The Author's POV

Pain.

An immeasurable amount of pain engulfed my entire being.

Slipping in and out of my consciousness I felt my whole body burn. Every part of my body was engulfed by flames.

At some point, I had lost track of time. Perhaps only minutes and seconds had passed, but for me, who was being burnt alive, such moments felt like an eternity.

Before long, my body hit something hard and cold. But, being in the state I was in, my mind wasn't able to process what was happening around me.

Instinctively, I just rolled around, trying to get rid of the flames engulfing me.

"Ah...ah..."

Whilst slipping in and out of my consciousness, mustering every bit of my last strength, I swallowed something that I had put inside of my mouth beforehand.

After that, despite all of my struggles to remain conscious, the world turned dark.

***

"Have you got anything?"

"No, his facial features are too deformed. We can't get a proper read on his identity."

'What's going on? Who's talking?'

Awakening my somber mind was the sound of two people conversing. Though I tried to focus my mind on what they were saying, my mind was too muddleheaded to be able to comprehend anything. In fact, I found it hard to even think properly at the moment as everything felt dull and slow.

"Hmmm, what about after we heal him?"

"That's possible, but it may take a couple of months for him to fully heal from these injuries. Almost half of his body is burnt. Perhaps if we use a high-grade potion, but..."

"No, we definitely can't do that. It'll be a waste of money. We can just wait a couple of months. Anything else?"

"For now no. All we know is that he suddenly appeared in the hall with third-degree burns all over his body. I'm more surprised by the fact that he's still alive."

"Were there any items on him?"

"No. Given the state he was in, there's a high chance that all the items he had got destroyed. From the looks of things, he must've survived some sort of explosion. He had no clothes on him when he appeared, and even the ring he had on him was badly damaged."

"...I see, alright, you may leave."

"Understood, call me if you need anything, professor."

Minutes after the conversation ended, slowly opening my eyes, I was met with an unfamiliar white ceiling. A bright white light entered my vision constricting my pupils slightly.

Turning my head slightly, I found myself laying atop a cold metal table with wires attached all over my body. My body was numb.

"Oh, you've regained consciousness?"

A voice suddenly called out for me.

Turning my head towards where the voice came from, an old man with a white lab coat appeared in front of me. With an amused smile, he studied me from top to bottom.

"How peculiar..."

He muttered.

Under his observant eyes, I felt like a lab mouse. Insignificant.

'Who are you? Where am I?'

"Ghaaa..fhhiuuu"

The words that I wanted to speak did not come out. Instead, a zombie-like sound escaped from my lips.

"Ah, I wouldn't recommend you to speak right now."

The old man said whilst a chuckle escaped from his lips.

'Where am I?'

"Huaagh..."

Unable to comprehend what he was saying, I once again spoke. The same zombie-like sound escaped from my lips.

"Tsk. What is it with you patients? Whenever I say something, you end up doing the exact opposite of what I tell you to do"

The old man grumbled.

you, bring me

people in the room. Lifting my head slightly, I spotted a man wearing

"...yes!"

was being, he was most likely his assistant. The assistant quickly rushed

with a mirror. Taking the mirror,

I'll just show you the state

he turned the mirror around, my

be...is

"huagh...guhhhg..."

that you would only see in a horror movie. With no hair on my head and burn marks all over my face. The clear white skin that I used to have was no longer there as my face was now dyed

I looked horrendous.

again blank. I had many questions that I wanted to ask, but as if something was stuck in my throat, only

"hgugha...haefa"

slowly started to recall what had

out the Monolith ring that I had taken from professor Thibaut a couple of months back, I desperately channeled all of my mana

goal was to teleport

it was a bad idea, this was the only way I could survive. Unfortunately, even though I successfully managed to teleport myself to the Monolith,

wasn't hard for me to understand what had happened. Having teleported

too hard...but, unfortunately for you, the higher-ups aren't willing to fork out the money needed to heal you

reaction, the

introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, my name is Joseph Sharp and I'm the person in charge of

"!"

my mind instantly cleared up. Cold

boy and stay here. I'm going to check out my other subjects, I'll be seeing you in a

Joseph Sharp.

in the Monolith. He along, with a couple of other famous

super

was to serve the Monolith and accomplish any task they were given. They were soldiers that felt no emotions nor pain, almost like robots. Each soldier ranked from D and above, and although singularly weren't that strong, when they worked together, they were a force to be

were an elite unite that would appear five years from now and were responsible for many tragedies.

"You."

my thoughts, Joseph called

"Yes!"

a small

"...how much?"

state, I guess 2mg would be enough for now," replied

"Understood."

leave, Joseph smiled. My eyes soon

see you soon, test

he joyfully whistled his

out of

"ghuuuaa!!!"

desperate scream escaped from my mouth. It was almost instinctive. Even though I survived, I was now in a place worse than

to was the liquid that they used to create the super soldiers. It was a liquid that eroded someone's mind, essentially turning them into brainless puppets. From there the brainwashing would start, turning them into unwavering Monolith

"ghuu!!"

this, mustering every bit of strength that I had in my body, I tried to get out of the binds that were

Regardless of how much I

I was truly powerless.

me. Though I felt no pain,

"Shut up."

glared at

I'm doing

out a long syringe that had a long needle at the top, the assistant put a strange blue liquid inside of it. Squeezing the bottom of the syringe, a droplet of blue

"Perfect."

turned his attention back to me. Opening my eyes wide, I struggled

'No! Anything but that!'

"Ughhh! guauhhhah!"

not going to

moved the syringe in my direction. Whilst he did that, with his other hand,

"hmmm...hmmm!"

good boy and

the assistant had already put the

—Squeeq!

assistant injected all of the liquid inside of my

'No...help.'

"ghh..."

***

—Fffwhheeu! —Fffwhheeu!

Joseph's

"Hmm, another failure."

large glass window, Joseph took out a notepad

be too much for a single dose," Joseph muttered, scratching

Yet another failure.