CH433

“Wait there!” He yelled back as he ran, trying to keep anyone from following him as they were all still busy with taking in the empty space around them before reading the sign.

It gave him a few seconds at least, all he needed to put himself at the edge of a small boundary before spinning around, just in time for it to begin to click with the others just what they were being instructed to do.

“Ben!” Thera yelled at him, being cut off before she could say more.

“We’re on a time limit and I’m the only one without life magic. There’s no point in wasting time arguing so just make sure you save me, okay?”

With that he gave a confident smile and took a few steps back, crossing the boundary as just what the sign said clicked with the rest of them.

SELECT A SACRIFICE TO HEAL.

TIME LIMIT: 3 HOURS

He’d already told himself he wasn’t going to let anyone else put themselves in danger when he was the one who’d convinced each to come and he’d meant it, which was why he’d thrown himself into things so forcefully. The outcome was obvious anyway, all that was left was seeing just what he was about to go through.

After all, how bad can being a sacrifice be?

The answer was horrifically so as he at first collapsed to the ground when things truly began and he did all he could to keep from screaming. It felt like his entire body was being stabbed at once, far worse than what he’d done to himself in the last section, but what made it worse was the feeling of movement that came with it. His skin was opening up and peeling away of its own accord as each piece of himself was disconnected from everything else, slithering out of his clothing while his minds were lighting up in the agony that came with being disassembled.

It was a pain that made it impossible to think, but the shape his mind had taken had deprived him of the mercy of whiting out that any normal person could expect from such a thing. All he could do was suffer through it as an indeterminate amount of time passed for him, trapped within a dissected body.

It never eased, but as each second passed he felt his reason slowly coming back to him, even through his suffering as he tried to keep his focus from his body to instead make out the noises around him, with it eventually becoming clear it was his companions.

“Yeah, I get he’s a guy and his organs have been altered, but you’re the only other human here Steph so we have to assume your body plans are going to be similar,” Thera said, her voice betraying the panic she was feeling. “I think I have a pretty good idea how he’s put together, but I need to do some comparisons or else we’re never going to get all of this.”

“I get that, just breathe Thera, we’ll never help him if we panic.”

Jesus, when did I start using my thought speed skills? He moaned. Even if they were panicked, they were talking too fast, with only one obvious explanation. Is that some sort of survival mechanism? I feel like I’m going to die so time slows down? ‘Cause I really don’t like it!

Even if it was just prolonging his pain though, he didn’t stop despite what he’d just thought. Agony meant he was alive, which meant he had room to work.

And if I’m going to work, that means I need to see what I’m doing. Oh man oh man, I’m really not going to like this.

Despite knowing he was about to give himself another mental scar with the act he pushed the feeling away as he reached out, connecting to the women around him to see the world through all of their eyes and hating what he found as much as he was expecting.

His body was stripped down and laid out the way a museum piece would be, or perhaps how a medical hall might be set up to teach students about a body’s structure. More accurately, after the exhibit had been dropped. His bones were all laid out, but there was no organization to it, same with his muscles and organs, all cleanly separated from each other and left on the ground to be reconstructed into a proper person.

He could also see someone had vomited earlier, he couldn’t tell who, but the puddle of it was thankfully clear of him. He could only imagine what it had looked like as he was taken apart like that, it would have been all the more traumatic if he’d had to see it too so he didn’t touch their memories, instead going straight to speaking in their minds.

So it’s a good thing I was the sacrifice from the looks of it, huh? He tried to joke, doing his best to hide the immense pain he was in but still seeing some of them flinch as a bit made it through.

“Wait, Ben? How are you talking to us right now?” Steph asked, jerking at the sound of his thoughts. “How are you even conscious?”

Connect is excellent and my mind skills are less so. My god told me he doubted I’d be able to pass out anymore and it looks like he was right. Really wouldn’t recommend thinking with your soul if you can help it.

He felt Thera’s relief hearing his voice despite the situation and tried to put on a confident front as he looked through her eyes specifically, seeing her use her mana examination on Steph and feeling how her body structure compared to the body plans of humans on Earth.

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While the chemistry and biology behind it were completely different, the physiology was the same as his mind made connections, his knowledge skill helping with that as he compared what he was seeing to what was before him.