Kal had noticed how mixed both his vital, and physical energy were before but now it made sense. It naturally flowed together as one he could manipulate like any other mana, attribute, or thread but he had never even thought of what it was actually doing to him physically.

Would manually manipulating his endurance reduce his durability by restricting the natural flow to his skin and bones? Would pulling too much vital energy away from his brain kill him? Would his body even let him if he tried? Kal had concentrated his vital energy a few times before normally while he was using Wrathful Regeneration which did nearly all of the work for him.

This still didn't tell him how to convert stamina to vital energy but it would at least help him repair Wrath Incarnate and maybe even improve upon it.

He needed something to reference for ideas so he focused on Flesh of Iron. In many ways it appeared simpler than his other skills, there were far fewer constructs involved but each of them was quite different from the ones in his wrath-based skills.

Another major difference was the fact that there was no conversion construct at all. The skill drew stamina directly from his body and fed it into several guide constructs and an imprinter before finally entering a channel that exited his core space. Kal followed the channel since he had forgotten most of its forging and found that it entered the center of his sternum and into his bone marrow.

That made sense, Endurance, and Vitality had mentioned something about that, “That’s it!” Kal snatched up the book again flicked to the page describing blood production and read the first passage.

One interesting thing about the bone marrow of those affected by most healing skills is that it begins to quickly produce significantly more blood cells. The reason for this is unclear but skills that produce this effect on average heal the patient approximately 10% faster.

“More blood, or blood cells means more vital energy and physical energy,” Kal’s mind raced as a plan formed in his head. Could he simply just imbue his bone marrow with physical energy? If he was right about it carrying the properties of his physical attributes would that increase his blood flow therefore speeding up the flow of vital energy and technically physical energy?

It was worth a shot so Kal put the book back down and placed his remaining hand on his knee.

Health:

163/4160

Stamina:

7880/7880

Wrath:

0

Kal grunted when he saw his health had actually dropped further but he turned his perception inward and prepared himself. His fully recovered stamina made manipulating his physical energy feel almost too easy but Kal kept his movements slow and precise, focusing it all in one place with his body in its current state was probably a bad idea.

Using Flesh of Iron as inspiration Kal decided to focus on the bone marrow of his sternum. If it was good enough for the guy who invented Flesh of Iron it was good enough for Kal. Kal kept things simple but imposed his will upon the thread of physical energy he had formed to amplify his blood using his “wish really hard method”. Hopefully one day he would improve from that but for now, it was the best he had. With anything to reference it was always going to be risky.

When the thread of green light was finished Kal took a breath and inserted the thread.

Kal’s vision blurred and he felt his body fall back, smacking his head on the metal platform. His nose spattered his chest with dark blood. Everything ached like he had been crushed by a boulder and he felt his heart stutter and horrible sharp pain radiated from it that took his breath away.

His vision flickered again and the pain increased but Kal focused his attention on his vital energy and he found it rapidly increasing. He checked his status.

Health:

253/4160

Stamina:

6321/7880

Wrath:

0

Health:

343/4160

Stamina:

4321/7880

Wrath:

0

The pain worsened and the cracks covering his body burst open and blood sprayed across the platform.

Health:

23/4160

Stamina:

3321/7880

Wrath:

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

0

Kal’s eyes widened, he reached out with his will, snapping the thread and the pain vanished. Blood continued to pour from his open wounds but the leftover vital energy slowed it to manageable levels after a moment.

“Fuck…You probably should have thought about that…Idiot..” His body wasn’t supposed to have that much blood apparently. Kal simply lay there for a while as his stamina recovered to think over what he had learned from his failed trial.

He probably should have guessed he couldn’t just increase the amount of blood in his body without repercussions. It was just like channeling wrath, if the channels were durable enough they broke except this time it was his veins and pretty much everything else.

It had partially worked though, he had actually started healing before the strain of the amplification took its toll. So the next question was how could he mitigate the damage.

Yes, he believed he could. Kal didn’t waste any more time but instead of starting his work in his body he moved to his core space and began the process of weaving a containment sphere. This would require more than just one thread of physical energy to pull off.

Kal left the linking construct for last and instead worked on two implanting constructs, the first was to amplify his blood, and the second was to speed up his heart. Kal had to admit speeding up his heart was risky but he had felt how lethargic it had been when it had been forced to pump so much extra blood. After that, he weaved one channel to his sternum and another directly to the muscle of his heart.

Inserting the heart channel made Kal’s hair stand on end but he was confident he was on the right track so from there he moved on to the linking construct. Since he had Flesh of Iron to use as a reference he simply copied the linking construct from there.

When he was ready he took one last calming breath.

Health:

21/4160

Stamina:

7880/7880

Wrath:

0

“Let’s hope this works…”

Kal activated Flesh of Iron, gritted his teeth, and willed his makeshift skill to activate. Once again Kal found himself falling to the ground in writhing agony as his heart roared to life. His blood surged through his veins like it had never done before. Vital and physical energy cycled through his body faster than he could perceive, but the difference in strength instantly became obvious. His vital energy burned so brightly that it quickly began to blot out the light of his physical energy beside the two glowing green channels connected to his heart and sternum.

Wrathful Regeneration had always been painful but this, this was far worse. If Flesh of Iron wasn’t active Kal was certain his heart would tear itself from his chest as the rest of his body tore itself apart.

The skill remained active for what felt like an eternity but even if he wanted to he wasn’t sure if could have summoned the mental energy to end either skill. Every inch of both burned from the mana burn and ached with the pressure of his blood raging beneath.

And then it was over. Kal’s heart slowed and Flesh of Iron dropped. Blood splattered from his nose and a few cracks reopened as the excess blood flowed away. Kal panted for several seconds as his stamina slowly climbed back up and only when he had his breath back did he check his status.

Health:

30/4160

Stamina:

182/7880

Wrath:

0

Kal grinned despite the terrible efficiency of the attempt. He had done it but when he calculated how many times he would need to do it to fully recover he grimaced, “This is going to suck…”

----------------------------------------

“Finally…” Kal choked out as notification flashed into Kal’s eyes while he tried to catch his breath.

Six days…

Six days and four hundred and sixty cycles of overwhelming agony and slow stamina recovery to finally fully recover. Kal had tried several times to find a solution to the excess blood but nothing had worked. He had even tried just speeding up his heart but that alone didn’t seem to have a noticeable effect either.

Kal sat up for the first time in nearly a week to look over his freshly healed body but frowned as he looked down at his arms. His new fully regenerated left hand looked perfectly normal, exactly as it had before he lost it. But his other arm was a different story. A webwork of darkened skin still remained. Kal poked at it expecting the pain to flare up but under his touch, it felt completely normal.

He realized why almost immediately. He had forgotten to remove the charred and broken channels still strewn around his body. Despite being fully healed it appeared they still had some effect on him. Kal made a mental note to remove them before attempting anything with wrath or mana just in case they interfered with it. Which if his burned flesh was anything to go by they probably would.

For several minutes Kal just enjoyed being whole once more. He hadn’t realized it before but his mostly burned away body reeked of death. It was only towards the end of his healing process that he had been able to smell himself and because of all the bleeding he had to endure, most of the platform was soaked in blood. The only reason the entire platform wasn’t covered was because it had begun to leak off the side into the void.

He remembered to return the books after the first day with only a little blood soaking into the cover of Algor’s Theory. Kal couldn’t remember how protective of books Fyborh was but something told him he would be rolling in his grave.

Over the six days of healing, Kal had experienced two more memories. Neither were very specific or enlightening but they were calming. He was pretty sure they were from the days immediately after his other recent memory. He was somehow seeing the study in Fyborh’s final resting place through the god’s eyes.

Kal had experienced something like it when he was shown his father and sister but that had been incredibly disorientating and draining. What he had apparently experienced as a child was much… gentler. He simply watched Fyborh stroll around the building. Fyborh did pretty much all the talking but he didn’t seemed to mind.

Kal had so many questions about his lost memories but one stood out above the rest. What had Dhinir done to him? He didn’t dwell on the fact he had been taken from his home without his parents ever telling him no doubt the other gods had just as many tricks up their sleeves as Fyborh seemed to. No, what he wanted to know was Why had Dhinir taken him? And what did he do to him?

Kal was certain Dhinir had something to do with his soul being the way it is. His memory of meeting the bastard and his conversation with Dhoerin implied he was relatively normal when they had taken him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his guts turning over and a sudden dull ache. Kal was hungry.

The system notification flashed into his vision again, this time opening itself.

System Trial Updated!

Lonesome Will

To fall into the space between is a death sentence. Your anomalous nature has saved you from destruction but soon you will wish it hadn’t.

Part 1: Heal your shell 4160/4160

The strong wither to dust in the space between. Will you do the same?

Part 2: Survive 21 days.7/21

..

.

Escape the place between: 0/1

Time Limit: 93 days

Rewards: Title, Two mortal lives.

Kal sighed. It looked like he was going to be here longer than he hoped.