Forty

Kon opened the door to the retrofitted bathroom and reeled backward as the astringent smell of cleaning products struck him with the force of a physical blow. A cough bubbled up, intermixing with a sneeze to cause a burst of pain as he made a decidedly weird sound. Diur looked up from the tin bathtub and turned her head in a confused manner as she looked at him.

"I didn't think humans could make that noise," she said as she stared at the slow roiling pool of clear, viscous liquid inside of the tub. Kon sneezed again as he rubbed at his suddenly clear nose, breathing in the fumes of the tub even deeper now.

"I don't think we're supposed to. That hurt," Kon said, rubbing at his chest as he slowly approached the tub.

Over the last five days Benny had disappeared and reappeared without word, leaving peak E-Grade treasures in the common room for Diur to use. Said it was paying her back for the work she had done for them. Now she had all the ingredients she needed for her first round of body tempering.

"How does this work?" Kon asked as he stared at the pool of liquid with a wary eye.

"This pool is a mix of liquidized treasures. Daniur left me a long list of ways to make this happen, but over the last week I have made the proper alchemical mixes used to mix and balance the appropriate treasures along with balancing my body through diet, meditation, and exercise. I will submerge myself and let the balanced energies inside the tub begin to enter and enhance my body."

"Why didn't I go through that?" Kon asked.

"You went the direct route of overwhelming your bodies natural defenses and just infusing yourself with energy. Easy to do since at the time you had little to overwhelm. I am already possibly too far into my journey to experience this, but I shall try," Diur informed him.

"What happens if your body can't absorb it all?" Kon asked, moving around the tub and staring down at it as Diur slowly breathed in a cycle that Kon knew was similar to her meditation breathing.

"I shall be in excruciating pain as I am scoured by the energies with my core likely shattering under the stress. It is why we are in this room. If I am to suffer a failure of that degree, the mess will be contained," Diur said, pointing around the small room that would be easy to clean.

"So you might blow up?"

"That is a possibility. More likely though is that the bath will dissolve me into a goo," Diur said.

"That's gross. You shouldn't do that. I like you better as a solid state of matter rather than liquid or gaseous," Kon said, offering her a smile as he tried to lighten the mood.

"I should have blown up several times already. She's tough, she'll be fine." Kon repeated that in his mind as he looked over the boiling bath. Diur slowly took off her robe, the voluminous garment covered a secondary set of tighter workout clothes she normally wore to their spars. She looked over at him and waved at the door.

"I believe it is considered rude amongst humans to watch others undress. Your support is appreciated but this is a journey I myself must make. I'll see you soon," Diur said and Kon got the hint, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He stood outside the door and waited, heart beating fast as a nervous sweat trickled down his back.

Diur's first scream was muted as if she was biting her hand to suppress it. The second and third were louder and Kon kept himself standing there, waiting in vigil as the minutes turned to hours. Her screams slowed, becoming raspy then silent as Kon stayed locked in spot, waiting for the words to come in.

"She's fine. She's tough. She's fine." Kon's continuous cycle of positive thinking was interrupted as Benny came around the corner, silent as always as he walked over to him.

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"It's hard watching someone else's tribulations, isn't it?" Benny asked as he stopped next to Kon.

"Yes."

"How do you think she felt when I dragged you back in here a week ago? Or anytime you do something stupid like eating a natural treasure above your grade?"

"I know that. Which is why I'm outside the door. It's just not pleasant hearing someone scream for hours," Kon said. Benny pursed his lips and nodded as he leaned back against the wall of the corridor.

Outside of his armor, leaning back and looking relaxed, Benny appeared nothing more than a frail old man.

"What do we do after this?" Kon asked.

"Couldn't find all the required ingredients for your next step. You're firmly in the E-Grade with how much energy you have around yourself now, which means we need low D-Grade treasures to advance your next steps. We could fly around and visit a bunch of planets like this and still come up empty," Benny said.

"Diur's E-Grade as well. She was fine with these treasures," Kon said. He didn't want to push his training further back, yet again.

"Your body is soaked in energy. Hers is more amplified by her own energy. Core versus what you've done with that basic stuff you did on Crucible. Need more to overpower your natural resistances and fill up your runes so they don't drink it up, especially now that you have that absorb rune," Benny said. He leaned to look at the door and nodded.

"Think she's ready to be pulled out of the tub," Benny said.

"You can look through steel?" Kon asked, raising an eyebrow at the old man.

"Naw, but I can see energy with a bit of effort and that room just went from a storm to nearly nothing. Either the girl's dead or she's finished pulling the power into her," Benny said.

"Dead?" Kon barked, turning and slamming open the hatch and entering the well lit room. There was no spatter of blood and bone on the walls, which he took to be a good sign. The bath tub had a coating of film over the still, murky waters. Diur's hands were clenched to the side as her face was lax, unconscious and held up only by her own locked fingers on the tub.

Kon grabbed her forearm, right before it dipped into the opaque waters and shook her slightly. Water rippled out from the movement, lapping at the sides of the tub and breaking the silence of the room .

Diur's eyes slowly blinked open, a haze over them as she looked up to meet Kon's eyes. Incomprehension was slowly replaced as her mind connected dots and finished rebooting.

"It seems I should have had someone ready to help me. I fear that I can't lift myself out of the tub," Diur said, her voice raspy from the screams that had ravaged it.

"If you let go of the tub, I'll help you out and into the showers," Kon said. Her fingers were wedged around the edge of the metal tub with enough strength that the lip of the tub had begun to curl. Diur slowly released her deathgrip on the tub, bones cracking as they straightened.

She offered him an arm and Kon grabbed it around the forearm near the elbow as he pulled her out of the dirtied water. She was heavier than he suspected, her frame packed with muscles as he pulled her up and to his chest in a princess carry. She lolled for a second, body too weak to support her before she slowly dragged herself upright and against his chest with an effort of will.

"I hope that is not what you had to endure the last few times. It was quite unpleasant," Diur mumbled, her head bowed toward her chest as Kon took her to the showers and gently set her down. Her body was covered in a greasy, oily film that Diur slowly scrubbed free over several minutes as Kon left the bathroom, grabbing her a fresh set of clothes and returning when she called for him.

"You were successful?" Kon asked after a few minutes once Diur managed to dress herself and stagger out of the bathroom. She slumped against him, transferring most of her body weight to him as he looped an arm around her waist to try to keep her up.

"Very. It will take a day or so until I finish stabilizing my body, but another round or two and I will be close to where you are body cultivation wise. It will be strange to see how it affects my techniques," Diur said, her mind already racing ahead to the future as Kon lowered her to the couch and got them some of the gelatinous cubes of protein.

"Two more rounds of that?" Kon asked as they ate. Diur drank a glass of water slowly as she ate cautiously, as if scared sudden movement would cause her wracking pain.

"Yes. I underestimated just how much power body cultivation requires. I have luckily kept my body mostly clean from those sorts of impurities you had to deal with, but still, it is hard to drag that much energy into the body. Your talent for it shows in your rapid progression," Diur said as she finished her plate and let the fork clatter as she leaned back and sighed as she stared up at the ceiling.

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