It would take Ben a few days to fully recover from his injuries. Wendy isn't too proficient with her Healing Magic yet. So it will take a few days and she needed to use her magic on Ben daily. But it was still a lot faster than receiving medicine from doctors.
The day after his return, Ben had a private conversation with Roubaul. He told Roubaul about his predicament and what he needed to do. Surprisingly, Roubaul wasn't that concerned.
"So this is the problem that has troubled you for years." Roubaul nodded in understanding.
"As I thought, you had a hunch, huh? I really can't fool you." Ben said in a defeated tone.
"Of course, I have it. People grow faster with pressure and I could tell that you have a lot of pressure. But I never thought you would have this kind of pressure." Roubaul said.
"That's why I keep trying to find solutions to this problem. I have found it, but it is very difficult and these solutions produce new problems." Ben told him.
"But are you sure those solutions will work 100%?" Roubaul asked Ben.
"It's not 100%, but the probability for success is very high. No one can guarantee this will work 100%." Ben admitted.
"But finding a dragon to seal inside your body is not that easy. Dragons are very strong, stronger than anything you've seen before. Killing them is hard enough, but it will be a lot harder to capture and seal them. Furthermore, there haven't been any sightings of dragons in years." Roubaul informed him.
"But I still need to try. That's why I need to become stronger even with limitations." Ben insisted.
Roubaul nodded in understanding.
"I can help you stop your physical growth with magic. But there is a side effect, it will stop all your physical growth, not just your strength." He said.
"Huh? You mean like my height too?" Ben asked, dumbfounded.
"Yeah. Your height, weight, all your physical growth will stop. Even your hair won't grow out unless you cancel this magic. It is a Lost Magic that disappeared from history. Only a few people like me know about this magic and even fewer can use it." Roubaul explained.
A dark expression formed on Ben's face after he heard this. Stopping his growth meant that he won't physically change for 3 years. He won't get taller, bigger and his little brother won't grow either.
"I-is that the only way?" He asked.
"It is the only choice I know of that has a minimal side effect. Other methods might affect your health or have long term side effects or even kill you. Well, it's your call." Roubaul said.
Ben's expression became darker.
"I will use this method, then." He said.
Roubaul nodded and told Ben to improve his health first. He needed to be in great shape 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 kept receiving treatment from Wendy's Healing Magic. He skipped training and focused on recovering his health. It feels very strange for him not to move his body to train every day, but he needed to focus on recovering.
It took Ben a week to fully recover with Wendy's Healing Magic. But Roubaul still asked him to wait a few days to use the magic. While waiting, Roubaul taught the magic to Ben because he needed to use the magic himself.
"A type of Time Magic?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, this magic utilizes time to stop your body's time, but not your soul and magic. But it is very difficult because stopping your body's time means stopping it's functions too." Roubaul answered.
Stopping the body's time meant that everything in the body stops. That means the heart, brain, blood, everything will stop functioning. If that happens, then the person won't be able to do anything and won't even have consciousness because the brain doesn't work.
Fortunately, 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 needed to do a lot of research and trials before the magic was perfected.
"It's different from a magic named Age Seal that stops the surrounding's time, this magic stops it's user's time. Someone with high proficiency over this magic can stop anything they want to stop in their body." Roubaul explained.
"Hmm? Then, that means it can be used to stop a disease in my body, too?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, if you have high proficiency over this magic." Roubaul nodded.
Ben nodded and suddenly his eyes widen in realization. "Then, can't it be used to stop the Dragon Seed directly?"
"I don't know about that. This Dragon Seed seems to be a physical and magical object 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." Roubaul sadly stated.
"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." Ben said with a smile.
After that, Ben started to learn the magic with A.I Chip's help. The magic's name was 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.
Fortunately, Ben has learned many types of magic, although he just learned the concepts. But at least he has some understanding of Time Magic and time itself.
However, it didn't make learning this magic easy. He never used any magic except those with the same elements of his Dragon Slayer Magic. He just learned them and never used them.
"Time. Such a difficult concept to learn." Ben sighed.
He had to keep learning the magic and also about time. But he couldn't understand it to a certain degree even after a week. Time is much harder to understand than natural elements like fire and water, even gravity.
"A.I Chip, can you set up a training menu to maximize my stats before I use this magic?" Ben asked A.I Chip.
[Yes, I will make a schedule for you.]
"Thanks, I want to be in great condition before halting my physical growth." Ben said as he looked 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 had some points to spare and he wants to maximize them. Even a one point addition might help him later, so he will maximize all of them.
Ben started his physical training to maximize his stats while learning the new magic. It took him a month to maximize his stats, and another month to learn the magic completely. He didn't take a single 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 checked everything and confirmed that he didn't miss anything. Then he starts to use the Body Age Seal magic with Roubaul's supervision.
"Body Age Seal: Activate!" Ben shouted while clapping his palms in front of his face.
Magic letters suddenly came out of Ben's palms and start to fully cover his body. He felt pain on every part of his body, but Ben held it at bay and kept his focus. The letters glow dark red like blood for a minute before they disappear and Ben fell unconscious.