Chapter 413: Why Pain?

"You know Bell, there are certain moments when I am with you, that I seriously wonder why you do the things that you do. This is definitely one of these moments."

"What makes you say that?" Belladonna asked, as she pulled the venom tipped dagger out of her arm.

She was sat on a log, hunched over whilst her Fox Figurine clone stood behind her. Her already revealing armour had peeled itself back, exposing her bare back to the clone. That was also helping with the heat, which was still making Belladonna sweat like a politician when they have to take ’responsibility’.

Using Belladonna’s crystal knife, and the replicated knowledge it had stuck in its head, the clone was carving an impressively intricate series of Glyphs across her entire back, between her shoulder blades.

It was much more than the simple one or two rune Glyph’s that she had previously carved into herself. Instead this was four individual and extremely complex magic circles that were woven together and connected by a delicate circuit of flesh carved mana lines, that all came together at the centre of her spine and created an amazing tapestry of magic carved directly into her body.

It was also at this point, where a hole roughly the size of a nickel had been carved out of her, so deep that you could see the white fat underneath her skin. That part was especially painful.

This was not the only carving she had performed in the last few minutes. After her death to the Scorpion type monster and her subsequent revival days ago, Belladonna’s body had reset and all of her Glyph’s had disappeared.

So this seemed like the apt time to enhance herself, and even upgrade her glyphs with her enhanced knowledge and skills.

As for the dagger she was using, that was tipped with the venom of the strange vine-viper. Just a little bit, to build up a resistance. But even that little bit was having an uncomfortable reaction, as it was turning the area around the wound to solid bone, like she was forming an exo-skeleton.

It was a type of petrification, seemingly designed so that the victim would become a perfect meal for the tree that the Viper called its home. A form of symbiosis, it would seem.

"Come on Bell," Figg said with a sigh, as he gestured to her situation. "You can’t tell me this is normal. I mean why did you choose to put yourself through all of this? Does the pain filter even work for you?"

"No, it doesn’t. Not for this kind of stuff, at least." Belladonna said, holding in a wince. Her fingers twitching was all the expression of pain she allowed herself, and even that was gaining worried looks from Figg.

"I just treat this as getting a new tattoo, that’s all. Besides, you know why I do this. We need to get stronger, and we need to make sure that if we come across any type of guardian for the portal, that we can take it down."

"Oh I know that. But that’s not what I meant. I don’t mean why do you choose to do this now. That is absolutely obvious.

I meant why, when you had no idea that any of this was real, did you pick such a painful class? I mean you’ve made it clear you are no stranger to pain, I get that. But surely... you’d want to escape it, no? Not embrace it.

Why, when it came to picking classes, did you not pick something more simple?"

Belladonna chuckled before hissing in pain as the clones blade tickled a particularly tender piece of her spine. She took a second to regain herself, before she answered.

"For one, I didn’t really pick this class. It kind of just... fell into my lap during the beta, and I didn’t want to give up the character I had been working so hard for. I guess you could say that it chose me.

That’s the excuse I told myself back then, and I kinda believed it. It’s still mostly true, honestly."

"But..."

"But you’re right, I have been in pain my entire life. It would make sense to run away from it and enjoy being normal. However as you can see, normal and me don’t really see eye to eye.

Besides, it was strangely nice for once in my life for the pain to... mean something, and to bring something good.

For once pain wasn’t my body killing itself, but instead it was the sign of me getting stronger and overcoming something. I might be in more pain here, but every dose of it was for a reason and every time I have gotten stronger or gained something from it, rather than having my life slip further away.

I don’t know... Maybe it doesn’t make any sense, or maybe it makes me sound like a total masochistic weirdo. But it was just... nice. Even if it took me a while to realise that’s what I was doing."

Figg stepped forwards, placing a tender hand on her shoulder as he gave her a warm and gentle smile. He stayed like that for a few seconds, before giving Belladonna a firm smack on the back, right on her fresh carvings.

"You’re right," He laughed as she flinched from the stab of pain, "You’re definitely just a masochistic weirdo. But one that I am glad to have on my side and as my friend."

"I hate you so damn much." She laughed, swiping at Figg as he quickly retreated out of arms reach, laughing all the way.

A while later, the clone finished the carving with one last stroke before standing up straight. It handed Belladonna her crystal knife back, and took a small golden source crystal from her in exchange.

With hands as steady as a surgeon, the clone gently placed the crystal into the carved hole in the middle of Belladonna’s spine, before the flesh started to heal around it and locked it in place.

Belladonna shivered slightly, not just from the cold of it touching her bare back, but from the jolt of power that flowed through her body. She took a few seconds, both to steady her breathing and allow for the power to stabilise, before she slowly rose to her feet.

The slimy substance that made up her shirt crawled over her back, hiding the Esoteric tapestry from view, with only a soft golden glow through the thin fabric.

Rolling her shoulders, Belladonna took a deep breath before she injected mana into the carving, starting with just one quadrant for now, and allowed it to flair to life.

The air shimmered as golden light manifested and rapidly hardened into physical form, until Belladonna had an entire arm made of solidified golden light sprouting from her back.

The crystal in her back pulsated gently, taking the brunt of managing the power hungry glyph onto itself and using its internal power, instead of Belladonna’s personal reserves, to sustain the magic.

Belladonna glanced over her shoulder, smiling softly as she wriggled the fingers of the golden hand before clenching it into a tight fist.

The next moment, the fist blurred. It slammed into a tree next to her, punching a hole straight through the wood, and even sending a cannon of pressurised air smashing into the tree behind that one.

"Are you really going to tell me that this isn’t worth the pain?" Belladonna asked with a wicked laugh and a wide, shark toothed grin.