Scooping the grey, mashy slop into his mouth, he gulped it down into his ravenous stomach.

He hadn’t felt all that hungry when he first sat down, especially considering what he had been served, but once he started to eat the nutrient paste he just couldn’t stop.

It was an awful-tasting food, but presently, just like his sense of smell, his sense of taste was completely gone, so he only had to deal with its weird texture.

And he easily solved that issue by just pretending it was mashed potato.

Marace and his circle of friends stared at him in abject horror as he devoured the entire plate of goop in less than five minutes.

He even saw Axel puke a little bit onto the floor. The others hardly did any better, holding down bile and clutching at their stomachs.

He couldn’t tell if they were just joking, or if he was genuinely making them feel sick so he simply decided to ask.

“So are you guys actually sick or just messing with me?”

“The only sick one here is you.” The wild-haired woman, called Volly, snarled at him.

“On a fundamental level, you disgust me.” Cale said slowly, as though he was talking to a child.

“I second what they said.” The third and final member of Marace’s group, Axel, stated.

“Same here.” Marace himself declared, shaking his head in a manner similar to a disappointed parent.

He deflated a little at the verbal beat down from the whole table, but then he rose back up and jokingly said “Cowards.”

Rather than take turns, this time they all started shouting insults at once, calling him every name in the book.

Only Cale had any creative ones. It was a weird feeling to be stared at dead in the eyes and be told you were. “Shunned by common sense.”

Once the table had calmed down, Thomel opened his mouth, ready to call them wimps and start it all over again.

But then he closed it. They were friendly enough but there was no need to push further; everyone had already had a good laugh.

So instead, he patiently waited while the only other person with a full plate finished his meal off, and Cale and Volly started talking about some sort of hybrid knife.

Once he was done with his food, Marace let out a combination of a yawn and burp that bewildered Thomel and the rest of the table. It just didn’t seem biologically possible to make such an unusual sound.

“So now what?” Thomel broached.

“Uhhhh, either go and shoot some targets out at the shooting range or socialise mostly.” Marace said.

“Or you know, hunt something actually worthwhile so you can get paid and get out of here sooner.” Volly interjected.

“How do we go about that?” Thomel asked curiously. The prospect of getting out of this blank prison was certainly appealing to him.

“I think it would be better if you just relaxed for a little bit Thomel, just get your bearings back and then you can worry about taking on some hunting missions. There are always people who want to do them so there’s never any worry about being forced to do one out of nowhere. You can stay here for months without anything happening.” Axel carefully said. Keeping an eye on Thomel’s reaction.

Stolen story; please report.

“I’m in debt, and if I want there to be a chance I make it out of here, I need to pay it off soon, otherwise the interest will trap me more firmly than any chain could.” Evidently, Thomel’s response wasn’t what Axel wanted to hear as his face fell slightly.

“Exactly, the faster the better. Just head over to the armoury, grab a gun and then head off to speak to one of the managers, and then you’ll get sent over to the relay station.You'll be able to figure it out from there.” Volly said in an excited tone of voice, reaching out to fist bump him, her previous disgust completely forgotten.

It made him feel better, he wasn’t the best at social cues and she had literally vomited. He had been a bit concerned about if she meant anything by it.

The environment here wasn’t exactly nice, and even when everything was perfectly fine, he’d seen people flare up over smaller things than someone eating nutrient paste.

Realising he’d been leaving her hanging for a little bit, he hurriedly reached over and fist-bumped her.

“Want me to show you the way?” She asked with an upbeat tone of voice.

Now he was worried that she was a little too happy about this and wanted to kill him.

“I’m against this, but if you do want to go out on a mission immediately then please don’t skimp on the bullets. Buy a first aid pack or two as well, you get healed when you make it back but that’s only if you can still do the test. Even if they see you bleeding out in that containment centre they will just leave you be.” Axel advised, trying to stress his words as much as possible.

“Why the need for so much caution? Also, what did you say before, Axel? Something about waiting months and nothing happening?” Thomel broadly asked the entirety of the table.

Contrary to what he expected, the so far quiet Cale was the first to speak.

“A creature mimicked the appearance of a hunter, and when it was released from the containment centre it killed eighty-nine employees.”

Letting out a sharp gasp, Thomel leaned back in his chair a little; he was expecting a story, but Cale’s cold delivery had left him rather speechless.

“Yeah, there’s been a fair few incidents like that I’m afraid. None as bloody as that one though. Glad it was before my time.” Marace said, stifling one of his common yawns.

“Yeah yeah, blah blah blah. If something like that ever happens again then the best way to survive is to be stronger than whatever that thing was. Hence you need to hunt.” Volly retorted. She stood up, walked around the table, and grabbed Thomel by the arm.

After roughly yanking him twice, he overcame his surprise and stood up.

“Right! We’re turning this boy into a man today, he’s gonna kill his first extradimensional monster and become famous.” She shouted, punching her fist up in the air.

He would feel deathly embarrassed, but everyone in the cafeteria was preoccupied with their own thing, and they only received a few glances.

“I still think that’s a very poor idea. Remember to buy the good ammunition, it’ll save your life, trust me.” Axel said, locking eyes with Thomel.

“Yeah I’ll make sure to do that, learned it the hard way. I’ve actually already become a famous man, killed a troll yesterday. I think it was yesterday anyway.”

Everyone's facial expressions, bar Cale’s, immediately contorted as they sucked in air in between their teeth.

It was a full-on pity-filled grimace, and that’s when he knew for sure he’d been duped.

He’d still held out a bit of hope that what happened had been a disastrous mistake on the part of whoever sent him there. Why waste resources bringing him back just to kill him, after all?

“I wasn’t meant to survive that, was I?” He said with a grimace.

“Not really no, were the discs you had black or silver?” Marace gently asked.

“I honestly don’t remember, maybe silver?” Thomel replied with a half-hearted shrug.

“Oh hang on that’s a good thing, means you’re prepared for what’s on the other side and whatnot. No need to be a worry wart Axel, Thomel will be fine.” Volly happily said, the prior pity completely absent from her face now.

Marace, Cale, Axel and Thormel all seemed to be at an utter loss for words, Stunned silence was the only response Volly’s statement got.

“I’m not wrong, am I?!” She defensively stated, crossing her arms and glaring back at them.

“I– hmmm… I suppose not.” Marace started and then gave up, agreeing with her rather than bothering arguing.

“Hopefully not.” Thonel added, electing a small laugh out of Marace and a concerned look from Axel.

“Nah you’ll be fine, now come on.” Volly said, yanking on his arm yet again.