It quickly became clear why the prisoners were drained of energy to the brink of death. Judging by how rapidly that "doctor" recovered, he had just drawn power from one of the large crystals!

The realization hit me like a wave of nostalgia—an oddly shared sensation, as Dima also seemed to remember something similar.

This was the perfect metaphor for taxes! First, they squeeze you dry until there’s nothing left to take, and then they bury you at your own expense—leaving you in debt on top of it all. Sure, that’s an extreme case, but the ultimate expression of this scheme was something I had only seen with Ashshukhatt, who heavily relied on crystals. Still, the principle was the same!

I didn’t linger on these musings for long. There was too much work to do, and I didn’t even know where to start. Being so far from my focal point, I couldn’t replenish my reserves of cursed energy or store away excess mana.

It was a bizarre predicament. To suppress the pain, I had to use my gift, overloading my core with cursed energy. But at the same time, I was receiving an influx of mana and life force, which I also needed cursed energy to properly absorb. And of course, I barely had any of that to spare! It was one of those situations where everything was technically fine, yet inconvenient and poorly timed.

Normally, I might have just let this 5D simulation run its course—after all, it wasn’t my first rodeo. But this time, I wasn’t alone. Judging by Marcus’s relentless efforts—and the fact that he was cranking things up—it seemed increasingly likely that Dima’s mental stability could take a hit. I could already sense his discomfort at what he was seeing. If he started *feeling* the pain too… No, I wasn’t about to take that risk.

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Reluctantly suppressing my inner miser, I began converting the life force and mana flowing into me into cursed energy at a painfully low exchange rate. Simultaneously, to avoid burning out my still-delicate mana channels, I redirected all incoming energy into self-development.

My central magic pillar absorbed the energy like a sponge. Mana coursed furiously between my cores as I continued covertly enhancing my body, shedding excess life force in the process. I repaired damage, strengthened my bones, fortified my circulatory and lymphatic systems, reinforced my muscles and tendons, and even improved my brain and nervous system to handle these tasks more efficiently!

At some point, I became so immersed in this process that I thought, “Why not go all out?” There was no rush, after all. I began carefully "warming up" my mana channels throughout my body in preparation for future endeavors. Becoming a true Apprentice wouldn’t happen overnight—not even for me. It would take at least a day of meticulous effort, but you have to start somewhere, right?

I focused particularly on developing the channels in my brain, gradually working toward my eyes. Living without the ability to use magical sight was highly inconvenient, and cursed energy couldn’t help with that. You can’t enhance something that simply isn’t there. My eyes were still just regular human eyes. The ability to perceive mana outside the body only emerged at the Apprentice level, and that was something I could work with.

If I had more energy to invest in my focal point, I could have delegated some of these functions, but for now, I had to make do. Developing my body was crucial anyway. I was a long way from the level where I could rely solely on a fortress. Right now, I could barely manage a shack, so I had no choice but to build everything the old-fashioned way—by hand.

Meanwhile, Marcus continued consuming crystals, increasing the pressure, clearly baffled by what was happening. I wouldn’t be surprised if his patron deity, the gnome, had already expressed irritation over the lack of divine energy coming through, no matter how much the "doctor" tried.

Given the sheer energy expenditure, it was no wonder Marcus failed to notice that I was draining his life force and mana. Well, technically, it wasn’t *his* life force, so I had every right to take it. As they say, stealing from a thief isn’t really stealing.

For now, all I could do was keep strengthening myself with the absorbed energy and hope Dima could hold out. Suppressing the pain was easy since the effect on the body was direct, but I couldn’t do anything about the visuals. After all, this was a divine gift—albeit a clumsy and crude one—which bypassed all the restrictions I’d set up. Even I couldn’t be sure what was happening outside until I regained the ability to use magical sight.