It had taken two agonizing weeks to heal all of the damage to his body, but as it went Ben spent the entire time thinking on what was coming next. He knew the life section was still to come, and while if he was lucky that would be the end of it, he was feeling like he’d just used up his entire lifetime supply by getting through the death section.
What mattered was what was still to come. If he was to think about what he could expect from life magic and ignored anything that could be beneficial to him, then there were only a few options. His body could be weakened, his body could be forced to overproduce things within itself to cause him harm, or there could be living things in that section that would be strengthened, either monsters like he was used to going against with Thera or those of the smaller variety, forcing him to grow sick and possibly eating him alive from the inside out.
More troubling for him was considering the possibility of a non-affinitied trial. The longer he thought on just what he could expect from something like that, the more he was forced to come to a single conclusion. Anything. His material user skill was akin to aspects of earth, water and death magic, with destruction having similar properties. Telekinesis was too. Corpse song showed signs of being like death and time magic and empathy was similar to dark. None of that was even considering what he’d learned was possible with materialization.
The more he thought on it the more he kept making these connections, forcing him to a single conclusion. Non-affinitied magics could do anything an affinitied magic could and more.
Sure, the mana cost would be higher for a mortal to have to deal with, but that was irrelevant to the trial, and it would have the far worse trade-off that he would have no resistances to it. As rough as it had already been, he couldn’t imagine going through all of that again without them.
As much as I want to be positive, we might be screwed. He thought with a sigh. He wasn’t giving up, but the fact that he couldn’t even begin to plan for how to deal with whatever was to come was horrifying. Still, nothing to bother Greed about.
“Are you feeling ready buddy?” He asked the crab as he finished laying down the new enchantments on his armour for the life section.
“No, but let’s get this over with anyway.”
“That’s the spirit, come on.”
It was with that bit of false positivity that he stepped through the door, into the life section of the trial.
If there was one thing he liked about the later sections compared to the earlier ones, it was that the end was easy enough to find in the empty expanse that made it up. The light in the distance was a clear indicator of which way to go and he was happy to let it lead him as Greed voiced his complaint.
“Augh, already feel my body weakening. How about you legs?”
“I feel fine, but it’s nice to see that prediction was right at least.”
“Ha, let’s see if you feel the same when it starts to get you. I’ll tell you, you have me real jealous of those resistances you got.”
“Yeah, well bear in mind that despite them I’m still taking way more damage in all of this than you are.”
“Oh I’m so sorry,” The crab said sarcastically. “Here, you lay down. I’ll carry you on my back and get us out of here.”
“Ha careful, I might just take you up on that. Wouldn’t mind seeing how much power you can get out with that little body-destroying spell you got.”
“I take it all back. I’ve seen enough of you dealing with the consequences that I never want to have to deal with that myself.”
They continued on, staying vigilant as they went but seeing nothing as Ben ran, at the very least removing any chance that there were monsters waiting for them off in the distance but leaving them all the more worried about what might be to come. All while Ben did his best to ignore a growing bother. A persistent itch.
It wasn’t unusual, he’d found himself having one he needed to scratch multiple times throughout the trial and with armour on it wasn’t possible unless it was somewhere he could ask Greed to reach. It was only as the feeling began to grow, completely covering him as they went that he was about to speak up and say that something was wrong, only for Greed to say it first.
“Oh gods legs, I’m not feeling so good,” The crab said in a small voice and immediately Ben connected to him to try and understand just what was going on at a deeper level, finding nothing but illness and pain coming from his companion’s body.
“Shit, you feel sick. I think we got the microbe aspect right then. Or the trial is messing with your biochemistry, I guess it could be either.”
“Must be the second if you’re going all right.”
“Not necessarily. My resistances could be keeping the trial’s magic from penetrating into whatever gut bacteria I’ve got. If it was that then they’d only be able to do something to my…”
He trailed off as he understood what was making him so itchy. Any microbes or fungal spores on his flesh were in the process of exploding in growth, eating him alive as they went. It was a slow process now but it would only get worse, and Greed was on a much tighter time window.
Okay, but there’s nothing more I can do. Every section of this has been a tight freaking time window!
“Greed, for now I think you’re likely dealing with a severe bacterial and fungal infection. Do your best to treat yourself and I’ll try to get us out of here. Just stay alive.”
The crab only grunted as he felt the pain but did as Ben said, doing his best to keep himself alive as things only got worse for him. It was a fight between his body's healing and the trial’s effects, and they both knew it was a losing battle as Ben continued to run with everything he had.
Eventually, Greed fell completely silent, the effects being too much and making him lose consciousness. Ben knew he was still alive by connecting with him, but there was nothing else he could do. Even worse, that created a new time limit.
There was only so long that Greed’s buffs would last if they weren’t constantly being reapplied, meaning he had that amount of time to get through it to deal with it.
It may have been thanks to how desperate some of their efforts had been to survive the prior sections, with spells placed on him to move past what his body would naturally allow but he found himself moving far faster, though at a cost. His body was remembering how to go far beyond any natural limit but he could feel his muscles tearing as he went. Not quite to the extent of when Greed filled him with mana, but enough that he thought he’d be struggling to walk for a while after, the pain a constant notice that he was giving more than he had as the exit grew ever closer.
A part of him realized that what he was feeling wasn’t all from how he’d been exerting himself, the itching on his skin had turned to an intense sting as his flesh was being consumed and the armour was growing heavier as Greed’s buffs slowly wore off, but despite the pain, despite the struggle he was being put through, he couldn’t help but reflect that things hadn’t seemed quite as bad for this one compared to some others as he finally made his way to the exit and pushed himself through, finding the same waiting room once again.
…I can’t wait to get out of here and never need to worry about leveling that. He thought in response to his new skill. As exciting as the name sounded, it wasn’t one he was interested in raising given that he actually knew about it. A skill that made it easier to go past what the body allowed and helped raise the body’s maximum potential as well, it wasn’t something he saw coming up in his day-to-day life at all, with the only real positive that would carry on after the trial being that it carried a minor healing effect with it as well.
Still, he pushed the thought to the side as he went to the other end of the room to what he knew to be another door. The fact that they hadn’t immediately been greeted with an exit had been a bad sign but he didn’t want to say anything until he knew for sure.
It was only as he drew closer that he could be certain that his worst fears had been confirmed. There was a non-affinitied section still, they wouldn’t be free yet.
“Bad news Greed,” He said with a sigh and getting no response. “Greed? Come on man, wake up.”
Still getting no answer, Ben connected to the crab, only to be struck with a horrifying realisation. His body was still filled with pain as it was being eaten and destroyed. Even if the bacteria were no longer receiving life mana, what was there hadn’t been destroyed and with Greed unable to be awakened he couldn’t heal himself. If nothing changed, Ben’s only companion through the trial would die.