As Zich rode inside it, the Kraken moved at a considerably fast pace. While trying to remember the path they took, he led the Kraken to specific directions. Since there were no marks underwater and he didn’t have the leisure of looking around his surroundings during battle, Zich got lost multiple times. In the end, he took his many experiences from before the regression and found the path leading to the ruin’s lakeshore.
‘I’m completely beneath the ocean.’
Even though the entrance of the area wasn’t blocked, the lake mysteriously existed without getting flooded by ocean water. Yet, Zich didn’t have the time to fulfill his curiosities. Besides, he had an inkling of why that might be the case.
‘It’s probably because of the tree.’
Zich led the Kraken to the passage under the ocean that headed towards the lake, and the fluid monsters didn’t stop pursuing them. The passage curved frequently, but the Kraken flexibly passed through it. Zich assessed the distance he had.
‘I’m almost there.’ Yet, an obstacle appeared in the middle. ‘What’s that?’
In a hole that should’ve been wide open, something was blocking it, and it wasn’t natural terrain.
‘It’s sort of a strange presence.’ Although he had felt this presence before, Zich couldn’t remember it clearly. It appeared to be part of a living creature. Zich led the mysterious presence on to attack the Kraken, and the Kraken’s suckers began to strike them. The attacks didn’t last long and the Kraken soon stopped.
‘Huh?’ Zich swung Windur and continued to inflict pain onto the Kraken. It howled pitifully and writhed in pain, but it didn’t attack the presence blocking the path.
‘I have to check it out.’ Zich made a path inside the Kraken’s body. He discarded the wiggling muscles around him and advanced forward.
Pop! He created an opening to the outside.
‘I have to check quickly!’ He could still sense the fluid monsters’ movements. Furthermore, the suckers on the Kraken’s legs wouldn’t leave a parasite that was pushing into its skin alone. Zich arched his head slightly to the outside and searched the obstacle.
‘That is…!’ Zich was surprised by the existence. ‘A meat barrier?’
A clump of meat that looked like a mix of many people was blocking the lake.
‘It’s like the ones I saw at the lab. Did that meat clump stretch its body out?’ No wonder it had a slightly different presence from the meat clump in the previous ruin. ‘I suppose this means I have come to the right spot.’ That was all he needed. Escaping the attacks coming his way from the fluid monsters and giant legs, Zich hid inside the Kraken’s body again.
* * *
A white light seeped into a world filled with darkness. It almost seemed like it was making cracks in the darkness and shooting lights between these gaps. Like a moth diving into the flames at the risk of burning its body, ‘I’ opened my eyes with a thirst for the light.
“It’s a success! Look, the eyes are open!”
“Hey, someone call the warden! The rebel group’s test specimen has been completed!”
“We will be able to get a decent bonus with this!”
Beyond a transparent glass, I saw a group of humans wearing white robes cheer with their arms raised. I tilted my head, wondering why they were acting this way. However, that wasn’t the only thing I didn’t know—I didn’t know where I was, why I was inside a glass case filled with liquid, nor… who I was. Past the glass wall, I saw someone enter. It was an old man whose long, bushy white beard covered his neck and his face was covered with wrinkles. He approached the glass, pressed his face closely next to it, and looked at me.
I also stared back at him closely. His eyes were burning up as he looked at me; his flushed cheeks indicated his excitement even further. Yet, I thought his eyes were very cold. Although the old man’s burning enthusiasm and excitement were directed towards me, it didn’t seem like they were truly for me.
“It doesn’t seem right for us to still call it by its code name. Why don’t you name it, Sir Warden?”
“Yes, certainly! Since it’s our first successful test experiment, we should give it a name.” The surrounding humans gave a suggestion to the old man.
“Hm. I suppose we should.” The old man combed his beard and seemed to ponder for a bit. However, he didn’t have the attitude of a person thinking about an important matter; to give an example, he had the attitude of someone sloppily coming up with the name of a flower that caught his eye in a garden. Thus, the name that came out of the old man’s mouth wasn’t anything spectacular.
“Finel. How about Finel?’
“As expected of the Warden!”
“Considering that this one is the test experiments from that group of rebels, it’s a very fitting name, sir.”
“I thought so,” the old man chuckled and placed his hand on the glass. Then, he said, “Your name from now on is Finel. Engrave this deeply into your mind.”
Like that, I gained a name that meant ‘submission’ in the imperial language.
* * *
For a while, I stayed inside the glass. People looked at me with curiosity as they passed by, and I also stared back at them. After we spent a great amount of time observing each other, I was able to come out of the glass case.
“All measurements are stable. It will be able to endure experiments with no trouble now.” I saw a man tell the old man. After that, the experiments began. It started with simple ones and more complicated ones came, all conducted on me. Among them, there were some that were extremely painful. But if I excluded those, I was treated fairly well. It appeared that I was quite a precious experiment, one that they were curious about.
However, when they learned who I really was, their attitude completely changed.
“You damn bastard!”
Slam! One of the researchers kicked me. I fell and felt intense pain. I screamed in agony, but the kicks didn’t stop.
“Stop.” It was only when the old man talked did the kicks stop. However, the old man’s voice was not kind at all. It seemed as if he stopped them because my existence had some research value instead of any concern for my livelihood.
“But sir! Look at its research purpose! Its dirty and lowly research purpose! This dirty thing was made to steal the memories of the Golden Emperor’s princess who is praised as the Empire’s Goddess! We need to kill it immediately! We need to dispose of this creature and all the experiments they’re making and incinerate all the research materials….!”
“Stop!” The old man’s voice loudly rang out in the room.
The person who was speaking stopped, but they still seemed agitated as their breathing was rough.
“It’s the Emperor’s order.”
“The Emperor ordered something like this?” the person asked as if they couldn’t understand; the surrounding people seemed to share the same sentiments as they began murmuring amongst themselves.
“The Emperor ordered us to thoroughly research this experiment so that we can find out its characteristics, weaknesses, and anything else we can find.”
“Yes, I understand.”
People began nodding their heads as if they could finally understand the purpose of their research. The old man looked at me, and I curled up even tighter. The excitement and passion in his eyes were now gone. The only thing left now was an icy chill. However, I knew that the old man’s gaze hadn’t fundamentally changed. I was just a tool to him—from an interesting item, I had merely changed into a dirty item.
By looking at his gaze and the gazes of the surrounding people, I could easily predict what my future would be like.
* * *
From then on, the experiments done on me were mind-numbingly horrible. I was able to realize that the experiments they did on me before had actually shown some consideration for me.
They enjoyed giving me pain; all I could do was to curl up and cry out to get the least amount of pain possible. As more time passed, the intensity of the experiments climbed higher and higher. Then, I was able to find out why they showed so much hatred for me. From what I gathered, there was some kind of system that supported the whole empire, and inside that system, a princess was asleep there.
The Golden Emperor was the one who founded the empire and was the one who was the most admired and exalted among all the emperors. The princess was the Golden Emperor’s daughter. This princess’ popularity in the empire seemed to be beyond my imagination. As one of the main axes who supported the empire, the princess was exalted as a goddess who protected the empire. It seemed as if I was born to steal the memories of this princess who was so popular that she was even worshipped.
“Do you finally understand it now, you dirty monster! Your existence itself is a sin! You’re a cursed being that should have never been born!” one researcher said while spitting on my face.
“So diligently cooperate with the experiment if you want to make your worthless life even a little bit more useful!”
The only thing I could do was nod my head. I realized this later on, but it seemed as if there were also existences similar to me inside this lab. In a way, they were my sisters, and their fates were also similar to mine. They were dragged into the lab, and I sometimes heard their screams from my container.
When the experiments were finished, I went back to the glass container I was born in. Then, I was forced to fall asleep. I often tried to resist the drowsiness that came over me; I wanted to have a small, very small amount of time for myself when there were no experiments. It was extremely terrifying to know that whenever I opened my eyes, experiments would begin again. However, my resistance always ended up futile as the drugged water was poured down my container.
* * *
Crash! I heard the sharp sound of something breaking. At the same time, I felt my body lean forward. I opened my eyes in surprise, and the floor came closer to me at an extremely fast rate.
Thud!
—Ack!
I helplessly rolled on the floor. I felt pain all over my body, and it was not just because I fell on the ground. Sharp prickles of pain were mixed in with a heavy hit on the floor. When I assessed my condition, I realized that the glass pieces of the container that imprisoned me were pierced into my body. While tears fell down my face in pain, I looked at my surroundings. The floor was soaking wet and glass pieces were scattered on the floor. When I looked back, the glass container I was in had completely shattered.
‘What happened?’
At that moment—
Thud!
I turned my gaze as I heard a footstep. Then, my eyes opened wide. In a usually dark room, a fireball in the air was lit up the area. I saw a person below the fireball.
The person was not a researcher, nor was she wearing a white robe. I also knew who she was. I had never seen her in real life, but I had seen her in portraits before.
—Pri…nce…sss…
She was the reason why the researchers had tortured me so much.
The Princess whose face was so cold that I wondered if she even knew about emotions, said, “I heard about you. You’re the existence that was created to steal my memory, an asset of Clowon.”
I didn't dare to open my mouth. She moved closer to me, and when she approached a certain distance, we both flinched.
“…This is how it feels.” The Princess put her hand on her head. “They told me you can only steal my memories when I’m in the system, but it seems as if coming closer to me is also another way of stealing my memories.”
The Princess put her hand on her knees and while bending her body towards me, she said, “But I should check. What do you see? Tell me without skipping anything.”
—Ah, that, I…
I fumbled and opened my mouth because I was shocked by the unbelievable information that came flowing through my mind.
—C-Clowon fell…
“And?”
—And a new civilization entered the world…
“What else?”
—What the P-Princess wants is…
I gulped my saliva.
—The restoration…of Clowon.