[Is this man insane? What kind of pathetic method is this to cultivate or even to evolve?]
Axela became grumpy in Artemis' head and complained to him, while Jeremy puked once more upon rethinking.
'No, Barthes is sure playing with me. This is some kind of set up, the organisation might be still watching over us.'
Jeremy assumed which was partially true because the authorities were keeping a track of the activities.
"It's okay, young man. It happens, but believe me you will love the wonderful changes afterwards."
Barthes assured Jeremy who still suspected some malicious intentions behind his sweet tongue. Meanwhile the golden dragon had taken its leave and flew back in the air.
'I know right, something still isn't right. Why is this guy so calm knowing that I'm after his life? Moreover if we actually teleported here, then why don't the people here know how to teleport back?'
Jeremy had numerous questions and no one was there to answer then except Barthes himself. Artemis could already sense violent response and hatred towards the agency.
[But we simply cannot go out and make our speculations to craft theories. People here are cautious of every player sent with any task, you saw those posters weapons. Right?]
Barthes had already taken a flask of water and approached Jeremy with excitement.
"Hurry up and fill your bottles too, it's no less than a miracle water."
[Take a sample, so you can test after going back.]
Artemis reluctantly stood up and filled the bottles, he sneakily operated his system on wrist. And converted the flask into digital to store it in the space within the system collection.
Barthes gulped his share and sensed Artemis' reluctance.
"I was once a soldier too but before that I was a greedy man and my thirst brought me here. I will not lie to you, Artemis…I fulfilled the task of smuggling inmates."
He began disclosing his story while Axela recorded it to make sure they would not skip anything.
"But then again I became a threat to them so they left me here stranded. No one knows till date what they did to those people."
"Didn't these people kill you then? Or were they your teammates?"
Jeremy became interested whereas Axela began to process things silently.
"Most of us were teammates, the rest were citizens who were inhabitants of planet Nrutas."
Barthes got up from the ground and flung his hand out to help Jeremy.
"And I don't want to die as a sacrifice for someone who wants to open the gateway, who knows they might not even let you escape too."
Artemis stared at him with a meaningful expression with a serious gaze.
"If you still want my life you have to earn the favour, although there is another way too."
Jeremy was up on his feet now while Axela waited for Barthes to utter.
The mysterious rose even more due to the unnatural nature around them.
"But you have to trade something for that too. I'm not going to feed you everything for free."
He left Artemis hanging and they both walked out of the forest.
[Great! Now we are stuck here till you exchange something for the knowledge.]
'But possibly what can we exchange? I don't even know what's the most valuable thing here.'
Jeremy looked around as they both headed back to the town, Barthes picked some berries on the way home.
[Exactly, use your renowned investigative skills, and either find out his weakness or the most desired thing by him.]
'Let's work on both and keep the backstabbing as plan B.'
Jeremy heard Axela gasping at the statement as she confronted him.
[And you call yourself the protector of law and a servant of righteous people, duh.]
'Do you really think I care about my title right now, which was smeared by my own friend?'
Artemis realized something at that moment in the context to the particular chat.
'Hey Axela, we stole Connor's files right…search for something related to tag 45001 or anything about the games.'
Although he thought of it too late, the time hadn't slipped away yet.
[Okay, I will read them once again and will try to relate the files with Barthes' information. Although try to stay low key because none of the people here have any perks of technology.]
'I already got it, that I will be no less than an alien here because even circus monkeys are kept alive. But these people will kill me for amusement.'
Jeremy gulped at the thought and both of them started their search.
Jeremy began to go out daily with Barthes and meditated around the lake, nonetheless he drank the water too after Axela gave him a safe signal.
He didn't cultivate or evolve as per the assumed notion but the healing process became rapid. Jeremy found out that there had been some additional system fitted in his arm, which caused the 'sayings' on his arm via heated radiations.
Axela became equally shocked as him that Jeremy could regenerate body cells and heal the wounds in no time. In a nutshell, Jeremy Grayson was undefeated and it was impossible to kill him.
Barthes grew cautious about him but at the same time it amazed him how fast Jeremy had adapted to the situation. On the backstage it was Axela' guidance and Jeremy's constance to fInd out about him.
His body had been undergoing a constant change which scared him but made Artemis excited at the same time. The young man now wanted to test his newly acquired skills and the discovered powers.
Whereas Jerome, the head of organisation was still looking for Jeremy, and the DNA of citizens was about to reach completion. His irritation increased with the passage of time because he was well aware of Jeremy's hidden powers.
And did not want to lose him at any cost since the detective was a secret weapon, he was launched on the beta test in the hands of trustworthy Connor.
But things don't always go as one has planned, especially when the pet has gone rouge and rebellious!