** **

"You are allowed to leave if you wish to."

The Shura and the human sat facing each other; An uncanny tension prevailed in the atmosphere as Reid offered Abhin his long-desired freedom.

"Don't take me for a fool, Shura. How do you guarantee my survival after I leave this place? You picked me up from Earth so you better drop me there too." Abhin replied as he glared at that 7 feet tall monstrosity.

"First of all, my name's Charles and not Shura. Second of all, you have no right to negotiate with me. Last of all, this meeting is happening only because I feel magnanimous enough to offer you an option, so you better forget about going back to Earth and listen to what I have to say."

"You can either leave this place right now or I can send you to a place -which is not Earth- full of humans after a few months." Reid made his stance clear.

"Didn't you say that humans were rare and that you had to specifically extract us from our home planet? You even whined that I am the only specimen you have and that you do not wish to lose me. Then how is it that there are humans someplace other than Earth? Listen, Shu... Charles, it's useless to think that you can fool me. It's better if you kill me right now or else I will at least ruin your whole life, if not kill you. After all, I am part Ningen too."

He once again instigated the Shura into killing him, although he was a bit hesitant when he spoke the last part.

*Sigh* Reid let out an exhausted sigh as he massaged his temples. He knew that it would not be easy to convince Abhin without leaking out some of the truths.

'Things would have been far better for me if you were even half of what the Ningens were' Reid thought.

"It seems that you truly overestimate your race's value. Let me clear up some of your misconceptions." The Shura remarked, "You are NOT special. The only thing you have inherited from the immortals is the name. You humans neither have the skills nor the power to be noteworthy in this universe. And in that sense, you are no different from the hundreds of quadrillions, if not quintillions of beings present in our galaxy. Remember the primates you have evolved from; Yeah, you are no different from those savage primates you have evolved from, and thus are of no value to anyone. Your capability of mana intake is far worse than us Shuras so if you think you can kill me with our own power, then forget it." It was as if he was not satiated enough by breaking down his morale, and so he decided to thoroughly crush his hopes.

"Humans neither have exceptional instincts nor reflexes, they neither have exceptional brains nor brawns, they neither have the will nor the power to survive in such a place. The R&D thought that you might have a substantial part of you as a Ningen, but they too were proven wrong once your mana activated. So in short, you are average and worthless." It felt as if a weight had been lifted off Reid's heart. He let out a satisfied sigh after he vented out all of his frustrations on the poor human.

Reid made it extremely clear that is pointless for Abhin to use his existence as a bargaining chip. The human was snapped out of his delusion. It was now clear that the options Reid was giving were mere formalities too because in the end, Reid will do what he wishes to, and Abhin will have to comply with him no matter what.

"Well, the thing is, we are not actually sending ya, but selling ya. The humans ya will meet will also come from the same planet ya used to live, so..." Edgar, who was standing on the sidelines, now butted in, as he saw the human's hopeless face, but Reid stopped him midway from leaking any further information, as he faked clearing his throat, *Ahem* "In short, the more powerful ya is, the more money we get."

"And the only reason I am giving you an option is that selling you would only be worthwhile if you are powerful enough. If you leave right now, I would not waste my time on you, as I plan to invest in you only if you can give me suitable returns. Mind it, if you wish to be with your fellow race ever again, you need to be strong enough. Oh, and rest assured, I will have professional tutors teach you various combat arts, so all you have to be is diligent. And don't worry, your new masters won't experiment with you as I did. The only reason they are buying you is because of the very little Ningen your genes are."

'What in the world is going on on Earth? More humans are trafficked to these aliens. This bitch talks as if we are some sort of livestock.' Abhin now started worrying about his family, who he thought would be safe on Earth.

"Remember, if you leave right now, no one can guarantee your well-being," Reid said as he indirectly threatened the human.

"Do I even have an option here?" Abhin bitterly smiled as he looked at the Skal, who merely shrugged in reply.

"Of course, you are free to choose what you want to," Reid said, akin to a crafty businessman.

'Damn you, hypocrite, didn't you just threaten me. And you say I have free will.' Abhin very well knew what this Shura wanted.

"I need to think for a bit." He tried to stall for some time.

"It's alright, but try to give a satisfactory answer. After all, your future purely depends on it." Reid once again warned him.

Ignoring the shudders he got from him, the human slowly started pondering on the topic

'I would not truly be free if he sells me but at least(hopefully) my safety would be guaranteed. On the other hand, if I leave right now I will be free but I might die as soon as I leave, possibly by the hands of this Shura, because I would be nothing but a loose end to him.' There was nothing more to further think as the choices were crystal clear. The past month was enough for Abhin to know Reid's personality.

*Sigh* "The correct one is the second option, right?" He narrowed his eyes as he spoke to the Shura.

"Bravo, it seems you are not as dumb as you look. Well, my work here is done now. Edgar, take good care of him. I will send some guys to you tomorrow." Reid clapped before making his way out of the lab.

"Happy training, dear." He turned around and gave a creepy smile to the poor guy before vanishing away into the wall.

** **

The conversation Abhin had with Reid left a huge impact on him. The earlier speech given by the Shura drove him to the brink of utter despair. One of the major reasons he could hold up until now was that he believed his parents would be safe back on Earth, but now that too was stripped off of him. He wanted to get out of that beleaguered situation, but it seemed as if fate had closed all the doors. He tried asking Edgar about the same, but the Skal remained tight-lipped. By the end, he tried dismissing it as a ploy by that Shura, but the uneasiness he felt had already taken deep roots within his heart.

"Mr. Edgar, please let me know where are you guys selling me?"

"Ya will know soon, kiddo. But lemme tell ya one thing - that place is no joke; if ya wish to live until the end, ya need a lot of power. Hell, they won't even buy ya in ya current state, and that's the only reason we are spending our already scarce resources on training ya."

Abhin gulped as he heard the Skal's warning. 'Hell. Why is he speaking as if I am going on a battlefield.'

"Fine, then at least tell me about this training?" He moved on to another topic as he knew that Ed had no intentions of telling him.

"I told ya that ya awakened (in mana), right?"

"Yeah"

"But what do ya know about mana?"

"Only that it's flowing within me right now"

"So ya know nothing... hmmm," Edgar sighed as he started contemplating something.

"It is better to show than to tell" The Skal extended his slender green fingers and touched the human's hand as he continued, "Close ya eyes"

"But..." Abhin was quite reluctant in closing off his eyes as he didn't want his guard to go down - even for a second - while in Reid's or Edgar's vicinity.

"Just shut them for a while, mate"

"Alright, now what?" Abhin reluctantly followed Ed's instruction.

"Ya feel something warm in ya vein flowin' throughout ya whole body?"

"N..No" Abhin once again had a bad feeling in his guts.

"Hmm, relax and let go of all ya thoughts; focus on ya breathing and meditate - just like ya did to control ya seizures back then," Edgar advised. It was pretty hard in the beginning(as Ed was staring him in the face), but his brain activities toned down a lot in the next fifteen minutes, as he focused on his breathing and entered a meditative trance. The feeling of (almost)pure blank was blissful in its own sense, and soon, half an hour had gone by in that bliss.

*Inhale*

*Exhale*

** **

*Exhale*

*Inhale*

'Damn, is he meditating or is he sleeping?' Ed pondered as he saw the -as still as a stone- human, for an hour had now gone by yet no response came from him, making Ed a bit worried.

'This warm sensation... feels nice.' Abhin thought in the meanwhile. With every breath he took in, something surged from within his veins; the mellow flow of this very something - starting from his fingers and toes to finally accumulating in his heart - was oddly soothing, and with every breath he let out, this tepid something surged explosively from his heart to the rest of his body parts. He had been doing this for an hour now, but with every fleeting minute, this warm feeling minutely subsided, until he no longer felt those powerful surges. It was then that he finally opened his eyes, and he was greeted by Ed's astonished gaze. He tried asking the Skal whether the warm feeling he felt was mana or not, but he was interrupted before he could inquire.

"How in the world are ya absorbing mana?"

"Wait? Absorbing Mana? Was that not supposed to be learned?" Abhin was quite perplexed as he saw the look on Ed's face.

"No... But still, it is more like a toddler learning how to stand before he learns how to sit."

"Anyways, ya technique is still not refined so it is not as if ya could have learned this someplace on Earth. Must be an inherent Ningen thing." Ed was truly confused, as the rate of absorption of mana Abhin had was not that of a being who had awakened a few days ago.

"Follow me, let me check ya up once again," Edgar asked the human, but he didn't budge an inch.

"Umm... Mr. Edgar, it is..." Abhin spoke in a way, which reminded Ed of the mansion incident.

"What is it now?", inquired the agitated Skal.

"My legs have gone numb. Please help me, I can't get up"

'Nah man, I ain't falling for that now' Ed mumbed as he dismissed the human's plea.

"Just shut up and follow me or else I won't teach you a better way of absorbing mana," Ed replied.

"I swear I am not lying this time...." He saw the Skal leaving him alone as he shouted, "They truly are numb."

** **

The next day soon came, and along with it came Edgar. The Skal took Abhin outside for 'proper' training as it would not be a good idea to expose Reid's hideout to others.

The outside world didn't change much. The sky was still extremely beautiful, with the sun/star being beside the humongous planet instead of being eclipsed by it. Snowy mountain peaks and marshy forest land were now visible to the naked eye - extremely distinct to boot - as they made him realize the proximity of the planet to the moon on which they were. Huge mega cities honing gigantic skyscrapers were spread out in patches on the continent alongside nature. It was a perfect blend of tech and nature, which was what various humans on Earth strived for. The couple moon and the single moon were also present in the sky, chilling; although the single moon felt a tad bit bigger than it earlier was. (Sheesh, most of you skimmed this para, right? I did too)

After walking for some ten minutes or so, they reached their destination - A seven-floored building.

"...And this is my hospital. Beautiful, isn't it?" said Edgar, looking at a building that looked more like a university and less like a hospital.

"Yeah... it's decent."

The hospital too was surrounded by a garden, just like the mansion; though the former was not as grandiose as the latter. They waited in the garden for an hour or so, until a scaled humanoid creature(SHC in short) approached them.

"Umm... Hello. Are you Mr. Edgar? Mr. Mint sent me." The SHC started talking with Edgar.

"Who the hell is Mr. Mi... Oh Yeah, Mr. Mint. Yes, I am Edgar, Dr. Edgar." He abruptly closed his mouth before shaking his hands with the SHC.

'Charles, ya asshole. Ya could have chosen something better as ya name, so why this half-assed name again?' Edgar cursed his friend in his mind as he cringed on that alias.

"So, who I am going to teach my spear arts?" SHC inquired, cutting chase to any meaningless talks, and coming directly to the point.

"It's him," Edgar said as he pointed towards Abhin.

"Alright. Oh, and Mr. Mint gave me this box to pass on to you, Mr. Edgar." SHC passed on a box to the Skal. Edgar read the note Reid left for him in the box and took out something(this thing is the size of your thumbprint and is as thin as paper.) from it. He then approached the human and placed that something on Abhin's temporal bone.

"Hello. My name is Zulazu and I am here to teach you how to use a spear."

'I... I can understand him.' The human was shocked to the extreme.

"What... did you do to me, doctor?"

"Oh, it's not me, but the translation device I just put on ya. All of the major languages spoken in the Jia federation are in it. All we had to do was to add English in it too." Ed commented as if it was something extremely common, but Abhin took some time to adjust to it. He was flabbergasted; it seemed as if he was still underestimating the capabilities of these aliens.

"Alright, so shall we proceed?" Zulazu said, as if he was in some sort of hurry.

"Ye...Yes, please." Abhin answered.

"Okay then. Should I train him here, Mr. Edgar?" It seemed as if the SHC understood Abhin too.

"Yes, as ya wish. After all, this hospital has been closed for a few days now. So no one will be troubled by ya training sessions." Ed answered Zulazu.

The SHC then proceeded to teach Abhin for the next seven hours.

** **

"This.. is not how you move mana. Let it flow directly from your heart to your arms. The flow must be subtle or it will do nothing but hurt your arms." The SHC sounded tired, probably because it was the umpteenth time he had been saying the same thing to Abhin.

"How in the world do I even properly move mana? And please don't come up with your 'Don't think much and let your mana subconsciously flow.' line cause that's all bullshit. Teach me properly, please." The human was irritated too. It took him six whole hours just to make his mana move in his hands(while not meditating). But now his hands were bleeding through various cuts forming on them, due to the unruly and turbulent flow of mana. To him, the instructions given by the SHC were extremely vague and thus useless.

It soon gave up on teaching the flow of mana to him and went on to teach him what it masters in - the spear. For the next four hours, he went on to teach him the very basics stances of a spear, but that too went in vain.

"NO! That posture is totally wrong. Your waist should be like this and your arms bent like this."

"Like.. like this."

"Don't just throw the spear, dammit. And posture 5 would not come after posture 2, you dumwit." SHC was now totally pissed and hissed like a mad rabid dog at Abhin.

"Oi, oi. Calm down. Do you expect me to become some sort of master of spears in just a few hours? That's almost impossible."

"These are just basics, if you can't learn them today, it would be impossible to teach you my spear arts in just 3 months."

SHC gave up on him after a few more hours and left.

"He had too high expectations from me. I am a normal human and not some martial arts prodigy ripped out of a comic. By the way, why did he leave?" Abhin huffed as he asked Edgar.

"He knew he won't get paid so he left. He might have stayed if he were paid for every hour he teaches ya." The Skal bluntly replied.

They soon left for the jail-like lab as darkness now loomed the sky. Surprisingly, the days on that planet were just a few hours short of days on Earth. Abhin spent half of the night absorbing the mana lost under SHC's guidance and the other half sleeping.

They kept on going to Edgar's hospital for the next few days as new tutors came to teach him every day. First came an archer of god-knows-what-race, but she too left at the end of the day, for Abhin didn't have enough talent to learn her arts. Then came the sword slasher, the whip lasher, the shield basher, the mace clasher, the axe smasher, then came the mages - the pyro(fire) mage, the cryo(ice/water) mage, even the freaking gyro(wind) mage but they all left the very same day they came. Mr. Mint, on the other hand, never came, as he was probably busy searching for a new hideout.

But one day Reid came, and along with him, came a bulky 10 ft tall humanoid creature covered in furs. His face was extremely savage and his horns almost a feet and a half long(different from the Shurian horns). He would totally resemble a Minotaur if he had less fur and a face of a bull, but that wasn't the case. (The SHC had human facial features too and not that of a lizard.).

Reid rushed in the garden and lifted Abhin up via his collars.

"Do you think of all it is a joke?" The Shura spoke, in English.

"I am trying my best." Abhin retaliated as his heart picked up its pace.

"Tch, I don't care how shit your talent is. Results are what matters, human. Whether I get them by hook or by crook is none of my concern."

HE almost subconsciously kicked him in the balls but he controlled himself as he remembered the face mashing Reid did.

"From now on, this friend of mine will teach you. Mind it, I will personally kill you if I don't get favorable results this time."

He talked with the savage(Shura's new friend) for a bit and then left.

The new teacher gave off quite an ominous vibe, which was far greater than what the Shura gave. He slowly approached the human and snorted loudly while passing his long, thick and furry fingers through his intermingled rough hairs.

"So this is the brat I have to fix this time." He growled as he looked down at the human who was almost half his height. His voice was extremely heavy and chill-inducing.