Chương 32: The Subsequent Resets

My current mana sat at over five hundred. With that amount, I could see through thick fabric. But could I penetrate stone walls? I covered my right eye and stared intently at the wall to my right, focusing my will on seeing into the adjacent cell. The resulting sensation is something you might find impossible to imagine. Somehow, I was able to perceive both the wall and whatever lay behind it simultaneously. I could clearly see the man who had been talking to me from the next room.

Alan was tall but gaunt, his skin pallid from chronic blood loss. His cell was just as cramped as mine, save for a pile of filthy bedding in the corner. After only a few seconds of this, a sharp pain blossomed in my head, as if a hammer were rhythmically pounding against my skull. I couldn't bear it and had to shut my eyes; when I opened them again, my X-ray vision had deactivated. Checking my status window, my mana had plummeted by nearly fifty points. That sure consumes a massive amount of mana.

Once the headache subsided, I tested my long-range vision. From my cell, it's against the light so I couldn't clearly see what was in the opposite room with the naked eye. But when I focused my left eye, the details snapped into focus. It was merely an empty cell. Long-range vision at this distance didn't trigger a headache and only cost a few stray mana points. Following that, I began practicing the combination of long-range and X-ray vision to observe all the remaining cells.

There were thirty-six cells in total, eight of which were currently vacant. Perhaps some of the occupants were being taken for mana harvesting. The prisoners included both men and women, but just as Alan had said, none were younger than I was. A few cells were furnished with bedding, seemingly reserved for long-term slaves to prevent their health from failing completely. It was exactly as I suspected: they didn't want the slaves to die of illness, but they didn't want them too healthy either.

Using my left eye continuously like this drained over three hundred mana. My head felt like it was about to explode, but the information gathered was enough to reach a definitive conclusion. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! It appeared Rachel's sister wasn't being held here. I would have to look for her elsewhere. I waited for the Church's men to escort me for mana harvesting.

The procedure remained identical: toss the old slaves back into their cells, blindfold the newcomer, and lead them away. This time, I focused all my mental energy on penetrating objects, attempting to sketch a mental map of every corridor I traversed. But this consumed an immense amount of mana; my remaining two hundred points evaporated in an instant. One pass wasn't enough. As the symptoms of mana exhaustion set in, I bellowed:"Goddess, turn back time!" The Church soldiers escorting me jumped out of their skins.

For several seconds, the air was dead silent. Nothing happened. Tsk. That finicky Goddess... do I really have to recite the keyword exactly for her to listen?

"O All-Powerful and Beautiful Goddess Halunar... Gak!"

"Shut your mouth!" A fist slammed into my face before I could finish the sentence. I could taste the metallic, rusty tang of blood in my mouth, cursing internally. Why did I have to yell it? Did I think it would look cool?

"O All-Powerful and Beautiful Goddess Halunar..." I mumbled through my aching mouth, "... please grant me salvation." Just as I wished, I found myself facing Halunar again. Fearing I might actually curse at that beautiful, feigned-innocent face, I gritted my teeth and spoke quickly:"Back to the start of the day." Halunar looked profoundly displeased by my attitude.

"You have no right to command me, you insolent brat."

"Yeah, yeah, my apologies. O Powerful and Beautiful Goddess, please turn back time for me." With an annoyed click of her tongue, I woke up once more on the cold, hard floor of my cell. I now knew that by combining X-ray and long-range vision, I could observe everything within a maximum radius of ten meters. This meant I had to move around more to map out the entire facility. From that point on, I began to exploit the resets relentlessly.

I tried every trick to expand my "map", from faking a stomach ache to demand a bathroom break mid-escort, to breaking formation and sprinting through the halls. Every time my mana ran dry, I recited the Goddess's incantation to reset. I even sat through the mana extraction room five more times, trying my best to observe the surrounding area. But every single time I was forced into that chair, the hypnosis would take hold.

My mana-sucking ability would trigger, and then I'd be stabbed to death before I could observe much of anything. By the twentieth time, Halunar finally lost her patience.

"Just what on earth are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm looking for someone," I replied.

"Looking for who?"

"... Sophia Hulster? Have you not been listening to my conversations with Rachel?"

"Of course not! Do you think a deity is idle enough to stare at you every waking second? If you're looking for someone, why didn't you just ask me and save yourself the trouble?" Wait. Why was I so stupid? I had a Goddess backing me up, didn't I? Even if she was heartless and unreliable, she was still a god. She knew things that mortal eyes can never see.

"Um... so, do you know Sophia Hulster's current location?"

"Of course I do. That girl is locked up in the first basement level—the same floor as the mana extraction room. Exit the door, take two lefts, and you're there."

"..." Dammit. What a colossal waste of effort.