That's right. A tower.
At the very middle of each floor inside the prison named Tartarus is a looming cylindrical pillar. Even from afar or viewed from one corner of any floor, the pillar was still visible. The color was dark, pitch black.
Grant made his way to the tower, entering a small forest. The two companions falling silent upon seeing the structure even from a distance away. Another day, another life in this cage. A cage whose interior looks very much like the outside world.
"Grant something feels off..." Numen warned Grant who raised his hand.
Light gleamed off from a shadow hurtling fast towards Grant. His hand drew forward and caught an arrow. A standard-issue arrow which was of a basic build. A sharp triangular metalhead, wood as a base and feathers lining the latter part of the wood.
Grant played with the arrow. Fiddling, twirling it in his hand, flicking it a few times and even bending it into an arc shape to test its flexibility.
Snap! The arrow couldn't stand it and broke into two.
"Mn... Nothing special." The young man had mumbled under his breath. His eyes turned sharp for a moment and his hand gripped the upper half of the arrow which still had the iron tip before discarding the latter end.
Swish! Grant reeled back before throwing. The arrow despite losing its latter end flew forward in a straight line before disappearing into the trees.
"Lets go..." Grant urged Numen who was still staring at the direction where the arrow Grant returned flew off to. He craned his little head and asked in confusion.
"Aren't we going to check out who shot you?"
"I heard a muffled groan before a heartbeat immediately stopped. Whoever it is. They're dead..." Grant casually spoke as if talking about the weather. His hearing was extremely sensitive. Not to mention, all his senses were amplified and was better than any average human.
Hearing faint breathing, low heartbeats or picking up the scent of blood from a distance away was nothing but a simple endeavor for him.
Numen was about to say something seeing Grant change course and head to the right when the direction of the tower was forward to the north.
Thud~ A bloodied body fell from high up within the trees and crashed to the ground. Grand headed towards it calmly. Clearly not bothered about the fact of him taking a human's life with ease.
"They might be dead but they could have something of passable value with them." Grant spoke. He squatted before the corpse and found nothing useful except for a bow and six arrows.
Despite feeling that the loot wasn't anything special, Grant still took them. Things might not necessarily be great but as long as they could be useful, Grant would take them. He was one to never waste resources.
After hanging the quiver and bow on his back, Grant tapped his collar three times in succession. The collar shifted and a blue-colored steel card flew out into Grant's palm.
It was a card. A card that has Grant's picture on it while some of his basic information was scribbled onto it. But two things stood out from the card.
It was a string of numbers and a rank.
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Name: Grant Simmons (Human)
Gift: [Enhanced Senses] (Common)
Age: 19 years old
Rank D Fighter, F- Nature Mage
M: 120K
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The card had a simple format yet two strange things were scribbled on it in the form of a rank and a string of numbers. They were merit points and were the ongoing currency in prison. The rank was just a basic assessment of Grant's physical strength and magical power.
His strength was lower before and his magic was practically just for show. But through continuous use of his gift bye exhausting his body and mind to the very limits, everything gradually improved.
Grant reached forward and stared impassively at the man's Orange Collar before he slid the card at a visible indention on it. Grant retrieved his card and saw the string of numbers glow before climbing up.
-----
M: 134K
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14k merits point wasn't a bad harvest for Grant. In this prison, multiple ways exist to gain merit but the most twisted one out of them all was exceedingly simple. You have to kill other prisoners, swipe your card on their collars and all their merit points would transfer over to you. It may seem cruel but it was one of the ways the prison had its population kept in check to avoid overpopulation.
"14k merit points from a yellow collar. Is this person a spendthrift or just simply weak?" Numen found such low values to be distasteful.
The prisoners contained inside Tartarus was ranked according to the color of their collars. White and Gray were weaklings who mostly had E to F rank strength. Yellow and Orange were F to D class. Brown was D to C. Blue was C. Purple B. Red A and Black S.
The deeper the color, the more dangerous a prisoner was. And despite Grant being only a D rank fighter, he was placed as a blue-collar due to his origin being a summoned person. And he was supposed to be placed higher up.
"That's to be expected. Unless you are a talented assassin or a strong serial killer, being in the lower ranks can only give you so much."
"But still. Shouldn't you opt for finding a much better way of earning wealth instead of killing people or risking your life jumping into dispatch?"
"That would come later once I've gained enough power. For now, Dispatch and killing those who try to kill me is the best bet I have right now until the deadline."
"What if you get killed? What if the dispatch sends you to a dangerous location and you somehow stumble upon a monster way out of your league???"
"Dispatch does not send anyone on missions way above their ranks. And do you really think I would just let myself up and die like that??" Grant stopped before tilting his head at the floating Numen. Looking at the strange spirit as if he was gazing at something dumb.
"Also. I have you remember?" Grant shrugged. His statement and faith towards Numen startled the little floating kid.
"What makes you so sure I would be able to protect you?"
"You won't claim to be a god unless you really do have some capability. Numen, the reason why I am tolerating your company and allowing you to tag along with me was because of your honesty and use." Grant spoke coldly.
He was speaking the truth. Grant preferred doing things alone and not having to have any sort of company. He believed in himself more than he believed in what others say. It is instilled in his mind that everyone whom he meets was just a possible enemy lying in wait for an opportunity to stab his back.
And that sort of mentality saved him multiple times. If it wasn't for this way of thinking, Grant's classmates would've really succeeded in killing him and not using another approach to get him out of their way by throwing him in jail.
Although he was like this, Grant found himself unable to shoo away Numen who now resided in his head. There was always something about the kid that relieved him in a way. And the fact that the little spirit who claimed to be a divine being spoke of no lies and was extremely useful for things had given Grant a proper excuse.
"So what if I become useless? What if everything I start telling you were far from the truth?" With crossed arms, Numen stared hardly at Grant who returned the gaze.
Grant fell silent.
He already knew the answer but he didn't want to say it.
If the little boy was ever to become useless and prove to be detrimental to him then he could only find some way to throw the boy away and out of his mind. But he didn't want to admit that.
Was it guilt or was the little boy managed to worm his way into earning the slightest bit of Grant's trust?
Grant did not know what was stopping him from saying his answer.
"Let's just go to the pillar. I'm, running late..." Grant changed the topic immediately. Numen falling silent and his only response was a nod and a worried frown. Grant looked at his watch and saw that it was already 5:30 Am. The path to the tower was still a few ten kilometers away and if he did not hurry then he would fail to meet the time.
Grant ran forth in great bursts of speed. The trees parting before him as he weaved and bobbed around the forest. Soon, the lush forest disappeared from view and was replaced by a clear, flatland filled with low green grass.
Grant saw a conglomeration of buildings, housing, and rowdy prisoners surrounding the pillar.
It was a town. Just like any other floor, a town self-built by the prisoners themselves exists around the pillar. It provided not only a faint bit of comfort but placed order. In a way, the town prevented all prisoners from going all out and killing one another.
The town was a place of great importance. Shops and the majority of houses were established in it. Everyone gathers up there to trade or go on missions as the town itself was built around the pillar.
And inside the pillar was the lair of the prison wardens who oversaw everything. Inside it was also an elevator. An elevator that transported anyone into any level of the prison except the forbidden parts.
As Grant ran to the town, he noticed the downcast expression of Numen who was floating beside him.
He sighed.
'You keep on the reasoning that you wish to guide and turn me into a powerful champion so that I could help you. But even if I die you can always find another champion to nurture. I may be a summoned person but deep inside.'
'I'm not really that special. I'm just a young man who had lost everything he cared for. And I can't allow myself to care about anyone else anymore. I have to live for myself.'
'Everyone would just disappear in the end anyway.' At the end of his thoughts, Grant shook his head before increasing his speed. Throwing Numen to lag behind him.
Numen frowned seeing Grant's action. He was blissfully unaware of Grant's thoughts. For if he ever knew of such things, the little self-proclaimed god would explode and berate Grant. Telling him how he was not what he thinks he is. And how he will never disappear.