Chapter 145—Patching

AG. Sorry a bit of a disaster I failed to save today's chapter and had to recreate it from the audio file. I'm very annoyed and worried that the quality might not be there.

With worry gnawing in his stomach, Tom left the carpet of blue grass to return to the isolation room. As he did so, the brief spurt of memories from his avatar relieved some of his concerns. Kang hadn’t said a thing and had let go of the crystal twice, but both times his avatar had forced the hand back on the crystal and Kang had restarted the healing.

Leaving had not been catastrophic like he had feared.

“You with me?” he demanded. There was no response. He used the six points of the various mana types that had regenerated to fix the brain and drive out the necrotic energy that had somehow become established in the delicate tissue.

Kang’s eyes snapped open like he had been hit with a shot of adrenaline. His eyes darted around, a look of confusion on his face. He had been sitting back against the wall and he groaned and swayed to the side to press his forehead against the massive healing crystal. Using that extra point of support to stop himself from collapsing. “I don’t feel good.”

“Help’s on its way.”

“Dim?”

“Yes.” Tom assured him, even though he didn’t know exactly who would respond. Dimitri was a good bet, and he was confident the headmaster of the orphanage at the very least could deal with the necrotic venom, which was the biggest issue.

Kang shut his eyes, but as an expression of pain rather than evidence of him losing consciousness again. After a long moment, they opened up again and searched him out, forcing eye contact. “I screwed up didn’t I.”

“No. No mate, I wouldn’t describe it like that. You’ve won entry to the trial and you’re going to live. That sounds like a success to me.”

“But you’re here. And Dim’s coming. Shit, that’s a disaster. If there’s any assassins we’re kind of screwed.”

“Don’t worry about it. The orphanage is built for situations like this.”

“And you don’t even have Danger Sense.”

Tom managed not to bite his own lip. He had been very conscious of the missing ability, but had been trying not to think about it. He smiled brightly in an attempt to hide his internal turmoil. “The skill wouldn’t help much in this situation, anyway. But don’t worry they’ll have a plan for this. Dim will get an expert to fix you without anyone else being any the wiser.”

“Shit. Really? An Expert?” Kang groaned. Then he studied him shrewdly. It was clearly a monumental effort to do so. Tom could see the struggle etched into his face, the extra creases on the brow and the way he clenched his jaw.

“Is this why I feel like this? Am I dying. Is the crystal not enough.”

“Kind of. You’ve been injected with curse mana and lost organs. Neither myself nor the crystal can deal with them easily, so I had to call on some help.”

“Are you saying my opponent cursed me?”

“More poisoned.” Tom clarified. “Or at least it injected you with a venom that’s killing you. But I wouldn’t worry about it. You’re in a child’s body with next to no vitality. Any competent healer will be able to save you. Recreating organs will be child’s play.”

Kang rolled his eyes at the terrible pun, and there was a long silence as they both mulled over the situation.

Discretely, Tom monitored the healing crystal and was relieved to confirm the energy continued to rush in. It couldn’t do anything about the missing organs and nor could it be specialised enough to combat the venom. At least not directly. It was helping by rapidly healing the tissue the hostile energy was destroying. It wasn’t sufficient to force a stalemate, but the healing crystal had increased Kang’s life expectancy to half an hour without Tom’s intervention.

With Tom also contributing his expertise, the boy wasn’t going to die for two to four hours. Minutely, he relaxed. Then cursed himself straight after. Things could still go wrong so he forced himself to continue the treatment though he shifted his own magic from stabilising his friend’s body to isolating the venoms. It was hard, but with focus and persistence he was confident he could manage it. Fate bled out of him, making his efforts more effective.

He could feel Touch Heal gaining extra levels as he worked, but it wasn’t enough for him. He put everything into it to extract the maximum performance possible. His friendship demanded nothing less. There were unfortunately, at least two other high tiered venoms in play. His estimation of four hours dropped precariously. He wiped sweat from his brow. Hopefully Corrine was being as effective as he hoped.

Tom didn’t know who or what Kang had fought, but it had done a number on him. Every thirty seconds, he stepped back into the divine Championship trial to see if there was an update. She was absent each time, and it was clear that his efforts to stem the hostile energies were progressing too slowly. The sanity that his lightning driven healing had forced was also breaking down.

“Stay with us Kang.”

There was no response.

“Come on Kang. Fight,” he whispered. It was too early to intervene, as healing magic still flowed from the crystal.

Five minutes had passed.

Five minutes Kang didn’t really have.

He didn’t know what was happening only that when he ducked into the divine trial, she wasn’t waiting for him.

Absently, he touched the necklace around his own neck. Maybe he shouldn’t be relying on her. If he wanted, he could summon the headmaster directly. Briefly he considered it, but after a moment he decided to let her have a chance to do what she had agreed. She might be afraid of getting discovered, a paranoia he couldn’t fault her for, but she had told him she would do it and Corrine always kept her word. And sending her rather than using his necklace had not been driven by selfishness. It was the smart play.

Dimitri spent more time with older kids and created lots of smoke screens and unnecessary contact, so when the emergency came it went look like just another one of the dramas he was continually involved in. Corrine getting his attention would be a lot easier than Tom attempting it, and while the necklace would work it was a last resort. It was not supposed to be used unless lives were literally on the line.

The unfortunate truth was that the signal sent by the emergency beacon created something that could be tracked. Hostile assassins, if they were here, would notice the use. Of course, If Corrine reported that she had failed to find help then he would use it, potential consequences be damned, but failing that extreme scenario, he would not be risking it today.

Even if it cost a few minutes, using her was still the prudent action.

But the waiting… it was like nails going down the chalkboard.

Blue grass greeted him and yet again there was no Corrine.

Internally, he cursed and retreated once more. He was getting worried now. The extra venoms were not ones he could track, but the impact of their actions were visible.

He would live for at least ten minutes. Twenty Tom wasn’t so sure about.

Nervous sweat ran down his neck. This was too close. He should have prepared better or maybe accepted Corrine’s offer to throw resources at the problem. If he hadn’t heard from Corrine in two minutes, then he was triggering his necklace.

Tom couldn’t even pace back and forth to relieve the jitteriness that infused his body. Instead, he was crouched down next to Kang with too much of his magic being dedicated to keeping him awake and the rest of his attention went to isolating the hostile poisons that were inflicting his friend.

Another skin wall twisted up to contain the necrotic poison. Against what he faced, his efforts were hopeless and he wished he had more mana. One of Harry’s mana recharge ritual circles would be great right now. If Kang died… the thought caused a chill to run through him but his gut wasn’t warning him about an impending death. But he couldn’t help but think it was a real possibility.

“I won’t let him.” Tom promised. No, he thought bitterly. I’m lying. It was beyond his control. At this point Kang’s survival depended on how soon help came. He hoped they would make it in time. He didn’t want to lose someone else. It hurt too much and it would be especially bitter after only recently discovering that nearly everyone he had got close to in his first life had died.

“Won’t what?” the whisper was barely audible.

“I won’t let you die.” He clarified. “Help is on the way.”

Kang was not going to keel over in the next few seconds, but minutes was a different matter and the moment you started talking tens of them it would progress rapidly to game over. It was better not to think about it and instead he glanced up at the cupboards and wondered if there was anything up there he could use. There were anti-venoms, but he doubted any were tailored for what he faced, and they were very specific in their actions. Most of them relied on the healing crystal being enough to act as a fallback.

He stepped into the divine champion’s trial and appeared almost so close to Corrine that his head brushed up against her breasts. He jumped back blushing, but she didn’t seem to have even registered the accidental contact. She looked worried.

“Helps on its way.” She said immediately.

“Where are you?” “

“Isolation room closest to the eight-year-old dorms.”

“Stay with him,” she ordered. “Five minutes and they’ll be there.”

Then she blinked away, and he almost collapsed in relief.

He continued the routine, but his cycles went from thirty seconds to fifteen.

Three minutes passed.

It was too close. Kang was deteriorating and all of Tom’s mana was having to be directed to keeping him awake so the healing crystal could continue to fight its delaying skirmishes.

Dreams of slowing the venoms and poisons or whatever they were down were gone.

It was still minutes until help would arrive.

He licked his lips.

It would be enough. He decided, prayed, hoped, and wished.

“It will be enough.” He repeated more firmly.

He had faith not necessarily in his abilities or the GOD’s interference, but in the prayers that added an extra line of defence for everyone in the orphanage. There was no proof, but he was sure that fate was currently active and helping Kang.

She had said five minutes.

With Tom’s aid, he would last six or seven.

He was certain, or was he… doubt plagued him.

He flicked between spots. One moment in the isolation room the next standing on the blue grass just in case Corrine needed to tell him something. The process was nauseating, but he didn’t let that stop him.

Corrine reappeared. “Unlock the isolation room door, but don’t open it.”

Tom didn’t wait, not even to agree, and instead leapt to comply as fast possible. Then he was back next to Kang, using his magic to buy him extra seconds of life.

When his mana bottomed, he shook Kang to wake him up and then reappeared on the blue grass.

Corrine was pacing up and down. “And?”

“There’re not there yet. I need them to hurry.”

She looked at him helplessly. “Dim’s already left. I can’t tell them anything. All I know is that they know it’s urgent and they’re coming.”

“Shit.”

“Very much so. Tell me when they get there.”

Tom got the hint and vanished.

Kang was struggling. All across his skin were black patches as large as a quarter and every breath was labourious. With nothing else to do he considered the timeline and the freshness of the wounds, particularly how the venom had spread since he had gotten here. The wound had been seconds old. DEUS must have sent him straight through in order to save his life. Surely she wouldn’t have done that if he was going to die, anyway.

The door banged open and there were two blurs and then Dimitri and an unimpressed sharp nosed Italian male were standing next to the boy. For seconds there was silence as both of their magics wrapped around and into Kang. By what was probably a skill because he couldn’t sense it the isolation room door slammed shut and locked.

Silence stretched.

Dimitri, after a moment, turned to study him. “Good job. Both you and Corrine. Good job, but make sure this doesn’t happen again. When it’s the girl’s turn, we need to coordinate better. I want to be there. No more secrecy.”

Tom nodded. “I’ll make certain of it.”

“Go tell her the good news. Kang will be as good as new within two minutes.”

He entered into the divine championship trial and he was surprised to find that Kang was standing there with Corrine.

Kang stepped away from her and embraced Tom in a bear hug before he could hope to stop it.

He fought back. “Stop that. Let me go.” He demanded, but only hit with his fists, forgoing any of the magical options which could have actually made a difference. His friend only laughed harder and tightened the hug. After an extra-long time that he was sure that Kang extended due to his protests the other boy let go. “What was that? Were you trying to crush me?”

His friend grinned. “It was a thank you.”

“Did you extend the same enthusiasm to Corrine.”

The larger boy looked more than a little embarrassed.

“Fuck no I wouldn’t allow that.”

“I don’t know her. it would be presumptuous to hug.” his friend said abashed. “But I did say thank you.”

They stared seriously at each other and then unbidden a smile grew on Tom’s face. “You made it! You’re in.”

“I am and now I’ll have the same advantages as you.”

Corrine violently shook at that statement. “Some.” She corrected, hiding the word amongst a pretend coughing fit.

“Some of them at least.” Kang conceded.

“I’m going to win fights straight away. I’m confident I’m a better fighter than what you were when you started.”

“The movement skills Kang has is important.” She affirmed.

“I agree he should do well.”

“Any hints?”

The question made him recall his own journey. His own entrance and how weird everything had been. The same would happen with Kang. He would be given access to the archives, which would let him discover the random chance trick and as competent as his friend was, there was no way he wouldn’t work it out. Then he would use it and the GODs would employ the ruse of the false positive that had almost gotten him.

Tom had to add an extra warning in before that happened. “Before we do so,” he said. “We should have a party.” He finished his mouth, saying words completely different to what he had been intended.

Corrine winced and mimed a sympathetic ‘sorry’.

“Really? Is this a tradition or something?” Kang looked in confusion between them.

“It’s not a tradition.” She said with a shrug. “It’s Tom’s idea. I’m sure there’s a reason for it.”

The puzzled look on Kang’s face grew.

“That’s not…” once more his intention to claim that they were not his words was robbed from his mouth. “That’s not a problem. Traditions have to start somewhere.”

“I’m just surprised you, of all people would suggest this. Usually you’re about training.”

“An hour to indulge is fine. I’ll heal the effects away afterwards.” He could have screamed in frustration as his friendly reply slipped out.

That was he would have screamed if the restriction would have allowed it, which it wouldn’t have. He was helpless. His body was not listening to his brain. There was a GEAs that would stop him from mentioning the trap. One that was far more powerful than the one that restricted discussion of fate. That one just choked your words off while this one forced words and actions to hide the topic.

Corrine nodded knowledgably and Tom realised she must have gone through the same thing when he had arrived at the trial. Knowing her as he did, she would have done everything she could to communicate the facts to him, but had failed because he hadn’t picked up on anything unusual in what she had said. She had failed just like he was going to fail with Kang.

Tom refused to give up. If he couldn’t say it in conversation, maybe there was another way to protect him. He concentrated and tried to extract one of the completed Danger Sense disks. Nothing happened, despite his wish it didn’t appear in his hands. He attempted to talk about it and then to speak an appeal direct to DEUS, even that was blocked.

Nothing happened apart from a feeling of sorrow that was not his own. It radiated from his heart with another’s intent. With absolute certainty, he knew he could do neither word nor action to protect his friend. But if everyone was getting the disks, then Kang would be protected. Amusement, not rejection greeted that thought. It wasn’t a no, and it was a path forward when next he met with an open competitor.

He would try to convince whoever it was to bring the launch date forward. After all, as is he was going to be ready in a couple of months.

“Let’s take you to the main area. It’s this way.” Corrine said brightly, pointing at the centre area. As she passed, she patted Tom consolingly on the back. There were no words exchanged, but it helped.