When the door opened, Frederick and Sinclair entered a bright, expansive room. In the middle of it laid multiple tubes filled with an unknown green liquid. The liquid's glow illuminated the room and bathed it with emerald light. The place was as bright as daylight. Frederick stared at those tubes as they walked through the room.
'Are there people inside of these pods?'
He soon realized that his intuition was more or less correct. Indeed, there were people in those pods. They were all in a lifeless state. However, calling them people would be inappropriate.
The things in those tubes didn't look like human beings anymore. Although they still had some humanoid features, their bodies were transformed into something similar to the Hunters.
Their skin was the same color as a rotting corpse. It was the kind of gray skin you could find in old carcasses buried in the ground for too long. Under their cracked and grayish skin was a layer of disgusting crimson flesh that seemed to want to escape from the gloomy carcass. Some even had pieces of flesh falling off of them.
'These people failed the purification process ?'
Sainclair turned to Frederick with an unreadable look on her face. "The bodies you see are people who have failed the process." Her eyes were tinged with sorrow and melancholy as she gazed upon those corpses. She did not want to show Frederick this sight because she feared he might reject her offer at the last second.
Frederick's willingness to undergo the process was rare. They had been waiting for a chance to have another candidate willing to undergo it as a potential test subject. It was a golden opportunity for them.
She sighed, a little annoyed. "But if you complete the purification process, you will not suffer this fate. I guarantee you this."
Sinclair said it in a convincing tone as if she believed this firmly.
The more she spoke, the more difficult it was for her to conceal her emotions. She was genuinely frantic for him to accept this offer. Frederick did not know this earlier, but she was not losing anything from the earlier deal. In truth, Aegis would be earning, no matter if Frederick succeeded or not.
If Frederick succeeded, Aegis could build a good relationship with him. His authority seemed to be able to conceal the user, which was suitable for spying and could be helpful someday. Even if he failed, Aegis would acquire Frederick's authority and gather more data to make the purification process safer. They could combine technology and authority to refine the process. It was a win-win situation ... for them.
Walking for a few seconds, they soon entered a room at the end of the gloomy hallway. The room was remarkably barren, as if furniture had been outlawed. Dominating the space was an iron table ominously equipped with restraints designed to immobilize whoever lay upon it.
Positioned strategically around the table were sleek robotic arms, their surfaces gleaming with advanced medical implements beyond Frederick's understanding. Amidst the sterile ambiance, the room exuded an eerie, futuristic aura, hinting at the clandestine experiments that might unfold within its confines.
As Frederick inspected the equipment, Sinclair ignored the strange look in his eyes.
"She will be here briefly to explain everything. I have some work, so I wish you good luck... See you after the procedure." as she finished saying this, Sinclair walked toward the exit.
"Wait, please. Could you call Thomas here?" asked Frederick with a polite and humble voice.
"...Thomas? Why?" she asked with a confused face, surprised by Frederick's request.
"I would like to talk to him before doing the process."
This request was quite out of the ordinary. They weren't that close, right? But after pondering on the subject, Sinclair couldn't determine why Frederick would ask for this. Her brain churned from thinking, but she couldn't come up with an answer. She concluded that he just wanted to speak with him a little. From her point of view, Frederick was just extremely weird. It was to the point where she thought that this was perhaps his curse. But that was not her problem.
"... Alright. I will send him here."
After that, she turned around and walked towards the door. She did not say a single word, as if she did not wish to linger there. But despite her seemingly uncaring attitude, Frederick could notice a shadow of a smile at the corner of her lips, one which disappeared almost instantly.
As soon as the door closed, the whole place became silent. Frederick looked around him. Everything was bright and empty of any decoration whatsoever. Accompanied by a deadly silence in the empty room, he patiently waited.
Frederick did not feel afraid or even uneasy. His mind was at peace, as if he was not the one risking his life. He did not know when it started to happen, but he was now beginning to get used to dying, sometimes in inhuman pain. Honestly, he was frightened to die at the very beginning. Even if he tried to suppress this emotion, it was still here. He did not know what would happen if his authority suddenly ceased functioning one day.
But after many deaths. His fear slowly faded away as if he had been given anesthetics. Even now, he wasn't scared or nervous. He was numb in front of death. His only emotion was expectation for those attributes and this constant and unreasonable craving for strength.
However, Frederick was also satisfied with this. This numbness created through death helped him suppress his emotions. After all, those are weaknesses.
...
Time passed, and he did not know how long he remained in the empty room. As Frederick pondered if it was a trap, he heard the door opening. It was not Sainclair but someone he had never seen. A striking woman in her thirties appeared, her features exuding an ageless elegance, entered the room. Her lustrous golden hair cascaded in gentle waves around her shoulders. Despite her appearance, she had an air of sophistication.
Draped gracefully in a flowing white cloak adorned with silver accents along the edges, she exuded an aura of wisdom. Her gaze held a warmth and intelligence that would captivate anyone.
Her voice carried a refined tone, matching her impeccable demeanor.
"Call me Eris. I'm in charge here. So, you wish to undergo the process?" She asked directly. Her gaze was focused as she spoke with Frederick, seemingly not wanting to waste time on greetings.
Unbothered by her appearance, Frederick directly answered, "Yes. I heard this will increase my attributes. Is it true?" Frederick asked the woman without any reservation. His voice contained nothing but friendliness and sincerity.
She then glanced at Frederick. "Well, before I answer, Marcus already deduced who you are, and pictures of you are everywhere. So, it should be wise not to waste your energy on camouflage. I doubt you can keep it during the process either, anyway."
'...Are they bluffing?' he initially planned to ignore her remark and act as if he didn't hear her, but after some thought, Frederick slowly removed the Dark Veil that had hidden him and revealed his face.
His face was extremely average, with some hints of stubble here and there, making it look like it had not been appropriately shaved for a long time. It was not just his face; Frederick's aura and mannerisms also had nothing exceptional. He had a plain, simple, and calm demeanor that would make anyone pass him in the street without sparing him a second glance.
'It is true that I can't hold on for long anymore. After being chased for a day, my stamina is dangerously low.'
Frederick knew that they had likely already guessed his identity by this point. By connecting the dots with what he said during the "negotiations," they probably discovered his identity. Still, It could not have been all that easy. There was something behind it.
'Guild master of Aegis, Marcus... He has a terrifying deduction capacity. Although this information does not seem important for now, I must not underestimate him in the future. I would rather not deal with him at all if possible.'
" Anyways, you want to know how it works, right? Then you must first sign this." The woman threw a piece of glowing paper from her pocket in Frederick's direction. Frederick slowly took the bright paper in his hands before reading it carefully.
'... A contract to never reveal what I will learn here...'