"Come on, Felix, we need to move," Leo urged as soon as the fight ended.
He wasn't about to linger on the balcony, not after their position had been so thoroughly compromised.
"Move? But we just got here," Felix grumbled, swaying slightly as he wiped the blood off his sword. His tone was equal parts annoyance and drunken disbelief.
Leo didn't bother arguing. He grabbed Felix's arm and gave it a firm tug, pulling him away from the balcony and back into the dimly lit prison corridors.
Felix stumbled but eventually followed, muttering under his breath about how Leo had "no appreciation for hard work" and how he was always "rushing into the next disaster."
Once inside, the duo continued their search for the staircase to the terrace, however, this time, Leo's mind began to drift.
His sharp eyes scanned the darkened hallways out of habit, but his thoughts lingered on the fight that had just ended and how he was only a few seconds away from facing certain death.
'Why didn't time slow down for me this time? What did I do wrong?' Leo wondered, the confidence he had gained from his first fight now slipping away as he grappled with his inability to recreate the same effect.
After his initial victory, he had assumed the time-slowing effect was something innate—a natural ability that would activate whenever he entered a fight. But that assumption now seemed naive, even foolish.
It was more likely a 'Skill,' much like how Varra's ability to split her daggers mid-air was clearly a 'Skill.' However, the problem for him was that unlike Varra, Leo had no idea how to trigger his own ability.
The knowledge of how to use it, like so much else about himself, remained locked away in the fragments of his missing memories, which made him hesitant of looking for any future trouble.
"Hey Felix, you have 'special skills,' right? What can you tell me about them?" Leo asked, hoping to extract some crucial knowledge from his drunk partner. But expecting a coherent answer from Felix felt like asking a monkey to teach calculus.
"My special skill is my natural handsomeness! I'm definitely the most handsome man in this test. 100% natural DNA, no funny animal DNA mixing for superior effects. 100% human—" Felix declared, grinning smugly.
Leo slapped his forehead in frustration, exhaling sharply. This was exactly the level of absurdity he had expected.
But as ridiculous as Felix's words sounded, there was something beneath them that piqued Leo's interest—a kernel of information he couldn't ignore.
"You're saying the others in this test—the ones with snake-like eyes and horns growing out of their heads—they're genetically modified humans?" Leo asked, narrowing his gaze.
Felix stuck out his tongue and blew a spittle-filled raspberry. "Of course not! Not all of them are humans. Some are dwarves, beastmen, elves, half-bloods. But yeah, if they don't have significant body hair and they've got animal-like features, they've definitely spliced their DNA with some animal for enhancements."
That piece of knowledge clicked into place in Leo's mind. It seemed that in this world, taking on animal traits through genetic enhancement wasn't just possible—it was common. Thinking back to the individuals on the transport carriage, he now recognized just how prevalent these modifications were.
"You know," Felix continued, swaying slightly, "I can still respect the ones who do it to improve as warriors. Like, eagle eyes for long-range vision as an archer, or cat eyes for night vision. That's smart."
Felix's expression darkened, and his voice dropped into a grumble. "But what I can't respect are the men who modify their dicks with pig dicks just to screw women better."
Leo blinked, completely caught off guard. "What?"
"One girl I liked got screwed by one of those dirty bastards with a pig dick," Felix went on, his tone growing bitter. "Of course, she was never going to be satisfied with me after that. Mine's a full 2.5 inches, but it's not genetically enhanced like his."
Leo felt his face darken, horrified by the sheer depravity Felix was insinuating. If what he said was true, then this world was far more twisted than Leo had initially thought.
"But on the other hand... women with slimy—"
"STOP!" Leo shouted, cutting Felix off before he could finish. "Please. Just stop."
Felix looked offended. "What? Don't tell me you've never fantasized about doing the horizontal monster mash with one of those enhanced kitties. I mean, ooo lalala." He closed his eyes and licked the air, his expression one of degenerate joy.
Leo's stomach churned, and he turned away, swallowing back a wave of nausea. 'I will probably never forget the face he made today,' he thought grimly. 'This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.'
Thankfully for him however, by this point the duo had walked enough to find yet another staircase that seemed to be leading towards the terrace, putting an end to their absurd conversation.