Again and again, I hear the dry sound of my hammer hitting the nail into the wood. My sweaty hands are holding the hammer tightly so I don't make another mistake, they hit you if you mess up the construction. The worse part is the smell, the same scalding sun that burns my skin is making a fetid smell from all the human waste in the dirt. Yet, no words of complaining come out from my mouth, especially after I saw a man get quite the beating for doing that.

They took everything from me. My freedom, my Artifacts, my job… Even my hair was shaved. All I can do is to plan my revenge.

My thoughts are interrupted as one of the bucketheads comes to me, I already know what they are here for...

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?" He yells

"TO REPENT FOR MY SINS" I yell back, albeit unwilling. I don't let that show up however.

"AND WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?" he yells again.

"TO BRING GLORY TO THE AESIRITE KINGDOM!" And so I say every single time they come asking these questions. I memorized the answers from observing others so I can take the least amount of beating possible.

To make it worst, they do everything in their reach to undermine us. We eat one time per day, less than the necessary food so we are always hungry. They beat us once in a while so we are always feeling some pain. They let us work without shelter to burn our skin at day and to make us freeze at night. The reason they do that is to keep people's willpower low so they can't regenerate mana nor have any hope of ever escaping.

Apparently, if your willpower gets below 50, your ability to learn and improve skills gets almost nullified. That is why I let the hate take over me. I feel angry at them for everything they do and I turn my anger into a fuel, motivating me to get out of this shithole.

Health Integrity Physical State: 70% Hungry (-20 STR, END, REF) Pain (-10 STR, END, REF) Mental State: 80% Anxiety (-20 WIL, -5 END) depression (-20 WIL, -5 END) Angry (+20 WIL) Imprisoned (-10 WIL) Total: 75% Could be worse

Looking at my health panel, it seems I am fine. The hunger and the pain is unavoidable, but for well-behaving, I don't have to skip meals or get beaten any more than the usual.

If I am to escape this place, I need to stay low, not catch their attention, and keep up with their bullshit until I have a plan. If I try to escape without a solid plan, I won't have another chance.

I look at my skill list to see if there is something that can be of use.

Skills Fighting Level 11 +11 str, ref, end Artifact Crafting Level 7 +7 int, +3 wil Climbing Level 1 +1 end, str Aesiri Level 4 +3 int Staff Mastery Level 6 +6% staff dam Friend of the squidcrabs Level 1 +1 Cha Arcane knowledge level 11 +11 int, +5 wil Mana Manipulation level 7 +7 wil, +3 int Battle magic level 5 (+5 int, ref, wil) dagger mastery level 4 +4% Dag dam dual-wielding level 4

Yeah… nothing can directly help me here. There is something on my mind, however, that may be of some use...

I am pretty sure the system is not showing everything to me. There are many things that could be quantified but they aren't, yet I feel them. One thing, for example, is the scan. It used to name things based on my thoughts, showing some information I wasn't aware or couldn't figure out but then it started to reveal the name of things that before it would be marked as 'unknown', such as the vampire's knife or the pyramid of revelation. It even stated the quality of the pyramid. So maybe… things like that can improve. If I can get my ability to create temporary runes on objects to last longer and lower the cooldown, I may have more of a chance at escaping.

And another guard approaches me, interrupting my thinking.

"Are you slacking off? It does seem you are. HERE, LOOK WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T WORK HARD TO CLEAN YOUR SOUL" The man yelled, for everyone to hear. Random beating time.

He punched me in my belly, his steel gauntlet making it quite a strong hit. I hold myself not to vomit so I don't lose the little food left in my stomach. He kicks me on my legs to knock me down to the ground. After that, he kicks me twice on my ribs. At least he is wearing leather boots and not metal ones...

◇New Resistance: Pain resistance 1% Description: As pain becomes something usual, your tolerance to it increases.

After all the pain I been through only now this shows up? Well, I will take it, better than nothing.

Even with my body in pain, I kept working the rest of the day as if nothing had happened, or I would get some more beatings.

At night, they take us to our cages. Two square meters of a sleeping spot. At least we don’t have to share them, each person has a separate cage made of iron, how considerate of my captors!

As I am ‘enjoying’ my vast personal space, blue light occasionally glows from a small stone I am holding. Of course, I don’t let anyone see it, it’s well-hidden beneath me as I pretend to sleep. Every ten minutes at night, I mark the stone with a temporary arcane rune in the hope the ability improves one day. After some rune marking, I go to sleep so I rest a little. Don't want to get sleep deprived on top of everything else.

The sound of a bell wakes up everyone too early in the morning. The sun is still weak, not much light coming from it.

It's been quite a few days since I was brought here. The castle construction still has a long way to go so I don't have to worry about what they will do to us once it's done. At least not for now.

The harsh routine is something my body got used to. The hard part is dealing with the mind, having nothing fun to do, and having to deal with constant stress is horrible.

The guards seem to be bored as hell too, so they organized some kind of fight pit for entertainment. Today is the first day of this little game of theirs, and after some time thinking, I decided to participate. Sure, it's a way to get more beatings but how worse can it get, really? I will take any chances to get stronger while I am here.

Now, I am waiting for my fight which should be next. My heart is beating fast in anticipation but I hold it together, it's just another fight.

A ding sounds from a small bell one of the guards is holding, a winner has been decided, the current fight is over. It's my turn now.

I enter the improvised arena they had us built. A small wooden wall defines the arena, with elevated benches for the guards to sit comfortably. There are... more guards than usual, maybe some from the village came here to watch this.

Splats of blood from the 4 fights that occurred today marks the ground as a fighting pit, yells from the crowd of guards encouraging violence fills the arena with adrenaline. My opponent is a middle-aged man with a kinda big build but still, I can see he isn't in his best condition, like everyone else here. Another bell signals the start of the fight.

I position my arms in front of me, not knowing much of what I am doing but trying to prepare myself for blocking hits. The man comes closer and speaks, barely audible "I don't want to hurt you, sorry" and he comes at me punching my arm.

His punch hurts more than I expected, even having it blocked with my arms. He throws a follow-up punch but I dodge this time and punch him right into his jaw, my hands hurting a little bit after the hit. The man was a little taken by the strike, but not much damage was done. I keep trying to dodge his hits, but he manages to hit me more than I evade. I see an opening and try to land a kick on his side, but he just grabs my leg and drops me on the ground, then as I try to get up he punches my jaw putting me to sleep.

I wake up later on my cage. I lost the fight. Still, I got something out of it, notifications are popping up on my hud...

◇New skill: Unarmed Fighting Description: fighting with your body is the last resort to most, but a deadly art to the few who master it. Effects: Your body hardens and you hurt yourself less when hitting a hard surface. +1 to END, STR, and REF at every 3 levels of the skill (starting at level 3). +1% force resistance / 5 levels

Interesting. The way this skill works is different than both the fighting skills and weapon skills

For now, I have to get back at work, but I am looking forward to the next fight which should be next week.

To encourage more people to participate in the fighting pit, the guards are saying the next fights will have food as a reward. They also seem to bet between themselves so this is getting quite lucrative for some of them.

An old man approaches me. A fellow prisoner I recognize from before, he is the one who sold rations at a store back in the village

"Aye, I remember ya, used to work in the robot shop huh?" He says.

"Yes, and you sold those rations. I miss them. Old Bob, they called you, right?" I say.

"Aye. If we ever get out, I would be glad to give you a good discount on those." He says, looking at me with a little joy on his face.

I smile at him and keep hammering the nails into the wood. The hammer is so light that most of the work comes from my strength. They wouldn't give us good hammers, of course, as there are people here who are quite strong and could use them to rebel.

Days and nights passed and I am still working on the temporary mark improvement. I keep activating it many times as I can. I also stole a nail, it might be good if I ever get to inscribe some object with a rune for someone else to use. If there is anyone here who can use magic, I need to find them. After quite some tries with the mark, I fall asleep.

I wake up excited as I see a notification in my hud

Through great effort, you managed to unlock more of the hidden system that guides the world. You can now see your abilities. ◇Ability: Temporary Mark (Level 2) Description: You can temporarily mark one object with a rune you know (100% affinity). This Ability lasts 1:10 minutes, has a charge of 10, and a cooldown of 9:30 minutes.

Ha, I knew it was possible! It's called Ability instead of skill too, maybe the difference is that they need activation while skills are more passive like the knowledge of how to fight, craft, or things like that.

This part that said the system 'guides the world' is a little confusing... this guidance could mean either the system helps people improve or it controls them... I like to think the first option is correct.

In the ability menu, there was also another one listed.

◇Ability: Scan (Level 3) Description: You can extract information about objects, entities, and machines. As the ability improves, you can access hidden information.

I get up from the cage hearing the bell ring 10 minutes after I woke up. I make sure to scan everyone and everything I can in my sight As I go hammer more nails.

Through lots of scanning, I found much useless information to keep me occupied. I now know the kinds of pebbles in the dirt, what type of wood and stones they are using to build the castle… stuff like that.

Also, today is pit fighting day and I volunteered myself again.

Afternoon comes and I prepare myself for the fight. The food reward is just a secondary motivation. I am here to get stronger.

Today my opponent is someone who used to be an influential person in the village. He still has friends around here but the constant beating and harsh conditions we all get put everyone at the same level.

His looks are good, but I can see he is untrained in combat, a spoiled brat possibly.

The bell rings and I jump at him, hitting him on his chest at the same time he hits me on the face, but his punch was far weaker than I expected. I hit his stomach with my knee tree times and he retreats a little, visibly in pain. He runs at me trying to punch me down but I deflect his blow with my right arm and punch his lungs with my left. Not leaving room for him to breathe, I strike my elbow on his head to bring him down. I won.

The food I got is the same lame one we usually have, but having an extra portion is refreshingly good. I also got a level up

◇Unarmed Fighting is now level 2

The rest of the day goes by without anything out of the ordinary. I go to my cage, practice some more my abilities, and have some deserved sleep.

A hand grabs me, taking me away from my dreams. Someone is forcefully taking me out of my cage... there are one guard and four prisoners around me.

"There, now if the location of your hidden treasures is false, I will beat you five times worse than you will beat her." The guard says in a warning tone.

I recognize one of them, it's the spoiled brat I beat in the pit. The angry look of his face can easily be seen despite the low light conditions. Looks like his pride got hurt huh?

The other three starts to beat me up, not leaving room for me to do anything else besides try to block the hits. After some beating, the guard steps in and places me on the cage again.

"See, I don't even need to touch you to humiliate you, woman. Next time you fight me, I expect respect. You will lose the fight or else your life here is going to be hell." The spoiled brat says.

"If the treasure is there, I will arrange you to fight her next week" the guard says.

I spend the week training my skills. Old bob told me the brat has his friends beating up people who cross him all the time, even before this whole situation.

When I can, I meditate about fighting, thinking about the moves I saw other people using in the pits and replicating them, both mentally and on my cage, punching the air. I notice I need to use my whole body in every move I do, respiration is also a key part of that. There is the right moment to breathe and the right moment to let go. Old Bob knew the name of some moves, he said his brother used to be a martial artist and taught him the basics.

◇Unarmed Fighting is now level 3 ◇Survival is now level 2

The survival skill also took long enough to level up... I have been in malnutrition for days...

After training everything I could, the time for the fight pit comes. This time, they are increasing the fights to two rounds, the winners fighting against other winners in the second round.

The bell rings and I enter the pit. The same spoiled brat from before standing there. Guards yelling for us to fight while the prisoners stand watching and to wait for their turn. I can see the look on the guard's faces... Some of them must know the brat had visited me to rig the fight, they probably are betting on him too.

The brat comes. I let my guard down. He punches me in the face, barely doing any damage, then he proceeds to throw a flurry of weak punches accomplishing a total of 6 damage to my body. Impressive.

He gathers all his strength and strike at me, aiming for my face but I evade the attack. The surprised look on his face was priceless... I replicate a move I saw another prisoner doing before, holding his arm and using my feet to take out his balance, grabbing him and using his weight to bring himself down. I don't stop there, however. I strike the head of the useless excuse of a human who is using money to bully people already in suffering. I hit him over and over while blood comes from his nose. some of the guards are yelling in awe with every punch I do, while others are sad they lost the bet. I stop before the brat gets seriously damaged, I am not here to kill, but I needed to break him in front of everyone before he got too full of himself.