I had a dilemma: should I kill him and absorb him or spare him and risk him becoming a liability. On one side killing him is the most cost efficient option but it could affect my future standing with other sapient races. Being merciful is wasteful biomatter wise and makes it easier for others to notice me. I don’t know if mind magic exists or other magic bullshit.

I might as well try to interrogate him and then I’ll decide. I used his shoe laces to make a simple knot that will suffocate him the moment he tries to move out of his position. Using a wall and a chair as a support I placed him in a way his torso was supported by a chair, and feet were tied and placed against a wall. His neck was decorated with a suicide knot.

I waited for an hour to recover some of my mana, I didn’t sit around, I went through his stuff and saw that he lives alone and is a son of someone rich. This fact alone almost made me decide to spare him entirely and possibly turn him into my minion. But that would be boring. Cost efficient but boring, after gathering information about him and his family I sent a pulse of mana to his mind to wake him up.

He jerked upwards in rapid motion, which coupled with his already unsteady posture made him fall over and began choking. I helped him go back to his previous position and said:

-”So now you aren’t choking now would you please be so kind as to answer some of my questions? And before you start begging for your life or throwing empty threats, please think about your current situation.” I smiled but my eyes were not smiling.

-”Wha, Why?.... You know what? This is definitely better than doing my homework or listening to nagging of step ma. So what do you want to know?” He was confused at first but he quickly got over himself. Looks like this wasn’t his first time, I almost felt pity.

-”You can call me J O D, It’s an acronym of my name and my job. Anyway I would like to ask you about the city we are in and summarise the history of the world. As for why I need to know it, let's say that I took so many drugs that I imagined a different world altogether and forgot quite a lot.” I said and began a long and tiring session of extracting information out of him. He was very cooperative and helpful. Our conversation lasted entire day, at the end I asked:

-”Since you were so cooperative and nice I have an offer for you. Body optimisation and redesign for an accommodation and food. I can also teach you some nifty tricks, but you would need to have an affinity for it.” When I said the last sentence I condensed all of my mana into a crystal right in front of him.

-”What do you mean by… Uhh… Okay sure, It was a while when anyone was staying here with me. Shall we eat something? I can order pizza If that’s fine with you?” He looked lost, and his attempts at being composed were rather futile.

-”I don’t mind the type of food body enhancement and optimisation requires a lot of biomass or an absurd amount of energy I don’t have. If you want pizza then order the biggest one, or take something that is full of calories.

Doesn’t need to have vitamins. As for checking your affinity I’ll need to put my hand on your torso and forcefully move energy through you. It will hurt but whatever is your affinity this procedure will awaken it.” I said in an almost monotone voice as I was freeing him from my small death trap.

-”Uhhh can you let me use the toilet first and stretch a little? While you were surprisingly nice, the position I was in wasn’t the most comfortable.” He said with a hint of complaint in his voice.

-”You agreed to a deal that makes us equal. I may be stronger than you and slightly more knowledgeable in certain fields that doesn’t mean I am better. It would be great If you treat me like an equal. And I’m sorry if I had better supplies or knew where everything was I'd make something more comfortable.” I said with a fake complaint and apologized to him with some sarcasm in my voice.

-”Huh, okay then I’ll be back in a bit…”