Chapter 7: Two Years

"Finally... this damn trial."

Thrusting my leaden legs onto the carcass of a mangled buzzard wasp, I focused on the inscription looming before my eyes. The first trial was complete, though it had cost me exorbitant effort. For a whole week, if the hourglass was to be believed, my nerves had been stretched like steel cables, snapping time and again under the environmental pressure. I couldn't even say I saw any real progress in my actions. I slept little, ate poorly, and rested even less, which took a heavy toll on my body’s overall strength. The further I went, the worse it got: my movements slowed, walking became a chore, and swinging my arms… I simply wanted to stop doing it altogether.

I had to use sand to supplement my standard muscle movements. In fact, doing anything at all was easier through bending—butchering food, moving, even cleaning myself. It wasn't that my muscles weren't developing; they were being strained more intensely than during any of my previous lessons back home. It was just that they gave out faster than my bending did; they were becoming harder to trust. And yet, the wasps never stopped coming.

Studying the hive, I quickly realized I was only on the first level. The hole in the center, from which new drones periodically swarmed, was a continuation of the local "atmosphere," and the bulk of the honey flowed down there. Likely to feed. The more time I spent in the hive, the less I wanted to descend further.

[Trial completed. However, my aspect is not only Death; I am also the guardian of poisons and medicines. As my champion, learn the necessary craft.]

[Choose:]

[1 — Study the poisons within the wasps' bodies (You will gain basic knowledge in the use of toxins).]

[2 — Study the beneficial properties that can be extracted from the wasps (You will gain basic knowledge of surgery and medicine).]

[3 — Eat the wasps whole (You may develop a tolerance to poisons).]

"So, I’m your champion now? Regardless, this is actually useful knowledge." Choosing just one was difficult. One option sounded like the fantasy of a raving lunatic, but the others… they were fine. The important thing was to choose a path, so I didn't mince words and settled on medicine. Hoping it would at least slightly ease the burden on my body, I was forced to gather a massive pile of corpses and lay them out somewhere where I wouldn't be disturbed.

After days of endless fighting, this trial was a true torture… you weren't rushing anywhere, weren't tracking your surroundings or everything in the three-dimensional space around you. You just sat in silence and carefully dissected more or less intact carcasses. Anubis demanded precision, requiring me to butcher ten abdomens in a row without damaging them through excessive roughness. The incisions had to be flawless, the chitin carved away with surgical care.

This, in turn, required me to start creating higher-quality tools. I hadn't cared about the smoothness of a blade’s edge before, and making a refined one in the heat of battle wasn't realistic. Now, I was working my own ass off to make the blade perfectly even, without a single protruding grain of sand.

Without such materials, it was easy to damage the nerves, blood vessels, muscles, and organs that I needed to stack and process separately. Sand tentacles worked for me while my hands rested. Even at this stage, it became clear how vital it was to butcher a carcass correctly. Excessive damage could overstrain the muscles and make the meat tough; damaged organs released foul compounds that ruined the flavor. And if the vessels weren't drained properly, the blood would turn viscous.

I don't know how to describe it, but my motivation to study medicine only grew stronger over time. I stopped eating the slop of poisoned wasp meat and began eating properly butchered carcasses, drinking blood that, while still unpleasant, was no longer oily. As for the organs, they had to be preserved in jars made of sandstone. It turned out the luminescent fluid from the glowing drones protected organic matter from decay. This information was acquired through the grim processing of several "fireflies." May they rest in peace.

Soon, I began to marvel at how much time was slipping away. I immersed myself completely in the available knowledge and the means to acquire it.

******

Shhhhhh—

The sand inside the sturdy glass bulb streamed into the lower compartment. Watching the remaining grains intently, literal slivers of time counting down the seconds, I witnessed the final one fall and silently watched as the glass flipped. That movement marked the second year of living within the depths of the rock… and it was my last day.

"Anubis… is that all?" With a heavy gaze devoid of hope, I focused on the space before me. The hardships of a real battlefield had taught me to rely only on proven facts and my own skills. Only a cruel slap of reality across the face can steer development in the right direction; I was ready to receive another.

[You may go outside.]

During the two years spent here, the entire nest had been learned by heart. There were at least five floors in the hive, and a giant hole ran through them all, which my sand limbs now gripped as I climbed out. The horror of this place lay in its… ordinariness. The wasps behaved much like those from my own world; they possessed no magic and didn't spit acid, they simply defended their Queen with ferocity. The closer you got to her, the more dangerous the swarm became. They cared less for their own wounds and wanted more to crush the intruder. The desert folk’s words about this place were true. But only partially.

Still, I had managed to solve all the problems posed by these local "kidnapper-bees" on my own. The lair and the Queen were destroyed. Walking down a long corridor, stepping habitually on the slick floor, I found myself in the fresh air. My rags began to flutter in the wind. Nothing unusual seemed to have happened; I had gone out periodically so that the sunlight wouldn't blind me all at once. But suddenly, my ears caught the sound of rushing water.

Approaching the edge of the cliff, I saw a boat anchored with a couple of sandbenders and a man relieving himself against the mountain.

"Hurry up over there! I don't want to watch a vulture-wasp bite your junk off!"

"Let a man piss in peace! Besides, when was the last time you even saw one?"

"Maybe they feed on idiots like you? Hey, wait… who’s that standing up there?" The gazes of the four men quickly shot up to me. Calmly observing them, especially the boat, which could reach the nearest settlement in about a day, I took a step forward and jumped.

Whoosh—

Landing on the hot sand, I glanced at the men, making every one of them flinch. A couple of them immediately formed sand swords and pointed them at me. I had almost forgotten… my gaze usually causes a slight panic.

"I won't cause trouble. I just want to use this boat."

"You threatening us?" one of them barked. My gaze was fixed on him, and apparently, he took it as an insult. "Who the hell are you anyway? Just a bunch of torn rags on your back."

"Oh, right… do you have any spare clothes?" I had processed the meeting with people in my head many times, but now everything was scrambled. How do you act when people are afraid of you and planning to kill you?

"Think you’re gonna rob us?" At that moment, the one who had unzipped his fly stepped closer. A blade pressed against my neck, a smirk in his eyes. "You smell like shit."

"I wasn't planning to fi—" But before I could even finish, I felt the knife move toward my throat. Shifting out of the trajectory, I fell, or so it seemed to the man, into a trap. The guy wanted to grab my head and smash it against the rock; the movement was incredibly easy to read. After the wasps of the lower levels, who acted at their absolute limit due to the Queen’s pheromones, his speed seemed appallingly slow. It wasn't even clear why he was using his hands instead of bending, which is faster and stronger. I dodged with maximum speed, the sand carrying me so fast that no one noticed. The bandit’s body was suddenly encased in a sand vise.

"Mmph! Mmmph-mmph!" the bender muffled, unable to break free. He was wrapped like a mummy. Just as thoroughly and carefully as the ancient Egyptian servants of Anubis were taught to bury the dead. I had a hostage in my hands, so I thought the others would immediately start listening. Instead, I felt the sand shifting; it formed into sand-waves with jagged edges and rushed toward me. But they didn't reach. The benders lost control as they were suddenly submerged in the sand up to their necks.

"What? Quicksand?!"

"What the hell are you doing?!"

The heads all shouted angrily while I walked to the boat and checked the cabin for clothes. I found surprisingly much, several crates of goods for all sorts of purposes. Plants, fruits, and fabrics. Swallowing, I took a couple of juicy fruits. My eyes widened at the taste, rich and cloyingly sweet. Taking the fabrics, I began to change.

"Let us out!"

"No," I said, stepping out onto the deck and sitting on the edge of the boat, looking at them from under my brow. As soon as I put on a truly threatening expression, the men flinched and finally shut up. "You’re bandits, aren't you? You have a lot of different goods. Some of it has blood on it…"

"Y-you…" Someone wet their pants.

"We’ll share! Just don't kill us! No, join the gang, we need benders! You’ll live like a king!"

"Shut up. Do you know a man named Tassad? He was attacked by bandits two years ago."

The guys slowly exchanged looks, their faces showing total confusion. As it turned out, they had been in this business for less than a year. They had formed a gang and were operating near the Si Wong Rock, where traders had begun to pass more frequently. Thus, questioning them about his fate was useless. Standing up and climbing onto the roof of the cabin, I focused on my hands.

"H-hey, you’re gonna let us out, right?"

"We can't get out, the sand is too stubborn!"

"…Why should I help bandits?" Tilting my head innocently, I suddenly created a miniature whirlwind in my hands. The rapidly growing vortex was immediately hurled toward the sail, expanding to three meters in height. The resulting wind caught the sail and began to accelerate the boat faster than the bandits could have dreamed. We reached top speed in seconds. Soon I was hurtling along, not even bothering to move my arms. The whirlwind maintained itself, allowing me to head wherever I wished. Except… "Anubis, which way is the settlement where we used to buy wood? I need to understand why the bandits wanted to capture Tassad and me specifically…"

[1 — Go back and ask the bandits (The least honorable options will become available, opening a direct path to your goal).]

[2 — Reconstruct the events of the past and try to find the way yourself (The path for developing tracking skills).]

[3 — Wander in search of the goal (You will study the desert and be able to navigate it more easily).]

"…I’m not proud. I’ll go back and ask."