Chapter 455 - Seventh variation (Patreon)

“I already modified my arm, I mostly used that Champion’s bone as inspiration. It’s the toughest body part I have met so far! Of course, I was unable to modify my arm to the same extent, but look!”

Lily then takes the dagger made of white sand, the one she didn’t sell yet. She sends a bit of her mana through, activating it, and then slashes down into her forearm, the blade stopping at the bone.

She doesn’t even heal right away, and as her blood drips down, she looks up at me with a big smile on her small face.

“I tried it before, and with some effort, I cut through cleanly. This time, the blade stopped right at the bone! Look!”

Lily pulls the dagger out, and the wound closes nearly instantly. She grabs the dagger in the arm she cut and slashes against the other one with great force.

This time, the blade goes through easily, and the cut-off arm at the forearm falls down.

“I told you!” Happily, she grabs the cut-off arm and holds it to the wound, where muscles stretch and start connecting it to her body, skin growing over, and the position of the limb shifts as it snaps into the right place.

The only remaining sign is the still not dried-up blood.

I’m jealous. I also want a healing skill like this. I wish there was a way, maybe a passive trait or something.

Also, are you watching, Lady Handler? Do you read my records? Do you still think I’m not normal?

Just LOOK AT THIS GIRL!

“So when can we start working on modifying my body?” I ask her.

“I’m not sure, Nat, sorry. I only started with the bone in my forearm, and I will need to go through the rest of my body before I feel comfortable modifying yours.”

“Makes sense.”

As if worried I would be disappointed, she perks up again. “Give me your left hand,” she gestures quickly.

Curious, I lift my hand, and she grabs it with a smile. “I have been working on my healing marks and I still have to come up with some cool name.” With the tip of her finger, she presses against the inner side of my forearm, and I feel her mana touching me.

I allow it to pass through my natural barrier, and a feeling that is a combination of itch and burning spreads through the skin from the point where she is touching me.

“Huh, it’s really easy to work on your left arm. I think it’s as you said back then on the 4th floor. It’s the arm I restored, so I bear some connection to it. That’s why I can sacrifice it but not the other of your limbs. But isn’t that weird? I healed other limbs as well but still can’t sacrifice them.”

“I think it’s also how you and I perceive it subconsciously. Back then, when I said it, you accepted that fact and believed it. It’s also something I still believe strongly, as you made a strong impact on me back then when you restored it.”

“So it could work with some other limbs as well, but it can’t because we just don’t believe it?”

“Something like that,” I agree. “To sacrifice something, you must have power over it; it must belong to you. And the more precious that thing you own, the better the sacrifice.”

Lily hums in agreement and touches my forearm a bit higher. On my skin, a mark starts spreading, made out of white color. Against the paleness of my left arm, it’s barely visible, almost like a scar.

“What do you think would be the best sacrifice, Nat?”

It’s something I’ve thought about a lot. Her skill fascinates me even now, so I can answer right away. “I think your own life or memories.”

She stops for a moment, surprised by the answer, and her eyes meet mine. “Not people?”

“Could you even own a person enough to be able to sacrifice them? I don't think that would work. No, I think sacrificing parts of yourself would work the best. Just imagine permanently sacrificing your being, what makes you you, just to power your skills. It’s even worse than killing yourself, forgetting about the things that make you, you. It’s terrifying,” I answer honestly.

Would I ever be able to do that? Just the thought of it is...

“You are wrong here, Nat,” Lily seems to disagree with me. Letting go of my arm, she takes a step back.

She doesn’t continue, so I let it pass.

Looking down at the white mark on my forearm, I ask her, “So what now?”

“It should activate easily if blood touches it. I tried to make it activate with mana, but I wasn’t able to. I will need your help to come up with some structure and some trigger for it.”

“Got it, we will come up with something.”

Then I stop holding my mana back for a moment. The mana cycling I do constantly pauses, and I deactivate my passives.

There are easier ways to wound myself, but I can test this as well to see the effects of my uncontrolled mana on my body.

Right away, I destabilize it in the left arm only. More and more mana seeps through my skin. It makes Lily take a step back as the wave of my mana washes over the area.

My arm twitches, and twists at multiple spots. Muscles and veins erupt, and mana tears the skin, ramping up more and more in rhythm with my heartbeat.

Then I reactivate my passives and constructs. I again dedicate part of my mind to the mana cycling, and it seeps back into my body. The feeling of a bomb that was about to explode is gone.

I watch as blood touches the mark, and it starts becoming more and more pale until it disappears.

The same warm mana Lily uses spreads through my arm, and with a speed that is much higher than my passives, the bones snap back into place, and the muscles, veins, and nerves reconnect. Then the mana stored runs out, the skin still torn at dozens of places, blood dripping down.

Stepping closer, Lily puts her hand on mine, healing the rest. “It’s still only a working variation, and I’m not sure how long it can last. The amount of healing mana it contains also isn’t very big, but it always broke when I tried to give it more.”

“It’s fine, we will test it all out. How many variations did you try?”

“Around seven?" she closes her hand into a fist and starts sticking out her fingers as she counts, "The first one just didn’t work, the second one blew off my arm somehow, the third one started growing bones of new arms through my skin, the fourth one started healing the skin and then continued with muscles and bones and screwed up the arm, the fifth one sent healing pulses through the rest of the body instead. The sixth variation grew muscles made of bones instead. So I spent much more time testing before I made the 7th variation. The first test went really well!”

“Lily, by any chance, by ‘first test’ do you mean the one we just did?”

“Yes!”

“The one tested on me?”

“Yes! But I was pretty sure it would work!”

“I see.”

Lily giggles and shoves me with her hand. Just in time, I strengthen my body enough not to get thrown on the ground by this petite healer and lose my dignity.

“I’m joking,” her eyes squint into a smile. “I did a lot of testing before I even thought of giving you the mark. And do you remember the Last King’s crown? The one made by the Saint? It might take longer, probably years, but I think I would be able to make something similar work. A mark like that would be too difficult, but with your help, we could make items like these on our own. I wouldn’t even need to get close to heal people, and with even more work, I should be able to heal someone miles away.”

“That sounds plausible. And what happened to these items?” I ask. If I remember correctly, they were technically mine and rented to group 4.

“You said you didn’t mind if I destroyed the crown, I want to remind you. The crown kind of broke when I was examining it. I had to cut it apart, but it helped me create the mark, so it was well worth it!”

I can’t even say anything against that. What she is saying is true, and I would probably do the same. But that thing could be sold for a few hundred shards. It´s sad.

Relieved, Lily moves her hair off her forehead. “You probably didn’t know it, but each of these items held a body part of the Saint. The crown had a piece of bone, and the sword held a piece of finger. I started examining them as well, but I don't think they'll be as useful as the fingerbone of the Champion. For some reason, they feel too changed and damaged..”

“Kind of creepy, isn’t it? So she used it as some sort of locator and to make it easier to send healing through to the body part and then used it to radiate healing?” I ask.

“I think it was something like that, but these items felt really old and not as effective. I think she made them before she even became a Champion, as I can’t imagine her needing things like that when reaching that rank.”

“Then the Last King and his warriors probably kept it from some sort of sentiment. Could it also be a failsafe? If someone evaporated her body, couldn’t she restore herself from these body parts? Similar to how Vic did in the duel against you?”

“It felt different. I don’t think your sister is a healer. She wasn’t good at healing her body either, at most with passives or traits but not with an active skill. I think she used something entirely else, maybe a thing like [Avatar]. You said there was a Champion with such skill on the second floor, and the Avatar system made during the event felt similar to what she did.”

“Good catch. I thought of it as well, and I’m of the same opinion. Vic probably can create Avatars or Duplicates and can control them and swap her main mind between them."

"Won’t it be nearly impossible to kill her once she reaches a certain level? Couldn’t she just store one of her fingers on the opposite side of the planet and then grow from it?"

"Yup, I think she could do that. But I don’t think killing her would be impossible. There are always ways if you’re creative enough. But now, give me one more mark. I want to check it."

***

Hours later, I stop in front of the twins. Both of them are quiet and heavily focused, each dealing with a single evil orb.

Activating my eyes for a moment, I examine the process.

"Good, two orbs each starting now," I say, creating more orbs and moving them to float nearby.

For a moment, I think they might complain or push back against me, but such a thing doesn’t happen and instead, they get into it right away.

At the first attempts, both of the orbs burst open nearly instantly. And after multiple attempts, the same thing repeats.

Dozens of attempts later, it continues. Neither of them is able to handle two modified orbs.

Too little mana, too much mana, slow reaction, a distraction getting the better of them. It continues like that for hours, and they do not stop.

Doing my own training nearby, I can’t help but glance at them once in a while—both sweating, gasping for air, their mana fluctuating from all the strain. They do not stop.

It’s something I’ve noticed once in a while. Both Aaron and Dennis are easygoing; they like to joke and usually pick the easiest solution to every problem. But once in a while, there are times like this. When they just sit down and do their best. There is that competitiveness, that hunger for improvement that everyone in group 4 has.

I don’t think their talent is worse than Izzy’s or Min-Jae’s, and I don’t think they are currently the weakest out of group 4 because of that. I’ve also seen them trying, their competitive spirit poked by the people around them.

Their skills might be better suited for supportive roles. Their [Connection] and [Sensory Deception].

Maya tried to train with them, and even though their [Haste] makes their speed equal to Maya’s, they don’t have that talent for close-range combat that she has. They are more like hit-and-run types.

But they should be able to do so much more. I still remember Lissandra doing something I think they should be able to do with their [Connection].

That fiendish Absolute liked to let people activate their skills and then connect to those skills, resonate with them, and use them instead. A complete show of disrespect, claiming she could use your skill better than you, without even possessing it.

My logic is simple. I will improve their [Mana Manipulation], and we will experiment with [Connection] because I think there is so much more they should be able to do with that skill. And while doing that, I will work on my [Resonance], trying to achieve the same.

***

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