Chương 348: (341) 5.37. Force Me to Study, Will You?

Vin's eyes flew open, and he gasped as he rocketed up off the rough cot he was sleeping on. The events leading up to him getting knocked unconscious came back to him in an instant, and he felt at the back of his head. To his surprise, there wasn't even so much as a knot where he'd been struck. Grunch is an Arbiter… he probably has some sort of nonlethal strike ability, just like Abby and her guards. That would explain why my boon didn't trigger, seeing as it only blocks attacks that would either kill or maim me.

Frowning, Vin got to his feet as he took in the cell he'd been thrown within. He was clearly in some sort of dungeon, as his new accommodations were cold and rather damp. His cell contained a simple cot that was far too uncomfortable and not much else. Looking out between the bars, he spotted a handful of other cells, but none of them were occupied. Alright. Thrown in prison isn't exactly the best outcome for your first solo exploration in a while. But it could be worse!

Once he'd confirmed he was alone, he grabbed one of the metal bars lining his cell and tried to snap it, his golem arm flaring blue as mana coursed through the limb. To his utter shock, not only did the metal remain unshattered, he didn't even leave so much as a handprint on it.

"Okay… That's not good." Clearly, whoever had designed the dungeon he found himself in had gone to extreme lengths to ensure it could hold high-level individuals, and Vin stepped back as he contemplated his options. His pack had been taken away, along with his fire-knife and the staff Shia had made for him all those weeks ago, but they'd left him with his magic boots, and he still had access to his arm and all his spells.

It seemed the combat-focused rankers didn't have the ability to prevent him from casting magic, which was quite the saving grace. That said, it wasn't as if he'd actually taken the time to learn Dimensional Shift. Cursing his past self for deciding against learning the spell, Vin sighed as he ran through his options. If his empowered arm couldn't break through the metal lining the cell, none of his spells would fare any better.

He wished Lumel was here to simply warp him to freedom, or for Scule and Reginald to work their magic and pick the cell door for him. Hell, there was a chance Alka's sword might be strong enough to chop through this strange metal, or that Shia had something in her magical pouch of seeds that they could use to get out of here. Without any of his friends… He was trapped.

Vin had no idea how long he'd been unconscious for or how much time passed before someone finally showed up, but eventually, the sound of a distant door opening drew him from his thoughts. Getting to his feet, he waited until the footsteps grew closer, and a ranker revealed themselves.

"Are you willing to reveal the knowledge the ranker king demands?" she asked, staring pointedly at him.

"…No?" he offered, wondering if she would try torturing him or something. If she would just open the door and come into the cell… To his dismay, she merely nodded, before revealing a tray of food she'd had off to the side and sliding it between a small opening at the bottom of the cell. He briefly thought about trying to grab her, but it was clear that she didn't have any sort of key on her. Most likely, they didn't even risk something like that happening, keeping the key to the cell outside the dungeon entirely.

"I will come back tomorrow," she said, nodding at him one more time before taking her leave. As the dungeon door closed, Vin could only shake his head as he peered at what she'd left him. A cup with barely any water in it, along with a hunk of stale bread and some old cheese that was already beginning to mold.

"Well now I have to break out of here," he muttered. Picking off the mold, he sat down and ate his food, going over his options yet again. He'd had far worse meals during his time on Earth as a vagabond, so he was just grateful they gave him anything at all. A quick cast of Create Water gave him something to actually wash the meal down with, and he pushed the tray off to the side as he got to work.

Most likely his friends would come for him eventually, especially seeing as Shia's divine boon would lead them straight to him, but he didn't want to wait around and see if the ranker king would change his mind about the best method to get information out of him. If none of my spells are capable of getting me out of here… Then it's time to make a new one. As the days passed, Vin fell into a rather simple routine. With his high endurance, he was able to function pretty well with remarkably little sleep.

That meant each morning, after waking up from a two-hour power nap, timed with a careful creation of Create Cloud, he got to work. There was no chance he'd be able to break his way through whatever metal the cell bars lining his entire room were made out of, which meant he needed to try something a bit trickier. Upon waking, he'd work on his latest spell, taking it much more carefully than usual as he didn't want to risk triggering his divine boon if he didn't have to.

After confirming his idea would work with his Spell Weaver title, he leaned hard on his Spell Builder passive, ensuring he didn't trigger any runic backlashes as he worked on his escape. The guard came to give him his meal every day, and Vin made sure to work on a summoned cloud timed to dissipate and drop him on his rear a couple of minutes prior to her arrival each day so that he could answer her question and eat his meal.

He didn't know if she would do anything drastic if she caught him within Introspection, but he didn't want to risk finding out. After eating, he went straight back to his spell work, throwing himself into his magical experimentation with all the desperation of a man trapped within a dungeon. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. During his brief nights, as he waited for sleep to come claim him, he thought about everything he'd witnessed within this fragment so far.

He had a hunch there was more to this alliance than there seemed, and the words and actions of Emrelda and Grunch that he'd witnessed so far led credence to his theory. The fact that neither of them came down to see him at any point during his incarceration increased his suspicions as to what was really going on in these fragments and gave him renewed vigor to escape his current situation. In the end, it took him four long days of nonstop work to complete his latest spell.

Seeing as he'd been working practically all day every day on the runic formation, he'd been hoping to get it done in only three, but there was no helping it. After all, gravity magic was one of the harder affinities to work with. Funnily enough, it didn't really feel like four whole days had passed. One of the strange things about working with Introspection was that time always seemed like an abstract concept within a person's personal void.

If he hadn't been certain of the time from the daily meals, he would have guessed he'd been in that cell for only a day or two at most. With his plan in place, Vin sat back and waited. Even if he was able to get out of his cell, there was no telling how many dangerous rankers he was going to have to battle to get out of the fragment.

He'd already used an empowered Sense Dimension to pinpoint the location of this fragment's dungeon, as he figured trying to escape that way would be easier than running all the way to the edge of the fragment. He was probably going to have to leave the three missing Earthers behind until he could come back with his friends in tow, but there was no helping it. They'd survived this long within the rankers' keep, they'd survive another day or two. Eventually, the person he'd been waiting for arrived.

As the guard stopped outside of his cell, preparing to ask the same question she'd asked him day after day after day, Vin cleared his throat and hopped up to his feet, meeting her at the cell door.

"Hey… I don't mean to embarrass you or anything, but I thought you might want to know that I finally tried the door after all this time. Turns out, you forgot to lock it."

"What?" she asked, staring at him like he was insane.

"No, seriously! Look!" Even as he spoke, Vin reached out and placed a hand on the cell door that he'd unlocked a few hours prior, pushing it open with ease.

"See?" As the door slowly swung open and the woman suddenly found herself staring at Vin without any cell bars between them, her eyes widened and she lunged forward, attempting to punch him in the throat. Grinning, Vin caught her hand with his golem arm.

"Shouldn't have struck first!" he laughed, turning and hurling the woman over him as his arm flashed blue with mana. Her body smashed into the wall of his cell with a lot more force than he'd originally intended, but it wasn't as if he'd practiced throwing people with his enhanced strength before. Based on her groans, she had enough points in vigor that he hadn't killed her, and he let out a slight sigh of relief. Despite the fact that she was his jailor, it wasn't as if she'd tortured him or anything.

Honestly, even with the lackluster food and poor furniture, his time down here had just been rather boring more than anything.

"Thanks for being so consistent with your meal times," he said, before stepping out of the cell and closing the door behind him. Focusing on the lock, he cast his newest spell and culmination of the last four days of effort." Mage Hand." Suddenly, he could feel the inside of the lock as surely as if he was running his own fingers over each and every piece of the complex mechanism.

With a few mental nudges, the minute forces of gravity he was controlling with his mana turned the tumblers as directed and clicked the lock back into place. Whenever his guard finally got around to waking up from her probable concussion, she'd find herself locked up just as he'd been.

Mage Hand was a tier 2 gravity spell that had been a particularly tricky one to put together. He'd managed to combine Redirect Gravity with Tremorsense of all things, a combination that had taken him a decent amount of time to even come up with in the first place.

Redirect Gravity provided him with the minute gravity control he needed to actually direct his mana and use it to interact with his environment, and Tremorsense allowed him to feel where his spell was in comparison to himself, and to actually understand what he was doing when using the spell somewhere he couldn't see. On top of which, Tremorsense was designed to utilize rapid firing pulses of mana in order to paint a picture in his mind.

Those same rapidly firing pulses of mana were exactly what he needed to carefully control his new spell from range. In the end, Mage Hand ended up being a spell that allowed him to exert about as much force as a regular human could with their hand, albeit with far finer control. Perfect for picking locks and putting Scule out of a job. Preparing to finally make a break for it, Vin spotted the tray off to the side with the usual bread, cheese, and water sitting in it.

After a moment's consideration, he plucked off the mold and used Create Water to fill the cup to the brim, before carefully sliding it all into the cell for her.

"Someone will probably come for you eventually… but just in case, that should keep you going for a bit," he muttered, before turning to actually begin his escape in earnest.

"Sorry I don't have any butter."