An unknown amount of time had passed since Arlott was captured in the forest for interrogation.
"Good morning, Arlott." A man pushed open the metallic gate of an underground cellar, and walked inside it while holding a mug of water in his hands.
The water appeared cloudy, filled with grains of white substance. Salt.
Without any emotion on his face, the man splashed the salt water directly on Arlott's amputated leg stumps.
The wound was fresh and grotesque, with charred skin on the end of the stump, white bone peeking out of the flesh and dried blood colouring his wound in dark red.
The moment the salt water splashed on Arlott's wounds, salt began to dissolve in the marred skin, making it burn.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Arlott shot open his bloodshot eyes with a loud, guttural scream reverberating from his throat. His body felt overwhelmed with pain, sending his mind into disarray and rendering him incapable of thinking.
He saw a bluish rectangle hanging in front of his eyes, but his pain left him in no condition to read it.
For the next 5 minutes, Arlott kept screaming, begging and shouting in pain while wriggling on his bounded seat like a worm sprinkled with salt.
Finally, after 5 minutes, his eyes began to droop shut and his body started to go limp.
*Slap*
A crisp slap woke Arlott out of his stupor and he opened his eyes, staring in front blankly.
Arlott blinked twice, seeing a middle-aged man looking at him with a wide, sinister smile plastered on his lips.
But more than that, Arlott was surprised to see a bluish rectangle blocking his vision. Painted in blue, decorated with black swirly designs and written with bold white, the rectangle looked mystic.
Other worldly.
[ System - THE IDLE CULTIVATION SYSTEM ]
[ Host: Arlott
Sin: Sloth
Level - 0
Titles: Assassin, Betrayed, Chosen Of Sloth, Chosen Slayer
IP ( Idle Points ): 0
Physique: 13
Magic: 10
Skills: Sleeping (lvl 3), Meditation (lvl 46) ]
Arlott stared at it for a few seconds before the Magi Knight slapped him yet again.
"I said good morning, Arlott." the knight repeated.
Without any energy to retort, Arlott said, "Good morning."
"Good!" The Magi knight clapped happily and asked, "Now tell me who sent you, Arlott. Tell me your affiliation and the clan."
'Hah… clan?' Arlott scoffed dryly, the same clan that brutally slain all his comrades and was ready to kill him. That clan?
He had thought of that place as his home, and despite the struggles, he enjoyed having the company of them for 9 whole years. Call it a Stockholm syndrome, if you will.
"Red Flower Assassination Clan." Arlott scoffed dryly, "Subsidiary clan of the Paxley Duchy."
"Oh?" the magi knight was momentarily stunned.
He was a professional in human torture and intel extraction, and he had encountered many kinds of captives, but none were as weak-willed as the brat in front of him.
'But then again, I caught him running away from his own camp. I thought it was to assassinate from our back lines, but maybe it is something else?'
The knight looked at Arlott again, only to find him staring intently at the knight. His legs and pain receptors had already started to numb from pain, leaving only a burning sensation.
'Why the hell is he staring at me?' the knight glared coldly, thinking of the possibilities why Arlott could be staring.
Did he want to escape? Due to hate? Pain? Or is he just blanked out?
Little did the knight know, Arlott's reason for his stare was much more mystical and unexpected.
In front of his eyes, another blue rectangle had opened up, the rectangle which called itself by the name of Idle Cultivation System.
[ A quest has arrived. Complete the quest to level up and unlock the other features of the system.
Rank: C
Laziness Is Virtue: Even the greatest master needs to sit down to meditate. Stay seated or laying for at least 16 hours a day for two days.
Reward: Level up to 1; IP +500; +5 Physique.
Note: Sleeping while sitting may apply a 2x multiplier in time. ]
'IP? What is that?' Arlott wondered in his mind, swiftly putting his entire focus on the blue rectangle to distract from the stinging pain.
He didn't expect an answer to his rhetorical question, but it was a warmly welcomed surprise when he got one.
[ IP is the currency of the Idle Cultivation System. Host may exchange the IP for various items and skills from the marketplace.
IP may be earned by staying Idle.
IP Gain Split:
20 IP/hr - Sleeping
10 IP/hr - Laying
5 IP/hr - Sitting
1 IP/hr - Standing or Slow Walking
0.1 IP/hr - Jogging
No IP rewarded in case of any other strenuous exercise, namely fighting, training, running, swimming. ]
Arlott read the entire page and then wondered, technically he was indeed sitting down currently. His legs were chopped and he was bound to the chair, forced to sit. But he was sitting regardless.
Shouldn't he gain 5 IP/hr?
Just then, his eyes led to a bar on the right corner of his blue rectangle, which was appearing half full. The bar was dark green in colour, and it was slowly being filled by the lighter green colour.
Above the bar, few words were boldly printed.
[ IP Gain: 5 IP/hr ]
'So I was right.' Arlott smiled slightly in victory, but the moment he smiled, he felt a stinging pain shoot up his amputated legs.
His lips quivered and his smile fell when he saw the knight glaring at him. He nearly forgot about him as he had zoned everything out to cut off the pain.
In his hands, the knight held a small bottle, filled with white powder.
'Salt.' Arlott shivered and a chill ran down his spine, he felt ants crawl over his skin.
"W-Wait!" Arlott hurriedly stopped him from sprinkling it over his wounds.
"I will answer your questions, please don't!" he begged.
But then another thought popped in his mind,
'Won't they kill me after extracting all the information from me?'
If this happened before he met this blue rectangle, Arlott would have happily retold all his intel and then would have hugged the daddy grim reaper, hoping these knights could take his revenge.
He wasn't sure if this blue rectangle was a mere figment of his imagination, but Arlott knew one thing. The rectangle had given him hope.
He wasn't going to give up after the bait of hope was tossed to him.
He had a chance to grow stronger through the Idle Cultivation System!
"Who is the main leader behind the Red Flower Clan, Arlott?" the magi knight questioned.
Arlott glared at the elder man, his body tingling in warning as if what he was going to do was a bad idea. But Arlott zoned out those danger alarms.
He opened his mouth…
And spat a mouthful of blood on the Knight's face.