Mother of Learning: ARC 1 – Domagoj Kurmaić (aka nobody103)

Good concept - well executed!

Zorion is starting his third year at the mage academy. He is an engaging-but-nothing-special character, and the first few chapters take him through his first month. The month ends with a completely-unexpected disaster: An army appears out of nowhere and attacks the city. Zorion is killed - and wakes up at the start of the month. He will replay that month dozens of times.

What can you do with a month that keeps repeating - if you retain memories across repeats? In many ways it’s a test of character: Nobody will stop you from spending all your time and all your funds in taverns. (It takes more than a month for a school to take official notice of a bad attendance record. And long-term consequences no longer exist for you.) Or you can keep learning: If you make good use of the repeats, you can learn a lot.

Zorion makes excellent use of the repeats. He’s motivated, because the attack at the end of the month is starting to look like a prelude to the end of the world. He’s not the only repeater - and at least one of the others is on the side of the attackers.

“Mother of Learning” is a web novel (still available online) that has been collected into four books for readers who prefer book format, or want to support the author.