Zarek's eyes glazed over in the darkness, their amber hues dulling. For a moment, he forgot about the pain he was in—until he snapped back.
'… How interesting… how interesting, indeed.'
From what Zarek could tell from the words of the guard that threw this tray in here, he was what was known as a "Heretic" in this world. He was thrown here for his crimes against humanity.
As for what those crimes were?
Practicing sorcery, apparently.
Now, he was set to be executed. The timeline wasn't clear from this use of Harmonic Recall alone, so Zarek wasn't actually sure. If he knew that the execution date was in exactly four days, that would be quite a curious coincidence.
This Godsfall Tear should wrap up in about that time. If the execution date for himself was in four days as well, that would definitely be something to take note of.
'This isn't too much of a surprise. Dream Godsfall Tears usually have a storyline related to the reward at the end. This one has an Intelligence reward attached to it… if I had to guess, then, I'm leaning toward this Dream World needing me to save someone that would otherwise be a heretic and lead this world toward the path of magic.
But there's no telling right now, not for sure…'
Zarek tried feeling out different places, using Harmonic Recall on them, even going as far as to use the bars as well, but he found nothing more of note.
His Harmonic Recall still didn't go back far enough, unfortunately.
'It seems I'll have no choice but to escape… at least for the time being.'
There was nothing stopping him from returning or even just letting himself be captured again.
Zarek stood nimbly.
There was no cell directly across from him, but if he tilted his head, he could see some to the side. It seemed the dungeons were designed so that prisoners couldn't easily communicate.
Zarek filed that tidbit of information away and shook the bars before him for a moment.
Just because this was a medieval world and he didn't have to worry about guns didn't mean that this was something he could take casually.
This was a C Class Godsfall Tear, and it came with C Class dangers.
In fact, right now, this world was probably sturdier and more dangerous than the current Earth.
The guards in this dungeon were almost certainly D Class at the very worst, and they might have several C Classes overlooking it. In addition, if the plan was to trap people they thought could use magic, these bars would be capable of withstanding at least that much strength as well.
'Sturdy… Breaking it with force would be impossible. I'd have to wait for the next meal delivery and hope to take advantage of something…'
Zarek looked down at the small hatch in the otherwise uniform bars. It swung open to allow food in before locking itself up again.
'Mm…'
He reached down, pulling on the latch. There was some give to it. But even if he opened it, there was no way he could squeeze through that.
"I'd advise you fuck off," a voice drilled right into Zarek's ears. "If you attempt an escape, we all suffer. If you actually succeed, that's only worse. I would put a blade in your gut myself to stop you."
'Hm?'
Zarek's eyes narrowed as he looked to his right.
This person was too perceptive. Zarek hadn't done much, just fiddled around with the bars a bit—and not even enough to make much noise. From their vantage point, he shouldn't even be able to see Zarek—and most obvious of all, if communication was so easy, it would have been done already.
There seemed to be very strict Matrices in place here that made sound travel even more difficult, which was all the more reason Zarek's actions shouldn't have been so easily picked up on.
That meant that this person must have somehow sensed Zarek trigger his Talent, which while not impossible, was a tall task to accomplish given the current circumstances and all the monitoring around.
'And if the monitoring is so heavy, they almost certainly heard him say that just now… Unless…'
Zarek's gaze flashed. The man's voice reached him even though it shouldn't have been able to. Who was to say that he couldn't also bypass his voice being sent back to whoever was overseeing them?
'Interesting.'
Rather than replying, Zarek began to look around. He had no easy way of replying to this man. If he just spoke, his voice would be filtered out.
It was just a guess that their conversation was being listened in on, but it was a smart guess. Any facility that could control sound with Matrices like this would certainly be foolish not to direct any sound that was made to those that could monitor them.
In which case, this just might be a test. This man was curious about Zarek's ability and was using this method to try and see if he was worth befriending or not.
Whether the vice versa was true, and it wasn't a waste of Zarek's time to take him on as a friend… well, there was only one way to find out.
The issue was that Zarek wasn't a Matrix Master, and his Intelligence talent was pitiful. He had the experience to guess at what was happening, but actually deciphering it was another matter entirely.
Zarek did have one ace up his sleeve, though: his C Class Scouting Skill.
The Skill had been of great use until now, but it was quickly running to the end of its course. Now, C Class threats were beginning to appear, so Zarek's Scouting Skill—once his greatest advantage—would soon become quite mundane.
But for now, it was still a huge asset.
'Bingo.'
Zarek found the Matrices in question, locked onto the sound-directing ones, and tweaked them. He was clumsy, and Suki would probably roll in the grave Zarek swore to put him in soon, but it worked.
"Did I pass your test, prick?"
These were the first words Zarek chose to speak. A true Zarek Ashborn special, if he did say so himself.