Walking over towards the other side of the underground city, Arin met up with his classmates.

As soon as they saw Arin countless questions popped up in their minds but the most prominent one was why he did it. Even though they felt like asking it, they felt as if this was to be expected with Arin’s personality.

Noah took it the easiest. He didn’t even seem bothered as to why Arin did this. He calmly let his lower foot be branded by the mark. A thoughtful look appeared on his face as he felt an overwhelming force start to settle down within his mind.

Patrick was the first one who was taken and the one who didn’t have a say in it. Even though he wasn’t a force like the others, he still had his own merit. He struggled to the very end, pushing back a few Solvers to try and delay the inevitable.

When Arin saw Patrick struggle to the very end, he nodded. This was the kind of people he liked, the ones who weren’t willing to bend down without a fight. Even if Patrick wasn’t notable right now, he had the mindset to continue striving forward.

As for Sefi, it was the most troublesome. She had subconsciously activated her Fragment, letting everyone see just what kind of monster they had amidst them. Her mannerisms turned cold and rigid as if she was a puppet that was being controlled haphazardly from above.

“Stand back! This one is troublesome!” The captain of the guards roared out his orders. He noticed Malum being condensed all around Sefi. This was an immediate cause for concern.

“Hahahahaha!” Sefi started maniacally laughing for no apparent reason. She seemed to have derived joy from such a situation. Even though she had no conscious control over how she exerted her power, the range was more than enough to make up for it.

Her dark ruby Malum surged radially outward. A few soldiers were caught unprepared as they mercilessly dug inside their own bodies. It didn’t matter that they had used their own Malum to protect themselves as the sheer density and destructive influence it had was more than enough to tear it apart

One of the few people who had a Fragment showed up and tried to match against Sefi. Unfortunately for them, not understand what kind of Fragment Sefi had, and they paid a terrible price.

The very guard that had a Fragment brought out a small candle lamp, he ignited the lamp as the light all around him started to dim down. Before he could launch another attack, his steady and calm eyes turned red with madness.

He looked behind him and devilishly snickered and threw out the lamp he had towards everyone. The captain of the guards noticed this sudden change and used his own Fragment to deal with his.

The captain’s Fragment was a long piece of string, extremely thin yet extremely durable. He manipulated this string to grab ahold of the flying lamp in the sky. As the small ignited flame on the lamp started to diminish, the captain used the threads to completely envelop the candle lamp.

As soon as he completely covered the lamp, an immense explosion caused those nearby to be thrown away. Countless soldiers unprotected from the explosion had their skin scorched and burned as they were on fire. No matter how much they tried rolling or using water, it just wouldn’t go out.

“Horr! What are you doing?!” The captain yelled out the name of the man who just had turned mad. In response, Horr started cackling and ran in. He took out the sheathed sword from his waist and pushed forward.

“Get a hold of yourself, soldier!” The captain similarly took out a sword in his possession. Compared to Horr’s ordinary blade, the captain’s sword had a fancy elegant handle with even tougher steel. With one swift motion, Horr’s blade was cut clean in half.

The madness in Horr’s eyes didn’t diminish at all. Seeing that his blade was rendered useless, he still kept pushing forward. If he couldn’t reach the captain’s body at this range then all he needed was to get closer. In his insane mind, he was willing to be pierced through with a blade if it meant inflicting a single wound on him.

Seeing that his subordinate had lost his mind, the captain didn’t care about keeping up appearances anymore. He evoked the slave mark on Horr’s head only to see that the signs of activation did happen but it didn’t affect Horr at all. “I see how it is.”

As Horr crazily jumped in without a care for his safety, understanding that his subordinate was too far gone the captain cleanly cut his head straight off. As the captain, finished his strike, Horr’s head and body were cleanly separated by a razor-thin line of blood.

The captain sighed, “Tricky Fragment. Everyone who’s a Bind Solver and below should leave the premises. You’ll only be liabilities at this point.”

Everyone quickly listened to their captain’s orders without questioning it. They had all been trained to such a degree that his words were essentially the word of god. The fear they had for him was only second to Kian.

Arin watched everything unfold and had grown to like Sefi’s actions. She was also willing to struggle even in the face of death. Although her strength mostly lay in her Fragment, it was still her own. He judged a person’s strength based on how they were willing to use anything that they could use their hands on. After all, the strong live, and the weak die.

Patrick and Sefi had the will to struggle to the very end. With these kinds of people, the ones who were crazy enough to risk their lives with every encounter, only two things awaited them. Either a swift death or a legendary tale to be passed down for generations.

“Are you still sane?” Arin walked up to Sefi’s range of corruption. “That’s a really interesting Fragment. It’s formidable, unbelievably so. So why did that Fragment make a pact with you?”

After experiencing a few Mysterious Fragments up close, he could somewhat tell the grade whether a Fragment was a Secret Fragment or a Mysterious Fragment. With this, he could determine that Sefi’s Fragment was a Mysterious Fragment. What made it even more interesting was that it was an unbelievably high-grade Mysterious Fragment.

Recalling the two general methods of interacting with a Fragment, Sefi most likely went through the option of worshiping it. As for the more forceful method, it wouldn’t have made sense since if that was the case, she would’ve already been long gone. A person who gets their mind taken over doesn’t just recover.

“Arin. I’m still conscious. It’s just that…” Sefi’s eyes turned blood red. She no longer had pupils to stand out, there was only a pure redness left. “I feel very excited.”

“You’ll make it far,” Arin spoke his piece and dragged Noah and Patrick away. They were slightly burnt from the impact earlier but luckily a few soldiers were used as meatshields to protect them. “Get this over quickly. I still need to work on the Trials.”

“As you wish.” The captain bowed down as he and a few other soldiers brought out their own Fragments to counteract Sefi’s hypnotic power. Against such a genuine threat, they brought out all they had, not caring whether they would kill her during their flurry of attacks.

If she died then that was that. A casualty in this underground city, never to be remembered.

Arin didn’t bother watching the outcome since he knew what it was. No matter how terrifying Sefi’s Mysterious Fragment was, even with the suppression, it wasn’t enough to overcome the experience of a veteran. What less if five veteran combat masters worked together to bring her down? It was essentially child’s play.

Manifestation.

All of these veteran combat masters were Seal Solvers. They had already manifested their armor, and this severely impacted Sefi’s Malum against them.

Arin dragged them along up until they reached the platform where the nine Trials were placed. He threw them at the ground and immediately started walking off towards another Trial that he hadn’t entered yet.

“You’re just going to leave us like this?” Noah had already been marked, at this point, he couldn’t go against Arin’s orders unless he went against his very core being. This slave mark could only force those branded to follow their own sets of beliefs.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

If this was a time of peace and prosperity then the morality of man would be skewed towards being kind. However, it was a time of complete blood and chaos, being a nice person here would only mean you didn’t have long to live.

With murder and backstabbing being far more common than they should be, forcing people to do dangerous tasks was far too easy. Except for a few outliers, this shouldn’t be a problem at all.

“Exactly.” Arin checked the description of the next Trial he was undertaking.

Trial: Arcane Truth

Difficulty: Maze

Participants: 1

Restrictions: Unable to use Malum

Goal: Take the Treasure

Rewards: Malum

Sephirah: -33

۝̷̙̤̥̊͑́Ꞡ̸̛̥̖̱̯̈́͜ꝸ̴̦͐̏̿̕Ꙟ̵̤̰̲̤̈́̀͊̾ꓶ̸̨̠̫̰̘̽̋͌̑ⱴ̵̗͈͙̥̑̈́̋̃͗ꭁ̷̩̪̽̒̄͒̔ͅꭁ̸͇̜̀ἒ̴̹̲̳̺̥́̂̆͘͝ễ̴͔̞͂̅̎̀ج̵̻̇̒̀͊ݨ̸̗̺̪͗͒̽̿̕ڠ̸̬̖͊̊ջ̷̹͈̏͛̂͋͝ͅ۝̴̫̮͈̍̔͊͂̒

֍̸̰̫̮͖̇̇͐́̈́̂́̔۩̴͍͖̮̙͙͑̑̇͌́̓̎̒̾̉͋̆͝ͅڠ̶̡̰̞̩̟̬̪̭̫̬͖̹͈̋̅̃̅̈́̈͝Ⴟ̸̰̜̮̋͌̄̀̿͘ڀ̴̧̛̥̻̟̟̮̣̈́̂́̏̌͛̍̐͐͝ͅᴥ̶̨̢̯͙̪͙͓̬͔̿͛̍ﮮ̷͇̟̻̰͇͌̿͌͋͒́̋͊̐̊̈̌̚ͅﯚ̵̛̜̣̬̎͊͒͆̌̎̾̍̅ﺹ̸̢͖͚͉̤̖͉̬̟̭̈́̅ჭ̷̡͔̤͎͐̆͌́͗̄̅̍̚Ⴕ̵̼̱̘̫͙͆̆̈́̍͝֍̵̢͎̥̻̯͐̊̈́̿̽͆́̅́͝

Ѻ̴̢̭̪͔̤͈̳̩͍̥̥͓͙͛̃͝ԩ̶̧̱̟̣̣̻͖̖̹̭̗̇̈́̓́͝₰̴̤͍̰̦͕̲̬̐̐̇̅̈́́͂̕͝͝ꙮ̸̡̱͓̦̇͐̉̒͠͠ͅⴊ̷̛͓̟͍̗̼̟̯̦̪͓͇̇͛̀͋̀͛̓̈́̌̕ⴆ̴̢̨͈͕̩̙̮̳̳͖̀̾̄͘ᾈ̸̣̙̼̏͝Ꚍ̵̨̧̼̖̮͎͕̲̘̃͂͋͐̾͛̈́͛̕͝ﬨ̶̯̬̥̮̥̳͙͛̓͛͒́͆͒ﷺ̵̢̧̜͚̫̼͓̭̥̣̞̌̑́̐̿͜͜ﮃ̶̢̻̮̓̿ꜳ̶̢̣̜͇͎͙̣̰͚͓̱̱̙͒̒͒̀̊̍̊̏̆̅̒̔͠א̶ָ̧̳̣̼̗̘̒̉͜ﮋ̸̨̧̢̗͎͖͕̹̲̙̞͕́̌̚ͅპ̷̡̦̻̱̘̪̘̰͎̙͚̬͐̏̚̚͝Ჱ̵̡̢̻̲͔͙̿͋̈́́͋̆́ڄ̴̢̆̾͌̏Ყ̶̧̞͎̫̭̞̜̱͚̩͗͆̈́̊̆͆͐̑͂Ჱ̴̡̖͚̜͇͍̓̄͒͂̾Ә̵̛̛̟̹̭̙͔̣̟̲̬̽̀́̈̐̿̇͗͠Ԗ̷̨̪̻͉̯̮̻̉̈́ǂ̵͉̩̜̔̉̀̌ʢ̶̨̺͔͓̮͔̞͚͕̻̮́̇͌ͅ҉̷̡̢̯̩͓̖̘̫̦͍͎͚͋̃́̀̄̀͑͆̒̾͆͠

“Well, I’m going to cut straight to the point. Are you ever going to let us free?” Noah calmly asked. Even though he was in such a desperate position, he didn’t seem that bothered at all.

This was in comparison to Patrick who was at the edge of having a mental breakdown. Having his life no longer in his hands wasn’t something he liked. A small decision he made caused him to this point.

Arin thought about it briefly, “It depends on how useful you would be in either case.”

“Anything concrete? Something we can at least look forward to?” Noah was asking all the right questions someone in his position should ask yet his tone and mannerisms completely contradicted this.

“It’s just a precaution. I can’t have you running everywhere shouting about this place. It’s hidden out of sight for a reason after all.”

Noah looked around the place and started observing the delicate care that had been placed ensuring that this area looked pristine.

“You’re going to be making more enemies at this point.” Noah sighed and said out loud.

“From who? You three? Even if that’s the case, that’s what I want. If you have nothing else to say, I’m leaving.”

“Just one last thing, what does being strong mean for you?” From out of nowhere, Noah asked this question.

Arin narrowed his eyes. “Then what does it mean for you?”

Noah answered immediately, “Strength is a means to an end. I need strength so that I can explore and find the secrets of the world hidden away. I just want to know everything about everything.”

Arin glanced at Patrick, awaiting his answer.

Patrick sighed, feeling extremely hopeless. “To no longer be shackled by the city.” He didn’t know why his input was even being considered.

“Good answers. You better make yourselves useful.” Arin took one step towards the Trial and disappeared.

As soon as Arin disappeared, a head popped out. Her clothes were still roughed up and her voice raspy yet her curiosity got the better of her. “H-Hello…”

Noah turned his head and saw an oddly familiarly unfamiliar face. It was as if he had seen her before but couldn’t pinpoint where. Even so, with such a willing person to converse with him, he didn’t shun her away.

“You want to talk, right? Come over here, I won’t bite.” Noah sat around, waiting for her to make her move.

Daine took a few steps closer when a teenager immediately grabbed her shoulder. He whispered in an angry voice, “Are you crazy? Who knows what he’s up to? Just do your job and nothing more. You’re lucky you’re even alive right now. Stop pushing it.”

Daine gripped her hand and shoved him away, “He’s not here anyway. Besides, he doesn’t look like a bad guy.”

“That’s how they get you! Anyone that knows that family is definitely trouble.” Rion expressively warned her. “Just leave them be and focus on your own job. Which is… nothing for now. Go stand in the corner and don’t bother them.”

“Saying hi won’t hurt.” Daine stormed off in Noah’s direction, wanting to know more about them.

“That took a while, a bit of trouble from your friend?” Noah made a casual joke trying to lift up the mood. He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask her, especially related to how the entire underground city operated. Such a gigantic scale meant that there were at the very least 100,000 people here.

For everyone here to be branded meant that this was a genuine army waiting to be unleashed. What made it even more impressive was the fact that Noah noticed tons of recreational and mandatory workshops. It even had a red-light district.

This was a genuinely autonomous city, one that would be able to live alone without any outside interference for centuries to come. Such a marvelous place wouldn’t have been constructed for no reason at all. This made Noah create theories from the few clues he had.

“Not really. Ahem, I see that you came from the outside world. I have a few questions to ask you, if you don’t mind that is.” Daine waved her hands, trying to not offend them at all.

“I don’t mind if you also answer a few questions of my own.” Noah saw Daine nodding along and immediately took the flow of the conversation.

“Since you agreed, I’m very curious as to where you came from. Did you grow up here or were you taken from somewhere else?”

“I came here… sold by my parents…” Daine awkwardly revealed the answer. “I came to ask you about what’s happening outside. Has the famine already started? Is the Western District faring well?”

Famine… Noah recalled a few rumors about how the city had been running out of resources. At an extremely rapid pace no less. It appears that something troublesome has caused the perfect balance to be set off.

“Worry not. There’s still no visible problem happening outside. For the last 16 years, it’s always been the same. A few fights here and there but nothing affecting the entire city as a whole.” Noah gave off his signature calm expression.

“Then… I already asked Arin but I still want to ask you for a favor. Could you please find my parents for me? Whether they’re dead or alive, I just want to know.” Daine lowered her eyes in shame. “I can’t offer much but if you want knowledge then I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“Tempting offer. Alas, I’m not particularly into charities.” Noah shook his head. He wanted information but there were more efficient ways of exchanging it.

Daine knew this was the most likely result. Even so, she at least wanted to try.

All of a sudden, Patrick spoke up, “I can help you out.”

Daine was feeling a little somber from Noah’s answer but was immediately joyful once Patrick offered to help. “You will?”

“If I ever get out then why not? I just need your name and place of residence. It should be easy to find out after that.” Patrick had picked up a few tricks from Robert. Usually, he just followed along with what he said but this time he took some initiative to use his brain.

“T-Thank you! My name’s Daine Moile and I live in Subdistrict 24 in the Western District. The exact location is…” Daine started listing off all she could remember from all those years ago.

As for Patrick, he was initially listening in but when he heard her name, his mind immediately blanked out. He looked at Noah who also had the same dumbfounded expression on his face. Neither of them expected that Sefi’s sister would still be alive.

Rumors had stated that Sefi killed her family and neighbors in the most brutal way possible. As the countless bodies were laid out all around her, she laughed out loud and happily sang a children’s tune. With the context of such a gruesome scene, it came off as creepy and unnerving. Such a lunatic wasn’t someone anyone could just be casually acquainted with.

Now, it turns out that Sefi’s sister had been alive this entire time. She was alive, a slave but still well. Just far too many coincidences occurred that it didn’t sit well with Noah at all. His instincts were screaming out that there was a massive plot happening in the background.

His viewpoint immediately shifted from casual interest to heavy motivation. Too many points were connected that it seemed like Kian had some idea that would be quite gigantic. Whether it was good or bad, Noah knew that it was massive.

There were still points that Noah hadn’t realized like the stationary Pravum hidden under the main city to hide this underground city. The current state of the city and the alternative showcase of the underground city of slaves just showed that there was something big about to unfold.

“Daine, you might not need to wait any longer.” Noah noticed a tattered figure being dragged along.

“What do you…” Daine looked behind her and saw a face she never thought she would ever see again. “Sefi…”

The injured girl weakly looked up and sadistically grinned, “So this was where you’ve been hiding. I still haven’t been able to control my Mysterious Fragment because of you. I’ll make up for that now.”

Sefi’s heavily injured body just somehow managed to create enough force within it to lunge at Daine. With Daine’s mortal body, it was quite obvious that she would easily crumble down before Sefi’s strength.

Noah couldn’t just let such an important piece be taken off so easily so he decided to intervene. He didn’t go out and escape when Arin was there because he was restricted by him. Now that he was no longer suppressing him, he could easily showcase his full strength in this place.

Rion was watching from a distance, keenly watching over everything to make sure nothing unexpected occurred.

Noah went in front of Daine and grabbed ahold of Sefi’s fist. With how weak she was now, he could easily dispel any attack without any issue. “I can’t let you do that, Sefi.”

Sefi screamed, “Don’t stop me! If I can just… If I can take her life then it’ll be complete! Don’t mess with me, Noah! I’ll burn all the books in the library if you stop me here.”

As comical as Sefi’s threats seemed, Noah didn’t seem to think so. His expression turned extremely serious, “Don’t do anything rash. Just wait for Arin to come back.”

“I don’t care. I need to do this.” Sefi could barely move her limbs but even still, with her naturally strengthened body, she was only slightly worse off than Noah.

The guard who brought Sefi over didn’t seem to think much of it and left. The results of this wasn’t of concern to him.

“Break it off.” A voice came from behind them and Arin reappeared out of nowhere. His body was heavily bleeding with numerous bits of cuts and chunks of missing flesh. Even some of his internal organs were popping out in some places. Even still with his rule over people with the brand, his words were absolute. With a few words, everything was within his control.