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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/LiseEclaire on 2026-03-12 01:22:18+00:00.

Moving through darkness was no different from being dragged through thorns. In the single instant Will left the room, he felt every fiber of his body being ripped apart. The experience didn’t end there…

Wound Ignored

The bracelet he was wearing cracked. Still functional, even it had difficulty dealing with the strain. That was the price of the new ability Will had obtained. The challenge had merely given him a taste. True, he could move through shadows, but each time he did, he’d suffer large amounts of pain and at least one wound. It was safe to say that using sunbeams to travel would do the same.

“There’s always a price,” Will whispered to himself. It was outright strange how easy things had been before. The copycat skill, his challenge skill, even the two eyes had come relatively easily. If anything, the time loops and paladin skills had caused the most issues on the short turn. There was a high chance that there were skills that canceled these out, but for that he had to be extremely lucky or get his hands on Oza’s mirror; and something told him that the cleric wouldn’t just let him get his way… not voluntarily, in any event.

“Weirdo,” Jess passed by, reacting to Will talking to himself.

As much as he wanted to smile and even respond in a positive way, doing so at the start of the contest phase was a bad idea.

Quickly coming to his senses, Will rushed into the school, heading straight for the bathroom mirror. To little surprise, a mirror copy of Alex was already waiting for him there.

“Was it worth it?” the thief asked, dropping his usual ‘bro’.

“Sort or,” Will replied, tapping on the rogue mirror. “It’s strong, but there’s a drawback.” He paused. “It hurts me each time I use it.”

“It’s still an advantage,” the copy said.

Looking at it, Will saw little more than a mirror shard with Alex’s face. Yet, he remained mindful that the thief had the ability to shift between copies and himself. That not only made him incredibly fast, but also dangerous when he needed to be. In a way, one could almost say that he had multiple lives. But if that was true, it also meant that ever since the start, Alex had only died when he wanted to. The time when Danny’s reflection had emerged, or during the goblin chariot challenge, not to mention all the other times during the tutorial. Could anyone be sure that he had been at all in danger? It was well established that he had lost part of his memories, but how much of that was really true?

“So, what now?” Alex asked.

“We continue as usual.” There were three more loops until the conditions for the archer’s alliance were met. “Or do you know something?”

“She doesn’t think you’ll win this one, bro.” The mirror copy looked Will straight in the eyes. “There’s always a lot of variables, but you won’t win the reward phase.”

“Will I reach it, though?”

The copy didn’t reply.

“As long as I make it, that’s what counts.”

The conversation ended there. With his rogue skills obtained, the standard leveling up procedure quickly followed. Unlike before, the group decided to hunt wolves in a slightly different spot. The basement was a must, of course: no one even suspected what had happened. Yet for the remaining level ups, other mirrors were selected. That didn’t matter, though, since the daily challenge was a fair distance away. The requirements were to have a cleric or enchanter, which gave Will pause, but it wasn’t like he had much of a choice. From what he was able to find out, half of the local participants had been killed off already. Interestingly enough, if Lucia was to be believed, Oza and the clairvoyant had also been killed.

The challenge took place in a goblin swamp, filled with poisoned gasses, annoying insects, and lots of lethal fauna. Normally, that would have been a serious issue, but between Will’s scarabs and the two familiars, completing it was a lot easier than expected. The enemies were the only real challenge, if even that.

Likewise, the reward could also be described as pitiful: another weapon with the ability to inflict bleeding. There were a few bonus rewards that offered class tokens, but the group had failed to complete them.

During the following loop, everything drastically changed. Will’s fear that someone would try to take them out early on materialized and with a lot more ferocity than expected. Sinkholes appeared in the entire area, swallowing entire buildings, not to mention dozens of vehicles and people. The only reason the school building wasn’t attacked directly was because of the fear of penalties should a starting zone be destroyed. Even so, Will didn’t want to take any chances.

Rushing to claim his class, the boy quickly proceeded to fight as many wolf packs as were available. The plan was to take on the enemy participant the moment they were done. Thankfully the attacks had subsided; another more powerful explosion had occurred in the city, engulfing an entire city block in green flames. Without question, the mage was out to play.

Panic gripped the city yet again. By now the group had become accustomed to the chaos to such a point that they didn’t even care.

Will systematically leveled up most of his skills, while the rest of his companions kept watch. Then, when the time came to start the challenge, they rushed in and activated the mirror. The moment they did, they were back in the orange jungle. The enemy was, much to everyone’s relief, not an elf. That didn’t make it any easier.

For hours, the entire group kept on fighting a massive caterpillar creature that seemed to regenerate as fast as it was wounded. Its attacks were quick and deadly, not to mention it had the ability to shoot threads of silk in all directions. The threads were strong enough to cut down trees, slice through armor, and even destroy one of Helen’s swords.

Ultimately, it was Alex who brought the victory. Through sheer numbers, the multitude of mirror copies had managed to inflict enough damage. The reward was a skill that doubled a person’s stamina—useful, though Will was hoping for something more. Then, finally, the tenth loop began.

Things started with another attack, though it wasn’t the school that was targeted, but other sections of the city. According to the mirror guide, less than a fifth of total participants remained. The vast number of casualties was from other realities. Eleven remained from Earth, none of them to be trifled with.

“Net’s down,” Jace noted, looking at his phone. “I still have a signal, though.”

“For real?” Alex checked his phone. “Sounds like something the engineer would do. Think he’ll impose micro-transactions?”

Will ignored the conversation.

“Where are you, Lucia?” he asked, looking at his mirror fragment.

Ever since the start of the loop, he had been sending her messages. So far, the archer had yet to respond to one of them. There was no doubt that she was alive. Lucas had confirmed it, though he had also refused to discuss the alliance on his own.

Over an hour remained until the objective. That was really cutting it short. Originally, Will’s plan was to form a party with the other two of the group and trigger a challenge again. Their combined strength was certain to defeat anything there, even fulfilling unusual challenges. Why wasn’t Lucia responding, though?

“Maybe we should join in at this point,” Helen suggested. “With the archer and her brother, we represent half of the remaining participants.”

“That doesn’t make us strong,” Will replied. “And I’m not sure what we could do against magic.”

Memories of the mage emerged in his mind. The last time he had seen him, Spenser had immediately set off running. Will had no doubt that he wouldn’t be able to take such a figure lightly. Maybe if he used his new skill, he could manage a strike, but the cost would be high, not to mention that he was relying on a one-hit kill.

“Who do you think is left?” Jace asked. “Other than our fuckers.”

“The mage for sure,” Alex said. “I’d say—”

“The tamer,” Will interrupted. “The paladin.”

Certainly, the paladin would have survived this much. Possibly the bard? He didn’t seem the combat type, but he definitely was sneaky enough to make it up till now. That potentially left two more, possibly three. Spenser was out and likely the lancer as well. The participant who had attacked the school seemed to have been dealt with since he hadn’t done anything since.

“The acrobat?” the jock asked.

“That bitch isn’t this strong,” Helen hissed. The hatred in her voice was palpable.

“Whoever they are, they’ll be strong. I think we should split up. It’ll be more difficult to take us all out that way.”

“You promised that you’d lead us to the reward phase,” Helen argued.

“I did.” Will let the mirror fragment drop around his neck. “We just need to survive the final step. If nothing happens in an hour, we’ll keep on with challenges.”

Of course, Will didn’t mention that there were fewer of them now. Initially, three hidden challenges appeared every day. The last few times, the number had decreased to two. Now, he could see only one. That wasn’t a guarantee that there weren’t more, but like any game of musical chairs, they were bound to decrease with time.

Alex was the first to leave the building the group had designated as their temporary base for the loop. Knowing him, he probably kept several hidden mirror copies to keep an eye on things.

Jace followed. The jock seemed confident enough, no doubt due to some new weapon he had created. In the end, only Hel...

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