Combat Fundamentals 101 was exactly as Elias remembered it. Same drills, same leather-padded training ground, same overwhelming smell of sweat and nervous magic. What was different was him.
In the original timeline, he'd spent this first session flailing awkwardly while more talented students executed flawless forms. Today, he moved with precision born from seven years of future memory. Not perfection, that would be suspicious, but competence. Measured, deliberate competence.
"Partner up!" Instructor Varen shouted, a scarred veteran whose voice could probably level buildings if he tried hard enough. "Basic defensive stances today. You'll take turns being aggressor and defender. Remember: control matters more than power."
Elias found himself paired with a lanky boy named Thomas, who looked about as comfortable holding a practice sword as a fish holding a bicycle. Good. Made Elias's own calculated mediocrity less noticeable.
They went through the motions. Thomas attacked clumsily. Elias defended smoothly but not brilliantly. Instructor Varen passed by, nodded approval at Elias's form, moved on. Perfect. Noticed for competence, not excellence.
Then the System chimed.
[ALERT: Minor Quest Opportunity Detected]
[Training Dummy Malfunction - Equipment Failure Imminent]
Danger: Practice dummy 7 - stabilization enchantment failing
Target at Risk: Female student, auburn hair, standing 3 meters northeast
Time to Failure: 45 seconds
Action Required: Prevent injury
Reward: +1 Agility
Note: Low-risk intervention. Minimal timeline impact.
Elias's eyes flicked to dummy seven. Same girl from the orientation riser incident. Of course it was. The universe apparently had a sense of humor about these things.
She was practicing solo strikes against the dummy, unaware that the enchantment keeping it rooted was degrading. In about forty seconds, her next solid hit would send the massive practice dummy toppling directly onto her.
He remembered this. Vaguely. She'd been injured, spent a week in the medical wing with a concussion and cracked ribs. Not fatal but painful and unnecessary.
Thomas was still swinging wildly at him. Elias deflected automatically, mind calculating angles and timing. Thirty-five seconds.
"You're pretty good at this," Thomas panted, clearly relieved to be paired with someone patient.
"Beginner's luck," Elias said absently, watching the girl wind up for another strike. Thirty seconds.
The trick was making it look natural. He couldn't just run over and shout a warning. That would raise the same questions as the riser incident. Once might be luck. Twice looked like pattern.
Twenty-five seconds.
"Hey, Thomas," Elias said suddenly. "Think you can handle more aggressive attacks? I want to practice counters."
"Um, sure?" Thomas looked uncertain but game.
"Great. Come at me fast, don't hold back." Elias began backing up, angling their sparring toward dummy seven. Thomas followed, swinging with slightly more confidence now that it was "practice."
Twenty seconds.
Elias let Thomas press forward, defending while moving steadily backward. Other students gave them space as their sparring intensified. Closer to the girl. Closer to the dummy.
Fifteen seconds.
The girl struck the dummy hard. Good hit, solid technique. The enchantment wavered visibly, glowing runes flickering. She frowned, noticing something wrong but not understanding what.
Ten seconds.
Elias blocked Thomas's overhead swing, twisted, and "stumbled" backward. Controlled fall, really, years of stage combat from drama club he'd briefly joined during the desperate job-hunting years. He crashed into the girl just as she wound up for another strike.
They both went down in a tangle of limbs. She yelped in surprise and anger.
Five seconds.
"Sorry!" Elias gasped, scrambling up. "Lost my balance—"
The girl's practice sword, knocked from her hand by the collision, smacked into the dummy with leftover momentum. The unstable enchantment shattered. The massive wooden figure toppled sideways, smashing into the ground right where she'd been standing two seconds ago.
Silence rippled across the training ground.
"Seven hells," someone breathed.
Instructor Varen rushed over, face grim. He examined the fallen dummy, prodded the dead enchantment with his boot. "Equipment failure. Everyone, stop!" He turned to the girl and Elias, who were sitting on the ground surrounded by scattered weapons. "You two injured?"
"No, sir," Elias said quickly. "Just clumsy."
The girl was staring at the dummy, face pale. She looked at Elias, then at the crushing weight that would've landed on her skull, then back at Elias. Her eyes were wide.
"Clumsy," she repeated flatly.
"Very clumsy," Elias agreed, offering a hand to help her up. "Sorry about that."
She took his hand but didn't stop staring. "Twice. This is the second time you've—"
"Accidental collision," Elias said firmly, loud enough for nearby students to hear. "My balance is terrible. Should probably work on that."
Instructor Varen was already shouting for maintenance. "Get this equipment checked! Every dummy, every enchantment! If one's failing, others might be too!" He looked at the girl. "Lucky timing on that fall, kid. Could've been bad."
"Yeah," she said slowly, still watching Elias. "Lucky."
[QUEST COMPLETE!]
[Training Dummy Incident - Successfully Prevented]
Outcome: Target protected from injury (concussion and fractured ribs prevented)
Timeline Deviation: +0.2% (now 0.7% total)
Reward: +1 Agility
System Note: Acceptable execution. Cover maintained though suspicion growing. Recommend varying intervention patterns to avoid detection.
The stat increase hit immediately. Same sensation as before, but Elias was prepared this time. His muscles didn't change visibly, but his kinesthetic awareness sharpened. Balance improved, reflexes quickened. The world seemed to move fractionally slower, giving him microseconds more reaction time.
He stood up smoothly, dusted himself off, and retrieved Thomas's dropped practice sword.
"Sorry about the chaos," he said to his sparring partner. "Got too aggressive with the footwork."
Thomas laughed nervously. "No worries. That was kind of terrifying though."
"Yeah." Elias glanced at the girl, who was being checked over by a concerned classmate. She kept looking back at him with those assessing eyes. "Equipment failures are no joke."
After class, Elias headed to the dining hall, mind already shifting to next priorities. First save of the day complete. Small change, minimal ripple. The System was right about varying patterns though. He couldn't keep "accidentally" saving the same person. That auburn-haired girl was going to be a problem if she connected the dots.
The dining hall buzzed with lunch-hour energy. Elias grabbed food, looked for somewhere to sit that wouldn't commit him to awkward social navigation.
"Elias!" Finn's voice called from across the room. The shy genius was waving from a corner table, looking relieved to see a friendly face.
Elias wove through the crowd and sat down. "Hey. How's your morning been?"
"Terrifying," Finn said immediately. "Advanced Enchantment Theory. Professor Circe is brilliant but moves so fast. I'm barely keeping up and I'm supposedly good at this stuff."
"You are good at it," Elias said. In the original timeline, Finn had struggled initially but became one of the academy's leading researchers within three years. Kid was a prodigy, just needed confidence. "Give yourself credit."
Finn smiled weakly. "You're kind. Unlike certain people." He nodded toward a nearby table where several students were huddled, talking in low voices and occasionally glancing toward Elias.
Great. "Talking about me?"
"About you saving that girl in combat class. Word spreads fast." Finn lowered his voice. "Some people are saying you're weirdly good at predicting accidents. That it's suspicious you're always in the right place."
Elias forced casualness into his shrug. "Been in the wrong place twice. That's not a pattern."
"Twice in three days though."
"Coincidence." Elias took a bite of his sandwich to avoid elaborating. Bread was stale but edible. Some things never changed across timelines.
Finn dropped the subject, bless him. Kid wasn't the type to push when someone clearly didn't want to discuss something. Instead, he started describing his morning classes in detail, getting animated about enchantment theory that went completely over Elias's head.
It was nice. Normal. Reminded Elias that beneath all the System missions and disaster prevention and timeline management, he was still technically a sixteen-year-old at a magic school. Sometimes he could just... be a student.
"Mind if I join?"
Both turned. Lyra stood with a tray, looking uncertain. Most tables were full, but that wasn't why she was asking. The handful of empty seats around campus were usually kept empty through pointed social exclusion. Scholarship students knew the rules.
"Please," Elias said immediately, gesturing to the seat beside him.
Something relaxed in Lyra's expression. She sat down gracefully. "Thanks. Wasn't looking forward to eating in my room again."
"People are idiots," Finn muttered with surprising venom. "You're top of the class in three subjects. They should be begging to sit with you."
Lyra's smile was tired. "Unfortunately, academic merit doesn't trump economic prejudice."
"Academia in a nutshell," Elias agreed. In the original timeline, Lyra's isolation had been worse. She'd had almost no friends her first year. This time, maybe that could change. "So, Magical Theory this morning. Aldric's lecture about mana circulation did you catch that part about resonance patterns?"
Her eyes lit up. Lyra loved theory. They dove into discussion, Finn contributing occasionally when the topic intersected with enchantments. Natural conversation, three students passionate about learning.
Elias caught glimpses of other students watching them. Some with curiosity, others with disdain. Didn't matter. This was better than the isolation he and Lyra had both suffered originally.
"Oh," Lyra said after a while, "I heard about combat class. You okay?"
"Bruised ego, nothing serious."
"You saved another student apparently. Training dummy incident?"
Word really did spread fast. "More like I knocked her down accidentally and happened to move her away from the falling equipment. Wasn't heroic, just clumsy."
Lyra studied him with those sharp eyes. She was smart, brilliant actually. If anyone would piece together his pattern of fortunate clumsiness, it would be her.
But she just nodded. "Well, clumsy or not, she's lucky you were there."
"Yeah," Elias said quietly. "Lucky."
The afternoon brought Elemental Manipulation Fundamentals, where Elias carefully demonstrated mediocre fire-starting techniques. He could do better, years of desperate practice after academy expulsion had taught him plenty. But showing too much would raise questions.
Then Potion Brewing, where he "struggled" with precision measurements while actually being quite competent. Again, post-academy survival jobs included back-alley potion shops where precision meant not accidentally creating toxic sludge.
It was exhausting, this constant performance of strategic mediocrity. Had to be good enough to be taken seriously but not so good people wondered how. Had to show improvement gradual enough to seem natural. Had to balance pride with practicality.
By dinner time, Elias was mentally drained.
He grabbed food again, found a quiet corner of the dining hall, and just... sat. Took a moment to breathe. This was day three of his second chance. He'd already prevented three accidents, saved multiple lives, started building the foundation for disaster prevention.
And he was exhausted.
Seven years. He had seven years of academy life, then the future diverged into territory he'd never lived. Seven years of maintaining this deception, of making calculated changes, of bearing the weight of future knowledge.
Could he actually do this?
[SYSTEM NOTE]
You seem tired. That's understandable. Remember: you don't have to save everyone immediately. The Festival disaster was prevented. Next catastrophic event is 134 days away (Dungeon Collapse). You have time.
Small saves like today's are valuable. They build your capabilities gradually. But don't exhaust yourself trying to fix everything at once.
Current Progress:
Lives Saved: 49 total (47 Festival + 2 minor)Allies: 3 (Finn, Lyra, Damien)Stats Improved: Moderate gainsTimeline Stability: 99.3% (healthy)Cover Status: Suspicious but not compromised
You're doing well, Elias. Pace yourself.
The message was oddly comforting. He'd been thinking of the System as impersonal, purely mechanical. But this felt almost... supportive?
"Mind company?"
Elias looked up. Damien stood with a tray, not asking for permission so much as informing Elias of his decision.
"Sure," Elias said, gesturing to the seat across from him.
Damien sat with the controlled precision of someone who thought about every movement. Top of their class, fierce intelligence, competitive nature. In the original timeline, Elias had been invisible to students like Damien. Now, things were different.
"You've been busy," Damien said without preamble. "Tournament performance was interesting. Combat class incident today was more interesting. You're not what you seemed at the beginning of term."
Direct approach. Damien didn't waste time with small talk.
"People grow," Elias said carefully. "I'm trying to take academy seriously this time."
"This time?" Damien's eyes sharpened. "Odd phrasing."
Damn. Slip of the tongue. "This year, I meant. Fresh start and all that."
Damien studied him for a long moment. Then nodded slowly. "Well, your fresh start is effective. You moved up fifteen rankings after midterms. That's statistically unusual for someone predicted to fail."
"Predictions aren't destiny."
"No," Damien agreed. "They're not. I find that... refreshing." He took a bite of his food, then added casually, "I'm organizing a study group. Advanced students tutoring others in weak subjects. Mutually beneficial arrangement. Interested?"
This was new. In the original timeline, Damien had never approached him. "Why me?"
"Because you're clearly more capable than you show, and I'm curious about that. Also, life debt." Damien said it matter-of-factly. "You saved me from that laboratory explosion. I owe you. Study group is partial repayment."
"You don't owe me anything."
"I do," Damien corrected firmly. "That's how life debts work. You can accept help or refuse it, but the debt exists regardless. I prefer to pay my obligations."
Elias considered. Study group meant access to advanced material, connections with top students, and Damien's considerable intellect. Strategically valuable. But also more visibility, more scrutiny.
Then again, he needed resources for disaster prevention. Knowledge was a resource.
"Okay," Elias said. "I'm in."
"Good." Damien handed over a slip of paper. "Study sessions are Tuesdays and Thursdays, seven PM, library conference room three. First meeting tomorrow. Don't be late."
He stood to leave, then paused. "Elias? Whatever you're doing, whoever you're becoming... keep it up. This version of you is far more interesting than the scared kid from orientation."
He walked away before Elias could respond.
The scared kid from orientation. That's what he'd been originally. Terrified, inadequate, overwhelmed. This time, he was still scared more so actually, because he understood the stakes—but he was functioning despite it.
Progress. Small but real.
Elias finished his dinner alone, watching the dining hall's social dynamics play out around him. Students clustered by social class, by academic track, by shared ambitions. Little kingdoms forming, alliances solidifying, the academy's political landscape taking shape.
He was part of it now. No longer invisible. That brought opportunities and dangers in equal measure.
His mind drifted to the Festival planning committee meeting yesterday. Seraphine's calculating assessment. The construction crew assignment he'd requested. Access to the stage, to the contractors, to the whole process.
47 days ago, in the original timeline, he'd been useless during that disaster. This time, he'd prevented it before it started. That felt good. Felt right.
But the System's warning about timeline stability echoed in his thoughts. 99.3% was healthy, but every change consumed a portion of that stability. He couldn't fix everything. Had to prioritize.
Catastrophic events first. Key people second. Everything else... he'd have to let some things unfold naturally, even if it hurt.
Elias stood, dumped his tray, and headed back toward the dorms. Tomorrow brought more classes, more opportunities, more careful saves. One day at a time. One life at a time.
He could do this.
He had to.
Because forty-nine people were alive right now who wouldn't have been otherwise, and that was just the beginning.
That night, alone in his dorm room, Elias pulled out the notebook where he'd written his Festival prevention plan. Below that list, he started a new one.
SECOND SEMESTER PRIORITIES
1. Dungeon Collapse Prevention (134 days)
-Research original failure cause
-Identify structural weaknesses
-Build infiltration plan
-Recruit necessary allies (keep minimal)
2. Timeline Stability Management
-Monitor System warnings
-Space out interventions
-Accept that some things can't be changed
-Balance saves with natural events
3. Social Position
-Damien's study group (resource access)Lyra friendship deepening (personal & strategic)
-Finn technical support (essential for complex saves)
-Avoid political entanglements with Seraphine
-Maintain mid-tier visibility (not invisible, not exceptional)
4. Professor Aldric
-He knows something about temporal magic
-Potentially valuable information source
-Dangerous if he discovers truthBuild rapport carefully
5. System Mastery
-Understand cost mechanics better
-Learn to predict consequences
-Minimize timeline deviation
-Figure out Administrator angle
Elias stared at the list. Five priorities, each containing dozens of sub-tasks. Seven years to execute everything while appearing to be a normal student.
No pressure.
He closed the notebook, lay back on his bed, and stared at the ceiling. Somewhere in the void beyond reality, Administrators watched. The System hummed in the back of his mind, always present, always monitoring.
Tomorrow he'd save more lives. Make more careful changes. Build toward preventing the next disaster.
Tonight, he let himself feel the weight of it all. Just for a moment. Then he pushed it down, locked it away, and focused on sleep.
Day three complete.
Two thousand, five hundred and fifty-two days to go.
He could do this.
One day at a time.