7 Resetting the day, again?
*Knock*Knock*
Azzy puts the Book of Death away in his storage card and answers, "Yes. Please, come in."
The door was opened and Azzy saw his master, who entered the room and spoke, "Young Master Garcia, follow me to the Violet Pavilion, right now."
"Huh!" Azzy was surprised, upon hearing her words. "Didn't we just..."
Azzy became silent and looked around him again, 'Am I experiencing some kind of déjà vu?'
"Just… what?" Asked Avia with a frown.
Azzy shook his head, "nothing. Just give me a second."
He instantly took out a 2-star soul recovery card from his storage card and applied it to himself to recover 100 soul power in his body.
He stepped down from the bed and followed her as she leads the way by walking.
He followed her along the way while panting as he went out of breath by the time they reached the stairs that lead to the Pavilion.
"Physical strength is the foundation to everything… Your training starts right here. The first is to…"
As Avia was ready to give him a long explanation, starting with these steps, Azzy interrupted, "Climb the stairs to reach the top of the cliff. We'll move onto the next step once I reach the top. Until then, I'll temper my body?"
Avia looked at him in surprise as this successor that was dumped onto her, told the words that were still in her throat.
But, she didn't want to show that. So, she quickly controlled her expression.
Still, that didn't get in the way of her praising, "Yes, exactly. You are a smart kid as my father mentioned to me."
Upon hearing different words from her this time, Azzy tested something as he stared at the stairs, "I feel like there's something special about these steps."
"Yes. There are 365 steps here, each of them representing a day of the year…"
As she proceeds with the explanation, Azzy thought, 'what's happening? This can't be déjà vu. It's too long for such a thing. Did I dream about the future or something… Wait a second.'
Then, he suddenly remembers the incident when he woke up after sleeping a couple of hours.
The first thing he saw was the Hourglass. Clearly, it was doing something on its own accord and then, he lost all of his soul power.
"I'll give you two choices… Persist…"
Azzy didn't wait to finish her words and climbed the first step and then the second.
Avia was once again surprised and she teleported to the top.
Just like before, his legs weren't able to hold after climbing the 32nd step. And once again, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to climb until the 59th step.
"Phew" Looking at the next step, Azzy mumbled, "if I remember right, then, this step will have four times the gravity and I will collapse."
Azzy stopped there and sat down to take a rest and kept staring at the next step as he put his hand on it while thinking of something.
Meanwhile, at the top, Avia frowned as she placed her attention on Azzy after sending away the man who was trying to scheme for the next clan head position. "What is he doing?"
Azzy, who was getting the feel of gravity on his hand, mumbled, "I can hardly raise my hand. March has 31 days, so, 31 steps ahead of me. Can I last that long in my current condition?
Well, if I have a stamina recovery card, it would be quite easy but she won't allow…"
He remembered her words again and realized the key words, "Tempering the body, huh!"
Azzy stood up and to her surprise, instead of going to the next step, he turned around and walked down the stairs to reached the bottom, and sit aside for a while.
Ten minutes later;
As she was wondering whether he was trying to rest so that he wants to try again or return, the boy suddenly stood up as if nothing happened and climbed the stairs again at a high speed, this time.
His pace slowed down after he reached the second level but he didn't stop even while panting heavily and feeling extreme pain in his legs until he reached the 59th step.
But, then, all of a sudden, Azzy once again turned around and walked down the stairs, wiping off his sweat.
"I see… It seems this boy figured out quickly. Even for me, it took a whole hour to realize it." Avia let out a comment in a small tone.
Five hours later;
*Hah!* Hah!* Heavily panting Azrael sat down on the ground at the bottom of the stairs while nodding to the greetings given by some of the Masters at the Pavilion who knew his identity.
Meanwhile, most of the disciples of the Violet Pavilion ignored him while some of them tried to advice him not to be reckless.
Of course, there are a couple of disciples who sneered at him, not knowing his identity.
But, at the very next second, they found a whip made of dark energy, extended all the way from the top, hit them.
As a result, they were seen flying for more than a hundred meters before crashing onto the ground.
After seeing that, no disciple even dared to try to make fun of the situation.
"Ok, let's stop. Go and take a rest for the day. Tomorrow, sharp 5 A.M." Avia's voice whispered in his ears, even though she is nowhere near him.
Thinking that she might have other things to do, Azzy turned around and walked to his home. Since it's pretty much the straight road, she didn't escort him.
After reaching the Garcia main family residence, a servant escorted him to his room.
Freshening himself up, Azzy was led to the dining hall for lunch, although on the table with at least 50 seats on either side, only Azzy was the one to sit and eat.
He missed his grandpa a little bit as he remembered they always eat their lunch and dinner together.
But, since he can't do anything about his current situation, he pushed such thoughts away.
Returning to his room, he sends the servants away and then, closed the door before sitting on the bed and recalled the earlier events.
Then, he took out the Book of Death and searched for the pages that have the information on the Hour Glass.
"Here it is. The hourglass contains an element known as the sands of time, which can reverse the time."
"Reversing the time? Then, that means…"
He drifted off a little bit as he remembered the scene earlier today. The boy continued.
"Oh, it looks like there are quite a few members who owned such an Arcana… The last one to own is Rigel Garcia? Who is he? I don't think I remembered seeing his name in the list of past clan heads. Might be a sibling or from a branch family...
Anyway, what else is there…
Oh! Soul skills.
The first soul skill is the time-stop. For how long? It didn't say anything. I guess it depends on the user?
The second soul skill is the time reverse. I'm a 2-star. So, did I unknowingly use the second soul skill while I was unconscious?"
Azzy shook his head in denial, "No, it's not possible. Even if I was able to use that, these abilities affect the target, not the entire world. Maybe, my soul skill is different.
After all, in my case, it isn't Arcana but a weapon wielded by my Arcana… So, there's a difference. Maybe, my soul skill is to get a glimpse at the future?"
All of a sudden, something clicked in his mind, and he stopped reading the details and turned the pages until it landed on the Reaper.
"This is it… I think it's the time for me to understand my soul skills, if now, at least their names and their effects…"
After a while, Azzy closed the book and summoned the hourglass from the soul card.
An hourglass that's filled with white sand in one of the glass bulbs.
"Hmm, how to use this?"
He turned it upside down, and wondered, "Like this?"
Just as he did that, the sand started to fell into the other glass but at the same time, Azzy felt his hand also stuck with it. He can't move it either until all of the sand falls into the other glass bulb.
It took him more than 30 seconds to complete the task.
Azzy saw his surroundings changed, once again.
He found himself at the 44th step of the stairs that lead to the Violet Pavilion and his soul power was emptied once again, making him too weak to stand on a place where gravity is two times the original.
"What the…" Avia took a step back in surprise as just for a moment, she saw an Hourglass appeared in the boy's hands along with the soul card that hovered around him before both of them disappeared, leaving Azzy in a pitiful state.
