Time froze for him as it happened, his thoughts moving in a blur as he was knocked down and having an answer as to what had by all accounts killed him before he even hit the ground, cursing the gods, even as he struggled to find a solution.

    Magic nullification of all things on the first floor, in the first fucking second? YOU ABSOLUTE ASSHOLES! God, I want you all dead so fucking much!

    It was the only explanation, even if it was already a bad sign for how that floor would go. He may not have been wearing the church of Myriad but the defensive enchantments he’d placed on his new jacket should have been able to stop any regular attack, not shoot right through both them and the better part of his flesh, leaving only the question of how he was possibly supposed to survive that in the time he had left.@@@@

    He didn’t know how long a person could live without a beating heart but by all accounts, time had to be short for him. There was nothing to pump his blood, nothing to circulate the vital oxygen his every cell needed to live, with options feeling slim. He could stretch seconds into minutes easily enough, all it left was finding a way to deal with it using the time he had.

    ...Yeah, I’m just going to casually deal with the loss of one of my vitalist of vital organs, I’m sure this will be fine. Myriad, if you’re listening up there, make sure you avenge me for this awful bullshit!

    It was only one mind complaining though, the rest in his head had other, more important tasks. The pain was tremendous but experiencing and suffering through it was regulated to only ten of the ones in his head, letting the rest focus on how he’d overcome the present situation as all of the things he knew were pulled from his memories to try and arrange in some useful order.

    Hoping for help was instantly out. While other magics wouldn’t be blocked off on the first three floors, meaning either life or light magic could have potentially saved him, Thera was likely way too far away to get to him in time to help, even with bind showing her the way, and Jake would need to teleport practically randomly to find him, meaning the two healers were out as options.

    Then what about healing myself?

    He still had his necklace, his failsafe for both death and hell, but he’d already activated it and all it would do was slow down the rate he’d die, it wasn’t something that could be used to regrow an entire missing limb, let alone a major organ.

    Which means I’m adding ‘research how to improve the effectiveness of life and light enchantments’ to my very long, ever-growing list of tasks but until then, I need another option.

    If healing himself wasn’t an option then what about remaking himself? He could materialize meat and plant cells, could he make himself something to act as a functional heart in place of the one he’d lost, at least until he could get some real help?

    Come on brain, what’s the point of having so much raw intelligence if I can’t think of another one!

    ...

    UGH, FUCKING FINE! STUPID FUCKING NO GOOD FUCK GODS AND THEIR STUPID FUCKING TRIALS AND HOW THE HELL AM I ALWAYS TREATED LIKE THE BAD GUY WHEN THEY MAKE SHIT LIKE THIS? GODDAMN IT, WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I’M DOING WHATEVER I NEED TO TO AWAKEN MY FUCKING SACRILEGE-

    A new mind lost to focus on hating the gods of that world while the rest did what they had to. If the wound as he had it was too messy then that just meant he’d need to clean it up to the best of his abilities and to do that, a lump of steel was pulled from one of his rings, its shape taking on the form of a hollow cylinder with a razor’s edge and before he could lose another microsecond to his anger and hesitation, he plunged the metal into his chest, strengthening it to cut away the damage that first attack had caused and reshaping it as it reached the correct depth to scoop away what had remained of his heart and ribs, regulating ten more minds to deal with the additional pain, all of them giving cries about when he’d finally gain pain resistance as a skill.

    Cries the still-rational part of him ignored, focusing on the task at hand as mythril and more materials were pulled from his rings and shaped under his magics, made to imitate the parts he was aiming to replace and enhancing them in every way he could with the rapid enchantments he’d constructed and all of the magic materials he had to power it, forcing the end product into its place as it clamped down, slowing what bleeding there’d be to a trickle while holding still the rest of his muscle and sinew, not freeing him from the damage he’d taken but at the very least ensuring he’d live, even if the quick job had left his left arm a loss. Too much in that area was damaged beyond his means to be able to use it.

    But I’ll live for now. He sighed to himself. Now to just survive this and then go get myself a new heart...

    His minds were still swarming, ideas connecting to one another in a constant flood of connections with one made in particular at the thought, nearly making him yell out.

    No, no I’m not doing that, that’s absolutely insane!

    It was what he told himself at least, but through the denial, something different within his subconscious mind instead sent an appeal. His desire for power and strength and how, no matter how insane it might have been, losing his heart could potentially act as a new path to both if he was only willing to take a risk and experiment a bit.

    ...Damn it, fine, I have plenty of time to think about it. I just need to survive this first.

    The trial had already fired one deadly shot, he just needed to get through whatever would come for him next.