“Man, I’m a smith, and an artist, and an alchemist, and a woodworker, and a stoneworker, and a cook, and an enchanter, and whatever else I can squeeze out of my crafting skill,” Ben muttered to himself. “And you know what all of those things have in common? None of them are runners. There isn’t a single thing that any of my main skills need that involves running. So why do I keep getting dragged into situations where I need to run and try not to die?”

No answer came though as a different group of runners rushed to him and Yuzu. Their friends, finally free of the barriers trapping them, booked it to their side as Amy and Jake all but tackled Yuzu as she was healing him while Thera took over, holding him tight as she did.

She didn’t say anything, having no clue what she could say to that. He’d been the only one able to get out and if he hadn’t then Yuzu would have died sooner than later, but she felt the sight of him broken and bleeding seared into her mind while he was content to lay against her.

“Am I good to stand doc?” He asked her as positively as he could, having no idea just how ghastly it looked with his face so covered in his own blood.

“Maybe barely with support.”

“Cool, then what do you say we finish up treatment in our lovely little rest area ‘cause I don’t really want to have to stick around longer than I have to.”

He tried to put his feet under him but felt them want to give away immediately, the only thing letting him stand being Thera’s support and Jake who rushed over, for once not saying a word as he put Ben’s arm around his shoulders to help him up.

“Ah, wait, one-”

His words were cut off as he felt himself heave, what he thought was vomit rising up his throat being even more blood as he avoided Thera’s gaze, instead turning to Yuzu.

“Uh, should I be worried?”

“I already healed the injury that was making your stomach fill with it so it’s not a problem.”

Even as she said it though, she couldn’t stop from staring at the puddle on the ground while Ben just accepted it, going back to what he was trying to say.

“I need my gun, it should still be laying around here.”

“You all go ahead and I’ll look for it,” Amy told the rest as they started to move, carrying Ben through the door to lay down.

As he was being healed by both Thera and Yuzu, everyone was silent as they processed everything that happened. For a moment, both Amy and Jake had thought they’d have to helplessly watch Yuzu die while it was Ben who’d needed to destroy himself to keep her safe.

Yuzu was dealing with that same fact. Since coming to the world she’d never once felt powerless, the fact that she just had been had scared her. It was only once they were out that she couldn’t help but think of what alternatives she might have been able to manage if she’d only been willing. Ben had been able to put his body and life on the line to ensure they could have lived. Even if she didn’t have a magic she could have used to help, couldn’t she have buffed herself in the same way? Her attributes were great enough that she could have gotten far more power than Ben would have without a result quite that damaging, surely there was something she could have done.

Thera just kept quietly focusing on healing him, her mind going back to what she’d just had to witness again and again as she couldn’t escape from understanding in a far realer way what he must have gone through when he’d been trapped in the previous trial, and what he was now risking again because she had decided to challenge this one.

By the time both girls were done, he was just a little thinner, the bit of body fat he had being converted to replace the blood he’d lost as he alone was able to move past what happened relatively easily, it being just another injury to the many he’d had since coming to the world.

“Alright, I need to eat something so I’ll cook in a bit, but for now I’m going to wash up so mind your eyes.”

“I’ll cook,” Thera told him, still grappling with what she’d just seen. “You just relax.”

He gave a nod, happy enough to be free of any cooking duties as he went to the corner of the room and stripped down, pulling some water from his bag as he washed the blood away.

Without a door to block any nearby eyes he couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward about it, but the sticky, flaky feeling that coated him was a bigger priority as a potential distraction from whatever would come next that he wasn’t willing to put up with for longer than he had to.

By the time he was as clean as he could manage, he tossed aside the clothing he’d been wearing, pulling new ones from his bag as he was content with the fact that he’d be abandoning the old ones before walking to the others, all of them with their backs to him to give him some privacy, all of them still silent as Thera heated up some food from Jake’s inventory in a fire the archmage was producing before handing out plates.

“You guys can talk, you know,” Ben told them. “Come on, I know the last section was rough but we lived. Remember that little speech I was made to give? Straight up spat in the eye of any god who made that deathtrap.”

And in turn got absolutely ripped off. I saved one of the world's two soul mages, why didn’t I complete my quest for that?

It was Amy who broke the silence, looking him in the eyes as if trying to understand something. “Ben, you almost died. Yuzu would have if you weren’t here. I don’t think we can be so casual about this.”

“Why not?” He asked, this time looking at her with confusion instead. “This is a trial, people die in these all of the time, and that’s for the standard ones. Sure, I’m going to have another nightmare to add to my collection, but I came here expecting this, didn’t you?”

His question was met with silence. While Thera had been prepared to an extent, having remembered some of the more life-threatening times in the trial of Anailia, the other three were a different story. Each of them had incredible skills, the sort that could leave people the world over frothing in jealousy or awe. With their teachers there in the life tower they hadn’t seen an issue they couldn’t overcome either, but this was the first time since coming to the world that any of them had been left feeling helpless.

As the silence stretched on, eventually Jake spoke in a calmer voice than Ben had ever heard from the man. “I think the three of us might need a bit to talk about what happened if that’s cool with you two?”

“Yeah, take your time,” Ben said with a shrug. His meal was done so he got up and went to the other end of the room, putting his bag under his head and laying down as the sounds of whispers could be heard, the noise gone from his thoughts as Thera laid beside him, resting her head on his chest and holding him tight.

“I’m sorry,” She muttered, face buried in his shirt while he rubbed her head.

“Hey hey, it’s okay,” He told her gently. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”

“You’re only here because I decided to come. You just went through all of that because of me.”

“I’m glad I’m here,” He said in no uncertain terms. “If I wasn’t Yuzu would be dead. Aside from the fact that I enjoy having my powerful connections, the world losing a soul mage would be pretty bad. Hell, I’m shocked Uliel and Vasta even let her do this.”

Wait, why did they let her do this? He wondered as soon as he said it. I get the argument that it would be good for her to get the blessings, but they had to know what she’d be facing since they’d both challenged this tower before, right? Did they also just make the assumption that those were proper golems she could deal with?

In the moment it didn’t really matter. His body was healed and he had some time it seemed, so he enjoyed the feeling of his girlfriend in his arms, trying to reassure her that things were fine as they waited for the others to work out what they needed to.

“You mind if I borrow Ben for a moment?” Jake asked as he walked over, Thera looking first at him and then to Ben before nodding and getting up to join Yuzu and Amy at the other end of the room.

Jake sat down as Ben sat up, both leaning against a wall as they looked at each other. “So what’s up man?”

It took a moment, Jake trying to find the right words but only coming up with two.

“Thank you,” He said with more sincerity than Ben had ever heard in his voice. “If you weren't here then Yuzu would be dead. I can never pay that back.”

“You don’t need to worry about paying it back. I’m not going to just watch someone die, least of all a friend so don’t stress.”

“Mmh,” He grunted, more silence standing between them before he eventually spoke again, seeming to grapple with it as he did. “And I’m sorry.”

“I already told you man, I did what I always would have, there’s nothing to apologize for. I lived, she lived, we’re all fine.”

“Not that,” He muttered. “When you got out of the last trial, I really treated it more like a game then, didn’t I? But seeing you do all of that… You’d had to push yourself like that for the months you were trapped, right? If I’d been in your position I’d never have managed, I took what you went through way too lightly.”

Ben could see it in his eyes, the deep feelings coursing through the man beside him as he reached out and flicked his head, leaving Jake to blink.

“You know, I really prefer you as a cheerful idiot,” Ben said with a smile. “It suits you more than heavy moods and serious talks so let’s not worry about that, alright?”

He’d never been bothered by that to begin with, a fact Jake could see.

“Yeah, alright.”

“Good, so what did you guys decide on in your little talk?”

It wasn’t hard to guess the contents of it. Yuzu had almost died, there was no way they weren’t trying to decide if they should even go through to the next floor, and with the question came a small, determined look to Jake’s eyes.

“We’re going to keep going. If you want to dip out here I more than get it man, but we have to get to the top.”

Seeing Ben go through that had put things in perspective for them. If the person who was by all measures the weakest human on the planet, even after awakening a few skills, was able to push themselves so far then they needed to as well. They were the ones who would be fighting at the front of a war, they needed every advantage they could get.

“Ha, well I’m not going to be quitting yet either,” Ben told him, trying to joke around. “You feel like you owe me, right? Make sure you guys carry me the rest of the way so I can get those two extra levels. I have big plans for them.”

“You’ve got it.”