"Who are you calling a pig, wizer."
Even though Jack already knew what was going to happen, he help himself from being on the edge of his seat. The term 'Wizer' is the epitome of insults for a mage that was a combination of a slur and wizard. Most mages that come from noble houses even use it to describe either poor noble families or first generation mages like himself.
"How dare you say that to me, a noble from House Charleston. Any of my family members could evaporated you with a flick of a finger."
The martial artist broke out into a boisterous laugh and stopped the mage from further embarrassing himself.
"I am next in line to be the head of the Ten Thousand Fists Clan. Your weak noble clan has no effect in intimating me, a Yellow Tier martial artist. I thought even you westerners would at least know one of the top five martial clans."
Without skipping a beat the mage started to form a spell in his palm, Jack remembered seeing this spell in the dungeon it was the same one that had killed him, Magic Ball. The most simple attack spell that every student was able to learn before the first dungeon exam, except Jack.
Just as the boy was ready to launch the spell the door to the mess hall opened and a girl entered. The sun, that was starting to rise, reflected off her tanned skin and long blonde hair.
Jack was stunned, not just because of her beauty, but because she didn't exist or at the very least didn't exist in his memories. It would make sense if he had just forgotten about her until he saw her face but Jack never forgot a face. This was the trait that got him into the Academy in the first place, his mind was powerful.
The girl stared at the two boys that were about to fight and without even saying a word they both sat down at different tables.
There was one other thing that made him surprised by this new development; the mana she had in her core was more than any of the professors at the academy. During his previous life Jack had always been able to see the mana cores of people, but his parents had just waved it off as part of his bad eyesight. This was a power that wasn't heard of in the magical community and Jack never shared it out fear of being experimented on.
It wasn't impossible for a high rank mage to be able to feel mana around themselves including their opponents, this was the basis for detection spells, but Jack went beyond that by seeing mana and also being able to feel a persons emotions from mana. If he didn't have this ability he wouldn't have cared about the girl but her mana showed multiple emotions towards him including affection, longing, and trust.
'Why would a girl I have never met have emotions that only his family members and loved ones have for him.'
The girl walked past him to find an empty table, but she was not part of his attention anymore as a system screen appeared in front of him.
['Soulbound' has resumed effects. Host and soul partner 'Emma Brunswick' are now connected again.]
'What the hell?'
This never happened before. First some random girl and now a system screen talking about him being 'Soulbound'. Even though he only has memories of 1 month of Academy classes he knew that any magic to do with the soul was forbidden.
While lost in thought he didn't even realize the girl had dropped her tray on a table and was practically sprinting towards him. When she reached him he found himself easily lifted off his chair and dragged out of the mess hall to the back side where she threw him into the wall.
"How did you resume the connection, the only way for it to restart is if you know about the time loop."
That confirmed it he was in a time loop and he wasn't the only one.
"Stop gawking at me and speak."
Her voice was soft even with her tone.
"What time loop and what do you mean by connection?"
There was no reason for Jack to say anything about the situation for his own safety. He thought playing dumb was going to work before she spoke again.
"I thought you finally remembered..."
Sadness filled her voice when she spoke and Jack saw the shift of longing overtake her other emotions.
Just then his head started to throb uncontrollably and his chest tightened. The girl said a few words that Jack couldn't understand through the pain and he found his body starting to relax.
"That was the effect of 'Soulbound'. Those connected by soul are unable to lie to each other or talk about certain topics the were restricted when forming the bond. I ask again, do you know about the time loop."
Jack had no way to dodge the question.
"Yes"
He expected some kind of reaction after, but what happened caught him off guard. She jumped on him and wrapped him in a hug, tears streaming down her face.
"I missed you." She whispered in his ear.
Right after she said that foreign memories flooded his mind and he found himself floating in the air in the middle of a vast plain of waist tall grass.
He found a version of himself and the girl 50 steps from a grotesque monster laying dead in the grass.
HIs body was kneeling over the girls he attempted to deep her wounds from getting worse, but there was no saving her.
She lifted her arm up and wiped off a tear from Jack's face.
"I hope we are able to meet in the afterlife."
She smiled for one last time before her arm dropped to the ground and her breathing slowed.
Jack's body immediately sat up and started to move his mana, but not in the form of a contained spell. His mana moved like and extension of his will, which was impossible.
He formed a string of mana and connected their mana cores. His mana color changed to dark blue, meaning he was overcome with sadness.
Then Jack's body exploded his own mana core and slowly fed it into the girl's. When the processes was complete the Jack in his memories and himself locked eyes.
"I know you will be watching this, future me. Do not think that the time loop is safe. Clear the dungeons and gain back your memories. Take care of Emma for me."
One last tear fell into the grass followed by his body.