Actually, for Zorian, it's already been revealed that his empathy could be the result of his witch bloodline. And for Zach, having such high innate mana reserves is way out of the established normal, it wouldn't be that hard of a stretch that his family was known for that and that it might be tied into his bloodline.

For the spirit, I know that the Spirit wasn't talking about that, but it's words may have made Zorian think about what I just mentioned.

 

Chapter 52, Kael mentions it when he's explaining Blood Magic to Zorian.

The passage in question. Well he only says he's heard it's possible, but I read that more as he doesn't know the specifics of how to do it compared to regular "very easy" blood magic.

 

I wasn't disputing the fact that Empathy is a bloodline ability. I simply said it is a common enough ability that Red Robe wouldn't need Zorian to acquire it.

Actually, there's one thing I have been thinking about lately. All Open are Empaths, but are all Empaths Open? Zorian seems to think so, but he hasn't actually met any human Empaths...

Well, Zorian did speculate that the House Noveda might have a bloodline ability that gave them huge reserves without totally destroying their control. The Noveda, however, do publicly claim they have no bloodline and I'm sure someone would have noticed if all Novedas have inhumanly huge reserves.

 

Not necessarily. There doesn't seem to any device capable of instantly assessing how much mana someone has, and at that point any fights would end long before their mana situation became obvious.

I find the claim to have no bloodline ability(even if it isn't the mana reserve) doubtful since almost all noble houses seem to have one. How could one of the major nobles not have given themselves one at some point?

 

Well, damn. A nice end to arc two. I was thinking about the potential paranoia and betrayal and death game we were about to have, but looks like Zorian and Zach are forced to work together if they want out, instead. Hm, I'm satisfied with the plot and what explanations we've been given.

 

On the bright side, if Red Robe has left, he does not factor into matters anymore.

Which is good.

 

You know who's probably good at cheating? Damien...
Nice end to arc two, arc three is supposed to be the finale right?

 

One thing I am certain of is that we will be seeing Daimen in arc three. Spear of Resolve said that the Key (the ring, the crown, the staff, the orb and the dagger) are located on Miasina.

Guess who is on an expedition in Miasina? Daimen.

I have been looking forward to seeing Daimen since arc one. It was pretty obvious that he would have some sort of important role in Mother of Learning, and now we know what it is. This also has the bonus of finally putting down the theory that Daimen is Red Robe (since Red Robe has already left the time loop).

Edit:
Another thing to ponder is Daimen's symbolic significance. Daimen is the number one son, the perfect child. He has skills in magic that Zorian used to only dream about having. Zorian had been in his brother's shadow his entire life.

Now things are different. Zorian has been going through the time loop for years now. He has trained many skills to an adequate level, and has become an expert in mind magic. Now we will see how he measures up to Daimen.

I believe that Zorian somehow beating or outmaneuvering Daimen in some way will be act as a good, thematic ending. That is to say, I think Zorian will achieve some sort of victory over Daimen before the story is finished.

 

Great chapter. The Gate is barred. Better go and get the key.

I'm really looking forward to the final arc. Can't wait to see how this story wraps up.

This chapter basically tells us that Red Robe has almost won. He couldn't terminate the loop after he left, which is why Zorian and Zach are still looping, but from his perspective they can't leave so he's won.

But Zorian and Zach are going to go and get the key which will let them get out anyway, and I guess that means that there'll be a big fight once they leave. But this time, its for REALSIES.

I'm still also really interested in the why/how/who details of the loop getting set up: Who set up the loop and why? Who was the original Branded? Who is Red Robe?

Telling us that the Sovereign Gate belonged to Zach's family could be a hint that Zach is indeed the original Branded and who the loop was set up for, but then it comes down to who Red Robe is and how he got into the loop.

Red Robe maybe Tesen Zveri after all?

 

Really happy Zorian probably has a bro now. Zach is a great counter to him as a character, and complements the story nicely. As much as I like Zoria, seeing him interacting with the world alone was getting quite boring.

 

Well, things just got real. Or should I instead say that things will remain 'unreal' for the foreseeable future. Damn, these arcs always end with a boom.

I wonder how arc three will end? In the first arc ending, Zorian's enemies all got killed, Red Robe turned out to be kind of OP, and Zach find out Zorian was a time traveler. In the second arc ending, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler (a lot of shit happened/was revealed). How will the final arc end?

Also, I hope that now that they are somewhat depressed, Zorian might say YOLO, and do something out of character for once, like talk more to his classmates, do impulsive things, etc., and then quickly snap out of it and then try to find out how to get out.

I also wonder if they will use the black rooms to prolong their stay there? Also, how will Kael react to the news?

 

I'm only halfway through the new chapter, but I have a new thought on how this ends now that its been revealed that it is likely only one time looper will make it back to reality. Either Zorian or Zach will make their own memory packet that will travel with the last looper back into the real timeline so that one of them doesn't have to sacrifice their memories. Or has it been explained earlier that only the aranea can make them? Or maybe memories of such a long period of time can't be made into a memory packet?

EDIT: What a great way to end arc 2! There are so many things that Zorian and Zach can do now that they know RR is gone.

Also, looks like my idea earlier was probably off. If they somehow trick the Gate Guardian into letting another time looper through, how hard could it be to trick it into letting two through?

I read a good amount of fan fiction, but right now this story is the only online reading medium that I anxiously wait for updates. Love it.

 

Really good end of the the second arc. In a theory the bad guy already won and it's up to the good guys to somehow save the day.

The biggest question is how much time they have? I suspect at least few years. Maybe a decade because finding one legendary treasure can take a lot of time and they have five to locate.

Who is going to leave the loop? Probably not both of them. My guess is that Zorian will keep slowly changing his nature till the point where he will be willing to sacrifice himself for Zach, but the other time-traveller will prove that his own character wasn't a lie, and do the same, but quicker. After that it will be up to Zorian alone to stop the Red Robe and the invasion.

But it's going to be few years before we reach that point. Before that, I expect Zorian to transform himself into a proper archmage (the trick he discovered in this chapter may speed it up) and if not improve his relationship with the rest of his family, then at least have a different perspective on it.

 

While a memory packet would still be reasonably useful, it would be a very distant consolation prize compared to the being able to take the gained magical skill, i.e. the shaping skills & increased mana pools that Zorian and Zach have been able to grow over the loop.

I am of the opinion that it's impossible to 'trick' the guardian to let them out. The Gate is Barred, after all. I believe that by collecting the five imperial treasures and forming the key, Zorian and Zach will be able to force the Gate open and leave that way.

Though thinking about that, that doesn't really make any sense because Red Robe could still leave while he didn't have the key, and the only reason he couldn't terminate the loop then and there was because Zorian and Zach were still in the loop. I suppose the key might act as some kind of sysadmin override.

Even though it'll be dozens and dozens of loops since Red Robe left, when Zorian and Zach pop out of the Gate, due to the super time-dilation, won't they pretty much bump into him instantly? I suppose you could maybe swing it that the n years was like 2 minutes real-time, and that Red Robe had already teleported out..

Going with the premise that whoever has the Key gets to leave and then terminate the loop, leaving the loop is actually the worse thing you can do. Even if there are two keys (one inside, one outside), its waaaaaaay easier to get the inside key, because due to the time-dilation Zorian and Zach have years to get the key, whereas Red Robe would have a comparatively minuscule amount of time.

 

Don't you think this would be kind of foolish? When Zorian and Zach just got acquainted it was made pretty clear that Zorian cannot realistically hope to catch up to Zach in general. It seems that between the two of them Zach has a much better chance of stopping the invasion on his own, unless it somehow turns out that Zorian's mind magic is a major asset against the lich.

 

Zach is a surprisingly powerful mage, but he isn't so skilled that Zorian will have no chance of catching up. They are already about even in the shaping department and Zorian only spent a small fraction of the time Zach did.

Besides, this series has repeatedly emphasized fighting smart over overpowering the opposition.

 

Pretty much this and Zach probably realizes this too after Zorian managed to "defeat" Quatach-Ichl when he never could. The same goes for what he managed to do when dealing with the invasion compared to what Zorian figured out in a much shorter time.

 

Zach has power, and combat experience, but nothing else. Honestly, he's downright dumb at times. He's still outclassed by the enemy powerhouses. Zorian has a way better chance of stopping the invasion or "saving the world" or whatever, if you ask me.

 

I guess it hinges on your interpretation of the revelations about their respective skills in chapter 53. Zach is being called "the sort of archmage that makes other archmages envious". Furthermore, his least favorite fields coincide with Zorian's strongest - and even on these subjects he is able to hold his own.

No, he's not. It has been stated that he can beat Red Robe fairly easily, it's only the lich he's had trouble with.