Xvim Chao

by Alzbern

A harsh and perfectionist teacher working in the Cyoria's Royal Academy of Magical Arts, who teaches advanced shaping exercises and "defense against magical attacks of all sorts" for the fourth year. Xvim is Zorian Kazinski's (and Edwin's) mentor at the academy. Zorian is unhappy about it at first; he didn't get to choose his mentor because Ilsa didn't get to him in time.

He likes to throw marbles at people and tell them to go faster. He thinks that the academy curriculum is inadequate. He is deliberately harsh to his students and impossible to please for at least their first month, to "build character and weed out the unfit" and to humble them. Naturally, the time loop, being limited to a month's time, meant that Zorian never experienced Xvim's true teaching until Xvim became suspicious of Zorian's impossibly advanced shaping skills, and Zorian informed him about the time loop. Since that time, Zorian has found him to be a demanding but very effective teacher.

Xvim actually does consider shaping exercises to be important, as he explains to Zorian:

> "What did you think shaping exercises were, if not unstructured magical abilities ? Do enough of related ones over the years, and they're bound to build up to something greater than the sum of its parts."
>
>

Zorian considers Xvim an archmage (that is, a mage who has mastered *several* fields of magic to such an extent they could outdo a specialist mage in those fields).

Xvim prefers to use defensive magic in combat. During the siege on the summoning he uses defensive abilities almost exclusively. He repeatedly defends his fellow mages. When Quatach-Ichl fires an annihilation beam towards the battlegroup, Xvim conjures a green shield that pins the annihilation beam to it. He uses purple clouds and globes of ectoplasm to absorb myriad enemy spells. However, he also sometimes destroys enemy shields, hinting that his specialty is negation, not just defense.

During the same battle, after he has run out of mana, Xvim jumps in front of a deadly attack aimed at Zorian, giving him enough time to read the summoning mage's mind and learn about the conspirators summoning Panaxeth.

He was made a temporary looper. When it become clear that the exit from the time loop (in which Xvim played a major part) will collapse soon, Xvim urged Zorian to go, staying behind (explaining that "Zach cannot keep this [the exit] stable by himself").

Outside the time loop, Xvim agreed to assist with the evacuation of Zorian's acquaintances. Xvim also agreed to lose his memory of the month, as Zach was required by his contract with the angels to not let anyone know of the time loop.

## Trivia

* Xvim has Hsanic heritage, which might have influenced his views on the importance of shaping exercises.
* Xvim's name looks like pinyin in writing (just like Hsan is "kind of inspired by China and India" ), however, Standard Chinese words can't end with -m, and the author intended it to be pronounced as written.

## References

1. ↑ chapter 107
2. ↑ chapter 1
3. ↑ chapter 48
4. ↑ chapter 42
5. ↑ chapter 50
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 chapter 60
7. ↑ chapter 85
8. ↑ chapter 91
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 chapter 98
10. ↑ chapter 97
11. ↑ chapter 106
12. ↑ Comment on a worldbuilding post "Continents Overview"
13. ↑ Comment on a worldbuilding post "Continents Overview"
14. ↑ Comment on a worldbuilding post "The Dungeon"

## Gallery

by Alzbern (Commissioned by u/disapointinghero on reddit)Official art of Xvim by Daniel Govar from the Arc 1 kickstarterby lonsheep on tumblrby Rizaki717 on DeviantartOfficial art of Xvim by Daniel Govar from the Arc 1 kickstarter
## ​​​​Navigation

 Third year students