Chapter 17 - 17. It’s Proteins!

Glenn took his time to look around, before deciding to go in the direction where the numbers above the cells were getting lower. He hoped to find the exit this way. On his left were the cells, while on his right seemed to be a cliff without anything safeguarding it. He first wondered what was in these cells, but didn't see any opening to check inside them without letting whatever was inside out. And if there were indeed monsters, he certainly wasn't going to open their doors. Still, to quench his curiosity, he placed his ear on the steel door of cell 3332, his neighbor.At first, he couldn't hear anything, but after focusing a bit more, he finally managed to discover a strange, squelching sound, surprisingly...fleshy. It felt as if a mass of...meat, was moving slowly behind the steel door. Glenn gulped and decided to ignore the cells. Whatever was inside could stay there for all he cared, his morbid curiosity not worth fulfilling if it was going to cost his life or sanity. He still wanted to know, but he just wanted to live more.He then threw back a glance at the cliff on his right. If it weren't for him progressing very slowly earlier, he might have not noticed it and slipped into this abyss, an idiotic death that he did manage to avoid. His hand on the left wall, he walked this way for a good ten minutes, the silence heavy around him. He didn't know what was the worst, knowing that these cells were filled with monsters, or that those weren't making a single noise. It was terrifying. He scowled, wondering how long the damned corridor was.It wasn't to say that the cells on one side and the void on the other weren't scaring him...well, maybe a little. His dread jumped up when the light of the candle flickered, menacing to die out after a small gust of wind blew on it. Glenn hurriedly covered the flame with his other hand, praying for it to stay lit up. Luckily for him, it stayed lit, still illuminating with a weak hue the dark passage. He suddenly realized that he could end up plunged into obscurity at any moment. The thought wouldn't have disturbed him that much before, the dark had never scared him.But now that he had spent such an outrageously long time plunged into darkness, he just didn't want to lose his only source of light. He felt a primordial need in his soul, asking for the warm glow of the sun. His mind and body would thank him a lot if he let it bathe in sunlight, and honestly, Glenn wanted to fill those urges as soon as possible."Whatever, I'll soon be out anyway," He muttered, his teeth clenched. Glenn kept on walking, keeping track of his progress by checking the numbers on the cells. 2940…2450…1984…1423…1120…"ARH!" A scream made him jump in surprise, almost making him slip into the hole. He searched around with panicked eyes until he understood that it was Diamanes pranking him. A small laughter echoed in his head, mocking him. The young man shook his head, calming his racing heart, resuming his progress. His advance was steady, and after a few hours, he finally arrived at the three-digit numbers. The motivation to continue flared up in his heart when he saw that, and he began to accelerate. His stomach was gurgling, asking for food, while Diamanes was simply annoying him from time to time to relieve his boredom. Nothing too crazy was going on after all. No jailer, just cells and darkness.946...751...542...342...123...99.Finally! Glenn's heart began to race, as he could almost imagine himself getting out of this hell, and he began to run when a mocking voice interrupted him."Calm down, you madman. Remember there is a literal void beside you. I wouldn't run and risk dying stupidly if I were you." The reminder made his mind cool down, and he kept his previous speed, staying as careful as he could be. Indeed, if he slipped in that place, he would crash and explode in a flesh bomb, superhuman body or not.The young man did his best to contain the excitement he had at the idea of finally seeing something different from those fuc– extremely annoying doors. Step by step, he got closer to what he hoped to be the exit. After a few more minutes, his eyes caught another light source, beyond the void, approximately thirty meters above him. He first rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating, but quickly became aware that it was extremely real. He kept on walking slowly, knowing that if the source of light was another candle, whoever was holding it could probably see him. He still paused for a second, trying to figure out whether the light was in movement or not. His eyes fixed on the weak hue, he confirmed that it was either a fixed torch or someone else who had come to a stop like him. "How the hell..." He muttered, trying to understand the layout of the prison. Thinking back to the endless corridor, a bulb lit up in his head, enlightening him. This prison was circular, just an endless, deep hole going down infinitely. The corridor was extremely long because it wasn't a corridor, but a very slight upward slope that was circling the hole, gradually going higher. It made a whole lot more sense than just an absurdly long prison.Quickly covering the rest of the slope, Glenn arrived in front of the light source, which was indeed a torch hanging on the wall. It was on the left of a thick wooden door that was...wait, why was it the same color as that church at the Frozen Gate? Straining his eyes, he saw that a thorny symbol was carved in the center of it, the same as the one that was on the church. He now knew who captured him. He sighed helplessly. Of course, he had to get captured by a cult! Life would be way too easy otherwise!Another question remained unanswered that Glenn couldn't help but ponder upon. Why hadn't he come across any other wardens besides Mr. Scarred-Face? No way he could take care of all these cells alone, right? Well, whatever. The fewer fights he took, the less risk of dying stupidly.He touched the knob with his left hand, making Diamanes jolt in surprise, surprise in this tone. "Oh, hello there! That's an Alarm spell on this knob!" Glenn hurriedly took his hand off the knob, stopping his breath to listen to any noises. Of course, there was going to be alarm magic! Why didn't he think of that? Diamanes chuckled, mocking him. "Don't worry, you didn't push the door open, so it didn't activate. Just give me a few seconds, and I'll take the Alarm away."Glenn sighed in relief, nodding. He placed his hand back on the knob, feeling the spell being collected. He didn't know what use an Alarm would be to him, but the more tools he had, the better. He still wondered if would be able to use it more than once in the future. After all, the condition of it being a single-time consumable was pretty restricting. "Well, if you do end up receiving magic teachings, you'll be able to use the same spells... But until then, it's only a one-time trick for you." Diamanes explained helplessly."Unless you get to the True Initiate level, which isn't for now," The entity muttered, but Glenn was too busy escaping to care about whatever nonsense his unwanted companion had to say.He pushed the door open, the smell of old books welcoming him. He entered what seemed to be a library, which was strangely well-illuminated. Looking up, he saw some crystals emitting light, making it so that he could observe the whole room without any issues. The place looked ancient, with half-rotten wooden shelves and incredibly old books stored on them.He slowly progressed through the library, careful of his steps. The floor was made of wooden planks, making his rattling chains less noisy. The further he went in the room, the newer and cleaner the shelves looked. He probably entered through the oldest part of the library. He arrived at what seemed like the middle of it all, a single desk placed at a point that could be described as the perfect center of the room. A few books were placed on it, their covers free of anything that could be used to identify them. A few bottles of ink were lined up on the desk, alongside multiple feathers that were probably used as pens. On the ground was a small box opened, with dozens of such feathers and bottles, each respectively used or empty.Glenn investigated the desk, trying to find any information, when one of the books caught his gaze. It was already opened and in the process of being written. The young man picked it up, throwing a look at the cover. A few, small characters were written at the bottom right of it, in a strange, red, crimson ink. It was a number.3333."That's...my cell, isn't it?" He noticed, puzzled. His curiosity picked up, he apprehensively readied himself for whatever was written in the book. There was only a date on the first page, the same one written on the form that he filled out at the Bureau. He didn't wait to connect the dots."That should be the day of my capture..." His eyes trembled a little, but he turned the page.The following page was filled out with information about him: Name: GlennSurname: UnknownAge: 21 Profession: Unknown Status: Initiate Possessions: Black coat, black pants, white shirt, decorated sword (probably expensive), dimensional pouch (can't be opened if the owner is alive physically or mentally; just wait for him to turn or die). Health: Alive, strange condition with his left hand. Seems to possess an impressive regeneration power, limited to that part of his body. He shivered, before turning another page, where he found records of each day he was imprisoned: 1st Day: Fed first blood, No. 7, Black Rose, fell unconscious, and didn't turn. Shows promising results. 2nd Day: Fed No. 34 Corpse Eater, fell unconscious, and didn't turn. 3rd Day: Fed No. 12, Flesh Hive, fell unconscious, didn't turn. Glenn gulped as he continued to read.31st Day: Fed No. 28, Ghoul, fell unconscious, didn't turn. This is a new record. This might be the one. 54th Day: Fed No. 42, Crescent Kar-Gal, and No. 1 Abyss Stalker, showed signs of turning. Notes: The most resilient specimen yet. Is probably the best one of them all. His sanity is on the brink of breaking. N.B.: We still need to figure out what made him special. Perhaps his hand? It seems unlikely; it will need more tests and research, but that will wait until he gets corrupted entirely. Glenn felt horrified, looking at the book. He understood now what Diamanes meant when he said he wasn't supposed to be human anymore. Tightening his fists, he took the document with him, as there was the name of each monster's blood he got infused with, which could probably be useful later. He then stopped for a second, looking at his left hand, wondering what his guest thought of all this. "Well, I'm really surprised and honestly don't know what to expect. You're probably the only being in this world that survived after drinking that much beast blood without turning. An absolute anomaly." Diamanes looked impressed, an amazed smile on his lips. Glenn's achievement in surviving was no less than a miracle, or a curse, depending on how you looked at it. Well, as long as there is life, there is hope, right? The young man clenched his teeth and looked around, the book under his arm, trying to find the exit. By doing so, he managed to find two doors, both with different things written on them: Storage, and Accumulator. Picking one randomly, he opened the first door, making sure to check with Diamanes if there were spells on it or not. Entering the Storage, he was welcomed with the sight of...well, a storage room. There was a great number of shelves with an equally great number of things stored on them. There were weapons, clothes, jewelry, documents, books, bags, etc...He looked around a little, finding with undisguised happiness the clothes he wore before he got abducted. He was about to put them on, but looking back at himself covering in...whatever, that was, he decided to do so later after he took a nice, hot shower. If his guess was right, he would be able to find his dimensional pouch somewhere in this room. Not even a minute later, he managed to find the pouch in question. It wasn't really difficult, it was the only one made out of good quality leather. It stood out among the raggedy bags barely pieced together that were stored there. A small tag was attached to it. He ripped it off and threw it away, before tying the pouch to a belt he picked up a second later.Looking at the weapon shelves, he didn't manage to find his decorated sword, though. Perhaps it was so valuable that they kept it for themselves. Not that he cared. He picked up a random sword that didn't look too terrible from the racks and sheathed it in a random scabbard. Even if he had no idea of how to use it, having a weapon tied to his waist did make him feel safer.He thought about the Fire Staff in his pouch, but since he didn't have the time to figure out how it would work, he decided not to take it out. Gearing up, he threw a curious look at the jewelry category. There was no gold, silver, or jewels. The "jewelry" category was filled with wooden bracelets, cheap rings with glass set on them, rosaries, and little decorative stuff that could be afforded by anyone. "They probably targeted the poor people, since a few of them disappearing would probably not make much noise," Glenn understood, his face darkening. Diamanes made a spitting noise. "Not even the balls to get people that could defend themselves." Glenn, disgusted, took a deep breath. He couldn't just leave this place like that. One way or another, he had to do something about this place and put a stop to this hell. He knew he couldn't try to save anyone, even though he was stronger, be it physically or with his powers. He was like a monkey using a gun as a blunt object. It worked, but it was also not the way it was supposed to be used. Diamanes interrupted his thoughts, as is his habit. "Can't you just blow the place up?" He simply stated. "What?" Glenn's eyes widened.Blowing the place up? What the hell was he talking about?