Once she memorised everything, she looked back at Beril who was currently examining her body with a pair of glowing eyes that had runes within them.
Raising her eyebrow, Shiro waited for her to finish.
“If you have anything you want to ask, ask away. I’m not so inexperienced that I can’t answer some questions while working.” Beril said while writing down a few notes.
“Oh it’s nothing. I’ve just finished the book and I noticed something about the previous attempts to find a skip.” Shiro replied.
“Interesting. Mind sharing that with me then? That way I can note it down for future generations that want to attempt the trial after you’re gone.” Beril glanced up at her before focusing back on her work.
“Well, the main thing I’ve noticed is that most of them were looking for a challenge such as something to fight. But only one of them has tried the gentle approach. Since there weren’t enough records of the gentle approach, I can’t exactly draw an accurate analysis but just this one result makes me think that the gentle approach is key.” Shiro said as Beril focused her brows.
“The reason there aren’t many records of the gentle approach is because the rest of them all had little to no effect. This one was the only one that sparked a little reaction but that was it.” Beril shook her head.
“Then that’s better. It means that they had to have done something right with this gentle approach.” Shiro smiled.
“What about the more aggressive approaches? They drew out a bigger reaction from the tower so why do you think it’s the gentle approach?”
“Because of what Gaia represents. Sure, the great Earth can swallow and kill but it is also the place that houses us all and raises us. It is gentle in nature so we have to take that into account when approaching the tower. The Tower of Ouranos focused on one’s ability to scale higher up the side of the tower in order to skip the test while Nyx’s involve killing monsters to skip. For Gaia, there’s a big chance that it’s a gentle approach that will allow us to skip levels.” Shiro explained as Beril nodded.
“Do what you want as I’m here to help I suppose. I’ll provide you with anything I can such as medicine for when you enter the trials. You’ll need them.” Beril shrugged.
“Speaking of medicine, do you have anything to stimulate someone’s potential? Something that allows them to fight harder?” Shiro asked since something like that would be quite helpful.
“Nope. All I have are prototypes since they could explode your heart if you’re not careful.” Beril replied casually as Shiro paused.
“They’ll explode the heart?”
“Yup. Tested it on some animals and watched them die instantly.” Beril nodded her head.
“Wait I thought you weren’t allowed to kill in this section?”
“You can’t. I got a dryad’s help. Didn’t you get the same?” Beril looked up at her while pointing at her eyes.
“With these eyes, I can analyse your body in detail. And I must say, the amount of dormant sigils you have are rather… concerning. How did you even get so many in the first place? Did the gods have a giant s*x party and you were born?” Beril asked with a frown.
“Rather crude but no, they did not do that. It’d be more concerning if they did.” Shiro shrugged.
“Don’t count it out. Stories of Zeus are rather… l.u.s.tful.” Beril replied after a short pause.
“True. What medicine do you have that can help in a fight then?” Shiro asked.
“I only have two aside from healing. One that can numb the sense of pain for a while and one that can heighten your sensitivity of your surroundings. The first one is dangerous since it also dulls your other senses such as hearing which could throw you off a little while the second one heightens your pain too. I don’t particularly recommend trying either one out but they have shown promise in certain combat situations.” Beril replied.
“I’m a bit interested in the second one. My senses are already heightened beyond normal standards so having them increased some more would be interesting.” Shiro smiled.
“Can you resist the pain then? If you’re hit once, it could throw off the battle completely. Even the smallest scratches hurt like a broken arm.” Beril frowned.
“Oh I’m fine with that. Before I do anything, you can heal broken arms right?” Shiro asked.
“Yes I can. Why do you ask-”
*CRACK!
Breaking her left arm by the elbow, Shiro presented her broken arm to Beril.
“See? My pain tolerance is quite high so I can ignore the problem of heightened pain.
“You idiot! You could have just told me!” Beirl shouted out while quickly grabbing some medicine and cloth from her tray.
“Well you might not have believed me so.” Shiro shrugged but with her broken arm dangling by the side, the shrug looked rather… odd.
“I would have trusted you dumbass!” Beril retorted while making sure her arm is in the proper spot before applying the medicine.
“It should heal in 2 to 3 minutes. But what kind of dumbass breaks their arm so casually.” Beril clicked her tongue.
“This one. But anyways, can I try the heightened senses one? What other backlashes are there?” Shiro asked.
“Nothing aside from feeling super tired afterwards.” Beril replied while grabbing a golden liquid from one of her draws.
“This is the medicine. You can try it if you want and I’ll make sure there’s nothing wrong with your body.”
Nodding her head, Shiro used her right hand to grab the drink and drank it all in one go.
The liquid was quite cool and it had a slight honey taste to it. But once it started to travel down her throat, it was akin to a ball of fire which tried to burn everything to a crisp.
“Interesting taste.” Shiro raised her eyebrow since she could feel exactly where the drink was in her body.
“It’s just how it is.” Beril replied while checking her body.
“The medicine should be working… now. How do you feel?” Beril asked.
“Hm…” Looking around her along with moving her right hand a little, Shiro couldn’t notice much of a difference.
“Nothing feels different.” Shiro replied as Beril furrowed her brows.
“Tsk, seems like your body is always in a state of high sensitivity. The effects of this medicine is similar to a fever in which you become hyper sensitive for a while. It doesn’t ‘add’ on sensitivity so since you’re always in this state, it makes sense that the potion did nothing to you.” Beril explained before sighing and looking up at her.
“How the hell are you even this sensitive.” Beril asked.
“Probably thanks to a martial art that I practice along with some other factors.” Shiro shrugged nonchalantly.
“What the hell is a martial art?”
“It’s just a stylised way of fighting. Anyways, setting that aside, are you able to give me some of your best medicine? If I can’t find the skip, I’ll have to challenge the tower normally and having some healing items would be very helpful.” Shiro smiled.
“Mn, if you had to pay me you’d be owing me quite a few hundred gold by now.” Beril shrugged before going through the other draws.
Packing all of her potions and ointments carefully into a bag, she handed it to Shiro.
“Do you want a better way to store these or is this bag ok? I’m not sure how you fight so I don’t know if this bag is ok.” Beril asked.
“Hmm… probably not if I’m honest. I do a lot of dashes and flips when I fight.” Shiro replied.
“Then don’t dash or flip and the medicine will be fine.”
Nodding at her reasoning, Shiro found Beril rather fun in that she was quite blunt.
Looking at her head, the temptation to pat her hair started to grow stronger as Shiro was about to reach out when Beril moved out of the way.
“Only my older sisters can pat me. If you’re done, you should see if you can find the skip for this tower.” Beril frowned as Shiro nodded her head.
“If I find a skip I get to pat your head ok?” Shiro grinned.
“We’ll see.” Beril replied.
After all, if Shiro does indeed find the skip it means that people in the future can access the final level without as much hassle as before.
Watching Shiro leave, Beril started to pack up her equipment.
