They were brought to another room or at least Randidly was and he was roughly searched They appeared to be looking for an interspatial storage device but although they were extremely rough they were not thorough Tucking the ring under his tongue worked Which honestly made him wonder about how this prison continued to be effective but the bag was once more placed over his head and he was whisked forward
He felt it when they passed into the area where time had been altered It was like stepping outside on a humid day Even if the heat hadn’t started to get to you the very air seemed to cling to you Further and further he was dragged by guards until he was thrown roughly into a room The door closed and there was silence
Randidly lay there uncomfortable with his hands bound behind him but waited a bit longer to move After a while realizing he was done being moved Randidly stretched his arms and brought his legs to his chest getting his hands around his feet so that he was now bound by the metal handcuffs in front not in back Then he removed the cloth bag from his head
The room was dark so dark that even with his improved eyes and Eyes of the Spear Phantom it was very hard to see But he could faintly make out complicated lines drawn on the floor in a strange formation It seemed oddly familiar but Randidly couldn’t place it Instead he straightened and sat down to meditate
That first night passed slowly as Randidly almost curiously experienced his first night in prison He focused on meditating and Mana Strengthening straining against the handcuffs But it truly seemed like they were made of a very powerful material It was far beyond his ability to break at present
The only activity of note was that at one point footsteps began to draw closer Randidly instinctively tensed waiting for this Battle Intent Torture to begin But the footsteps came to his door and there was only a soft click Then the footsteps went away
Randidly blinked confused But then the floor began to glow the formation had been activated Increasingly nervous Randidly settled down to wait
After 12 hours of waiting he had at least one answer he knew why he recognized the formation somewhat It was a variant of the one that Shal had It isolated Aether in the air allowing none into the small chamber At this point Randidly felt slightly dizzy and the Aether inside of him began to stir Carefully extremely carefully Randidly reached for it removing only a thread and drawing it into his body More began to rise countless threads reaching to bore into his body but Randidly concentrated and pushed them back
Some of what Shal had said made sense now This was why this wouldn’t work on him This was likely an Aether starvation type torture coupled with the Battle Intents that were to come He would be weakened and then assaulted After all the physical toughness of most warrior’s in this world was high but Endurance couldn’t completely block damage done with Battle Intent That had been impressed upon Randidly by how he had been knocked unconscious by that furious wave immediately after he had killed that soldier
Still after repeated exposure to Battle Intent wouldn’t
Then Randidly froze finally seeing the cruelty of this type of torture Being exposed to this would fuel rapid growth especially because it would involve pain and a powerful desire to escape that pain with strength But to fuel that growth
The body needed Aether Randidly wasn’t sure what would happen when a body wanted to grow without Aether to fuel it but he suspected it would be similar to what would happen to a starving man if he tried to perform a high intensity cardio workout The body would be driven into the ground
Equally chilling was the mental effect When you realized it was your desire that was causing you this grief it would likely slowly chip away at your will as you flinched away from the pain
Randidly gritted his teeth This was why he needed strength Because people like this existed Because methods like this existed to hurt people Then again he had murdered someone to get here so it wasn’t like this was being used on innocent people
Randidly smiled sardonically Sometimes being too self aware hurt him It hindered his ability to dedicate himself righteously to a thought process like this made him realize that there weren’t any true evils in the world Everyone was struggling under the same yoke although they went about it in different ways
So Randidly sat still not conserving his Aether per se but attempting to keep his Aether from exploding upward in force filling him and igniting his growth like it had done previously True he wanted to train while he was here but he could afford to take it slow He could gain an understanding of how much Aether he needed and only allow that much to flow up into him It would just take time and experience to narrow it down
Eventually morning came and with it his torturer Randidly was surprised to find that it was a youthful looking man who seemed rather bored with the procedure The man would open the door to Randidly’s cell while the formation remained active jingle the keys to his handcuffs and throw attacks at him There was a physical component which was painful but possible to withstand but there was also the much more dangerous Battle Intent component which battered Randidly’s very perception
Even though he had known what was coming the strength and maliciousness of the strikes caught him by surprise It was designed to slowly maim and bleed a person’s psyche driving to madness and hopelessness
Randidly had a lot of respect for the torturer too Battle Intent relied very heavily on image and the images that ravaged Randidly’s consciousness were off decay and death Bodies decomposing filled his vision as he was hit with those attacks Flesh dissolving bones grinded to dust all returning to the still and cold earth In a way it was extremely painful for Randidly felt his body go through all of those physical sensations even though it was a purely cerebral experience while he was enduring the Battle Intent attack Within his chest Randidly could feel his own vastly weaker Battle Intent marshalling itself and being wiped out before it could even move But every time it was shredded by the powerful Intent of death it reformed more condensed stronger and more full
Still that strength was far behind the torturer’s
Eventually after several hours the torture stopped the man growing bored and leaving And Randidly collapsed breathing heavily Even though he had known even though he had prepared for a dangerous way to gain strength Never would he have imaged that it was through being tortured HIs lips curled upward He supposed that all life was torture why should this be any different At least this was honest
He was slightly concerned with how morbid his humor was turning but it was hard to be concerned about it when he was struggling to control the Aether within his chest He let several threads rush up and merge into his body strength flowing along his limbs He felt his mind settle into a more formidable structure and he felt the energy of his Battle Intent purify itself and grow more robust
Randidly continued to meditate channeling energy through his body The day passed much the same as the previous one had with Randidly using Meditation and Mana Strengthening to struggle with the bonds on his hands At the same time as the previous day during the following morning the young man arrived again and once more struck Randidly with his Battle Intent
This time Randidly’s own Battle Intent was able to defend his inner core from any damage preventing too much dizziness and nausea But even then he felt his abilities being slowly ground away until after an hour his intent was depleted
Time stretched onward leading unto the future
Randidly continued through this cycle slowly memorizing the timing and schedule of the the guards using the free time to practice other skills and moves His mana based attack were simply absorbed by the formation creating a more powerful isolating effect from Aether in the air This was perfect for Randidly’s purposes because he was rapidly gaining experience in controlling the Aether in his chest preventing enough from leaking upwards for the torturer to notice