The life of a slave was miserable, in both physical and mental sense.
A prison slave was worse.
A lab slave, however, was treated slightly better. It's done in hopes they'd live longer and continue the experiment chain a little more.
Yet, they died the fastest.
Even the most tenacious didn't survive a month if their origin was experimented on.
"And I think you might just break that record."
Varian's contorting face froze for a moment and he glared at the elder man standing outside a thin blue energy wall.
The room was a fusion of sleek metal with futuristic while and glowing runes that spoke of ancient tales.
Working together, they created a white sphere of light that swallowed him with ease. With powers sealed and body suppressed, Varian remained still as the advanced formations tried to influence his origin.
The absurd part was that they were succeeding.
His fingers clenched and he tried to thrash out. Blood splashed between his teeth and hints of red began to show in his eyes.
"If not for this experimenting needing a raw subject, I'd have given proper drugs to calm your temper." Aion shook his head with a regretful expression, but his gaze remained fixed on a transparent screen bombarded with the test data.
His lips curled up and he clapped his hands in joy, a gesture that undid his image as a stern elder.
"Your origin is really something else! You might live for two months! An origin subject living two full months. Wonderful, just wonderful!"
With a gesture of his hands, the formations ceased and so did the force holding Varian in place.
He crashed to the ground, spasming and coughing blood. His lips quivered and he looked like he might die at any moment.
Aion frowned and tapped on a few options on the floating screen.
A few runes lit up in the room, far fewer than before and waves of vitality drowned Varian.
(This is three times more than normal. He's really scared you'll die. Great acting!) Samsara's mischievous voice rang in his mind.
'You know, I might really die.' Varian allowed his body to recover under the healing but in the mind space he created, he sat crosslegged in the void, watching the world outside with a wry smile.
Everytime an experiment began, he'd let his body function on its own for the most part and study the runes in the room.
In just a week, despite the terrible learning environment, he gained a preliminary understanding.
Since he had ample of time to think between experiments, Varian concluded that he didn't really travel to the past.
'It's just a dungeon that has the projections of this past.'
There's no other logical explanation.
If time travel to the past was so easy and all he had to do was step into this domain, God Emperor or the ones before him would've done it long ago.
Forget them, even the Jai princes who witnessed the destruction of the empire should've rushed to this dungeon.
Going back to the past was first, too absurd and second, mess up the chain of causality.
[Butterfly effect. If past is changed, what happens to the present?] Logos' opinion aligned with his.
With a single scan from Samsara, it would've been clarified. Unfortunately, she wasn't in a position to do so.
(Their formations can even detect tiny bits of power. I'll be discovered. Wuuu~)
After consoling her that she's not completely useless, Varian focused his attention on the outside, taking back the control of his body.
They were now strolling through a beautiful street, him a few steps behind Aion as the elder man greeted the younger passerby with a pleasing smile.
Other a uniform of pure blue with black lines, Varian didn't have any restraints on. Not even a single chain to stop him from attempting an escape.
If not for the uniform designated to lab rats, he'd have looked like just another tribesman.
"Elder Aion! Elder Aion!" A commoner young girl in plain clothes that're worse than Varian's prisoner uniform jumped in front of the old man and grabbed his sleeves.
"What's the matter, Zelina?" The old man leaned down and scratched the freckled girl's nose with a playful smile. "Did you run away from the breakthrough again?"
"I didn't!" The girl yelled in her cute voice before looking around.
There were a lot of people passing by on the street for some reason—families, single men and women, and even children.
Zelina eyed the crowd with a cautious gaze before leaning over. The old man bent down to her height and the little girl whispered in his ears. "I heard the event would start. I'm going to line up early and reserve my seat."
Behind him, Varian could clearly hear the voice she desperately tried to lower. And he feared, most people here also did.
As expected, some started pacing faster while others, particularly, children broke into a jog.
"Nooooo!" The little girl's eyes widened and without even bothering to bid farewell, she began running.
Varian would have thought of her as a cute, lively girl if not for her treating a slave like he didn't even exist.
Other than a curious glance she gave him before realizing the uniform he's wearing, she didn't spare him a second glance or a single word.
'Just like the old bastard, she too is treating me like an object. This tribe is screwed up.'
"She's the daughter of a department head." Aion rose up and shook his head.
"Hasn't even reached celestial ranks at 6. Some of the newer generation are really worrying."
"Cough! Cough! Cough!" Varian nearly choked on his saliva at those words.
"Huh? Did your condition detoriate?" Aion turned back to him in a hurry, brows frowning.
"I'm fine." Varian said, gaze remaining unfriendly.
"I'll give you another round of healing after we go back." Aion placed his hands behind his back and moved forward.
The way he walked and kept chatting with the passerbys showed he held absolutely no defense against Varian.
It'd have been the perfect chance to ambush if only his power wasn't sealed.
Even though Varian looked normal except for the slave uniform, he was heavily sealed. And the seal put on him was something incredibly special—it's also the first experiment he had to go through.
The seal wasn't on his body or in his soul, it's directly imprinted onto his origin. Since they initiated this sealing process, not a single person managed to break out.
Perhaps Aion wasn't being arrogant by keeping his guard down, he's just showing his confidence in the seal.
As they entered a large store, Aion purchased some materials and turned around.
'These things all have a piece of divinity in them.' Varian was alarmed. 'They don't belong to a rank 2 creature.'
Noticing Varian's keen interest in the items, Aion smiled. "Curious?"
He nodded stiffly.
"Barbarians won't understand anyway."
"…"
Varian wanted to smash his head. Using the slivers, he could break the origin seal in seconds.
'Calm down! Calm down! I don't have to get angry at a projection. He's just a projection!'
Clenching and loosening his fist, Varian followed him to the townsquare.
Aion considered Varian to be helpless. But after studying the runes, he gained enough understanding of them to break away from the lab.
He didn't do so for a simple reason. Once he escaped from this city, he wouldn't be able to study those runes again.
And sneaking in again was impossible since he still hadn't figured out how they modified their Origin.
The experiments sucked, sure. But the benefits he's reaping through the secret study were enormous. And staying with this talkative old man was giving him a lot of information.
"Elder, they've called for you!" A middle-aged guard ran through the heavy crowd on the street and saluted Aion. "It's about to begin."