~~~~~~~~
After the two men and the strong maid ascended upon the cells, the whole place's atmosphere took a tremendous shift from the miserable, desperate mood to absolutely horrific cries and anguish.
Sano kept peeking behind the wall, seeing what the new arrivals will accomplish.
The maid ordered the two men to open one random cell, making every slave take a big gulp of saliva as an effect. They all acted like a student trying to hid from his professor in a questions call out.
The men grinned, enjoyment apparent in their faces, as they felt a superior feeling rush their souls; after all, they have the decision to pick one unfortunate slave, to undergo a hellish fate just by going 20 meters down.
They walked looking at every slave; they enjoyed the begging eyes of each prisoner every time they make eye contact.
One of the two lightly elbowed the other, jokingly whispering something in his ears.
Hearing what his comrade had to say, they both giggled. As one of them started to spin, closing his eyes, Sano looked closely and saw his mouth moving.
'He's counting?'
The two men liked to play different games from time to time as a means of entertainment.
After about 10 seconds, the man stopped and opened his eyes to face a cage.
The three slaves inside of it shook, noticing his gaze, realizing their misfortune, as they immediately rose from the cold ground and start pounding in the iron bars, eyes flowing with endless tears, pleading to be spared.
But their efforts only got a snort from the ruthless men.
Sano watched them open the cells and grab the malnourished chained slaves, using supernatural strength, dragging them to the hell that exists few stairs under their feet.
The maid followed them, and in a moment, the cells got back to their usual stillness.
This whole scene reminded Sano of poultry farming; the two men were the owner, the cells are the farm, and the chicken waiting to be butchered were the slaves.
Sano ran towards the cells after he was sure that the group descended, moving so fast that the half-dying slaves thought a ghost passed in front of their eyes.
He reached the stairs and plummeted even more underground; the whole adventure was dangerous and might lead him to a terrible fate if he got caught, but in contrast, Sano liked every second of it.
Of course, Sano didn't want to end up like those slaves; but thinking about it more, he would get tortured in hell anyway if he failed.
A marvelous scene met his curious pupils, an utterly white hall with multiple doors leaking the smell of blood, while screams and rat screeches occasionally sounded through each room.
Inside a room at the left, the three new upcoming slaves were already restrained and laid down in beds, as the beefy maid wore a white blouse and grabbed a syringe, talking to the two men beside her.
"Experiment number 4021, starting now."
Following that, the maid put a mask on her face and ejected the poor slave across her with drugs; however, if you looked closely, it wasn't strictly used to numb pain; it only worked as a muscle relaxation drug and the reason for such an unmerciful way of experimenting?
Was apparent on her face.
Sano could felt a sadistic aura coming from the maid as the ecstatic smirk showed on the deep corners of her mouth.
He then heard the slave heartbeats fasten, to the point that it started to pump widely, and in a minute, the operation started.
The maid skillfully sliced up his scalp, sticking what looked like iron cables to his brain, while it let out a lightning bolt that shook the slave body.
Sano couldn't hear the screams because of the drug, but he could tell that the pain was unbearably cruel.
Seconds ticked, and the slave finally stopped shaking as he fell brainless with his saliva drooling in the bed.
Sano found the experiment interesting, but he still couldn't help but wonder, "For what purpose would they conclude such experiment?"
And the answer came from the two men dragging the second slave to undergo the test.
"Shit, another trash Zyntic energy,"
"Yeah, we probably would never find a suitable slave; they all have trash talents."
"Tsk, Baron immortality obsession bullshit would never end!"
'Hm, I faintly remember that the book I read talked about the Zyntic energy. Wasn't it like the capacity a human possesses to comprehend the magic spells? It's also considered to be the second most crucial aspect of measuring a mage talent,'
'But wait, a minute, the Baron is obsessed with Immortality?' The last phrase journeyed Sano ears like fresh mountain breeze.
Then his mind rapidly connected the dots.
'Oh, now I get it, that old man trying to achieve Immortality through concluding human experiments? He he he, never expected him to be a mad scientist,"
The guards kept chatting with each other.
"Ugh, I enjoyed the period when we been searching for a suitable core; it was fun seeing the slaves getting tortured, but now after Master Giovanni said he found an incredible magic core, all was left for us is brainless slave froth and drool,"
"Hey, look at the bright side, we are half-finished; we just need to find a suitable zyntic energy,"
"You said the exact thing last year,"
They laughed as they reached the expressionless maid.
Repeating the same procedure that transpired a couple of minutes ago in the room.
For the hidden kid, the guard's words were valuable information; Sano now knows about the progress the Baron made.
'So from their conversation, they are basically checking for a specific type of magic core and Zynitic energy, which is the base of aptitude for a mage,'
Sano was getting ready to leave after the fruitful day of discovery; however, his sight landed on a dark door right in the far end of the hallway.
And instantly, the fruitful day he thought he had, got degraded to just a decent day; after all, he felt like something exciting happening behind that door.
Upon feeling such a curiosity wave, he crawled on his knees and slowly walked to uncover what inside.
His sharp hearing helped him a lot, know where the three people are standing.
Unhurriedly, he passed the room where the slaves were getting tortured by the maid.
Sano reached the door without even sweating from the fear that coming from the possibility of getting discovered, and then he used his useful theft skills to open the door that was so big, it looked like a gate.
"Clack,*
A smell of blood and gore rushed his nose after the dark door opened; the room was dim and murky, Not even a shred of light can be seen.
Sano hesitated a little bit. What if a beast was sealed in here? Yet, his hearing only detected weak heartbeats, fluttering in the edge of the room.
Which sounded like an animal on the brink of death.
Waving his hand around to not trip on something, feeling the walls and obstacles, he walked right toward the thing.
Suddenly, after getting deeper into the room, he felt a hand grab his neck; it wasn't strong at all to choke him, but Sano felt every bit of a murderous aura emitting from it.
It's not like the hand didn't want to kill him; it's just was too weak to do so.