Chapter 5: The Heart of Suffering_Harem Reaper

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]You have become the first to discover the Heart Of Eternal Suffering!

Reward:

Fame has increased by 500.

Experience and drop rates have doubled for two weeks.

Quest rewards have doubled for two weeks.[/col][/box]

Azrael was woken up by a status window and a myriad of sharp pains all over his body. In Royal Road there was a safety limiter that prevented more than 30% of the avatars pain to be experienced by the user. If that limiter was removed it would even be possible for a User to die in reality.

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]Warning! Error found in RR/settings/safetylimiter! Attempting automatic disconnect.... program file not found! Unable to disconnect...

Retrying.......... Error has occurred in automatic shut down protocol.[/col][/box]

"Terrific... create ticket."

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]Unable to contact an administrator at this time. Please be patient and try again in 24 hours.[/col][/box]

He couldn't help but start laughing at the ridiculous situation that he was in. Trapped in a place called the Heart of Eternal Suffering with his pain limiter broken, it was probably just a matter of time until he died.

Yet he wasn't afraid, he looked back on his life and realized that there was nothing that he really wanted to do in reality. He had a girlfriend for a few years but after they broke up he really hadn't even thought about trying to find love again. Hell, he hadn't even had sex with anyone but her in his entire life.

'Oh well, hopefully my next life wont be quite as boring... my only regret was that I couldn't play Royal Road longer.'

Azrael had accepted that he would probably die soon, but he refused to just give up. He hadn't even picked a class yet! There was no way he would die from a little bit of pain! When he was suffering from appendicitis he waited a whole day before asking his father to take him to the hospital!

"I won't die! Even if you torture me for an eternity I will never let you kill me!"

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]You have used Voice of Death! Skill level was too low to affect Heart of Eternal Suffering. -150 mana[/col][/box]

He screamed as loud as he could but no one was there to listen. As he dangled by the hundreds of tiny fishing hooks that pierced his body, excruciating pain coursed through his skin, muscle and all his organs. He was being electrocuted through the golden fishing lines that connected to the room all around him. Every time the oval shaped room thumped like a heartbeat his body was shocked as the hooks tore at his flesh and muscle.

His arms and feet were still missing but his health had almost completely recovered. It was strange, rather than doing damage, the electricity seemed to be slowly regenerating his health. When his health reached 70% his feet started to grow back and at 80% they had completely recovered. However, golden hooks attached to golden fishing lines shot out of the floor and impaled into them. It was pretty damn painful but he was getting used to it. The same thing happened with his arms after a few hours and then he started receiving endurance stat increases.

Azrael could feel that the room was moving, if he was inside of the dragon then it was definitely flying around a lot. There was no way for him to gauge the time and he spent dangling there, swinging like a broken marionette to the beat of that dragons golden heart. It was so boring that he actually welcomed the pain, but unfortunately once his endurance reached a certain point he didn't even feel it anymore. There were several small golden tubes that were attached to to the veins in his arms and legs, he couldn't be sure but there were probably several of them hooked into his spine as well. They pumped some kind of fluid in and out of his body that made his body feel like it was on fire but frozen at the same time. It was definitely uncomfortable, but at the same time it actually felt kind of good.

That's when he noticed something very strange, he hadn't really thought about it but the heart was beating really slowly. At the beginning it was almost as fast as a human heart, but then it started to slow down and now it felt like almost a day had passed without it beating even once. He thought that maybe it died, but then wouldn't have been released? He started laughing hysterically at how stupid he was.

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]You have used Voice of Death! Skill level not high enough to affect the Heart of Suffering. -100 mana[/col][/box]

"I can't believe I didn't figure it out earlier!"

The reason for the error was because there was a time differential between where he was and the regular Royal Road world. It became so ridiculous that when the finally did beat, it took hours before the beat was finally over. His sense of time was so broken that when he tried to move his eyes it took him hours and sometimes days. This was the true meaning of eternal suffering, his mind was moving so much faster than reality that he couldn't even blink anymore.

'This is so boring.... I can't even sleep...'

'Even if I wanted to kill myself I wouldn't even be able to...'

'I should have probably died when I had the chance...'

'No, I made the right decision!'

'Even if it takes an eternity, eventually this hell will end and I will finally have my chance to escape!'

"You will never escape this place!"

'No, I definitely will.'

"You're going to suffer here with me for eternity!"

'Terrific, now I'm hallucinating again.'

"You should have listen to my warning!"

'Sigh, you were a hallucination! Why would I listen to a hallucination!?'

"I am as real as you are!"

'I guess it makes sense that after however many years I've been down here I would start to hear voices...'

"Why do you keep ignoring me!?"

'Prove it, if you're real then prove it to me in a way that I can't disregard.'

"I am right in front of your eyes and yet you say I do not exist? Are you blind?"

'All I can see is a bunch of gold everywhere...'

"I am the Heart of Eternal Suffering."

'Oh! Now I get it! Why didn't you say that in the first place? Now I definitely know that I'm hallucinating...'

"You infuriating creature! I see now that I was not strict enough in my treatment of you!"

'Go ahead! Do it! You won't because you aren't even real!'

Suddenly time had returned to almost normal and all the hooks in his body were torn out, along with most of the skin covering his body, and he fell to the ground.

Apparently have almost all his skin abruptly torn off only removed 70% of his health, but it was definitely painful. Still, at least it was interesting, rather than the pain, simply waiting for an eternity would be far worse.

With the I.V. looking tubes shooting him full of what was probably dragon blood, his skin regenerated within a few seconds. Azrael noticed that thousands of golden snakes were covering the floor, the larger ones wrapped around different parts of his body, while the small ones just hissed and bit at him repeatedly. Their poison made him feel like he was about to vomit but he restrained himself.

"Now do you still believe I'm not real?!"

He started laughing loudly enough to use his Voice of Death and when the snakes that tried to strangle him were stunned, he tore them apart with the strength of a giant barbarian.

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]You have leveled up![/col][/box]

"Don't you understand yet?! You're the only one who's suffering! This is just a game to me! No matter how much pain you try to cause me and no matter how long you try to imprison me here I will just become stronger!

Eventually I will become powerful enough to escape! Until then you should at least make it interesting!"

"You arrogant little creature! You will regret every word you just said to me!"

Azrael smiled as his body was pierced by thousands of tiny golden needles, he had to slowly removed each one using his gigantic hands. After about a day he finally removed them all, only to be sprayed with needles again and again for 3 days. It was aggravating but actually useful because he managed to learn a skill in the process.

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]Skill: You have learned a new crafting skill, Tailoring.[/col][/box]

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]Tailoring (Lvl. 1 0%): You can create basic cloth and leather armor.[/col][/box]

"Thanks! If you didn't force me to, I probably never would have had the patients to learn that skill!"

"Damn you! How can such a resilient creature exist!?"

"Maybe you just suck at torturing people?"

"Arggh!!"

A normal person probably would have gone insane a long time ago, actually maybe the problem was that he was insane before he even started playing Royal Road. However, he continued to taunt the disembodied female voice every chance he had and every time he did, the torture would become more creative. Being completely charred and freezing to the point that his limbs would shatter into a thousand pieces. Sometimes, his extremities would be removed slowly with dull golden blades and that means "All" of his extremities. He would be penetrated in every way shape and form by blades, needles, even his own dismembered limbs that were seriously starting to pile up in the corners of the room. He found it hilarious that every time she nearly killed him, she would immediately replenish his health and regrow his body. She could never understand his mentality because she lived in a world where you could heal such severe injuries with so little effort.

"In my world, such extensive torture wouldn't even be possible..."

He accidentally spoke to himself, it was strange for him to actually have someone else to talk to after so long. Even as she tortured him, he felt no resentment or anger toward her, he actually enjoyed being in that hell.

"What do you mean by that?"

"This world that we're in right now, was created in the world I came from."

"Are you trying to convince me that you are some sort of God? How could a God be so weak?"

"I'm no god, just a man from another world. There are many other people from the other world, the people of

this world calls us Freedmen but that's just what they were created to think."

"I have been asleep for many thousands of years, I have never heard of any Freedmen you speak of..."

"That's probably why you didn't simply dismiss my words immediately."

"Why would you come to such a terrible world if you had the choice?"

"Ha! You're a funny kid, isn't it obvious?"

"If it were, would I have asked?!"

"There are no dragons in the world I came from, there is no magic, the only monsters in my world are humans... perhaps that is why the humans in this one were created to be just as greedy and manipulative? Actually, from what I've read, almost all the races have their own similar faults."

"Then what are you in that world to claim such superiority over everything else?"

"When did I ever claim that? I may not be evil but that doesn't make one a saint either, I simply came to this world as a man who wished to play a fun game. Indeed this game is far greater entertainment than I imagined but I'm only level 6 and it will probably take many years before I would get bored of this world."

"A game... I understand now how you could withstand my torment for so long. You are like I was long ago, a weak little girl who knew nothing of the cruel world. I didn't care about anyone, only my research..."

The conversation between Azrael and the Golden Dragon was so pleasant that you could completely forget that he was chained to the floor while having poisoned needles slowly stabbed into his eyes. In Royal Road pain is usually related to how much health is lost and how high your endurance or other similar stats are but since he was being constantly healed he would never be able to die no matter how much damage was being done.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Let me guess, you were some kind of master alchemist right?"

"Yes, my name was.... I can't even remember anymore..."

"I'll just call you Freya."

"The Goddess of beauty?"

"Well yea, but the Freya from my world who probably didn't really exist anyway was said to also be the Goddess of gold, love, fertility, war and death. It's actually pretty funny."

"I have indeed seen much war and death in my long life but never have I every known love or born offspring..."

"You're still young! Dragons are practically immortal, I'm sure you'll meet a nice male dragon one day and have a happy little brood!"

Azrael said in a very happy voice and suddenly the constant eyeball prodding stopped. The chains melted off his body and were absorbed into the floor while he stood up and pulled the large needles out of his eyes.

"I will teach you how to use Ancient Alchemy if you allow me to accompany you on your journey throughout this world you find so entertaining..."

"Sure, I have a few conditions though...."

"I will try to meet them."

"This game would be boring if I had an overpowered impossibly high leveled dragon that could save me any time I was even in a little danger. Create a level 1 avatar that isn't a giant dragon to use and you can accompany me as much as you like."

"What if we die because I am too weak to protect us?"

"Isn't that the point? It's just a game, play it like one! Your avatar can die a thousand times but you will still be alive somewhere

in your real body. That's how it is for me as well, if this body died I would just wake up in my world and be bored for a day until I was able to play again."

"I understand now! It's fun because it isn't real to you!"

"Exactly! Now make you're avatar and lets get this shit going already!"

"What should I make it look like? There are so many possibilities... how did you ever choose?"

"Ah, well yea... it did take me a while to pick my race and appearance...."

"If you decide you don't like it or if you screw up somewhere along the line you could always just make a new avatar with different features..."

"True... actually I did speak to you once before in astral avatar I created..."

"Ah! I get it now! I guess with all the torture and stuff I kind of forgot all about that... Why all the piercings though? I mean, if you want them later that's fine but starting out you should be a clean slate. Those golden chains and rings would be expensive too..."

"It was the fashion seven thousand years ago... but you're right, was she pretty though?"

"Yea, she was beautiful but you probably shouldn't walk around in public naked... did they do that back then?"

"Golden Elves were always very proud of their natural beauty, they would never wear anything more than golden jewelry to adorn their bodies with... I always envied them."

"Heh, so they were nudists? What happened to them?"

"We killed them to steal their gold... I was only a child then but I was also brought to the massacre."

"And you were a...?"

"I was an Orc, a hideous monster without elegance or honor... I killed her, their master alchemist and stole her secrets."

"I see... and so they no longer exist in this world correct?"

"Yes, they were a weak race that only cared about elegance and beauty... they could not survive even a small group of Orc fledglings."

"Not that I really care about the Golden Elves or anything but it is a shame that they aren't a playable race anymore. You should be one! I'm not going to spew some shit and say you should be happy with the way you look... hell, I became a barbarian mostly because I didn't want to be short anymore!"

"I see! You are indeed a very strange creature but perhaps I am the same."

Suddenly an arm burst out of Azrael's naval, with all the torture and pain he never even noticed that there was a person growing inside of him. He was so used to pain that it didn't even register when the 175 cm woman squirmed her way out of his abdomen. The wound quickly healed over as he caught her in his arms, she was curled up in a ball and shivering like a baby kitten. She struggled to wipe the red slime off her face as she opened her eyes. Her skin looked like it was covered in gold paint and even though her breasts were practically nonexistent, judging by her facial features and body sized she appeared to be an adult. Her ears were extremely long and pointy, even for an elf. Unlike the hallucination only her Iris' were golden, her pupils were black and her sclera were white. Her hair golden hair was covered in the red goop and stuck to her body all the way to her waist, the both really needed to take a shower.

"Is this form appropriate?"

"Yea, it's cute, now how the hell do we get out of here anyway?"

The various tubes that were injecting strange liquids into his body were pulled out as they retracted into the ceiling and walls. Then a blue, shimmering portal opened up in the center of the room.

"We can travel to anywhere you wish using that portal."

Freya said as she pointed towards the portal with her right hand, Azrael was still carrying her as he approached it with a bright smile on his face.

"Rhodium!"

A vision of the town square appeared with a blue tint to it and he quickly walked through. He found himself standing in the middle of the town square, in the middle of the day when it was extremely crowded. Both of them were completely naked, he was covered in blood and she was covered in a thick bloody slime. A group of guards quickly attempted to arrest them for public indecency but Azrael far too imposing and they were afraid to even come close to him.

"Well, our adventure starts here kid!"

Azrael said with a scary smile on his face like a murderer who just found his first victim, or at least that's how he looked to normal people.

"Indeed, I'm actually excited for the first time in thousands of years!"

After befriending the Golden Dragon of Eternal Suffering, you named Freya, she decided to join you on your journey in the form of a level 1 Golden Elf. She will follow you as a loyal companion as long as you can manage to entertain her.[/col][/box]

Status WindowCharacter NameFreyaAlignmentNeutralLevel1ProfessionAncient AlchemistTitleNoneFame0Infamy0Health100Mana200Stamina100Sadism25Strength5Agility5Art10Creativity10Wisdom20Intellect20Vitality10Fighting Spirit0Luck0Leadership0Attack2Defense0AffinityEarth: 25

Wind: 25

Fire: 25

Water: 25Magic ResistanceFire: 15%

Water: 5%

Earth: 10%

Wind: 10%

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]+6% Unarmed Combat Damage

+5% Weapon Damage

Poison resistance: 10%[/col][/box]

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]Ancient Alchemy (Lvl. 1 0%): You have unlocked the secrets of the ancient alchemists.

Torture (Lvl. 1 0%): After torturing Azrael for what seemed like an eternity you have finally learned the proper technique!

Warning! Torture will cause your infamy to rise!

Handicraft (Lvl. 1 0%): This ability is the foundation to every crafting skill and increases along with them.

Increases unarmed combat damage by 1.5% per level.

Increases weapon damage by 1% per level.

Iron Stomach (Lvl. 7 0%): By subjecting yourself to terrible and excruciating digestive torture you have gained the ability to neutralize weak poisons without much discomfort.

Increases Poison Resistance by 10%.[/col][/box]

Status WindowCharacter NameAzraelAlignmentNeutralLevel6ProfessionNoneTitleNoneFame710Infamy0Health795Mana424Stamina500Endurance30Strength40Agility30Art20Creativity30Wisdom40Intellect40Vitality50Fighting Spirit50Luck25Leadership5Attack19Defense0AffinityEarth: 10

Wind: 10

Fire: 10

Water: 10Magic ResistanceFire: 10%

Water: 10%

Earth: 10%

Wind: 10%

+50 Health

+6% Health

+6% Mana

+6% Unarmed Combat Damage

+5% Weapon Damage

Poison resistance: 20%[/col][/box]

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]Heavenly Strings (Lvl. 1 70%): You have the innate ability to play any string instrument using your knowledge and experience from another world.

Angelic Voice(Lvl. 4 50%): Using your innate ability to control your vocal chords and breathing you can produce the optimal frequency to soothe allies and enemies.

Intermediate Alchemy (Lvl. 1 25%): You are able to easily determine if an ingredient is poisonous or not and you can now create many complicated or difficult potions and poisons.

Handicraft (Lvl. 5 7%): This ability is the foundation to every crafting skill and increases along with them.

Increases unarmed combat damage by 1.5% per level.

Increases weapon damage by 1% per level.

Iron Stomach (Lvl. 7 85%): By subjecting yourself to terrible and excruciating digestive torture you have gained the ability to neutralize weak poisons without much discomfort.

Increases Poison Resistance by 10%.

Creative Cooking (Lvl. 6 21%): Either out of laziness or desperation you have learned to use dangerous and poisonous ingredients in combination with other more conventional ingredients to create edible food that tastes pretty good.

Warning! Most people or monsters will not think it tastes good and may die or suffer from the various poisonous effects!

Increases Health and mana by 1% per level.

Repair (Lvl. 2 85%): You can repair low level weapons and armor.

Heavenly Percussion (Lvl. 2 25%): Using knowledge from another world you are able to create music by striking or scraping even objects that don't seem like instruments.

Tailoring (Lvl. 1 0%): You can create low quality clothes and armor out of leather and cloth.

Voice of Death (Lvl. 3 0%): Enemies with low health will have their hearts stopped at medium range and their brains will explode at close range. Effects monsters and humanoids up to your level.

Mana consumption: 50 per second[/col][/box]

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Chapter 5: The Heart of Suffering

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