There was no immediate reply to Zarek's words. However, to the man who had been through three lifetimes and was working on his fourth right this moment, any tidbit was information.
'It might not be that he isn't replying, but that it's taking him a while to.'
Now that Zarek thought about it, he had been messing around for a while. First it was his food tray, then the bars, then the food slot. Every time he touched one of them, he paused for a while so that Harmonic Recall could take effect and so that he could digest the information it was giving him.
"Who are you?"
The voice finally echoed in Zarek's head, and he couldn't help but grin. The question now was whether it would be better for him to pretend to be sharper or duller. Which tool did he want to pull from the toolbox?
Zarek chose to reply immediately.
He doubted that his Intelligence talent was greater than this man's; it was just that his C Class Scouting Skill was already at the very limits of C Class Mastery. It might have been running up to the end of its potential already, but it was perfect for this world.
In that case, he might as well play the role of genius who couldn't control his tongue. If that didn't work out, he'd escape. But for now, he felt like he needed to establish some sort of dominance.
In a situation where you knew too little about what was going on, it was advantageous to prove your use and even instill a little fear—especially since all of them were trapped anyway.
"Me? Who are you? You're the one trying to interfere in my life here."
"… More like you are interfering in mine. Your actions will ruin things for everyone."
"Yeah? And is that why you're threatening to take my life? It takes you a full five seconds before you can even send a message back, and you think you can threaten me?"
This time, the pause was even longer. Clearly, the man was in the process of thinking how to regain control of this situation that was clearly flying off the rails.
"… Listen, kid—"
"How the hell would you know that I'm a kid? I'm a grown man."
"—I don't know how a naive little shit like you got caught up in this place, but in case you didn't know, or one of your stick-up-the-ass friends got you locked up in here because they couldn't handle that insufferable mouth of yours, this is both the most dangerous and most impossible-to-escape prison in Adastra."
"Prison? Why the hell would I be here? I haven't done anything wrong."
"… As if! You're talking about seconds and time and clearly referring to Matrices and their manipulation, but you can't understand why you'd be here? You've clearly been using your magic out in the open—brazenly, even! Of course you would end up here!"
This time, it was Zarek's turn to pause. He really didn't know how to proceed here. The man had told him a lot, but he was also speaking in ways that assumed Zarek had underlying information about the place he was in.
In fact, the man would probably find it odd that Zarek commented in the way he had while pretending not to understand where he had gone wrong… if it wasn't for the fact he was in a clear state of agitation.
That agitation was important to note, though. Clearly, the man's judgment was clouded because he very much wanted to make a connection with Zarek. As for why, that much was obvious. He saw Zarek as a better talent than himself, so he believed that Zarek was a better chance for them to escape.
After a while, Zarek chose a different response, as though he was a child caught red-handed.
"… Just what is this place, old man? Am I going to be executed?"
"… In four days."
Zarek's gaze flashed. It was exactly as he thought.
The execution date for the prisoners here and the final day of the Godsfall Tear all lined up perfectly. This was exactly what he had wanted to confirm.
But now he had a split path before him once again.
"For what?!"
"… Why are you still playing ignorant?! I've already told you! You either pissed off the wrong people, or you've been too brazen!"
"This is bullshit! I don't even come from Adastra. What is this ridiculous ban on magic you people have, and what right do you have to lock me in here for it? I just came here on a trip to see how the poors live and this is how I'm treated? I'm getting out of here!"
"… Wait! Wait! Wait! You don't come from Adastra? Where do you come from?"
Zarek grinned.
Dream Godsfall Tears were often quite good, but they were called Dreams for a reason. Their scope of the world was limited, and often mentioning things beyond the scope of the world could either make it "glitch," or it could be abused.
If you went too far, it could actually lead to a failure, in which case you would either be trapped in the Godsfall Tear until someone else cleared it, or you would be expelled from it.
However, there was a fine line you could toe between glitching the Tear and abusing it that could help you to progress things a bit.
In this case, simply pretending to be from a place that was outside the scope of this town just might be enough to—
'Shit.'
Zarek's heart skipped a beat. He was about to answer perfunctorily when he felt his time affinity lock in on him. He felt the time in the world twisting and bending, and he realized what that meant.
'What? Why the hell is just pretending to be from somewhere else enough to sanction me?'
Zarek had done this several times before; he didn't think that he would be on the verge of being booted from the Godsfall Tear just because of this.