Back in Time activated.
Rewind: 24 hours.
The user must select which gains to retain. Proceed?
No light graced the world. Priam shook his head—or at least, he tried. His earlier assumption had been wrong. The problem wasn't with the world; it was with his eyes: he didn’t have any. That made sense, more or less, since, according to Micro, he no longer had a body. Deprived of his physical senses, Priam relied on his meta-perception to orient himself. The attribute merged with his Domain, flooding him with a torrent of disorienting information.
Before his mind could spiral into madness, Priam instinctively turned his thoughts away—though he let his add-on record the incoming data. He was clearly in a place where time had no meaning, a disturbing yet invaluable experience. Maybe he could gain new mental resistance from it. Or, failing that, he could always hit an enemy with a mental copy of this insane experience and fry their brain through a mind link.
Proceed?
The System's request popped up again, proving it was not as patient an entity as Priam had been led to believe during his Tutorial. Perhaps not all the jibes at the end of certain descriptions were written by a bored moderator...
Proceed?
“Yes!”
The space around him shifted, transforming into an infinite expanse of white. Two versions of Priam materialized. One had just triggered Back in Time, the other had just received it.
“You look exhausted,” said the younger Priam.
“I’ve had a hell of a day,” replied the older version—the one who had already lived through the now-erased timeline. His white hair framed a worn face, his expression a mix of fatigue and pain from the wounds covering his body. His half-blind eyes scanned the younger version, who stood tall with a relaxed stance, an easy smile, and a sharp gaze. He was charming.
“With my charisma and this engineered physique, it’d be weird if I wasn’t,” the younger Priam joked.
Both Priams benefited from one of the thought trains of his draconic vivacity. The consciousness animating them simultaneously focused on the data transmitted by the System. The first notification was almost familiar.
Congratulations, you are dead! Your Talent [He Who Eludes Death] brings you back to life once a day.
Number of deaths: 24
Synergy detected with your talent [Homo Elysian Obsession] and your Titles [Three-Headed Hydra] and [Life is Hard; I’m Harder]. Your body and spirit are rebuilt and will be more resistant to what killed them:
CONST +4
VIT +4
WILL + 4
[Pyro - Concept] - Natural Affinity +5% (95%).
You have gained the skill: [Illusion Resistance - Rare].
[Illusion Resistance] - An illusion is a perception that differs from objective reality. This skill helps detect manipulations of the senses or psyche. The further they stray from objective truth, the less effective physical tricks and mental hallucinations will be—scaling with the sharpness of your instincts.
The simulation hypothesis states that the observable reality is an illusion. If true, this skill won’t allow you to escape it.
Fun fact: You are the first person in Elysium’s history to get [Space Resistance] and [Radiation Resistance] before [Illusion Resistance]. If you are proud of that, you are an idiot.
PERC +1
WILL +1
CHAR +1
“Dying during Tribulations wasn’t a complete waste,” the younger Priam grinned, noting that mental illusions were governed by charisma and willpower. “Guess there’s more than one way to break them.”
Relieved that his next encounter with his Tribulations would be easier, Priam scrolled through the notifications. Every attribute, skill, level-up, Title, Talent, and more earned during the last day was listed.
Some changes were positive—he had gained almost three hundred points in Constitution—others, not so much. According to the System's log, he had burned through one hundred and fifty years of his lifespan! His spiritual age was now pushing one hundred and eighty, and he looked like he already had one foot in the grave.
It hadn’t impacted his fighting ability yet. The body of a Homo Elysian, a Tier-2 race, resisted senescence well and could live for over two centuries. But his soul? It was starting to show wear and tear.
“The true lifespan depends on both a sturdy body and a resilient soul,” understood the young Priam.
“The race and Soul Tier are the two links in the chain of life. When one breaks, it’s over,” the older one translated.
“Maybe there’s a way to bind your soul to a phylactery like a lich. Then only the soul would matter.”
“According to Jasmine, [Ageless] helps too. There must be other ways to extend lifespan.”
The thought intrigued him, but Priam had more pressing issues. The System was waiting for him to decide what to keep from the now-erased timeline. That was the true power of Back in Time: selecting which parts of his progress to retain. Only his Potential and a few rewards were locked.
Without hesitation, Priam canceled the “gain” of aging, then immersed himself in the sea of options.
“Forty grams heavier... I’ll keep that. Probably muscle,” the younger Priam mused.
“I lost a millimeter in height,” the older Priam grumbled. “Guess getting hit in the head isn’t great for the spine.”
Thirty relative minutes later, both Priams wore matching grimaces. The System’s menu was so detailed it was borderline sadistic. Learning that his affinity for apples had increased by half a percent—probably because he hadn’t eaten fruit in forever—was info he could have done without.
“My sexual abstinence just went up by 24 hours... No shit, Sherlock! Why can I even choose to keep that?!”
Priam hesitated for a second before letting his add-on auto-fill the remaining trivial choices. Only the most critical decisions remained.
“Attributes, Titles, Merits, skills, and Talents.”
Priam displayed his status and was almost surprised to see some of his stats exceed a thousand. He literally had the strength of a hundred men.
“In ancient times, I’d have been a demigod,” the younger Priam said, awed.
“Maybe, but today it’s more of a trap,” the older Priam growled. Every point had been earned through blood, sweat, and tears, yet the System considered he hadn’t yet paid the price. Like an end-of-year tax, the Tribulations awaited, with no chance of avoiding them.
“I can’t handle a sextuple Tribulation.” Thanks to Back in Time, Priam had watched his rivals face their own Trials, and only Dishnu had survived. “A quintuple will be tough enough... and I need to face it soon, or I’ll stall my growth.”
Tribulations were great for long-term gains since they forced him to patch up his weaknesses. In the short term, they prevented him from grinding skills, which was particularly annoying. For this reason, Priam wanted to get through them as fast as possible.
He needed to lower some of his attributes. The decision was as difficult as it was inevitable, but Priam refused to let it affect him.
“Hell, it’s just another day of farming. With [He Who Eludes Death], the challenge isn’t gaining attributes, it’s proving to the System that I deserve them,” the older Priam said.
The younger Priam nodded in agreement, already thinking ahead. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “In a way, this is good? Attributes are quantitative improvements; important, sure, but nothing compared to skills. It’s my resistances that let me jump tiers.”
Doubling his Constitution wouldn’t let Priam survive the epicenter of a nuclear blast. But upgrading [Fire Champion Physique] and [Radiation Resistance]? That would. Qualitative improvements were the real power.
“Skills are usually limited by their related attributes, but here they’re decoupled!” the older Priam exclaimed. “I can dump the attribute points but keep the levels.”
An idea sparked in Priam’s mind. Tribulations' soft cap prevented Tier 0s from endlessly evolving. Even his quintuple was a barrier to his growth. When he eventually had more Legendary skills... Priam grimaced. At that point, every level would grant him an overload of twenty-seven attribute points—an abundance that would force him to specialize.
So why not take advantage of Back in Time to refuse the attributes and keep the levels?
“If I do that, I could upgrade [Revelation Resilience] to Legendary before my quintuple Tribulation,” the younger Priam calculated.
“That’d be perfect to kickstart our temperance,” the older Priam agreed.
“Then it’s settled: ditch the attributes, keep the levels.”
Priam walked into the Oasis with a grin on his face. Hoplites patrolled the rampart, and the forest was no longer a wasteland of ash. At the center of it all, Log-a-Rhythm’s leaves hummed, and the savory scent of something roasting drifted from a campfire.
“You seem happy,” Blueberry said, turning a fawn on a spit. In the bear’s massive paw, it looked like a mere skewer.
“My land isn’t in ruins, and everyone’s alive. Why wouldn’t I be happy?”
The bear squinted before shrugging. “You’re weird. Weirder than usual.”
“Says the five-meter-tall talking bear. Anyway, could you go get Rose and start prepping for a feast?”
“Why?”
“Surprise.”
The bear squinted again before heading toward the river.
“If you steal my meat, I’ll put you on the spit next!” Blueberry shouted.
“You’ll need more than a campfire to cook me,” Priam called back, smiling as he passed through Log-a-Rhythm’s trunk. The sap that illuminated the common room flickered, and Priam smiled as he sat down at a table. “I’ve got gifts for you, too, but those will have to wait.”
Three bowls of fresh sap descended from the ceiling, and Priam grinned. The bare necessities of life.
Less than a minute later, Rose, Alain, and Hyshana joined him. The table expanded to accommodate everyone.
“Thanks for coming so quickly,” Priam began, looking around the table. He lingered on each of them, and for a moment, it felt like a dream. Seeing them so carefree, so alive... “For you, I recently blew up a volcano, and we’ve just put together a plan to kill Sum... Bastard. At the same time, we need to use Back in Time to find solutions for your Tribulations.”
“We talked about this an hour ago, didn’t we?” Rose asked.
“For me, it was twenty-five hours ago,” Priam corrected. He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in.
“Are you okay?” Alain asked after a beat.
“I’m... better. It was rough. People died.”
Rose shuddered at the revelation. “Who?” the teen asked.
“I’ll explain everything,” Priam promised. “But know this: things will be different. Your old selves died so you could live.”
The raw emotion in his voice, bolstered by his high charisma, gave his promise an air of undeniable truth. The hoplites nodded solemnly, while the others smiled, reassured.
“I suppose now is a good time to talk about Kazuki’s Tribulations,” Hyshana said.
Her husband took her hand. “There’s something else to do first. Priam chose Back in Time for a reason.”
“To save Sphinx!” exclaimed Rose.
Hyshana frowned. “That will take time.”
Priam’s eyes sparkled. “I didn’t rewind time to repeat my mistakes. This time, it’ll only take a few minutes... and with a little luck, I’ll keep my Mythic Gift.”
Status:
PHYSICAL:
Strength 782
Constitution 1 179 (-291)
Agility 930
Vitality 1 130 (-250)
Perception 823
MENTAL:
Vivacity (D) 599
Dexterity 684
Memory 859 (-37)
Willpower 1 168 (-25)
Charisma 756
META:
Meta-affinity 923
Meta-focus 444
Meta-endurance 804
Meta-perception 443
Meta-chance 379
Meta-authority 258
Potential: 12 291 (-200)
Tier 0
Sun point: 278 (+237)
[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED
Concepts:
Breath (T0): 100% / DormantFire (T0): 100% / UnityPyro (T1): 95% / SymphonyMist (T1): 100% / Symphony
Bloodlines:
Phoenix: 1%Dragon: <>
Rewards standing:
Fusion Token - Epic skillEvolution Token - Legendary skillAffinity Token - Tier 1 (30%)Alien Concept fragment (7th Terror)Bloodline Purification (+1%)Talent Token - Seraph Rarity (Upgrade)
[Tribulation]: Five Tribulations pending.
Future Tribulations delayed until:
Time: 152 days 3 hours 55 minutes 17 seconds.
Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 600 / 6 attributes > 900 / 1 attribute > 1 200
Next arc already complete on Patreon if you want to find out what happens next!
/ANovelConcept