250. ENERGY: WIREMU
I awoke to water splashing on my face. I spluttered and tried to wipe it off, but I was tied down. My brain cleared a bit, and I was tied naked in a shallow pool of water. I think almost every bone in my body was broken.
“Shit, he’s awake. His Poison Resistance must be massive,” the voice was female, and I think Lizardkin.
“This is the last batch. He might as well be swimming in the stuff,” said a male voice with a stronger Lizardkin accent.
A scaled claw holding a mug came into my view, and another claw grabbed my jaw. I tried to move my head, but it was also strapped down. My energy levels were only partially recovered, so I couldn’t have been out that long. Water may make using lava difficult, but it doesn’t affect Granite. I spiked the hand holding me and the hand with the mug. I missed the mug, but it did spill the contents as the owner jerked back with one bleeding hand.
“Bloody goblin shit.” A club crashed into the side of my head, and it went dark before I could do more than sense where Tāoke and Puia were. The bond didn’t seem right, but that may have been my mental state.
Water splashed over me again, making me splutter awake and gasp for air.
“Pay attention now, you insignificant piece of goblin shit.” a voice commanded. I recognised the voice from before, commanding that I not be killed.
I ignored it immediately, checking my status, extending my senses, and reaching for my bonds. Poison Resistance, Pain Resistance and Regeneration had risen. Regeneration was almost at the Master Level. The bond link was still fuzzy, and my senses hit a wall. I was in a Spiritually enhanced cell. I could sense Tāoke and Puia close, but not like I normally could. I think they were searching for me. Most of my bones were still broken, but that was not a big problem. The problem was the soft tissue. Organs, muscles, and tendons. And my brain. I had some brain bleeding, and I had a perforated liver, which was hampering the processing of the poisons. My lung had been patched up. I focussed Regeneration on my brain and organs.
A slap cracked across my face, grinding the bones in my broken jaw and missing teeth. Claws ripped my cheeks.
“You weren’t paying attention,” a voice scolded as if I were a naughty child.
I have no idea how he knew that as I couldn’t move, one of my eyes was swollen shut, and I had left the other closed to concentrate on my other senses. It seemed to annoy him, so I continued to ignore him and checked my energy levels. Only about half, as Regeneration was using a lot. My injuries also reduced my body's ability to create energy.
I needed to make a hole in this prison cell to reconnect to Tāoke and Puia, as they can supply me with energy. The door was the weak link. I need to be awake when they open it, preferably damaging it so it doesn’t close properly. Not having a strong link to my bonds was really messing with me. I could sense Umreti’s bond as well, but I only knew it was still there I couldn’t sense anything else about him. Should I break the bond with Umreti? That should put into effect the ‘death clauses’ I established for him as it will appear to him that I died. I decided to wait. Tabitha is good at getting information from unwilling slaves, especially with her Adjuster Skill, and Umreti should be willing to talk as she was one of the trusted people I gave him.
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There was one fairly low-cost way to get them to open the door. I was only breathing shallowly due to the broken ribs and the strap across my chest, but every breath out, I breathed a lung full of Venom Vapour into the room. It will take a while to become noticeable, but it was a start.
A bucket of water splashed over my face, making me splutter and cough it out of my lungs.
“Do I have your attention now?” the voice was getting angry. “Just for that, I will kill one of those monsters crawling under my palace. One is that snake, and I look forward to getting that monster core. I don’t know what the other one is, but I will find out. My mining teams are good and located them easily enough.” He stepped in front of me so I would see him, but I didn’t bother opening my eye. “You think your Poison Resistance is enough to stop you from becoming my slave? The drugs weren’t even enough for the orc. Zikr here will poke so many holes in your mind that you won’t know your own mother. When the Taskmaster gets here, you won’t know what you are agreeing to. I might make you kill the snake and hand me the core.”
The city lord was a large Lizardkin. I can’t actually remember his name, I don’t ever think I bothered to learn it. I was very concerned for Tāoke and Puia. However, I am not just going to believe everything I am told here. I believe they have sensed them, and miners would be the people with the skills. More than that is debatable. He is trying to unsettle me. Yes, it is sort of working, but not in the way he thinks.
It takes a lot to get me angry. The first time I was really angry was when the empire raided my village and killed or enslaved everyone I knew. That anger is still there, and as we get closer to the empire, it is getting closer to the surface. The second time was the three years in the quarry, watching the empire make slaves of people and pushing to make me a slave. That anger grew over time, and there was nothing I could do about it but plot to run away.
That anger has directed my actions over the last five years or so, but it has been in the background. There has been one person who has been with me through all this and kept me going and sane. I bonded with Tāoke early in my time at the quarry, and he kept me going and stopped me from becoming a slave there. Everything I am today I owe to Tāoke, and the only thing he has ever asked in return are a few eggs.
For this lizard to even make a statement like that has brought that rage back to the surface. I am struggling to control it because although it makes me want to rip this place apart, I am in this situation because I overestimated my capabilities. And this lizard is smart. Sledgehammers to break rock and water to put out the fire, and he got me. Even these words were said to manipulate me. I know that, but that doesn’t stop the anger.
The first thing I do is use that anger to strengthen my defences. This Zikr has some sort of mental attack, so I empowered Granite Mind Armour. It is still only in the Novice levels, but I put all my spare Attributes into Mental Strength, pushing it up to 58. I ignore my broken bones for now as I can fix them with one sweep of Lava through my body. It is the soft tissue that needs fixing and shoring up. I prioritise Regeneration to focus on my brain and then the muscles and tendons critical for movement. I will need them soon. However, the Molten Rock Skill combined with Granite Manipulation to fix my bones will suck up a lot of Spiritual Energy.
I reach out through my bonds. My bond with Tāoke is much stronger than my bond with Puia. I am getting some sense through the fuzzy blockage. I try to communicate a sense of danger and miners coming for them. I boost that with my Bond Care skill and my 58 in Mental Strength.
Energy is going to be the key. If I run out of energy, all my defences fail, Mental, Physical and Spiritual. My Mental energy has just had a boost with my new Attributes. My Physical Constitution powered regeneration, i.e. all three Physical Attributes and boosted by Spiritual Strength. My Physical Constitution was severely damaged, but my Spiritual Strength was at 60. This meant my Spiritual energy was important here.
I have also changed my mind about the strategy here. I no longer want them to open the door. In fact, I want to keep it closed. Every time I exhale, more Venom Vapour is added to the room.