CH631

Another day of practice and another day of progress as Ben passed the time the best he could, adjusting to his situation even as he did his best to escape it. When he’d finished with his handstand pushups he’d moved to a different exercise, even if it was one he dreaded.

Given the area of the cell he was trapped in, there was barely enough space for one particular activity, something he was hating even at just the very first step but knew getting even a couple more points to it could be handy when he made his escape.

Running. That terrible act that he only committed to when his life was well and truly on the line, Ben pushed his body as he raced around his cell, straining himself in that small space as he made his souls, all to get just a couple more points to his agility.

It was immediately tiring but he had the stamina to keep it up for hours so he didn’t stop, running and making and thinking all at once as the time wore on and his legs burned, fighting past the feeling of it while he couldn’t help but wonder if he was actually going to get anything out of it.

If his cell was keeping him from dying, there was a chance it was just resetting his body to some initial state. That fact that those around him hadn’t aged to dust would seem to indicate it at least, hinting that whatever growth he’d get would be limited, but at the same time, his development no longer seemed to be entirely linked to his body.

It was easy to fall into the trap of thinking that he still operated under the rules of the universe he was born to but in his new reality how strong one could get wasn’t solely linked to the growth and development of one’s muscles. If that was the case then awakening bonuses wouldn’t be a thing, with the first granting so much more power to all of his or anyone else’s attributes.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t also put on a fair bit of muscle in his time there, his work was demanding enough to see to that, but it was clear that there was a non-physical component to strength in the universe he found himself in.

Which means this probably isn’t a waste of time. Okay, still running I guess and I’ll check my card later to see if I’m right.

It almost felt like he’d been trying to convince himself he was wrong to have an excuse to stop but having failed in the end he kept going, feeling his feet slap against the ground below as he went until he had no more in him to give, eventually collapsing to the floor, panting for breath the entire time.

“Was there a point to that?” His fellow prisoner asked him as the galwaxian watched from the side.

“General self-improvement?”

“Running for hours on end counts as self-improvement?”

“It counts as exercise, you’re from a race of warrior mages, you should get the idea.”

“I don’t think I’d describe my people in such a way.”

“Your god did.”

It was one of the first things Galwax had after he’d completed the trial but it left the galwaxian beside him in quiet contemplation as he thought about his people as a whole before responding.

“However he saw us, we were just people in the end,” He said simply. “Did our culture value strength and magic more than others? I can’t say, I haven’t seen others, but I at least was only a farmer, no more, no less.”

“Then tell me about your people,” Ben asked him, seeing that the galwaxian seemed in the mood to talk. “I only know what I’d seen in the archive and that was mostly a combination of people working and trying not to die.”

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“What is there to say? I’m sure we were like any place. People lived their lives, getting up to work and pray and giving their time to those they love. Does that sound so different from your own kind?”

“No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

“So what else is there to tell?” The prisoner sighed. “And it’s all gone now, reduced to ashes or whatever those below saw fit to do with it.”

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