The dark was not an enemy. To a man who had died twice, the darkness was simply the absence of data.
When my consciousness flickered back into existence, I didn't scream. I didn't flail. I didn't waste time lamenting the unfairness of a God who would let a village of innocent Goblins burn to satisfy a prophecy. I simply existed.
< Logic Sequence Initiated... > < Status: Spirit Slime (Juvenile Grade). > < Temporal Anchor: Loop 02. > < Warning: Soul-Sync at 82%. Emotional Dampening active to prevent core-fracture. >
"Thank you, Archivist," I thought. My voice was a cold vibration within the gelatinous mass of my new—or rather, old—body. "Turn the dampening up to eighty percent. I can't afford to feel right now. I need to calculate."
In my first life, I was a man of theory. In my first loop, I was a man of hope. In this loop, I was a man of mathematics.
I felt the damp stone of the cave floor against my membrane. The familiar drip of water from the stalactite above me hit my surface with a rhythmic plink. In Loop 01, that sound had driven me to the brink of insanity. Now, it was a metronome. It was the ticking clock of a world that was already preparing to kill me again.
"Archivist, we wasted six months in the first loop. We spent too much time 'discovering' ourselves. We're skipping the exploration phase."
< Confirmed. Recommendations for accelerated growth? >
"In the first loop, I was afraid of 'Vortex Intake.' I thought the pressure differential would tear my semi-permeable membrane apart. But I know the molecular lattice of my body now. It's not a skin; it's a high-tensile polymer held together by mana-binding. We're going to force the intake."
I began to rotate.
Physically, I started to spin my internal mass. In my old life, I'd studied the way black holes drew in matter—not through magic, but through the sheer physics of a gravity well. I couldn't create gravity, but I could create a vacuum. By spinning my viscous interior at high speeds, I created a low-pressure zone at my center.
The ambient mana in the cave, usually a slow-drifting mist, reacted to the pressure drop. It began to swirl. It became a funnel.
Whirrrrr.
The sound was a low hum that vibrated through the stone. The mana didn't just enter my body; it was forced through my pores. It felt like being sandblasted from the inside out. Each particle of mana was a grain of hot sand, scouring my interior as it was processed by my core.
< Warning: Internal Pressure exceeding safety limits. Structural integrity at 75%... 70%... 65%... >
"Hold it!" I roared in my mind. "We need the density! If I can't handle the cave, I can't handle the 'Miracle'!"
For forty-eight hours, I stayed in that spot. I didn't eat moss. I didn't hunt centipedes. I simply acted as a living turbine, grinding the cave's energy into raw power. By the end of the second day, I wasn't the translucent blue of a common slime. I was a dense, vibrating silver, so thick that I felt more like liquid metal than water.
< Evolution Milestone: High-Spirit Slime (Juvenile) reached in 48 hours. Estimated time saved: 164 days. >
"Good," I thought, my core humming with a lethal frequency. "Now for the first variable."
I slid toward the side-chamber. I didn't need to look for the path; I had the coordinates burned into my memory. I reached the grotto where the sunlight filtered through the cracks in the ceiling, illuminating the same pool of blood I had seen months—or years—ago.
Fenris.
The Great Moon-Wolf was there, his side torn open, his breath a wet, ragged hitch. Seeing him again was like a physical blow. The emotional dampening I'd requested from the Archivist flickered. For a second, I saw him not as he was now—a dying stranger—but as he had been in the fire. I saw him leaping in front of that golden blade. I felt the warmth of his loyalty.
"Who... goes... there?" the wolf's mind-pulse was weak, a flickering candle in the dark.
I didn't answer with words. I slid forward and pressed my silver body against his wound.
In Loop 01, Naming him had been a beautiful, spiritual moment. In Loop 02, it was a surgical procedure. I didn't just give him a name; I flooded his system with my newly compressed mana. I used my knowledge of biology to knit his muscle fibers back together, using my own slime as a biological mesh.
"Your name is Fenris," I commanded. "And you will never die for me again. Because I will never let them get close enough to try."
The evolution was violent. Fenris's body didn't just heal; it restructured. His fur grew longer, sharper, each strand reinforced with the silver mana I was pouring into him. His claws didn't just grow; they became obsidian, humming with the same frequency as my own core.
< Naming Complete: Fenris. Evolution: Silver-Moon Wolf (Vanguard Variant). >
Fenris stood up. He shook his fur, sending sparks of static electricity dancing across the cave walls. He looked at me, and I braced myself for the confusion. To him, I was a monster he had just met.
But then, he stopped. He leaned his massive, silver head down and touched his nose to my surface.
"Master," he rumbled. His voice was deeper than I remembered, more resonant. "I do not know why... but my soul feels as though it has returned from a long journey. My claws are yours. My life is your shield."
I felt a ripple of genuine warmth. Even the "Reset" couldn't erase the bond we had forged.
"We have a lot of work to do, Fenris," I said. "And very little time to do it. The world thinks it knows what happens next. It's our job to prove the world wrong."
I looked at the exit of the cave. The sunlight was waiting. But I wasn't a scholar stepping out into a new world this time. I was a ghost coming back for what was mine.
"Archivist, pull up the blueprints for the Jura Forest."
< Blueprints Loaded. Timeline of Holy Kingdom Scouting Parties: Synchronized. >
"Let's go. We're hunting the Fang-Pack before lunch."
[Volume 2: Chapter 1 End]