Path of the Deathless

12 (I) Misconception

-Essential Reading at Phoenix Academy of The Yellowstone Republic12 (I)

Misconception

Shiv turned himself into a walking mass of tumors. He did it over and over again until he dropped dead. He did it well over twenty times while he The agony was exquisite, the suffering novel, the experience fun.

He started with trying to heal small cuts. He sliced himself with his kitchen knife over and over, then tried to close the cut. He discovered that the damage of a cut was more complex than he imagined. It was just skin and some meat, but all the vessels beneath… Even the skin had so many layers. The meat was muscle and tendon, and all that architecture worked in tandem as well. Now, the good part about healing was that it was . Shiv used enough Potions of Lesser Regeneration to know they basically supercharged the body’s natural healing to handle wounds. The bad part of these potions—and not knowing what he was doing with Biomancy—was that when you supercharged your biology, it had a tendency to mutate.

Mutations usually meant cancers.

And thus, that was how Shiv started his repeated cancer spiral—by trying to heal a small cut on his arm. He tried several different variations: trying to accelerate his regeneration as much as he could, healing slow and steady, transplanting flesh from a healthy section of his body to the damaged part as a patch. Only the last part did something other than cause a bunch of cancers, but it still hurt, and it left the area less than functional. The bleeding got plugged up fine, but random fatty tissue and tendons didn’t mix well, and Shiv found himself trying to rebuild connections between bones, nerves, and sinews.

This resulted in—as expected—even more cancers.

It made Shiv remember something a Biomancer said to him once after one of his trips down into the ruins.

Suddenly, Shiv found himself envying the damned high vampire. If that was true, the felling bastard had an unfair advantage. Being able to warp your flesh whatever way you want without all the little bits inside just breaking apart or turning into tumors was unfair. As Shiv resurrected again, he crawled back ashore and brought in his new haul of shrimps as well. He was slowly emptying out this section of the lake and would likely need to move a bit further up.

So far, he had a bit more of a practical understanding of his body. He kind of knew what connected to where in certain places and what some organs generally did. What he couldn’t do was rapidly regenerate wounds or actively adapt his body in the middle of combat. Still. All the practice and dying paid off. With the focus he applied and his willingness to butcher himself using Biomancy over and over again, his mana field expanded further, with its power and radius extending by increasing amounts each time.

Biomancy > 15

Still, the growth he experienced was inhuman, considering he just got the skill a little while ago. Even if it was slowing down because he was used to dying of cancer, he could spike the skill with other deaths. If he figured out something about how to make diseases, maybe he could infect himself over and over and die that way. Maybe that would advance multiple skills.

Another issue with leveling this way was how narrow it was. It didn’t help with his Toughness because he wasn’t dying due to a lack of it. No other skills were being pressed either. He resolved to keep testing his Biomancy in the meantime—using himself as a training dummy in the process. A bigger, stronger mana field would be helpful regardless. Soon, he might even be able to pop someone like the high vampire did.

He looked at the stone dagger he left in the alcove after telling Valor he intended to take a nap. Valor bid him farewell, but Shiv suspected the person inside the dagger knew he was up to something. Frankly, Valor knew a lot. If they were a Legendary Pathbearer before they got sealed in the dagger, they might know a great deal about Biomancy, too.

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Shiv always intended to pick their mind, but he wanted to do some of his own learning first. Shiv always learned better by doing. It was how he was. Most people didn’t want to teach him anyway, and Georges wasn’t someone that liked to explain overmuch between finding new and creative ways to insult you first. That made Shiv pause. Maybe he was apprehensive about asking because he’d been punished for trying to do that his entire life.

He exerted his improved Biomancy field and directed it at his many bodies before entering the alcove. Shiv made a downward pressing motion with his hand to direct his intent, and the field danced around him, shaping a spell-pattern. He felt the bodies turn to paste, hearing the bones crunch apart before dissolving into powder. Shiv smirked. Magic was bullshit—but now some of that bullshit was his to use in combat.

“I crushed some shrimp outside with my Biomancy. I was experimenting.”

Shiv just stared at the dagger. Sometimes, he wondered if Valor could see his surroundings after all. “Uh, no. Definitely just shrimp, Valor. I’m pretty sure you'd hear fighting if there were twenty bodies I could turn to paste. I could turn twenty bodies to paste. I just got Biomancy. Not nearly that strong yet.”

A sigh came from the dagger.

The Deathless opened and closed his mouth. “Valor, you seem to know a lot of noises relating to bodily harm.”

“Are you a Biomancer?”

And now Shiv was glaring at the dagger. “Languishes. At Master Tier. Valor, your words could give a Slayer an aneurysm. I know people who would weep if they made it to Adept.”

“Yeah. Tell me about it. Anyway, I was wondering… if you would be willing to explain some things about biology to me. I was experimenting on a shrimp to see if I could heal it so I could use the technique on myself, but I just kept giving it cancers.”

“There’s a name for this?”

Shiv didn’t know nearly enough about biology to disagree, so he just grunted.

“They did?” Shiv was surprised. He didn’t expect vampires to care.

“That… makes sense.” And it made the vampires seem more like an actual organization rather than a loose collective of monsters. This was a terrifying thought to Shiv, as he had assumed them to be just really powerful but brutal beasts. Now, it seemed they could be that, but also thinking people who decided things based on policy and preference.

“That sounds intriguing. But how does a book do that to someone? Is it just very hard to read?”

That sounded… But Shiv was intrigued. “Mind magic really is something. Wait, is there a way I can quickly attune to mind magic? Or defend against it? Like with a Magical Resistance.”

“Why is getting a Magical Resistance Skill harder, though?

Shiv thought of the fire weaver he faced earlier. The spider managed it—so could he. “Alright. Well. Looks like I have a lot to look forward to in Weave. Money is going to be a bit of a problem though. I—” Shiv almost started talking about how he didn’t have much mithril, but thought that the people down here might run on another economic system. “I’m pretty poor.”

“How much?” Shiv asked, curious to learn this place's currency and how much he might be able to make.

Shards. Ten thousand. Shiv remembered the former and thought the latter sounded impressive. Ten thousand mithril would be a ridiculous sum of money for him. His annual wage as a chef was barely a thousand. “Alright. I’ll try to remember those books. I’m going to pack up now and break camp.”

Shiv actually hadn’t slept at all. He still felt fine, though. His mental exhaustion from earlier was almost entirely gone, and his body—thanks to his increased Physicality—was even stronger than it was before. Even as a Pathless, Shiv took care to keep his body in peak condition. He needed to if he was going to face threats far stronger and faster than himself; a single mistake was fatal. And now he learned just how right he was—without preparation and ambushes, he died over and over in so many different ways.

The world was a lethal place.