A heavy silence settled into the air. Viran kept his eyes trained on Red, and the boy felt the pressure of the whole world fall onto his shoulders at that moment. It took a few seconds in what that felt like an eternity for him to gather his thoughts. The conclusion he made came by just as fast. His life was not in his own hands anymore. There was no wriggling himself out of this situation, so why the need to hesitate?
On the surface, no sign of Red's agitation could be seen. His mind finally settled down as the boy came to accept the position he had found himself in.
"How did you know?" He asked, not breaking eye contact with the man.
"It's not easy." Viran, for his part, seemed more than willing to answer his question. "You already know that the more acupoints we open in each spirit vein the stronger our bodies get. Someone who has opened three or four spirit veins would be completely capable of taking on several normal people in a fight." His expression relaxed a bit as he talked, putting the food bowl back on his desk.
He hadn't had the chance to witness it before, but he was aware of how the process worked. There were 99 acupoints divided amongst all 12 spiritual veins in the human body and for someone to be fully capable of wielding spiritual energy they needed to open all of them. Viran had told him in the past that the more acupoints you opened the stronger you would become. This was not only in the physical aspect but both your senses and your mind would also improve substantially. Someone who had only opened one spiritual vein, for instance, would be hard-pressed to match someone who had opened four of them.
"The difference between having or not having a few additional spiritual veins completely opened is quite clear," The man continued. "But it gets a bit harder to notice it when you get to the acupoints themselves. There probably won't be much of a difference in strength between an adult who has opened two of his upper arms acupoints and another one who had opened four." A mocking smile formed on his face. "That's probably what you were thinking when you decided to hide your progress from me, right? And well, you're not entirely wrong. But unfortunately, you forgot that you are dealing with a genius here." He tapped the side of his head with his finger.
At that point, Red had more or less of an idea about how he had found it out.
"Was that why you invited me for the hunt?"
"More or less, but things went far more smoothly than I thought." Viran replied. "It would be an assessment that would take weeks of observation normally, but thanks to those centipedes all your secrets were laid bare before me." He took out an iron knife from the side of his waist, the same one he had let Red borrow earlier. "I measured how deep you managed to stab the thing. Perhaps to your average person, this wouldn't tell them much, not to mention as a kid your body is still in development, but I've done my research."
He demonstrated his point by making a stabbing motion with the weapon.
"Although I can't be exactly sure of the specific number, the strength you had to have to get the knife that deep into the centipede's head was quite a bit more than a kid who had just started opening his second spiritual vein could gather." Having said his part, the man laid back against the stone seat and continued to stare at Red.
"...This seems unfair." It was all the boy could say at the moment. These were all things he obviously wasn't privy to, and even if he knew about it while fighting the centipede, there was no way he would have been able to hold back when his life was on the line.
"Of course it's unfair!" Viran laughed. "Look, you're smart, smarter than anyone your age should be, that much was clear from the beginning. But you were always outmatched against me, kid. I'm smarter, stronger, and have far more experience in life than you. You may meet some people during your journey who are just superior to you in every way, and at that point you can only blame your own luck." He flipped the knife in his hand before tossing it onto the desk behind him. "I've answered your question, now you have to answer mine. How many?"
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"...Six." Red could only reply in resignation. The man already knew he was lying, so he saw no point in hiding the truth from him any longer.
"Hmmm..." Viran scratched his chin as he pondered for a few seconds, staring at the tent wall. "That's not a bad speed. Far faster than someone with your talents should have..."
This was a terrible feeling, far worse than how he felt when he had almost been killed by the centipede. Back then, he could have died on his own terms, but right now Red had no agency over what would happen to him. Whether he lived or died it would all depend on what Viran wanted to do, such was the difference in strength between them. This feeling of hopelessness pervaded every aspect of his body and there was nothing he could do about it. Red felt like it was about to consume him if he let it, but even here he refused to lose himself to it, a natural pride ingrained in his being allowing him to maintain his composure.
Renewed silence came over the room. Red knew what question would come next. He would be forced to reveal how he had managed to open so many acupoints so quickly, and who knew what Viran would do next. Still, the boy remained silent. Although he was more or less resigned to his fate, he wouldn't spew everything he knew without prompting. Finally, Viran sighed loudly, before his attention returned to Red.
"Do you know the history of these mines, kid?"
"...No." Red felt surprised by the question. Even Viran's tone seemed to change, becoming heavier and more tired. What he was expecting didn't come. Even then, the boy still paid attention. Viran wasn't the kind to speak without meaning.
"To be truthful, neither do I exactly. It is the kind of legend that got spread throughout the ages and changed so much that no one really knows what the true origin of this place even is anymore." The old soldier reached back, grabbing a moonstone that was on his desk. "They always involve the moon, though... Have you ever seen it?"
"No." Red spoke truthfully. He had heard it described before by other slaves, this celestial body that floated in the night sky, but the boy had a hard time visualizing it.
"It's a very beautiful thing, but also very terrifying if you look at it too much." Viran continued with a smile on his face. "They say these moonstones contain traces of its power, from a fragment that fell down on this world a long time ago. I never believed it, and when I was sent here and was able to see one of them up close I felt I only had my doubts reaffirmed. They only glowed with soft green light and contained a meager amount of spiritual power, completely useless, and yet these fools up top created a whole mining operation composed of slaves to gather them..." He shook his head, a small laugh escaping his mouth. "Turns out I was the fool all along..."
Red felt lost. At this point, Viran seemed to be talking to himself more than he was to the boy. The image of a stalwart warrior diminished into one of a tired and bitter old man, spewing his grievances to the air.
"You know, no one ever managed to escape these mines right?" Viran continued. "This was what I heard all the time while I was rotting away in prison and yet I was still confident. Perhaps they were right, but the only type of people they ever sent here was the lowest of the low, peasants and criminals they couldn't even be bothered with killing themselves. Of course they wouldn't be able to escape, but these caves were never put against someone like me..." He went silent before suddenly, loud laughter came out of his mouth. "What an idiot! All these stories about how arrogant heroes met their downfall I read when I was a kid, and yet look at me now, destined to rot in these caves."
The boy couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity well up in his mind. Escape. This word that sounded so foreign before Viran taught him how to open his spiritual veins now instead seemed to be a possibility in his future. And yet, even the seasoned soldier in front of him who was far more powerful seemed to laugh at the idea.
"Is it that hard to escape?" Red asked when the man stopped laughing to himself.
"Hard? It is extremely hard, but not impossible. No, escaping is not the real problem, it's what comes after you leave this place that is the issue..." Viran shook his head as his attention returned to the wounded boy in front of him. "You know, I asked one of the guards up top since when did they start putting kids in these caves. Do you know what he said?"
Red didn't know why, but he felt like this was not something he wanted to learn.
"He said they never put in any kid in these mines, that even they were not cruel enough to let a child suffer such a fate..." The man studied Red's expressions closely. "How did you end up here?"
"...I don't know." The boy had no need to lie because he truly didn't. Ever since he became aware of himself, of his first memory, he found himself in these caves, and that was two years ago.
"You truly don't remember." Viran shook his head. "This place, the more I try to understand it the farther the answers seem to be from me... I will give you a piece of advice, kid, something I had to learn for myself when I took my first step into this unknown world." His expression became serious once again. "Some of the things you see in this place... It's best to just pretend that they aren't there. Do you understand?"
At that point, Red's mind couldn't help but wander back to an image. A purple glow. After a few seconds of silence, he simply nodded.
"Good." With a smile, Viran took the food bowl once again, before offering it to the boy. "Here, eat it, you're gonna need it if you want to recover."
"...That's it?" He grabbed the bowl, still confused about the whole conversation.
"For now, yes. What, you think I am gonna kill you just like that?" The man smiled, returning to his old self. "You are my investment, kid, I can't just get rid of you like this." Saying so, the man patted his ragged trousers before getting up and walking towards the tent's entrance. "Eat, rest, and get used to the pain. Tomorrow, I'm gonna start to teach you some things."
With that, he lifted the flap and left the covering. Red stood silent in thought for a good minute before the hunger got the best of him and he started stuffing down the centipede meat.