Alex awoke to a still empty cell, mind racing as he frantically checked how much time had passed. At the realization that he’d only been out for five minutes, he immediately dropped back into the meditative state, his continuous experience making the transition smooth. Pathing the way back down to his forearm in under ten minutes, Alex’s headache flared once more, though less so than earlier. Taking an extra few minutes to make sure everything was correct, he activated the skill in its portal form, the hole in reality little bigger than his fist. It had been a risk, but a well-thought-out one. Doing it this way should not have costed any additional mana and stopped him from needing to worry about re-opening the storage again to hide the evidence once he was finished.
Shuffling around so that his back faced the cell door, in case of the men’s early arrival, Alex hurried to make a decision. He was thirsty, starving, and desperate to escape. Chained to a wall and with a lack of sustenance slowing him down even further, he knew the last wasn’t currently an option. Eating was appealing only until he remembered what his plans for the next few hours would look like. Beyond the waste throwing up good food would be, it would tip off the two men whose hospitality had only extended to pneumonia and pain, that had other means of gaining survival, another non-option. That left water, and while it could have a similar alerting result as the food, Alex couldn't find it in himself to wait any longer and drank anyway.
He downed the first cup in seconds, quickly followed by a second. For the third, he took it in sips, trying not to jolt his semi-dehydrated system too bad. Dropping the now empty cup back into his inventory, Alex took a breath at seeing he still had fifteen minutes. It was time to enact the second part of his inventory based plan. Probing gingerly at the still present mental link with his inventory, he shrunk his portal further, to around half the size of a pea. Opening his mouth, he directed it in, then down until it sat near the base of his esophagus where he anchored it. The idea had seemed crazy when he’d first considered it, and even now Alex wasn’t certain of the plan’s sensibility; but if all went well, the portal would allow him to store some of the force-fed potion for future use.
What worried him the most was accidentally sheering off some of his organ like the world’s most morbid sculptor, but a combination of desperation and confidence in the skill’s degree of control forced him forward. Making sure the inventory hadn’t affected him negatively, Alex took a few breaths and moved around, ready to sever the connection in an instant if need be. When all seemed in order, he took a second to look over himself. He’d spilled a bit of water on his shirt when he was drinking, but the dirty strips that remained of his clothes were so messy, Alex doubted it would be noticeable. Turning back to face the cell door, he waited, at the very least the day would be interesting.
It took them over an hour longer to arrive that day, and he had to fight off the urge to reopen his inventory to eat as he sat. Instead, he meditated, hoping a clear mind would better deal with the higher amounts of pain the session would bring. Trevor walked in first looking as insufferable as ever. Alex couldn’t say he’d been paying much attention to the man’s daily wear, but could tell he looked a bit more unkept than normal. Which, for the already filthy dwarven man, was saying something. Still, that hadn’t alarmed Alex, a dirty person getting dirtier wasn’t anything to write home about.
Greyson’s change in demeanor was the true signal flare that something had gone wrong. Alex had already deduced that the man was many a -path. Even so it was rare to see him with a blatant show of emotion that lasted more than a few seconds. Behind every punch, every scream, had been the show of anger rather than the emotion, now, he looked pissed. It seemed for Alex; these tough few days would only be getting tougher.
They started with the usual breaking of bones and potion repairal. Trevor had grown crueler by the day, likely noticing and trying to out-pain his resistance skill’s effect, even if he hadn’t said as much. For Alex’s part, Pain Resistancehad begun to live up to its name, the captive noticing instances where a stab that might have left him reeling before, only sent a jolt. Through all the various methods of torture, he couldn’t be sure his portal was collecting any of the concoction, but he hoped it was. At least that would make all the suffering worth something.
Next, they moved on to blunt force trauma injuries, these at a slower pace than some of the earlier days. Alex had been able to withstand most of them with only his skills and the potion the shorter man poured directly onto wounds. One such injury he wasn’t as lucky with, a mallet strike that broke a rib the wrong way, puncturing, and ultimately collapsing, a lung. Shock nearly claimed him once more, but he was able to pull himself back without being forced to close his inventory. Alex knew if that happened, he’d never be able to get it back open through the fraction of lucidity he held, and he needed all the juice he could get.
From there, the men moved on to new stuff, burning, death by a million cuts, and a few other similarly horrendous techniques. The two men working together to come up with creative ways to break Alex, while Trevor shouted the questions as they worked. By the end they must have thought they had him, shit they nearly did, but Alex was as close to escape as they were to answers. His progress that morning having reinvigorated him in a way no potion could, and Alex refused to surrender.
In the end he was reduced to the same broken mess as the days prior. By then everything hurt, even with the levels Pain Resistance had gained throughout the day. Still, it was worth it, in another five minutes the healer would fix all his injuries, and with any luck he’d be out of here by morning. But Greyson’s announcement of a deviation from their usual arrangement ruined that hope. It seemed, even with the free points every level granted him, luck was something he was sorely lacking.
“I have come to see that you don’t understand the point of our generosity,” the toned man ground out. He was taking in deep breaths and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead, lifting a hand to wipe, he thought better of it upon realizing the amount of Alex’s blood coating his knuckles. It seemed attempting to mercilessly beat the answers out of Alex was tiring for both sides. “Tonight you shall sit with your injuries, come morning you will answer our questions, or we will start removing body parts. Those will never be healed.”
With little of the fanfare such a dramatic proclamation deserved, Trevor stored the stone chair once more and the pair departed, leaving Alex in quite the predicament. It seemed a deadline was fast approaching.
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Dismissing the portal near his stomach, Alex tried to form a plan of action. He was currently lying on his side, but would need to move if he wanted to get anything done. His legs were mounds of pain, and he was pretty sure there was nerve damage in at least one of his arms. Repositioning himself onto his back, each movement accompanied by a grunt, and some of the more aggravating ones a squeal, Alex checked to see if his gamble had paid off. He dropped into a meditative state, the pain dragging the process out a bit and causing him to take longer than it had that morning, until finally, he managed to open a portal above his mouth. Mentally commanding it to release a little of the potion at a time, he drank.
It turned out his plan had worked, better than expected in fact. Alex had long assumed that the squirt bottle was some kind of storage device, but the couple gallons of potion that sat in his inventory proved it. Drinking more and more, its diluted nature leaving him unsure if even that much could heal him fully, Alex attempted to direct the flow of healing energy to specific parts of his body. It wasn’t something he’d tried before, but his new hyper-awareness to internal energies aided in the process, allowing him a measure of control.
Starting with his organs, Alex healed them in full, making sure there would be no internal injuries while he escaped, nor any that could linger and crop up in the future. Done staving off organ failure, he moved on to his bones, prioritizing those most necessary for combat and movement. Those two alone took a gallon and a half of the potion before he was able to move onto some of the more surface injuries. Deciding to leave the cuts and scar tissue for now, he worked below the skin, repairing everything best he could to prevent it from hindering him. By the time he ran out of potion the cuts still covered the entirety of his skin, but he felt at least good enough to fight. If anything, his level of health compared to how he looked, would give his opponents a shock which would hopefully translate to an edge in battle.
Laying on his side and facing away from the door, Alex opened the portal wider, his stomach’s rumble partly fended off by Pain Resistance as he picked out food. Deciding to start with some meat, he read over his advancement’s as he ate.
***
For accessing and utilizing a fundamental energy of the multiverse, you have received the following:
Mana Manipulation (Epic)
Your skill [Fear Resistance] has advanced to Level Fourteen.
Your skill [Fear Resistance] has advanced to Level Fifteen.
Your skill [Meditation] has advanced to Level Nineteen.
Your skill [Meditation] has advanced to Level Twenty.
...
Your skill [Meditation] has advanced to Level Twenty-Two.
Your skill [Pain Resistance] has advanced to Level Twenty-Two.
Your skill [Pain Resistance] has advanced to Level Twenty-Three.
Your skill [Pain Resistance] has advanced to Level Twenty-Four.
Your skill [Mana Manipulation] has advanced to Level Two.
Your skill [Mana Manipulation] has advanced to Level Three.
Skills
Name: Mana Manipulation
Rating: Epic
Grade: F
Level: 3
Mode: Bimodular
Resource Cost: Mana (Variable)
Description: In the vast expanse of the multiverse, power exists at varying tiers, and at one of the pinnacles stands mana. Whether it be to cast a spell or activate an ability, heal a friend or maim a foe, this principal energy is paramount in your aim’s success. Yet you need not follow those pesky guidelines any longer. Embrace a new type of freedom, as you directly interact with mana, no longer bound by the limits of your skills. Tap into the energies near the base of existence, harnessing the power of the gods, and in doing so, set yourself on the path to become one. Skill ability correlates to Wisdom, Willpower and Intelligence.
***
He had been finishing up some salad as he read over the skill’s description, and stored his dishes back in his inventory before grabbing a cup of water to wash it all down. Making sure to do so discreetly, Alex groaned his way onto his back and checked to see if anyone was watching. Seeing there was still no one, he began to plan his escape in earnest. The session had finished later than average, but still left him with about seventeen hours before the men’s normal time of arrival. Ideally, he’d like to escape during the night since it would make sneaking about easier, but he planned to kill the men either way, so he supposed it wouldn’t really matter.
There were a few things he’d need if he wanted to succeed in this plan: the restraints removed, information about where he was, and access to his abilities. The last was the most actionable and had potential to solve another, so he got to work on that first. Meditating on his back was different for Alex than sitting up like normal, but he didn’t want to raise suspicion unnecessarily, so he remained prone. Mana Manipulation definitely made things easier and Alex recognized the same effectiveness in which he’d healed himself active as he worked.
It took well over two hours before he managed to link a path between his mana pool and the ambient mana channels in his head. While he expected some big surge of power, none came. However, as he released the hold a little while later, fearing his efforts had ended in failure, the connection held, and without manual interference. Advanced Analyze sending the ping directly to his mana pool, as it sent mana up to meet it. Spurred on by the description of the tough metal cage bars, Alex manually linked other skills in his head to his core, the interference nowhere near as overpowering as it once had been. First up was Sixth Sense, and he felt palpable relief when the skill began feeding him information he’d been missing out on for the last few days. Tracking,Soul Sight, and Battle Trance, were all nearby, so he did those as well. Alex guessed there might be more but decided not to waste time on anything not useful during his escape.
Next, he worked to link path channels from his arms to his core, the task equally tedious as it had been earlier in the day due to the cuffs' proximity. It took him nearly three more hours to reach a single palm, and Alex was spent mentally by the time it was over. Unfortunately, he had no time to rest. Fortunately, he had a couple of things to do that might wake him up. Lying on his side once more, Alex popped his short sword into existence and activated Thorn’s Touchto check the rate his mana pool replenished after being drained. While the process was working again, it was at a considerably slower rate than normal, somewhere around a quarter of his max.
Cutting the skill to conserve mana Alex checked his sudo-clock. It was around eleven at night, which meant it was the perfect time to use Soul Sight. Doing so would be a big hit to his mana pool, but with a combination of it and Sixth Sense he’d hopefully be able to explore enough not to stumble about blind. Making sure everything was in order as he stared at the ceiling, Alex sent the mental command, his soul leaving his body an instant later.