“That’s it, that’s the end,” Ben muttered, catching Tenth’s ear.
“What, finally done falling on your face?”
“Hey, that only happened a few times.”
“It happened a lot of times.”
“Okay, whatever, I’m not falling anymore. It’s just… the invasion point on my world, we have a good idea on how long they stay open for and the second one should have just finished if my timing’s right. This took me longer than I wanted, I was hoping to be back by now.”
He was pretty sure his couple levels of balance enhancement had helped a bit with it but mastering his new shoes had been an uphill battle. Every time he took a step and they shot him forward he’d wanted to fall but he needed to practice beyond that, he couldn’t even risk being unsteady on his feet when he used them so everything he’d done after making them had gone into practicing, days of it as he raced around his small cell, running and jumping and rolling with everything he had until he felt good enough.
But you could take a couple more days. His hesitation whispered in his head. You’ve gotten pretty good at using them, you could get better. Why not wait a little longer? You’ve already officially missed the end of the second wave, what’s another week of practice?
An eternity.
Fine then, what about just one or two more days? It tried instead. Look at you. Did you ever think you’d get through a third-tier job so quickly? Give it a little more time to materialize the rest of the souls you need to finish it and then take a new one, then you can see how you’re feeling from there.
That was more tempting. Significantly so. Back when he’d first taken the job, getting levels on level just by accepting it without ticking his job level up by a single point, he thought it might be one he’d actually need years to finish, but creating souls had proven to be a bountiful harvest, especially in the numbers he’d managed. After making roughly ten thousand a minute ever since he’d got his ninth level and upgraded his jacket, he really was only a couple days from finishing walking the path of a soul mage, with all of the benefits that would hold. He’d be able to take something new and the bonuses he was currently under would become permanent, and for all he knew, maybe he’d get an advanced path beyond it. It didn’t sound like that was common for third-tier jobs, but then, many holders of skills at that level didn’t finish them before they died. He on the other hand could easily have an advanced soul mage option, giving him even more bonuses that he could then rush through by making more and more souls-
No. No, I'm not going to stall. If this doesn’t work then so be it, I’ll figure out something else and if that doesn’t work I’ll figure out something else again. That’s who I am. I’m the craftsman, I see a problem and I work it out, it’s that simple, no giving up. If that means I’m in here for years trying to figure out how to break out then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll believe the world is still fighting the good fight as I speed through every job available to me until there’s nothing left. This is nothing but a wall to break. Eventually, I’ll come out on top.
“Are you alright Ben?” Tenth asked after seeing a range of emotions flash across his companion's face. “You looked… well, many things. Your features are a tad more subtle than my own kind's.”
He wiggled the tentacles on his face for effect and left Ben cracking a smile.
“I am,” He told him confidently, forcing himself to believe it before saying what needed to be said. “For what it’s worth, Tenth, I’m sorry.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Hmm?”
“I’m about to try my escape, the thing I’ve spent the entire last month working towards. If I get out of here, if I succeed at this, I’m not going to be able to save you too. Every second I have is going to count, I’m not going to be able to give it up trying to break down your wall, and I am genuinely so, so sorry.”
He’d be abandoning Tenth to be alone again, everyone else around him long gone mad as the galwaxian had been the sole person in their area to hold on to who they were through the centuries. It was impossible for Ben to imagine the depth of character something like that took but it wouldn’t last forever. No matter how strong he may have been, one day, Tenth would reach his breaking point, just like everyone else, and he’d have to suffer through that alone.
“Bah, then I’ll console you when you fail,” Tenth told him, not meeting his eyes. “I’m sure you’ll be brokenhearted but your buddy will be here to try and lift you up.”
“...Thank you Tenth, I’ll be counting on you if the time comes.”
He wanted to tell the other that he’d at least remember him, that for what little it was worth he’d tell his world about the last child of Galwax who’d faced centuries of confinement and every day came out on top and what an inspiration he knew that fact would be, but he held it in. It wasn’t something the other wanted to hear so instead he kept it to himself as he pulled the cooking of the divine chef from his ring and scarfed it down, feeling it buff him in all areas as he began the process of filling his soul for the attempt, his mana pool exploding to one million points with all he’d forced into it.
He could do more, the total volume he could handle had only grown over the days and it felt like the buffs he was under had raised his upper limit even further, but he was hoping to avoid overburdening himself if he could help it. Too much pain and he’d still be feeling it while he needed to run. Even what he would be doing was still going to hurt, but it was at what he wanted to believe was a doable level, both for managing and for escaping, and with it all inside of him he stood in front the barrier that blocked his path to freedom and waited.
…Okay, that should be long enough for all of the jacket souls to have gone back to their max capacity. In that case, it’s time to do this.
He was wearing everything he needed to and felt positively brimming with power so he reached out, touching both the barrier and the sacrilege within him as he made various forces clash. His own destructive powers against the wall that held him, his sacrilege against the divinity it contained.
And he failed. It wasn’t enough, what he’d gathered compared to what he was up against, leaving him to fall to the ground as Tenth spoke up.
“It’s okay,” The other said in sympathy. “All of us here… I’m sure we’ve all felt the drive to escape, but we’ve all failed. There’s no shame in it.”
“I’m not done yet.”
He’d tried to play it safe, he hadn’t filled his soul to the point he needed to scream and fight through the pain, but once more he tried again, going so much further beyond what he just had as agony assaulted him, threatening to break him into pieces as he again reached out, squeezing every drop of mana from his soul, only to get the same ending.
“I can see how much this is hurting you,” Tenth spoke. “You don’t need to put yourself through this. I’m sorry Ben, but nothing you do is going to work.”
“Ha, but Tenth, you’re forgetting something rather important,” Ben said with a smile despite his suffering as he waited for the mana in his imprisoned souls to refill. “While we’re in here, we’re supposedly immortal. If no level of pain and suffering is going to kill me then I need to put everything I have into it! Now onto the third test! Boy oh boy, I really didn’t want it to get to this one!”
Once more he overfilled his soul but this time he held it as he had with the first, suffering through the pain for what had to only be tens of seconds of agony but felt like hours to ensure each soul crystal he’d stolen from was once more at its maximum before he poured out everything he had again and kept pouring from there, stealing a constant supply of mana and shoving it out of him as fast as it would go in, spending tens of millions in a few seconds, feeling as the barrier cracked and then shattered under his fingertips and then-
A miscalculation. A severe one as not only the wall in front of him, but the barriers above, below, and to his sides broke as well, with the truth of the matter hitting him as hard as the ground below when he crashed down. That entire structure wasn’t made of pieces, he was never going to break only a single wall when it was all one barrier, with its destruction freeing every prisoner in its grasp, releasing them to the hungry eyes that had been waiting below.