82 - What Hurts the Most

“Rebirth?” I ask.

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. What is the technique?”

“Well, it’s a pretty simple Life technique. It makes use of a minor self-imposed restriction, but it’s nothing permanent and overly restrictive. Just painful.”

“Painful.”

“Y’know, I should add this to the Legacy. The first trial kinda already trains you for it. Basically, instead of healing off damage as it comes, like you normally would with a Life affinity, you let it accumulate, and then when you’re on the verge of death, you heal it all at once.”

“Why though?”

“Because restrictions increase strength. The further you go before healing, the less it costs. If your heart stops beating before you activate it, it’s basically free. You can fight at full power without worrying about conserving oum for healing. Of course, you don’t have to use it, even after you’ve learned it. You can fight normally. But it’s also just useful when you’re fighting anyone who wins with attrition. Small attacks that aren’t fatal, and don’t hinder your movements much. Cheaper healing is always a bonus.”

“I guess.”

It sounds useful enough, but it doesn’t really sound like something I couldn’t prepare on my own. 

“The reason this technique isn’t really known, at least for me, is that I never really had to use it. I didn’t even come up with it until the 100th Floor, and by then, I was basically untouchable. I got in a few fights, and used it then, but it never got to the point where I needed a full Rebirth. It’s still pretty useful though, and pretty simple as well.”

“Yeah, it sounds like it could be good. But isn’t it too simple for a Legacy skill?”

“There is power in simplicity,” she says. “And it’s also not quite as simple as it seems. Not if you want to maximize its efficiency and effectiveness. I’m sure you’ll figure it out in no time though. You said you had thorough knowledge of anatomy, which is the biggest hurdle. Though there are no doubt things that you aren’t aware of, so it will still take some time. And it will be painful to ‘set’ the technique. Do you know what setting a technique is?”

“It’s when you finalize the self-imposed restrictions?”

“Correct, and as you can imagine, when the restriction is that you need to be injured to the point of near death… well, you handled it alright in the first challenge. Are you up for doing it again?”

“If I have to,” I say with a sigh. “Let’s get started then.”

What follows is an anatomy lesson at a level of depth I didn’t think was possible. I’m not even sure it can be called “anatomy” any more. She goes down to a cellular level, explaining how each kind of cell regenerates differently, and how minute changes to oum use can make the process more efficient. She also goes into a bit of detail on how cultivation alters the cells, which is equally interesting, and far too complex to get more than a glimpse into. I bet that someone could spend centuries researching this and still not be close to having all the answers. 

In the process of learning Rebirth, I also learn a lot about Life oum in general. As I discovered before, Life oum has a natural tendency to follow organic paths, which can be used to increase efficiency, but as with healing in general, this can be taken down to a cellular level. Apparently, as I get to higher realms of cultivation, it will actually be possible to be passively aware of my cells. I can do some deep meditation to get some vague glimpses of mine as I am, so the lesson isn’t fully applicable, but I’m sure it will become incredibly useful later.

The core of Rebirth is, as she said, more complicated than it seems. I could, of course, just do the most basic version, accumulating damage, then healing it all at once with some generic healing. That won’t get the levels of efficiency she described though, where the healing becomes almost free. To fully maximize the efficiency, I need an awareness of my body and its injuries, and the ability to diagnose exactly what I need. The more specific my knowledge of my body’s state, the more efficient the healing when Rebirth is activated.

Beyond the first week of lessons, the benefits I get from Hanna’s presence are extremely diminishing. I still learn some things, and she corrects me on a few things I’m doing wrong, but other than that, it’s just me silently refining my process, and occasionally taking breaks to talk with her. She makes for good company. Maybe it’s just the maturity of having lived for thousands of years, but she seems to always know what to say to keep a conversation going, and also when to end it.

She also has a literally infinite supply of food. She has a void beast as well—an owl—and its voidspace is literally the size of a country. It’s bigger than the entire first Floor. She’s set up some kind of artificial daylight cycle, and a weather cycle too, with multiple biomes where she grows various different kinds of plants and raises different animals. She has more constructs who then take the produce and turn it into delicious food, which she shares with me. It’s much better than any of the first Floor’s food, so it’s a welcome gift.

At the end of the second week, she decides that I’m ready to set the technique. We have to sign a special contract first to allow her to harm me though. Those from higher Floors aren’t allowed to attack those from lower Floors unprovoked, and the higher up you’ve made it, the stronger the provocation needs to be. So with the difference between me and her, there is literally nothing I can do to harm her, and therefore nothing I could do to provoke her, by the Tower’s rules.

As we sign though, she assures me that if she wanted to, she could harm me anyway, but she would get in trouble, so it was better to use official channels. 

After two weeks with her, I’m beginning to trust her, but I still look over the contract to make sure that there’s nothing weird in it. Fortunately, it’s simple, and seems to cover everything. She will harm me in a way that leaves me on the brink of death once in order to assist me in my training. Should I fail to heal myself, she will heal me. It’s rather cut and dry.

After I sign it, she clears out the furniture from the room, and has me lay on the cold stone ground.

“This is going to hurt, and it’s going to be slow, but it’s the only way, so just bear with it, and keep your injuries in mind.”

“Let’s just get it over with,” I reply.

“Alright. Starting now.”

No sooner than she finishes speaking, I feel a spike of pain as a white-hot beam of fire burns a hole through my shoulder. I grit my teeth and close my eyes, fighting off the pain as I focus on my injuries. The top of the humerus is gone. The muscles are a mess. But I know exactly what needs to be done to heal them.

Next is my leg. Another hole straight through. My femoral artery is cut, and despite the heat, it somehow didn’t cauterize. I’m losing a lot of blood. Even with my enhanced body, I’ll be dead in fifteen minutes just from this. Knowing that, it takes conscious effort to merely log my wounds and not begin healing them, or at least staunching the bloodflow.

The next attack hits my abdomen, burning through my colon and stomach. But it doesn’t go all the way through this time. Instead, it only goes partway, meaning that the stomach acid pools up inside me, burning me up from the inside. 

As I continue to resist the urge to heal myself, I can feel my oum vibrating. Part of it is my subconscious desire to heal myself, but another part of it I know is the setting process. I am consciously creating a technique, and my oum is responding. It’s ready to do its thing. It’s just waiting for the command.

Not yet though. Hanna explained that the later I do it, the more effective it is. If I want it to truly be Rebirth, I need to reach the point of death. 

The next one hits my lungs. I can feel them filling with blood, and my breathing becomes labored. I can taste the coppery liquid at the back of my mouth. It hurts. I’m dying. But I can’t stop yet.

Next, is my neck. Three beams pierce my throat, and both carotid arteries. My death is now imminent. But still, not yet.

Through the pain, I hear Hana speak.

“Last one.”

Suddenly, the pain disappears. It takes a split second to realize what happened. She snapped my neck. There was no fire this time. Just her oum reaching out to snap my neck, cutting off all the pain. 

With my mind clear, I take stock of my body. It’s practically already dead. Between the damage and the blood loss, my heart is barely able to continue. My brain will go soon too. Without its oxygen supply, it won’t last long. Longer than if I was an ordinary human, but still not long.

But it’s still not time yet.

“I’ll save you if you fail.”

Hanna’s voice sounds muffled. I’m losing it. My heart just beat its last. My brain is getting foggy. It’s almost time. 

But not yet.

***

Hurting her sister wasn’t easy. She was the one that suggested it, but as Hanna continued to poke holes in Bella, she was regretting that decision more and more. She hadn’t thought it all the way through. She thought it would be beneficial in the long run, but she had underestimated how she would feel bringing her own, long lost sister to the brink of death like this.

Still, she carried on. First the arms, then the legs, then the abdomen, then the lungs, then the neck. Could she have just given a single injury that also brought her to that state? Perhaps. But only if she wanted to give Bella an inferior version of Rebirth. Rebirth was about fighting through the pain and coldly logging each injury, waiting for the right moment to trigger. A single injury with little pain would be more efficient to get the base of the skill, but it would be hollow. She needed the slow, painful route to activate it properly. 

As she gave the final injury, the breaking of the spine, she gave a sigh. At the very least, Bella wouldn’t be in pain as she went through the last stage of the process. She could hopefully activate Rebirth with a relatively clear head. Assuming she activated it on time.

With every second that passed after the breaking of the spine, Hanna grew more and more anxious. She could sense everything happening in her sister’s body. The failing heart, the lungs that no longer moved, the brain activity faltering… Yet she still hadn’t used Rebirth yet. 

Hanna knew her sister was tenacious after living for so long and dying so many times, but this was a bit beyond what she expected. She hadn’t let out a single peep as her body was racked with pain, and now, she looked to be waiting for the literal last second to use Rebirth. It would give her the best results, but it was also risky. Hanna was ready to step in if needed, but she had to refrain from stepping in too early, lest she ruin the entire thing.

“I’ll save you if you fail,” she said, as Bella’s heart stopped.

She spoke loudly, hoping the other girl could still hear her. She had no idea though. Her brain activity was getting dangerously low. But she was still conscious. Still waiting.

Almost a full minute passed after that, and Bella’s brain activity got dangerously low. Hanna was worried that she had lost consciousness, and prepared to step in, when suddenly, in a burst of oum, everything changed. The holes in Bella’s flesh closed up, her broken neck realigned, the blood in her lungs returned to the vessels whence it came. With a spasm, she sat straight up, gasping for air. 

Immediately, Hanna, dove down to wrap her in a warm embrace. She could feel Bella’s heart beating rapidly, but after a minute or so, it calmed down.

“I’m sorry,” whispered Hanna.

“It’s- okay,” rasped Bella. “I asked for it.”

“I’m still sorry.”

I’m sorry for what you had to go through to have a will that strong.

“I’ll be- fine,” said Bella.