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.

bring

of the people in the room. Lifting my

"...yes!"

his assistant. The assistant quickly rushed towards one of

mirror. Taking the mirror, the old man walked

can't understand what I'm saying, I'll just show you

the mirror around,

can't be...is

"huagh...guhhhg..."

was something 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

I looked horrendous.

again blank. I had many questions that I wanted

"hgugha...haefa"

then that I slowly started

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

to teleport me

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, by the time I had managed to activate

to understand what had happened. Having teleported

hard...but, unfortunately for you, the higher-ups aren't willing to fork out the money needed to heal you quickly, so it might take a bit for you to recover your old

my reaction,

his head slightly, the old man introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, my name is Joseph Sharp and I'm the person

"!"

moment the old man mentioned his name, my mind instantly cleared up. Cold

my other subjects, I'll be seeing you in a bit. By then, you should've already have recovered your

Joseph Sharp.

scientist that worked in the Monolith. He along, with a couple of other famous scientists was responsible for an extremely

Monolith super

given. They were soldiers that felt no emotions nor pain,

unite that would appear five years from now and were responsible for many

"You."

me out of my thoughts, Joseph called out to the same

"Yes!"

a small

"...how much?"

his state, I guess 2mg would be

"Understood."

Joseph smiled.

I'll see you

his way out of the

me out

"ghuuuaa!!!"

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

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

"ghuu!!"

had in my body, I tried to get out of the binds that were locking me, but

mana had been blocked. Regardless of how much I struggled, the binds around me wouldn't

I was truly powerless.

Though I

"Shut up."

glared at

whilst I'm doing my

blue liquid inside

"Perfect."

attention back to me. Opening my eyes wide, I

'No! Anything but that!'

"Ughhh! guauhhhah!"

down, it's not

syringe in my direction. Whilst he did that,

"hmmm...hmmm!"

a good boy and take

on my shoulder, I knew that the assistant had

—Squeeq!

assistant injected all of the liquid inside of my body,

'No...help.'

"ghh..."

***

—Fffwhheeu! —Fffwhheeu!

whistling, Joseph's brows suddenly

"Hmm, another failure."

a large glass window, Joseph took out a

seems to be too much for a single dose," Joseph

Yet another failure.