How does Beginner's Luck work lorewise?

I may be remembering wrong, but isn't the first loop what the Hatchling did for 9,318,054 loops before connecting with the statue? Unless the statue turning to them changed the loop *just enough* to completely alter what they do in the loop?

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Because in Beginner's Luck they stumble upon >!the ATP, the Vessel, and mess around with the coordinates just enough to get it right!<

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So couldn't they have just done that 390 years ago before any of the loops happened?