89. Stopping Growth

It will take a few days for Ben to recover fully. Wendy isn't too proficient with her healing magic yet. So it will need a few days and she needs to use her magic on Ben daily. But it is still faster than just using medicines from doctors.

The next day after he returned, Ben has a private talk with Roubaul. He tells Roubaul about his predicaments and what he needs to do. Surprisingly, Roubaul doesn't seem to be that surprised.

"So this is the problem that troubling you for years," says Roubaul in understanding.

"As I thought, you have a hunch, huh? I really can't fool you," says Ben with a defeated tone.

"Of course, I have it. People grow faster with pressure and I could tell that you have big pressure. But I never thought that your pressure will be this big & strong," says Roubaul.

"That's why I keep trying to find solutions for this problem. I have found it, but it is very difficult, and these solutions become new problems," says Ben.

"But are you sure that those solutions will work 100%?" asks Roubaul.

"It's not 100%, but the probability is very high to succeed. No one can guarantee that this will work 100%," says Ben.

"Sigh, but finding a dragon to be sealed in your body is not that easy. Dragons are very strong, stronger than everything that you've ever seen. Killing them is hard enough, but it will be more difficult to capture & seal them. Furthermore, there has been no sighting of dragons for years now," says Roubaul.

"But I still need to try. That's why I need to be stronger even with some limitations," says Ben.

Roubaul nods in understanding and then he says, "I can help you to stop your physical strength growth using magic. But there will be a side effect. It will stop all your physical growth, not only the strength."

"Huh? You mean like my height too?" says Ben dumbfoundedly.

"Yeah, your height, weight, every physical growth will stop. Even your hair won't grow until you stop this magic. It is a lost magic and has disappeared from history. Only a few people like me know about this magic and even fewer who can use it," says Roubaul.

Ben has a dark expression now after he heard it. Stopping his physical growth means that he won't change for 3 years, physically. He won't get taller, bigger, and his little brother won't grow too.

"I-is that the only way?" asks Ben.

"It is the only one I know that has a minimal side effect. Other methods might reduce your health or give long-term side effects or even death. Well, it's up to your choice," says Roubaul.

Ben's expression gets darker and he says, "I will use this method, then."

Roubaul nods and tells Ben to improve his health first. He needs to be in his best condition when the magic is used. It is to avoid any unknown factor that might affect the magic's success.

For the next few days, Ben keeps receiving Wendy's healing magic treatment. He does not train at all and just focuses on recovering his health. It feels very strange for him to not move his body to train every day, but he needs to focus on recovery now.

It takes a week for Ben to fully recover with Wendy's healing magic's help. But Roubaul still asks him to wait for a few days to use the magic. While waiting, Roubaul teaches the magic to Ben because Ben needs to use the magic himself.

"A type of Time Magic?" asks Ben after learning the magic.

"Yeah, this magic utilizes Time to stop your body's time, but not your soul & magic. But it is very difficult because stopping your body's time means stopping its functions too," says Roubaul.

Stopping the body's time means that everything in the body stops. That means the heart, brain, blood, everything will stop functioning. If that happens, then the person will not be able to do anything and won't even have consciousness because the brain doesn't work.

Luckily, this magic only stops the body's physical growth. It wasn't easy to create this magic and the ones who made it in the past need to do many types of research & trials before the magic got perfected.

"Different from a magic named Age Seal that stops the surrounding's time, this magic stops its user's time. Someone with high proficiency over this magic can stop anything they want to stop in their body," says Roubaul.

"Hmm? Then, that means it can be used to stop a disease in my body too?" asks Ben.

"Yeah, if you have high proficiency over this magic," says Roubaul.

Ben nods and suddenly widens his eyes in realizations. "Then, can't it be used to stop the dragon seed directly?"

"I don't know about that. This dragon seed seems to be physical & magical things at the same time. It affects your body, but if you open your body, then you'll never find it. So I doubt that it can be used to stop the dragon seed," says Roubaul with a sad expression.

"Hmm, I guess you're right. Don't worry about it, Gramps. This magic is good enough for now and I still have another way to solve this problem," says Ben while smiling.

After that, Ben starts to learn the magic with AI Chip's help. The magic's name is Body Age Seal because it is derived from Age Seal. It is a type of Time Magic, so it's very rare and hard to learn.

Luckily, Ben has learned many types of magic, although he just learned the concepts. But at least he has some understanding of Time Magic and about the time itself.

However, it doesn't make his learning of this magic easy. He never used any magic except those with the same elements as his Dragon Slayer Magic. He just learned them and never used them.

"Time, such a difficult concept to learn," says Ben before sighing.

Ben has to keep learning the magic and also about time. But he can't understand it to a high degree even after a week. Time is much harder to understand than natural elements like fire or water, even gravity.

"AI Chip, can you set a training menu to maximize my stats before I use this magic?" asks Ben to AI Chip.

[Yes, I will make a schedule for you.]

"Thanks, I want to be in the best condition before halting my physical growth," says Ben while looking at his stats.

[Name: Ben Cooper

Age: 15

Status: Alive

MP: 152,212/152,212

STR: 207

AGI: 203

STA: 220

INT: 233]

His limit is 230 points for STR, AGI, and STA. So he still has some points to spare and he wants to maximize them. Even one point addition might help him later, so he will maximize all of them.

Ben starts his physical training to maximize his stats while learning the new magic. It takes him a month to maximize his stats, and another month to learn the magic completely. He doesn't take any job to focus on this problem.

[Name: Ben Cooper

Age: 15

Status: Alive

MP: 154, 452/154,452

STR: 230

AGI: 230

STA: 230

INT: 241]

Ben checks everything and confirms that he doesn't leave anything. Then he starts to use the Body Age Seal magic with Roubaul's supervision.

"Body Age Seal: Activate!" says Ben while clapping his palms in front of his face.

Magic letters suddenly come out of Ben's palms and start to cover his body fully. He feels pain from every part of his body, but Ben holds it and keeps focus. The letters glow dark red like blood for a minute before they disappear and Ben falls unconscious.

______________________________________________________________

You can read up to 30+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 119 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 130 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)