He frowned and looked at Tristan with confusion in his eyes, then smiled as if his body were not mutilated and said.
"Why is there a child here?" asked the young man, looking confused.
"I'm a prisoner of this dungeon like you. I'm trying to escape from here."
"Ah, I see. At first, I thought the nobles had some strange custom of taking their children for a stroll in a dungeon," said the chained man.
"But that explains why your body is so damaged. I imagine you're looking for help to escape, right? That's why you came here," he said in a calm voice.
He didn't show the emotion someone with the chance to end their torment should have.
'This guy is weird; has he gone crazy?'
"Well, you guessed correctly, so are you strong?"
"Strong? Me? Uhm, a bit, probably much stronger than you. Don't worry, I promise I can be useful to you if you get me out of here. You can trust me; I'm a very honest person," said the young man with a friendly face.
'This guy doesn't give me a good feeling.'
'But I need help to get out of here, so I don't have much choice.'
"How do I get you out of there?"
"Destroy that glowing orb in the center of this runic circle," said the unknown young man.
When Tristan approached the runic circle, he noticed that the area had no world essence, weakening his body and preventing him from using his abilities.
In the center of the rune circle was a platform filled with strange drawings and symbols, with a small green orb trapped on the platform. Tristan tried to destroy the orb, but it wasn't easy without his abilities, so he decided to find a stone, and even with that, breaking the orb wasn't an easy task, but eventually he managed to do it.
The world essence returned to the cell, so Tristan lowered the young man and used his key to remove the shackles from him.
The young man began to rotate his wrists and stretch his limbs, which caused his wounds to open even further. Blood flowed from him, but he didn't seem very concerned. After doing this, he said, "Ah, child, I really owe you for this. I will repay my debt today; you will see."
"But then? What is the name of my savior?" the young man asked excitedly.
Tristan frowned slightly and said:
"Tristan."
"Beautiful name! I'm Li Cheng, little brother. We're going to get along well."
Li Cheng took Tristan's hand and squeezed it quickly.
"Do you have a key to the magical door at the dungeon entrance?" Li Cheng asked.
Tristan became a bit cautious at the question.
"Yes," he shrugged and replied without showing concern.
Li Cheng nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
After that, Tristan and Li Cheng searched for other imprisoned cultivators but found no one else.
'Should we seek help from the common prisoners? Or would they just be dead weight?'
Tristan turned to his new companion and asked:
"Should we seek help in the cells of common people?"
"Of course! The more people, the better!" Li Cheng said in his usual cheerful tone.
'This guy is really strange.'
***
Lying in a dark cell, a thin man of about forty stared hopelessly at the floor. A noise from outside reached his ears, making his body tremble. He began to imagine that his end had come and that the guards would take him for execution.
However, something he hadn't imagined happened. The child was small and so thin that he looked more like a skeleton with skin; his skin was pale like a corpse, and something strange was in his nose. The boy entered his cell. And after him, a tall young man with long black hair and a body full of freshly stitched wounds entered.
"What is happening?" asked the old prisoner.
The child shrugged and said:
"Look at our appearance; what do you think is happening?" said the child, pointing to their bruises and the young man behind him.
The child approached and said:
"It's time for you to decide how you want to die," said the boy in a monotone, expressionless tone.
"What? What does that mean?" the old man asked, concerned.
The boy looked at him and said:
"It's simple. Think carefully about how you want to die. Do you want to die like a cockroach in this dark place, forgotten by everyone, or do you want to die like a human?"
"Today, we give you the chance to decide. Do as you wish," said the child and turned to leave the cell.
The old man was confused. Then he thought about it. It seemed that following them could also be a death sentence. But after a while, he decided to follow the young ones.
He wanted to die like a human!
***
After the old man decided to follow them, they returned to the corridor and began to gather the other prisoners.
"How are your energy reserves?" Tristan asked Li Cheng.
"I'm fine. I have more than enough," said Li Cheng.
Tristan nodded. He looked back; there were about thirteen prisoners, some probably committed crimes, others perhaps just annoyed some noble.
For a moment, Tristan thought about the moral issues and the consequences of leaving these criminals free, but that soon faded from his mind.
First, because most of them, if not all, would probably end up dying.
And second, because the world had already taken everything from him without caring about his feelings, it made no sense to worry about others.
Tristan continued walking until the old man he had freed approached him.
"What? Did something happen?"
"No, nothing, I was just curious. Were you really imprisoned here? I mean, you're just a child. Why are you here?"
Tristan looked at the old man expressionlessly and shrugged.
"Well, I just annoyed one of the nobles from the mansion, so I'm here."
"Those nobles are truly worse than animals. What could a mere child do to be sent to this hellish place? Those bastards," said the old man, shaking his head in indignation at the behavior of the nobility.
He looked at the old man and asked.
"And you? Why are you here?"
He didn't really want to know about the old man's life, but he wanted to practice his communication skills and get used to it. He might need to interact socially with others if he managed to get out of there.
"Uhm… me? I was part of the defensive force of the city of Clauder. Baron Ansir of Flangen started a territorial dispute with Baron Morgun of Clauder. Ansir asked the count of this mansion for help, so I ended up being captured by one of his men," the man sighed sadly.
Tristan saw the old man's face grow sad as he remembered the events that led him to be imprisoned in a dungeon cell. But he also noticed that there seemed to be another feeling in the old man's heart, longing and hope.
"Is there someone out there waiting for you?" This was quite likely. Not everyone was alone in this world like him.
The old man's eyes became a bit more moist. He nodded and said:
"Yes, I have two children, a girl of 15 years and a boy of 8 years. Their mother died of an illness a few years ago. My children only have me to take care of them. That's why I need to return to them," said the old man, with a flame of determination shining in his eyes.
Tristan nodded slowly.
"What is your name?"
"Oh, right. I guess we haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name is Coli."
"So that's what it's like to have a life waiting for you out there."
Tristan sighed.
"Well."
"Coli, right?"
"Don't die."
***
Tristan had found the last person who was imprisoned in the dungeon. There were about 24 people, but they were common people, and there were only two Martial artists, him and Li Cheng. The odds were not in their favor; if a Solid Red appeared, the common people would be cut down like grass.
"Let's gather everyone. We need to come up with a plan," Tristan said to Li Cheng.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. I already have a plan to escape from here!" Li Cheng said with his usual calm and relaxed expression.
"Really? What is it?" Tristan frowned, raised an eyebrow, and asked skeptically.
"Oh, watch this cool trick, little brother." Li Cheng turned to Coli, who was standing next to Tristan. An ice dagger appeared in his left hand, and then his arm became a blur as he sliced Coli's throat without any difficulty.
Tristan jumped back in shock.
'He has gone crazy?'
But what he saw next was what truly terrified him. The blood gushing from Coli's neck instead of falling to the ground floated toward Li Cheng. Coli's blood entered his body, his previously open wounds began to close, and his muscles grew. His dying and injured appearance no longer existed.