Strategy.

Once again, Tai woke up early the next morning. He had died by the hand of the Dragon again.

Soon after, he, Claire and Nikki had been burnt to death by the black dragon yet again.

And again.

This went on again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.

Each one felt more harrowing and painful than the last.

Tai had slowly began to lose his sanity.

Who wouldn't, when you had seen yourself and your friends die over seven hundred times?.

Seven hundred times, Tai had faced the Dragon.

Seven hundred times, he had died by it's hand. Be it by being burnt to death, Sliced to pieces, or even eaten once or twice.

His mind had slowly accumulated the mental scars of dying and waking up daily for over two years.

Now, all that was keeping him sane was the fact that he wanted to kill that Dragon. He wanted to burn it like it had burnt him, to slay it like it had slain him.

But each and every time, he had failed horrendously.

By now, the teenager began to doubt if anything existed apart from the pain and agony of dying everyday.

What was the point of existing, if you existed just to be killed?

Why would you continue to live if you were meant to die, Every... Single... Day?

But Tai had a reason to live.

He had to kill the damned dragon even if it was the last thing he did!

This morning, the red haired teenager stood up and streched with a yawn.

He had long since grown accustomed to dying over and over every day.

Like everyday, for the past... How long? Tai did not even know.

But he was now fluent in runic sorcery at least.

The red haired teenager squinted his eyes slightly and began drawing the rune over the pencil, then he looked the energy thread over the other and in a flash, the pencil dissolved into ethereal energy and vanished into his soul.

Soon, the soothing words floated in front of his eyes.

[You have received a Summon, Ordinary pencil]

He greatly enjoyed reading these words as they were the trophy of his achievement.

The pencil summon usually disappeared each revolution, after all.

The floating words read:

[Ordinary Pencil]

[A stubborn red head once failed at Summoning. However, he obtained a great teacher, and after a two full years of failure, he finally succeeds.

This summon grants no boosts whatsoever and is completely useless.]

Sighing, the red haired teenager shook his head.

"It's been two full years since I began dying at the hand of the dragon, huh?."

A Time Storm was a very weird phenomenon.

It was like a black hole, only reversed. When caught in a time storm, one would move faster through time in relation to the outside.

Two full years within a time storm might not even amount to three days on the outside. However, most times, the reverse was the case as the Time Storm would move slower in relation to the outside.

Most times, they even moved in accordance. Sometimes, they were going over to another time period, even.

But this was very rare and only happened during a Flashback.

Today, Tai wae going to try strategy 2.. he did not even know how many strategies he had used.

Due to the repetition of time, Tai had nothing to do for two full years other than kill weak low level monsters, scheme up strategies on how he would kill the dragon, fail horrendously, then die only to wake up back in the morning once again.

Thus, the red haired teenager had become quite the schemer.

Today, he would try yet another strategy and pray that it worked. If it didn't, wouldn't he just wake up the next morning once again?

"Hope this works... Once again."