A warm, comforting liquid ran through Maalick body as he sailed towards his unconsciousness 'What is... this?'
Beside him, he saw the notification about the regeneration fading away.
[ PV : 2/7 ]
With this renewed strength, he struggled to his feet and covered in blood.
As he inspected the wounds on his chest, he noticed that the most superficial ones were beginning to close up. 'What's going on... with this body?'
[ PV : 3/7 ]
The warm liquid still flowed through his being and as his PV's rose, Maria's whiplash disappeared.
This process continued until all his HP were recharged 'I'm quite impressed with this Regeneration. There aren't even any scars. It's like I never got whipped by that psycho'
He sat down to understand his situation better. But when he did, his nose started to act up again. A lot of different smells were coming into his nostrils. He plugged it instantly to avoid puking again.
However the smells were still present, in despite of their intensity and their reduced number.
'That's what I thought. This body has senses more than developed. But his sense of smell is overdeveloped!'
In this mishmash of scents, the former human found one that was familiar to him 'The smell of the... sea? So we're on a boat?'
Maalick began to build a sketch of a plan with the information he had. But before that, he was going to check the one thing he hadn't seen.
'Status'
The System was not like when the Designer had shown them. It had the same colors as when he had his Armada, but it looked more like 4 internet tabs.
'The Status, the Armada and the Inventory. That I already know. But what are these Racial Skills?'
He decided to press on the Status to start.
[ Race: Lizardian ]
[ Number 274 ]
[ Level 0 : 0/100 XP ]
[ HP ] : 7/7 [ PM ] : 7/7
[ Strength ] : 7
[ Resistance ] : 7
[ Dexterity ] : 7
[ Speed ] : 7
[ Stamina ] : 7
[ Perception ] : 7
[ Willpower ] : 7
[ Intelligence ] : 7
'I see. My race has completely changed. I'm a "Lizardian" now and I can use magic, because I don't have access to my Armada'
Looking closer at the statistics, he realized something 'The number 7 is an overall average! That's why I only got 5 points everywhere as a human. But that doesn't explain why my sense of smell is so strong...'
The SAS agent hypothesized something 'The category [ Perception ] must probably represent my 5 senses. But can a difference of 2 points cause so much change? No, that's impossible'
He touched the Armada tab and several notifications he knew appeared in front of him.
[ Penalty: The candidate will not have access to his Armada for one full day ]
[ As the first penalty in the game, the candidate and the Entity will be unable to communicate back and forth for that period of time ]
[ In addition, he will be sent a week later to Lockarte. After the last candidate ]
Maalick tapped on the tab several times, but nothing happened. The notifications were still there 'Bloody Hell ! I thought not having access meant not having my Skills, not the whole interface'
He continued in his quest for information, touching the tab he didn't know.
[ Racial Skills ] :
[ Regeneration ] - [ Rank : Inferior ] - [ Evolving ] - [ Proficiency : 15% ] : When your HP reaches a critical threshold, you will regain HP according to the severity of your injuries.
[ Retractable Claws ] - [ Rank: Inferior ] - [ Evolving ] - [ Proficiency : 0% ] : These are claws made of bone, allowing you to kill most of the basic monsters of Lockarte.
'So we have other skills than those coming from our Armada. They seem to be related to our origins and there are several other indications, besides their description'
As he looked at the last words of the Retractable Claws, he tried to think of how to get them in. Which he did.
'It works!'
Maalick trained his brain to do this exercise, until it became more natural for him.
Unfortunately, despite the attempts, he had to think about it to get them in and out voluntarily.
'Let's move on to...'
The Lizardian stopped thinking about when he was going to touch the Inventory 'Maria could read my mind. As unlikely as it may seem, she may also be able to search my mind, or my memories if we go by that principle'
He remembered what Mars had told him during his test, that he was thinking too much in a classical way 'I guess that's true in this world too, after all there is magic in it. Shit, I don't have to think about that!'
Just as the God of War's candidate was chasing his thoughts, a voice came through the speakers.
Maalick recognized this voice. It was the one of the Hyena of the No Man's Land "Ladies and Gentlemen, we will now open your cells. Armed guards will be waiting for you on the other side, so if even one sound comes out of your mouths, they will kill you. You don't do what they ask, they will kill you. You look at them the wrong way, they will kill you."
Maalick's door opened automatically. He dropped his hand and concentrated on the smell of the sea to control his sense of smell better and to his surprise, it worked.
As he stepped out of his cell, he was shocked by what he saw.
There were women, men, children and elderly people, who for the most part were human.
'Civilians?!'
While some were beautiful beings with snow-white skin, giving them an almost cadaveric look.
There was a man of 6'2" in his forties, with a bluish color, having a thin and muscular body, a bit like his own.
His ears were long and pointed, his eyes were as dark as his past and he had 35cm tusks in an arc.
But what made him different from the others was that the right side of his face was completely burned. Blinding his eye at the same time.
The burn had even reached his right arm. The SAS agent had the impression that his muscle fibers were trying to protect him by covering his wounds.
Yet in this crowd, all eyes were on Maalick. They turned into whispers, despite the Captain's threats.
"What the hell is a Lizardian doing here?" whispered a man.
"Who cares? He's getting what he deserves, that filthy lizard" replied his wife.
"Please stop, you're going to get us killed," whispered a young man with glasses.
One of the soldiers fired a blank bullet into the air.
"You, the guy with glasses. Come here" he ordered.
He approached the soldier until he was in front of him. Then the guard hit him on the head with a violent blow of the butt of his gun.
The young man fell to the ground and the soldier hit him with the butt of his gun until his face was completely unrecognizable.
The guard stood up "Listen to me, you bastards ! You are here for a good reason ! So you're going to do what the Captain wants you to do ! Is that understood ?!"
Everyone nodded.
"Good, now let's go to the bridge, criminals"
Maalick looked for a long time at the body of the inert young man, being pushed around by the herd 'In what kind of world this kind of thing is allowed ?'
Then he moved on, finding himself next to the man with tusks.
The Lizardian mentally made note of all the passages they took, including the three levels they went up as well as the various stairs.
When they reached the bridge, he saw that he was right 'So we are on a ship'
In his landscape, there was a port composed of simple wooden pontoons with several boats and a lighthouse.
The boat on which he was, was not a simple boat. He noticed that it was a motor freighter, when he saw the smoke coming out.
On the deck, there were many containers of black, green, blue, red and purple colors.
'There is something written on it, but I can't see what it is'.
With his sense of smell, he identified two completely opposite smells coming from the black and green containers. One was appetizing and the other gave the impression that some carrion was rotting under the sun.
The freighter was moving the huge rectangles, especially the purple ones, with two articulated arms on the ground.
Maalick could see where their next destination was 'A jungle'.
Maria, always through her speakers, was telling them the instructions to follow "You will now follow the stairs. It will take you to tents where clothes will be stored. You will put on these clothes and wait nicely on the bank. Then you will be numbered. Except you, the lizard"
Suddenly, four guards pointed their guns at him.
'Shit, I can't escape !'
Everyone ignored him out of fear of being killed, except for the badly burn man. He looked at him as if was saying 'Be strong, boy'
The bridge emptied until only the guards and Maalick remained.
Then Maria and Arthur arrived in front of him.
The captain was still grinning like a sadistic psychopath "I want you to know that your life is now in my hands, Lizardian"
Maalick tried to control his claws as much as possible to keep them from coming out.
His mouth on the other hand, let his sharp words come out "I swear I'm going to rip your fucking smile off, Maria"
The guards around him brought their guns close to their respective areas, which are, his temples, forehead and the back of his skull.
"Captain, one word and he becomes a thing of the past"
Maria laughed as if Maalick had just made an incredibly funny joke "Hahahahaha, you make me laugh prisoner. Do you think "you" can kill me? It's true that you're a killer, but me? Me, dying from your kid's claws?"
Her voice became a little more serious "Please, I fought against one of the greatest calamities in this world. So it's not a Lizardian who hasn't even Moulted, who's going to do anything"
Arthur stepped forward between them "Captain, we have to go. It's time."
The Hyena clicked her tongue "You're always killing the mood, Arthur! Just because you're my second in command doesn't mean you can interfere at any time"
The young man spoke in a calm tone "I'm just following protocol, madam"
The Hyena sighed "Anyway, we have a lot of fun things to do today. But first, I'm going to give you a little present" she said, accentuating her smile.
She spoke telepathically with one of the guards who was pointing at Maalick, 'Go get it for me'
The soldier lowered his handgun and went to get the item.
A few minutes later, he returned with a molten iron stick. The object of torture had green and purple glints and numbers written on it.
The horror could be seen on Maalick's face. While Maria's crazy grin grew more pronounced.
With her magic, she slammed him to the ground and ripped off his top "I've been waiting a long time to try out this new toy" she said, while licking her lips.
The soldiers forced Maalick to turn his head "You son of a bitch, I'm going to !.."
The Hyena of the No Man's Land thrust the rod on his neck. She pushed it further and further into his flesh to hear his victim scream and cry in despair.
"That's right, scream ! I want to hear you scream in despair!"
His torment lasted only a few seconds. But in the Lizardian's mind it lasted for hours.
[ PV ] : 6/7
[ Error ]
[ Unable to regenerate the wound ]
His desperation grew even more, which fed Maria's immorality "And yes my bitch, that you will never be able to regenerate. This toy was created specifically to number Lizardians. Now go get your clothes"
Maalick struggled to get up and saw the numbers branded on his scaly skin, 710293.