The Poet's System
Chapter 59: Guilt

Chapter 59: Guilt

The Titans had left to help Giselle reach the Phantom headquarters after Daylan’s supposed demise, following her strict instructions.

However, their departure was insignificant compared to what had unfolded between Giselle and the Soldier, Poet, and King over the following weeks.

The Fools were hunted across the city after the bounty on their heads was raised to 100 gold coins, following the incident at the Phantom hideout.

All the deaths were pinned on them—though the accusations held some truth, there was no solid evidence to support the claims.

The citizens were on high alert—even children. Tourists and visitors from other cities were met with wary, suspicious glances that made them feel unwelcome.

Some were even dragged to the Honor Guards by locals hoping to claim the bounty, falsely accusing them of being Fools.

To make matters worse, Captain Stanley assigned the case to Astara, considering she had expressed her desire to remain among the citizens and serve as their princess.

The matter could have been easily resolved—or at the very least, a path chosen that might have silenced it—but a far greater problem loomed: Giselle.

She had finally managed to bend Gilbert’s sword, Daylan’s father’s weapon, to her will.

Worse still, the Phantom had risen once again, now in control of all the possessions and the army she had uncovered at the headquarters.

People vanished each night, adventurers failed to return home, and traces of violent struggles littered the streets.

Exploiting a loophole in the very system she had designed, Giselle pinned the blame on the Fools, plunging them deeper into crisis.

She hadn’t revealed herself yet, which meant her ritual was still incomplete.

Whatever purpose the victims served remained a mystery—but with powerful, skilled individuals disappearing each night and no bodies ever recovered, it was safe to assume she was either building an army or harvesting blood for something far more sinister.

Still, there was one fact worth celebrating: she had no idea Daylan was alive, as she hadn’t returned home even once in the past few weeks.

With all these piling on top of what he was already dealing with—Pry, his system, and the revelations he had during his loss to his mother—Daylan grew increasingly uneasy.

Confined to bed and taking medication, he often stared blankly at the ceiling, lost in thought. Giselle had severed both his arms—but why?

She could have simply stabbed him in the heart—as she did—and it would have been just as fatal. Yet, she deliberately made sure to sever his arms.

Did she somehow know he could rewind time with just a gesture? That ability, along with Spiral Mind, was something no one was supposed to know. So how did she?

These questions troubled Daylan even more than the dire situation they were already in. He refused to believe it was merely part of the ritual.

Instead, he chose to tread carefully and remain alert—because if Giselle truly knew about Spiral Time, then someone had been watching him closely. Perhaps someone unaffected by the flow of his time rewind.

The mere thought of his abilities was enough to confuse him, yet he couldn’t help but test them while still in bed. To his surprise, they worked perfectly, only deepening his questions and doubts.

Daylan, however, spent another week in bed. His wounds had completely healed, and his scars vanished as if they had never existed.

Over the course of the month, the only major achievement was Medora advancing her healing abilities to the Light Mastery rank.

The moment he was allowed out of bed, he set out to test his abilities—especially Spiral Time—to see just how perfectly they functioned and to truly understand how it worked.

Daylan stood idly in the training room, his hands resting on his waist.

Spiral Force System

[SPIRAL FORCE SYSTEM]

All things grow when they tarnish. All truths are found in layers. All power builds when cycled.

Type: Advanced Ability

SUB-ABILITIES

Spiral Edge: 55% increase in physical movement per cycle.

Spiral Time: Rewind up to 40 minutes. Max 7 loops per day.

Spiral Force: Imagine and it shall be yours. Max 10 per day.

Spiral Mind: To slip into another’s skin at will, and taste the world through borrowed senses. Less focus.

Dark Spiral: 60% increase in strength per use. Time limit; 30 minutes. 8 Maximum use per day.

Daylan braced himself, noting that everything in the training room was just as he had left it. It was time to test Spiral Time and uncover what it truly did.

This moment, however, made him realize a few things—things he should have considered the very moment he awakened the Spiral ability.

It went without saying that there were beings far more powerful than him in their world—but what happened to those individuals when he rewound time? Were they affected like everyone else, or did they retain their memories and witness the rewind as he did?

And more importantly, since he was manipulating time itself, did his ability affect the entire world... or just a portion of it? Was such selective influence even possible?

These were questions he couldn’t answer while lying in bed. So, the moment he was up, he asked Astara and Medora to fetch a few ingredients—he wanted to teach Astara how to prepare one of his favorite dishes.

He waited exactly thirty-one minutes—just enough time for them to be well away from the house—then took a deep breath.

Loop Sync. 31 minutes.

Before his eyes—just as it had happened after the time rewind—Astara and Medora rushed out of the house, calling his name, assuming he was still in his room.

He slapped his forehead and sank to his knees, overwhelmed by the crushing realization that he might have just made the biggest mistake of his life.

What have I done?

Had he really been toying with time all this while without once stopping to consider its true weight? At that moment, it was only natural to assume the worst—that powerful eyes were watching him.

And the only way forward was to close the gap in strength before it was too late.

Daylan sat lost in thought for a while, blaming himself—but he didn’t let the guilt consume him. What had happened was inevitable, and there were more pressing matters to face, especially the current predicament.

If handled correctly, it might even bring him one step closer to closing the gap in strength.

Before long, he rose to his feet and began testing all his abilities—training rigorously and pushing his muscles and bones to their limits.

He trained for nearly two hours, sweat pouring from his body like a waterfall as he panted heavily. His time in bed had left him weaker, and he knew he had to close that gap before they set out on their missions again.

He didn’t even wait an hour before diving back into training, pushing himself relentlessly until the others finally returned with the ingredients he had requested.

Daylan greeted them with a cheerful smile, not yet ready to burden them with his troubles. Still, he was curious—did they know anything about Ascendants? It was a question he chose to save for the right moment.

Medora was a bit furious to learn that Daylan had gone back to training, but there was little she could do—after all, he had listened to her and stayed in bed for a whole week.

Daylan began teaching Astara a new dish, just as he had promised, while Medora stood by, observing and stirring up trouble—still sticking to her principle that there was no need for a third cook when there were already two.

As the lesson progressed, Daylan noticed that Astara was still keeping her distance.

She wasn’t as involved as she used to be. Normally, she would laugh at Medora’s jokes and join in teasing him, but now she barely smiled—always focused, her expressions awkward and faint.

Daylan, however, chose to stay out of her business unless she invited them in—even though her actions often contradicted her words.

Sensing the mood, he wanted to lighten the atmosphere—not with humor, but with something she might actually be interested in talking about.

"Have you two ever heard of beings called Ascendants?" Daylan asked.

Astara turned to him, a puzzled look on her face. "Ascendants? Who are you talking about?"

"Yeah—not humans, but not gods either. The protectors of the mortal realm?"

"I haven’t heard of anything like that... Anyway, we need to report how our mission with the Fools is going to Captain Stanley,"

Astara said, barely glancing at either of them.

Daylan set aside his curiosity about the Ascendants for the moment, hoping instead to find some books on them once they returned to the monastery to deliver their report.

For now, his focus had to shift to something more immediate—what exactly were they going to tell Captain Stanley? They needed at least some good news to strengthen their reputation in his eyes.

Their days passed with them constantly debating what to report, all while trying not to stress themselves too much under the weight of their many predicaments.

They filled the time with silly games—though Astara, who had once joined in, now barely participated.