8:20 in the morning.
Inside room fifteen in building five hundred, a teacher is currently reading names off a list.
Every time the teacher reads a name, the student immediately answers.
However, when Dira read the last name on the list, there was only silence.
"...Zed?"
The teacher was surprised.
As one of the most reputable academies in the entire world, a student dared to be late on the first day?
'If I was teaching other subjects, sure. But I am teaching magic! Did something happen to him?'
Suddenly, everyone in the class heard a loud knocking noise from the window.
When they looked at the noise source, they saw a small child outside.
He was waving at them vigorously with a smile.
The child was standing right on the edge of the window.
Dira quickly came to the window and unlocked it.
The child immediately jumped through the opening in the window and landed on the floor.
The moment he landed, Zed felt a weird vibration in his body.
For a few seconds, vibrations were coursing through his body.
Finally, the feeling stopped.
However, the humans around Zed looked strange. Looking closely, they appeared to be frozen.
'Almost done...'
"What rewind is it again? fuck, I lost count again."
Zed looked closely around him. He was searching for something.
Slowly, he began opening all the drawers in the class.
After around five minutes, Zed finally stopped.
He looked excitedly at something.
It was like a small orb the size of a pearl.
The color of the orb was blue.
Furthermore, there was a white line going around it.
"...So that is where it was, the object numbered one."
After Zed put the orb in his pocket, he climbed down the two floors.
If a person from outside were to watch him, they would be impressed with how quickly he climbs down.
Zed pulled out the pocket watch from his pocket.
"...8:25, good."
He walked for around ten minutes around the buildings.
Eventually, he stopped.
There was a green bush in front of him.
Inside the bush, there were around fifty pearls similar to before.
After Zed threw the pearl into the bush, they all began to shine with a bright light.
"...Is it finally over?"
Zed still was not convinced.
It was around seven rewinds ago when he realized the truth.
At that point, he finally noticed an orb-like object.
Unlike everything else which goes back to his original position, these orbs persist in their location.
After collecting all of these objects, he seemed to have solved the puzzle.
'However, how is it possible that only I noticed it?'
He had a feeling that this was not all.
Suddenly, he felt the world turning black.
When the world regained its brightness, he was inside a room.
At the end of the room are two massive chairs.
On them, two creatures were sitting.
They were seemingly talking to each other in an unknown language.
Suddenly, the left creature coughed.
"I think... this is the human language, right?" [One] began talking.
"More importantly, how can a small child like you manage to defeat the second stage?"
[One] turned around to face Zed.
Suddenly, the creature on the right coughed.
"Does it matter how, brother? You lost." [Two] said smugly.
"...Of course it matters. You must have cheated! Wait..."
[One] suddenly realized something.
'He skipped the second stage!'
"Oops, you noticed."
[One] suddenly looked at [Two].
"This human has no magic in his body after the first stage. How?"
[Two] did not answer.
'How the hell should I know? Mental illness?'
Zed almost realized the situation.
Usually, one would know a thing or two about magic at this point.
However, he is probably the only student who refused to learn magic at all his loops.
'It seems that magic is a requirement for the second stage.' Zed didn't know how to react.
Suddenly, these two creatures tell him that he survived because he refused to learn that subject.
"... This must be a nightmare." Zed let out a sigh.
Meanwhile, the others were having a conversation.
"Who cares. Admit you lost." [Two] didn't want to admit he got lucky.
"…"
[One] was quiet for a few moments.
" Don't forget our second bet, double or nothing?. "
[Two] was quiet for a few moments.
'If I can win this... the win-lose ratio between us would finally even out!'
After considering the risk, he decided.
"...Sure."
Suddenly, they turned towards Zed.
"Human, since you won our game, tell us, what is your wish?"
They were around one hundred meters tall and had one eye in the center of their face.
Furthermore, their appearance was very similar to snails.
The only difference is they didn't have shells.
Zed looked at his only hope with slight excitement.
When he first saw them, Zed was convinced.
'This must be the masterminds. If I can make them mad...'
However, just when he was about to execute the plan, they suddenly told him that he could request a wish.
At first, Zed felt humourous.
'What if I tell them infinite wishes?'
However, it is still too risky.
He had only one goal, and these monsters could surely grant him his wish.
"...Kill me!"
"?!"
"?!"
After staring at Zed for a moment, they looked at each other.
"Can you please repeat it, human?" [Two] was not sure if he heard it correctly.
"I want to die; not exist anymore. Clear enough?" Zed said in a confident tone.
[Two] suddenly lifted his snail-like arm and looked at it.
"So... this how it feels to be superior."
"..."
[One] was about to destroy a planet or two.
For millions of years, he has never lost so badly.
After calculating in his mind how long it would take to regain all his lost points and have the same lead again, he wanted to cry.
'This human, why is he so weird?'
Even [Two] was confused.
'I bet that such nonsense things would happen. Who would have thought that there is such a human out there?'
[Two] did not want to admit that was pure luck.
However, now he was uncertain what to do.
[Two] never managed to win against his brother before in such a way, is this human his lucky charm?
[One] slowly raised his snail-like arm.
"I will grant your wish." [One] wanted to take a mental rest day.
However, just as he was about to deliver the blow, he heard a voice.
"... Hey, brother." [Two] suddenly talked.
"....Quadruple or nothing?"
"!"
"Explain..." [One] said skeptically.
"This human is weird. I bet you that..."