Rousing the guards would likely earn me another beating, but I had no other choice. I needed energy, and they were my best bet for now. Even absorbing the necrotic energy lingering in the cell required a baseline power I currently lacked.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

I knocked and listened. No response. No problem, I can repeat.

Boom. Boom.

“Who the hell is that bold?!” a sleepy and clearly unfriendly voice growled from somewhere far away. Perfect. Let’s keep going.

Boom!

“I’ll bash your head in, you scumbag!” one of the guards rattled what sounded like a weapon.

“And I’ll join in,” roared another menacing voice.

Heavy footsteps echoed down the corridor, and then the door to the neighboring cell flew open. Through the grated window, I finally caught a glimpse of the approaching figures.

“Are you the one making all that racket?!” bellowed a pig-like man who could have passed for a real-life orc. “Shut up, all of you!”

“No, it’s not him. The noise was clearly coming from here,” the second guard, a towering brute a head taller than the first, pointed in my direction. “And it’s obvious this kid isn’t sleeping. Not even pretending to.”

With a disgruntled expression, the brute threw open the door to my cell and glared at me. Without warning, he punched me in the stomach. This was exactly what I had been waiting for. At the moment of contact, I activated one of my incredibly weak cores, managing to siphon a trace of energy from him.

“What are you yelling for, huh?!” he barked, his breath reeking of alcohol. “It’s the middle of the night, in case you didn’t know!”

“I’m hungry,” I shrugged. “I feel like I won’t survive till morning if I don’t eat.”

“You’ve got some nerve, weakling!” the orc-like man screeched.

“Hold on,” the brute stopped him. “We really haven’t fed him in a while. He might actually die. You did say he wouldn’t last long anyway, and look—he’s still on his feet.”

“Well, uh,” the fat one squinted, examining me. “Ah, fine, whatever! I don’t want to hear Marcus whining if one of his specimens dies. Especially not on our watch...”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Wait here,” the brute chuckled. “You’ll get your food. But if I hear a peep out of you till morning, you really won’t survive the night!”

“Thanks,” I smiled at him, deliberately provoking him.

“Don’t get cocky,” the brute growled, landing another punch to my stomach and allowing me to extract a little more energy from him. “You won’t live long anyway.”

Slamming the door behind him, the brute left. I immediately set about processing the energy I had gained. The central pillar of my being wanted to absorb everything at once to strengthen itself, but I forced it into one of my cores instead, holding it there.

My first core, carrying the power of transformation, was always my most valuable asset. Neither the eruption core, nor the melting core, nor the golem or elemental creation cores, nor even the ninth core with its supervolcano ability, could compare in importance. Thanks to it, I could absorb and process almost any energy without limits—a rare gift even among the highest beings I had encountered.

Returning my focus to the present, I tried to think of my next move. But hunger and fatigue muddled my thoughts, and no amount of willpower could clear the haze.

I staggered to the rusty sink in the corner of the cell and splashed cold water on my face. It didn’t help much, but it was better than nothing.

So, what do I have to work with? The guards weren’t in any hurry, and it wasn’t likely they kept food nearby, so I had a little time.

Sitting back down on the floor, I placed my hand on the seal to connect with my focus, which was still too weak for long-distance energy transfer. Holding my breath, I began to draw in the necrotic-laden air around me.

I had to do this in a crude, improvised way. Using my fourth core, I infused a trace of processed energy to release volcanic ash into the air. Unlike pure air, ash was something I could still control to some degree.

Unfortunately, my meager reserves allowed for only a few cubic meters, which I compressed into a dark red sphere, shimmering with cursed energy and necrotic essence. It resembled a chunk of frozen blood.

When it touched the seal, the condensed air began to pale rapidly before turning completely gray. With a faint whistle, it reverted to its original state. It wasn’t real ash, just pseudo-matter—a magical imitation. But that was even better since it left no trace of my activities.

The energy extraction was successful, replenishing my focus slightly. Most of it was necrotic energy, which would take time to process, but I also managed to absorb some cursed energy. This place truly was filthy.

Redirecting the energy into my body, I felt a surge of strength that I planned to put to immediate use. Footsteps echoed in the corridor—dinner was on its way!

“Here, eat up,” the fat one grumbled as he threw open the door. “While I’m feeling generous.”

“Thank you for your kindness,” I replied, employing the same trick again.

This time, the porky guard delivered a bone-crunching blow to my chest. But unlike his companion, he was much slower, giving me time to grab his arm. Channeling all the cursed energy into activating my core, I held on tightly.

“You’ve lost your mind, you bastard?!” the pig-like man shouted, struggling to free himself.

When he finally wrenched his arm away, he struck me across the face, but I didn’t bother dodging. Why miss an opportunity to siphon more energy? Collapsing in defeat, I silently hoped he’d feel like giving me another beating.

He didn’t disappoint. With enthusiasm, he started kicking me, allowing me to drain even more energy. I barely noticed the physical pain; my battered body was already beyond feeling.

Amused, I let him continue, pretending to resist. Less than a minute later, the pig-like guard was sweating and wheezing, utterly spent. Unfortunately, his companion soon interrupted our session.

“Leave him alone already, Valera!” the brute barked. “You can’t even properly beat up a weakling. Look at you, barely standing yourself. Stop wasting time!”

“Fine, fine,” Valera muttered, shuffling toward the exit. But before leaving, he hissed at me, “I’ll remember this!”

Scared? Not likely. I had drained enough energy from him to heal and then some. But if they truly intended to kill me, I’d need more power to fight back. At least I had food now, if you could call it that.

The bowl of gruel and ancient bread wasn’t appealing, so I used my melting core to condense it into a tasteless lump, which I downed in one go. Luckily, the rusty faucet provided enough water to wash it down.

After consuming a trace of cursed energy, I forced myself into a restorative sleep.