However, it looked like the man was really willing to speak now.

Before, Illyan noticed the fluctuations coming from his body with green streaks emerging from him and was prepared for retaliation. He recognized that Caleb wanted to use an aura, which he didn’t have much information about.

Illyan only knew how destructive it was.

Fortunately, it seemed that the man couldn’t focus properly as the pain caused him to lose concentration every time he wanted to accumulate the aura.

That amused Illyan as he thought that if Caleb had used it right from the beginning, it would have caused a bigger problem for Illyan than just the small prick at the heart.

But, of course, Caleb couldn’t know that. In his opinion, one sharp attack at the heart was much more lethal than an explosive aura attack.

And he was right. The aura attack was dangerous, but it wasn’t lethal every time. But the flow attack was. It was created by someone who had spent his entire life in the military, after all.

But to his misfortune, it was a mistake to do that to Illyan.

If he had created momentum with the aura to break off the chains and throw Illyan away with the force and then tried to fight back, he would have had some chance.

Then again, Illyan already knew about it and simply cut off his tendons and dislocated his joints for the very same reason. Even if he got rid of the chains, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.

And his aura wasn’t that intimidating to Illyan either, as he was aware that it took a lot of energy to make it explode with force that would injure him. On the other hand, it was much less flexible than flow and couldn’t leave the body. At least, Caleb’s unstable aura couldn’t.

Ezekiel moved the tendrils of darkness and sent slashes of darkness at him, but he wasn’t sure if it was a pure aura or mana attack or if it was a combination of both.

All in all, Illyan was careful but wasn’t worried.

And sure enough, after some time, Caleb didn’t try anything as he spilled everything he could.

“Y-you just need…”

The way the technique worked, how to speed up the process with some medicines, and even how to form the aura.

Again, Varel the Viper, who only got the technique of flow during his time in the military, managed to reach the Aura stage with just his talent and then pass it on to his children.

Illyan felt a little awe in his heart for the man as he listened to Caleb’s sobbing voice.

He also told Illyan how he met Aziro and made a deal with him. He explained the rivalry between the several-decades-old Venomous Viper Gang and the several-centuries-old Heart Bearer Gang that had worked for Black Obsidian ever since they were created.

The fact that even mayors worked with them explained how deep this force was in the kingdom. It wasn’t just this town. This was happening almost everywhere in the kingdom for generations.

People outside of the kingdom saw this place as a simple playground where they could do whatever they wanted and not face any consequences.

“How strong is each leader of this town’s forces?” Illyan asked somberly. He already had some idea, but he needed more details.

“Ugh… My father is too secretive and doesn’t show his strength often. He is at least an aura master like me. However, he is much stronger… Heart Bearer leaders should have made some deals after generations of servitude that allowed them to get some of the techniques, but I am not sure how strong they are. But I am sure that the leader isn’t stronger than Aziro. The mayor should be just a normal person.”

Caleb had problems with breathing as he said everything as quickly as he could.

“What about Aziro and Ezekiel?”

“They… I don’t really… Wait… I remember that one of the acolytes once said that Aziro was at the turning point of becoming a magister. From what I know, becoming a magister means that you would be welcomed anywhere on the continent.”

As Illyan listened, he finally connected some dots as he got a more comprehensive understanding of the strengths of other power systems.

He learned from a young age that on the other continent, they used the thirteen stages based on the Primordial Beasts.

But he didn’t know much about them and thus couldn’t gauge who was in which stage.

Now, however, he finally knew the first few stages.

The people on the Oberuan continent did not seem to count the Mortal Stage at all. Instead, the Novice Stage was the first acknowledged stage.

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Any mortal who started to go beyond the mortal possibilities of the human body was considered Novice Stage.

To be counted as one, you could either become skilled in [Flow Breathing Technique] or become a Novice Magician like Arwen did.

Once you managed to condense a Flow, you would become an early Apprentice stage.

Each stage had three sub-stages: early, middle, and late stages.

The aura master corresponded to the middle Apprentice stage, and the mind eye master corresponded to the late Apprentice stage.

Only by becoming a Warlord could you reach the potential of the Expert stage or rather the first rank of Magisters.

Before becoming one, you would need to become a Novice Magician and then, by creating a Mana Nexus, become an Acolyte that was divided into three levels based on the amount of mana in the Mana Nexus.

Aziro and Ezekiel were in an awkward position as they were both at the turning point of becoming Magisters but were still considered acolytes. That was also the reason why they looked for ways to become stronger.

‘So Kaoran was wrong. He and Degres weren’t Novices. Based on their powers, they were already in the Apprentice stage. As I am right now. The stages will probably be getting exponentially harder to reach later on, but the first few are quite easy to achieve even if you aren’t talented.’

Of course, Caleb also mentioned that Aziro once said to him that Magisters weren’t the strongest beings on the continent. That meant that even if people were at the same power stage, there could be a difference in real power. For example, Warlords were not as strong as full-fledged Magisters despite both being in the Expert Stage.

As Illyan thought this, he decided that it was time to choose a goal for himself.

For now, he decided to pursue both the path of knight and acolyte since he had techniques for both. He knew it wasn’t time-effective, but Illyan was sure it could be useful for him someday.

After all, he could see that even though the acolytes were strong, they were very weak in close combat.

They could learn some spells like barriers, but that all depended on the luck and wealth they had. The path of magic required a lot of resources, which Illyan lacked right now.

Not to mention, his ability to hold mana in his body was probably not much better than spiritual energy, and he needed to find a way for himself.

That’s why he decided that reaching the flow stage was the most important right now.

“Thank you, Mr. Caleb. You told me everything I needed to know.” So Illyan ended the conversation when he had extracted all the information out of him.

Caleb’s eyes shone with hope as he asked.

“Will you let me go now? Please!” He knew it was unrealistic to ask something like this, but he still couldn’t let go of hope. Even if he had to die here, at least the pain would stop.

“Hmm? Oh, my apologies, but that won’t do. There are still some answers I would like to get out of you.” Illyan shook his head as he refused.

“Eh? But I already told you everything!” Caleb yelled indignantly.

“I want answers not from your mouth but rather from your body,” Illyan said as he prepared his physician’s suitcase at the table next to Caleb. He also put simple white gloves on his hands.

Soon, he took out some scalpels and even some medicines. He opened the bottle where some liquid was and put the scalpel inside. This was to disinfect it.

Then he took some kind of vial and slid it down Caleb’s throat while forcibly holding his jaw.

“You don’t need to worry. You should survive as this concoction stops most of the bleeding that will occur. Unfortunately, I fear there would be some side effects if I gave you some anesthesia, so you will need to endure, Mr. Caleb.” Illyan smiled nonchalantly as he prepared some other tools for the surgery.

“W-what?!” Caleb’s eyes almost popped out of his sockets when he realized that Illyan was even more evil than he expected.

“Why? Why are you doing this?!” He yelled as tears rolled down his face and saliva flowed from his mouth. His eyes were still bloodshot as the suppressed hate for Illyan, who did this to him, exuded from his body.

The aura, before weak and dissipating, was now getting stronger as the deep green flame-like substance covered Caleb’s body.

“You told me everything you know. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just… Your body knows a lot more about you.” Illyan said as he held down Caleb.

The moment he touched him, his skin cracked and fell off in bits while his bones cracked from the forcible pulsation.

He didn’t care though as he took the scalpel and made one long incision on Caleb’s chest.

“Agh!” The pain coursed through his body, but this time he persevered as the aura didn’t dissipate.

The chains creaked while the table trembled.

Illyan frowned as he saw this and struck the man’s throat. The jab was light, but it was enough to make Caleb cough and gasp for air.

The aura immediately calmed down.

With a nod of satisfaction, Illyan could finally begin the second part of his plan. He opened Caleb’s chest while he was still conscious, hoping to see and understand how the flow worked inside the body and where it came from. The same went for the aura.

Illyan’s mind turned tranquil as he began to research the man, while screams of agony escaped from Caleb’s mouth.

Unfortunately, nobody was going to hear his lamentations...

Several days had passed since Caleb first woke up.

For Caleb, it was hell. He was captured by a madman who tortured him for information, and just when he thought it was over—either by death or by getting free—he suffered another blow by being used as a research subject.

His ragged voice couldn’t even make a sound anymore, his vocal cords damaged from excessive screaming. His vision was blurry, and he couldn’t focus on anything.

He was weakened, both physically and mentally, to the point where he couldn’t even muster the thought of trying to escape.

Illyan was cautious most of the time and wouldn’t allow a single mistake to destroy everything. So, on the first day after he finished the surgery, he immediately used sleeping powder on Caleb.

He couldn’t fully focus on Caleb, as after the incident where he treated a lot of soldiers, people realized that a new physician was in town and started to flood his house.

Illyan also decided to make his consultations cheaper, which made him even more popular in the eyes of common people who couldn’t afford Perus’ consultation fees.

So, during the day, he invited people over and treated them, while during the night, he conducted experiments on Caleb. He slept only a few hours a day at most, as his body could easily recover in that time.

He also didn’t need to fear that people would hear him, as he had already made sure the hidden room was soundproof.

Of course, he was still careful and wasn’t complacent. That could cost him the living environment he had worked hard for, and maybe even his life, if he was unlucky.

He also decided to work hard on his breathing technique. With a combination of meditation, it worked wonders, as he felt energized every day.

However, after several days, he felt his mental energy was not as good as his physical energy and realized he should start learning the mind-strengthening technique he had received from Arwen as soon as possible.