaves him as being a mage with unknown affiliations outside of helping out the invasion. I think it's very likely that he was in a position to know about Zach being put into a loop for training purposes so he took advantage of it. If he knew the loop was going to happen ahead of time it's not unreasonable at all for him to have killed people before the loop started.

[sasuke706]

Originally Posted by bludvein

The grey hunter seems to be on hold for the immediate future, since Zorian really doesn't have the expertise or a clever plan for killing it yet. He needs to trial run some ideas at the end of his loops first.

Wasn't his plan to figure out how to enchant a rifle and just shoot it? Not the cleverest of plans, but it is a plan.

[Breimoon]

He needs the eggs, just firepower isnt going to get him one of those eggs.

[Lyase]

Isnt this fanfiction how does belong it here?

[Xellos-_^]

it is not fanfiction, it is a Original Work publish on the Web.

[Lefay]

Originally Posted by bludvein

I wouldn't be so quick to assume it was Red Robe's doing. I doubt he shows up every loop to eliminate the evidence, and what happens to his victims is kind of obvious. They'd just drop dead all at the same time with no injuries. Also, some of them disappeared before the loop actually started. The only one that seems could've been his doing is the priest.

The grey hunter seems to be on hold for the immediate future, since Zorian really doesn't have the expertise or a clever plan for killing it yet. He needs to trial run some ideas at the end of his loops first.

Spoiler for :

My brilliant idea: learn shifting from a shifter, transform into a greyhunter and seduce that mama greyhunter, snatch the egg, jump 4,950 yds away and finally find out the vexing witch has another quest

[laclongquan]

His killing strike seem to be soul kill. That's why a lot of people and all thelocal spiders die at the start of every loops since then. He only need to kill once.

[bludvein]

Originally Posted by sasuke706

Wasn't his plan to figure out how to enchant a rifle and just shoot it? Not the cleverest of plans, but it is a plan.

Except he still doesn't have a plan for acquiring a rifle with a high enough caliber, the expertise to enchant it, or the marksmanship skills to actually hit the spider from a decent range. So still not really possible in the immediate future.

[NotteBoy97]

New Chapter out!

[laclongquan]

And on time for once! With actions galore!

[Rahuman]

For some reason I always imaging these people talk with british accent, and somehow it's suit them perfectly.

[Baltoferd]

Finally the condition of his soul is explained.. What kind of foreign element was inserted?

[bludvein]

Originally Posted by Baltoferd

Finally the condition of his soul is explained.. What kind of foreign element was inserted?

The marker for the time loop and the bit of Zach's soul obviously. Looking back, you can see some of the influence it could have had on Zorian, but it was pretty subtle. Not much more than normal character development in the face of something of such a huge scale. I'm kind of curious how Zach was affected by Zorian's soul fragment instead.

As for the chapter, Zorian is making progress with his mind reading! Transformation magic still seems pretty interesting, but has very pronounced drawbacks for some of the forms. Seems like for fighting, you'd want to stick to some kind of half-form unlike Lukav did so that you could use your hands. Although Zorian is obviously better off than some of those saps since he would at least probably still have access to his psychic magic. Not as good as having his full toolkit, but still less vulnerable to mages. Ideally, you'd need to have a decent range of combat spells to a completely reflexive state or be able to attack and defend with unstructured magic to make the most of it though. Really interesting to see how much Alanic will be willing/able to teach Zorian. Is he going to be another Xvim/Silverlake, or be kind of cool like Kyron?

[Lefay]

Originally Posted by bludvein

The marker for the time loop and the bit of Zach's soul obviously. Looking back, you can see some of the influence it could have had on Zorian, but it was pretty subtle. Not much more than normal character development in the face of something of such a huge scale. I'm kind of curious how Zach was affected by Zorian's soul fragment instead.

As for the chapter, Zorian is making progress with his mind reading! Transformation magic still seems pretty interesting, but has very pronounced drawbacks for some of the forms. Seems like for fighting, you'd want to stick to some kind of half-form unlike Lukav did so that you could use your hands. Although Zorian is obviously better off than some of those saps since he would at least probably still have access to his psychic magic. Not as good as having his full toolkit, but still less vulnerable to mages. Ideally, you'd need to have a decent range of combat spells to a completely reflexive state or be able to attack and defend with unstructured magic to make the most of it though. Really interesting to see how much Alanic will be willing/able to teach Zorian. Is he going to be another Xvim/Silverlake, or be kind of cool like Kyron?

Alanic seems like Xvim's long lost brother. Why does Zorian attract these types again?

Spoiler for Ch 31:

Also Lukav hinted that the foreign bit of soul would integrate in 1-2 years. Does that mean Zorian only has that much time left before he's kicked out from the time loop? or rather is he in the loop for good, since Alanic says the marker is deeply embedded into his soul?

Wonder how this restart will go with such an explosive first week. So many loose ends to tie up, I often forget we're only in the second arc.

[Xacual]

It's extremely likely Red Robe is related to the assassination attempts in some way so I'm worried we might get a run in at some point this loop since wouldn't he notice if his assassinations failed for the first time in probably hundred+ loops. Or maybe he won't notice since it's something that's worked so many times that all he does is the initial set up for it at the start of each loop.

Then again this is only the second loop since the big run in show down they just had so I guess another run in might be too soon, definitely too soon for Zorian to stand any kind of more effective chance.