The servant grabbed the cleaver from the ground and began stroking the pig’s spine once more. Timmy didn’t move with much confidence after he dropped the cleaver, indicating that he was not on board with this. Most likely, he was also a slave. Still, some questions remained. How did he do this? Is this some sort of magic? He claims he saw this on TV.

The cleaver sometimes found itself under a layer of skin, but it was sharp enough to simply peel those away without discontinuing the servant’s motion. In a sense, he was glad that there was only a piece of wood on his own back.

“Are you an NPC or a Player?” the Baron asked.

“What? I told you I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he answered.

“Wrong answer.”

image [https://i.imgur.com/bTeEmRt.jpg]

The servant hacked the cleaver into the pig’s lower back with a squelching sound. At the same time, he got struck on his own lower back, forcing him to scream again. The pain made his heart race. Without missing a beat, the Baron pressed the stick on the top of his spine and began copying Timmy again. It finally dawned on him that this was all a trick of the mind. He was convincing himself that he had a cleaver on his back. He tried focusing on the peeled skin that fell on the ground. Just don’t let him get into your head.

“Hey, eyes open and to the front,” the Baron snapped.

Begrudgingly, he followed suit and watched the movements of the cleaver matching the movements of the stick on his back.

The Baron continued his interrogation: “Maybe this will help: Are you an Adventurer or a slave?”

“I’m a slave,” he grunted.

“That was an obvious answer, wasn’t it?” Bonatelli said. “I can see that your belly button is missing, but your Status tells a different story.”

My belly button?

He looked at his stomach in a panic. Indeed, his belly button was missing. He had noticed before that something was missing, but he didn’t think of it much until now. Looking at his flat stomach with no visible ‘middle’, he understood how wrong that was. How?

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

“I don’t understand,” he said in disbelief, “where is it?”

“So you’re aware that this is wrong. And the game also believes you to be a Player. How do you do that without the mask?” the Baron asked.

A sinking feeling set in his stomach.

“What game? What mask? You have to understand that I don’t know anything, please,” he said.

“Wrong answer.”

The cleaver struck, and so did the stick on his neck. The pain, even though expected, was still shockingly overwhelming.

Bonatelli bombarded him with a flurry of questions: “Just tell me what your Status means! What’s wrong with your stats? How are you LVL 1? Where’s your Class? What’s your name?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what any of this means”!

“Wrong answer!”

The cleaver came down, and so did the stick on his left shoulder. The pain was bearable this time. His brain must have seen through the trick.

“What are you?!” Bonatelli screamed.

“I don’t remember anything before yesterday; you have to believe me,” he pleaded.

He didn’t know what else to do in this situation other than plead. Clearly, the Baron didn’t trust him.

“So what? You were born in this world but as a Player? That’s it? You’re just an anomaly? I’m supposed to believe that?” The Baron became more and more unstable.

“I don’t know,” he answered, frightened.

“Timmy!” Bonatelli noticed that the servant had stopped moving the cleaver. “I’ll gladly make you the pig in this experiment if you don’t get back on it.”

The servant immediately put the cleaver back on the pig and started moving it again. The Baron turned his attention and got up in his face.

“So what’s it gonna be? NPC by birth or Player by Status?” Bonatelli menacingly asked.

Exhausted, he only knew one answer, and that was a question: “What is a Status?”

“Wrong answer.”

A searing hot pain shot through his body. It was freakishly intense like nothing he had ever experienced before. His whole body was convulsing so much that he couldn’t scream yet even breathe. What did he do?

His eyes tried to locate where the pain was coming from. As he looked down, he saw it. A blade was protruding from his stomach. His vision blurred. His heart sent panicked signals to his brain, and he felt like losing consciousness any second now. He tried to breathe to calm down, but his chest was too constricted, and all he could do was groan and shake uncontrollably. Then the blade got pulled out. His legs gave in, and he was hanging by his wrists. He tried to take deep breaths, but every time he did so, he was forced to cough.

“Look at me!” the Baron said coldly.

He tried to regain control over his body but was still too shaken by the stabbing. All he could think of was the lack of blood or wound. The God of Life?

A hand packed him by the face, and the Baron turned his head towards him. He pointed his sword towards the ceiling. He recognized the transparent box above the Baron. At the top, the name: ‘Lucio Bonatelli’, right under it a light green and a second, light blue bar. The bars were full this time. At the bottom, some text and numbers:

LVL. 50 Life Points: 6250/6250 Mana: 100%

“This is what a Combat Status looks like,” the Baron said.