One hour and forty five minutes.
Suria held the hourglass in her hands, testing the sight against her memory from the previous loop. She was fairly sure that she wasn't deluding herself and seeing a different amount of sand than was actually there: she had increased her runic capacity a little faster than she had the previous loop.
Of course, it wasn't a perfect experiment. Suria had purchased exactly the same type of hourglass and stone, and gone to the same nook in the Taedric Building to conduct her crossed rune exercise, as closely to before as possible. But this loop she had cast several spells and hadn't spent time with the other loopers, so it wasn't a perfectly controlled experiment.
Eventually she decided that she would just need to collect more data. In the meantime, regardless of what the other loopers thought, she would continue her training: with five runes available to her, she could transition to the pentagon exercise, which would also increase her capacity by one in relatively short order. That would give her six early in the cycle, even without Lirngelf's potion, or eight if she could preserve it in the future.
The trouble was that Professor Gwaslos had, quite reasonably, asked her to have a runic capacity of twelve before joining the Medicine program. Though the accident that was Suria's best chance of showing her skills didn't occur until six days into the loop, increasing her strength that rapidly seemed like a challenge. Everything would have been so simple if she could have taken the class in the next term, but within the bounds of the loop she would need to be more creative.
Her most likely paths to that point would involve runic potions, which would require either wealth or alchemy. Given Suria's starting resources, both seemed just about as mystical and impossible. She did want to study alchemy one day, but at the moment thought she should focus her efforts.
Another possibility would be to find some other way to study healing, though her thoughts along those lines quickly stalled out. She'd discovered that Darkmoon University was an excellent location to learn magic and she didn't want to leave after working so hard to enroll.
On that note, Suria realized that it was probably time to get to work. Now that she had been through the process several times and didn't have any additional conditions to complicate things, she rolled through all the steps effortlessly: soon enough she had an identification pin, been fitted for robes, and gotten a room in the Taedric Building. She would be given an unknown roommate, which was unfortunate, but she decided to embrace the randomness.
As she walked back across campus, Suria considered what else she should add to her list. She could try to help the xenarths right away, but might want to be better prepared before heading into the tunnels. The other major factor was having all her classes chosen before tomorrow when, if things fell out the same, she would be interviewed by Houdon.
Most of her class choices were decided for her, especially if she took Wynchard's suggestion. The major question that remained was whether she should enroll in Combat Perception again. There would be some repetition, no doubt, but Orinyan was such a flexible professor, being able to get his insight on any issue had some real value... unless she was just thinking that because his class was enjoyable, in which case maybe she should be pushing herself to begin studying a new field...
Suria's thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of someone crying. She instinctively gravitated toward the noise, pulling out her healing talisman, but it wasn't at all what she expected.
In the narrow alley between two dormitory buildings, Kiznua Linesh was slumped against the wall and sobbing. Even as Suria tried to analyze more carefully, from the other woman's expression to her clothes, she couldn't find anything in particular that was obviously wrong. Just three days later, Kiznua would be outside offering tours, so could it be anything too traumatic?
"Are you alright?" Suria asked.
"Eeep!" Kiznua did her best to jump directly into the wall and stumbled before collecting herself. "I didn't see you there!"
"Sorry," Suria apologized unnecessarily. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No, I just..." Kiznua sniffled and wiped her tears with her sleeve. "There's this infestation of monsters, just little monsters, and I thought I could do something about it. Help the xenarths, you know? But I couldn't do it, the monsters sent me running. Isn't that humiliating? I've been studying here five entire years and I... can't even handle... a little..."
It looked like Kiznua might end up sobbing again and Suria wasn't sure what to say to her. Considering that Suria was mostly able to clear the infestation after two months of study, it did seem like Kiznua should have been able to do it. Just leaving might have made sense, but not long ago Suria had been the one struggling, so how could she simply ignore this?
"I'm a new student and I'm a little lost," Suria said. "I don't suppose you could take me on a tour?"
"I can do that." Kiznua perked up and wiped her face again. "What seems to be the trouble?"
"There are just so many buildings and it's easy to get them mixed up..."
"This area has a lot of buildings, but everyone just thinks of them as the dormitory block. It's pretty much solely dormitories in this part of campus, except for the Covenant Chapel. Lots of students don't know about it, because Taedria isn't very religious, but..."
As Kiznua began her tour, Suria followed along after her, learning more about campus. She supposed that in some ways she wasn't much better than Kiznua, because despite all the time she'd spent at Darkmoon, she still had yet to properly explore the entire campus.
There was no real need for a tour around the eastern side, since Suria was familiar enough with it. She thought of that part of campus as built around the Taedric Building and the dormitories, bound by the strange hedges and the lake, which had the Cerulean Sanctum emerging from the side, separated from all the shabby lesser buildings.
"Why do those hedges look so strange?" Suria asked, since that was a mystery Kiznua might actually know.
"They were built atop a source of wild magic," the other woman explained seriously. "There are all sorts of stories about treasures deep within or something, but that's all nonsense. It just converts the wild magic into defenses for the university. They're not terribly dangerous, but I wouldn't go in, because you can get lost pretty easily."
"Then I suppose that's all for the eastern side?"
"Yes, if you'll just follow me, we can continue to the center of campus. Everything is built around Convocation Hall in the center there, though... it seems like there's been some accident, so I can't show you the interior."
"Somehow I will get over my disappointment," Suria said.
"There are the staff buildings, and the field of arches, but the major buildings in the center are Oculon Hall, the Sequential Library, and the Earth Society Building..."
Even though Suria was already familiar with that part of campus, she actually learned more than she expected. The Earth Society Building held all classes for the Transmutation and artificing departments, and had been built as part of a collaboration with the Earth Society. Even though Kiznua wasn't a member, she knew surprising amounts of detail about the society, describing it as a professional organization with a variety of different factions. Apparently it hosted meetings for industrial mages from Darmkael and even across the world.
Once they got into the western side of campus, Suria was in more unfamiliar territory and actually listened closely.
"To our left we have the Grand Prince's Medical Ward, which is a fully operational healing ward as well as the location of all Medicine classes. Now..." Kiznua leaned in with a wink. "I bet you're wondering just who the grand prince is, right?"
"Sure," Suria said.
"It's actually a strange story, somewhere between funny and sad. There was a great prince in Endelyth, apparently a powerful merchant. He wanted to prove his wealth by funding this entire wing, so they had that statue put up for him... but before it was completed, there was a revolution in his court. Not only did he perish, rivals tried to wipe out every trace of him. But Darkmoon University fulfilled its promise to complete the building, so now this is his only legacy in the world."
Suria craned her neck as they passed, looking at the statue. She had passed it before and never known about its history. She found the thought strangely melancholy, like the medical ward was a giant gravestone.
"Now, in the far west you can see the Eaves Laboratory," Kiznua continued, "which hosts Enchantment classes. Under the current department throne, however, there are fewer academic classes, so lots of classes are in the big arena on the other side of the field."
"What's it called?" Suria asked.
"Well, the official name is the Bloodgrave Coliseum, but that's sort of a scary name, isn't it? Most people just call it the combat arena. If you want to study that sort of thing, you'll definitely have classes there. Some times of year they have whole tournaments and other events. It's the only mage arena in all of Darmkael, so it's rather famous."
"What about the big field?"
"Oh, that's funny too! Follow me this way..."
What Kiznua wanted to show her was the Blue, which Suria had already seen, but she feigned being impressed. It wasn't so hard, since it still felt surreal to step between one world and another. After Kiznua showed her one of the entrances, they headed back to the main campus.
"They used to call the field 'the green'," Kiznua explained, "but then they discovered the other field, so it just made sense to call it The Blue, you know? Only the latter name stuck, for some reason. Anyway, it might seem very strange, but it's a normal field, so it's a nice quiet place to study sometimes."
"Thank you for the tour," Suria started to say, but the other woman actually pushed over her words for once.
"Oh, but we haven't seen the north! You haven't gotten the complete campus tour unless you've seen everything properly... up ahead we have the Hall of Thrones, which is actually a fascinating building. It's the oldest-"
"Someone once gave me a good tour of it."
"Really? Well, the super tall tower you see is Skypiercer Tower, which is home to all Evocation classes, as well as really quite a lot of other stuff." Kiznua took them to the edge of the forest but then hesitated. "The forest goes way, way back. We won't go in now, but what's important to remember is that Woodward Hall is back there, and you'll need to find it if you want to take any Alchemy courses."
When they turned away from the forest they continued north, instead reaching the flat moor in between the trees and the lake. Suria had actually never been that far, even though it only required walking around the Hall of Thrones. Now that she looked more carefully, she saw that there was a strange building in the far distance, looking like several different buildings welded together.
"That's the Wyvernry," Kiznua explained from over her shoulder. "Technically it's home to the Naturalism classes, but most people don't want to walk out that far, so there are more in the Taedric Building. But if you actually work with dangerous animals or minerals, you'll have the classes out there."
Moving onto the moor, Suria felt as though she'd actually canvassed Darkmoon University for the first time, though there was still the dark mirror of the lake and the cliff on the other side. She had seen the house atop it back when she first arrived and not thought about it much since then.
"What about that?" she asked.
"Oh, that's the Archmage's Abode! The Archthrone of the university gets to stay there, and it isn't open to the public normally. I don't think it's been open at all for a long time, since Archthrone Hesbath is very private. Sometimes at night you'll see great magic being worked there, though, it's actually rather beautiful reflecting across the lake."
"And that?" Suria pointed upward to the black circle hovering overhead.
"That's the darkmoon, of course." Kiznua giggled uncomfortably. "I'm surprised you didn't ask about it first, since it's in the name, after all."
"I tried when I was first invited, but no one explained. What is it?"
"I think only the top professors actually know. What they say in the histories that was there used to be strange lights in the sky over the mountain, during certain times of the year. The founders of Darkmoon University worked a great ritual, some even say it was blood magic, and somehow harnessed those lights. They became one of the largest magical objects in the world, a source of great pride for the university."
"So it's an actual object?" Suria frowned up at the black sphere. "I had thought it was an illusion or a magical effect or something like that."
"Well, I don't fully understand the details," Kiznua confided. "I think if you were able to fly, and you flew straight up, you wouldn't actually hit the darkmoon. But it's more concrete than just an illusion; it's tied into the magic of the whole area somehow. They say it was actually harnessed to cast magic during the Age of Grief, but I don't know if that's just a legend."
"Huh." After having gotten used to the black moon overhead, Suria now looked at it with new appreciation. She wished there was a book she could read to learn more, but if Kiznua didn't have any answers, they were probably lost in ancient history. Unless Darkmoon University could actually maintain a secret for so long, right in the middle of the sky...
Based on everything she had seen, Suria was willing to believe it.
"Well, that's the abbreviated tour," Kiznua said, starting to fidget again. "Thanks for, umm, being nice. You didn't have to do that."
"I really appreciate the tour." As she spoke, Suria touched the other woman's arm. "Why are you so nervous?"
"It's nothing serious, just little issues. You don't want to know."
"Are you sure?"
"I just..." Kiznua sighed and deflated a little. "I have more problems than you want to hear, especially because they're all my fault. My last roommate left because she couldn't stand me, so I need to apply yet again, and I don't know if I'll be able t-"
"Could we room together?" Suria asked on a whim. Kiznua's eyes flew wide.
"Oh! Uh... usually people room together with students in the same year, but I suppose there's no regulation against it. Are you sure? You really want to?"
It was easy for Suria to make the offer because she knew it wasn't forever - if Kiznua proved insufferable, she could make a different choice in the next loop, but it seemed worth trying. There was just one potential problem...
"I already applied for a room," Suria said. "I don't know if it's possible to change...?"
"You just need to fill out a transfer form!" Kiznua said with new energy. "It should be easy, since the crowds haven't arrived on campus yet. Just wait here, I'll go talk to someone! Really, just wait a little while, I think this could work!"
Kiznua raced off and Suria watched her go for a while, wondering what would come of this. She thought it was worth the effort, since Kiznua knew a fair amount about the university while being completely guileless. Over the course of the next month, Suria could figure out everything she knew about the professors and their politics.
Of course, there was a chance that it could actually work out. Somehow Suria doubted that Kiznua would be drinking, staying up late, or bringing men back to the room. Unless there was some secret that had driven off her previous roommates, Suria thought they could get along.
"Hey!"
The shout made Suria turn, half-expecting an attack, but instead it was the young student who wore pink dresses. Xuhriha, Suria thought her name was.
"Can you hold this?" The woman shoved her handbag into Suria's hands. "Thanks!"
With that she sprinted across the moor and leapt directly into the lake. She didn't surface and soon there was no trace of her except the slight disruption in the waves.
That was somewhere between puzzling and disturbing. When Jeilin had said that this woman behaved in random ways, Suria hadn't imagined it being anything like this. Was it possible that she might have some mental issue that distorted her actions? Suria had studied diseases of the mind a little, even if they were far beyond her ability to heal.
Whatever had happened, it left Suria with the same handbag she'd held in the previous loop. It was heavier than she expected, and magically shielded in some way. Suria glanced to the lake and around the moor, but it didn't seem like anyone was watching.
She still remembered the pattern of tracing over the lock to open the bag, and since it hadn't been reset in this timeline, in theory she could look. Something about that felt wrong and part of Suria wanted to just leave the bag there. There was always the possibility that it contained something that it really shouldn't and she was being set up.
After running her fingers around the edge of the lock, Suria decided against it. There wasn't much to gain aside from assuaging her curiosity and there could be some secondary defense she couldn't see. She'd investigate further if the other woman never reappeared, just in case it contained contraband or something else that could get her in trouble.
"Aww, you're not gonna open it? Are you nice, or stupid?"
Suria turned and saw the woman in pink was standing directly behind her.