Chapter 115 – Cost and Benefits

AG. Second of Two

The petrification energy made the injury analogous to someone having received multiple stab wounds on earth. Once they were stitched up, you were unlikely to die, but it was still be a painful couple of weeks. In Briana’s case that day, one discomfort would extend until they got out of the trial. It wasn’t ever going to heal either naturally or magically. The entire examination, thanks to the time dilation had taken less than a second and his eyes turned to face Kang.

The empty space, where the danger sense bracelet had been, drew his eye.

Maybe more had occurred at the start of the fight than Tom had realised. Had Kang actually used his get out of jail card to save himself against the light statues and as a result been helpless when the ranged opponents entered the fight. Was that why Briana had been forced to save him. Once more, he replayed the scene in his mind. What had happened? What was the exact positioning and what could have caused the problem.

There had definitely been a stick figure at the entrance of the tunnel. Kang had been fighting in front of Briana and Eloise. It would have prepared to fire on the trajectory that could hit the most people. Kang, with his quick step and bracelet should never have been at risk. Unless the bracelet had already been lost, but his experience was telling Tom that wasn’t the case. His friend had not been hard pressed. He should have been able to swap in a new bracelet within a second. If Eloise could, then the reincarnator was certainly capable, and it was something he had seen the boy practicing. Warned as he was, he should always have been able to step to the side and its attack would have followed him, but they had proven before that these attacks could be dodged.

So Kang would have been safe, but where the spikes hit the wall that location and its flight path would have been shifted as the ranged stick monster would have attempted to hit the moving Kang.

Tom’s eyes widened and horror was etched on his face as he stared at Kang. He didn’t believe for a moment that Kang had lost his danger sense bracelet earlier in the fight. For him to have gotten through so many hours of fighting without using them even once and then requiring it not once but twice within a couple of seconds. It was nonsensical, especially given where he had been standing relative to the girls and the shooter. He would have been left with no good choices. Dodge left and Eloise would have died, dodge right then Briana. Do nothing then… “You didn’t?” he accused in a shocked voice. “Please tell me you didn’t accept dying to die to save someone else.”

The other boy did not respond, but he didn’t need to. The angles were clear and the behaviour profile of the ranged stick figures by this time was well known. The missing danger sense bracelet was the last bit of confirmation. Kang had seen the attack and had chosen the easy path of self-sacrifice.

Tom felt like breaking his knuckles on the other boy’s nose. He suppressed the rage as best he could. “Why?” he asked in a mostly even voice.

Why? He screamed inside his brain and he was thankful that the artificial anger was not jumping on board the situation and he knew why it wasn’t. This wasn’t an injustice it was just a terribly selfish mistake and one he wasn’t sure could be forgiven. They had had the conversation. It was Kang who had spoken about the need not to make the choice he had.

Acting in ignorance was one thing. This was far worse. The other reincarnator had ignored the danger sense bracelet to prevent Eloise from dying.

Kang looked away and was unwilling to meet his eyes.

“Why?” Tom demanded again almost shouting the words. “Why do something so dumb.”

“I froze up.”

Tom slapped him before he could control himself. Kang was still wearing a metal lined helmet, and he was sure he hurt his hand more than the others boys face but the fury in him couldn’t be denied. “Idiot, if you die we all die. I can’t beat this floor by myself.”

“I’m sorry I froze up. I didn’t mean to do it.”

“That wasn’t a freeze up. That was idiocy.”

“Why are you yelling at him?” Eloise demanded. “He’s hurt.”

Tom reassessed Kang. There was a bit of fresh blood but relatively little considering what they had faced. If Briana wasn’t as injured as he was, Tom would be rushing to heal those wounds. As it was, she deserved healing more.

“It’s okay, he has a right to be angry.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“He does,” Kang repeated. “And I promise you it won’t happen again. I panicked, and I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

Tom wanted to scream and yell, but Social Silence locked his throat. He compelled himself to take a deep breath and remembered all the warning signs that Kang had displayed. The stress and how he had soldiered on desperate to save them. He had his heart and soul into keeping them all alive so Tom could see why he had been willing to sacrifice himself for Eloise.

Despite his anger, Tom forced himself to see things from his friend’s perspective. It was easy to imagine Kang’s internal turmoil in the moments after the bracelet warned him of the danger. He had less than a second to react and a couple of back forths, should I, should I not and then boom! By then, time was up and it was too late to evade. It was stupid and not something he expected from the best of those selected for the competition, but he could see the chain of events that could have brought them here. “I understand. A mistake was made and now we move on. Give me six minutes to stabilise her and then patch you up and then we’ll retreat.”

Kang frowned. “Why is she still unconscious?”

“I knocked her out so her movements wouldn’t interfere with her healing.” Tom explained.

“And will she be okay?”

Tom said nothing.

“Tom!” Kang insisted. “Is she going to be okay?”

He shook his head ever so slightly. “The spines were poisoned. I can patch the injuries, but I can’t heal that.”

“But you said that you can burn away venoms and poisons.”

“I wish,” he spat out angrily. “I can usually. But if it’s too high tier, such actions are beyond me. This stuff it’s nasty. All I can do is isolate the spread.”

“Is she dying?” Eloise asked her voice horrified.

“No, but she’s going to be in continuous pain until we leave this trial. The injuries won’t carry back to Existentia, so finishing these floors is how we fix her.”

His piece said he then ignored the other two and focused on healing Briana as efficiently as possible. It would take him over half an hour to heal it to the extent of his abilities, but for now he just needed to get her up and walking.

With his patch job completed, she finally stirred.

“I feel funny.” She poked her stomach. “Here feels funny.”

“It’s because I’m suppressing the pain.”

She looked at him with wide eyes.

“When you saved Kang, you got hit by the stick figures’ spines. They poisoned you.”

“I’m dying.”

“No,” he interrupted in frustration at how everyone’s mind went in that same direction. “You’re not dying. Why is everyone assuming that? While you’re going to survive, you’re injured and you’ve also have been poisoned by something that’s too virulent for me to burn away. While you’re awake, I’ll be able to dull your pain, but the degree of movement you have is going to be restricted. We’ll probably need to get you used to that before we go in together.”

“For ever?”

“No, only until you leave the trial. That will fix you, and any adult healer would have the capacity to do it as well. I just don’t have the power to help you yet.”

She tentatively got to her feet, and they picked their way back to safety via the brightly lit rooms. The journey was dull, like most of their time here. Each battle on the way was trivial, and they clinically destroyed the scattering of enemies they ran into. None of them, thankfully given Bri’s state were even close to a challenge and Danger Sense had returned to its background level telling Tom that the environment was as benign as it appeared.

It broadcast the same message it had since they had entered the trial a moderate warning about the likelihood of impending death. More for others than himself, but after what had happened, he understood how close to a fatal mistake they had come and what that threat that Danger Sense picked up on actually represented. It was real.  . What happened if two ranged stick figures attacked them? The first would burn the bracelets and the second would pick them off without fail.

The idea was terrifying, but then again, they were trapped in the dark hole trials. Even six-year-olds knew what the trial was and the threat it represented. This sense of impending doom, this real chance of messy permanent death, what else could they have expected, and it was not like they could do anything to avoid it now that they were trapped here. No matter how dangerous it was tomorrow they would have to go back onto the killing floor. They had to finish what they had started.

At least, he thought bitterly to himself all the fighting they were doing had gotten him an award. He remembered the ding and at the first opportunity he was going to check on it, but only if he had privacy on the very remote chance it was something the others shouldn’t see. 

Finally, they exited into the safety of their common room. “We’re not doing another one today.” Tom told them.

Brianna was walking with an unsteady gait because a fist sized ball of her intestines had been converted into the metallic plastic type substance. She was six, and it was like she was infested with a tumour. The funny thing was that the transformed tissue still mostly acted true to its original nature. The intestine pipes worked even if the infected areas were not going to be doing any nutrient absorption.

Carefully, he started healing her and focused on fixing everything outside the infected tissue.

Kang hovered over them his hands twisting in agitation. “I’m sorry Tom.”

“You did your best.”

“It wasn’t a deliberate choice. I froze up.”

“You don’t have to justify yourself, Kang. I said I understand.”

“But you don’t. You’re not meeting my eyes.”

“I’m trying to heal Briana,” he snapped back.

“You tell yourself that, but we know.” He shot a glance at Briana, Eloise had long since run off to her safe space, and then moderated his word choice. “We both know better than that.”

“Please don’t fight.” Brianna, laying on the couch uncomfortably begged. “I knew I was going to get hurt when I saved him. A bit of pain,” she smiled wanly. “Won’t kill me.”

“Plus, even if I had died you had your trump card, right Tom. It’s not like I was dooming everyone.”

Tom glared at him. He did and the spear would have allowed him to kill light statues But Kang hadn’t known that and if he used it, there was a good chance it wouldn’t be available for the next floor. Notwithstanding the fact that Eloise had seen her own butterfly spear break. She might still get suspicious about the butterfly like dragons on his new one. He had tried to differentiate the designs, but his artistic talents hadn’t been up to the challenge. The spear still looked the same, especially if you squinted or saw it out of the corner of your eyes. It wasn’t going to stand up to long-term scrutiny.  

“You do have a trump card don’t you?”

Tom inclined his head in agreement and sighed tiredly. “Yes, Kang, I do have one. And yes, I’m very upset at you. There is no need to mince words. You screwed up. But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand why you did what you did, but it does mean this.” He waved his hand to indicate the space between them. “This neediness is unwelcome. Can you give me some space? I need to check my status.

“What about Briana?” Kang started and then stopped talking while staring at her. Briana had fallen asleep helped along by his magic. “I guess you’ve dealt with her. Fine, you can have your privacy. Make sure to tell me if you get anything important?”

“Will do.” He watched Kang leave in a huff and when the door slammed shut, he spoke up. “Adam, can you give me the wireframes of the pain reduction spell?” On the table in front of him, a series of wire frames appeared. He needed to relearn the spell so he could keep Briana’s agony to a minimum. Its mana cost was less than ten so the free cast every six minutes would be vital when they worked at clearing the floors. If he had to rely on Touch Heal for the same, it would impact their fighting effectiveness too much. A dedicated spell solved that issue. “Thank you. Can you also privately share what skill I just earned?”

Another set of pages appeared.

When you scrunch it up, it will self-destruct.

“Thank you,” he said quietly as he read the supplied information.  

Congratulations, you have met the prerequisites to be rewarded the Skill. 

Skill: Fateful Repositioning (Tier 4)

This skill is an Earned Skill. 

Given this denotation, you will be restricted from discussing or communicating the steps undertaken to acquire the Earned Skill. Now that you are aware of the mechanism, it is acceptable to attempt similar feats to Earn alternative skills but you will be permanently blocked from any Earned Skill or Spell which you have gained a prior knowledge of the steps required to be awarded it. Given the rules, researching this topic is not recommended.

The prerequisites you met to earn Fateful Repositioning are.  

·        Use technical skills to stave off certain death when falling.

·        Sustained crippling injuries multiple times to supercharge a movement.

·        Suffer over forty severe injuries when repositioning.  

·        Demonstrated technical proficiency of at least twenty in acrobatics and dodging.

·        Create beneficial randomised fate effects a thousand times when undertaking a forceful repositioning.

·        Do not possess the acrobatics, dodge or similar skill to aid body control.

The details were different but comparable to the last earned skill he had gained. The most significant change was that this was tier four instead of one.

His eyes drifted further down the page.

Skill: Fateful Repositioning (Tier 4)

When repositioning within combat or in a dire situation, movement attributes are boosted by 50%. The body will also be capable of performing feats that are not technically possible according to the physics of the universe.

When this ability is used to change local physics, two points of fate are generated, the first to aid the repositioning and the other as an undirected reserve that gets allocated to a random beneficial use two seconds after creation.

The ability will automatically activate in combat and can be activated outside of combat once every ten minutes.

Tom read the description. Once and then again.

Then he triggered the ability and tried to flip over backward. The world blurred, and he somehow landed perfectly balanced on his feet. Then he initiated the main human trait and he could feel that undirected point of fate hanging in the air available to be twisted in any direction he wanted. With a simple thought, he directed it to the prayer he had been saying every day to make the final floor easier.

“Oh fuck,” he whispered. “That’s.” he stopped talking. The skill effectively more than doubled his fate pool. It would let him generate six fate per hour and if he used it regularly that added up to over eighty fate in a day.

It was…

“Fuck that’s good.” He said quietly under his breath. “Wow.”

It hadn’t come for free. He had been working on this for over a year, and they had been in intense combat for a couple of weeks now. Getting an earned skill was not a surprise, but one this powerful. That, to his mind was special.

He looked again at the page and then realised there was another sheet behind the first and he remembered trumpets had gone off with the ding.